Maxbialystock

Great win and and fun game to watch.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. Actually, I never said defense makes no difference, only that pitching and hitting make the biggest difference. In tonight's game, however, I think Chicago has hit better and pitched better, but their defense has betrayed them while the Sox defense has been a real asset--the Hamilton error notwithstanding.

Bello's changeup has been pretty good--it usually is. We are just 6 innings in, but so far this game is a textbook example of defense being the decisive factor. Chicago has out hit the Sox, and Giolito has pitched brilliantly with 10 K's and 1 BB. However, those two errors have led to two unearned runs, which are the Sox margin so far. Sox defense has been excellent.

You just moved into SPLENDIDSPLINTER territory.

Great comments. You guys are better than the Sox announcers. Well, to be honest, I almost never have the sound on so I don't know what they say.

You said that already. But it does bear repeating.

Hamilton and Devers so far are candidates for miracle workers because this guy Giolito has good stuff--which, however, is being sabotaged by the error prone Chicago defense.

Another shout out to Walter who pitched 6.2 innings yesterday which allowed the Sox bullpen to mostly take the day off.

As almost everyone knows, I adamantly defend Cora's every move. But tonight I continue to wonder why he put so many righty bats in the lineup going against a righty pitcher with a really good slider. Those six righty bats--Ref, Turner, Duvall, Wong, Arroyo, and Kike--have zero hits, zero walks, and 5 K's. The three lefty bats--Hamilton, Yoshida, and Devers--have done all the hitting and scoring.

Hah! He left a slider up in the zone and Devers killed it for a 3-1 lead.

Another Chicago error gets Yoshida on 1b to lead off the 4th. That slider is so good Giolito is using it on lefty bat Devers.

After three innings a tie game which nevertheless looks a little grim for the good guys. Chisox are hitting Bello, and the Sox only run is on a walk and Hamilton going completely ape on the base paths.

Back to back bon mots.

Great stuff by Hamilton and really stupid stuff by the Chisox.

Nice double play with Hamilton in the middle getting off a quick release, hard throw to 1b.

Very clever attacking Wong now catching his 6th game in 6 days. Duvall and Turner, far more experienced hitters, also had a tough time with that slider.

Weird. Cora has six righty bats in the lineup, and Giolito's favorite pitch is that slider, which is making those righty batters look silly.

Bello looking good, and thank goodness for that because the Sox lineup doesn't. But it's way early.

Good defense is not "often the key to not losing." It's a factor, but nowhere near as important as hitting or pitching.

Bello and Paxton are the Sox two best starters--going in the first two games vs the Chisox, with Crawford slotted for game 3. That looks pretty good to me and could be an opportunity to take a series or even get a sweep. However, Dugo leaves a big hole, especially with Devers and Duvall not bringing too much to the scoring table. Everybody but everybody on talksox seems to think good defense is the key to winning, and I think that is horse hockey. Pitching and hitting are way more important. Yesterday the Sox defense played errorless ball and even made some good plays--and it made absolutely no difference at all because Ryan owned the Sox lineup. That could happen again today. Another worry--and here I'm going to the other side of the argument and saying that defense can make a difference--is that yesterday Connor Wong started/played his 5th game in 5 days at catcher. So Caleb Hamilton of Woodinville, WA is likely to be the Sox starting catcher very soon in his very first MLB game.

Agree on all. I think Pivetta's problem is throwing too many fastballs. His breaking stuff isn't half bad.

I was busy with errands, but could have made time if I had seen the Sox show signs of life.

I doubt Sale will get back this year, but I think Houck will--the steel plate seems intended to ensure that--and hopefully in July. Paxton, Bello, Whitlock, Houck, and Crawford might not be too bad.

Agree completely.

moonslav has said the same things repeatedly. But the simple fact is that the Sox have won 4 WS titles (and ended the 86 year curse) in the John Henry era primarily with terrific hitting and now and then pretty good pitching. Defense was always secondary. And I'll tell you why, so pay attention. Hitting a round ball with a round bat squarely is extremely difficult to do--according to Ted Williams--and even harder when the ball is coming in hard with all manner of spins on it. And pitching, if anything, is even harder to do well because you are stuck with that miniscule rectangle, plus the tremendous effort it takes to throw that ball hard with the right spins, etc. Thus the advent of Tommy John surgery. As for the defense, most of those plays are just routine grounders, popups, lazy fly balls, liners hit right to someone, etc. There are tons of good defensive players in the minors today who are just as good defensively as their MLB counterparts. They can't get to MLB because they can't hit, which is much harder to do. Also, until this season, MLB teams were making defense even easier by using computers to predict where hitters normally hit grounders/liners/fly ball.