Red Sox (Houck) vs Guardians (Lively) Game 1 (1:10pm) ; Buehler vs Nikhazy Game 2 (6:10pm): 4/26/25

[d-money]

Not much different from last year.  Smh

[vegasbob]

One run loss , due to a HBP on a leadoff guy by Bernie,  or a rousing win on a comefrom behind.  Find out shortly

[vegasbob]

Sox are 4-6 in the season in 1 run games

[vegasbob]

4-7 in one run games.

Too bad Storyland has been closed for the past few games, going about 0-17.       

Devers, Bregman and Story at bat with 2 on and 0, 1 &2 outs respectively.  Story takes the knee as he strikes out.   Nobody produced nada in the 9th

[Thunder]

The streak is over. First loss I’ve seen in person since August 2022. But I wasn’t supposed to go to this game. Only picked up a ticket last night.

[moonslav59]

Another tough loss and winnable game gone by.

Gotta get em game 2.

 

[vegasbob]

24 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Another tough loss and winnable game gone by.

Gotta get em game 2.

 

This is how a .500 team stays that way  .  Tough losses,  blow a lead , fall behind early, one BP mistake, and a failed rally with your best hitters up with MoB.

[jdc69]

Why do they constantly take pitchers out when they are doing well? It's freakin irking me.

[Thunder]

Multiple people around me are yelling at Duran and saying he needs a tennis racket, which is at best moderately annoying and at worst totally uncalled for. The dude made one mistake and the world is never going to let him forget it.

[vegasbob]

21 minutes ago, Thunder said:

Multiple people around me are yelling at Duran and saying he needs a tennis racket, which is at best moderately annoying and at worst totally uncalled for. The dude made one mistake and the world is never going to let him forget it.

Duran got them with a sharp RBI single

[Thunder]

Yeah keep on yelling it you bums

[Jasonbay44]

I love Jarren Duran. They’ll never make me hate him 

[jad]

after that interview a couple of weeks ago, I'm a JD fan.  Love that last play; even after laying out, he recovered to get the ball back to the infield.  Quite a different player  (person?) from what he was two years ago.

[Thunder]

He’s far and away my favorite player on this team. I resonate so much with the way he carries himself and plays the game

[moonslav59]

Nice, somewhat comfortable win.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

The Sox got 6 against a rookie LH, who had nothing. The Cleveland reliever gave up 1 run in 6 innings. The truth of the matter is holding down this current offense from the 4th inning on is no big deal.

They've demonstrated that most of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jasonbay44]

3 hours ago, Thunder said:

He’s far and away my favorite player on this team. I resonate so much with the way he carries himself and plays the game

Yeah I’ve been a fan of him. I hated the way his career started but I’m glad he’s overcame it. Nice to see him have a big game today, hopefully he gets hot now 

[Old Red]

56 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

The Sox got 6 against a rookie LH, who had nothing. The Cleveland reliever gave up 1 run in 6 innings. The truth of the matter is holding down this current offense from the 4th inning on is no big deal.

They've demonstrated that most of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was nice to get at lest 1 win today, but pretty much another day of MEH.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

The Sox got 6 against a rookie LH, who had nothing. The Cleveland reliever gave up 1 run in 6 innings. The truth of the matter is holding down this current offense from the 4th inning on is no big deal.

They've demonstrated that most of the season.

Always seeing the bright spots.

[Thunder]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Always seeing the bright spots.

On the contrary, here are some actual bright spots I noticed from sitting through two games in the cold today:

 

1. We weren’t striking out as much today. When you put the ball in play good things happen.

 

2. A bunch of the outs, particularly with men on base, were hard hit. I kept looking up at the videoboard and seeing EVs of 90+. We are making solid contact more often than not. Not all of those are going to drop in. That’s baseball. But, it is however, a very good sign.

[Bellhorn04]

10 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

The Sox got 6 against a rookie LH, who had nothing. The Cleveland reliever gave up 1 run in 6 innings. The truth of the matter is holding down this current offense from the 4th inning on is no big deal.

They've demonstrated that most of the season.

Man, the numbers really bear this out.

Sox offense:

Innings 1-3 61 runs .847 OPS 

4-6 34 runs .636 OPS

7-9 36 runs .679 OPS

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Man, the numbers really bear this out.

Sox offense:

Innings 1-3 61 runs .847 OPS 

4-6 34 runs .636 OPS

7-9 36 runs .679 OPS

Advance scouts are drooling at drawing Boston in the first round of the playoffs. They can just use openers to beat the Sox, and rest their entire starting rotation for the second round.

[Thunder]

Lol, it’s April.

[harmony]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Man, the numbers really bear this out.

Sox offense:

Innings 1-3 61 runs .847 OPS 

4-6 34 runs .636 OPS

7-9 36 runs .679 OPS

The American League averages:

Innings 1-3: .729 OPS

Innings 4-6: .694 OPS

Innings 7-9: .636 OPS

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/split.cgi?t=b&lg=AL&year=2025

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Dichtomy of a forum during baseball season: posters continually discuss ways to improve their favorite team based on observed concerns while at the same time reminding themselves it's always still early.

If it's not Only Spring Training, it's only April, and not yet Memorial Day, but not yet Fourth of July, and not even the trade deadline, and not yet Labor Day, and have a happy Halloween.

[Bellhorn04]

It's not all gloom and doom.  Some stuff has been going right.  Crochet, Buehler, Chapman, Slaten, Bregman, Campbell, Abreu, Duran starting to heat up etc. 

If they have reasonable health luck they really should make the playoffs.   

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

5 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

It's not all gloom and doom.  Some stuff has been going right.  Crochet, Buehler, Chapman, Slaten, Bregman, Campbell, Abreu, Duran starting to heat up etc. 

If they have reasonable health luck they really should make the playoffs.   

Whitlock! Need more quality pitching depth -- starters to go longer and/or more trustworthy relievers -- to ensure reasonable health for Whitlock and Slaten (Chapman is a beast).

[Bellhorn04]

4 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Whitlock! Need more quality pitching depth -- starters to go longer and/or more trustworthy relievers -- to ensure reasonable health for Whitlock and Slaten (Chapman is a beast).

Lazy post by me - I knew I was leaving someone important out.  I love Whitlock. 

[Old Red]

16 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

It's not all gloom and doom.  Some stuff has been going right.  Crochet, Buehler, Chapman, Slaten, Bregman, Campbell, Abreu, Duran starting to heat up etc. 

If they have reasonable health luck they really should make the playoffs.   

Agree so far, but I want to see how Cro Man looks in Aug-Sept, and hopefully Oct. yes some things have gone right, but what’s most important the W-L isn’t nothing to be happy about in a weak AL East, and a American League too.It’s postseason, or bust, or it would be another wasted season.

[moonslav59]

It does look like Duran is coming around. That steal of home might get his juices flowing.

Devers has looked better, too, and I keep bringing up that he's hitting the ball significantly harder (by %) than any other Sox player over the 2025 season.

Story seems to be cooling off, but still piling up the rbis.

The notorious slow starter, Bregman, might be on pace for a career year.

While I did not expect our catchers to hit well, this year, I'm hoping they can vastly improve on their .158 BA and .499 combined OPS.

I'm not expecting Rafaela to hit .700, and he may not top .650, which might be as low as his defense can carry.

Casas is the guy we should expect to vastly improve, as others likely cool down.

As for the pitching, we see some unexpected names on some leaderboards, including Chapman, Weissert and our 9-10 SP'ers on the preseason depth chart:

xFIP

2.46 Chapman

2.72 Weissert

3.13 Crochet

3.30 Whitlock

3.39 Dobbins

3.49 Newcomb

3.58 Kelly

3.63 Buehler

3.95 Slaten

ERA-

42 Chapman, 45 Crochet, 47 Whitlock, 60 Dobbins, 66 Bernardino, 77 Fitts, 88 Slaten, 89 Weissert, 94 Wink

We need bottom dweller, Houck, to get his act together.