Maxbialystock

What a crock! Kluber nailed that coffin up when he gave up 7 runs in the first 3 innings. The Twins have the best pitching, lowest ERA, in MLB, so the game was over going into the 4th inning. That's why Cora let Kluber pitch two more innings--to save the bullpen a little bit. As for Brasier, he has also had some good outings this season, including a really good save. Tonight was the right game to screw up.

Nice grab by Dugo! And this time Valdez didn't wave him off. He wanted to, but then decided to let Dugo get one.

How do we know he didn't? What I saw was Valdez shouting and waving his arms like he had it, all of it--and he wasn't about to let someone else take away his catch. Plus the error on the grounder. An inauspicious first game, but he's only 24, so he needs more seasoning. Another 5 years should do it.

It's more true than not true, tonight being another example with Kluger giving up 7. In the two games McGuire started at Tampa, they scored 9 and 9 runs. Good start against the Tigers, who only scored 3--also a good game for Sale. But he also caught Sale vs. the Orioles, who score 8 runs, 7 off of Sale.

A shout out to the three who voted/predicted the Sox would win 86-90 games this season. Absolute the right attitude to take. Me, a predicted a bunch of losers. Sox are 9-9 despite a horrible team ERA, a lineup that looks like it belongs in the three-eye league but actually does score runs, a suspect defense, and marginal baserunning. Recently, however, we have seen good starts by Sale, Whitlock, Crawford, Houck, Pivetta (but not his latest). Plus Kluber almost, kind of, sort of had one his 2d time out. moonslav says the pitching will be fine, and he's starting to look like a prophet. I'm starting to like both catchers, Wright and Wong. I await the returns of Duvall and Story and the magical transformation of Yoshida into the guy the FO thought they were getting.

Ok, now that is impressive.

Agreed he's looked bad so far. Don't agree the sample is big enough to make a judgment.

And he earned those too, plus the hamstring was timely. Climate is also an issue.

And let's not forget the Rays technique of starting a reliever who goes 1 inning and is followed by someone who pitches several innings.

DH or even 1B. Agree good bats should play every day or almost every day.

I'm sure those stats are correct, but Wong's DWAR is +0.5 to McGuire's -0.1. They both have the same WAR: +0.3. And that's kind of the way I see it--Cora can go with either one. Plus Wong bats righty, McGuire lefty. I think CERA has some legitimacy, but last night I thought Sale was great because his practice session straightened him out. He was hitting spots way better than the game before in Tampa.

So you're saying the Trop--and not the fan base--is the problem.

Detroit population has gone down from 1.85M in 1950 to 640K in 2020. Income is no doubt also down. Baltimore got hit with a double whammy. First Peter Angelos (owner), who is incompetent, then the Nationals, who sucked up a bunch of MLB fans, not necessarily Orioles fans, who loved going to watch MLB at Camden Yards. I've been to games at both parks and both have good sightlines and decent parking. Plus Nationals Park is a lot closer to N.Virginia which has a sizable population--2 million. Charlotte, NC might work. Austin, TX? Jacksonville, FL? Indianapolis, IN?

Well, he earned one.

Here are the Sox OPS's for today's line-up Verdugo .879 Tapia .806 Turner .769 Devers .990 Kike .590 McGuire .914 Casas .528 Duran 1.069 Valdez, first MLB game, but MILB OPS of .799 (.628 this season)

Good point. However, it is not uncommon for the city to assume some of the cost. Nevertheless, your point is probably the explanation for why no stadium has been built or even discussed.

My view is that Sox fans come back after a good year, but not necessarily during one. I expect Phillies fans are the same. They love what their team did in the postseason, but they also love DD doing his thing.

Both points are excellent because Phillies fans are notoriously picky. Last year they won 87 games to the Sox 78, but the Sox got more butts in seats, 2.6M to 2.2M. 32K per game vs. 28K per game.

Agree. The Tampa/St Petersburg/Clearwater metro statistical area has a population of 3.1 million. Interestingly, because Tampa is next to the Gulf, daytime high in the summer is normally 91 and rarely 100. However, May to October is also the rainy season, so an indoor stadium is probably needed.

Absolutely. I think in the Rays case necessity was the mother of invention. In fact, going back to my OP in which I denigrate sabermetrics and being smart, what I love about the Rays management is that have in fact built a terrific system for identifying and developing not only good pitchers, but good lineup players who aren't paid anywhere near as much as the the superstars the media keep talking about. I would love to see John Henry and Chaim Bloom build a team like that. But at the same time I fear such a team would not put butts in seats, not even at Fenway. Thus my examples of the attendance at the Angels games last week and the Twins last night. The Twins have terrific pitching, but lack star power. The Angels have Ohtani and Trout. In fact, one of us wrote he attended one of the Angels games precisely because he'd never seen Trout play in person. And, oh, by the way, no fan worth his salt in the 1930's should have turned down an opportunity to watch Babe Ruth. Forget Lou Gehrig and the Yankees Murderer's Row, the Babe was absolutely worth the price of admission.

Somebody else (or was it you) said something like this on another thread. They basically said, "yeah, Bloom blew it on Yoshida, but the Sox scouting system is also guilty of recommending him so highly." Also, apropos of the movie Trouble With the Curve, the Sox scouts could only have watched Yoshida in Japan. In the movie, the high school prospect was scouted in North Carolina. The hope for Yoshida is that he needs time to adjust to playing MLB in the good old USA.

That's true, but my assumption is that butts in seats are a reliable indicator of the overall fan base.

Completely agree about Tampa and have said so repeatedly in the past.

In my case, pure superstition. I think my luck runs better waiting until the next day. I also missed a lot of this game (last night) because we had dinner guests, family, impromptu. So my dilemma tonight is how much to watch without jeopardizing the Sox and especially Kluber's chance to win another game. I mean, I missed a ton of Sale having his best freaking game since 2019. I know this is nuts because the Sox have looked awful this year, especially at Tampa. On the other hand, they are 9-9, they did win the Angels series, and last night they beat the best pitching staff in MLB on a team that came to Boston with a 10-6 record.

Interesting. I'm slammed Sale plenty over the last 2-3 years, but I also raved about him after he came to Boston. I thought he was the most professional pitcher I'd ever seen. He had great stuff and great command, but he also fielded his position very well and almost never shook off his catcher. It's also apparent he stays in shape. So I agree he is tough. For most of his career I think he's been a three pitch guy: fastball, slider, and changeup. No curve and no splitter. But this year I think he's introduced a cut fastball (sinker). The MLB app has upgrade their Gameday graphics. You can now go back to a previous game and look at where every pitch was thrown and what it was. I looked at several innings from last night's game and he seemed to use his fastball, slider, and changeup in about equal amounts--with an occasional sinker, which is about as fast, 94 mph, as his fast ball. But the best part was that he was painting the corners most of the time. Then I took a quick peak at his previous start at Tampa, where the Rays bashed him. They hit better than the Twins and seem really good at know when to swing and not, but the other difference he was just outside the strike zone way more than last night.