Maxbialystock

Excellent point. My assessment is that these Sox are getting better every single day. Moreover, I am hereby challenging all you doubting thomases. I predict the Sox are going to win another game this season. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

The comeback continues! Now two straight losses by margins less than 10 runs. This Sox team has no quit in them. Those 3 errors were all bad calls by the scorers.

Bogey has had a good defensive game--heck, a good defensive season. Hitting lags, but who needs a good hitting SS when they can get the real things, a steady, not too flashy guy who can get the big single now and then? Well, maybe not big singles in terms of driving runs in.

Vazquez with a sweet K with a man on 3d base and one out. But Mr. DH (his best position) Verdugo drives Duran home with a solid single.

Big rookie mistake by Duran. If he would just copy Verdugo, he would have known to stand at the plate and watch that ball awhile to see it was a dinger--and then trot down to first base.

Last night I spoke/wrote too soon because this game could be another 10 run loss, to say nothing of an absolutely abysmal display of lousy baseball by the Sox.

He got lucky--perfect GIDP ball except it was hit right in the hole.

There they go again. Fastest player on the team team, a real speed merchant, can't score from 2d base on a single. Opposing teams do that routinely. Let me hasten to agree that was a hard shot right to the left fielder. On the other hand, the left fielder was playing shallow. I'm not sure Verdugo or Cordero does that.

Historically, a bad season like this one doesn't affect attendance until the following season.

Well, at least JBJ hustled and both throws were pretty good--which of course made absolutely no difference at all. It was still an easy triple. Bello's wearing some pretty cool necklaces, however. Here's hoping Dugo and he can get the rest of the Sox dolled up.

We need Casey Stengal's ghost to ask, "doesn't anybody out here know how to play this game?"

Overall, I have to agree. Scrubs are scrubs and the Jays are a good young club this year. But I have to ask this question. Would you expect the Rays to struggle this much--and by that I mean playing at about the Boston College level--if they had suffered a similar decimation of the rotation plus an All-Star third baseman (they had one and let him go--too expensive) and a really good fielding second baseman also on the IL?

Definitely over the top on Devers, and, boy, do I hope you are right that he will remain a hard worker. So maybe we can agree that Devers, while enormously talented, is also human--human enough to ease up on that hard work once that contract is signed. He can still love the game and of course hitting, which he is so good at. Defense, on the other hand, is all about dedication and hard work. Mookie might be the exception to the hard work rule because he was a great right fielder almost from day one when the word came down to his AA or AAA team he needed to switch to the outfield to get to Boston. Duran, Arroyo, Cordero, et al have demonstrated that most players struggle when shifted to the outfield.

Agree the outfield stinks this year. However, last year's outfield had WAR's of +4.9 (Kike in CF), +2.4 (Renfroe in RF), and +2.2 (Dugo in LF)--or a combined WAR of +9.5. The infield, even with Devers (WAR +4.9) and Bogey (WAR +3.5), had a lower overall WAR despite having four positions. So, yes, the 2018 outfield was better--Mookie 10.9, Beni 3.9, JBJ 2.1--but that was the best Sox team ever. Also, FWIW, Kike and Dugo are back this year, but Kike's been on the IL forever, and Dugo has definitely regressed.

I didn't blame Sanchez. I blame the coaches and manager--and maybe the Sox farm system--for not developing smarter players. Can you or anyone else on talksox remember when a Sox player scored from first base on a single without an error being committed? Chaim Bloom was one of the originators--he wrote their "book"--of the Rays system for finding and especially training/developing good baseball talent. When they play the Sox, they look like the professional ballplayers and the Sox don't. I would even argue that what made Mookie Betts so great was the very short time he spent in the stupid Red Sox minor league system, where he was almost always an infielder. He pretty much became a great outfielder and hitter on his own. Same goes for Rafael Devers, a terrific talent, especially at the plate--and you can be sure nobody in the Sox system taught him how to hit. He is still learning how to play 3B. My guess is he lost weight because his agent told him that it would guarantee megabucks. And once he signs for the big bucks, the weight will come back unless the contract prohibits it (which I consider unlikely).

LA is a much bigger market and the Dodgers lead MLB in attendance, which Boston can never do with Fenway Park. In case you're wondering, the Yankees are also in a much bigger market than the Sox and also have higher attendance. But, since you raised the issue of Mookie Betts, I thought I'd float some numbers for you. He played 5.3 seasons for the Sox and was paid a cumulative total of $33M. During those 5.3 seasons, his cumulative WAR was 35, so basically the Sox paid $1M for every 1 WAR Mookie delivered on the playing field. In his 3 years, including this one, with the Dodgers, Mookie has been paid a total--and this doesn't include up front bonuses or other stuff they're paying him--of $74M for three seasons during which his cumulative WAR (this season isn't over yet) of 11. So they are paying $7M (less by the end of this season, assuming Mookie's seasonal WAR is more than the 3.1 achieved to date) per WAR earned on the playing field. In other words, the Dodgers are in reality paying Mookie for those great years he had in Boston and not, I emphasis not, for what he has done for the Dodgers.

Those comments are vicious and uncalled for. This very brave Sox team finally can see the end of the tunnel. I don't mean they will start winning--that's simply asking for too much. But tonight they showed they can reasonably expect to lose by less than 10 runs.

Well, I think we can safely call today's game a success and put to rest the fears of getting beat every night by 10 or more runs. I'm less sure the Sox will actually start winning games, but at least we can look forward to losing respectably. Also worth noting: no fly balls lost in the lights; nobody picked off 3d base with no one out; Dalbec, our main man for the future, parked one; Crawford had a quality start against a good Jays lineup (who might have been exhausted from all the running around the bases last night); Brasier gave up just 1 run and should probably get a bonus. I hate to mention it, but once again an opposing baserunner scored from first base on a single. Actually, I think I should now say that for this Sox team that's a tough play to make and we can only hope to keep those guys to just getting to 3d base. And, no, we can't expect our own players to get from 1st to 3d on a single to right, nor that they should scored from 2d base on a single. Baby steps.

Say what you will about Bogey, but he's the guy we need with men on base. I mean he just buckles down and gets it done--for the other team's pitcher. Ugh.

After 5 innings, the Sox have 6 hits, including a dinger. The Jays have 4 hits and no dinger. But the Jays have 3 runs to our 1.

A good reminder. I entirely agree I am probably over-reacting to those 3 losses.

Wow. I think that's the 2d time in a week an opposing baserunner scored from first base on a freaking single. This time it was to JBJ.

Hey, guess what? We have Bogey and Devers and JDM and Story right now. The Sox also have Sale, Price (part of his salary, anyway), Eovaldi, Whitlock, Wacha, Pivetta, Houck, Schreiber, et al. So, tell me, please, how's this team doing so far? You know, what with them losing 25-4 last night, and 13-2 and 14-1 in the two games before last night. My opinion is that with all those guys and especially your very most favorite Red Sox players ever--Raffy and Bogey--this team stinks to high heaven. READ MY LIPS: IT TAKES AT LEAST 9 GOOD POSITIONS PLAYERS, 5 GOOD STARTERS, AND 7 GOOD RELIEVERS TO HAVE A GOOD TEAM. So, my thought is that, if you want Bloom to keep your favs for whatever salaries they want and to get a bunch more good guys, next year's team salary package could be $300M without breaking a sweat.

Ahem. The Sox are shelling out plenty this year for Bogey, Price, Sale, JDM, Story, Raffy ($11M is still more than chump change), et al. Total salaries around $204M--6th highest freaking team salary package in freaking MLB. Meanwhile, a team that Bloom played a large part in building/structuring for success, absolutely owns the Red Sox because they are solid at every position and, depending on how you count Wander Franco, have no big bucks stars. The Rays are professionals. The Sox this year are not. The Rays salary package is $88M. The Sox clearly can afford to shell out more than $88M. If you read moonslav, he makes the argument they can go well over $200M. But, if you think Raffy is worth $500M for what will almost certainly be no more than 10 good years--thus $50M a year--that means Bloom or someone else needs to be awfully smart about who else they fill those other 25 (or is it 40) roster positions with.

Top salaries are insanely risky for owners/GM's because the money is guaranteed no matter what and for a long time. Juan Soto, age 23, just sneered at the incredibly low offer of $420M--barely a living wage--from the Nationals. You think Raffy's agent--who only gets a percentage of what Raffy gets--isn't whispering in his ear that $500M is within reach?