Red Sox (Buehler) vs Padres (Pivetta): 8/8/25, 9:40pm

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

What a great win @ San Diego!!  Although Buehler was the underdog, I thought his fast ball and curve were almost as good as Pivetta's, which I did not expect.

I also didn't expect the Sox to score 5 runs off Pivetta and especially that Yoshida would break out with a double and a dinger and 3 rbi's.  Cora knows best.

I watched the entire game although I did doze off a couple times (long day, old man).  

Pretty crazy how quickly some were to write off Yoshida.  He obviously needed a bit of time to get back in the groove.  He's a good hitter.  Way overpaid but that's beside the point.

[Maxbialystock]

3 hours ago, tawest said:

Application complete. Nice outing for WB.

 

Yeah.  I think we all underestimated Buehler even though he did have 2 quality starts in July.

Last night it torqued me that Pivetta got away with mostly fastballs in the 1st inning.  Then that excellent curved showed up in the 2d and I was sure we were in for a long and painful night.

But the Sox got to Pivetta, and Buehler's own curve ball wasn't too shabby, ditto his slider and fastball.  

Our two worst hitters, Yoshida and Wong, each had 2 hits and 3 rbi's.  

Duran ain't no Rafaela in CF, but made a couple of nice grabs. 

I hate Rafaela at 2b, but last night the three lefty bats in the outfield did just fine.  

 

[Maxbialystock]

8 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Pretty crazy how quickly some were to write off Yoshida.  He obviously needed a bit of time to get back in the groove.  He's a good hitter.  Way overpaid but that's beside the point.

 

[Maxbialystock]

11 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Toro makes the defensive plays, but no one will refer to him as smooth.

Good point.  

[Maxbialystock]

11 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Pivettaboutit! Now this is the Pivetta I remember.

Another bon mot.  

[notin]

43 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Pretty crazy how quickly some were to write off Yoshida.  He obviously needed a bit of time to get back in the groove.  He's a good hitter.  Way overpaid but that's beside the point.

Some?

Cop to it, man.  You blazed that trail years ago…

[Nick]

2 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

Meh.  Everybody has injuries, even expensive ones.  As it turns out--see spotrac--the Sox injured salaries total is ranked 19th in MLB.  

 

My point was there were possibilities of Sandoval pitching in September. All I hear now is cricket. He is not even listed on "injury update".

Yeah, I know everyone has injuries.

[Bellhorn04]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Some?

Cop to it, man.  You blazed that trail years ago…

I always said it was a horrible signing at that price, and I haven't changed my mind.  But what's done is done and with Devers gone he fits the DH role, and he can put up a 115 OPS+ or so.

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Some?

Cop to it, man.  You blazed that trail years ago…

Yoshida has never been worth his salary/contract, but we already know that.  Right now he's on a team that is good at winning baseball games and has good pitching, good hitting, good defense, good baserunning, and a manager who know how to put those skills together in a lineup.  That's a team Yoshida can only want to be a working part of.  

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Nick said:

And no update on Sandoval.....ugh. I thought he maybe returning in September?

Basically we are paying him $18M to pitch in 2026.

The announced Sandoval was done for 2025. Same thing happened to Hendriks, last year, and then he barely pitched, this year- and badly when he did.

Same with Paxton, years ago.

These deals never work for us. The one that did, Gio, was not supposed to miss year one.

[moonslav59]

We are not only beating really good teams on the road, we beat a pitcher having a great year on the left coast!

[Bellhorn04]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

We are not only beating really good teams on the road, we beat a pitcher having a great year on the left coast!

And did it with a pitcher having a bad year.

[cp176]

Couple of things really stood out to me last night.  Maybe I just started paying attention.   Buehler’s pitching for one -  who would have thunk it.  This is a team that is filled with real athletes from top to bottom.  Physically it just looks like a team that is very fit.  Great team speed.  

I was happy to see one of my favorites Connor Wong getting it done last night.  Good for him.  

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

NESN's guest announcers the other night were extolling the virtues of Yoshida's running style. Not the fastest, but technically perfect.

[Bellhorn04]

6 minutes ago, cp176 said:

Couple of things really stood out to me last night.  Maybe I just started paying attention.   Buehler’s pitching for one -  who would have thunk it.  This is a team that is filled with real athletes from top to bottom.  Physically it just looks like a team that is very fit.  Great team speed.  

I was happy to see one of my favorites Connor Wong getting it done last night.  Good for him.  

It's always nice to see guys like Buehler and Wong shut up the boo birds for one game at least.

[moonslav59]

43 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

And did it with a pitcher having a bad year.

Indeed! 

This is just one game, but the feel of this team looks super nice, right now.

[Maxbialystock]

3 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

It's always nice to see guys like Buehler and Wong shut up the boo birds for one game at least.

You mean the FredLynn's of the world?  Not likely.  If he had been on talksox for the 2018 season he would have been badmouthing everyone all season long.  He does that, he claims, so that there is an alternative perspective.