Maxbialystock

Excellent point. No way will iortiz respond to it.

ESPN has the entire Sox schedule, so I went there, checked all the wins (73 so far) and counted the games they've won when scoring 4 or fewer runs (12 so far, and just 3 since the ASG break).

Absolutely the wrong guy. He should have left Pivetta in so that the Yankees could score a bazillion runs and we could all post on the "fire Cora" thread.

Hmmm. Cora gets it wrong again. What is wrong with him sending Llovera out there to ruin such a well-pitched game by Pivetta?

No doubt.

It was a 2-0 freaking lead, for crying out loud. How many times have you read me saying the Sox normally, usually need to score 5 runs to have a shot at winning?

I've been wrong too, but when it happens in favor of the Sox, I love announcing my ignorance.

The "bum" gets 2 outs and holds the line at 3-2.

Ahem. Pivetta pitched a clean 5th with just 70 pitches thrown. Plus the Sox are playing a double header today. Plus he was facing the bottom of the Yankees order in the 6th. Unfortunately, he hit the leadoff guy and then gave up a grounder single to LF. The real damage was by leadoff LeMahieu's double which drove in one guy and put runners on 2d and 3d with no one out. Then Pivetta got Judge on the pop fly to RF--followed by the double that gave the Yankees the lead, 3-2. That's when the reliever came in and got 2 outs to end the inning. I'd say Cora got it about right.

Judge was out with no runners advancing.

Judge hit a fly to RF which the runners could not advance on.

Looks like Pivetta wants to let the Yankees back into the game. First the HBP, then the clean single to LF off his fastball down the middle.

Double off the green monster becomes a cinch single for the Yankees left fielder who simply waits for the good bounce and has an easy throw to 2b. Yoshida, like a bunch of Sox left fielders before him, can do the same thing. And almost none of those Sox left fielders could/can play RF the way Dugo does.

I'd keep him. I prefer Wong but I think Cora likes the both of them. I do believe in CERA but I'm not sure Wong has the edge there. I have zero CBO/GM credentials, so I won't complain if McGuire is traded.

I think Pivetta is at his best when his sliders/sweepers break sharply and aren't in the middle of the strike zone. But today he's also throwing a hard fastball (96 mph, even 97) and keeping it away from the center of the strike zone. I don't think he has a changeup.

It is indeed, especially when this game replaces last night's game, so a whole bunch of tickets are paid for. That said, we are also seeing why night baseball was created. A day game on a work day is tricky.

Maybe, maybe not. At the end of the movie Moneyball, we see Billy Beane fly to Boston to talk to John Henry, who compliments Billy on how little the A's paid (team payroll) for each win that season (2002), especially in comparison to how much the Yankees paid for each win. He then offers Billy a massive salary to come do the same for the Sox--which Billy declines. This season we have seen not one but two AL East franchises field terrific teams--the Orioles and the Rays--with payrolls ranked 28th and 27th in MLB. Sabermetrics might have been involved, but the story line is that they have good minor league systems that produced talented young players who are not yet pricey free agents. The Yankees and Sox, meanwhile, have plenty of pricey free agents who haven't delivered. The Yankees payroll is 2d highest in MLB and the Sox the 15th highest. Appropriately, the Sox have the better won-lost record. In the middle of the AL East--the best division (based on won-lost records) in MLB--are the Jays with 9th highest payroll in MLB. We can hope the Sox can win using the Rays/Orioles model, but they won't until they figure out how to assess and develop young pitchers.

I'm blithely assuming the good-hitting Story (lifetime OPS .839) will emerge. But you're right about Reyes/Urias.

And he came up through the Sox system. Flawed though it no doubt is, it's better than buying starters on the open market.

Pretty much--he and Devers. With those two on the corners and Story and Reyes/Urias up the middle, a good hitting infield whose fielding is OK. Plus guys coming up.

Agree. That said, there can't be much doubt that Bello is far and away this team's best starter, and everyone else is way behind him.

I could be wrong, but I think most of the Orioles hits have come off Bello's fast ball. That double, however, was off the changeup.

Meh. The real story is that McGuire and Urias got the first real hits for the Sox in this game and that Rafaela struck freaking out with a man on 3b.

But the season is not in fact over. I'm pessimistic too, but the Sox are not yet mathematically eliminated from the wild card/postseason. That does not mean there are no reasons to play Rafaela or Abreu.

Mookie Betts is primarily an outfielder, none of whom have been affected by ending the infield shifts.