dustcover

It's a new season and Dave O'Brien and Lou Merloni got off to a marvelous start. Merloni is no Remy, but I found his analysis to be point on. Particularly when he was evaluating the potential strategy in the top of the ninth with runners on the basepaths before Abreu unloaded his blast.

Is Erod worth $15M+ per year ?

Thanks for your very insightful response.

I've been travelling in Central America this month so I've been a bit out of touch, but I have been able to view a few of the games. So what's with the yellow and blue color scheme?

Anyone remember Nellie Fox hitting in the #2 spot behind Luis Aparicio for the White Sox during his 19 year career. The above are his career averages. I mention this to support my theory that the #2 spot calls for a hitting machine with a preponderance of singles with a few doubles mixed in and serving as an authentic table setter for the big boys. And my candidate for this role is already in the Sox's own backyard. An infielder on a 26-game hitting streak with the WooSox named Yairo Muñoz. Bring him up and send Cordero down. Put Kike back in CF and batting leadoff, with Munoz playing 2B and batting in the #2 hole, and let Duran come off the bench when he's called upon. I'm not suggesting that Munoz is the next coming of Nellie Fox, but he sure seems to have the tangibles that are presently lacking in the Sox's #2 hole in the batting order. Presently, Duran batting 2nd with 50 AB's has 9 hits that include 2 HR's for a BA of .180, OBP .280, and OPS .568. This is not what is needed from the #2 in the batting order. In his young career, Munoz in 510 AB's has an average of .278, OBP .332, and OPS .733 and to his credit has a WAR of 0.4 Maybe Munoz could do for the Sox what Sibby Sisti did for the old Boston Braves in 1948 when he played a key role and sparked the club's run to the World Series, filling in for injured second baseman Eddie Stanky.

What's with a call-up playing CF? Is JBJ injured?

Nuff said!

Hey Mal, I too was having vision problems until I zoomed in. I use Google Chrome as a browser, and in the upper right corner of the screen are 3 vertical dots. Click on these dots and a window opens with a 'zoom' choice. Click the + sign until the comments are large enough to read easily. We need your continued presence on the forum as you consistently represent the voice of reason.

Like everyone else, I'm delighted to see how Chavis is performing, but it was just last April that he got an 80-game suspension because a PED known as Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone was found in his system. And Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, better known as Turinabol remains in the system for 12 to 18 months. So unfortunately, only time will tell as to whether Chavis can maintain his present performance level.

Not at all, I'm hoping Pedey is fully recovered from his surgery and puts up All Star numbers this season. But, sooner or later, the Sox will have to deal with finding his replacement. And in spite the myriad of alternatives, I was just surmising the possibility of Chavez becoming the consistent, power-hitting 2nd baseman of the future. I just hope they don't trade him away for some relief pitcher ala Jeff Bagwell.

Would it not be wonderful if they groomed Chavis at 2nd base to replace Pedey. Just imagine a power hitting 2nd baseman the likes of .....................(you fill in the blank)

Kinsler - He gets his ring, but he's in the rear view mirror!

Right handed Nunez on the bench, I surely hope not pinch hitting for Price doesn't come back to bite Cora on the arse.

Now they're cookin'

Now's the time for Sox bats to come alive in the 7th and put this game to bed!

Does Cora send Price out for the 7th?

It's only 74 pitches, but Price is on fumes.

To each his own!

Literally, I cannot stand Joe Buck as Fox's play-by-play announcer. Can anyone advise me as to how I might get a different audio announcer via the internet in sync with the game on TV after I mute the TV's audio?

Even though I watched the game and saw what transpired, Jeff Passan's article on the key 15 minute span that proved vital to the outcome is an excellent recap. https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-incredible-15-minute-stretch-helped-red-sox-bury-dodgers-game-2-world-series-122806567.html

Just for the record, the quote comes from Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci. "Then Andrew Benintendi stepped in for something that was more performance art than an at-bat. He was in the batter’s box for six minutes. The Dodgers held half of their entire game’s worth of mound visits just trying to figure out how to make Benintendi go away. They could not do it. Ryu, who had finished him with curveballs on his first two at-bats, tried eight pitches against him. At a full count, he threw two curveballs. But this time Benintendi fouled off both. Flummoxed, Ryu and catcher Austin Barnes gave the pitching equivalent of throwing their hands up. They gave up and went away from the curveball, though Benintendi had just two hits all year on curveballs from lefthanders. The foul balls—imported from Fort Myers—had swayed them into something else. Ryu tried a fastball, but he had no conviction behind the pitch. It was a terrible pitch—a ball out of his hand immediately, and Benintendi took it without much thought for ball four."

Reportedly, "Benintendi had just two hits all year on curve balls from lefthanders." If so, he needs to acquire a left-handed juggs machine and and set the dial at 'curveball' and practice, practice, practice!

Oh no, I rather like Smoltz, but Buck! ugh

What Dick Williams did with that bunch of players in 1967, IMO, puts him at the top of the list. And it was no fluke, based on his success rate as a manager, albeit with different teams, in the ensuing years after leaving the Red Sox.

With Kimbel coming on in the last of the ninth, the announcers kept repeating, "all the Sox need are three more outs". Then "all the Sox need are two more outs". Followed by, all the Sox need is one more out". And during the ninth for what seemed like an eternity my mind kept agonizingly flashing back 32 years to the ninth inning of Game 6 of the '86 World Series. My faith was strong but I needed proof. Who said 'you can't live in the past'. Well Betts, Beni, JBJ, Bogi, Devers, and the rest of these rascals certainly put an exclamation point to that notion.