Maxbialystock

Stroman good at keeping his pitches low. He throws a lot of cut fastballs of various kinds.

Bogey gets the call on ball four. Maybe because Stroman showed up the ump on ball three, which was outside.

Renfroe is out, Verdugo is in RF, and JDM is in LF with Schwarber at DH.

The return of Thunder! Agree with moonslav that the two starters are about evenly matched. Also agree with Cora starting lefty DH Schwarber over righty DH JDM--while also keeping better defensive firstbaseman Dalbec in the lineup. Clearly Cora wants to keep up the good defense without sacrificing much offense.

Yes. He is day to day.

Interesting. Looks to me--as an ignorant fan--as though the Astros saw a flaw in Marwin's swing, signed him, and fixed it.

Trading Dalbec, who now looks pretty competent at 1b and is hitting well, makes no sense, especially given his age/retainability. The infield of Devers, Bogaerts, Iglesias/Arroyo, and Dalbec looks pretty solid to me--decent fielding, good hitting. I just think Shwarber is a better bat than Verdugo and don't mind giving up some defense in LF. That said, Verdugo has been handy as the backup centerfielder and is younger and a lot less expensive than Schwarber. Yet again, Schwarber is 5 years younger than JDM and a good choice to take over at DH.

As you may recall, I was one of the few defenders of Bloom/Cora's decision to keep extra pitchers on the active roster.

Agree. Cora has made a huge difference. Now, with 11 games to go, the Sox have these strengths (in addition to Cora): remaining schedule with extra days off and mostly weak (except for the NYY) opponents; hitting (3d best OPS in MLB); bullpen (thanks to Cora and his pitching coach); and an improved defense thanks to Kike back in CF, Iglesias at 2b, and an improved Dalbec at 1b. The weaknesses are the rotation and the fact that the bullpen, which has done yeoman service all season long, is not rock solid. That means that Cora gets to make a lot of big decisions on when to pull his starter, when to insert a long reliever like Houck, Whitlock (now day to day), or Richards, who (and when) to send in to stop the bleeding, and who to close. As good as Eovaldi has been this season, his latest start--5 innings, 3 ER's vs. the lowly Orioles--underscores the importance of the bullpen, the hitting, and the defense. #2 starter Sale is still a superb craftsman but does not yet have the great stuff or velocity he had in 2018. #3 starter in my opinion is ERod because he has been better in Aug-Sep than Pivetta. Thus, while I now think the Sox are a good bet for the postseason and could even get beyond the wild card game, I think weak pitching overall will make winning an ALDS series, probably vs. the Rays, problematical.

How can you be wrong if you are agreeing with me?

I prefer a simpler equation. 5 games = 5 starts and 45 innings = 25 starter innings and 20 bullpen innings. Of the 20 bullpen innings, 12 can come from the likes of Houck, Whitlock, and Richards, and the remaining 8 from the other 4 or 5 relievers.

moonslav has been saying Kike makes the biggest difference in CF for months. Recently, however, the defense has also improved with Iglesias at 2b, Dalbec (much improved over earlier this year--and a former third baseman) at 1b, and even Devers at 3b and Bogey at SS.

I think Bloom has genuine constraints on what he could do o/a July 31, so I'm fine with Schwarber and whoever. Adding Shaw and then Iglesias also smart. The larger picture is that this team has played better than expected and is now a good bet for the postseason despite being neck and neck with both the Yankees and Jays--to say nothing of the A's. Two comebacks by the Orioles in today's game, with Eovaldi (our presumptive ace) starting, are reminder that neither our rotation nor our bullpen is invulnerable. So my thought is that Bloom's best acquisition was bringing Cora back.

5 straight for splendidsplinter!

Schwarber is a good lefty bat, which the Sox don't have many of, and he can play LF and/or 1b. So I would be tempted to keep even though I like the outfield of Verdugo, Kike, and Renfroe, Dalbec at 1b--who is better than you give him credit for--and JDM as the DH.

Plawecki and Eovaldi agreeing on too many fastballs, which produced 3 orioles runs. Dumb

At 10-8 and a winning percentage of .555, Eovaldi is close to the team winning % of .567.

Good for the ump--he saved JDM the embarrassment of striking out on a 3-2 count.

The Sox are an equal opportunity team, so Bogey and JD opted to give Dalbec and Plaweki rbi opportunities. This is selflessness personified.

His WAR, 4.7, is currently 4th among AL starters. Among the top AL starters, Eovaldi is 2d in innings pitched.

I do not think he would be starting for the Sox all season long if there were/are any heart issues of any kind. The issues are his effectiveness/professionalism. When he has command, when his changeup is sharp, and when he doesn't need to rely on his fastball, he can be pretty effective. I have doubts about his professionalism in terms of defending his position, covering first on grounders to his right, not taking a long time between pitches, etc.

WEEI guys agree.

My peripheral non-stats say that ERod fully deserves lousy defense because he takes too long and basically refuses to defend his own position, especially when it requires him to cover 1b on a grounder to the right. ERod is worth defending, but he also needs to watch that other Sox lefty starter to learn about how to be a professional MLB pitcher.

ERod is not bad when he has command of four pitches and when his changeup is sharp. In three starts this month, he went 6 @ Seattle giving up 1 earned run, went 6 at Tampa giving up 0 runs, and went 3.2 vs. the Rays giving up 6. I'm not ready to advocate keeping him, but also am not ready to write him off.

Well said--which gets back to my point that what we see on the TV screen is completely arbitrary and why I am fine with what the ump, imperfect though he may be, calls. And, oh, by the way, if I were behind home plate for 3-4 hours, I would slant may calls for those pitchers who don't take forever to throw the dadgum ball. I would also give more calls to a pitcher who is both quick--doesn't waste time between pitches--and consistently near or in the strike zone. The same would apply to hitters who try to slow things down. Indeed, I think home plate umpires should be empowered to call strikes on hitters who are slow to the plate, keep stepping out of the box to collect their thoughts, etc.