5/19 SOX @ Cards 1:05PM ET

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Pivetta vs Liberatore(LH)

 

Duran

Refsnyder

O'Neill(DH)

Devers

Wong

Cooper

Gonzalez

Grissom

Rafaela

 

Will Liberatore liberate the SOX offense? Stay tuned.

Btw, this game is available free on the ROKU app.

[moonslav59]

Our bats have been so inconsistent and mostly quiet.

 

My hopes of an O as good as last year's seems dashed. Although the whole league has seen a decline, ours is steeper. When it comes to timely hitting, we have been near the bottom, especially if you look at overall OPS - OPS in high leverage and late & close.

[moonslav59]

Rumors of O'Neill's demise seem to be greatly exaggerated.

 

[Old Red]

Rumors of O'Neill's demise seem to be greatly exaggerated.

 

 

Ah from the front runner that you are. Remember when you get giddy things usually turn s*****.🤮

[Jasonbay44]

Nice to see Cooper and Gonzalez contributing.

[moonslav59]

Nice interview with Bailey, during the game. He really knows his stuff.

 

(Graphic shown: we were 15th in MLB in fastballs thrown from 2021-2023. This year, we are 30th.)

 

He also expressed a lot of admiration towards Cora.

[Jasonbay44]

Nice interview with Bailey, during the game. He really knows his stuff.

 

(Graphic shown: we were 15th in MLB in fastballs thrown from 2021-2023. This year, we are 30th.)

 

He also expressed a lot of admiration towards Cora.

 

I enjoyed the O’Neill interview earlier also.

 

And some of my favorite interviews ever have been the mid game Mookie Betts interviews for both the Sox and Dodgers. MLB should take advantage of this stuff more. They have a lot of great players and personalities who give great insight that I feel like we don’t get to hear enough of.

[moonslav59]

Nice to see Cooper and Gonzalez contributing.

 

Indeed.

 

We've had too many black holes in our line-up, this year.

 

23 or more PAs:

 

7 players at .783 or higher.

 

4 players from .663 to .736

 

8 players below .618

 

The worst part is this: 5 players with 50+ PAs are between .337 and .464!

(3 are in AAA, now: Dalbec, Reyes and Valdez, but still...)

 

Feast or Famine

[Jasonbay44]

Watching Jarren Duran go from one of the worst defensive players I’ve ever seen to being an elite defender has been beautiful to watch. Awesome catch Jarren

[jad]

Why is the stadium empty? when the self-laudatory Cardinal fans constantly claim they are the best in the league?

[vegasbob]

Just tuned in. Who woke the bats up, maybe hitting in daylight helps. O'Neill responded to being trashed and Devers hits a HR with man on. Ump calls piling on.

 

Not lost in the story should be Pivetta's very good outing.

[moonslav59]

Devers on a white hot streak.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Devers may have hit a home run in five straight games, but he had to go and snap his streak of solo shots (O'Neill walked in front of him).

 

What is wrong with this guy?

[notin]

Why is the stadium empty? when the self-laudatory Cardinal fans constantly claim they are the best in the league?

 

They’re so good they’ve learned to do all their fandom remotely…

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Congrats to Devers for 5 game homer streak; congrats to Duran for shortest triple ever, his league leading 7th; and a big congrats to Pivetta for one helluva start.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Devers may have hit a home run in five straight games, but he had to go and snap his streak of solo shots (O'Neill walked in front of him).

 

What is wrong with this guy?

 

Their solo HR's stand at 33.

[vegasbob]

Refsnyder blinded by the light. Rafaela's quickness makes him look bad because he gets to balls that most wouldn't, but then he losses body control. Honestly, get a slightly smaller glove for SS

[vegasbob]

Weissert with 33 pitches to get 3 outs , shows how to jeopardize a 9-2 lead, finally only giving up 1 run.

[moonslav59]

Good to see Pivetta looking like he found the groove, again.

 

If Bello can get hot like he did last summer, we might have a solid 4 starters going forward.

 

Need these bats to get more consistent.

[moonslav59]

Refsnyder blinded by the light. Rafaela's quickness makes him look bad because he gets to balls that most wouldn't, but then he losses body control. Honestly, get a slightly smaller glove for SS

 

The announcers said Ref was a fine defender.

[moonslav59]

Wow! What a play by Rafaela!

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Hamilton hits the 34th solo.

[moonslav59]

DHam has a long way to go to prove he's a MLB player, and to try and make up a chunk of that bad JBJ for Renfroe trade, but his recent SSS stretch has been impressive:

 

Last 11 ABs

5 hits

1 single

2 doubles

1 triple

1 homer

[notin]

DHam has a long way to go to prove he's a MLB player, and to try and make up a chunk of that bad JBJ for Renfroe trade, but his recent SSS stretch has been impressive:

 

Last 11 ABs

5 hits

1 single

2 doubles

1 triple

1 homer

 

In my mind, should he be staring over Grissom? At least against RHP?

 

Also, don’t get too hung up on that JBJ trade. Bradley didn’t work out, but Renfroe has played on 3 teams since leaving Milwaukee, which was only two years ago…

Edited May 19, 2024 by notin

[Oscars]

In my mind, should he be staring over Grissom? At least against RHP?

 

Also, don’t get too hung up on that JBJ trade. Bradley didn’t work out, but Renfroe has played on 3 teams since leaving Milwaukee, which was only two years ago…

 

With the Sox desperately needing more offense, they can’t keep putting the hapless Grissom at 2nd every day.

[vegasbob]

Grissom needs a break to locate his hitting ability. If he is optionable, then go to WooSox until he can hit better than a.305 OPS.

[moonslav59]

Grissom needs a break to locate his hitting ability. If he is optionable, then go to WooSox until he can hit better than a.305 OPS.

 

He has options, but he's going to get a longer look.

 

He hit the ball hard for an out or two, today.

[moonslav59]

In my mind, should he be staring over Grissom? At least against RHP?

 

Also, don’t get too hung up on that JBJ trade. Bradley didn’t work out, but Renfroe has played on 3 teams since leaving Milwaukee, which was only two years ago…

 

I'm not as angry about the JBJ trade as some, but it was a bad one.

 

At the time, I called it a headscratcher, which caused a week long debate. I also said that Bloom must see something in DHam and or Binelas that others weren't seeing.

 

Maybe DHam helps others get over their anger.

[Maxbialystock]

Excellent win and a surprising one given the Sox 11 runs. Pivetta looked pretty doggone good, and it's just possible the rotation is still pretty good whether or not Whitlock ever returns.

 

MLB is basically all about hitting and pitching, and so far, even with the Sox no longer leading MLB in team ERA, the Sox pitching is pretty good. Well, the rotation is. I'm beginning to wonder about the bullpen.

 

So now back to the east coast and 3 vs. the Rays, who took 3 of 4 @ Fenway-but all three losses were competitive (as was the Sox one win). I plan to watch all 3 games in hopes that just maybe the hitting can turn around. Given these seven current OPS's, that should be possible: Duran .784; Refsnyder .954; O'Neill .932; Devers .939; Wong .919; Abreu .822; Gonzalez .791. Note I say "possible," not probable.

[moonslav59]

Excellent win and a surprising one given the Sox 11 runs. Pivetta looked pretty doggone good, and it's just possible the rotation is still pretty good whether or not Whitlock ever returns.

 

MLB is basically all about hitting and pitching, and so far, even with the Sox no longer leading MLB in team ERA, the Sox pitching is pretty good. Well, the rotation is. I'm beginning to wonder about the bullpen.

 

So now back to the east coast and 3 vs. the Rays, who took 3 of 4 @ Fenway-but all three losses were competitive (as was the Sox one win). I plan to watch all 3 games in hopes that just maybe the hitting can turn around. Given these seven current OPS's, that should be possible: Duran .784; Refsnyder .954; O'Neill .932; Devers .939; Wong .919; Abreu .822; Gonzalez .791. Note I say "possible," not probable.

 

Pivetta has really become a very good pitcher after his poor start in 2023.

 

ERA Leaders since May 25, 2023 (101 pitchers with 120+ IP:)

1. Snell 2.03

5. Cole 2.42

6. Lugo 2.75

8. Burnes 2.97

9. Pivetta 3.05

10. Monty 3.11

12. S Gray 3.16

26. Crawford 3.44

34. Wacha 3.64

61. Bello 4.22

 

If you go down to a 115 IP sample size, Houck places 35th with a 3.56 ERA.