Maxbialystock

Agree on both. Anthony and Bregman bat 1 and 2. Anthony's great strength is that, when he gets a pitch to hit, he seem to hit it squarely. Bregman playing is both vital and heroic. This team has strength in five key areas: hitting, starting, relieving, defending, and baserunning. Right behind Bregman these days is Story with the most rbi's, dingers, and freaking SB;'s, plus he is a solid shortstop. Duran can't hit lefties worth spit, but his OPS is a very decent .787 and he leads the team in total bases and WAR. Rafaela is in a slump, but his WAR is 3d best, 3.5. Two catchers good enough to allow Cora to alternate them. o Ref is back and is one of 6 Sox hitters (Bregman, Anthony, Ref, Gonzalez, Lowe, and Abreu) with OPS's over .800--well, at least when Abreu gets off the IL some time this month. When that happens, I predict Yoshida is through as DH. When facing righty starters, one of Anthony, Duran, or Abreu can DH and keep Rafaela in CF. When was the last time the Sox had 5 starters as good as Crochet, Bello, Giolito, Tolle, and May? Yet Chapman has the 2d highest pitching WAR and Whitlock the 5th highest. Heck, as moonslav pointed out, the Sox in August were good at avoiding unearned runs. All that said, ups and down are inevitable, and the Sox have had their share of both. But you have to like the Sox chances with 77 wins and just 23 games to play.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Gutsy start for Bello.

I doubt that the 36K or so fans at Fenway would agree--and they're paying a lot to be there.

Not much difference between Bello and Houdini. Good grief was that a happy ending to the top of the 4th.

Bello would agree, but you can't be great every game. Be happy he had a decent 3d and could go 5 IP. Cleveland's winning percentage is .504 and the Sox .551. Not that big a difference.

Now he's 2/2.

The star of yesterday's game, Duran, is not starting because he struggles against lefties. Eaton is in for him and has already singled.

Both starters needed about 60 pitches to get through the first 2 innings, so this looks like a bullpen game and maybe ours is tired Nice 3d for Bello. 10 pitches, no runs.

Still another hotshot rookie, also a lefty, coming in to face the Sox. You know what this team needs right now? A good DH. Do you know who had a hot August for the Giants?

Are you kidding me? Wow.

I'm glad the Sox dumped Buehler but can see why the Phillies want to give him a shot.

They don't have to pay Buehler, do they?

I always liked Uehara. He only had the slow fastball and the nasty splitter, but he knew how to pitch and was great in the 2013 postseason.

Everything's up to date in KC.

Yoshida still hits righties better than Ref or Hamilton. My guess is this will change when Abreu returns, should he ever return. It seems he has the tightest calf muscle in the history of medical science.

Giolito's quality start was nerve-wracking.

Fair enough. 😊

He can't hit lefties but he is definitely a crowd pleaser.

That paternity leave did something to him.

You some kind of expert or something? Sox score 4 in the 5th plus an inside the park dinger by Duran.

Sox hitting still stinks.

Anthony K's again on breaking ball low.

How about lately?

All true, but not lately. Abreu's recovery has been slow. Now 5 September at the earliest.