Maxbialystock

Monday night @ Fenway the Tigers drew 35K. Last night 29K. Tonight???? Cardinals drew 35K, 36K, and 36K. Sox fans know their baseball.

But he did manage to hang onto all that ill-botten gooty.

Meh. What I do truly like is that Cora once again pulls a rabbit out of a hat. I was totally against Devers resting today, but could not be happier with Duran and Refsnyder getting all 4 rbi's and those two plus Vazquez and Dalbec getting all 4 hits so far. Downs is struggling at the plate, but SoxProspects predicts that. They say he can't hit, period.

Highest batting average in the lineup.

That hurt. Oh well, JDM would have hit into one anyway. Now he can't.

Lefty vs. lefty, Duran gets another hit. I think he likes being in Boston.

Wacha in a groove--a really, really deep groove.

I was very much in favor of signing Schwarber. He sure helped last year. But he's really a DH and so is JDM. I thought he was an OK firstbaseman, but this year I've been reading on talksox that first base is actually an extremely difficult position to play, requiring years and years of study and practice, to say nothing of adroitness, smarts, wonderful footwork, and all manner of other skills. In fact, in the entire history of the Boston Red Sox there has never been a really good first baseman. It is hands down the most difficult position in baseball and really more difficult than any position in any other sport. By that I mean I would have been fine with Schwarber at 1b, but no one else would.

Piggyback is pejorative. Houck was a long reliever, last year and this. Last year Cora needed several long relievers--Houck, Whitlock, Valdez, Richards, and even Pivetta--because his starters had a tendency to struggle. In their second ALDS win last fall @ Tampa Bay, the Sox won because Pivetta pitched 4 innings in relief. Whitlock did the same thing, only it was 2 innings, to get the decisive third win. Neither pitcher got a save. I do think Houck is the best choice for closer now--except of course, he won't be for the three game series in Toronto--but I also think long relievers can be valuable. Indeed, I always get a little torqued when a given reliever just obliterates the opposition for one inning, maybe 12 pitches, with no one reaching base--only to see him hit the showers because one inning was/is his limit. Then the next guy comes in, doesn't have it that day or night, and gives the game away. It's as though the manager--and I'm not pinning this on Cora--is searching for the one reliever who can blow the game. I know the paragraph above is an oversimplification and that Cora and other managers have all kinds of statistical data, which I obviously don't have, to base their decisions on.

He is but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, he knows a hawk from a handsaw.

Probably. Right now Houck is a one inning guy and only then in the 9th with a Sox lead of 3 or fewer runs. He started against the Jays back in April, and went 5 innings, giving up 2 runs. But he's out of that business now.

Nice.

Pivetta, Winckowski, and Hill start the Cleveland series, June 24-26. That leaves Wacha for game 1 in Toronto and TBD to start the 2d game on June 28.

Given where omicron/covid is right now, a negative test makes a ton of sense. But I think the Canadians are simply pissed at us.

Of course that's the issue. But in Houck's case, he is taking a hit in the wallet and with some portion of the fan base.

Good on first sentence. I'm glad about the 2d which somewhat puts my dementia fears to rest. I still don't think anyone not injured needs back to back days off. Downs, about to make his MLB debut with little to show from his AA and AAA experience, is probably a -4 WAR and is replacing a + 4 WAR player. That said, Cora has always seemed to have had a method to his madness. Downs is just 1 of 9 hitters and 1 of 9 fielders. The rest of the lineup has been doing pretty well. Plus just maybe his boss asked him, "hey, any chance you can play this guy so I can make up my mind what to do with him?"

Duran CF Refsnyder RF JDM DH Bogey SS Verdugo LF Story 2b Vazquez C Dalbec 1b Downs 3b Never doubt my expertise. I'm sure Cora will put Devers back in just before the game, once someone reminds him they have tomorrow off. Soxprospects says this about Jeter Downs: "Potential emergency utility infielder. Ceiling of fringe-utility infielder who struggles to hold down a consistent role and jumps from team to team. Future potential is largely tied to development of his hit tool. Has really struggled to make contact in the high minors, especially on velocity."

I thought you were the primary advocate for dumping Cora because he's always giving guys days off. Not so?

Latest on the MLB app says: Whitlock might be available for the Toronto series; Kike has regressed; Sale is making terrific progress and should get to the Sox no later than next spring (out of an abundance of caution of course); Eovaldi has regressed; Taylor is pitched on June 21 but won't be back until July; Arroyo could be back in time for Cleveland (so what?); Paxton, to my surprise, could make it back by July or August. So to me the biggie is Whitlock in Toronto. With Houck unavailable, will Cora use him in relief even though Crawford, the 5th starter, is abysmal? Thanks to tomorrow off, Crawford won't start vs. Cleveland, but will be needed in Toronto if Whitlock goes back to the pen.

Have a great time in Maine!! Be careful of that white water rafting. I'm the one who said Shmuck. My sincere advice is to stop responding to Old Red for awhile. He's wrong, you're right, but arguing with him is like wrestling with a pig: he enjoys, it and you get muddy.

Great stuff. Thanks.

Maybe they're pissed at us for not selling them vaccines when we had lots and they had very little. That did happen.

Agree with all. Well put. That last sentence is something I've seen, but this is the first time it's registered.

Meh. If there were a sensible reason like allergic to the vaccine, Houck would have said so. His refusal to say why actually tells us a lot. In the case of COVID, there are people who are immuno-compromised and must be cautious about that vaccination, but the point there is that competent doctors can tell patients whether or not getting vaccinated is risky for them. One more time, the science behind vaccines is overwhelmingly in favor of them--not just covid, but measles, smallpox, polio, mumps, whooping cough, etc. Even flu shots are strongly recommended despite the fact that the formula for that year/season doesn't always hit the mark. Vaccinations have saved many, many millions of lives--not just those vaccinated, but whoever they come in contact with. When they had no flu vaccine during the great flu epidemic of 1918, one technique the US Army pounced on was segregating those with the flu from those who didn't have it. Social distancing over 100 years ago. This time around we added masks--wild applause--and then even better masks (KN95) which help protect the wearer. However, as most on talksox will admit, there were still plenty of Americans who refused to wear masks or distance themselves when COVID was at its peak. This was their sacred right as individuals--or so they seemed to think--and they could care less about spreading the COVID virus. To me refusing to get vaccinated comes very close to that attitude. Does anyone on talksox remember the ebola virus? It was a big deal, big enough to cause the USA to send field hospitals, etc to help contain it at its source, Africa. There was no vaccine for it, so treatment and segregation where the only remedies. It was also very contagious and thus a threat to the rest of the planet. COVID isn't anywhere near as lethal as ebola, but it sure can spread quickly, as we have learned to our regret. And it can kill.

Boy, is that ever true.