Maxbialystock

Most teams use the 7 run rule for bad starts. But Cora just might leave him in longer than that.

Gonzalez just called timeout and got a line drive single. But then Abreu did the same thing and struck out on the next pitch.

No way are the Sox going to win this game after giving up 4 runs in the first.

Funny thing about that 3 run dinger. Cora said Pivetta was good to go because in that 3 inning tuneup last week his velocity was good. And, sure enough, Pivetta's fastball was 96 mph--which very good for him--right before Ozuna killed it. Also, I could be wrong, but I'm guessing Pivetta will continue to throw lots of fast balls and avoid that big curve in order to preserve his arm. In other words, Pivetta has seen the light and is now striving to return to the bullpen.

What happened on Devers ground out? Why no GIDP?

What happened on Devers groundout to SS? Why wasn't it a GIDP? I've decided the Sox hitters are signaling defeat by simply calling for a batter's timeout. It's their way of saying, "throw anything, and I'll just swing and miss because, frankly, I know I can't hit your pitching." OK! Good 1st inning for Pivetta.

Exactly what I was thinking, except that I also believe that baseball is uniquely capable of enabling all-stars to play their best in the All-Star game--especially the battles between pitchers and batters.

Even I know it's too early to say. So far, I think Grissom's OK and Sale is way better than the Sox FO expected him to be. I think we need at least 2 seasons to have a decent idea of how balanced the trade was.

I'm no fan of his, not at all, but his overall WAR is +0.5, 3d highest on the Giants, tied with Yastrzemski. On the Sox, his would be 6th highest.

Vehemently disagree. I don't disagree both are lousy on defense because they certainly are. But everyone of the 9 lineup players is expected to hit first and field second. Thus, for example, the creation of the DH because pitchers were easy outs. Indeed, pitchers are far and away the most important defensive players on any team and way, way, way, way more important than any other defensive player. That's why almost every MLB team has 13 pitchers and 13 non-pitchers on their active rosters. Those 13 non-pitchers do all the hitting and 90% of the fielding. The minors are chock full of good field no hit players. In fact, isn't Marcelo Mayer, who at age 21 is already a polished and skilled SS, currently stuck in Portland because he can't yet hit AA pitching? So right now I personally am fine with Casas at 1b and Devers at 3b as long as they keep hitting better than most of the rest of the Sox lineup. Casas' problem ain't his fielding, it's being on the IL until at least June and probably later. The current Sox have exactly 2 players with positive DWAR's--Duran +1.0; Abreu + 0.4.

Ahem. All due respect, but the NFL and NBA have flourished with interleague play. I'm a big NCAA basketball fan, and the best teams thrive on going outside their conferences to play the best from the rest. So, as someone else has already said, ain't it great that every so often Fenway fans can see the best of the rest--the National League--come to play in "our" park. My memories of the All-Star game are very different from others on talksox. I believe the players--and Ted Williams is a great example--loved being in the All-Star game because it was in fact the best against the best, especially hitters vs pitchers. I could be wrong, but I think the risk of injury was and is minimal--especially when you consider that it's just 1 game, and not even a whole game (my guess is nobody plays more than 3 innings)--against, say, 150-160 nine-inning games for the rest of the season. In my not so humble opinion, the MLB All-Star game remains the only major sport All-Star Game in which we see hitters and pitchers--and sometimes fielders and baserunners--give it their absolute best effort.

As I pointed out earlier in during the 5th inning, Devers was a disaster last night. Duran led the game off with a double, and Devers popped out to 1b on the first pitch. In the 5th with 1 out Duran tripled, and Devers K'd by swinging at the same exact slider in the dirt he had not swung at on the previous pitch. And in the 6th with the bases loaded Devers repeated his 5th inning folly by again swing at a below the zone breaking ball (a sweeper this time) he had not swung on the previous pitch. In Devers' defense, he has a very respectable OPS of .906, so I honestly have to give a ton of credit to the Braves pitching staff who gave up exactly 1 ER in 9 innings. The so-called big rally in the 6th inning was the result of 3 freaking walks and an error--and a ground single, mishandled by the Braves pitcher, by Rafaela, the Sox Mr. RBI. The next two batters, Duran and Devers, both struck out. The Sox scored 17 runs in one game vs the Cubs--and still are ranked just 13th in runs scored. Get rid of 12 of those runs, and the Sox would rank 19th in MLB in runs scored. Thus does the #9 hitter, Rafaela, he of the .611 OPS, have 20 rbi's, 5 more than 2d most Duran's and 6 more than Wong's 14 (in just 23 games played). O'Neill has a paltry 13 rbi's and Devers 12. In other words, the hitting stinks. It's just that simple. The only thing this team does well is pitch, and the pitching has been hit hard by injuries. It's a freaking miracle the Sox still lead MLB in ERA, now 2.65.

To repeat what someone else said--a solid start, actually, a quality start, by Crawford-- given away by the crappy Sox lineup led by the king of crap, at least for tonight, Rafael Devers. Braves pitchers gave up 8 hits and 6 BB's, and their defense made 2 errors, but they still held the Sox to 2 runs, only 1 of them earned.

For an encore Devers K's with the bases loaded in the very next inning, the 6th. He swung and missed at a sweeper, pitch #7, below the strike zone, which of course was exactly the same pitch, a sweeper, he looked at the pitch before when it was called a ball. But for some incredible and perhaps monumentally stupid reason, Devers seems to be unable to take two pitches in a row, both out of the strike zone.

Well, you asked for it. I like Devers, really. But he does sometimes infuriate me--and tonight is a perfect example of how he craps out with men on base. Duran led off the game with a double, and Devers popped out to 1b. In the 5th, Duran gets a triple with one out, and Devers strikes out onthe 2d straight slider in the freaking dirt. That, sir, is not the sign of professional hitter. I hasten to add that he asked for a batter's timeout immediately after the 3d pitch, which was the first slider in the dirt and was called a ball. The world can only wonder what Devers said to himself in the brief hiatus before he swung and missed at the second straight slider in the dirt.

Good point. Smith will DH tonight and Cooper play 1b. As you say, Grissom at 2b. The three decent outfielders--O'Neill, Duran, and Abreu--are in LF, CF, and RF. Devers at 3b, Rafaela at SS, and, by golly, McGuire catching. 5 lefty bats and 4 righty.

mvp 78 already said it and in fewer words. In the AL it's tough to get a wild card bid with less than 90 wins and a winning percentage of .556. Right now the Sox are @ .543. Last year the Jays were a wild card with 89 wins and a winning percentage of .549.

It's just about that simple.

Blackout restriction here in North Carolina, but I will track the game via gameday on mlb.com. While I agree the Braves should have the pitching edge tonight, if only because their hitting is better, I must point out that they have lost 6 of their last 8 games to Cleveland, Seattle, and LA. Both teams had last night off, but the Braves are returning from the west coast. Last time out Lopez went just 5 innings in Seattle and gave up 3 runs. Last time out Crawford went 7 innings vs San Francisco and gave up 2 runs. The Sox are 12-7 on the road and the Braves are 11-4 at home. Lopez is a righty. Here are the OPS's of the Sox best available (not on the IL) hitters vs righties so far this season: Refsnyder 1.224; Wong 1.005; O'Neill .949; Devers .947; Abreu .900; Duran .723; McGuire .700; Hamilton .668; Rafaela .590; Smith .429. Plus Grissom is 1/9 with that big double Sunday @ Minnesota. I think Refsnyder, Wong, O'Neill, Devers, Abreu, Duran, Rafaela, and Smith will all start tonight and the one question is whether Hamilton or Grissom will start at 2b.

I hope the FO looks at where the team is when they make those decisions in July. If, for example, the Sox are 62-46 in late July, maybe it would make sense to keep one or more of the four you've named.

Pickoffs are what irritate me. Against the Twins, I thought whoever got thrown out trying to get a double simply wasn't expecting the right fielder to be able to play that big wall the same way leftfielders play the green monster at Fenway. Plus my guess the Twins right field wall is further out than the green monster. If you don't have a good hitting team, it might make sense to gamble a little more on the basepaths. But I honestly don't know if that's statistically true.

Ted Williams "round ball with a round bat squarely" notwithstanding, I think pitching is co-equal with hitting as a difficult skill to master. Casas's freak injury notwithstanding, most MLB players can put in all kinds of extra batting practice without risking injury. They can in fact get better even though, in the final analysis, talent plays a huge part. Not so with pitchers who, we now know, are more at risk this season than at any time before--or so it seems. The Tommy John Club membership now accepts little leaguers. I believe there's also something like "Not Quite Tommy John" that Giolito had done back in March. It's called an "internal brace procedure to repair the UCL in his right elbow." Just about every MLB team today is neatly divided into two camps: 13 hitters and 13 pitchers. I hasten to add that those 13 hitters also do most of the fielding and all of the baserunning, whereas all the pitchers need to be good at doing is pitching. Anyone want to guess how many total chances Kenley Jansen has had (in 11 IP)? Anyone? He hasn't had any.

I think you're right, but the espn stats on the Sox say O'Neill's DWAR is -0.4, tied with Casas for lowest DWAR on the team. In his brief return (to date), Refsnyder is actually worse with a -0.3 DWAR in just 12 games. The three best DWAR's on the Sox to date are Duran's +0.7, Abreu's +0.4, and Rafaela's +0.4. Rafaela also leads the Sox in errors with 6.

It's May 6, 35 games into the season, and 3 of 5 from the opening day rotation are still on the IL. However, Houck, Crawford, and Bello (on the IL) lead the Sox staff in IP. Winckowski, Criswell, and Slaten all have more IP than Whitlock, whose return date is somewhere in the twilight zone. In addition to Winckowski, Criswell, and Slaten, Anderson, Weissert, Bernardino, Martin, and Rodriguez each have pitched more innings than Pivetta. Thus has Cora declared Pivetta to start this week despite his lousy 3 inning stint last week for Worcester. I'm astounded the Sox still have the lowest ERA in MLB, and I'm not alone. Were we to poll talksoxers, I believe 100% of us would admit we had zero expectation this Sox pitching staff could lead MLB in ERA for even a week.

Three terrific outs to finish the 7th inning--and with men on 2d and 3d and no one out, yet. Sox are likely to lose because they can't hit Twins pitching to save their lives, but I really like that bottom of the 7th.