jung

I think Youk has clearly showed improvement since coming back off the DL if we are comparing the period from the start of the season to the DL stint to the period since the DL stint. At least from what I was seeing, I think he was showing some signs of have lost some quickness at the plate before the DL stint and he seemed to be having more difficulty seeing the slider on the outer edge than he has had in the past. He was really taking some poor swings at sliders from RH pitchers earlier this season. Sure he still has trouble hitting the slider but he is no longer taking poor cuts at balls that are way off the outer edge of the plate. I think Youk has already showed enough for people to believe he is still a very good hitter at this point. I think people want to see that he can play every day as once a player has developed issues with his back, you worry that he just moves the wrong way one day and bang, he is back on the DL. Since teams do not seem to feel like they have to take a desperation stab at Youk at this point they appear content to wait but they have to be getting more comfortable with his ability to stay on the field the longer he stays on the field.

I think Youk has clearly showed improvement since coming back off the DL if we are comparing the period from the start of the season to the DL stint to the period since the DL stint. At least from what I was seeing, I think he was showing some signs of have lost some quickness at the plate before the DL stint and he seemed to be having more difficulty seeing the slider on the outer edge than he has had in the past. He was really taking some poor swings at sliders from RH pitchers earlier this season. Sure he still has trouble hitting the slider but he is no longer taking poor cuts at balls that are way off the outer edge of the plate. I think Youk has already showed enough for people to believe he is still a very good hitter at this point. I think people want to see that he can play every day as once a player has developed issues with his back, you worry that he just moves the wrong way one day and bang, he is back on the DL. Since teams do not seem to feel like they have to take a desperation stab at Youk at this point they appear content to wait but they have to be getting more comfortable with his ability to stay on the field the longer he stays on the field.

Over the course of a season, the bad calls are going to even out. They are bad for everybody. That said, the quality of the ump's work is pretty poor. There is simply to much variation between the way umps make particular calls, the method they use, the senses they rely on, one to the next and that is just for calls out on the base paths. When you get to home plate, the variation between where umps position themselves behind the catcher is all over the place. As a consequence their view of the strike zone is different one to the next. I actually think that is a big part of the reason why one guy sees low strikes better than another guy who might see high strikes better and why some see the outer edge better than others. You have guys that really put themselves over the catcher's shoulder between the batter and catcher. The more they position themselves that way the less they see of the outer edge of the plate. In some cases I don't understand how they are actually seeing the pitch in relation to the outer edge of the plate. They are so far over the inside edge and have gotten so low in relation to the catcher that they would have to look through the catcher to get an actual view of the outer edge. You would prefer that their point of reference for that imaginary box be the actual outer edge of the plate but all to often it is a point in space that they believe to be correct but that is not actually the edge of the plate. In fact I think that is why for some umps the damn things moves farther and farther outside as the game progresses. It is tough to force yourself to watch how umps do their business behind the plate but if you force yourself to try to get a bead on it, you see some guys that appear to be better positioned to begin with making subtle adjustments to individual pitches as the pitch is on the way and I think they tend to be the better umps as far as balls and strikes are concerned. There are really very very subtle adjustments in their shoulders, neck and head so they are really hard to pick up. The umps that have really got themselves positioned over the inside edge can't make subtle adjustments. They are stuck there like some sort of statue cause you would have to move to far to improve your view and will block yourself or catch yourself completely out of position in some instances or would be moving to much yourself as the pitch is coming in making your movement just another variable. I don't know if you guys remember the game but there has been an ump this year that did an even worse job of identifying the outer edge of the plate than the guy today. That guy was eventually calling balls that were a full 6" outside the black as strikes. But as bad as all that sounds, there is still the added element of individual thinking that goes into what an ump decides to use for a strike zone. Some umps think that pitchers should be forced to get the ball up in the hitters wheelhouse a bit more. Others want to reward the pitcher for the low strike. It is ridiculous. Yet just as Stern does nothing about the variety of techniques in the NBA, Uncle Bud does nothing about it in MLB. I would start by demanding that all umps position themselves behind the catcher exactly the same way. I am sick and tired of guys getting to position themselves where they are "comfortable". I don't care how comfortable they are. If they cannot call balls and strikes from the same place behind the catcher then get umps that can. Sure some of this has to do with the variation between how catchers catch but the catcher is still stuck for the most part in a defined area and regardless of how tall he might be, he is still in a crouch. Once you have forced umps to position themselves the same way regardless of their individual physical differences (height for example) MLB should be able to instruct their umps how they want balls and strikes called. We would go from a system that whether MLB wants to admit it or not is totally subjective to a system that would be structured and managed. I do wish the players would stop allowing these umps to get under their skins to such a degree because they are defeating themselves. They lose focus and concentration and they are lost at that point.

And we actually only got some timely hitting in today's game kaps. Even with that we left guys stranded even today and of the three games we probably got more timely hitting today.

Yanks have more pitching....no question about that....not what they had though.....might be enough to make it.

Ya' know I have been hearing about the 6 outta' 7 and the 7 outta' 8 that this team SHOULD take since the beginning of the season. When it inevitably does not happen we just push it out to the next bunch of teams and games. Reminds me of some quarterly sales forecast I have seen...same graph line....just pushed out a few more quarters. I just don't see it. However we sure as hell won't have long to wait to find out.

I can not argue against the largest issue for the Sox being the pitching because you can see what happens if you have a team with terrific pitching and weak hitting....terrific pitching can overcome lapses in hitting. A team built around pitching has a much better chance to win than one built around hitting. However the Sox are not built around pitching. We see improvements in the SP from where it started the season especially as it relates to 1-3 in our rotation but they are not the equal of the teams that have really good pitching at the top of their rotations...Our guys just don't give us that sort of a weapon. So you can talk about improvements all the way up till you start to talk about relative pitching strengths and weaknesses and then the argument gets tougher to make. In one of the recent posts where I discussed my concerns about this month, I expressed the view that this month was going to be challenging enough to make it difficult for the everyday subs to continue to produce beyond their expectations and that unfortunately this month came upon us before the injured regulars are ready to come back. Now Pedey seems incapable of playing up to his potential and I fear the only way to get the Pedey back that we need is to sit him down. So to me one additional major factor driving my concerns for this month is that I think it will be to challenging for the subs to continue to be as effective as they have been. I posted earlier that looking at the schedules for the teams that matter this is a "rubber meets the road" kind of month and we are sort of up on the alignment rack. If they can actually get through this month with this squad and are still in it at month end, then I think they will be in it till the end. However if the Sox are not careful they could get blown out of this thing this month. It is just to hard to make up ground this year once you fall behind.

Typical for Lester these days. This is your home park Jon. That was hit far enough to reach "your" wall and even if there was no wind that would likely have been out instead of in the park. Can't believe he is whining about that wall scraper. It was a s***** pitch. In fact he left a fair number of pitches up in the zone. Had he been throwing that junk to a better hitting team I suspect he would have not gotten away with so much of it. Thought he did pretty well for him but whenever I hear myself saying something like that I want to punch myself in my own mouth.

NESN always interviews the winning team. No wonder it is beginning to get under our skins. Bothers me as well. Some encouraging stuff today. Lester pitched pretty well. Managed to finally manufacture a run or two but still left guys rooted on the base they landed on from their hits. Still worried about the remainder of this month now and it has started like s***. Hope Nava is not out for long. What the hell is it with this team and thumbs. I swear we are going to end up seeing the whole team next spring doing thumb curls or something.

Wow swept at home by the Nats.

V is going to get his money's worth here. What I don't like is that this guy has just kept going farther and farther outside. How far is he going to go?...The dugout

Well I guess we now know Aviles was on the straight steal...seems like he would have to be now also

Not sure I would trust Pods hit and run

Great at bat for youk there

Holy cow I actually think I might have had a shot at hitting that....at my age!!!

Way to get that run in...well done....a professional job of managing the inning so far....be still my heart

Geez always hard to tell on TV but Pods bat speed looks ....well like bat slow

ouch...Pods swung through that.

Sox actually looking like a pro baseball team so far this half inning.

Took that pitch the way it came at him.....good job their by Punto.

Now we are at home so we should be playing to tie in this situation before we try to win it.

That was a for s*** pitch by lester....if you notice he started aiming a bit when he got into that jam and you just cannot pitch that way.

Damn it.....I actually thought that was going to get out of here the way dmac was going and the way it looked off the bat. If the wind was not blowing in it probably would have gotten out.

Nats are on the road so they should be playing to take the lead in this situation. Probably had to play it that way with their 9th hitter.

Nice pitch Lester.