jung

1. Michael Chavis ® 2B 2. Mookie Betts ® RF 3. Xander Bogaerts ® SS 4. J.D. Martinez ® DH 5. Steve Pearce ® 1B 6. Andrew Benintendi (L) LF 7. Eduardo Nunez ® 3B 8. Sandy Leon (S) C 9. Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) CF 1. George Springer ® RF 2. Alex Bregman ® 3B 3. Carlos Correa ® SS 4. Yuli Gurriel ® 1B 5. Aledmys Diaz ® 2B 6. Robinson Chirinos ® C 7. Josh Reddick (L) LF 8. Tyler White ® DH 9. Jake Marisnick ® CF

Weber did a heck of a job controlling the Jays today. The newer "W's" to our pitching staff have really made contributions so far.

JBJ might have deeked Tellez AND Nunez

Boy Tellez does look like a hitter doesn't he.

Getting Smoak out of the game might end up big. That guy is a Sox killer and is a definite HR threat.

Shoot....nunez would probably try to swing at the pitch from the crouch, gear and all. Nice shot Mookie!

Now that we are well into extras, who IS our emergency catcher? Do we have one?

The time for somebody overpaying for JBJ has come and gone IMO. They would need a team desperate for just the player JBJ is at the deadline to get much for him.

Wouldn't you just love to see where a different team would spot Beni in the batting order?

Funny how anxious all the hitters get in extras. Even when the situation says don't get anxious as with Galvis, they just can't seem to help themselves.

Junior trying to get all the vertebrae lined up again after that play.

Good effort to get Guerrero there.

Lets see I sent Rick out for the 8th last time and that was probably not the right thing to do. So this time I won't let him pitch the 7th and if I split the difference maybe I can make two wrongs actually MAKE a right!!

This one felt like extras from about the 5th inning on didn't it?

3 months at best and what he really accomplished is 3 months was FINALLY hitting stats we have always said we needed from him to justify keeping him in the lineup. Whoopdie-ding-dong. 6.5 years to finally get those precious 3 months. The only thing that has really changed is that we as a team have finally committed to his horrid hitting, which makes some sense for a team that lives off its Rotation. If I had my druthers I would have one of the CFer's in baseball that give you virtually everything JBJ does in the field and is just more consistent at the plate. Does not have to hit HR's. Does not have to be a basher. Just don't go up there and be an auto out for long stretches of the season. Don't take buckets and buckets of 3rd strikes! Watch what is going to happen to JBJ next. He is not even a Vaz. Vaz goes to the opposite field, something I said he had to start doing again when he struggled early this year. BUT....BUT I mentioned as soon as I saw it....Vaz also moved back off the plate just a couple of inches which made it harder for pitchers to beat him inside with that hands outside the baseball swing of his. Watch what pitchers do with JBJ if he keeps hacking outer 3rd and outside pitches to the opposite field now. The real hole in his swing has always been inside. He has been so horrid on pitches away this year that we forget that. Pitchers will start chewing him a new ******* inside AGAIN and JBJ is just far too stubborn to even notice what is happening to him for a good 200 AB's, never mind do anything about it. I refuse to angst over his hitting. Laugh is all I can muster. Gladly take what I can get because one of those CFers that can fit my description above it out of reach for us this year. Who do we have to trade and would they even try to make a deal.

If he can repeat it fine. When and for how long has JBJ ever repeated anything consistently from the plate other than failure... Two weeks at best? He's not a hitter and he is never going to be a hitter. Nobody but nobody in my memory has ever had so many AB's and still DECLINED at the plate as a ML hitter as he was approaching 30 years old. He s 29 now! He is in a class all by himself..... 2,348 AB's! Nobody but nobody gets 2,348 AB's TO FAIL like JBJ. You want to go Sandy....1,030 AB's and a catcher to boot. It is what it is. The Sox have nobody else to put out there that does not cause even more issues. Personally I am not all that bothered by it. You really think the Sox at this point are expected JBJ to ever hit for more than a two week stretch? But to fantasize about him "hitting" smacks of Celtics Green Teamer nonsense. We get to take what we can get and laugh at JBJ's massive stubbornness. If the Sox cannot get 1 through 6 in their order going regularly or if they suffer a steady string of injuries in their Rotation, those are the things that will spell their inability to repeat as ALDS or ALCS champs and even get to the 2019 WS. Pedey was nothing all last year....no impact. JBJ stumbled through the season from the plate. No impact. Heck, at least Vaz is hitting.

If you want to compare how a power hitter SHOULD go the other way, take a look at slo-mo of the Chavis drive to RF last night and compare that to JBJ's oppo HR the night before. Without the rocket ship baseball, JBJ's was a fly ball that would have landed about 5' in front of the warning track. Compare it to Vaz going oppo if you want to or Mookie or JD or X or Moreland most of the time. But comparing the Chavis drive to RF and JBJ's HR to oppo the night before is just about as stark a comparison as you can make.

Ain't that the truth

Thorny is no longer a ML pitcher. Time for the Sox to bite the bullet.

I see Cora has his surrender flag out on the mound again. That was quick.

The change is only a useful pitch if you can throw it on the outer third of the plate to the hitter or low and inside off the plate. He can't really see it that well out there and it is difficult to time it. But for the LH pitcher to throw it to the outer third to the LH hitter he has to throw it across the plate. There are so many places in that situation where he can throw a meatball its not even funny. That pitch ERod threw was three inch inside at least at the hands and it was still a meatball. Out over is a meatball...just anything other than low and inside off the plate to the LH hitter or outer third to the LH hitter from LH pitcher is a meatball and again to get it to the best spot to the LH hitter, outer third, the LH pitcher has to throw it across the plate.

And that is why Changeups LH pitcher to LH hitter used to be forbidden. Now LH pitchers throw them to everybody. Necessary tool to get out RH hitters. Have no idea why they think they should throw them to LH hitters.

Doubt it. Earning some salary points for DD to use won't do Cora much good if the team underperforms. Cora has already boxed himself in with his Rotation strategy this year. That will ONLY pay off if the Sox get through to the ALCS. If they don't get through to the ALCS then his entire approach to the Rotation will come under serious scrutiny. Serious scrutiny for the Manager is no fun in this town. So I suspect he has no interest in trying to feather DD's nest for him.

Told ya'....JBJ thinks that swing is the key to his comeback. Weight and power completely expended and off on his front foot, reaching for the pitch off the plate outside. "I have found my swing" says JBJ. Sorta' puts the uppercut swing being responsible for all this power in 2nd place behind the rocket ship baseball.

Takes a certain combination to make it to the very bottom I think: - lack of talent - combined with lack of focus and concentration and compete level - combined with a certain assholishness that just about guarantees that if there is a chance of winning a game, said team will blow it The scary thought is that there are teams that actually manage to pull off that trifecta of awful. Plenty of teams throughout MLB history have lacked relative talent compared to the competition. Its items 2 and 3 in my list that have taken a decided turn for the worst IMO.