Maxbialystock

A shout out to SPLENDIDSPLINTER, who brought us two terrific wins over the Phillies.

Meh. You exaggerate mediocrity and you ignore the simple fact that this year, without Verdugo, the Sox outfield is crowded with talent. I'll take Abreu in RF anytime, plus his cost is lower. FWIW, Abreu has a higher WAR and higher OPS. That said, yessireebob, he hammered the Sox last night. That dinger was in straightaway CF, the deepest part of Fenway. Getting Dugo was a definite plus for the Yankees, and he looks pretty happy too.

Well, at least the Celtics got another NBA title. Oh, wait . . .

Continue? Continue!!!???? They just took 2 of 3 from the Phillies.

5 of 6 hits against Bello were off of his sinker/fastball. He likes it, and so do opposing hitters. Ain't that nice?

Did I not say you absolutely must throw strikes when you throw heat to Devers? OK. 2 on, 2 out, and Yoshida to the plate. I'll take a lying, cheating, no good, lowdown sneaky single.

Duran on 1b and Hamilton flies out, so Devers is smiling.

There's global warming, which is serious and upon us. And there is Gil heat, which is worse.

Our absolute fav firstbaseman strikes out as ignominiously as it's possible to do. Sad but true, he's still a better choice than Dalbec.

Nice play by the Yankees, especially Judge, to keep Wong from scoring from 1b.

Sox have 3 hits and 0 runs. Yankees have 4 hits and 3 runs. Sox now have 2 on and no one out. Any guesses on what happens next?

Gil is an idiot. I told him throw heat for strikes. Devers is so happy he can't see straight.

I haven't seen Bello shake off many pitches, which tells me that someone wants him throwing his world-famous sinker a lot. The Yankees sure like that sinker. I'll bet Bello does too. So everybody's happy. And a sinker got the GIDP! And an egregious Bello error gave the Yankees run #3.

O'Neill K's to end the 3d with 2 on and Devers in the on deck circle, grateful.

Sure hope the Sox can bring these two home before Devers comes to bat. I have 2 theories about him which anyone can feel free to shoot down. The first is that opposing pitchers focus better and throw better stuff when men are on base and Devers is at the plate. The other is that he loves, absolutely loves to swing at breaking balls because he knows he's pretty good at it. At the same time, he does not like to swing at heat, especially good heat--but almost any heat will do. So the way to pitch to him is throw heat for strikes and curves outside (especially below) the zone.

What I've read says 2 July. What did he say?

Bello seems to be settling down. Those were excellent pitches to K Judge for the 2d time.

Long interview with Casas. When I see these long interviews, which continue whatever the action is on the field, I assume the announcers basically have nothing to say.

My reaction too until I saw Gil serve up similar pitches to get Sox hitters out. I do not think the Sox are good at hitting fastballs over 95 mph. And that's what Bello was throwing at the Yankees, who sent them back faster than they came in. Both Gil and Bello were throwing heat at about 97 mph. Note: fastball in the the geometric center of the strike zone--swing and a miss by Devers for the K.

Ahem. Last year the best winning percentage in MLB was 64% by the Braves, who won 104 games, which is pretty good. However, the two teams in the World Series last year had winning percentages of 56% (90 wins, Rangers) and 52% (84 wins, Diamondbacks). And the reason last year's postseason worked out that way wasn't because something what wrong, but because 64%, 56%, and 52% ain't all that far apart. that's a spread of just 12 freaking percent, which is miniscule in terms of separating good teams from not so good teams. Relatedly the Sox 50%, where they've been for big chunks of this season, also ain't that bad even though you want to categorize them as mediocre. Then there's the little matter of the Sox most recent 7 games, in which they could only manage a 2-2 split vs. the White Sox, the worst team in MLB with a 26% winning percentage, followed by taking 2 of 3 vs the Phillies, whose winning percentage of 68% is the highest in the NL and virtually tied with the Yankees 69% for the best in MLB. Those two series are to me the quintessence of MLB, which is that rare sport in which a competitor can hit the piss out of the ball and make an out or even a double play. Or he can swing and miss for strike 3, but get to 1b because it was wild pitch. Or hit a dribbler for a hit. Plus don't forget the errors. Given the above, to me it's impossible to be sure which way MLB is trending. We know the money is terrific, especially with the bonuses going to players high in the draft who are years away from MLB. We also know, as moonslav says, that new talent is coming from more and more countries around the world. OK, not Europe, granted. They prefer fussball, as in fact the entire world does, except, of course, us star-bangled banner types.

It would be nice if he did "spend big again." But at the same time there is absolutely no reassurance for any owner that spending big does the trick. I say this because players' salaries are almost always guaranteed, which means an injury or whatever is all on the owner. So I doubt there's is a single team anywhere in MLB who have spent big on players without ending up holding the bag. Like the Yankees. They have a huge fan base, excellent attendance, TV ratings, whatever, so they can definitely afford to spend big for players and usually do exactly that. It's why they've won 27 WS's. As recently as 1998, 1999, and 2000 they won 3 straight WS. But since the 2000 season, the Yankees have won 1 WS, in 2009. In that same time frame the Sox have won 4 WS and the Giants 3, I think. The Angels have won 1 in that time frame, and so have the freaking Marlins! The Cubs finally ended their drought. It gets better--or worse, depending on your perspective. Out in LA the Dodgers also have a gigantic fan base and lots and lots of money. So, like the Yankees, they'll go out and get, say, a Mookie Betts--just like that! Great arms for a king's ransom? No problem. But guess what? Since 2000, the only WS the Dodgers won was the in phoniest season in MLB history, 2020, when players and fans were all getting covid. So to me it's a meaningless WS title. Oh, the Phillies have won one WS, but it was in 2008, long before DD took over.

Agree completely. If I understand them correctly, the Rays system is to sign them long term early, before they become expensive, or to let them go when they become free agents--or trade them a year or two early. They signed Wander Franco early and long, but unfortunately it seems he's pond scum.

No excuse. Splitting a series is so simple. Just win one, lose one, and tie one.

Exactly. Much as I deplore the worst defense in MLB, hitting does come first.

Ahem. Giolito and Story are both unmitigated disasters in terms value for salary. Plus Giolito and Whitlock both went under the knife for a quicker version of TJ surgery, so we have no idea what they will bring to the team next year. If I'm JH, I'm asking Breslow why the Sox should spend another $80M or so if they are so absolutely rotten at acquiring good players from other teams.