Maxbialystock

Anthony just tied him at .888 for best Sox OPS. This is his 7th or 8th bad game in a row,.

Bregman's slump is getting painful.

Beautiful placement by Wong on that single. Very intelligent hitter. And the rookie follows suit!

Interesting. Thanks.

😁

Nice grab by Sogard!! Good dive by Anthony.

Horrible miss by the ump on that Skenes fastball. Rafaela still K'd. Tolles need 30 pitches for the first two inning and Skenes 29. Can't think of many rookies who could walk a guy, give up a double, and then get the next three out.

Fine with me. He just grounded out but not a GIDP.

Says who? I have decreed Hamilton is better and am known as great expert on baseball.

Alternates catchers which also makes sense.

Pirates are going with 8 righty bats and a switch hitter. Against Skenes Sox are going with three lefty bats and a switch hitter.

Heck, I thought you were predicting it. Good call. I don't especially like Sogard, but he makes more sense than Garcia.

Agree in principle. However, his first start is against the Pirates who are dead last in MLB in runs scored and team OPS. They are also 20-46 in the road. I expect him to be limited to around 70 pitches which should be about twice through the Pirates batting order. The Pirates team OPS vs lefties is lower than against righties.

I disagree but think you have provided an excellent warning. MLB is a huge step. The Pirates team OPS is the lowest in MLB--so are their total runs scored. My guess is that Breslow and Cora know all that.

Agree completely this is a great game to watch. Skenes and Tolle were both born in 2002, but Skenes has 2 exceptional MLB seasons under his belt. Who will win tonight? As great as Skenes is, I like the Sox chances. The Pirates stink on the road, 20-46, and the Sox are good at Fenway, 41-25. Skenes' ERA in August is 3.21, largely because in his 2 road starts he gave up 4 runs to the Brewers and 4 to the Rockies. What worries me is that, even though on paper the Sox have much better hitting/scoring, tonight they will be missing two of their best lefty bats, Abreu and Lowe. Plus lately Sox scoring has been suspect. In their last homestand, 5 games, they scored 2, 7, 3, 3, and 3 runs against Miami and Baltimore. Bregman's OPS in August is .800 and he is 2/21 in his last 6 games. After OPS's over .800 in both June and July, Rafaela's August OPS is 580. Gonzalez August OPS is .653 and Narvaez is .513. I do think the Sox have the better defense, especially if Hamilton is at 2b, which is likely because Gonzalez will be at 1b. So a solid outfield defense with Duran, Rafaela, and Anthony, same for the infield with Bregman Story, Hamilton, Narvaez/Wong, and despite Gonzalez.

Hicks is no neophyte. This is his 6th MLB season and his 4th MLB team and I can see no indication he has improved with the Sox.

Perfect.

I think that's a pretty good call.

Well phrased.

Where I come from, competent is good. I haven't seen Anthony do anything spectacular in the outfield, but he does just about everything right.

TOR gets my vote for the toughest, but anyone can surprise us. It's called baseball.

Good heavens to betsy, what will they think of next? Cats living with dogs. They will of course limit his pitches to maybe 70.

I think we all have some sort of lives outside talksox, but in a season like this it is hard to stay away. The Sox are doing great, they're even moving on the Jays, but absolutely nothing is guaranteed. This road trip has been scary but ultimately very successful. 7 out of 8. The pitching is great. The defense is mostly good. And the hitting is what is scary (and not scary good).

Cora is an idiot! So is Breslow! 😁

Indeed.