Maxbialystock

It was just a silly comment. Pittsburgh is not crime-ridden. Nor is Boston. But Baltimore certainly is. So is Memphis.

Ridiculous dinger by Yoshida. I've been assured by numerous talksoxers he can't hit anymore and certainly not with any power. Mr. Groundout.

That was one terrific 5th inning by Crawford. Sure looked like the Pirates had him on the ropes, but then he struck out 2 with the bases freaking loaded. Crawford is vastly underpaid, just as Story is vastly overpaid.

Same as last night except McGuire for Wong.

I do think you can make a good case for DD, but would remind you of one simple fact. What he buys for his owners, the fans pay for--not the great mass of us who watch games online or cable or TV or whatever--but the fans who go to the games, where the ticket prices go up and up and up. Want a hot dog? $20 (if not now, soon). Also, as I just pointed out, these current, worthless, no good, rotten, stinking Sox, with a reduced payroll (now ranked 11th in MLB), much of which is on the IL or otherwise unavailable, is 11-10. Seems mediocre, but guess what? If you project it out to 162 games, the Sox win 85, which is one more than the 2019 Sox won with the highest payroll in MLB.

Well stated. Given that, allow me to say that the 2021 season, which included 92 wins and getting to the ALCS--which neither the 2016 nor the 2017 pricey teams came close to doing--was a wild success. Brilliant work by both Chaim Bloom and Alex Cora. And even the 2022 and 2023 teams, both with 78 wins, weren't really that much worse than the very expensive 2019 team with its 84 wins. And right now, April 20, 2024, we should be deliriously happy because the Sox are 11-10 and--wait for it--headed for a hugely successful season of 85 freaking wins. That's what 11-10 translates to over 162 games. The 2024 Sox are doing it with a ton of guys on the IL--plus still paying for Chris Sale and Turner who are playing for other teams.

Boy, do you have that wrong. Yes, certainly, there have been some costly stinkers by the movie industry, but it is somewhat self-correcting. Producers, directors, and even actors involved in costly stinkers don't get offered as many movies/paychecks as before. They even have a phrase for it, "box office poison." The corrective in MLB is that owners can change and CBO's and managers and even coaches can be fired. But the biggest costs, the players, keep getting paid IAW their contracts, some of which are beyond the dreams of avarice. I've been a Sox fan since 1949, but I've only actually been to Fenway Park twice. Terrible seats, both times--and expensive, of course. Never going back. Once Red Sox baseball became available on cable and/or the internet--over 20 years ago--I signed up every year to watch all the Sox games. At a very reasonable price--even though those stupid blackout restrictions keep me from watching the Sox any time they play the Nationals, Orioles, or Braves. So, even in a down season, I can't complain too much. The fans who go to the games, however, get screwed. The price of my online season ticket is what they pay for every single game they watch in person. And of course the media encourage gargantuan player contracts because they are grist for the mill--a good story. They always say, "the owners are rich. They can afford it." But they are dead wrong! The owners almost always pass the increased player costs onto the fans.

Correction. This team went downhill before Dombrowski left. DD owns the 2019 season, which, coming after 108 regular season wins and a brilliant (11-3) postseason in 2018, was a semi-disaster. The Sox didn't even make the playoffs despite the biggest payroll in MLB. Basically, the Sox pitching collapsed. Despite already having the biggest payroll in MLB, it's a good bet DD would want at least another $60M/year to keep Mookie and bring in some good and expensive arms to replace Sale and Price in 2020 and beyond.

Weird. That's one of the few plays I did see, and I had the same feeling. He looked natural, at ease, doing what he was born to do. Let's not forget that, as much range as he has in CF, he already has 3 errors there.

Actually, it's all too human. To err is human, to forgive divine.

Maybe it wasn't mixed. Top 13--agree.

So was Harrison Ford.

Great point. Catchers are huge, both of them.

Nice try, but I think what you say is falling on deaf ears (note: world class mixed metaphor). mvp 78 just wrote that the Sox are currently 2d in MLB in dingers, so there just might be some life in those bats. Of the 28 dingers to date, only 2 have been by Story (0) and Devers (2). The way ahead just might be this simple: fewer unearned runs. It is possible to make fewer errors. In fact, making fewer errors is way easier than hitting the 2d most dingers in MLB.

He sure did. I personally have bought into a lot of the negativity about this team and whined as much as anyone, especially about the defense, but also about the hitting and even the baserunning and the bullpen. I believe the head shed has made some dumb moves and that the Sox will finish no better than 82-82. But right now the Sox are 11-10, mostly because the team ERA is still the lowest in MLB even though 2 of the original rotation--Whitlock and Pivetta--are on the 15 day IL. Plus you just pointed out the Sox are 2d in MLB in dingers, which is just as remarkable as the Sox having the best ERA. As Miracle Max would say, this team is only mostly dead. It's too early to look for loose change. Tonight I thought they looked awfully good even with the error, the baserunning, etc. The Sox took just 1 of 4 against 14-6 Cleveland, but 2 of the 3 losses were highly contested. Rafaela's error tonight did not cost an unearned run, and he drove in 2 runs, 1 with a dinger.

Most of us, including me, like to make jokes. Mine usually bomb. splendidsplinter's usually work. But in my judgment this particular jest was in fact dehumanizing.

Reread the very first page, which is filled with gloom and doom and predictions of errors, etc. 2d page has just 2. 3d page gets into the baserunning and third base coach issue, which continues onto page 4. Nowhere does anyone say the Sox are now 10-9, that the beat a team with a winning record, and that the Sox pitching still has the lowest ERA in MLB. mvp 78 did, however, tell us the Sox are 2d in MLB in dingers--a huge surprise for me.

At the time--and I'm rarely right on these points--I thought the Sox had little chance of signing Mookie long term because I believed the Dodgers would spend what it took to get him. In his last 5 seasons (2015-2019) with the Sox, Mookie's WAR's were 6.0, 9.6, 6.4, 10.9, and 6.8. In his first four seasons--making top dollar--with the Dodgers his WAR's have been 3.4, 4.2, 6.4, and 8.4. Nevertheless, I agree with the consensus on talksox--that Mookie, not Raffie, was the one to keep. But the 2019 season, when the Sox had the biggest payroll in MLB and couldn't even make the postseason, convinced JH that spending big was not spending smart. Since then, the Sox have spent less and spent dumb.

Indeed. With 4 more they passed the 2d place Dodgers. Going in to this game, the Sox were 17th in runs scored, so they might pass a 2 or 3 in the category.

Yes, but that will lead to miniscule game threads. Talksoxers hate wins. It's much more fun to find fault, which in fact have abounded this season. But the Sox are now 11-10 despite the absences of Story, Devers, O'Neill, Pivetta, Whitlock, et al. And the Sox pitching continues to have the lowest ERA in MLB.

Missed most of this game--dinner guests--but it did seem to me that both teams' hitters were more than happy to take strike three if the pitch wasn't near the middle of the zone. No way, no how would I have predicted an 8-0 win (which hasn't happened yet). 12 hits, 4 freaking dingers. Go figure. In 5 starts Bello has gone 5, 5, 5.1, 5.1, and 6 innings and given up 2, 4, 1, 2, and 0 ER's. Tonight he needed a lot of pitches to get through the first 3 innings, but sure finished strong.

One weird game thread that reeks with dislike, distrust, dismay, and disdain for the Sox, who are actually leading the Pirates 8-0 after 8 innings. Go figure.

Can't have it both ways. You persist--as do we all--in saying Dalbec needs to go back to Worcester if not DFA. Now you're outraged that he might have been hurt.

As do I. But I did start out by saying the lineup so far stinks, and Devers is beyond question one of the stinkees.

It's a nice round number. Here's some phony-baloney analysis to justify $10M for Devers. The Sox have played 20 games, which is 1/8 of a season. Devers' total WAR so far is +0.1. Multiply that by 8 and he will contribute +0.8 WAR compared to an average of +4.1 in his 4 best seasons. So he's earning about .8/4.1 = 1/5 of his salary. He's paid $30M this year and is earning $6M. Of course, Devers could straighten up, fly right, and earn his pay this year. But right now he seems injury-prone with shoulder, knee, and goodness knows what else. The reality of course is that that the Sox are now paying Devers for the good seasons he had before he signed that big contract. That's also true of Mookie and a zillion others.