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Maxbialystock

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Everything posted by Maxbialystock

  1. Maxbialystock
    Lucky you. The good ones are, well, boring. Watching Kluber is like watching sisyphus pushing that big rock up the hill, except every now and then he gets it there. Today we get to watch a reenactment of David and Goliath--with the special twist that we let Wacha go and went out and grabbed Kluber instead.
  2. Maxbialystock
    The "realism" began with the preseason survey when three of you said the Sox would have a winning record and when I joined 9 others agreeing the Sox would be losers. And by realism I mean simply a better overall assessment. There have definitely been a bunch of surprises already this season-- Sale, Paxton, and Bello; the bullpen; Dugo; Duran; Casas (maybe); Duvall for 8 games; Kike moving to the infield/SS because of the injuries to Story, Mondesi and then Chang; Yoshida; both catchers, Wong and McGuire.
  3. Maxbialystock
    So allow me to offer a contrarian view. The Sox have never cared about defense at SS. When they get a good one, they get rid of him ASAP. By that standard Kike is quite adequate. I assume you made up this crap about a friendship with Cora because I think Cora is great at handling his players but won't hesitate to juggle his lineups based on necessity and opportunity and not "friendship." Kike's who we have because Mondesi, Story, and Chang have been, are, and will continue to be on the IL.
  4. Maxbialystock
    Kluber vs. Wacha, both righties. Huge advantage to the Padres. Wacha has been terrific in May: 19 IP, 1 freaking ER, 18 K's and 6 BB's. Kluber continues to establish his credentials in the "over the hill gang" with 15.1 IP in May, 10 ER, 4 dingers, 7 BB's, and 13 K's. Against Wacha, Cora is going pretty much--except McGuire in for Wong--with last night's lineup: Verdugo RF Yoshida DH Casas 1B Devers 3B Duran CF Tapia LF Kike SS Valdez 2B McGuire C That's 8 lefty bats plus Kike Hernandez.
  5. Maxbialystock
    Excellent overview, as always. Somewhere on posted on Talksox that, with the emergence of not only Sale, but Paxton and Bello (who needs better command), the Sox have three pretty good starters and are backed up by more so-so starters and a pretty good bullpen. So I think the immediate future of Sox pitching looks pretty good--and with it the immediate future of the team.
  6. Maxbialystock
    Good on the game and Sale. I long ago decided not to challenge Cora's lineups. Casas's OBP in May is .365 and his OPS is .864. Tapia is the the 5th outfielder after Dugo, Duran, Yoshida, and Refsnyder.
  7. Maxbialystock
    Ugly, but a save.
  8. Maxbialystock
    Need the good bullpen tonight.
  9. Maxbialystock
    Yep. 6 innings, 2 runs.
  10. Maxbialystock
    Wong good behind the plate. Actually, Wong great behind the plate. Whoever called the 3 straight sliders, all out of the strike zone, is a genius.
  11. Maxbialystock
    A different Sale tonight.
  12. Maxbialystock
    Verdugo RF Yoshida DH Casas 1b Devers 3b Duran CF Tapia LF Kike Hernandez SS Valdez 2b Wong C
  13. Maxbialystock
    Sale vs Musgrove, lefty vs. righty. Hate to say it, but the pitching edge has to go to Sale and the Sox, so that means the Padres are going to win tonight. You read it here first. Sox looked really good last night--Paxton, Winck, the deeply flawed Devers who swings at way too many pitches but somehow hit two dingers and drove in 4 runs, Dugo with that terrific dive and grab of a liner hit to his left, Duran taking decent routes in the outfield despite his deeply flawed instincts, etc. I think the key factor in the win may have been having our very own Thunder at Petco Park. Our Thunder stole theirs. The Sox winning percentage is now .556. Over 162 games that would mean 90 wins, so the Sox are definitely in the hunt for a wild card. Plus I think their best baseball is ahead of them because the pitching is starting to look pretty decent despite a team ERA ranked 26th in MLB.
  14. Maxbialystock
    Sale is back, period. The issue might still be his durability, even with the new elbow. What makes me optimistic is something you've already mentioned. The Sox right now seem to have three pretty good starters in Sale, Paxton, and Bello (who has good stuff but not yet good command). Plus the bullpen. Plus some choices for the other two starter jobs: Houck, Kluber, Crawford, Whitlock, and even Pivetta. We'll see what happens--as always--but right now I'm impressed with the depth of the Sox pitching.
  15. Maxbialystock
    Could not agree more. Winck was pitching well and able to go 3 innings in relief--so use him to seal the deal on a great start by Paxton. Crawford is back and last pitched Tuesday, and he too can pitch 2 or more innings in relief.
  16. Maxbialystock
    Good reply
  17. Maxbialystock
    You and Nick are both right.
  18. Maxbialystock
    Great point--and I'd forgotten.
  19. Maxbialystock
    Really good win despite the fact that Devers needs to fix his hitting and not swing so much, Valdez should be starting against lefties even though his OPS against lefties is .111, and the seemingly good pitching by the Sox wasn't really that good because somebody walked a .200 hitter from the Padres.
  20. Maxbialystock
    No, he shouldn't have. The Padres starter Snell is a lefty and Valdez's OPS against lefties is .111.
  21. Maxbialystock
    You are far and away the most astute commentator on talksox. Our Sox are up 6-1 in the 9th, and you are griping about the lousy pitching.
  22. Maxbialystock
    But he had a very different from swing from Devers swing. Plus Pujols hit righty and Devers hits lefty. Ted Williams hit lefty and was a relentless student of hitting. And I don't want Devers to try to be Ted Williams either.
  23. Maxbialystock
    I don't want Devers to be Pujols or Ted Williams (a much better hitter than Pujols) or any of those guys. I want him to be what he is, a guy who hits balls outside the strike zone as well or better than balls inside it. When he gets in a slump, I'm fine with whatever adjustments he might make, but right now I do not understand your insistence he be perfect when he's already hugely effective. Don't mess with success.
  24. Maxbialystock
    You make it sound oh so simple. And that word discipline encourages us to believe that Devers is actually out of control and needs to be reined in. And I disagree. I do agree Devers is unorthodox and swings at pitches outside of the zone, but I also think that really works for him.
  25. Maxbialystock
    But we all knew that, didn't we? I really, really like Bogaerts, who was in on two of the Sox World Series wins. But the money was too much for a guy his age.
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