Maxbialystock

Agree on Duran. My bad. Also disagree with my tirade about signing relief pitchers. If Breslow gets starters, one or more current starters can go back to the bullpen. Besides, I know nothing about who's available out there.

Ahem. I'd say the Dodger series demonstrated pretty convincingly that by far the biggest weakness of this Sox team is the bullpen. So I'm less sure than you that 2 starters solve all problems. I've been harping on getting a good righty bat, but maybe what the Sox really need is a hitting/batting coach as good as their pitching coach. Someone who can teach our lefty batters how not to look like complete idiots when they face lefty pitchders. To me these OPS's vs lefty pitchers are inexcusable: Duran .678; Devers .644; Yoshida .518; Abreu .449. I just took a peak at Philly's 2 best lefty bats and these are their OPS's vs lefties: Schwarber .961; Harper .992.

I think of myself as upbeat, but I too have griped on talksox. In fact, that's one of its great values because most of us want/need to vent when we are frustrated by what we've just seen. Apparently, the Sox fans who pay big bucks to watch games at antiquated Fenway Park are also grumbling. Before covid, the Sox were drawing 36K or so per game. Now it's 32K for 3 straight seasons, including this one.

Agree. The simple fact is that the Sox had the lead, 1-0, in the 8th inning Friday night when Bernardino came in and gave it at away and then some. Then Jansen blew the save in the 9th Saturday night. As it turned out, he also blew a possible win last night when he gave up 3 runs in the 8th and the Sox closed it to 9-6 in the 9th inning. Meanwhile our brand new CBO did absolutely nothing to improve the bullpen last offseason. He did dump starter Sale, who now stars for the Braves and is paid by the Sox--go figure that one out because I sure can't--and did pick up Giolito, who will somehow have to earn the $38M he's getting for 2 seasons in 1 season.

Oh, stop it. Just stop it. You are ignoring the fact that as early as 2017 there were signs his elbow/arm was having problems near the end of the season. That all finally came to a head in late 2019, which led to TJ surgery in 2020. And the key point there is that for most pitchers TJ surgery is a new start. However, in Sale's case he missed not only all of 2020, but practically all of 2021--and then lost most of 2022 because of the freak bicycle accident. So Sale only really "used" that new left elbow last season, and that's when we saw some positive signs that he was close to the old Sale, but wisely taking a little off the heater and also adding a cut fastball to go with the slider and changeup. I personally was looking forward to the new Sale this season. Also don't forget that Sale is the ultimate professional in terms of staying in shape and staying focused about his job and about what he is doing in the game. You could be right about "unprecedented," but this was not a miracle. It was Sale being Sale helped by the effects of a surgery that has helped literally hundreds (thousands?) of other pitchers.

He's a righty bat with the 4th most total bases on the Sox and the 2d best OPS. Of course he's an asset, especially when our best hitter, Devers, struggles against lefties.

It looks horrible because it is horrible. Sale is brilliant this year, and the Sox are paying him to pitch for the Braves. That by itself is catastrophic. Grissom might help the Sox someday, but he will never be able to do what Sale is doing right now. Plus I'd rather have Story or Mayer at 2b than Grissom.

I'm being disingenuous of course. I was quite happy with the big payrolls of yesteryear, to say nothing of the 4 WS wins after the 86 year drought. On the other hand, I also understand JH's frustration when the 2019 Sox had the biggest payroll in MLB and didn't make the playoffs. Plus, to make matters worse, DD wanted a bunch more money to keep Mookie and replace Price and Sale while continuing to pay them huge sums to do nothing. That's when he brought in Chaim Bloom, who didn't fare too well with the new budget (which remains a mystery). Breslow stepped in and sent Sale packing to the Braves while paying $17M of his 2024 salary and brought in Giolito @ $19M x 2 seasons--and who has yet to throw a Sox pitch in anger. Talk about a horrible start! But he also brought in pitching coach Bailey, who has been terrific.

You absolutely do not want this team to be competitive. In fact, your biggest disappointment this season was when the Sox went 11 games above .500 right before the ASG break. You want a big payroll and big names in the lineup.

You're blaming this on Cora????!!!!! Varitek is a fat slob who sits on the bench the entire game and brings nothing to this Sox team. I'm not saying he wasn't a good catcher because he was--except when it came to catching Wakefield. For that, the Sox had to have Mirabelli.

Meh. The Sox played well in the first two games until they brought in their bullpen, which stunk uniformly, including Jansen. Tonight, Paxton is simply outpitching Crawford because he has a terrific knuckle curve, a better fast ball, and better command. Crawford relies heavily on his fast ball and cutter and the Dodgers are killing both pitches.

It's pretty simple, actually. Crawford loves his fastball and the Dodgers love it even more. Paxton loves his knuckle curve and it has the Sox hitters completely befuddled. So much so that, when he throws heat above the zone, they invariably swing at it and of course miss. Devers has been the most befuddled Sox hitter in this series. He can't hit a pitch in the geometric center of the strike zone.

Agree the Dodgers are better and certainly better constructed. If anything, the 2024 Sox were deconstructed. They are basically a bunch of no-names,. I think that's why attendance has been down 2022-2024. As for the first 2 games in the series, we saw the Dodgers prevail because they had the better bullpen. Both Sox starters outpitched their Dodger counterparts, which is why the Sox had the lead through 7 innings in game 1 and through 8 1/2 innings in game 2. Then Bernardino came in and absolutely destroyed the Sox with his miserable showing in game 1. In game 2 Jansen stunk, Winck stunk, and Weissert stunk. I don't disagree the Dodgers have a ton of big names on their team and the Sox don't. Their CBO/GM is definitely better than ours, and ownership is far more willing to support a big payroll. But that does not mean the Sox are lousy because they've already taken 4/6 from the Yankees (2d highest payroll in MLB) and 2/3 from the Phillies (4th highest payroll, best W-L record in MLB).

Could not agree more. I think 4 or 5 really good teams in MLB would be optimal. Get rid of those nasty errors, lousy pitches, weak swings, etc We need to keep the game pure.

I'm a purist, but like the rule because I think extra inning games can take forever and unfairly overuse the pitching staffs of the teams involved.

Actually, in both games "pure surrender" was sending almost any Sox reliever to the mound. Bernardino was a complete disaster in game 1, and last night Jansen was actually more of a disaster than Weissert was. He needed to get three outs from the bottom of the Dodgers order and didn't come close.

Andrew freaking Vaughn??!!! He's played 91 games for the White Sox this year and his OPS is .675 and his overall WAR is -0.1. I have my doubts about whether Casas will ever be Casas again, but right now I would vastly prefer him over Vaughn. Also, let's not forget that 1b is the easiest infield position. If Trevor Story is healthy, Mayer is brought to Boston, Hamilton is still decent at the plate, Grissom turns out to be decent, etc--then one of those guys could be moved to 1b. Or Devers could be moved to 1b with Story or someone moving to 3b.

Did you miss the first two Dodgers games? Of course you didn't, but you seem to have forgotten that both games were quality starts--yes, quality starts--by Pivetta and Bello. And right now the Sox two best starters are Houck and Crawford. The bullpen, meanwhile, is a disaster--including closer Jansen, who was lucky not to get the loss as well as the blown save tonight.

Sure is, but the Sox did score 6 tonight with 5 of them earned.

Meh. If we can fault Cora, it's for the top of the 11th when of course--with Bill James whispering in his ear--he didn't have Smith bunt the two Sox baserunners over to 2b and 3b. When the Dodgers came to bat in the bottom of the 11th, they had the leadoff batter attempt to bunt not once but twice--and moved the runner to 3b. And that was the ballgame. In Cora's defense, his bullpen simply stinks. Jansen blew the save in the 9th and was lucky not to get the loss.

Not well deserved, and especially not "another well deserved L." The Sox had leads in both games and lost both games because of a weak bullpen. You seem to think the Dodgers are pushovers and no different from the Oakland A's, but in fact the Dodgers lead the NL West by 7 games and are 30-19 in Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers lead the NL West by 7 games and have been especially good in Dodger Stadium. The Sox had the lead going into the 8th inning in game 1 and in the 7th thru 10th innings in game 2. With a decent bullpen, they win both games. You don't know squat about these Sox and you certainly aren't a fan. Your moniker--Fred Lynn--reminds us of what losers the Sox were for 86 years.

Indeed. Cora had/has lots of options.

What did that Dodgers hitter just do? Was that a bunt? Isn't that illegal or something? I ask because of course the Sox would never bunt with a man on 2b and no one out.

Yoshida pinch-hitting for Ref. Who plays LF in the bottom of the 11th?