08/12 Tigers at Fenway to Face the Red Hots

[vegasbob]

Back to the regular rotation with Brayan Bello ready to advance the Red Hots to another win . The return of a highly effective Chris Sale and TC's slugging give hope to all but the hardest of Sox fans' hearts.

 

Bello brings his stuff up against Matt Manning, RH'er with 10 starts, who has a mixed bag with a 5.+ ERA, but 1.18 WHIP against a low K total of 39 in 53.1 innings. So expect to see some balls in play. Duran and Turner back for this one?

 

Sox now have nailed 4 of last 5 and closed within 3 of the losing BJ's for the third WC , Yankees still one back. Late kudos to Chris Murphy for racking up 3 no-hit ( 2 BB's) shutout innings to cement Barraclough's first MLB win , lol.

 

With Sale looking good, Story now making contact, Reyes being a surprise , combined with Casas' thunder bat the immediate future vs lesser teams looks good. Even Cora is looking smarter and that guy Bloom, off the charts .

 

Win another one boys and keep the line moving. Now is not the time to dissect the hitting which with few exceptions is not up to par yet.

[Maxbialystock]

Back to the regular rotation with Brayan Bello ready to advance the Red Hots to another win . The return of a highly effective Chris Sale and TC's slugging give hope to all but the hardest of Sox fans' hearts.

 

Bello brings his stuff up against Matt Manning, RH'er with 10 starts, who has a mixed bag with a 5.+ ERA, but 1.18 WHIP against a low K total of 39 in 53.1 innings. So expect to see some balls in play. Duran and Turner back for this one?

 

Sox now have nailed 4 of last 5 and closed within 3 of the losing BJ's for the third WC , Yankees still one back. Late kudos to Chris Murphy for racking up 3 no-hit ( 2 BB's) shutout innings to cement Barraclough's first MLB win , lol.

 

With Sale looking good, Story now making contact, Reyes being a surprise , combined with Casas' thunder bat the immediate future vs lesser teams looks good. Even Cora is looking smarter and that guy Bloom, off the charts .

 

Win another one boys and keep the line moving. Now is not the time to dissect the hitting which with few exceptions is not up to par yet.

 

Love the 3 game win streak and ecstatic about both Sale and Murphy last night. In fact, with Whitlock returning tomorrow and Houck 2 days later, the Sox pitching could be at it's best since early 2019. Simply dumping Garza and Llovera should be cause for jubilant celebrations all over New England.

 

But the hitting ain't there, not by a long shot. Duran's August OPS is .634, Refsnyder is 0 for 6, Duvall OPS .638, Wong .579, Story .517, Devers .731, Turner injured + OPS .400, Yoshida .660, etc.

 

I've heard rumors all those guys met with Cora and asked him to stop playing Reyes and Casas because both of them are red hot and making everyone else look bad.

 

Over the last 13 games the Sox have scored an average of 3.38 runs per game. In the Sox 61 wins this season, only 13 of them occurred when the lineup scored fewer than 5 runs.

[Old Red]

Good to see JT back in the lineup today. Dugy also leading off where he’s done his best hitting this year.

[Maxbialystock]

Good to see JT back in the lineup today. Dugy also leading off where he’s done his best hitting this year.

 

I think it's possible the recent downturn in scoring is tied to the absence of Turner. Verdugo has been in a slump, but just might be coming out of it. Gotta like his defense, however.

 

Duvall and Story are both out today, which, sad to say, if fine with me.

[Maxbialystock]

Verdugo RF

Yoshida LF

Turner DH

Devers 3B

Casas 1B

Reyes SS

Duran CF

McGuire C

Urias 2B

 

Very interesting lineup with Duvall and Story both out. Also Wong--very possibly because McGuire has looked pretty good since he returned.

 

If nothing else, this suggests this club has some depth because the actual lineup looks pretty decent to me.

[vegasbob]

Verdugo RF

Yoshida LF

Turner DH

Devers 3B

Casas 1B

Reyes SS

Duran CF

McGuire C

Urias 2B

 

Very interesting lineup with Duvall and Story both out. Also Wong--very possibly because McGuire has looked pretty good since he returned.

 

If nothing else, this suggests this club has some depth because the actual lineup looks pretty decent to me.

 

Could be McGuire vs the RH Manning. Wong may also be recovering for catching most of June/July.

[vegasbob]

Bello gets the memo and complies

[vegasbob]

Where in the world of baseball are the hitters ? Showing nothing through 3 full, while Bello is struggling, but helped by 2 DPs

[Maxbialystock]

Dugo gets an absolutely fat pitch--a mistake, if you will--and pops it up to SS. After three innings, the Sox are still hitless.

 

Anyone who believes this team is not in a hitting slump is not paying attention. Before today, they averaged 3.38 runs per game for the last 13 games.

[Bellhorn04]

Uh oh, looks like the Sox ran into a hot pitcher. They can't do anything with this guy.

 

(Just trying some reverse negativity.)

[Bellhorn04]

Dugo gets an absolutely fat pitch--a mistake, if you will--and pops it up to SS. After three innings, the Sox are still hitless.

 

Anyone who believes this team is not in a hitting slump is not paying attention. Before today, they averaged 3.38 runs per game for the last 13 games.

 

Of course they are. It would be absurd to argue otherwise.

[wyo-sox]

The hitting slump concerns me... I'm more bothered by these stupid uniforms. It's dumb of me... but it's true.

[wyo-sox]

J.T. is a baseball player!!!!!!!!!

[Maxbialystock]

Anyone here remember Kike Hernandez? In the 14 games since he went to the Dodgers his OPS is .823--way above what he hit for the Sox this year (.599). It's also above the OPS's of the these Sox players in August: Duran, Dugo, Wong, Duvall, Story, Yoshida, Devers, and Turner (who missed most games with an injury).

 

If the Sox have a hitting coach, he sure ain't helping.

[Maxbialystock]

The hitting slump concerns me... I'm more bothered by these stupid uniforms. It's dumb of me... but it's true.

 

Those uniforms have done a lot more for the Sox this year than their idiot of a hitting coach.

[vegasbob]

Max, I guess the Sox may also ask themselves why no one either thought of or insisted on teaching Brasier a cutter pitch. Although they can't hit or pitch for the players , I have thought that maybe the Sox are deficient in coaching up their players both at MLB and MiLB levels .

[vegasbob]

Wondering if Bello's innings are building up on the effectiveness of his pitches ? Not very sharp today, and the hitters not helping him out. Isn't that a lengthening trend ?

[vegasbob]

Blue Jays down 4-3 to Cubs in their 6th. Really need to pull this snoozer with Tigers out of the junkpile.

[vegasbob]

Back to the BP for the next 4.1 innings in a game that is slip sliding away.

[Maxbialystock]

Max, I guess the Sox may also ask themselves why no one either thought of or insisted on teaching Brasier a cutter pitch. Although they can't hit or pitch for the players , I have thought that maybe the Sox are deficient in coaching up their players both at MLB and MiLB levels .

 

I think the Sox don't know squat about teaching/coaching/improving pitching. That's why they have always relied heavily on acquiring pitchers developed by other teams. And let's not forget that this year Eovaldi, Wacha, and ERod are all pitching way better than they ever did for the Sox.

 

And now, because of the very recent example of how Kike suddenly began hitting again after going to the Dodgers, I'm beginning to think the Sox don't know much about hitting either. The greatest Sox hitter ever, Ted Williams, learned absolute zippo about hitting from the Sox coaches/managers.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Maxbialystock

[vegasbob]

Dugo not just in a slump, but very unlucky as well. One breeds the other.

[Maxbialystock]

After 5 innings, the Sox have 1 run--unearned, of course.

[vegasbob]

You can almost sense when the Sox from Cora on down are just not much interested in a game. Llovera warming up shows AC is thinking about dinner , not bailing this one out

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

A grand slam could still tie this on. Are you listening Reyes?

[Maxbialystock]

You can almost sense when the Sox from Cora on down are just not much interested in a game. Llovera warming up shows AC is thinking about dinner , not bailing this one out

 

This is absolutely not on Cora. The Tigers starter Manning gave up 6, 4, and 8 runs in his last 3 starts--and today's he's given up 1 hit and 1 unearned run.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Instead of tattooing their arms it may be beneficial if the SOX started tattooing the baseball.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Instead of tattooing their arms it may be beneficial if the SOX started tattooing the baseball.

 

Paint no sunshine when they're home

Bats ain't warm when they away

Paint no scoreboard when Raffy's head is gone

And it's been gone too long

Anytime... home or away...

[notin]

On the bright side, Chris Morel just doubled home the lead run in the 9th inning, giving the Cubs a 5-4 lead at Toronto…

[vegasbob]

Paint no sunshine when they're home

Bats ain't warm when they away

Paint no scoreboard when Raffy's head is gone

And it's been gone too long

Anytime... home or away...

 

Our chances are Withering away

[notin]

You can almost sense when the Sox from Cora on down are just not much interested in a game. Llovera warming up shows AC is thinking about dinner , not bailing this one out

 

Should he waste a good reliever here? The Sox have less punch than the headless Rock Em Sock Em Robot…