7/31 vs Tampa Bay

[Swiharts Ghost]

We put a man on the moon but can't protect our feet and ankles from a baseball ?

[vegasbob]

If Beni rescues this game, I'll give him huge credit. But I think he has a 28% chance of a single

[Swiharts Ghost]

Great at bat so far

[fxkatt]

We put a man on the moon but can't protect our feet and ankles from a baseball ?

 

first i'm gonna say "Ha" and the i'm gonna hope for homer

[Swiharts Ghost]

Great at Bat Benny

[Swiharts Ghost]

Fire Dana tonight Dave

[vegasbob]

WTF did you expect as the Sox hitters become sharper than the umpires. Nice aggression. This is a beat team mentality. Those rings weigh them down

[jung]

Vaz will likely be out for at least a couple days with a knee contusion. He could barely bend his leg at the end of this game.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

WTF did you expect as the Sox hitters become sharper than the umpires. Nice aggression. This is a beat team mentality. Those rings weigh them down

 

One thing we can all take to the bank is that the SOX scoring 5 runs will hardly ever be enough to win.

[YastrzemskI]

One thing we can all take to the bank is that the SOX scoring 5 runs will hardly ever be enough to win.

 

I can’t recall this potent of an offense coupled with a pitching staff who performed this poorly.

[vegasbob]

I can’t recall this potent of an offense coupled with a pitching staff who performed this poorly.

 

Maybe the 1950's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's but other than that half century, things have been going well.

[Swiharts Ghost]

This is not just on these players this is on preparation someone must be Fired

[jad]

This is not just on these players this is on preparation someone must be Fired

 

In my dealings with work, with institutions, and with life generally, I find that firing someone pretty much always works.

[jung]

In my dealings with work, with institutions, and with life generally, I find that firing someone pretty much always works.

 

Firing LeVangie will likely have some impact as a messaging tool to the team and coaches in general. I am not as convinced that it will have much impact on the actual pitching assets we have.

 

The Red Sox have for at least the last 50 years been one of the organizations that buys pitching. I can't remember a time in in 50 years when the Red Sox were organized to develop pitching and if you are not developing pitching you also don't have the coaching assets that can be capable deploying pitching assets at the ML level. You just end up with "the guy as pitching coach that the next manager wants" or worse in our case, somebody promoted from within a system that does not develop pitching assets.

 

The current Rays pitching coach, Kyle Snyder came up through the Rays minor league system, one we all acknowledge knows how to develop pitching at the minor league level and deploy pitching assets at the ML level.

 

LaVangie came up from Red Sox bullpen catcher to bullpen coach to become Cora's pitching coach. Frankly the Red Sox are simply not the organization you want to be promoting pitching coaches from within IMO. They should revamp their entire program for dealing with pitching coaches and hire minor league pitching coaches from outside the organization that have established patterns of success developing pitching assets at the minor league level and then they should promote THEM to the top jobs at the ML level with the Red Sox. Coaches are relatively inexpensive when you compare them to the cost of buying pitchers.

[mvp 78]

Year 1: team wins 108 games and the WS

Year 2: team competes for WC

 

FIRE EVERYBODY! IT WORKED AT MY SMALL BUSINESS!

[Bellhorn04]

Year 1: team wins 108 games and the WS

Year 2: team competes for WC

 

FIRE EVERYBODY! IT WORKED AT MY SMALL BUSINESS!

 

There are no more miserable pricks than sports fans.

[Slasher9]

this game was very very very very very....disappointing.

really the only enjoyment was watching DD take egg on the face after his "interview" stating why they stood pat at the deadline. pretty sure it is a rule that the team HAS to win after you make proclamations like that.

[Bellhorn04]

this game was very very very very very....disappointing.

really the only enjoyment was watching DD take egg on the face after his "interview" stating why they stood pat at the deadline. pretty sure it is a rule that the team HAS to win after you make proclamations like that.

 

The sad thing is, though, that last night's submission by Porcello was more evidence that the rotation is going to sink us regardless.

[TylerD]

The sad thing is, though, that last night's submission by Porcello was more evidence that the rotation is going to sink us regardless.

 

We have a bottom ten pitching rotation and bullpen. Won’t make playoffs with that. Just won’t happen no matter how good the offense is.

[moonslav59]

We have a bottom ten pitching rotation and bullpen. Won’t make playoffs with that. Just won’t happen no matter how good the offense is.

 

The rotation not only has to improve for us to have a chance: they have to shine.

 

I'm not as optimistic about that ever happening, this year, but it is possible.

 

The last 2 games, plus the last game with the Yanks were the anti-universe of 2018.

 

Everything went right last year: nothing is going right this year (except Devers, Bogey & Vaz).

[dgalehouse]

Standing pat was ,and is , a questionable policy .

[moonslav59]

Standing pat was ,and is , a questionable policy .

 

I agree.

 

If they think it is sending a message to the team, I'm not sure that works.

[Bellhorn04]

Standing pat was ,and is , a questionable policy .

 

It's questionable, but Sale, Price and Porcello keep making it look like the right thing, because with them pitching like this, we're toast.

[TylerD]

The rotation not only has to improve for us to have a chance: they have to shine.

 

I'm not as optimistic about that ever happening, this year, but it is possible.

 

The last 2 games, plus the last game with the Yanks were the anti-universe of 2018.

 

Everything went right last year: nothing is going right this year (except Devers, Bogey & Vaz).

 

Well said.

 

Sale looked damn good against the Jays and Rays but struggled against the yanks. Hope he rebounds. Cashner was solid his last start, we will see what he can do tonight. And E-Rod has been fantastic the last month.... More less Price and Porcello I really worry about.

[Maxbialystock]

I agree.

 

If they think it is sending a message to the team, I'm not sure that works.

 

Not for the team, but absolutely for Sale, Price, and Porcello, the big money boys who ain't delivering.

 

And it's for us fans too. He's saying he has done his job in assembling a high-priced but certainly very capable team--see last year, the best in Sox history--and that now it is up to them (Sale, Price, and Porcello) to earn their pay.

 

I will go one step further and state that the last thing he should have done was to try to build a great bullpen to compensate for the inability of those three to earn their pay.

[Maxbialystock]

Well said.

 

Sale looked damn good against the Jays and Rays but struggled against the yanks. Hope he rebounds. Cashner was solid his last start, we will see what he can do tonight. And E-Rod has been fantastic the last month.... More less Price and Porcello I really worry about.

 

Ahem. Sale's ERA for the month of July was 5.86. Last year it was 0.36, and in 2017 his July ERA was 1.04. Sale is in real trouble this year, and I don't think a semi-miraculous start 2 weeks ago has fixed that.

[jacksonianmarch]

Ahem. Sale's ERA for the month of July was 5.86. Last year it was 0.36, and in 2017 his July ERA was 1.04. Sale is in real trouble this year, and I don't think a semi-miraculous start 2 weeks ago has fixed that.

 

Sale is losing his fastball. He needs to stop fighting it. The days he has the heat, he is good. The days he doesn't, he is not. He clearly still has swing and miss stuff with diminished velocity, but he needs to start considering pitching to contact

[Carpin]

If somebody can overcome losing MPH in his fastball, that is Sale; the rest of his pitches are above average, he's smart enough to use them, he just need to trust his stuff

[jung]

If somebody can overcome losing MPH in his fastball, that is Sale; the rest of his pitches are above average, he's smart enough to use them, he just need to trust his stuff

 

Before "trust his stuff" he needs to get real about what is happening to him. "Its time Chris." He is overthrowing his FB to hit velo that came naturally to him before. So even before he gets to trust his stuff he has to trust his eyes and what he is feeling as real, not some mirage or something that will just pass if he just ignores it and throws through it. Not happening IMO. He knows he is overthrowing to hit 96-97. There is no way you can convince that he does not know it.

 

That will be the biggest hurdle for Sale IMO because he does not seem to me to be the kind of guy that ever allowed the thought that this would ultimately happen to him to cross his mind. If somebody told me that he fancied himself a Nolan Ryan clone, I would believe it. The reality is that the chance of Sale being a Nolan Ryan clone is zero....zilch......nada!

 

Worse, it appears to me that overthrowing his FB is effecting his Slider and even his Change when he throws that and it is driving his inconsistent command across his secondary pitches. Last time out he threw the best and worst Change of his season this year. He definitely threw the worst Slider he has thrown all year.

Edited August 1, 2019 by jung

[TylerD]

Sale is losing his fastball. He needs to stop fighting it. The days he has the heat, he is good. The days he doesn't, he is not. He clearly still has swing and miss stuff with diminished velocity, but he needs to start considering pitching to contact

 

He had a big stretch of games where he seemed ok not having his fastball and actually pitched very well with his other pitches, but not quite sure what's happened since.