Maxbialystock

Giolito has a pretty good array of pitches. He needs to throw more strikes even though he did get robbed on that last at bat.

In 2 innings the Sox have made way better contact than I expected. A win tonight would be gigantic.

And Abreu blasts a double down the LF line!!!

Agree--he should have caught it. On the other hand, no harm, no error--and Lowe drives in the first run!

Awful K by Duran. Clueless in Toronto.

My goodness, but 30 losses sound like a lot. On the other hand, the Sox have lost 71 games, which leaves 41 for the starters. For most of the season the Sox had 5 starters and 8 relievers for any given game. The Sox rotation pitched 715 innings and the bullpen 680 innings. So proportionately I think the bullpen has done OK.

Dombrowski had loads of CBO experience and had the 4th biggest payroll in MLB in 2016, which later became the #1 payroll. In fact, DD is why John Henry decided to go in a new direction and steadily lowered the payroll, which this year is 12th in MLB. In the 4 seasons when the Sox won the WS, the Sox payrolls were at or near the top.

Only surprise in the lineup is Abreu who struck last night 4 times with lots of swings and misses. I would prefer Eaton but happily admit my ignorance. Great point above about Gausman's last 3 starts. The only good news about tonight is that FredLynn has declared the Jays the winner well before the first pitch. 😁 Giolito might not have the world's best lineup going for him, but he does have a pretty good defense. Both teams rested yesterday..

Boston has 85 wins, Detroit 85, Cleveland 84, and Houston 84. Cleveland's hot--we'll soon see how hot against Detroit--so I think Detroit and Houston are our competition.

Tolle was the 8th inning reliever who almost has to throw fastballs. Early is also a rookie, but one with a repertoire. His hallmark is that he mixes his pitches up, but didn't early on in the 1st.

Apparently.

The talent was there after 31 July. The biggest problem is that Anthony and Abreu went on the IL and Bregman into a slump. Before Abreu went on the IL, just about everybody claimed--incorrectly--that the Sox had too many outfielders (Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, and Anthony.

Funny thing, but whoever was calling Early's pitches in the first inning kept asking for fastballs, which is how he got into trouble. His hallmark is that he likes to tbrow breaking balls.

Early recovered, plus only 2 of his runs were earned. And the bullpen has been pretty good. Horrible Sox baserunning although one out at home was on the 3d base coach. Duran caught not stealing was just stupid. Rafaela excellent in CF. My, my. Tolle replaces Kelly in the 8th with 2 on and no one out. Not his cup of tea. Ugh.

Only one thing worse that having Abreu on the IL--having him back in the lineup. Both have been just awful.

To quote Sidney Poitier, "Amen., Amen. Amen Amen. Amen."

Love this discussion, as always, but am going to jump in with a slightly different thought. The 2025 Sox are different from all Sox teams I can remember because their pitching is primarily what wins games. And right now it sure looks like they have 5 decent starters in Crochet, Bello, Giolito, Early, and now Harrison. Plus a decent but not great bullpen. After Chapman and Whitlock, not much reliability. Relatedly, I was the first to point out that the loss of Anthony was huge. But since then I've developed a new thesis--while big bats can be invaluable, a bunch of smaller bats can in fact score runs as we have seen in the last two games. Last night 5 different Sox bats had rbi's and the night before 7. And let's not forget the lineup's secondary mission of providing a good defense to back up the pitching. Right now Rafaela is the best CF in MLB, Abreu, when he returns, is close to the best RF, and Narvaez the best C. Plus Duran in LF, Bregman at 3b, and Story at SS all have plus DWAR's. Hammond is an excellent defensive 2b, but Cora is right to start Gonzalez. Make no mistake: I love big bats. We all do. But the Sox have thrived without Devers huge bat--OPS of .905 and he played in every single game until June 16--largely because of the Sox pitching. In the August 7 game winning streak opposing teams scored 5, 1, 1, 3, 1, 5, and 2 runs. In the July 10 game winning streak they scored 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 2, 3, 4, 0, and 1 runs. In the June 6 game winning streak they scored 1, 3, 1, 3, 0, and 0 runs. In those same 6 games the Sox scored 3, 4, 2, 4, 2, and 2 runs.

Look, I do recognize that one player can make a difference. We do miss Anthony's bat. We don;t miss Campbell;'s bat, glove, or arm. Ditto Toro. Ditto Hicks. On the other hand the Sox are very competitive in the AL right now. With just 7 games to go they have 85 wins to Toronto's league best 89, Yankees 87, and Detroit's 85, Cleveland's 84, Seattle's 85, and Houston's 84. Right now the Sox have stud pitcher, Crochet (and Chapman), but no stud hitter since Anthony went on the IL. Despite that--or because of it--the collective Sox, the team that pitches, fields, hits, and runs the bases is a pretty good ball club, albeit with imperfections. You are right to point your finger at the hitting, but the Sox are pretty good at the other 3 items and right now seem to be hitting the ball well collectively. They've scored 17 runs in 2 games against a good pitching Rays team with a team ERA of 3.85. Tonight 5 different Sox had an rbi. Last night 7 Sox had 1 or more rbi's. Rotten, terrible, useless Yoshida had an rbi in both games. Narvaez is the best defensive catcher in MLB as a rookie. Lowe's OPS with the Sox is a semi-decent .722 and plays an OK first base. He had 2 rbi's last night and 1 tonight. Wong didn't play in either game but he is a good backup catcher whose September OPS is a decent .750. So, please, lift your eyes up from the trees and take a gander at the forest. Did I forget to mention that the AL East once again has the best W-L record of the six MLB divisions?

That was one fantastic win. Quality start, fumble by the bullpen, and a gigantic 9th inning rally. Nevertheless, Cleveland took both games from Minnesota, 8-0 and 6-0. They are now exactly `game behind the Sox and the Tigers. In their last 10 game the Guardians are 10-0 and the Tigers 2-8. So we only have to outrun one of those guys.

SS, you should know you are one of my absolute favorite contributors to talksox. You possess both insight and wit. No need to descend to words like that. Ballgame!!!!!!!!!!!

He's 4th on the team in rbi's, so he must have had some timely hits. Also 3d in total bases and runs scored. Heck, He even has 16 freaking dingers. Tonight he's 1/3 with 2 runs scored. Last night he was 4/5 with an rbi and 2 runs scored. Plus--and I guess you just forgot all about it because of your little tantrum--these two games are absolutely crucial to stay in the hunt for the postseason. Every one of those 5 hits were big.

WAR is imperfect, but it's the best estimation going for a player's total value. It even allows comparing pitchers to lineup players. Thus does Crochet's 5.6 make him easily the MVP of these Sox. Speaking of "stepping up and making an impact," what in sam hill do you make of that grab he made earlier in the game? Chopped liver?

Duran chokes big time.

WAR don't lie. His 4.3 is ranked 34th in MLB. Mookie's is 4.8. Manny Machado's is 3.9.

Foxholes were/are dug when going on defense. Nobody every won a war from a foxhole which, come to think of it, would suit you perfectly.