Red Sox (Giolito) vs Cubs (Rea): 7/18/25, 2:20pm

[Tedballgame]

1 minute ago, Tedballgame said:

Weissert pouring gas on the fire.

 

Given up a walk and two rockets to the first three hitters.

[Maxbialystock]

Just now, ocaladick said:

Two things - first, why do we have a major league pictcher walking the first 2 batters before giving up a gopher ball? What is he doing in the majors if he can't throw a strike whenever it is needed. Second, all this talk about trading Duran is total idiocrasy! If you want to get rid of an outfielder, dump Abeau (Mr. strikeout king). 

I guess Toro was so happy that he finally got a hit, that he left his brains at home plate.....

I HATE WALKS FOR THEM AND STRIKEOUTS FOR US.

Abreu has a higher OPS and higher WAR than Duran, leads the Sox in dingers with 18, and is a better outfielder.

Duran has 103 K's to Abreu's 71 going into this game.  

 

[vegasbob]

I know that overall Weissert has been an asset and effective, but does he ever get the first guy he faces ?  Not often enough.

[d-money]

Winning streak in jeopardy. I knew it was gonna be snapped by the cubs. 

[vegasbob]

2 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Abreu has a higher OPS and higher WAR than Duran, leads the Sox in dingers with 18, and is a better outfielder.

Duran has 103 K's to Abreu's 71 going into this game.  

 

You just saved me with stats from saying that as a fan, I would much prefer to keep Duran than Abreu.  Appreciate the data to correct that eyeball  favoritism

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

11 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

Its certainly not baserunning.

Nope, just scooping.

[Maxbialystock]

2 minutes ago, d-money said:

Winning streak in jeopardy. I knew it was gonna be snapped by the cubs. 

You're so clairvoyant.  And modest too.

As I said on page 1, the Cubs win 2 of 3 games at Wrigley and the Sox have a losing record on the road.  

We should have been dead, dead, dead after that 1st inning 3 run dinger.  But Giolito righted himself until the 6th when Weissert did him no favors.  

[Deja Doh]

Rafaela got robbed of that double, settles for single.  The rather portly ball adult needs to be fired.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Gio did recover nicely after the 1st.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, Deja Doh said:

Rafaela got robbed of that double, settles for single.  The rather portly ball adult needs to be fired.

From a cannon.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Pressly has left the building.

[Maxbialystock]

9 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

You just saved me with stats from saying that as a fan, I would much prefer to keep Duran than Abreu.  Appreciate the data to correct that eyeball  favoritism

Meh.  I think a case can be made for Duran despite those stats.  His speed is still ridiculous.  I think his so-so fielding days are over even though his throw home was on the wrong side of home plate.  He's 4th on the Sox in rbi's.  And, believe it or not, he leads the Sox in total bases with 172. Rafaela is 2d with 153.  My guess is he has a lot more fan appeal than Abreu.  

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Impressive out by Anthony. He may be the best hitter on the Sox already.

[d-money]

13 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

You're so clairvoyant.  And modest too.

As I said on page 1, the Cubs win 2 of 3 games at Wrigley and the Sox have a losing record on the road.  

We should have been dead, dead, dead after that 1st inning 3 run dinger.  But Giolito righted himself until the 6th when Weissert did him no favors.  

That’s my point. They gotta fix that road record. Cubs are pretty good too.  The al East is still there but gotta beat the very good teams. 

[vegasbob]

How the heck is Drew Pomeranz still pitching in MLB ?  Anthony ropes it but needed a little more launch angle. Maybe he can learn from Abreu.

Way too many LOBsters today killing the effort  to win 11

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

4 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

,,, 

 

[Maxbialystock]

10 minutes ago, Deja Doh said:

Rafaela got robbed of that double, settles for single.  The rather portly ball adult needs to be fired.

We know for a fact that it bounced inbounds but landed out of bounds.  The question is whether it was fair when it passed over 3b.  I think the home plate umpire called it right because it landed just beyond 3b and therefore probably was out as it passed over 3b.  

[Deja Doh]

7th inning stretch at Wrigley is usually pretty cool.  Old video replay of Harry Carey singing it is okay.  Fenway's is okay.  The absolute best is the Dodgers as they play it twice.  

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

"The great Jon Lester." OB throws that word great around like it was a Frisbee.

[Deja Doh]

2 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

We know for a fact that it bounced inbounds but landed out of bounds.  The question is whether it was fair when it passed over 3b.  I think the home plate umpire called it right because it landed just beyond 3b and therefore probably was out as it passed over 3b.  

The 3rd base umpire has the best view and clearly had the best view and called it fair.  Straight lining  it from initial bounce to where it landed on the other side of the chalk line in foul would still put it over the bag.

[Maxbialystock]

6 minutes ago, d-money said:

That’s my point. They gotta fix that road record. Cubs are pretty good too.  The al East is still there but gotta beat the very good teams. 

Well, I suppose the good news today is that after the 1st inning it's been a 1-1 tie through 7 innings.  

I think the Sox lineup works better with Narvaez dropped down to about 8th in the batting order.  

Hah!  Yoshida just struck pinch-hitting for Narvaez.  

[Tedballgame]

What a lay down 8th inning by the Sox hitters

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Except for the terrible Rockies and Nationals the Sox have been anemic offensively of late. 

[Maxbialystock]

7 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

"The great Jon Lester." OB throws that word great around like it was a Frisbee.

Of course. He was great in 2016, the year the Cubs finally won the WS.  

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

31 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

You just saved me with stats from saying that as a fan, I would much prefer to keep Duran than Abreu.  Appreciate the data to correct that eyeball  favoritism

I don't care which OF's they trade as long as it isn't Anthony and Rafaela.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, Maxbialystock said:

Of course. He was great in 2016, the year the Cubs finally won the WS.  

Never liked him. He has the personality of an armpit.

[Maxbialystock]

4 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Except for the terrible Rockies and Nationals the Sox have been anemic offensively of late. 

Not so.  Over the past 15 games the Sox have scored 110 runs, 7.3 runs per game.  

Today, granted, not so much.  

[Maxbialystock]

4 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

I don't care which OF's they trade as long as it isn't Anthony and Rafaela.

Amen.  

[Nick]

Pretty even game, both teams with 6 hits and 4 walks. Of course there was that 3 run homer.

When you start the game by extending 3-2 counts to first two hitters, as the next batter, I would guess that I would look for a fastball. That's exactly what the hitter got and he crushed it. 

All because of 2 walks with 2 strikes. That was the ball game. We didn't hit any homers.

I don't care what anyone here says, Anthony needs to learn to lift the ball. Hell he'd hit 40+ homers.

[vegasbob]

So 1 down, 63 to go to see where this bunch winds up.    Not an auspicious first game but take the next 2 and all will be well.

The Sox looked sluggish after the break, and the first 3 Cubs hitters sealed the outcome.     Never will figure out why Sox pitchers have trouble in the first. They avoided that during the 10 game W streak.   Watch some video boys and get on track.