[Do you think Foulke was that good last night?]

[yanks fan in MA]

Do you think Foulke was that good last night or do you think it may have been a case of the Yankee hitters "seeing the finish line", so to speak? I think the Yanks knew Mo was on the mound, with a lead, and they just wanted to get back out there and end this thing. They have seen Mo do it so many times in the post season, they may have thought 1 run was enough. To me, they didn't make Foulke work enough. They were not taking pitches like they would if they were tied or behind by a run. To me it looked like were satisifed with the lead and that they were going to take there chances with Mo in the 8th and 9th.

[WindRavenX]

They looked tired and not patient...
Foulke got lucky that time....next time...his ass is grass..

[SheffMVP11]

Foulke is a good pitcher

[WindRavenX]

Originally posted by SheffMVP11
Foulke is a good pitcher

But in the past, the Yankees have hit him when they make him work. Last night they weren't really doing that...

[NDBoston]

Originally posted by WindRavenX
They looked tired and not patient...
Foulke got lucky that time....next time...his ass is grass..

Fouke has a 0.00 ERA in the post season this year.

P.S. Nice game by BC last Saturday

[NDBoston]

Originally posted by WindRavenX

But in the past, the Yankees have hit him when they make him work. Last night they weren't really doing that...

when is that exacty? not this year.

[WindRavenX]

Originally posted by NDBoston

.

P.S. Nice game by BC last Saturday

You're going down so hard this saturday that it's not going to be funny.
I distinctly rememebr the Yankees having success off of Foulke...not this postseason, but during the regular season; I think he blew 2 games.

[NDBoston]

Originally posted by WindRavenX

You're going down so hard this saturday that it's not going to be funny.
I distinctly rememebr the Yankees having success off of Foulke...not this postseason, but during the regular season; I think he blew 2 games.

1 game he blew at Fenway but it wasn't a save opportunity. It was a game they lost.

HE was 3 for 3 on save opportunities with a 2-1 record and 1.50 ERA in the regular season.He's been very tough against the Yankees in 2004.

On the game Sat. Hopefuly BC won't trash the field or locker room this time around too. Great team you have there :rolleyes:

[yanks fan in MA]

Originally posted by SheffMVP11
Foulke is a good pitcher

Foulke is good, but remember what he did against the Sox in last years playoffs? He has not pitched with a lead yet this series. I'd like to see him come in with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out in the 8th inning. Put a little pressure on the guy. It's a lot easier to pitch when you're losing.

Actually I'd be very happy with a 4 or 5 run lead and never have to see it happen, but you get my point.

[NDBoston]

Originally posted by yanks fan in MA


Foulke is good, but remember what he did against the Sox in last years playoffs? He has not pitched with a lead yet this series. I'd like to see him come in with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out in the 8th inning. Put a little pressure on the guy. It's a lot easier to pitch when you're losing.

Actually I'd be very happy with a 4 or 5 run lead and never have to see it happen, but you get my point.

Foulke actualy got the save in Game 2 last year of the ALDS and should have gotten it in Game 4 if Dye didn't act like a ballerina in right field. He also had a hurt back and wasn't able to pitch in Game 5 because of it.

Foulke has pitched in numerous save situations this year and in the playoffs with the lead and has done the job. He only has a 0.00 ERA in the post season and pitched three scoreless innings last night, but he's still a questionable closer?

I don't think so.

[yanksrule51]

Originally posted by WindRavenX
They looked tired and not patient...
Foulke got lucky that time....next time...his ass is grass..

Agreed, the yankees offense was awful yesterday all game. You could tell it was a letdown from the thrashing in game 3. Everybody looked off their game. Tons of runners left on against bad pitching. They'll have it back tonight. Enough mr. nice guy.

[SheffMVP11]

Originally posted by yanks fan in MA


Foulke is good, but remember what he did against the Sox in last years playoffs?

Yes I remember what he did against the Sox last year, but I'm not gonna put the guy down until we get to him. He was better than Mo last night and that was the difference in the game.

[yanks fan in MA]

Originally posted by NDBoston


Foulke actualy got the save in Game 2 last year of the ALDS and should have gotten it in Game 4 if Dye didn't act like a ballerina in right field. He also had a hurt back and wasn't able to pitch in Game 5 because of it.

Foulke has pitched in numerous save situations this year and in the playoffs with the lead and has done the job. He only has a 0.00 ERA in the post season and pitched three scoreless innings last night, but he's still a questionable closer?

I don't think so.

Loaiza has an ERA of 0.00 this post season, so what's your point? If you are trying to tell me pitching with a 2 or 3 run deficit is the same as pitching with a lead, you are absolutely nuts. The point of this thread was that Foulke has yet to pitch with any pressure on him. The fact that he has an ERA of 0.00 in non pressure situations means nothing.

[stevethesoxfan]

Originally posted by yanks fan in MA
I'd like to see him come in with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out in the 8th inning. Put a little pressure on the guy. It's a lot easier to pitch when you're losing.

I'm not sitting here saying Foulke is a good as Rivera. He's a notch below that. But how can you say there was no pressure last night? He pitched in three innings with the season on the line. If he gave up one run, the Sox season was over. He was a stud. Rivera-esque.

As ND wrote, he had a 1.50 ERA against the Yanks coming into the game. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but that must have dropped to approx. 1.20 or so after yesterday. He's been a better pitcher against the Yanks than Rivera has been against Boston this year, by far. For all of the things wrong with the Sox in this series, I have no fear of Rivera. They have hit him well during the last few years overall. (Not saying Rivera isn't great against the league -- he is -- but the Sox do well against him).

[ryanm1058123]

Foulke was impressive last night, very impressive. Better than Rivera. I also agree that he is not to be compared to Mariano Rivera since this is his first real good playoffs, and Mariano's been doing it for a long time.

[NDBoston]

Originally posted by yanks fan in MA


Loaiza has an ERA of 0.00 this post season, so what's your point? If you are trying to tell me pitching with a 2 or 3 run deficit is the same as pitching with a lead, you are absolutely nuts. The point of this thread was that Foulke has yet to pitch with any pressure on him. The fact that he has an ERA of 0.00 in non pressure situations means nothing.

Foulke has thrown 8.2 innings, giving up 2 hits and 0 runs. He got a save in game 2 and held the tie in Game 3 of the ALDS.He kept the game close in both Game 2 and 4 in this series. Every one of those games had pressure.

Foulke has performed well against the Yankees all year long and a very good year in general. He's a CLOSER. Every game he enters has a high amount of pressure.

If you really think comparing him to Loaiza is a valid comparison, we don't have anything more to talk about.

[WindRavenX]

Originally posted by NDBoston


On the game Sat. Hopefuly BC won't trash the field or locker room this time around too. Great team you have there :rolleyes:

Oh, please spare me this self-righteous ND crap...I can't deal with it from both Sox AND ND fans...

[soxfansince67]

Originally posted by yanks fan in MA


Loaiza has an ERA of 0.00 this post season, so what's your point? If you are trying to tell me pitching with a 2 or 3 run deficit is the same as pitching with a lead, you are absolutely nuts. The point of this thread was that Foulke has yet to pitch with any pressure on him. The fact that he has an ERA of 0.00 in non pressure situations means nothing.

Sorry, but comming into an elimination game trailing by 1 and knowing that you cann't give up more runs to this Yankee team over the next 2 2/3 if you expect to have a chance to tie or win with Rivera waiting in the wings is more than enough pressure in my books.

[yanks fan in MA]

Originally posted by NDBoston


He got a save in game 2 and held the tie in Game 3 of the ALDS.

In game 2, he came in with a runner on 1st and 2 outs. The Sox then came back and scored 4 runs in the top half of the 9th, hardly a pressure cooker.

In game 3, if the Angels knew how to run the bases, he would have blown that game. After Figgins singled, Erstad ripped one in the gap off the Green Monster. Figgins for some reason, holds up between 1st and 2nd to see if someone catches it? Jeter, or Damon score easily on that play.

I go back to my original post, lets see Foulke come in with 2nd and 3rd and one out and see how he does.

[son of mel hall]

I thought Foulke was clutch last night.

[penfold]

Foulke did very well. No question about it.

But the Yanks got a good long look at him last night. Hopefully, that means they'll have figured out what his one or two mistakes might be later tonight and then capitalize.

(Which leads me to another point: IMHO, one reason why Rivera is "vulnerable" with the Sox is because the Sox have seen so much of him over the years. Same division, competitive teams... 19 games a year in the regular season plus all those post-seasons. Let's face it, the Sox have seen Rivera more than the Devil Rays. That's not trying to take anything away from either team -- or explain Rivera's meltdowns with any other teams. But to say that Rivera's particularly vulnerable to the Sox is pointless unless you compare that vulnerability to other teams. I just figure the more you see a pitcher, the easier it is to predict a mistake.)

[Judge Mental]

Originally posted by yanks fan in MA



In game 2, he came in with a runner on 1st and 2 outs. The Sox then came back and scored 4 runs in the top half of the 9th, hardly a pressure cooker.

In game 3, if the Angels knew how to run the bases, he would have blown that game. After Figgins singled, Erstad ripped one in the gap off the Green Monster. Figgins for some reason, holds up between 1st and 2nd to see if someone catches it? Jeter, or Damon score easily on that play.

I go back to my original post, lets see Foulke come in with 2nd and 3rd and one out and see how he does.

Regardless, he still had to make pitches. You're right that his pressure situations were not all that high-pitched in the ALDS but if you think he was out there just takin it easy because for 2 and 2/3 because the sox were down one run then i don't know what to say. Last night was an extremely pressure-laden appearance for him, and he came with his best stuff, IMO. I'm through with trying to make points based on past performance in regards to this series though, all you can really do is expect the unexpected and see how it all plays out. Foulke and Lowe both pitched with a lot of heart last night and even if the yankees were swinging more often than usual that doesn't necessarily weaken their percentages against Foulke, he throws a lot of strikes and relies more of fooling people with his pitch speed than making them chase bad pitches, I believe that he was out-thinking some of the yankee bats last night.

[STNYY]

Originally posted by Judge Mental


...Foulke and Lowe both pitched with a lot of heart last night and even if the yankees were swinging more often than usual that doesn't necessarily weaken their percentages against Foulke, he throws a lot of strikes and relies more of fooling people with his pitch speed than making them chase bad pitches, I believe that he was out-thinking some of the yankee bats last night.

Agreed. Foulke's out pitch is his change up. If he loses a bit on the fastball because he's tired, the hitters will be able to time the change up better. I'm not a major league hitter so I don't know how difficult this actually is to do, but I think you gotta foul off alot of pitches to get to Foulke, hope he misses with his location.

Similar to Damon's approach vs. Leiber, another guy who throws strikes.

[Arod for President]

Originally posted by SheffMVP11
Foulke is a good pitcher

Yes, Foulke IS a good pitcher but he wont be a good pitcher tonight after 3 innings last night. Bostons Pen is depleted and unless Pedro can go 8 innings I dont see there even being a game 6

[son of mel hall]

Originally posted by Arod for President


Yes, Foulke IS a good pitcher but he wont be a good pitcher tonight after 3 innings last night. Bostons Pen is depleted and unless Pedro can go 8 innings I dont see there even being a game 6

No way Pedro goes 8. But I wouldn't be surprised to see Wakefield coming out of the pen. Foulke could be asked to pitch one inning.

[PlsDontTearDownY.S.]

Originally posted by NDBoston


Foulke actualy got the save in Game 2 last year of the ALDS and should have gotten it in Game 4 if Dye didn't act like a ballerina in right field. He also had a hurt back and wasn't able to pitch in Game 5 because of it.

Foulke has pitched in numerous save situations this year and in the playoffs with the lead and has done the job. He only has a 0.00 ERA in the post season and pitched three scoreless innings last night, but he's still a questionable closer?

I don't think so.

Last year the Sox got to him after he worked two straight games (IIRC) in the ALDS. He worked 2 and 2/3 innings last night, and there are no off days left. Sox better hope they don't need him tonight.

[stevethesoxfan]

Originally posted by penfold

(Which leads me to another point: IMHO, one reason why Rivera is "vulnerable" with the Sox is because the Sox have seen so much of him over the years. Same division, competitive teams... 19 games a year in the regular season plus all those post-seasons. Let's face it, the Sox have seen Rivera more than the Devil Rays. That's not trying to take anything away from either team -- or explain Rivera's meltdowns with any other teams. But to say that Rivera's particularly vulnerable to the Sox is pointless unless you compare that vulnerability to other teams. I just figure the more you see a pitcher, the easier it is to predict a mistake.)

penfold, you are 100% right. It's why the Yanks have had relative success against Pedro as well. The more you see a pitcher, the more comfortable you are against him. It's (somewhat) why Clemens has done so well in the NL this year. Most hitters haven't faced him before.

[Luvtino]

Originally posted by son of mel hall
I thought Foulke was clutch last night.

Me too. You have to give credit where it's due and he got the job done last night.

[NDBoston]

Originally posted by Luvtino


Me too. You have to give credit where it's due and he got the job done last night.

and tonight.

[nhyankeefan]

Originally posted by NDBoston


and tonight.

Foulke has not gotten credit for saves the past two nights, but he has really saved the Sox. I was really surprised to see him coming out in the 7th inning but he got all the tough outs. I wonder how many innings he'll go tonight and if the Yanks will eventually score some runs off of him.

[Sillycon]

Originally posted by STNYY


Agreed. Foulke's out pitch is his change up. If he loses a bit on the fastball because he's tired, the hitters will be able to time the change up better. I'm not a major league hitter so I don't know how difficult this actually is to do, but I think you gotta foul off alot of pitches to get to Foulke, hope he misses with his location.

Similar to Damon's approach vs. Leiber, another guy who throws strikes.

The changeup helps a fastball.... Look at Jamie Moyer. Even if you lose a little bit off your fastball, it's still tough to pickup a changeup if you got great arm action like Foulke has... Trevor Hoffman is another example. He lost his mid 90's fastball a long while ago but he was still successful because of his changeup...