Maxbialystock

Scoreless 1st for the Sox. Normal. Almost obligatory.

Gil vs. Crawford, both righties

No doubt true, but irrelevant to the point that players succeed when they hit the ball squarely. That should be their focus and not the angle at which they hit it or the direction in which they hit it. Sox hitting succeeds when they lead in doubles, not dingers, which I believe is also tied to banging the ball off the green monster. Not enough good righty bats, which is probably also why the Sox have a losing record at the Fens.

This is Eovaldi's 14th MLB season. He has lasted a full season exactly twice--2014 and 2021. This year he missed 4 weeks in May. However, 5 days ago he was excellent vs San Diego: 1 hit, 0 runs, 7 IP, 92 pitches, 6 K's. And last year he was excellent in the postseason.

Sox attendance is almost exactly what it was last year, so apparently the 2024 Sox fans who go to Fenway Park--and spend huge sums of money in so doing--don't care whether the Sox win or lose. I think they don't like rooting for a whole bunch of no-names. Nobody on the Sox got significant ASG votes. As for acquiring fresh blood this month, I agree it makes sense. And, by the way, offseason trades/acquisitions have been no more intelligent or useful than in-season. I would love to see a good starter, but the Sox have had horrendously bad luck in that category. Eovaldi was terrific in 2018, but he didn't start. Peavy in 2013 was OK, nothing more. I would also like to see a good righty bat, especially someone who gets doubles.

I too am chagrinned at the intrusion of software programs that have or can reshape the game. The Rays claim their system relies on extensive computer analysis and that, for example, they were the first MLB team to use bold shifts for every hitter they faced. On the other hand, I like the mention of Ted Williams, who was born too soon to benefit from computer analysis but who was definitely smart (he was a pilot instructor in WW II and later a successful MLB manager) and a real student of hitting. Consequently, I think he's the one who coined "hitting a round ball with a round bat squarely," which is the essence of hitting and difficult to achieve. He also endured what was called the "Williams shift," which I think Lou Boudreau dreamt up because Williams was a great pull hitter. Last year MLB banned those bold shifts, but Williams simply ignored them because to him the first principle of hitting was to hit that round ball with a round bat squarely. In 1957 at age 38 he hit .388 with 38 dingers even though Fenway Park in fact favors hitting to left field and the Green Monster. In the movie Moneyball Billy Beane preaches not bunting--a waste of an out--and getting walks. Williams did both: avoided bunts and embraced walks. Here's a question for all you Sox stats experts. The Sox won the WS four times under John Henry, and in all four seasons led MLB in one batting stat. I think the answer to that explains why Williams was right that the key to hitting success is, very simply, hitting that round ball squarely. This year the Sox are ranked 6th in that stat. In 2021, the last time the Sox made a good run in the postseason, they were ranked first.

Yep. $17M for Sale and $19M for Giolito.

Based on what Breslow did with Sale and Giolito, maybe we should encourage Breslow to remain inactive on the pitching front.

They already have that guy. His name's Giolito. Chances are, whoever they get this time will be just as productive as Giolito this year, Sale in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, Price in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, and some others whose names I can't recall. I'm of course in favor of getting a good starter. I'm just not sure our FO, especially Breslow, has the smarts to get the right one. In addition to paying Giolito $38M for doing absolutely nothing so far, Breslow fixed it so the Sox would pay Sale $17M this year to become the Braves' ace. This year's rotation has actually done pretty well, and they are the cheapest Sox rotation in a very long time.

My goodness is McGuire slow going to 1b.

If Bernardino is only good for one out, what good is he? And that out was a deep fly to CF. But that's all water under the bridge. Today belongs to the Yankees. Hah. Now the Yankees, up 10-4, are having a hissy fit because their batter was called out for staying out of the batter's box too long. Good comments above on how much the bullpen has been stretched today, last night, and Thursday.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how his ERA can be so low--1.15. Weissert just took care of that. A double to boost Bernardino's ERA to 1.44. That fast ball by Weissert was--where else?--right down the freaking middle. Terrific Sox bullpen last night. Horrible today.

Back to Winck for a moment. He finished with 3.2 IP with 3 runs given up. Cole, the $324M starter, finished with two more outs--4.1 IP--and one more run, 4 total. So in fact Winck outpitched Cole.

My goodness. Now Fox is showing Yankee dingers while the Sox are batting.

Now the ump is screwing the Yankees pitcher, but he got Valdez out anyway.

For once wouldn't it be nice for Bernardino to actually do his job and not give up runs counted against Winck. Good thing Trevino had the double and was bunted to 3b--too slow to score on that grounder. Good grief. Now Berardino has "throw it in the middle of the strike zone" disease. Thank goodness, a fly out to Rafaela. The Sox have been a tad lucky today because our pitchers have served up some very tasty middle of the strike zone home run balls. Just one dinger by the Yankees in a ballpark created for dingers is slightly miraculous.

That pitch was well inside and hit hard. Winck might not get through the 4th. Nice play by Devers for first out.

If you can say that about Winck, imagine what Yankees fans are thinking about Cole. In fact, allow me to say that in he first three innings Winck, the reliever forced to be a starter, has matched the $324M Cole. 3d time through the Sox order--in the 4th inning. Duran still hasn't figured him out. That knuckle curve by Cole is pretty darn good and makes that fast ball even more effective.

Well, that seemed almost inevitable. Today Winck has struggled with his control and inevitably has thrown some fat pitches right down the middle. 3-3. This being very pro-Yankees Fox coverage, we now get to see Dugo's dinger 10 times.

Agree. Agree too on getting a great arm. But meanwhile this 2024 Sox pitching staff with absolutely zero great arms is pitching their buns off. The entire Sox rotation is paid less than Jansen.

While I still agree, I'm watching $324M for 9 years Gerrit Cole struggle to get through 3 innings vs. the Sox. Let's see how no-name, bargain basement Winck does in the 3d.

Winck's our guy. And he's a reliever being asked to start. And so far--it's still very early in this game--he's doing better than the Yankee's ace/former ace.

That heater was 98.5 mph. So Yoshida singles, weakly, to bring Devers home easily. Love it!!

Judge has a great arm, but Hamilton to ran on it and scored with a superb slide.

And he got out of the inning with a K. That to me showed a ton of heart. And, oh, by the way. Winck is supposed to be a reliever. He's starting because they Sox need a 5th starter. It's OK to worry about how he's doing, but to me not OK to never give him any credit. Devers stole 2b base??? Where's the respect?