Maxbialystock

All the Orioles needed were the first 2 runs. They own our Sox this season.

I'll take the Sox hitting with the fielding, and you can stuff your "little league baseball" comment where . . . never mind.

Gloom and doom. Your favorite theme. The Sox hitting is pretty good, and the pitching not so good. Those two parameters keep things interesting. But they do not mean the game is over after 1.5 innings because the Sox are down, 1-0.

What was the deal with the 503? It seemed to end just before the game started.

Great play at home, but dumb play by the Texas runner on 3b.

The Braves had no problem reading what you call the "false signs" of 2023.

Amazing game and win for the Sox. An absolutely frightening 6th inning.

Stunning stat. Stunning.

Good point about the pitch clock.

Agree.

Sox killed Urena in Texas, but everyone is killing Crawford since the ASG break.

Attendance last night--a Monday--vs Texas was a surprising and sizable 35,715. I'm guessing it was the cooler weather.

Great win, but weird stats. Sox hitters were walked 9 times and K'd 15 times--and had 9 hits (8 singles, 1 double). Sox pitchers were excellent except for 2 run dinger off of Horn and giving up 4 BB's. They held Texas to 4 hits and 3 ER's in 10 IP. Yes, Ref's hit was big, but let's not forget that Valdez's leadoff double in the 10th was at least as big. It tied the game and put the winning run on 2b. Looks like Devers shoulder (or whatever) could be acting up again, especially against fastballs. On the team stats charts, the Sox offense is still ranked 5th in runs scored and 3d in team OPS. And the team ERA is still mired in 17th.

Kawabunga, Uncle Bob, Bello now has a quality start tonight. And he wasn't half bad his last time out. And thanks to 7 BB's and 3 hits, the Sox have scored 3 gigantic runs. If the Sox win this one, I vote for putting a statue of mvp 78 on Boston Commons.

As recently as a week ago, when we were still 2/3 of the way through the season, the Sox were ranked 4th in runs scored and 2d in team OPS. I do not think the Sox hitting is broken or derelict. Just a tad disappointed tonight.

I think it was yesterday I read a longish article in the NYTimes about the transformation of MLB pitching. Smart teams and pitchers are going for K's by relying on their best pitches, which almost always means nasty breaking balls and not fast ball. The Sox tonight so far have 3 K's in 6 outs by swinging and missing at fastballs.

Devers K'd on 3 four seamers coming in at 92 mph. What is going on?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm clearly an idiot.

If it is in fact "part of his daily vocabulary," then maybe he needs some kind of appropriate punishment or re-education or whatever.

Criswell's WAR today is 0.0. Giolito's is also 0.0. Sale's is 3.8, and he's the one pitching for the Braves while the Sox pay $17M of his salary. Giolito and Sale were huge misjudgments by Breslow, and Criswell cannot make them go away. Breslow gets credit for bringing in Bailey as the pitching coach, but has been a disaster in finding and/or keeping good arms. Yes, I would prefer that JH spend a lot more on players, especially pitchers. On the other hand, there is a wealth of evidence that his CBO's and others in the front office are clueless on how to spend that money intelligently. Thus do I cite--yet again--the example of David Dombrowski, who has repeatedly demonstrated he knows how to acquire talented players and to produce successful MLB teams--see Miami, Detroit, Boston, and now Philadelphia. However, I also believe that all came crashing down in 2019 when the Sox, still with DD at the helm, had the biggest payroll in MLB, did not even make the postseason, and were in need of a whole lot more cash to keep Mookie out of the clutches of the wealthier Dodgers. They also needed to continue paying Sale and Price big bucks even though both were done, and to find and pay big bucks for their replacements in the Sox rotation.

Paxton vs Brown Devers not playing. Valdez @ 2b and Sogard @ 3b. Paxton vs Brown

Actually, he's pretty balanced, but with a bias in favor of the the team/players/manager. I see nothing wrong with that. Back in May-June we were--I was--bragging about the unbelievable turnaround in the rotation, which we/I credited to the new pitching coach, Bailey, whom Breslow had insisted upon. The Sox had the best team ERA in MLB. The hitting--total runs scored and team OPS--was mired around 12th or so. Since the ASG break, the pitching seems to be in free fall. The team ERA, about 5th before the ASG, is now a panic-inducing 17th. What the starters don't give up, the bullpen is more than happy to make up for. Friday night Houck pitched a 6 inning, 4 hit, 1 ER gem, and the bullpen rushed in to rescue the Astros by giving up 8 runs in 3 innings. Meanwhile, the no-name lineup is now ranked a decent 5th in runs scored and 3d in team OPS. This is terrific and absolutely no credit for it belongs to the new CBO, Breslow. A former pitcher and Yale grad, Breslow has understandably focused on the pitching. While I give him lots of credit for bringing in Bailey, I think he has done little to bring in good arms. Most notably, in the offseason he dumped Sale and picked up Giolito, 2 moves which now live in infamy. Oh, and he picked up Grissom, currently playing for Worcester. You could be right that the 2024 Sox are seeking and finding their level of mediocrity. I, however, remain fascinated by the ups and downs of a team with the lowest payroll (by ranking) in the JH era, 2003 to 2024. Almost as fascinating are the moves Cora makes, game to game and inning by inning, to compensate for all the mistakes by Breslow, his predecessors, and others in the FO as well as by the owner himself.

Twice tonight Devers has K'd with a man on 3d base.

Can't walk Devers with the bases full. Time to earn that big paycheck.

And here comes Valdez to hit for Jansen.