Maxbialystock

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.

Not wrong. As has been discussed many times, the return of Sale, Houck, and Whitlock combined with Bello, Paxton, Pivetta, Crawford, Jansen, Martin, Schreiber, Bernardino, Winckowski, and Murphy should have been enough pitching. Same goes for the bats of Devers, Dugo, Turner, Yoshida, Casas, Duran, Wong, Duvall, Ref, Story, Reyes, and even McGuire. I think the 48 games--starting 4 August) with just 3 days off affected the pitching more than I/we expected. It could also have affected the hitting, but I doubt it. Surprisingly, the arrival of Story improved the defense at a key spot, SS, but didn't seem to help much because the pitching was awful. When Houck got beat up in the 6th inning in his last game, everyone seemed to say, "see, he's awful the third time through the lineup." My rebuttal is, "at least he got to the 6th inning because right now Sale, Paxton Pivetta, and Crawford can't."

I think you can argue it either way. The Sox still have a shot, and Cora wants his best lineup in there. Rafaela definitely has potential, but the other guys have experience. Or put it this way, Rafaela is a know quantity in terms of potential. I believe moonslav when he says Rafaela will start in CF next year. So right now it might make sense to see what Duvall, Dugo, Ref, etc can do in terms of keeping them or trading them.

Game over. See ya.

On this team with this rotation, Houck fits right in. They all have trouble going 6 innings and sometimes 5 or even 4 innings.

At least Jacques is consistent. Last time out, he HBP'd the first two batters he faced.

Houck simply blew up the third time through the Orioles order. I doubt that happens the third time Bradish goes through the Sox order.

Bradish vs Houck, both righties Big edge to the Orioles, of course Five lefty bats in the lineup Verdugo RF Devers 3B Turner DH Casas 1B Duvall CF Yoshida LF Story SS Valdez 2B Wong C

Actually, as you well know, while I like defense, especially great defense, I value hitting a whole lot more. Same goes for pitching--way more valuable. Defense is a distant 3d.

Makes sense. I like Duvall and he has the arm for right field.

Not good enough. As the Talksox leading proponent for good Sox defense, you should have said Dugo is the only outfielder on this team with a plus DWAR. In fact, his +0.8 is the second best DWAR on the team after Wong's +1.7. You should be raving about his defense--which we have all seen has included a number of grabs and throws that prevented runs from scoring. With his OPS of .790, Dugo is also the only Sox regular who can in fact play defense and hit the dadgum ball. Everyone with with better offensive stats than Dugo has a negative freaking DWAR. If you really believe defense is important to winning games, you would be insisting Dugo is the only player on this team who is untradeable. Instead, you mention his attitude problem.

I disagree with moonslav frequently (even though I know he's far more knowledgeable), but I am thankful for his tendency to be optimistic. You, on the other hand, are spoiled rotten. Where were you during the 86 year curse? John Henry not only ended it, but brought 3 more WS titles to Boston. As you point out, JH has never hesitated to fire a manager (Cora is his 5th) or CBO (Bloom is his 5th). Either or both could get fired this year. However, in their defense, this year's Sox payroll is ranked 15th in MLB, the lowest ranking in the JH era and probably the lowest in 40 years. You get what you pay for--unless, like the Rays, Orioles, and maybe a couple of other franchises, you build a team with your farm system. I think that's what JH and CB are trying to do, but it takes time. I also think JH hates paying huge amounts for pitchers who don't deliver--like Sale and Price. Those are the same two guys who were key members of the Sox best team ever, 2018, but have been worthless since 2019 even though the Sox kept paying both through last year and Sale through next year.

Hard to be an optimist about the Sox right now. The biggest problem is the pitching, but there have also been plenty of games, like last night's, when the pitching was decent but the hitting sucked (or, if you will, the other team's pitching was a lot better). So one more time on my pet theory (or hobby horse, take your pick), that griping about the defense is futile for the simple reason that good bats are more important than good gloves. You can even see that when Cora puts a lineup together: he is always looking for the best combination of bats with hopefully some defensive ability. Here, for example, are DWAR's and OPS's of the worst gloves on the team: Yoshida DWAR -1.2, OPS .806 Casas -1.0, .868 Turner -0.9, .828 Duran -0.4, .828 Duvall -0.3, .891 Devers -0.3, .847 McGuire -0.2, .689 Don't forget that moonslav has evidence that those DWAR's overlook a ton of errors that aren't scored that way, so those seven are literally giving games away with their lousy defense. Now here are the good DWAR's with their OPS's-- Wong DWAR +1.7, OPS .709 Verdugo +0.9, .790 Story +0.6, .504 Story's playing excellent defense and absolutely stinks at the plate. Wong is actually doing OK at the plate, but of course can't catch every game. Dugo is the one player on this team with a good bat and glove, but everybody wants to dump him because he's lazy or whatever.

Meh. Jansen also pitched Monday and was terrific.

You're absolutely right. How could I forget the magnificent baserunning by Refsnyder going from 2d to 3d on that wild pitch? Or his beautifully timed dash home when the Rays 2d baseman dropped the pop fly? I hereby apologize to the entire Sox lineup for not appreciating their great clutch hitting at the Trop. P.S. Ghost runner fits.