Maxbialystock

You are so completely full of it. Seriously. In DD's 4 seasons as the Sox CBO, their payrolls were ranked 3d, 2d, 1st, and 1st. What broke the bank at Monte Carlo was the collapse of the Sox in 2019 with the biggest payroll in MLB and DD going to John Henry saying "I need a whole lot more money to meet Mookie's demands, which the Dodgers are more than happy to meet, plus I need a bunch of money to replace David Price and Chris Sale while we continue to pay them."

Nice win, 2 run dinger by the Tigers in the 9th notwithstanding. Sox are 8-5 since losing 4 straight (May 15-18) to Tampa Bay and St Louis. Up ahead (after 1 more game vs Tigers) are-- 2 vs. the 32-23 Braves, 4 vs. the 15-43 White Sox, 3 vs 40-18 Phillies, 3 vs. 40-19 Yankees.

Late to the game. Why is Wong in for Grissom?

Surprising game. Criswell and Bernardino both pitched well--which isn't surprising for Bernardino but is for Criswell--and the Sox lineup has played good D and scored 6 freaking runs. Home plate ump likes to call strikes. Fine with me as long as its for both sides.

We were both wrong. Today Valdez is THE MAN.

Customers got tired of going to Fenway Park 10 years ago. 6 years ago they couldn't even fill that very small ballpark with the best Sox team ever. His yacht cost $90M, which wouldn't begin to pay what the Dodgers are now paying Mookie Betts.

I'd rather have Ref, but Cora tends to play guys who are on the roster rather than leave them on the bench.

Fine, I like Mookie too. However, I have two responses to keeping him. First is that Mookie doesn't pitch, so the Sox pitching staff would have continued to disintegrate to mediocrity. Second is the example of the LA Angels, who have kept a truly great player in Mike Trout and gone nowhere in the postseason. Indeed, from 2018 to 2023, the had both Trout and Ohtani and went nowhere. I am not arguing that JH has made the right decisions with respect to CBO's and/or level of spending. But I am saying I understand his frustration with all those big contracts that resulted in so-so performance. As I have already said too many times, that frustration continues today with paying Sale $17M to star for the Braves, Turner $6.7M to play elsewhere, Story $22.5M to remain on the IL until 2025, ditto Giolito $18M, ditto Whitlock $3.2M, and $18.6M to Yoshida who is currently on the IL and whose hitting last year and this has not been commensurate with that salary.

So let me ask you this simple question. What would you have done if, after 4 straight seasons of paying top dollar or near top dollar, your CBO came to you and said, "boss, love those payrolls, but to remain competitive we are going to have to spend a whole lot more money?"

Baloney. He absolutely, positively did allow DD to do that for the Sox. In 2016, DD's first season, the Sox had the 3d highest payroll in MLB. In 2017, 2d highest. And in 2018 and 2019 the highest payrolls in MLB. And guess what JH found out in 2019? Not only were the Sox not even going to make the postseason--with the biggest payroll in MLB--DD was almost certainly telling him he would need a whole lot more money to keep Mookie Betts and find two more stud starting pitchers to replace Sale and Price while also continuing to pay Sale and Price.

Olson ® vs. Criswell ® Olson's ERA of 1.92 gives him a big edge over Criswell's 4.19. So Cora is going with seven lefty bats (*): Duran LF * Abreu RF * Smith 1B * Devers 3B* Valdez DH* Grissom 2B McGuire C * Rafaela CF Hamilton SS *

Commentary from the cheap seats. They didn't get a deal done with Houch because he was never on the Sox roster. As for Houck, as recently as last season there were discussions about whether he could successfully face a lineup a third time--to say nothing of the fact that last year his ERA was 5.01 in 21 starts. This year he's like he ducked into a phone booth and emerged as SuperHouck. His repertoire is bigger and his pitches are way sharper. And his ERA is an insane 1.85.

Looks like Rafaela is going to keep that rbi lead a while longer. That he is doing so from the 9 spot in the lineup is remarkable. Sox back up to .500. However, tomorrow it's Criswell (ERA 3.96) vs. Olson (ERA 1.92), so big edge to the Tigers.

Houck goes 7, giving up 1, and now has an ERA of 1.85, but is just 5-5.

My goodness, yes. Tough because he delivers. Tough because he gets little support--tonight was an exception--from the hitters. And tough because the defensive saboteurs are always lurking. That bad throw by Devers to 2b was pure inattention.

4-1, Sox, after 4 innings. Devers led off with a double, and Rafaela, knowing that he and he alone deserve to lead the Sox in rbi's, finished the job with a--wait for it--3 run dinger. Ghostbusters!

Maeda ® vs. Houck ®, big edge to Houck But of course Houck and his 1.90 ERA are 4-5, season to date Duran LF Abreu RF Wong C Devers 3B Refsnyder DH Smith 1B Grissom 2B Hamilton SS Rafaela CF

You got me. The Trop is much, much worse. And maybe Wrigley is too. But the simple fact is that Fenway is over 100 years old and has lousy sight lines for some seats. Camden Yards and the new Nationals Park have nothing but good sight lines. Ditto Royals Park in KC. I do like that you can use public transport to get to Fenway, but so can you (the Metro) to National's Park.

I blame Fenway Park, not the product on the field. That's why I cited the average attendances in 2013, 2018, and 2019--all seasons before covid and all seasons when the product on the field was exceptionally good. As for this season, 2024, I'm astounded it's still over 30K/game. Except for Devers, this is a no-name team that commits a lot of errors and can't score runs. To me Fenway is the worst ballpark in MLB. I've been to just two games there and both times it was like watching the game through the wrong end of binoculars. The ticket prices are insane, and the food is expensive and so-so. On the other hand, I never had a bad seat at Camden Yards, Royals park in KC, Philly (the old park), Griffith Stadium (old Washington Senators park), or the new Washington Nationals park.

Casas reportedly is making terrific progress and could return on the 60th day, June 21. Yoshida is hitting off a tee. O'Neill is on 10 day IL with a bad knee. He struck out 10 times in 15 at bats before Cora pulled him from the lineup.

Meh. After the 86 year curse/drought, he brought 4 WS wins. During that same period, 2002-2023, the Yankees, who have consistently outspent the Sox and who overall have won a whopping 27 WS, have won 1 WS. So I refuse to jump on your anti-Henry bandwagon, not because I'm happy with the current state of affairs, but because I just watch the games on mlb.com/tv (and miss some of them because of the insane blackout restrictions) and because I was a Sox fan for 54 of the 86 years of the drought/curse. The Sox fans who should be raising the biggest fuss are the ones who go to the games at Fenway. Interestingly, the attendance at Fenway increased quickly after JH took over and had several seasons of 81 home game sellouts, which led to increasing the Fenway seating capacity by about 1,000 (from 36.7K to 37.7K). However, by 2013, the year the Sox won their 3d WS under JH, attendance averaged just 34,979. In 2018, the best season in Sox history with 108 wins (plus 11-3 in the postseason), it averaged just 35,747 and in 2019 36,106. Then came covid in 2020, and in the 4 seasons since 2020, average attendance has averaged 21,300 (in 2021), 32,408 (2022), 32,989 (2023), and this year 31,311. In 2002, the last year before the JH era, the average Fenway attendance was 32,716.

Apt.

Ahem. He was equally speechless (because of the stuttering) after hitting 21 of 22 shots to win the NC. I was pretty much anti-hippie, but remain fascinated that a truly gifted basketball player would go that route--and actively oppose the Vietnam War. His right as an American citizen.

Silly, but apt. Martin is definitely our guy, but griping about those bunts was just dumb. I have been up and down like a rollercoaster this spring, and last night was a complete nosedive. It was in fact the perfect game for Martin to have a bad night because the Sox weren't going to score any runs.

I like "Martin pulled a nutty" because that's in fact what he did.