Maxbialystock

Arraez is flirting with the first .400 season in 82 years, and Whitlock got him out twice with a K and an easy grounder--so he can't be all bad.

Two bad throws by Hamilton in the same inning.

That's two seeing eye singles up the middle.

OK. Two doubles, a run, and a hard hit 3d out by Duvall.

Horrible 1/2 inning. Hitters need to hit.

Both hard hit balls were off changeups, which has been a good pitch for Whitlock--just not now.

So here's me with the sniveling excuses. First, 2021 was a pretty good year, beating the Yankees and Rays to get to the ALCS before going down to a good Astros team, 4 games to 2. Second, Bloom inherited Price and Sale, both disastrous for the pitching staff--big bucks, big success in 2018, but nothing left over for Bloom. Relatedly, another freaking big contract for a front line starter is unlikely. Third, at the same time, we don't know what John Henry is insisting upon. The Sox team salaries are now ranked 15th in MLB--the lowest ranking in the JH era and probably in the last 40 years. We do know he was fine with losing Mookie and Bogey--too pricey. We do know, however, that Bloom got Dugo (higher WAR right now than Mookie) and Wong in return for Mookie. Fourth, the Sox right now seem to have three decent younger starters in Bello, Houck, and Whitlock even though Whitlock missed a bunch of games via injury and now so is Houck. Maybe Crawford (age 27) will be a decent starter. Kluber of course is/was a bust. And my guess is we won't see Sale start again this season. Apparently we will see Paxton--this week, in fact. Fifth, Casas and Duran have been pleasant surprises (Casas's defense notwithstanding). In fact, the outfield of Verdugo, Yoshida, Duvall, Duran, and Refsnyder can hit and field (except for Yoshida). And the infield wouldn't be half bad were it not for injuries to Story, Chang, Reyes, et al. Sixth, two good young catchers in Wong (his DWAR of +1.4 is tied for best in MLB) and McGuire (one righty bat and one lefty). Seventh, an almost decent bullpen with Winckowski, Martin, Bernardino, Jansen, Schreiber (now on the IL), and even Pivetta (his ERA in June is freaking 1.23). Eighth, I think this team has underperformed so far this season and that it can and will do better. That's without Story or Sale or even Chang.

Alcantra (righty) vs. Whitlock (also righty) Miami, like Tampa and Baltimore, is another success story. Despite team salaries ranked 22d in MLB, they are 2d in the NL East with a 45-34 record. They seem to be good at finding ways to win because their run differential is -15. The Sox are just 1 game over .500 with a run differential of +21, so it's fair to say we are prone to find ways to lose. We can only blame part of that on being in the AL East. Duran LF Turner DH Verdugo RF Devers 3B Duvall CF Casas 1B Kike 2B Hamilton SS Wong C 5 lefty bats and one of those, Hamilton, may be great on the base paths, but struggles to get on base. In 2 games--a miniscule sample--his OBP and OPS are both 0. Hitting and especially scoring runs has been an issue lately with the Sox and the Marlins have decent pitching (12th best ERA in MLB). Whitlock gave up 4 runs last time, but also went 7 innings in a 5-4 10 inning loss to the Twins. Sox are back at Fenway, so I give the good guys the edge.

You could be right about swinging too hard because I've seen him make great contact with an almost slow swing (in which his wrists seem to do most of the work) at pitches outside of the zone. You have too.

What rhythm? The latest little hitting slump is almost certainly due to Dugo going on bereavement leave. Devers has had mini slumps. So has Yoshida: his OPS so far in June is .706. It was .962 in May. Duvall starting out like a house afire, but it only lasted 8 freaking games. He's struggled in the 15 games he's been back to find that "rhythm." He was pretty good day before yesterday, but the day before in the 9th inning he came to bat with the bases loaded and struck out on 4 pitches. The third strike, swung on and missed, was a slider in the freaking heart of the strike zone. Duvall's OPS in April was 1.669 and in June it's been .574. Casas has been the primary first baseman from the get go--and his OPS in April was .585. It's gotten better since. Duran has been a pleasant surprise, especially on defense, but struggles against lefty pitchers. Wong has been a pleasant surprise at catcher--especially on defense, but his OPS is a very respectable .721. His lefty-hitting partner/backup, McGuire, just got hurt so Wong is having to play a whole lot more (7 games in 7 days). In the last 4 games of those 7 he struck 10 times. Also, about the basement. I don't know how many houses you've been in, but I've been in a lot, and I can assure you all basements are not the same. In the case of the AL East, it's the best freaking basement in the history of MLB. Why? Because the AL East has by far the best won-lost record in the history of MLB divisions. Consequently, the Sox are one game above .500 and 3 games back of the Jays for one wild card slot and 3.5 games back of the Yankees for another.

Exactly the way I saw it. No play at home plus Casas should have run toward Beni and then thrown ahead of him (going to 3b or back to 2b).

You can certainly have that opinion. It's even possible you are right. But I like his age, 26, and the fact that he's hit pretty well--with a career OPS of .848--since he came up in 2017. It's .798 right now, which isn't exactly calamitous, plus he leads the Sox in total bases and in rbi's (he has 60 and Turner has the next most with 41). His DWAR (0.0) says he is not hurting the team defensively and he been the AL All-Star third baseman the last two years.

Meh. I think he's pretty good at catching throws to first base. He uses his height well. Plus very recently he made a terrific flip toss to the pitcher on what was probably one of the best Sox defensive plays of the season. Nevertheless, his DWAR right now is -0.9, largely, I think, because he does not have great hands on fielding grounders. Plus he weighs 244 lbs and does not move all that well. The real test, however, is his hitting. If he can hit, he will play. This year his April OPS was .585, May was .766, and June .848. That's a pretty nice progression. He's 23, so the Sox have plenty of time to decide on any long term contract.

Cora has been known to stick with a lineup that works. This year he's had a bunch of lefty bats--Devers, Verdugo, Casas, Duran, McGuire, Yoshida, Valdez, etc--and the Sox have naturally faced a lot of righty starters. So five (Devers, Dugo, Casas, Duran, and Yoshida) of the lefty hitters are in the top seven (of Sox batters) in at bats. The three righty bats in the top eight of at bats are Turner, Kike, and Wong. Rookies Duran and Casas are the ones most likely to be replaced in the lineup against a lefty starter.

Who cares? The problem today wasn't the freaking defense, but the lack of hitting. I looked at a replay, but it didn't show where the runner going home was when Casas got the ball. Suffice it to say, the batter, Beni, got all the way to 3d base on that hit. And the guy on 1b got a huge jump because there were two outs. It would have been unusual if he had not scored on a double in the corner with two men out.

Casas ain't the problem. Sox hitting is the big problem. Plus Chicago is hitting Crawford pretty good. Plus yesterday Winck gave up 3 dingers. Casas had no play at home, but did screw up the throw to get Benintendi.

Maybe one too many sliders, especially when this one didn't have the same bite as the others.

Short showcase for Dalbec. Now you see him, now you don't.

DP!!

Thank goodness for the helmets.

Not bad.

Banks looks pretty tough to me. Good thing he needed 44 pitches to get thru the first 2 innings.

Kike gets lucky. He's out if the pitcher let's that grounder go through.

Dalbec already making a statement. Just not a good one.

Once again we see proof of how avidly Sox players look for my commentary on talksox. Glad to see Duvall has taken it to heart with a solid double to lead off the 2d inning.