Maxbialystock

3d error by the Astros, which of course should be ignored. Only the Sox are stupid, incompetent, and worse than little leaguers.

Yeah, well you can play the same stupid tune for the Astros.

Hold it. Where was the "little league baseball" comment when Houston made 2 freaking errors? And where was the compliment when Devers and Jansen got that guy going home and along the way blocked Devers throw to home plate? To say this board is sometimes insanely and unfairly judgmental is an understatement.

Stunning call. I thought he was safe because he beat the tag. However, I think his lead foot hit Jansen's knee. All for nought. O'Neill makes a terrible throw (but not an error), and then Jansen's throw is worse and an error which brings in the 2d run. Game tied.

Trouble. Astros first two hitters in the 4th hammered that sinker.

No kidding? Stunningly good claim. That's also the ALCS in which Francona said something like, "we don't need to win 4 games, we just need to win the next game."

Two GIDPs for the Sox so far.

Two at bats in a row Kikuchi made Casas look very bad, taking 3d strikes well inside the zone.

Houck's sinker tonight is just nasty--it's got some real movement, down and to the right. I hereby dub it his splitter changeup.

2-0 is good. So is Houck. But the bullpen isn't.

His situation was different. He arrived in Boston like a whirlwind and was a fan fav--and TSW responded with waving his cap, etc. Then came a slump or two, and Mr Sensitive with perfect hearing as well as eyesight heard some pretty nasty catcalls. It was then and only then he he stopped waving the cap--and stayed that way forever.

Two good innings for Houck so far. Gotta feel a little sympathy for Kikuchi, whose infield has committed 2 errors--thus the one unearned run.

So have the Sox.

Here's a question for our experts. Duran has a DWAR of +1.9, largely because he is really fast and has finally gotten a handle on taking the best routes to fly balls and line drives. So why in the wide, wide world of sports would everyone--and I mean everyone--on talksox want Duran to play left field instead of centerfield? And please don't mention Rafaela for CF because this year his best position for the team is SS because he has way more range than anyone else and a pretty good arm. It's also clear that Cora wants both players playing in every single game. They've both played in 121, and next most is Devers with 110.

Allow me to point out that Duran is not from this planet. He's not Mork from Ork, but he does have a problem with his use of the vernacular.

As am I. Blackout kept me from watching the Orioles series live, but I watched the two wins afterward.

moonslav's OP on this year's offseason explores that in some detail.

Rafaela's DWAR at SS is +0.8 in 66 games. Not too shabby.

Fantastic laydown--including your 2d post on the same topic--as only you are capable of doing. I pretty much buy your central argument, which is that this time, finally, Breslow needs to be empowered to fix the pitching by offering up both top Sox prospects and competitive salaries for incoming pitchers. As you say, the Sox can do that and stay below $241M (total payroll). If we disagree, it might be about how deep next year's outfield is compared to the infield because I see an infield with Devers, Casas, Story, and Mayer backed up by Hamilton, Campbell, Grissom, and Gonzalez. The outfield: Rafaela, Duran, Abreu, Ref, and Anthony. I also think Breslow needs to look for one or more good righty bats. The Sox splits this year vs lefty pitchers provide compelling evidence to support that. Duran's OPS dips to .667, Devers .760, Yoshida .639, Abreu .512, Hamilton .566.

Another great topic by Brock! What does kind of grab me is that Story clearly wants to come back this season and not wait until next year. I think that's because he likes the manager and the players and the clubhouse dynamics. Plus, of course, the Sox are still in it and Story would love to contribute. And that reminds of the way Kelsey Jansen has intruded upon his manager's prerogatives by calling him from the bullpen and saying, "send me in, boss, and I know it's just the 8th inning." I hasten to add that I have gone out of my way to insult both players, Jansen and Story--Jansen because I am still astounded at how effective he is with such a small repertoire (one pitch?) and Story because of the injuries and the weak hitting.

You already told us that in a separate thread, so of course some of us ignored you.

Nicely said.

Also FWIW, I find it easier and easier to root like crazy for the 2024 Sox. They are now a whopping 3.5 games behind 3d wild card team Kansas City and another game behind #2 Minnesota. So clearly a lot of work to be done, which at almost every turn will be sabotaged by a truly awful bullpen. How awful is Breslow's bullpen? Smith, our first baseman recently DFA'd, had a WAR of +0.1 as a Sox pitcher.

I was unbelievably impressed with how well the Sox did in Baltimore. The Orioles, 73-52, are tied with the Yankees for the best record in the American League--as well as tied with the Dodgers for the second best record in MLB and just a tad behind the Phillies @ 73-51. And the Sox split 4 tough games despite going into the series with a pitching staff in disarray and ranked 18th in ERA before the series and 19th afterward. Three--Pivetta, Bello, and Crawford-- of the starters against Baltimore were adequate or better. Criswell, the nonstarter-starter in game 2, was awful (3.1 IP, 6 ER) in game 2, but got the win because the Sox scored 12 freaking runs. And Houck, starting tonight, has the highest WAR (3.3--2d best is Crawford's 1.6) and most quality starts, 17. So I would argue the rotation is viable, but the bullpen is not. So I cannot resist pointing out, yet again, that the rotation, which Breslow did his level best to destroy (by dumping Sale and bringing in Giolito), is doing way better than the bullpen, which should have been easier to fix. FWIW, the three best Sox bullpen WAR's belong to Jansen (1.7), Kelly (1.2), and Booser (1.0), all of whom were Soxers before Breslow arrived.

If you ain't got 2 screens, you ain't.