Maxbialystock

One more time, which will again fall on deaf ears. Casas was stinking up the joint before his injury. His overall WAR was -0.8. So almost anyone, including Sogard, whose WAR is 0.0, would be better. You've left out a key point about Raffy. He wasn't great at it, but he loved playing 3b and had done so with the Sox for 8 straight seasons. Good for Breslow to bring in Bregman, but Devers hated losing his slot, and it took a lot of convincing by Cora to get him to embrace the DH. By the time Bregman was hurt (May 23), Raffy's OPS was higher than Bregman's and so were his rbi's. He was freaking perfect as the DH, just as Ortiz and JDM had been--and Big Papi played on 3 WS teams and JDM on the 4th. It is not a criminal offense to have a great DH, but it can be stupid to continue to use a lousy one. Breslow has never managed anyone in his life. He is definitely smart, but he doesn't know jack about managing or handling people. And that's OK because he doesn't have to be good at that, but he does need to trust his manager, which he clearly did not do when he went directly to Raffy to ask him to play 1b. Then he made it worse by going public with Raffy's refusal. And this. The pitching has been the biggest problem with this team all season long. Team ERA is ranked 17th in MLB. Runs scored by the Sox lineup are ranked 7th and have there for almost the entire season.

As I've said a thousand times, this is all Cora's fault. He keeps using the wrong batting orders. Any of us could do better. I sneered at Mayer in his first game, and boy was I wrong--and never was I happier to be wrong.

Agree. Chapman didn't have it tonight, plus Milwaukee seemed to love his fastball. But beyond any question is the abysmal lack of hitting. The 10th inning being a classic example of how awful the Sox hitting is. Men on 1st and 3d with no outs--and no runs scored. Plus our 1 run was off a WP.

I'm probably wrong, but I think he should perfect 3 pitches and stay with them.

Rafaela absolutely needs to stay in CF, provided his hitting doesn't get a lot worse. That said, I think the Bregman injury could be the one event that makes a Sox resurgence this season unlikely. Mayer now has 2 singles and his defense looks fine, but he ain't no Bregma Not obvious to me. Rafaela currently is tied for the 4th best WAR, 1.8, on the team. Good D in CF is actually worth something. I think the real problem right now is that Bregman is irreplaceable. To me it was a big joke when everyone kept saying the Sox needed a really good guy to replace Casas, who in fact was having a terrible season with the lowest WAR (-0.9) on the team.

Oh, stop it. The errors today had no bearing on the game outcome. As for the wild swings, I thought both Oriole starters, yesterday and today, had good stuff and good command. Today Kremer went 5.1 IP with primarily 2 pitches, a so-so fastball (93 mph), and a nasty splitter which not one Sox batter hit hard. Duran went 4/5, but Devers and Abreu were both 0 for 4. I am by no means happy with this team, especially the 1 run yesterday followed by 1 run today. I think it is no coincidence that Bregson didn't play in either game because he was a vital part of the lineup. I'm fine with Mayer at 3b, but he ain't no Bregson even though his defense looks OK.

In this game they didn't because the Sox scored 1 freaking run. No errors would have been nicer, but would have had no effect on the game outcome.

Not if Anthony hits like Mayer. One game granted, but an ignominious one at bat. Story is ranked 4th among MLB shortstops in double plays.

Bregman is a terrific all around thirdbaseman, but the Sox miss his hitting far more than his gold glove. Tonight Mayer was flawless at 3b and flawful at bat. In his first three at bats, he didn't just K all three times, he never made contact with ball, not even a foul tip. Finally he made contact with a weak grounder in his 4th at bat. The Sox defense has been better than I expected--Narvaez is now the #1 ranked (DWAR 1.0) catcher in MLB, Bregman was #2 (DWAR 0.8) at 3b, Abreu #3 (DWAR 0.6) in RF, and Rafaela #1 (DWAR 1.2) in CF. Hamilton is tied for 4th best secondbaseman (DWAR 0.5). I happen to like Story at SS, especially on double plays. And I don't think Duran in LF or Casas at 1b are or were big problems at LF and 1B. The Sox hitting is ranked 6th in MLB in runs scored. The problem is with the pitching--even though they did well in the night game.

Bregson was a huge loss. Casas was not.

Tonight showed how much Bregson is missed. Not the glove, but the bat.

Mayer's versatility in his first 2 at bats: K's without swinging and then K's by swinging and missing three times.

Perhaps. The pitching ain't that great, but bringin in Crochet was/is terrific. So was Chapman, who has the 2d highest WAR on the Sox pitching staff. I like the way Cora managed today. The Sox were down 5-2 in the top of the 5th, and Cora, believing the Sox hitting would come around, ended up using 6 relievers.

Well said.

"Cora's boy" had the 4th highest WAR in MLB last season--8.7. Some like to say that was a false positive--as Ellsbury's 2011 season certainly was. But the Sox didn't give Ellsbury a 7 year $150M contract. Right now Duran's OPS is .757, which is above average on this Sox team. Duran ain't the problem on this team--as much as I would love to see Anthony brought up. Right now the six highest WAR's on the Sox are Bregman 3.0, Devers 2.3, Narvaez 1.9, Abreu 1.8, Rafaela 1.8, and Duran 1.0. In there are all 3 outfielders who are backed up by Refsnyder's OPS of .985. So I'm not sure where Anthony fits on this team right now. His best positon is almost certainly left field because he likes range to play CF and the arm to play RF.

Cora was hinting he thinks that. I think he's hoping for 10 days.

Also true. You pick the best players. As it turns out, the Sox ain't the best at picking or developing pitchers--and never have been.

Yes.

NOAA shows a lot of rain on and around Boston.

Most credit for Narvaez has to go to Breslow. Ditto for Crochet and of course Bregman and maybe even Chapman. I agree completely with "owes our slumping hitters NOTHING."

Devers is on this team for his bat. Right now he's ranked 4th in MLB in OPS, .972, the highest of his career, also 1st in MLB in rbi's, 6th in total bases, 4th in walks, etc. And don't forget that Raffy was repeatedly pilloried (a term with special meaning in New England) on talksox for his subpar defense. I honestly think his current success is because of moving to DH. He even leads MLB in games played. What Alex Mayers failed to point out is that Bregman is simply irreplaceable. Bravo for Breslow in getting him because he was/is the perfect partner in the lineup with Raffy and also a good defensive thirdbaseman. Cora and Breslow should try to ensure that the 9 best bats are regularly in the lineup, so I think the best choice at 3B is Sogard, but I would also be fine with moving Mayer up to play 3b.

Good cautionary note. It has always fascinated me that MLB teams have 26 on their active rosters--almost invariably 13 pitchers and 13 lineup players. If MLB upped the 26 (which used to be 25) to 28, my guess is most teams would go with 15 pitchers. The Sox right now have 1 backup catcher, 2 backup infielders, 1 backup outfielder, and 1 full-time DH--and that seems to be about all they need or want.

Rafaela has a higher WAR than Soto.

Right off the top we can be sure Crochet got screwed by the bullpen, who then turned around and gave some of his wins to Ferris's son, who didn't deserve them. Looks like Bello got lucky too. Houck got what he deserved, and so did Dobbins. Giolito, Mr Box of Chocolates, has 2 quality starts to go with 12 runs in 7.2 innings in the other two starts.