Maxbialystock

Their closer looked pretty tough to me.

Sure the heck was.

Wrong! You were right to compliment the defense, which has in fact been pretty good, even today despite the abysmal throws, passed ball, etc by McGuire. The killer was the grand slam dished up by Anderson. Nevertheless, the Sox came back and got it to 5-4. I was impressed by Cleveland's bunting. Plus they loved having McGuire behind the plate.

There was nothing to say that would "make Sox fans feel a whole lot better."

That is the exact point about this season--live in the moment(s)which so far have been way, way better than expected despite a plethora of injuries, errors, running into outs, etc. The Guardians, at least for now, are one of the best teams in MLB. Their run differential, + 47, is the highest in MLB, and their team ERA is 4th best. They beat the Sox @ Fenway, 3 games to 1, but 2 of the losses were highly contested. And now last night's win, which showed a distinct absence of Sox lousy hitting, lousy fielding, and lousy baserunning along the way to an 8-0 shutout. Today the Sox have a shot at winning this series because the lineup does look pretty decent, as does the fielding, and the pitching continues to amaze, especially now with 3/5 of the opening day rotation on the IL and other significant injuries. With a win, the Sox would be 12-4 on the road and 3-7 at Fenway Park. Hmmmmm.

One arm does not a bullpen make. And don't forget both Houck and Crawford came from the bullpen.

Defense was fine tonight. Houck was pretty good--2 runs in 6 innings. The hitting, the bullpen, and the baserunning all stunk.

Well, tonight he was also the Guardians kind of guy. They loved him.

I have always loved the name, "Dodgers," maybe the best MLB name there is. Trolley-Dodgers, not quite as much. Dodgers are an old, old franchise that deserves respect, and their move to the West Coast does too. Agree completely on Vin Scully--of course. Your story reminds me of Doris Kearns Goodwin, who started as a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan and switched to the Sox only after moving to Boston to get her PhD. I thought she was pretty good on Ken Burns' Baseball series.

All true. That said, this team so far has been nothing less than astonishing despite the awful defense, the absence of the big bats, the occasional idiocy on the basepaths, the occasional bullpen lapses--and both Pivetta and Whitlock on the IL. No way, no how should the Sox have swept the Pirates in Pittsburgh with what amounted to a pick-up team. No way, no how should a rotation (Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock, and Houck) costing $14M in salaries enable the Sox to go 7-3 on a West Coast trip when 5 years ago a much, much better Sox team--who won 108 games the season before and went 11-3 in the postseason--went 3-8 on the West Coast. I am by no means defending JH, but I am unabashedly enjoying this season to date.

And the only thing that makes me a little nervous about what you just wrote is that, if John Henry spends large--as the bulk of talksoxers want him too--the prices at Fenway will go up and up and up. This won't affect me one bit, but it will those attending fans who are in fact part of the experience for us stay at home viewers. Also, don't forget what you've written about the randomness of who wins the playoffs and World Series. I remember both the 1954 World Series--in which the juggernaut Cleveland Guardians with their incredible pitching were swept by the NY Giants--and the 1955 WS when the Dodgers finally, finally beat the Yankees, 4 games to 3 with Johnny Podres getting 3 wins.

Absolutely fascinating. Great stuff!

Cleveland right now is tough--good hitting and good pitching. Their +52 run differential is easily the highest in the AL. However, while no one can say the Sox also have good hitting or that they have even adequate defense, they do have good pitching. Plus, of the 3 losses to Cleveland at the Fens, 2 were highly contested. Sox run differential is +18. Both Devers and O'Neill are expected to play tomorrow in Cleveland. Starters Pivetta (flexor strain in right elbow) and Whitlock (left oblique strain) are due back in May.

Refsnyder's righty bat comes in handy, just like McGuire's lefty bat (DH yesterday against the Pirates).

Divided loyalties. You're a lifelong Sox fan who moved to Pittsburgh, where you have season tickets to Pirates games. I've been in the same boat because of moving around a lot. While I never rooted for the Yankees, I did root for the Knicks when I was on the USMA faculty. When at Carlisle Barracks, I rooted for the Phillies when they won the WS. In Kansas I went to Royals games because I could and because Bo Jackson played. Since grad school at UNC, I've been a Heels fan. In Oklahoma I became a Cowboys fan--also an Astros fan. Since age 9, a Sox fan and an Army fan.

Sox are 7-3 in the 10 games in which Dalbec has played.

Pirates payroll, $83M, is 2d lowest in MLB. Sox payroll, $182M, is 11th. However, the Sox have at least $100M of their payroll on the IL, "resting" but not quite on the IL, pitching or playing for other MLB teams, or simply underperforming. Most everyone on Talksox believes the current 13-10 record is simply blind, stupid luck and that total disintegration is just a game or series away. I do not think the Sox pitching is blind stupid luck. Given that the defense so far is the absolute worst in MLB, with the errors and other mistakes to confirm it's lowliness, the Sox pitching is actually better than their current lowest ERA in MLB. The Sox are 13-10. Of those 10 losses, 3 (of 3 played) were to the Orioles, but 2 of the 3 were definitely contested. Same goes for losing 3 of 4 to the Guardians--2 of the 3 losses were close and affected by Sox errors. Of the 2 losses to Seattle, both were highly contested. Same goes for 1 of 2 losses to the Angels. I believe that adds up to 7 of the 10 losses were contested. What does, however, stretch credulity is that the Sox are sort of, kind of, maybe even hitting the freaking ball pretty much without a lineup. How bad is it? Devers, O'Neill, Casas, Yoshida, and Story are on the IL or resting or just not hitting. And guess who's playing every freaking day? Dalbec, with his OPS--OPS, not OBP--of .188. Reyes played 1b today. Cats and dogs are living together. If the Ghostbusters show up--now my favorite line--the Sox are dead, dead, dead.

I cannot resist using the line attributed to Tonto when the Lone Ranger observed they were surrounded by hostile Guardians: "what's this "we" stuff, paleface? Of course you're entitled to self-identify as a Pirates, Red Sox, or any other kind of fan you want to be. You love baseball enough to go to the ballpark (s) to watch the games.

Given the unavailability of a whole bunch of Sox, including a starter in game 3, this was one heckuva sweep of the Pirates. Thanks to the pitching, these 2024 Sox are better than they seem. The cautionary note is that they are nevertheless 0-3 against AL East opponents and have 49 AL East games still to play. Here are five OPS's from today's Sox lineup: Rafaela .494, Dalbec .188, Reyes .441, Heineman .500, and Valdez .489.

Forget? I didn't even know he was on the payroll. But there he is for a cool $19,250,000. He's right there with Sale, who's pitching for the Braves but being paid $17M by the Sox.

Only Pivetta and Whitlock are out. Bello, Crawford, and Houck are all pitching up a storm. The missing biggies from the lineup are Story, Devers, and Casas in the infield and O'Neill in the outfield. While Story leaves a hole at SS, his bat isn't missed much. Same goes for Devers. Casas' bat is missed, but his DWAR is -0.4.

What cheap? Payroll this year is $180M, 11th highest in MLB. Yoshida, Story, and Jansen all have pretty good contracts. What we can be sure of is that he hates the idea of big/long contracts for starters--and that of course dovetails with your point. The current Sox rotation is pretty much the best in MLB and their (Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock, and Houck) combined salaries amount to $14M. Pivetta is out, but expected back in about 10 days. Whitlock sometime in May I think. The investments are primarily in lineup players, Story and Yoshida, who have yet to deliver.

Lack of focus is endemic to MLB if only because the games last forever. That's getting better with the new rules, but lack of focus is still a problem. That said, it's clear a whole bunch of players are able to maintain focus.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing.

I think Thunder moved to Pittsburgh.