Maxbialystock

Story has been invaluable this season.

Ya think?

I have touted the Sox hitting all season long, but I agree with you. In the last 2 games they were 4/30 with RISP. The 2025 Sox have RISP disease.

Only Sox hit a hard hit liner to CF by Yoshida. Warren's ERA is 4.20, but he looks pretty tough to me. Plus Rafaela gave him a short 2d by getting caught stealing.

Might have been an error on that grounder, but 1) I think Lowe may have affected Hamilton's vision; 2) I think the runner beats the throw to 1b (Crochet) anyway.

Anthony leads off with another K. As good as he has been--and he has been very good--I'm beginning to suspect his weakness is low pitches and especially low and inside.

Actually, Cora does look at player splits (how well they hit against righty or left pitchers) when making up his lineups. Last night Gonzalez and Bregman led off because their OPS's against lefties are 1.017 and .989. Weirdly, Anthony batted 3d, OPS .760 vs lefties, because his was the next best bat against lefties. Story batted 4th because his .754 was next best, Garcia next was a guess. Duran 6th because his OPS vs lefties is .570. Rafaela 7th with his .710 OPS maybe because of his recent slump. Finally Eaton and Wong. The problem with that lineup was they went against a good lefty, Fried. And guess what? The Yankees had a much better lineup than the Sox last night and never got a man to 2b because Bello, Whitlock, and Chapman were terrific. As for addictions, I think yours is way stronger than any Cora might have. You have convinced yourself he and he alone is why the Sox aren't undefeated.

First two games have been huge because the Yankees have been killing the ball and the Sox held them to 3 runs in 2 games. Just as sweet is 2 road wins in from of capacity crowds. However, the Sox are also 4/30 with RISP in the 2 games. Last night's win depended on great Sox pitching and Wong--yes, Wong--doubling after Lowe doubled. Yankees going with 7 righty bats against Crochet this afternoon. Sox going with 5 lefty bats, including Hamilton at 2b, Yoshida as DH, and Rafaela back in CF. Gotta like the Sox defense in this game. In July and August the Sox record with Narvaez in the game has been 20-8 even though his hitting dropped off dramatically. Narvaez and Wong are both good defensive catchers, which no doubt has helped the Sox pitching.

Abreu has the higher OPS, .811 to .780, and is the better defender (DWAR 1.2 vs. 0.3). Duran has the higher WAR, 3.7 to 3.3, because of his excellent baserunning, plus he has played in more games. Nothing wrong with thinking Duran is better, but it's wrong to claim Abreu is a dud and that Cora is playing a dud.

A provocative article. Well done.

Agree. He got back easily. I suspect Volpe reacted to the Yankees second baseman standing on 2b. Attendance slipped to 46K tonight--but their average is 42,753.

Sox didn't score in the 9th thanks to Volpe nailing Duran at home plate on a grounder he had to go to his right to get.

What a great memory for you.

Anthony bats 3d and K'd 3 times and was 0 for 4. Garcia got a walk and 3 K's. Plus this was his first freaking MLB game. He looked awful in his first at bat, but not as bad later. Yankee pitchers held the Sox to 1 run and 6 hits--3 of them by Bregman--in 9 innings. They pitched well, but Bello and company pitched better. In 9 innings the Yankees never had an RISP. No errors. A well played game. Three Sox played 2d base. Two played 1b. And two played CF. Two Sox pinch hitters--one, Lowe, doubled and scored the winning run driven in by Wong (2/4).

Absolutely.

What a freaking ballgame!!!!

Hammond come in at just the right moment.

Great play by Yankees SS. Sox are 1/11 with RISP. Yankees have not had any RISP.

He's our #2 starter 14 quality starts and a 3.07 ERA which is 17th best in MLB. Nibbling can bad, but not if he's hitting corners. This year his command is better, his fast ball a tad faster, and his changeup the only good one on the Sox.

This is the nicest blog site I've ever been on--especially with the new regime and actual mods. I'm almost always on moonslav's side in any discussion because he mostly sees what I see and never fails to provide good discussion points and/or stats. As for FredLynn, these days I borrow from the American strategy during the Cuban missile crisis. They got two messages from Moscow--one workable and one not. So they simply ignored the cable they didn't like and answered the one they could work with.

I think that's inevitable given the three recent losses to Miami and especially Baltimore and the schedule up ahead. Last night was huge and encouraging, but the next 36 games are a tough row to hoe. The last 6 are against Division leaders Toronto and Detroit. I'm with moonslav in believing the 2025 Sox are actually pretty good--hitting, rotation, bullpen, defense, and baserunning--even if they can also be inconsistent.

I agree the Sox have a real shot at the next 3 games with Bello, Crochet, and May--yes, May. I like what moonslav says about these Sox--they are pretty good on 2 of the essentials, hitting and pitching. I think the defense and baserunning are also good, That does not mean they can't have mini-slumps like the recent 3 losses to Miami and Baltimore. On the other hand, last night I expected the newly hot Yankees to demolish Sox pitching, but it didn't happen thanks to the bullpen. Meanwhile--surprise,surprise--the top 5 in the Sox lineup had 8 of the Sox 10 hits, and all 5 rbi's. And Hamilton had a hit, 2 walks, and scored 2 runs. With 36 games to go, I like the Sox chances, but absolutely nothing is guaranteed. Their last six games are 3 @ Toronto (who are 42-21 at home) and 3 at Fenway against Detroit (34-29 on the road).

Amen.

The word fan is short for fanatic. If it's just entertainment, ain't no reason whatsoever to blog about it--at least, not as much as we all do. I'm sane--at least most of the time--I do housework, shopping, bill paying, budgeting, investing, estate executor, etc, I don't drink or smoke, but I'm an addict when it comes to Red Sox baseball. I attend Mass on Saturday or Sunday depending on whether the Sox are playing at 4 pm on Saturday. My wife and children and grandchildren are not Sox fans, but tolerate this addiction, except in conversation, where it is not tolerated. I was not always this way, not by a long shot. But satellite TV allowed me to watch almost all Sox games, including for 15 years before I retired in 2019. It's not all my fault. John Henry gets a lot of the blame for delivering 4 WS wins. Three straight lousy seasons are nothing--nothing!!!!. I became a Sox fan in 1949, mostly because of Ted Williams and the fact that was born in Boston--so I lived through 55 years of the curse.

This was one heckuva ballgame. With 4 errors, hardly vintage, but a whole lot of back and forth and a great job by he Sox bullpen. After 60 games it's fair to say Anthony is still learning, but his OPS is .853.