Maxbialystock

Oh, yeah.

He stopped. Also, the SS caught the throw inside the basepath pursuant to throwing back to home. Tagging Devers was going to be tricky.

I went to the local law school library not long ago and looked up solo dingers. They are not a criminal offense--at least not here in North Carolina. How about in Tampa? When you get 5 runs with just 7 hits, solo shots are actually OK.

Call me crazy, but I dread bringing Jansen in to close the 9th. He over-relies on that cutter and gave up 2 runs his last time out 5 days ago.

Jacoby was better at a young age. Took 2 bases on a passed ball. Stole home. Took so-so routes to the ball. Had no arm. Had a career year in 2011, including over 30 dingers. His WAR that year was 8.0, which later caused the Yankees to sign him to a ridiculous contract in 2013 after they didn't re-sign Robinson Cano.

I keep reading these long speeches about what a great 8th inning guy Whitlock is. I'd rather use Martin. Great play by Martin on the groundout.

Double steal for the 2d run!!!!!

This time a no-brainer to walk Devers.

Dumb play by Abreu not to slide and thus overran 2b.

We had to write a theme a week in senior English (high school), and one of mine was on your namesake. Title was, "My Middle Name." I did make a big deal about serving in both wars even though he never went overseas in WW II. I did not realize how smart he was. He was talented--great reflexes and eyesight--but he was also a real student of hitting. Sox up 3-2 on a timely rally by the new guys--Rafaela, Duran, and Abreu.

Meh. I think the pitching this year is huge, but I do not believe the Sox can make the postseason without some hitting, by which I mean better than we've seen. And you just might be the guy who turned that spigot on. Last night's pitching was terrific, but so were those 5 runs. Ditto tonight--great pitching and two crucial runs driven in. And now we need at least one more run.

Great single and rbi by Grissom in the 1st, followed by two K's in the 5th and 7th. Score still tied, 2-2. DH O'Neill is 0/3 with 2 K's.

That OP on that thread was just silly. Any player is tradeable, of course, but right now Duran ain't that guy. This is one heckuva game. Criswell was horrible in the 1st, but bounced back beautifully and finished with 5.1 innings and 2 ER's. As for the solo dinger, I love it when it ties the game at 2-2 when the Sox have a grand total of just 3 hits. Huge hit by Duran. Huge. Gonzalez hits for Smith because Cora has been doing that a lot just to get the slight advantage of righty bat vs lefty pitcher (or vice versa) to get some much needed hitting. Time to mention CERA again. Credit to Criswell for bouncing back after the 1st inning, but I think McGuire helped. Don't ask me how he helped because I don't know. And, remember, I like Wong a lot more than McGuire. Whoops. Lefty vs lefty, McGuire singles in the 7th with 2 out.

Grissom 4 for 4. More likely than the Sox winning 20 straight, but not by much.

That's what I think too. However, without Sale the Sox currently have the 2d best ERA in MLB, primarily because of the rotation (Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock, Houck, and now Criswell). No one on Talksox can name a Red Sox team in the last 50 years that was ranked higher than 2d in team ERA. As for Grissom, I didn't expect much from him and am fine with whoever else gets to play in his stead. Next year's middle infielders could include Story, Mayer, Rafaela, Hammond, and/or Gonzalez. Who needs freaking Grissom this year or next year? I would be dishonest if I didn't admit I would love to have Sale on this Sox team. When he is the real Chris Sale, he is a joy to watch because he's probably the most professional pitcher I can remember in a Sox uniform. Focused, good defender, athletic, and with a pretty good array of pitches, made slightly better by the recent addition of a cut fastball.

Much ado about very little. BP pitchers come ago, not just season to season, but throughout the season. MLB teams can have 26 players on their active roster, of whom 13 are normally pitchers, and of those 5 are starters and 8 are relievers. So far this season (48 games, 30% of the whole season) the Sox have used 14 different relievers, not including Reyes. They are literally a dime a dozen, except of course, for Mr. Kenley Jansen, who's being paid $16M to pitch one inning every 3d game--what a freaking waste of money. The rotation--Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock, Houck, and now Criswell--are the heart and soul of the 2024 Sox, who are, somewhat miraculously, definitely in the hunt for a wild card slot even though 70% of the season is still to be played.

Agree we don't really know about Grissom, who has played in just 13 of the Sox 48 games this season. But we know a ton about Sale. He's 35 and this is his 14th MLB season. For the 2012-2018 seasons, his WAR's were 5.8, 6.9, 6.6, 3.3, 4.9, 6.0, 6.9, which are pretty impressive. Then came 5 lousy seasons (2019-2023) with WAR's of 2.3, 0 (recovery from TJ surgery), 1.0, 0.0 (bicycle fall), and 1.7 with the Sox. And right now his WAR is 2.1, his ERA 2.22, and he leads the Atlanta rotation in IP with 56.2 with 5 quality starts and a 7-1 W-L record. He's added a 4th pitch, a cutter, to his usually effective repertoire of slider, fastball, and changeup. I think the tommy john surgery extends his effectiveness for at least 2 more years after this year--if not more. So, yes, I think the Braves got a terrific deal in this trade, especially with the Sox paying Sale's salary this year. Interestingly, the Sox gave up Yoan Moncada to get Sale, and Moncada never quite lived up to his hype. 2 good years, 2019 and 2021, with WAR's of 4.6 and 4.0.

I vastly prefer Wong over McGuire because Wong is athletic, has a good arm, and is smart. McGuire has that lefty bat which hasn't done much so far this season, and he's big and slow. Wong's OPS is .902 to McGuire's .639. I also agree with anyone who argues CERA's are really difficult to prove. Nevertheless, I've seen moonslav's numbers which say McGuire is better behind the plate. So all I'm really saying is that Cora might decide now and then to use McGuire because he, Cora, thinks McGuire might be better for that pitcher against that team.

Utter nonsense. Duran has by far the highest WAR, +2.8, on the Sox--and the 6th highest in MLB. He is good at the two things the Sox aren't good at--hitting and defense. There is no evidence mental health is a debilitating issue with him. You want debilitating, go look at Chris Sale's track record with the Sox, plus Story, Whitlock, Giolito, Casas (from swinging a freaking bat!!!!!), Yoshida, et al. Apparently, the Sox have him under control for his prime years, so what could be better? If the younger guys prove to be better than Duran, I would be fine with trading him, but not now. Oh, and the Sox use of JBJ was spot on. They lost Ellsbury to the Yankees, who vastly overpaid him, and got good value from JBJ, 2014-2020. It was dumb bringing him back in 2022, but that season was doomed anyway.

I'm sure I didn't laugh, but as recently as last season I still believed he couldn't go through a lineup 3 times--at least, until he did it several times. He does not have great heat or a fantastic curve, but he does have a good assortment of pitches and good command. Right now he's definitely headed for the AS Game.

Back to the CERA topic. I though McGuire did an excellent job tonight.

I'm one of the guilty parties, mostly because I forgot/forget he's just one player and can do only so much. Today I do think that early dinger made a difference. But of course so did Tanner Houck and the rest of the team.

Whitlock was not a good closer in 2021, period. His strength was long relief.

Sox back to .500 with a sweet win tonight at the trop--3 dingers plus Houck at his best for 7 shutout innings.

I'm no expert, but I think relief pitchers can get by with a simpler assortment of pitches, which should be less stressful on the arm.