Nationals (Mikolas) vs Red Sox (Suarez): 6/29/26, 7:10pm

[moonslav59]

21 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Nope. The Sox had 14 straight quality starts back in 1988.

Ah yes, Tolle only went 5 IP (3ER) 14 games ago, and Bennett went 5.1 (2 ER) 13 games ago. My bad. 

For some reason I was thinking 5 IP was the cut off.

The last bad start by a Sox pitcher was 15 games ago. Early vs TEX:

4.2 IP

11 Hits

6 ER

2 BB & 3K

[moonslav59]

24 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Nope. The Sox had 14 straight quality starts back in 1988.

I've always felt that 3 ER in 6IP is not better than 2 ER in 5 IP or even 1ER in 4 IP, and in recent years, with SP'er going less and less IP, maybe we should keep track using my criteria over 3 ER in 6IP. (Hell, why isn't 4 ER in 8 IP even better, then? Same ERA and less taxing of the pen.)

4ER or less in 8 IP+

3ER or less in 6 IP+

2ER or less in 5 IP+ (at least 1 ER or less in 5IP)

1 ER or less in 4IP (at least 0 ER in 4 IP should count.)

[Old Red]

10 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

And half our fans don't understand why we haven't DFAd Durbin yet.

Half? What an exaggeration? Back to WOO maybe, and at the time that was widespread.

[Bellhorn04]

7 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I've always felt that 3 ER in 6IP is not better than 2 ER in 5 IP or even 1ER in 4 IP, and in recent years, with SP'er going less and less IP, maybe we should keep track using my criteria over 3 ER in 6IP. (Hell, why isn't 4 ER in 8 IP even better, then? Same ERA and less taxing of the pen.)

4ER or less in 8 IP+

3ER or less in 6 IP+

2ER or less in 5 IP+ (at least 1 ER or less in 5IP)

1 ER or less in 4IP (at least 0 ER in 4 IP should count.)

I'm fine with most of that, but the 4 innings one is debatable because it leaves 5 innings for the pen.  4 scoreless innings is not unhelpful, but a starter generally needs to go longer than that.

All subjective stuff of course.

[Bellhorn04]

11 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

I have Fred on ignore.  It makes the site far better, at least for me.

I did the same a while ago.  Now I just get a chuckle out of how many times the words "You've chosen to ignore content by Fred Lynn" appears on my screen while scrolling game threads.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I did the same a while ago.  Now I just get a chuckle out of how many times the words "You've chosen to ignore content by Fred Lynn" appears on my screen while scrolling game threads.

It's sometimes hard to ignore comments to posts by those on ignore, but it does make it easier by avoiding it all. At least Fred doesn't lie and distort what others say, so I can tolerate his extreme negativity. To each his own.

[notin]

10 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

 

I dispute the word exceptional unless GM stands for garbage man.

The word “exceptional” in education is used in the same context as “special”…

[JoeBrady]

10 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

I think it's been longer if you're referring to the starting pitching.

Exclude Bello's one start, and I believe our starting 5 has an ERA under 3.00 in the past 28 days.

[notin]

10 hours ago, FredLynn said:

We should be sellers at the deadline. Not really interested in a one and out in the unlikely event we do make the playoffs. 

50% of the teams that play in the first round get eliminated.  Sort of how postseasons work…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

The word “exceptional” in education is used in the same context as “special”…

In education, are exceptional needs the same as special needs? Moon? Kimmy?

My brain is just barely ordinary, but if it was excessively ordinary it would be remarkably unremarkable.

It's ok, my birthday is this weekend when in teen numerical parlance I turn indifferent. That's right: officially inconsequential.

[Bellhorn04]

16 minutes ago, notin said:

The word “exceptional” in education is used in the same context as “special”…

Which illustrates the games we can play with words.

[illinoisredsox]

12 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

It appears umpires frequently eject players for tapping the helmet because it is interpreted as disputing an umpires call. Truly chicken shite.

I've found one other time it has happened.  It was last season and the player involved was Taylor Walls of the Marlins.  The umpire was ......  Nic Lentz.

I guess it's similar to drawing a line on the ground with your bat if you don't like a call.  

Big difference between Walls and Contreras was Lentz was the home plate umpire and Walls looked at him when he tapped.  Contreras never looked at Lentz and was most of the way back to the dugout, which means Lentz was watching him the whole way, looking/listening for something. for something.  He wanted to toss him.

Lentz will be behind the plate tonight.  I think every fan in attendance should tap their heads on every ball/strike call.

[moonslav59]

35 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Exclude Bello's one start, and I believe our starting 5 has an ERA under 3.00 in the past 28 days.

And the team is 12-13 in those 4 weeks. Pretty sad.

The whole staff has a 3.37 ERA in this time period, and the worst pitchers have been...

14.40 Bello (5 IP)

8.64 Slaten (8.1)

7.50 Chapman (6.0)

5.06 Early (26.2)

4.50 Kahnle (8.0)

3.27 Watson (11.0)

All the others are at 3.00 or below.

Coulombe, Whitlock, Guerrero, Moran and Gamboa have throw 22 IP and allowed 3 ERs--a 1.23 ERA. Weissert is at 2.45.

The other SP'ers besides Early at 4.50 are:

2.10 Suarez

2.14 Gray

2.78 Bennett

3.00 Tolle

[moonslav59]

29 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

In education, are exceptional needs the same as special needs? Moon? Kimmy?

My brain is just barely ordinary, but if it was excessively ordinary it would be remarkably unremarkable.

It's ok, my birthday is this weekend when in teen numerical parlance I turn indifferent. That's right: officially inconsequential.

In education, the word "exceptional" is often substituted for "special needs," but it is also used for GT (gifted & talented.) There are some SpEd students that are gifted & talented in some areas-- like The Rainman.

WE can all agree on one thing, Fred would be an exceptionally bad GM and would be fired day two, anyway, after spending way more than JH allowed.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

It's sometimes hard to ignore comments to posts by those on ignore, but it does make it easier by avoiding it all. At least Fred doesn't lie and distort what others say, so I can tolerate his extreme negativity. To each his own.

Says the man behind the curtain who lies, and distorts himself. It’s a curse, and not a gift, and most of the time resides on the WRONG side of Memphis.🙈🤮

[FredLynn]

1 hour ago, notin said:

50% of the teams that play in the first round get eliminated.  Sort of how postseasons work…

The building blocks were there over the winter for this team to stand a decent chance not to be one of them. Unfortunately Henry was too cheap and BresLOW too dumb to fortify the offense that EVERYONE knew needed help. Now we are a last place team with great SPing and defense. Unacceptable.

[Old Red]

36 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

In education, the word "exceptional" is often substituted for "special needs," but it is also used for GT (gifted & talented.) There are some SpEd students that are gifted & talented in some areas-- like The Rainman.

WE can all agree on one thing, Fred would be an exceptionally bad GM and would be fired day two, anyway, after spending way more than JH allowed.

No we can’t all agree. You’ve thrown out thousands of suggested trades that never happened, and that says it all. Fred would be better than that.👏

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

In education, are exceptional needs the same as special needs? Moon? Kimmy?

My brain is just barely ordinary, but if it was excessively ordinary it would be remarkably unremarkable.

It's ok, my birthday is this weekend when in teen numerical parlance I turn indifferent. That's right: officially inconsequential.

I can't keep up with school terminology.  I asked someone that teaches in special ed, and even they didn't know what this year's words are.  And it'll change next year anyway.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I can tolerate his extreme negativity.

A bad record is fair game for everyone, but I prefer some intellect to the comments.  Arguing for or against Duran/Paredes is interesting.

Dismissing Ceddanne after two spring training ABs is someone begging to not be taken seriously.

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I can't keep up with school terminology.  I asked someone that teaches in special ed, and even they didn't know what this year's words are.  And it'll change next year anyway.

I'm moving from ESL to SpEd, next year. I've been in hundreds of ARDs over the past few years- dually served students.

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

A bad record is fair game for everyone, but I prefer some intellect to the comments.  Arguing for or against Duran/Paredes is interesting.

Dismissing Ceddanne after two spring training ABs is someone begging to not be taken seriously.

Ceddanne is a rarity. I can understand how someone could have serious doubts about his chances at improving.

That being said, his improvement was obvious and constant, despite the slumps.

He's admitted he was wrong- something some posters have never come close to doing.

[Bellhorn04]

10 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Dismissing Ceddanne after two spring training ABs is someone begging to not be taken seriously.

That was exactly when I put him on ignore LOL.

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

A bad record is fair game for everyone, but I prefer some intellect to the comments.  Arguing for or against Duran/Paredes is interesting.

That trade made too much sense for me to not happen, but obviously HOU saw the Duran wiring on the wall.

When I look at Brez's moves and how he has transformed the pitching pipeline, I have to think he wasn't alone in thinking the foundation he was handed and tweaked was just not all that good. Most of us, even Fred, expected more wins in 2026 than 2025, yet we stand in judgement over Brez with many saying he should be fired, he sucks or worse.

I guess we'd be fore firing ourselves, too, because what almost all of us wanted have sucked worse than Contreras, Suarez and Gray. Remember the long threads on Gray not being a #2? Hell, he's been a #1, so far! Contreras was downplayed due to his age, but he's doing better than every available bat except Schwarber. Choosing a pitcher (Suarez) over a big bat was and still is a legit debate, but who can argue that adding Suarez was a bad signing, at least in isolation? To me, in hindsight, had we known we'd be adding Gray and Suarez, we would and should not have traded for Oviedo. I'm not pretending that package would land us a big bat, but we might have added to it and gotten one.

BTW, HOU still needs an OF'er, but I'm pretty sure it's still not Duran. 

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

That was exactly when I put him on ignore LOL.

He totally ignored the actual facts and trend. At least he's not disrespectful and does not distort our positions. To me, that is worse than extreme negativity.

[notin]

35 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

The building blocks were there over the winter for this team to stand a decent chance not to be one of them. Unfortunately Henry was too cheap and BresLOW too dumb to fortify the offense that EVERYONE knew needed help. Now we are a last place team with great SPing and defense. Unacceptable.

Henry might have been cheap but the team is scoring more than they are allowing, which is normally a winning formula. Breslow might be a thoroughly intolerable human being, but his additions over the last couple seasons have actually all been very good players that have done very good jobs.   Just because he didn’t get the players you wanted doesn’t change that.  I mean, you were the most vocal critic about the acquisition of Sonny Gray, and the guy is looking like a legitimate Cy Young candidate.

By the way, if Henry was too cheap, how on Earth was he Breslow “too dumb”?  Youre openly admitting he didn’t have money to spend and then being critical of him for not spending.

The reality as Hugh has pointed out, is that Breslow added multiple legitimate All Star level contributors to a playoff team from last year that had only one real key departure (not counting Devers, whose absence was barely noticeable) but the team is struggling due to the returning players.   
 

If Breslow had spent more money to retain Alex Bregman, would he have done a good job? If only the Sox had Bregman’s OPS+ of 95 instead of suffering through Caleb Durbin and his paltry OPS+ of 91…

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He totally ignored the actual facts and trend. At least he's not disrespectful and does not distort our positions. To me, that is worse than extreme negativity.

Disrespectful, and a distorter. 😂😭

[Bellhorn04]

23 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He totally ignored the actual facts and trend. At least he's not disrespectful and does not distort our positions. To me, that is worse than extreme negativity.

I have had plenty of back and forth with Fred over the years.  It's not really the negativity that finally did me in so much as the redundancy.  He says the same things over and over and over.  How many times has he already said the Sox should be trying to lose now instead of win?  I'm guessing it's a bundle.  And it will be a bundle more.

[notin]

15 hours ago, FredLynn said:

Ellsbury is Navajo 

He’s the only other one

So if the Sox brought back Ellsbury as a coach, could the Sox have a wind talker approach to signaling?

[moonslav59]

20 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I have had plenty of back and forth with Fred over the years.  It's not really the negativity that finally did me in so much as the redundancy.  He says the same things over and over and over.  How many times has he already said the Sox should be trying to lose now instead of win?  I'm guessing it's a bundle.  And it will be a bundle more.

True, the redundancy is tiresome.

Only the poster who begins half is his posts with "Like I said before..." is more redundant.

[FredLynn]

53 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

That trade made too much sense for me to not happen, but obviously HOU saw the Duran wiring on the wall.

When I look at Brez's moves and how he has transformed the pitching pipeline, I have to think he wasn't alone in thinking the foundation he was handed and tweaked was just not all that good. Most of us, even Fred, expected more wins in 2026 than 2025, yet we stand in judgement over Brez with many saying he should be fired, he sucks or worse.

I guess we'd be fore firing ourselves, too, because what almost all of us wanted have sucked worse than Contreras, Suarez and Gray. Remember the long threads on Gray not being a #2? Hell, he's been a #1, so far! Contreras was downplayed due to his age, but he's doing better than every available bat except Schwarber. Choosing a pitcher (Suarez) over a big bat was and still is a legit debate, but who can argue that adding Suarez was a bad signing, at least in isolation? To me, in hindsight, had we known we'd be adding Gray and Suarez, we would and should not have traded for Oviedo. I'm not pretending that package would land us a big bat, but we might have added to it and gotten one.

BTW, HOU still needs an OF'er, but I'm pretty sure it's still not Duran. 

It was never a case of Suarez OR a big bat. We needed both. BresLOW didn’t half the job. At this point Gray is exceeding my expectations but it’s only June. As with Rafaela I’ll wait until the end of the year in September to make a final assessment.