Beaneater

And Kutter gets his first win despite the 0.66 ERA. Baseball is weird.

That was surprisingly unstressful. Nice job, Kenley!

Auto-strike-out!

Why the aggression? I'm trying to have fun here.

Crawford's WHIP was nothing to write home about, but 6 IP with 1 run is acceptable every day all season long.

On the rare occasions that I'm here posting, you can read about 2/3 of my comments as (attempts at) dry humor.

He should know that non-solo homers, while technically allowed, are strongly discouraged on the 2024 Red Sox.

Has something to do with the crime rate, I think.

Duly noted.

One Keller is pitching, another Keller is behind the plate.

If Houck were a Japanese high-school pitcher...

That's hilarious and disturbing.

Nice one! This lineup, on paper, really is all tail. Which probably means they're going to score 13. Aaaaaand there's the first one already.

The attached image is pretty startling in that regard.

Makin' it look easy!

I hear you, but not everyone is Ichiro. It's not working for Yoshida. I don't get to actually watch a ton of games, but I've seen him pull off and pop it up or hit a weak grounder so so many times.

I don't understand how a batting coach hasn't taken Yoshida behind a shed somewhere and forcefully explained to him that pulling off early to the 1B side is killing his swing.

Boyle has some nice stuff when he can harness it. He or Langeliers seem to be relying too much on the heat. He has people screwed up when he throws offspeed. But that straight heat at 97 is only working when it's painted or playing off the slow stuff. I know, Pitching 101.

A's in line to commit 92 errors this game and give up 77 unearned runs.

I guess if you're on Oakland, you just say, "Hey, I'm making half a million dollars to play baseball. Life is good."

Wow, the A's are really really really bad.

Baseball, as we know, is the sport of heaven. Other sports are not as good, and here is how I would change them. Basketball: The interminable series of fouls and free throws makes the end of basketball games ugly and boring. I was trying to watch the end of the NC State vs. Marquette game and almost died of boredom. It must have taken half an hour to play the last three minutes of the game. Fouls in the last minute or two of the game should result in free throws plus possession of the ball for the team that gets fouled. Soccer: I normally work in a country where soccer is king, so I have to at least pretend to like it. But flopping is awful and really detracts from any enjoyment one might otherwise draw from the game. Every match should be automatically reviewed by a video ref after the match is over, with sanctions imposed for flops. Bad flops earn a yellow card, meaning that the flopper starts the next game sitting on yellow. Really bad flops get a red card, meaning the flopper is suspended from the next game. That would end flopping in a heartbeat. Any other ideas? EDIT: What I would also change is not having a typo in the thread title.

First post in many months, as I have found the Sox entertaining for the first time in a while. My thinking is something like Millar's in 2004 before ALCS Game 4: don't let the Red Sox squeak into the playoffs. Because I don't think anyone really wants to face Paxton, Bello, and a hypothetically healthy Sale in the postseason. So I'm optimistic and really hoping they don't trade off any important pieces.

OK, fair enough! EDIT: I mean, honestly, Marco has been good this year. I know, small sample size and all, but so far he's been not just average but actively good. So why isn't he just playing 2B by default?

I haven't been following things closely recently. Is there some coherent reason that Marco Hernandez or Holt isn't playing 2B? Do we gain anything by having Owings in there?