5/20 Sox @ Padres

[Maxbialystock]

Sale vs Musgrove, lefty vs. righty. Hate to say it, but the pitching edge has to go to Sale and the Sox, so that means the Padres are going to win tonight. You read it here first.

 

Sox looked really good last night--Paxton, Winck, the deeply flawed Devers who swings at way too many pitches but somehow hit two dingers and drove in 4 runs, Dugo with that terrific dive and grab of a liner hit to his left, Duran taking decent routes in the outfield despite his deeply flawed instincts, etc. I think the key factor in the win may have been having our very own Thunder at Petco Park. Our Thunder stole theirs.

 

The Sox winning percentage is now .556. Over 162 games that would mean 90 wins, so the Sox are definitely in the hunt for a wild card. Plus I think their best baseball is ahead of them because the pitching is starting to look pretty decent despite a team ERA ranked 26th in MLB.

[Thunder]

Lol appreciate the shout-out. Looking forward to another great afternoon and evening here in San Diego! I resisted buying some Bogaerts apparel in the team store last night, but my seats tonight are even closer to the team store so I definitely think I will walk out of there with something. Felt great and almost surreal to see him again last night. This trip is already off to a better start than my trip to Wrigley last year

[Maxbialystock]

Verdugo RF

Yoshida DH

Casas 1b

Devers 3b

Duran CF

Tapia LF

Kike Hernandez SS

Valdez 2b

Wong C

[notin]

Verdugo RF

Yoshida DH

Casas 1b

Devers 3b

Duran CF

Tapia LF

Kike Hernandez SS

Valdez 2b

Wong C

 

Nothing against Valdez, but Reyes gets the night off!?!! He’s been our 2023 Rogers Hornsby!!

[moonslav59]

Nothing against Valdez, but Reyes gets the night off!?!! He’s been our 2023 Rogers Hornsby!!

 

Lefty-righty thingy.

[Thunder]

I don't care if we win or lose tonight. I had a great pregame tour of the ballpark this afternoon and got to meet Don Orsillo, and tell him I grew up watching him every night.

[Nick]

Youngsters Casa and Duran batting 3rd and 5th.

 

I like it.

 

The guy in clean up spot is relatively young also.

[Nick]

6 of 9 is in my latest core group.

[notin]

Lefty-righty thingy.

 

You don’t platoon Hornsby!!

[moonslav59]

You don’t platoon Hornsby!!

 

That's what you said about Pedro Ciriaco!

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Viva Valdez!

[moonslav59]

You don’t platoon Hornsby!!

 

EValdez> Reyes> Hornsby

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Soto is a more disciplined hitter than Devers, but I'd rather have Devers.

[d-money]

Sale needs to throw strikes man.

[Maxbialystock]

A different Sale tonight.

[Maxbialystock]

Wong good behind the plate.

 

Actually, Wong great behind the plate.

 

Whoever called the 3 straight sliders, all out of the strike zone, is a genius.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Another quality start by Sale. Two mistakes to the Padres' two best hitters.

[Maxbialystock]

Another quality start by Sale. Two mistakes to the Padres' two best hitters.

 

Yep. 6 innings, 2 runs.

[d-money]

Well this game is far from over. Hope they can tack a run or two.

[Maxbialystock]

Need the good bullpen tonight.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Good 'D' by Kike tonight.

[moonslav59]

Another quality start by Sale. Two mistakes to the Padres' two best hitters.

 

He's almost got his ERA below 5.00. Gotta love the groove he's found.

 

We needed this.

 

[moonslav59]

Scary ending, but ... NICE!

[Maxbialystock]

Ugly, but a save.

[moonslav59]

Good 'D' by Kike tonight.

 

He has really been okay since those first 6 or 8 games- whatever it was.

[moonslav59]

Despite losing 4 in a row and 6 of 7 in early May, the Sox have still managed to win 13 out of the last 19, since the end of April.

 

It will be hard to keep up this pace, but we can hope...

 

Hey, right now, we have the 7th best record in MLB and are very close to 3rd through 6th, but we are not too far from 13th to 15th, either.

Edited May 21, 2023 by moonslav59

[Old Red]

Another quality start by Sale. Two mistakes to the Padres' two best hitters.

 

I was surprised to see Sale came out, and pitched the 7th last night, but another 100+ pitches, so I think we can say this Sale is pretty much back. I see Jansen got the save, but 2 BB, so Jansen seems to be a little concerning going forward.

[cukes]

Despite losing 4 in a row and 6 of 7 in early May, the Sox have still managed to win 13 out of the last 19, since the end of April.

 

It will be hard to keep up this pace, but we can hope...

 

Hey, right now, we have the 7th best record in MLB and are very close to 3rd through 6th, but we are not too far from 13th to 15th, either.

 

this team played a good baseball game and a pleasure to watch, move Casas out of that slot and put someone who can get on base more, I would flip flop him with Tapia who does more when he gets on, Sale is back sooner than expected a big plus

[Maxbialystock]

this team played a good baseball game and a pleasure to watch, move Casas out of that slot and put someone who can get on base more, I would flip flop him with Tapia who does more when he gets on, Sale is back sooner than expected a big plus

 

Good on the game and Sale.

 

I long ago decided not to challenge Cora's lineups. Casas's OBP in May is .365 and his OPS is .864. Tapia is the the 5th outfielder after Dugo, Duran, Yoshida, and Refsnyder.

[Maxbialystock]

Despite losing 4 in a row and 6 of 7 in early May, the Sox have still managed to win 13 out of the last 19, since the end of April.

 

It will be hard to keep up this pace, but we can hope...

 

Hey, right now, we have the 7th best record in MLB and are very close to 3rd through 6th, but we are not too far from 13th to 15th, either.

 

Excellent overview, as always.

 

Somewhere on posted on Talksox that, with the emergence of not only Sale, but Paxton and Bello (who needs better command), the Sox have three pretty good starters and are backed up by more so-so starters and a pretty good bullpen. So I think the immediate future of Sox pitching looks pretty good--and with it the immediate future of the team.