Maxbialystock

Bernardino gets the K! Lefty vs righty, too. Need one more.

That GIDP's on Devers, not Ref, because Devers should have stolen 2b. Boy, is this fun, discovering creative ways to blame Devers for any games the Sox lose. Last night I learned from the master, who singled Devers out in a 12-2 loss. That's Devers, whose OPS is ranked 6th in MLB and who whose total bases are ranked 10th. Plus he leads the Sox in rbi's, dingers, BB's, and OPS and is second in total bases, doubles, triples, and runs scored. That's the guy who's the big problem. I disagreed, of course, but was hammered for defending him.

Back to back changeups by Kelly. Not as much break as Gallen's,but they got the groundout.

Abreu has joined the "show me" club. 5 pitches, zero swings--but two were strikes. Finally, Abreu swings--at a pitch miles underneath the strike zone. And he K's on an unchecked swing. Gallen has 8 K's in 5 IP. Sox have 1 hit, a single by Wong, and 4 BB's. They are 0/2 with RISP. Credit where it's due. Crawford has single-handedly kept the Sox in this game.

2 on, 2 out in the 5th with Abreu coming to the plate.

Gallen seems to work those edges pretty well. That plus a good repertoire is tough. Rafaela also K's, but he likes to do it swinging, regardless of where the pitch is thrown.

Cute moustache Gasper is sporting. He's a real looker: 3 straight called strikes. 2 K's in 2 AB's. Hmmm.

Game time temp 83 degrees. Last night's Fenway crowd, 32K, average for this season.

That 86 mph cutter was headed for deep, deep right field. And fearless Crawford gets a K on four straight cutters!!!! 5 innings, 2 runs. Pretty good. But so far nowhere near as good as Gallen.

Sox look completely befuddled by the knuckle curves and the changeups. Too bad so few Sox pitchers have knuckle curves and/or changeups.

Sox are hitless and scoreless after 4. Thanks to last night's game thread, we know why. Devers is still in the lineup. Without him, the Sox could have scored 13 runs, easy-peasy, last night and won that game. When will Cora wise up? Crawford showing some heart today. Too bad about the double in the 4th. Very nice pick off throw by Wong. You want a throw into right field, dial up Jansen.

Is 2024 not the hottest summer on record and is the catcher position not the most strenuous to play by a wide margin--except for starting pitchers (who don't go to bat)?

Whoa, Nellie. Allow me to point out that Devers--complete failure though he no doubt is with RISP--has actually played in games. Lots of games. Meanwhile, there's a pretty good list of pricey Sox starters--Beckett, Lackey, Price, Sale, Giolito--who sat out entire seasons because of injuries. And that's important because the Sox over the years have been lousy at developing good starters in their minor league system. So they have had to go out and buy them. And that actually worked pretty well during the first 16 or so seasons of the JH era--well enough to secure 4 WS wins after 86 years of frustration. However, in 2019 the Sox had the highest payroll in MLB, but couldn't make the playoffs because the pitching, which included some well paid guys like Price, Sale, Porcello, and Eovaldi--whose combined salaries added up to $84M--was ranked freaking 19th in team ERA. In fact, it was 4.70. This year's bargain basement pitching staff--except for Sale and Giolito, neither of whom is pitching for the Sox-- is ranked 21st in team ERA, which is 4.19. Back to 2019. By the end of that season, the world's greatest CBO, David Dombrowski, had to tell owner John Henry that he needed a whole bunch more money than the highest payroll in MLB because he needed to outbid the Dodgers for Mookie Betts and he needed to replace Price and Sale while still paying their big salaries. I completely agree with you that the Sox--and JH--need to invest in pitching. I also think the team payroll needs to get back up to maybe the top 5 in MLB--or whatever number you think is workable. On the other hand, I also believe Devers has been a good investment if only because he actually shows up for work and this year has an OPS of .947, 6th best in MLB, and is tied for 10th most total bases in MLB. The Sox are paying him $29M for that. They are paying Sale and Giolito $17M + $19M = $36M. And neither one has pitched a single inning for the Sox. See the difference?

Some good news, however. I just read there is a new category--"les incompetents"--within the injured list for players who consistently fail to deliver with RISP. Alex Cora has had the wisdom to place Devers on the IL for that very reason. That'll fix him. And maybe his shoulder too (but we never believed he had a bad shoulder). Thank goodness Romy Gonzalez is available to play 3b.

Of course you will. That's what talksox is all about--venting when the Sox lose a game. You are attacking one of the positive forces on this team. Granted, he doesn't meet your expectations, but he's doing a whale of a lot better than the pitching staff. This morning, August 24, 127 games into the season, the Sox are ranked 5th in runs scored, which really should be 4th because they are just 7 runs behind the Dodgers who have played 2 more games (and the Sox average 5 runs per game). And their team OPS is .767, ranked 3d. Oh, and out of 13 x 30 = 390 MLB lineup players, Devers OPS, .947, is ranked 6th. And his total bases, 252, are tied for 10th. The Sox team ERA, meanwhile, is ranked 21st in MLB, which means they are just too awful to discuss. Going after Devers is so much more fun. Nevertheless, I do credit you for starting a good discussion on RISP hitting, the lineup, etc.--and the reminder that, unlike Mookie and some of the Sox greats in the past, Devers has no similar bat to afford him some protection.

He still has the highest OPS on the team, the most rbi's (77 to Duran's 64), the 2d most runs scored, the 2d most total bases, the most dingers, the 2d most triples--true--and the most BB's. And he has done all that with a bad shoulder that Cora has commented on. He rarely DH's and has played the 3d most games, 114, after Duran and Rafaela. Get off his back.

The Sox lost, 12-2, because tonight the Diamondbacks had better pitching and better hitting. The Diamonds had a lot of lefty bats in their lineup and didn't need the green monster--at least, not until the 7th when righty bat Suarez got the grand slam off of righty pitcher Winckowski. Devers, Yohsida, Jansen, Hamilton, and Rafaela all went hitless for the Sox. Ref had one hit, but when he had the bases loaded, he struck out on 3 pitches. That kind of night.

Singling out anyone tonight is sheer folly. The Sox lost, 12-2. Devers has had a bad August so far, OPS .767 and just 7 rbi's. Last month his OPS was 1.132 with 24 rbi's. In June, 1.015 OPS and 19 rbi's. In May, .919 OPS and 19 rbi's. Are you with me, sweetheart?

Nice try but . . . You keep forgetting that extra inning game when the Seattle manager decided to pitch to Devers in the bottom of the 10 with a man on 2b and no one out. He did so, I argued, because he had sent a lefty pitcher in. No good, you and everyone else argued. Why? Because Devers was one of the greatest hitters in MLB, etc, etc and should have been given an intentional walk, which would then have had the Mariners lefty pitching to a righty, Refsnyder.

My theory, only that, is that historically the Sox teams have had a lot of good righty bats, largely, I think, because of the green monster in left field. In 2004 they had Manny, Tek, Bellhorn, Millar, and Youk. In 2007 Manny again, Lowell, Youk, Pedey, and Tek. In 2013 Pedey, Victorino, Napoli, and Saltalamacchia--plus Bogey in the postseason. In 2018 Mookie, JDM, Bogey, and Pearce. This year it's mostly O'Neill and Ref, who have played 84 and 79 games--far fewer than Duran's 124 and Devers' 113.

You're an idiot. Breslow sabotaged this team--not intentionally, of course--by dumping Sale to the Braves while still paying him $17M and picking up Giolito for $19M x 2 years, one of which is already down the drain. He also failed to bring in any real bullpen help. The heart of the Sox lineup, which has made a winning season possible, was here when Breslow arrived: Duran, Abreu, Casas, Abreu, Devers, Wong, Rafaela, Hamilton, Yoshida. And for awhile the rotation of Houck, Crawford, Pivetta, Whitlock, and Bello--all of whom were here before Breslow--was also doing pretty good. To Breslow's credit, he insisted on a new pitching coach, and Bailey has been pretty good. Also in his defense is that the owner has been reluctant to support significant investments in pitching, largely because he was snake bit by the huge David Price and Chris Sale contracts. Cora is a big reason why the Sox have a winning record this year. He managed the best Sox team, 2018, in Sox history. And 3 years later with Betts, Benintendi, JBJ, Price, Kimbel, et al, gone--and Sale on the IL--Cora managed that team to the ALCS. In comparison, the 2016 and 2017 Sox teams, with a lot more talent, won the AL East both seasons but were killed in the ALDS, 3 games to none, both times. That was with Farrell as manager.

Disagree. I missed the 6th because I was on an errand, but after that bad 1st, he was fine for innings 2-5. Then came that soft grounder which turned into a hit and an error by Bello. In his 3 previous starts in August, Bello pitched 4.2, 6, and 6 innings against KC, Texas, and Baltimore, and gave up 3, 1, and 1 runs. Then Winck comes in and gives up 4 runs in the 7th. This was a good night for the hitters to be off.

I'm shocked. I thought he made it up, but the Sox espn site says exactly what Fred Lynn said. Third time for Duran and Abreu, who both doubled first time out. Ground out and pop up. Nelson has our guys mesmerized. He throws that straight up fastball with impunity. The younger guys--Duran, Abreu, and Casas have all 4 hits. Devers, Ref, and Yoshida have none.

Bello kind of reminds of E-Rod, except that, quite frankly, I vastly prefer Bello. He actually doesn't mind covering 1b on grounders to the right side. But both throw a fair amount of fastballs and both have pretty good changeups. Yes, I know E-Rod's a lefty. 4 straight scoreless innings. One more and Bello has a quality start. I don't much like Jansen, but I think he's a pretty good catcher. I liked McGuire too, but he was getting kind of chubby.

Our Sox look as though they've never faced a fast-baller before. Jansen just K'd--again.