jung

We will be lucky to get through this inning with any lead at all intact.

This is not a surprise. Pom has been pitching with one arm tied behind his back particularly the last two starts. Can only pull off so many AB's and innings pitching like this.

Wow Wright joining the team tomorrow. That is interesting. Wonder what the move is that they will make to make room for him.

I don't know that I would claim his repertoire is saving him as much as that knuckle curve is saving him. Last year he was using the knuckle curve to set up the rising FB which was good enough to throw and get guys to chase just out of the zone. Then he would pitch in reverse the second or third time through. Now he can't get that rising 4 seam FB anywhere near the strike zone for fear it will get tagged. He certainly can't throw it rising up and just out of the zone. He has to throw it so far out of the zone that nobody will chase it. His other pitches were used last year just to throw the hitters off the 4 seam/curve combination. When you can't go to your bread and butter sequence it is really a chore and that is why IMO what Pom is doing is pretty remarkable. He is relying on pitches that were just throw ins to his bread and butter sequence last year and most of his career. If he can't get a 4 seam that works for him, once that gets around the league it will really become a chore for him.

Come on Sox...Time to end this guy.

Pom is getting into a zone though where he won't throw a 4 seam anywhere near the strike zone. Once that gets around the league, he is going to have issues with that. He never was anywhere near that last year. I just don't really know what they are doing with him because his 4 seam is not getting better and its weak enough that he won't throw it. Still think what Pom has done in 2 games without any 4 seam at all is pretty remarkable.

Well I'll take it because it gets us out of bloop and a bomb zone but good gracious. We should have blown this guy out and screwed up Gibby's bullpen day for him.

We have to get runs out of this. Even 1 more run takes you out of a bloop and a bomb zone from your opponent.

This guy walked JBJ!!!

Runs fellas runs. This is no day to be satisfied with a 2-0 lead.

Best four seam of the say so far for Pom at 89

I don't know why a hitter would look for a FB from Pom at 3-2 at this point.

Four seem at 88.....Yikes

Welcome to your new MLB

Nunez would not have gotten close to that. As I said yesterday, Holt is a professional baseball player.

Pom is still so afraid to throw his 4 seam anywhere near a called strike. Hoping to get a call or get somebody to chase.

Our "cripples" amount to about what these other teams have as their #2 rotation guy.

Pom might be the one guy Donaldson hits out of this series

Jays and Rays now having regular bullpen days and the O's are entirely awful. Sox and Yanks have the only rotations in the division. The three teams at the bottom are going to get slaughtered. The only reason their records will not totally collapse is the other utterly awful teams around the league.

Actually that last response I gave to your question was a smart ass response and a serious question does not deserve a smart ass response. JBJ actually is trying. But look at how good hitters hit and you won't find any of them tilting their heads at the start of their swing the way JBJ tilts his head. Once you've done that you are only going to see the ball so far as it approaches home plate and then you are going to lose the ball. That is why Jackie's head so often looks like he is jerking it around. He is desperately trying to keep his head on the ball because he knows he is supposed to and he knows he is losing sight of it as it approaches the plate. The only hits he gets with this swing will be if he catches the ball way out in front of the plate. Anything else is incidental contact for him at this point. Its luck if he fouls the ball off. This could be hard to cure for Jackie. He is massively stubborn about his swing. Went through something like 500 AB's hopelessly before he finally relented in 2014 when he was twisting his torso so far toward the 3rd base dugout that you could see his whole back. Remember, they forced him to stomp hard with his front foot, so hard that he could not twist his torso and stomp at the same time? Eventually a normal weight shift and hip turn felt right to him and he got rid of the torso turn. This is a different problem and I just don't know if they can get to him this time. Maybe they can. Honest to God I don't know. He is pretty advanced in age to have this problem.

He is trying to find it or at least he thinks he is.

Nice inning Joe!

That is what I like about Holt. He is a throwback to the way baseball teams used to look. The dif between good and bad teams used to be how many star players a team had vs didn't have and whether or not you could pitch as a team. But the rest of the team even on the bad teams was full of players that knew how to play the game down through the roster and they had more everyday players for the most part. Didn't carry so many pitchers. It got so that you looked forward to seeing those guys get into the game. Holt has turned himself into a very professional hitter for example...not a great hitter but a professional hitter and he knows how to play the game. Holt is as close to a professional ballplayer as you are going to see these days. But teams used to be chock full of Holts. No more.

Well unless mookie just saw Vaz go and went that was a double steal which had to come from the bench.

Did that mess come from the bench or did Vaz do that on his own? Had to come from the bench.