mvp 78

Maybe these are just things I didn't notice earlier in the summer? Admittedly, I'm watching more Sox games now than when they were rolling earlier in the year, but it's been ugly recently. It's a team with some good amount of star power, but they just aren't running on all cylinders. Something is off and I'm not sure what it is. I don't want to put all the blame on Cora, but the team feels very uncoached or at the very least just running through the motions.

They couldn't even finish of the Guardians the other day because they had to rest half of their pen. Now they are just going with a bullpen game? What the Hell?

Well, the chances for the division sailed away a few weeks ago. I can see how their current play is not inspiring confidence. The Rays are a solid ball club. They play hard. They are good defensively. Their pitchers keep them competitive each game. The lineup is decent 1-9. A lot of times, it feels like the Sox often are a confused Sam Beckett who has just leaped into a new person's body and unsure where they are and what time it is.

When I went to more games, I'd always check with a third party site like http://www.preciseseating.com/fenwaypark2.php . It's embarassing that they still sell s***** seats like that.

The nightmare scenario is them trading Xander and signing some FA SS who pulls a Rentawreck on us.

Here's my realistic view on 8/31/21: This team is going to struggle down the stretch due to poor defense, poor relieving and poor baserunning. When you watch the Rays and Sox play each other, you really see the contrast. The Sox make stupid stupid mistakes. Why would Xander round 2b on a ball hit right to one of the best CFers in the game? What's with the string of interference/obstruction issues? Players seem to be out of position or unaware of where the ball should go. While Vaz has a high defensive rating per advanced metrics, he just doesn't inspire confidence behind the plate. The relief corps has been white knuckle since the deadline or so. The lineup is very top heavy and the Sox struggle at stringing together hits. This is probably just what happens when you are regressing from the beginning of the season when they were playing over their heads. Is this a player issue? A coaching issue? Just happenstance? It's just very frustrating watching this team doggie paddle for the past month.

I agree. The stadium is unique and historic. However, it's a horrible place to watch a game live in way too many seats. They should have moved to the waterfront 20 years ago.

He used 7 bullpen arms. Whitlock can’t throw 2 innings every game. Need to save his bullets since nobody else there is reliable. The faults of the pen are on Bloom IMO.

Managing a s*** bullpen and getting wins is hard as s***. Cora earned his $$$ today.

Great job Cora!

NESN feed frozen or just me?

If we win, this is because of Cora.

This ump is not good.

f***ing LOL

Did he even hit his target once. He was all over the place.

Scary. OttaviNOIDEAWHEREITISGOING

@IanMBrowne Enrique Hernández has Covid. Christian Arroyo identified as a close contact. Munoz and Arauz will take their spots on roster. Yairo leading off.

Did I say Kimbrel was a HOFer?

Yes

Kiké got a positive test.

You had mentioned that Radbourn was dead and Houston was alive. That's the only reason I brought up their post playing days.

Kimbrel in less innings has almost twice the fWAR. Got it.

He's a valuable acquisition for a team that has room on their bench for a glove only UTIL guy.

Radbourn was considered a hero by some because of his courage in stopping a run-away buggy on the evening of July 12, 1892. On the evening in question, George Fletcher, his wife, and son had come into town for supplies. While Mr. Fletcher was inside a store, he left his wife and son waiting in the carriage. Not long after Mr. Fletcher got out of the buggy, something spooked the horse and the horse took off running. The horse, buggy, Mrs. Fletcher and their son were careening out of control down West Washington Street. As the runaway carriage passed by Radbourn’s billiards hall and saloon, “a young man wearing a white jacket dashed suddenly, and with the stride of a professional sprinter…like a flash was at the running horse’s head. With his right hand he seized the bit and with his left put a powerful clamp upon the horse’s nostrils. The plunging horse dragged the man along with him, and would possibly have gotten away had not the man dexterously turned him so sharply as almost to upset the buggy, thus bringing the animal suddenly almost to a standstill.” Bystanders rushed to the carriage to see if Mrs. Fletcher and her son were okay, and they were unharmed. The man in the white jacket (whom people at the time did not know was Radbourn) quietly walked back to the sidewalk and back into the saloon. Because of Radbourn’s quick reflexes, nerve, and grit, a terrible accident had been averted. After retiring from baseball, Radbourn opened up a successful billiard parlor and saloon in Bloomington, Illinois. He was seriously injured in a hunting accident soon after retirement, in which he lost an eye, and spent most of his remaining years shut up in a back room of the saloon, apparently too ashamed to be seen after the injury. He died in Bloomington in 1897 and was interred in Evergreen Cemetery. Let me know when Street chases down a horse and gets shot in the face.

He paid a high price (could have maybe sent less players over) but the trade worked out in DD's favor. People spent more energy worrying about Logan Allen than Manny Margot, the actual good player traded.