Farrell removing Lackey was bullshit. Neither Breslow or Tazawa are good enough or experienced enough to drop into a mid-inning disaster like that, they'll get their asses shot off. Breslow did, Tazawa has several times. Lackey was at 95 pitches for ****'s sake, he was more equipped to get out of that jam than anyone except Koji, and bringing him in the 7th leaves you vulnerable in the 9th. If anyone on this staff has the stamina to throw more than his share of pitches, it's Lackey. I can't wait for 2020 when 80 pitches will be the magic number for starters and four plus innings from the bullpen will be the nightly norm.
Awful lot of Red Sox fans coming into today have that "aw, we'll get em tomorrow!" goober mentality. Sure as hope the team isn't thinking like that, or this thing isn't coming back to Fenway. I don't care who's coming up in the Cardinals rotation, every game from here on has to be played like an elimination game. I already know that I'm not looking forward to facing Wainwright in his house, after a shitty outing, with a defense that remembers how to field the ball again, so I'd rather that night not be a must-win situation.