Sox win 2 vs the Braves after coming from behind, 0-3!!!!!!
A lot of heroes tonight, including Bello, the bullpen, Duvall, Casas, Devers, Turner, Dugo, and probably others.
Duran, Yoshida--yes, Yoshida--Duvall, and Dugo are all hitless tonight. Turner has two lovely rbi's from that double, and Devers and Casas have solo dingers.
What an amazing game this is, and I'm getting to watch it even though normally, as it was last night, it would be blacked out.
I would pooh-pooh that, but not when he is playing such excellent defense. So, yes, he'll come around.
Vegasbob is right about Dugo's body language at the plate.
That's a walk, an HBP, a double off a fastball near the middle, and a dinger off a fastball placed in the exact center of the strike zone. No question Bello lost his command and/or focus in the 6th.
It's just two pitches, fastball and slider, but he is dominant against a pretty good Sox lineup (signified by Turner play 2b so Casas can play 1B and Yoshida can DH.
5 shutout innings for Bello, who could go 6 and possibly even 7. No game tomorrow, so Cora will likely use his bullpen as often as needed.
Dugo's slump continues. His July OPS was .477 coming into this game.
Boy, is he ever. Granted, some hard hit balls were outs, but he has also had to contend with the Devers' problems at 3B (and at bat).
Duvall continues to demonstrate that his first 8 games this season were just a flukishly lucky week+. The real Duvall, the one with half the Sox K's so far, is not even tradeable.
In other words, I'm watching--thanks to ESPN--one heckuva ball game.
5 outs so far and Strider has basically gone with a slider and that fastball--and has our guys struggling. Six outs and no solid contact by any Sox hitter.
37 year old Justin Turner, on the other hand, is paying attention and making good plays. Plus he reduced those two extra batters to just one. I agree that grounder was a tailor made GIDP.
Well, it's certainly a controversial stat/topic, so you are entitled to that opinion.
But that leads me to two contrarian points.
First and foremost, it is hard for me to believe all catchers are basically equal in working with pitchers. You have to say that if you think CERA is bs.
And my second point is strongly related. Who do you think the pitchers on the Sox prefer catching them--Wong or McGuire or Alfaro? Or, best of all, behind door #4: they just don't care because catchers are irrelevant to how well a pitcher pitches.
True, of course. The players and their very capable manager did find ways to win, which they did again last night against the current best team in MLB, the former Boston Braves.
I'm less confident than you about the return of Sale, Kluber, Houck, and Whitlock. It it's good Sale, that will be huge. But I think Kluber's over the hill and Houck and Whitlock work best from the bullpen.