Maxbialystock

Notable--to me, anyway--that Houck today is faring better with McGuire behind the plate than Crawford and Pivetta did with Wong.

Sox defense looking ok to good, but then there is the small matter of hitting and pitching--in which the Brewers have dominated the Sox more than any other team this season. Crawford and Pivetta were both clobbered while the Sox lineup remained supine.

Body builders apparently believe that baseball is not actually a game of skills. Nor, I hasten to add, a game of endurance.

Smart baseball, modern or not. Worked like a charm both days.

They're swinging because they love what Pivetta is serving up: 3 doubles, 4 singles, and 2 walks. They also like that he only has 2 pitches, a curve and a fastball.

It's kismet. Pivetta loves his fast ball, and so do the Brewers.

Abreu is short and dumpy and exactly what you don't want covering RF at the Fens, but he has been terrific. So mental telepathy works. Who knew? I keep saying, "use the curve, use the curve," and Pivetta finally does.

Beautifully timed leap.

2 straight games the Brewers have started with a reliever. 2 outs last night, 4 tonight--then in comes the starter.

Bases loaded, 1 out, and looking way too much like a repeat of last night.

Pivetta is throwing way, way too many fast balls and most of them in the middle of the zone.

Agree on all but the pepper spray.

Good. Fan tossed for taking away a double, which has now been restored. Tough for the Sox, but Pivetta looks very hittable despite the 2 K's in the 1st inning.

Great story, moonslav. I would never have figured your for a Milwaukee guy. Then Maine and now Houston. That's three key sectors of this country--and you still go back to Maine every summer.

On the surface, the Grissom watch is just silly because he's played just 16 games. What's the point? Well the point is that the Sox brain trust are paying Chris Sale's freaking salary of $17M while he starts for the Atlanta Braves and so far has the highest pitching WAR on the Braves and the 2d most IP. That is nothing less than extraordinary and demands that we question what the Sox got in return. The catch, of course, is that the Sox have 6 years of control over Grissom in addition to his being a pretty good prospect a year or two ago. So, as moonslav and others insist, it's way, way, way, way too early to pass judgment on the trade. But not for me. I'll give Grissom another 2-3 months, which is about what Pedey had as a rookie in 2007 (and having played in 31 MLB games in 2006) before he showed how good he was. And maybe I'll give Grissom the whole season because no way, no how can he fix this lineup with his bat. And as for losing Sale, while I hate it, after 51 games the Sox still have the 2d best ERA in MLB (but the Phillies, ERA 3.11, are about to pass them). 3d is still pretty amazing.

I would love to have had Sale stay. He is just one more example of the malfeasance of JH's "brain trust." Consider-- This year's payroll is $182M, but $16M is going to closer Jansen, $17M to Braves starter Chris Sale, $22.5M to Story who's out for the season because he risked life and limb diving for a grounder, $18M for Giolito who is out for the season because he unwisely threw pitches in spring training, $18.6M for Yoshida whose thumb hurts and who can't hit anyway, and $7M for Turner who plays for the Jays. That adds up to $99M, which leaves $83M, of which Devers is paid $29M, so the rest of the team--the entire pitching staff (rotation and relievers) except Jansen, the entire outfield, both catchers, all of the infielders except Devers, and the DH--are being paid $54M. The bottom 5 payrolls in MLB are $64M (A's), $83M (Pirates), $98M (Rays), $99M (Marlins), and $99M (Orioles). Looked at that way--and disregarding what other teams are paying their players who are on the IL or otherwise not contributing--the 2024 Sox needed to spend $360M, way more than the top dollar Mets payroll of $307M, to have any hope of competing this season. Indeed, given the above, it's a semi-miracle the Sox are still 1 game above .500.

After 4 straight wins, especially 3 @ the Trop (where manta rays hang out), last night was very disappointing. I honestly had high hopes, but the fans didn't--attendance seems fixed at 31K, 12th best in MLB. 5 years ago, the last season before covid, the Sox averaged 36K, 7th best attendance. But for several seasons before 2019, the Sox attendance was 9th best. And 10 years before that--2009--when the Sox were getting max attendance, 38K, they were still just 8th best in MLB. If average attendance is a key indicator of the annual income of a MLB franchise--and if for most of his "reign" as owner of the Sox John Henry has been paying top dollar for talent--then it's just possible the Sox haven't been all that profitable over the years. Moreover, JH and his brain trust have spent large on some players who didn't deliver. 2024 is a perfect example of that. This year's payroll is $182M, but $16M is going to closer Jansen, $17M to Braves starter Chris Sale, $22.5M to Story who's out for the season because he risked life and limb diving for a grounder, $18M for Giolito who is out for the season because he unwisely threw pitches in spring training, $18.6M for Yoshida whose thumb hurts and who can't hit anyway, and $7M for Turner who plays for the Jays. That adds up to $99M, which leaves $83M, of which Devers is paid $29M, so the rest of the team--the entire pitching staff (rotation and relievers) except Jansen, the entire outfield, both catchers, all of the infielders except Devers, and the DH--are being paid $54M. The bottom 5 payrolls in MLB are $64M (A's), $83M (Pirates), $98M (Rays), $99M (Marlins), and $99M (Orioles). Looked at that way--and disregarding what other teams are paying their players who are on the IL or otherwise not contributing--the 2024 Sox needed to spend $360M, way more than the top dollar Mets payroll of $307M, to have any hope of competing this season. No wonder JH is fed up.

This is his 7th season of MLB, the first 6 with the Cardinals. 3 years ago, age 25, he had his one full season, 141 games, with 34 dingers, an OPS of .912, and 168 K's. His career OPS is .784.

Exactly. This rotation of kind of, sort of nobodies has been incredibly good. Crawford does not have magic stuff, so he needs to hit the corners and mix things up. I am a huge Wong fan, but once again I wonder if McGuire might have been better last night.

Bad night for Crawford.

I also agree. The ESPN WAR for Rafaela is -0.2, but I'm OK with -0.6. As others have said, his range--at both SS and CF--is what has led to 1 or more of his errors. And he still leads the Sox in rbi's with 26.

Any 10 games in a season can be important, but I kind of like the next 10--3 vs the Brewers; 3 @ the Orioles; and 4 vs. the Tigers--as an indicator of which is more real, the current 4 game winning streak when the Sox hit the dang ball, or the 5-11 record before that when they didn't. Brewers lead the NL Central @ 28-21 and have almost exactly the same run differential, +38, as the Sox, +39. So they are a good litmus test. The Orioles, as they did last season, have been kicking our butts and swept the Sox @ the Fens 6 weeks ago (7-1, 7-5, 9-4). Let it be noted, however, that most of the butt kicking was against the Sox rotten defense and so-so bullpen. So I do not believe this series (Fri, Sat, Sun) is a lost cause. Finally, 4 vs the 23-27 Tigers back at Fenway Park, is a series the Sox should win if the rotation remains solid, the defense doesn't go sour, the bullpen doesn't blow up, and the lineup keeps hitting. Right now the 5 Sox starters--Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Houck, and Criswell--are about as good as we could possibly hope for. And their combined salaries add up to $15M. And the hitting seems to be coming around. As I said elsewhere, maybe all they need/needed was some confidence because the current available OPS's--Ref .956, Devers .925, O'Neill .882, Wong .882, Abreu .842, Duran .800, Gonzalez .730, McGuire .708, Hamilton .696, and Rafaela .585--are almost decent. Grissom .316 is not, nor is Smith .483 or Cooper .592. Thus is Cora more than willing to pinch hit. The point is, these 10 games--which I have arbitrarily selected--can help determine where the hitting and pitching are. Which reminds me--the bullpen is up and down like a yo-yo, but did not jeopardize the 4 game winning streak the Sox are on (thanks to the rotation and hitting). Same goes for the defense. I kind of like the outfield of Duran, Rafaela, and Abreu, and even Ref and O'Neill are almost decent. The infield, however, has been error prone and also "should-have-been-an-error prone." Like when Devers grabbed a grounder a game or two ago, checked his watch, looked at the flags, waved to a fan, and finally threw to 1b late. Nevertheless, Devers has made some good plays and so have the others. I do not consider the infield defense to be hopeless. This is not an especially young team, but it is an inexperienced one. Duran, Abreu, Wong, Grissom, Hamilton, and Rafaela--6 players who start a lot of games these days--are in their first or second full season of MLB. It's possible they will improve as they gain experience. We already know that's true of Duran, Abreu, and Wong--and Casas, on the IL until June 21.

It's factual and irresistible to an editor.

That's what the write-up on Koufax says--that with backspin his fastball gave the impression of rising (without actually doing so). Eck would have known about Koufax, who will turn 90 next year. When he announced his retirement at age 30, he said he wanted to be able to live the rest of his life without great discomfort from his left arm. Turns out, he made exactly the right decision.

Go back and look at those strikeout, ERA, IP, and complete game stats I cited. Koufax was an incredible phenom, if only for six years, 1961-66. I agree today's game has a whole lot more technology to measure spin rates, etc, to say nothing for positioning players on defense, analyzing swings and pitching motions, etc. But I'm not sure that makes these guys better because I know what I saw then and what I see today. One thing we can measure in both eras is number of home runs. And right now it sure looks to me as those both Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron had swings every bit as good as any in the game today. And, while we're on the topic of eras, Mays, Ruth, and Aaron didn't use drugs/supplements to enhance performance they way the modern guys (Bonds, et al) have.