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Maxbialystock

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Everything posted by Maxbialystock

  1. Maxbialystock
    In my opinion, yours are pretty good--but not always. Your comments on Sox leftfielders are spot on although you neglected to mention why so many were so bad. The green monster was and is the great equalizer. Putting a great outfielder in LF at Fenway is a waste. I gave JBJ the edge only because I saw him in action many times. But I absolutely do not count myself as an expert on center fielders. Except, of course, for Willie Mays. When he spoke at his HOF ceremony, he said he never saw a better player (than himself). I'm inclined to agree with him.
  2. Maxbialystock
    I could not agree more. It's not just the different eras, it's that every player is a unique individual.
  3. Maxbialystock
    It's still early right now, April 4, 2024. And it will stay early as long as there is hope. In the old days, that happened with the Sox infamous "June swoon."
  4. Maxbialystock
    weren't, not wasn't. And the A's scored how many runs from all those Sox errors?
  5. Maxbialystock
    About KC. It's in the Great Plains. I lived there for 5 years, intermittently from 1948 to 1990, about 35 miles from KC and can assure you the winters are cold and snowy and July and August pretty doggone hot. April was a mixed bag a lot like the Robert Frost poem: "The sun was warm, but the wind was chill./You know how is with an April day/When the sun is out and the wind is still,/You're one month on in the middle of May./But if you so much as dare to speak,/A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,/A wind comes off a frozen peak/and you're two months back in the middle of March."
  6. Maxbialystock
    Gold gloves sometimes go to the undeserving. Me, I'm just happy with the fielding I've seen so far, granted, in just 7 games. I believe moonslav's theory that good defense gives pitchers a psychological boost over and above whatever runs they may prevent--just as bad defense undercuts pitchers' confidence. A possible sign of that psychological boost this season is that the five starters have pitched 38 innings to date while giving up just 3 freaking walks.
  7. Maxbialystock
    Sox team ERA is the lowest in MLB. That hasn't happened very often, even if for just 6 games. Team OPS was 19th before today's game. Probably still is.
  8. Maxbialystock
    Really? They looked just awful in game 1, but not half bad in games 2 and 3 in which the Heels won each by 1 run.
  9. Maxbialystock
    Mr Peepers was weak, but not Wally Cox.
  10. Maxbialystock
    Yes, AC might have a future. In fact, he's kind of a litmus test for which talksoxers don't know spit from shinola about managing. In game 3, for example, a whole bunch attacked Cora for not using Jansen. Not one asked the question, "why wasn't Jansen used?" They just assumed Cora was stupid.
  11. Maxbialystock
    I can hardly remember a season when one or more starters haven't dropped out because of injury, illness, or lousy pitching. That's why moonslav is predicting how many of the current 5 will throw 150 innings each. So, while I agree lack of depth is going to be a problem, I also think it's endemic to the Sox "system." Of more importance is that this pitching staff has been incredible for the first six games and have the lowest ERA in MLB.
  12. Maxbialystock
    Fascinating OP. Right now, very early days, of course, the Sox are 4-2 and 1 game behind the 1st place Yankees because the Sox team ERA, 1.79, is ranked #1 in all of MLB. The Sox team OPS, on the other hand, is .667, ranked 19th. The hitting stinks, but not completely. And, as moonslav predicted, the Sox defense is above average, never more so than when Rafaela made that incredible grab last night in extra innings. Also worth noting: all 13 position players either batted or fielded or both last night; and 5 of the 8 relievers pitched. You think Cora wanted to win this game? That included at least two fascinating moves. One was replacing starting catcher Wong with "back-up" catcher Wright. Part of that was bringing in a lefty bat, but I think maybe Cora was also deliberately balancing the IP by both catchers. We'll see. The other rather stunning move was to move Casas from DH to 1B to replace Dalbec, which meant giving up the DH for the rest of the game. Abreu pinch hit for Dalbec in the 6th inning and played RF with O'Neill moving to LF.
  13. Maxbialystock
    Bello has now given up more earned runs than the other 4 starters combined.
  14. Maxbialystock
    Dalbec stinks.
  15. Maxbialystock
    Devers hit a decent GIDP grounder, but the secondbaseman was too far from 2B to get the toss and then throw Devers out at 1B.
  16. Maxbialystock
    Duran LF O'Neill RF Devers 3B Story SS Reyes 2B Casas DH Rafaela CF Dalbec 1B Wong C Six righty bats for the Sox--all but Duran, Devers, and Casas. Against lefty starter Wood. Story moved up to batting 2d.
  17. Maxbialystock
    I could swear it was just last season when we all went round and round about whether Houck could ever get over the "3d time through the lineup" hump. As I recall, he did.
  18. Maxbialystock
    Based on what we've seen all over MLB, you are right to have doubts that those two--or even any of the other 3 starters--will make it to 150 innings. But, heck, it's early April. Cherry blossoms still bloom around the Tidal Basin in DC. The Sox could well arrive back at the Fens with decent spring weather. Five Sox starters had terrific first starts to the season. The June swoon might not happen.
  19. Maxbialystock
    Orioles have also had a long series of lousy teams--after the Earl Weaver era, of course--mostly because of owner Peter Angelos. But they still had/have that gorgeous park (Camden Yards), plus, until MLB brought a 3d team to DC (the current Nationals), a pretty good sized baseball fan population in the Nation's Capital. I was one of them and gladly drive the hour or so from N. Virginia. My guess is that David Rubenstein will be a better owner. He certainly is taking over at a good moment. Rubenstein is a no holds barred philanthropist.
  20. Maxbialystock
    Pretty good laydown except for #5. Rays, ranked 27th, have proven beyond any doubt that you can in fact do more with less even though their system has yet to produce a WS winner. The Pirates, ranked 29th, right now are undefeated. Their payroll is $83M vs the Rays $98M. The A's @ $62M are the one bonafide embarrassment. So much for Moneyball.
  21. Maxbialystock
    Meh. He did have Sale and Price pitch fewer innings in ST because of all the IP the season before. But what we learned that season is that Sale and Price were both sliding downhill. Both have been vastly overpaid since 2018. The real Porcello, the crappy one, also emerged and lasted just one more season (2020). Eovaldi wasn't much good despite the great 2d half of the 2018 season. ERod emerged as the new ace. And Kimbrel went to the Cubs in 2019--good riddance. 2019 was the season when, beyond any possible shadow of doubt, JH decided he'd had enough of paying the big bucks. So he fired DD and brought in Chaim Bloom of the Rays. However, JH still had to keep paying big bucks for Price, while he was playing for the Dodgers, and Sale, who went on the IL for several seasons.
  22. Maxbialystock
    Whitlock has a better repertoire, no question. But to me Houck is a battler. So I couldn't be happier that both are starting and that all 5 have done well in their first starts. As I keep reminding everyone--ad nauseum--the 2019 Sox, fresh off the best season in Sox history, also started the season on the West Coast and went 3-8--and basically never recovered, at least not enough to even make the postseason.
  23. Maxbialystock
    I think Wong is still the best all around, but I also think McGuire is good enough to rotate with Wong so both will be rested. I'm guessing Wright won't start against lefty pitchers.
  24. Maxbialystock
    Meh. I go both ways because I'm a freaking fan. This past week I've run the gamut--or the gauntlet, take your pick. Right now I'm up and looking forward to three in Oakland. A week ago I insisted the rotation was little more than relievers who were promoted because the good starters left town. Now I'm high on rotation, the bullpen, and the defense--and hopeful the offense will come around.
  25. Maxbialystock
    Absolutely true. But it's 100% of the season to date--and it's on the West Coast, which for past Sox teams was more daunting than Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery. In the Montana State House is Charles Russell's absolutely brilliant painting, "Lewis and Clark Meeting the Guardians at Ross' Hole." In the foreground are several Guardians on horseback-- ferocious and dominant and bigger than life. Off to the right, dismounted and looking downright lilliputian, are Lewis and Clark--talking and hoping for the best. Exactly the right strategy because they were in fact in INDIAN COUNTRY. Almost exactly 5 years ago the Sox had won the 2018 World Series the season before in probably their best season ever and returned their excellent rotation and even better lineup. They started with 11 games on the West Coast and limped back to Boston @ 3-8, from which they never really recovered and did not make it to the postseason.
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