Maxbialystock

Whitlock's health and/or whether he starts or relieves is a very minor issue. The problems with this team are primarily in the lineup which leads MLB in errors and unearned runs and can't drive in runs.

Sadly, I agree.

Great dinger by Devers--thank goodness no one on base. Otherwise it wouldn't have been a dinger.

Bello's sinker is a big fat stinker. So far, 2 dingers and a double off it.

Left that big curve a little high and Hamilton nailed it for a triple. I almost fell out of my chair. Huge, huge hit--if Bello can start pitching.

Now Grissom does exactly the same thing.

Really stupid at bat by Cooper, swinging and missing at two straight sweepers in the dirt. With men on 1st and 2d and no one out (until he K'd).

Looks like the Cardinals love Bello's sinker almost as much as he does.

Bello, a fellow Dominican, takes the heat off Devers by getting pounded by a double and then a 2 run home run.

It is incredibly dismaying to see the Sox highest paid player to make errors that cost games and, as we just saw, GIDP with 2 men on. If you're a Sox ticket holder who regularly goes to games at Fenway, it would make sense not to go when the Sox marquee player consistently contributes to losses.

Bello ® vs. Gibson ® Edge to Bello, but who knows these days with a defense that leads MLB in giving up unearned runs (36 in 44 games, almost 1 per game)? That same lineup is also a "leader" in failing to drive in runs, except of course, that one glorious game in which they scored 17 vs the Cubs. And now closer Kelsey Jansen is looking vulnerable by relying almost exclusively on his cutter. Despite the above, the Sox are still @ .500, primarily because the pitching has been incredibly good. The Sox ERA of 2.91 is ridiculously low and still the best in MLB. 220 years ago Lewis and Clark set out from St Louis (pop. 5000) with their Corps of Discovery. 107 years ago Branch Rickey became the club president and business manager of the Cardinals--and stayed there for 25 years while creating the first ever farm system, the gashouse gang, etc. 65 years ago Bob Gibson, one of the greatest MLB pitchers ever, having tired of playing with the Harlem Globetrotters and joined the Cardinals minor league system, debuted (as a reliever) with the Cardinals against the Dodgers.

All good stuff. Thanks.

Ahem. Duran leads the team in AB's with 180--vs Rafaela's 149. Also, Devers, our $30M/season superstar, has 125 AB's and 16 rbi's to Rafaela's 23. So Devers with his .902 OPS gets one rbi every 7.8 AB's and Rafaela with his .595 OPS gets one rbi every 6.5 at bats. But nice try. The simple fact is that this team can't hit when it counts. And, sadly, they do make errors when those count.

One more time on Kenley Jansen. He's been an effective closer for a very long time, including this season. However, for most of this season he has relied heavily on his cutter and only occasionally uses his slider. He does move that cutter around in the strike zone, but last night it was obvious the Rays knew exactly what to expect from Jansen and capitalized on it. Other teams should be able to do the same because I can think of few other closers who were effective with just one pitch.

Actually, no. Here are six decent OPS's Cora can call on: Duran .784; Abreu .830; Wong .900; Devers .902; O'Neill .924; Refsnyder .964. Rafaela, batting 9th with his .595 OPS, leads the team in rbi's with 23. So that's 7 semi-decent bats. The problem with this team is that they simply can't score/drive in runs. And, since we're talking about the lineup, it's worth adding that the Sox defense has given up 36 unearned runs. The Yankees have the 2d best ERA (2.91) and have given up just 19 unearned runs. In short, while the Sox lineup can sort of, kind of hit, they can't drive in runs and they give up way too many unearned runs.

Enough on Sale v. Grissom. I'm looking at the MLB standings and can see the Sox run differential is +29. That's pretty good, but it's misleading. The Rays run differential is -28, and they just took 3 of 4 at the Fens and are now 1/2 game ahead of the Sox in the AL East. To me nothing could be clearer than that this Sox team, whose pitching staff leads MLB in team ERA, simply doesn't know how to win games as reflected in their abysmal defense and weak hitting. They are ranked 16th in MLB in runs scored, which is really lousy for a Sox team that plays home games at the Fens. Plus, as I persist in reminding people, those 188 runs scored are juiced by the 17 scored against the Cubs last month when they used an infielder to pitch the 9th inning and gave up 6 more runs. One telltale--we all know about this--is that Rafaela, who bats 9th and has an OPS of .595, leads the team in rbi's with 23. That's 6 more than Duran, 7 more than Devers or O'Neill, and 8 more than Wong or Abreu. Duran's OPS is .784, Devers .902, O'Neill .924, Wong .900, and Abreu .830.

One giant caveat by me is that the Sox rotation this year has been fantastic without Sale. Plus the biggest need is infielders who can field and hit, which theoretically Grissom has the potential to do. That said, the Sox are paying Sale's $17M salary this year, and so far he is headed for a WAR (for the season) of over 4. If he accomplishes that, it will be pretty close to his cumulative WAR, 2019-2023, for the Sox. I find that galling even though, as I said, the Sox rotation has been excellent.

Fair enough. Whoever said O'Neill is flaming out just might have a point. Sox lose 7-5 while give up 2 unearned runs. Tonight it was Rafaela with his 8th error. The kid has range, but . . .

Apparently, Cora wanted to force the Rays to change pitchers. Is that right?

What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on? Are they discussing Cora's complaint with MLB headquarters? This is just crazy.

Good. Cora did make an issue about that pitcher or the manager or somebody. I'm a good lip reader and I think it was about "too many different pitches." Finally, maybe we can get a level playing field. Jansen only uses one pitch, so the other side should too.

Not this year. Every game has been close.

I think the Rays closer is cheating and Cora should tell the umpire so. He's using too many different pitches plus he is not charging enough per inning pitched.

In Jansen's defense, we should not expect him to be good every time. He's paid a mere pittance--$16M. That's about $250K per inning pitched.

He should. His OPS is almost down to the .200 mendoza line, which is for batting average.