Maxbialystock

5 innings, 63 pitches by Quantrill. He is nasty and should be good for 7 innings. Eovaldi has needed 78 pitches to go 4 innings, so 5 innings, if he can do it, is probably his max.

You got me. The Cleveland fielders are lucky neither of them was injured on that 120 mph scorcher. In all honesty, I did like Vazquez's slide into 2b.

Actually, I do try to give Vazquez credit when it's deserved. I also think he deserves to be the primary catcher. But Plawecki in my opinion is one of the reasons why Eovalid is having a terrific season. No question Vazquez was great with ERod last night--as well as Richards and Ottavino.

Stupid call by the SS unless the leftfielder said he couldn't see it.

I'm with the announcers. Quantrill has better command than Eovaldi today. When Eovaldi hits a corner, it's luck. Quantrill is consistently very close to his target.

The umpire whiners are at it again. To me Quantrill gets more calls because he is always around the plate and rarely in the middle of it. I'm probably wrong, but I think it was a mistake not to have Plawecki catch Eovaldi today.

Love that first inning, but it's obvious Quantrill is way better than Eovaldi--better control and better mix of pitches. Here's hoping Eovaldi can go 2 more shut out innings so Cora can bring in Whitlock.

Probably. But I prefer Cora, who has actually won a WS. Plus Cash is the guy who pulled Blake Snell in the 6th inning in last year's WS, and he did it in a 1-0 game and despite the fact that Snell was pitching the game of his life. Cash's system--the Ray's system--works, but it's just a tad too mechanical for me. He lacks fingerspitzengefuhl and simply does whatever his computer says is mathematically the right thing. He's the guy Billy Beane in Moneyball would want as his manager.

Which seat is everything at Fenway, but not at home watching on the screen. I have been a Sox fan since 1949 and have been to just two Sox games. Both times the seats--the sightlines--were execrable. Fenway Park looks terrific on TV, but it is easily one of the 3 or 4 worst ballparks in MLB. It's over 100 years old, for crying out loud.

Actually it comes and goes like the tide. Even the most faithful will have to agree the last month has been painful. But they--you--can also point to replacing Richards and Perez with Sale and Houck, adding Schwarber to the lineup, Richards becoming a pretty good reliever (last night he pitched a clean 8th inning when the Sox clung to a 1 run lead), Dalbec maybe coming on as he certainly has in August, etc. As dgalehouse says, the wild card sure looks to be the Sox destiny this season--espn says our odds are 88%--and that's pretty good given what we expected back in April.

Good point. That said, the Sox throughout the John Henry era, the best era in Sox history, have lacked great arms in the minors. I would love if Bloom could fix that. Certainly the Rays are great at developing pitchers and he just left there.

Never look back. Someone may be gaining on you.

My choice would be Ottavino, but I completely agree Barnes will get another shot. If Richards can be rehabbed into a pretty darn good reliever--small sample, just 4 games--Shirley Barnes can. He needs to think about what he is doing and focus on fixing what is fixable. And, exactly as you say, Cora needs to send him back to the mound. I think he should use his changeup more and to throw more pitches low in the zone--or high or above the zone if they will swing. Right now the Sox bullpen needs reliable arms, and Barnes has one, it's just not quite as reliable as the one we saw earlier this season.

I don't like Dr. Phil, so you will have to do and you are so right.

About right. I don't like our hitting against good pitchers, but today with Eovaldi I do like our pitching. Plus I like our bullpen and think it's better than theirs.

It absolutely does look that way. I think we can stay ahead of the A's and hope we can make up the 3 games we are behind the Yankees, but those Rays are just too consistent and keep building that 7 game lead.

OPS and OPS+ are considered to be pretty good markers for a hitter's overall performance. Looking at game logs, without citing specifics, on the other hand, is just flaky. For example, I choose August 8, less than 3 weeks ago, when JDM went 4 for 5, including 2 doubles and 2 rbi's, in a 9-8 loss to the Jays. Or how about 4 for 4 against the best AL pitching staff, the Rays, on August 11? The monthly OPS's on the other hand, do show a fall off from April, but the fall off suggests he is roughly an .800 OPS hitter. Am I worried about JDM? Yes. When Shwarber gets walked 4 times in front of JDM, I get nervous. On the other hand, Cora makes the tough decisions with tons more insight than you or I have, and for now he's sticking with JDM--in a tough race for the playoffs with just 30 days to go. You absolutely are entitled to your opinion and every opportunity to express it, but that don't make you right. Right now, I think you are, if not out to lunch, at least outnumbered. I got moonslav and Cora. Who you got?

Renfroe on bereavement leave since Thursday, so I'm thinking maybe back for tomorrow's game. Kike has covid symptoms and a positive test, so he is likely out for 2 weeks, but of course he's back whenever the gets negative tests 2 days in a row. Arroyo will be back as soon as he gets back to back negative tests.

What other site?

Duran, CF Schwarber LF JDM DH Bogie SS Devers 3B Verdugo RF Vazquez C Shaw 1B Arauz 2B That's 6 lefty bats. I would still start Dalbec because he's hot, but trust Cora. Plus Dalbec can always pinch hit or be inserted. Cleveland's going with 5 lefty bats, one of whom is a switch hitter (Ramirez).

Well, you and Cora see eye to eye (or is it I to I?). Today it's Duran CF, Shwarber LF, JDM DH, Bogie SS, Devers 3b, Verdugo RF, Vazquez C, Shaw 1b, and Arauz 2B. But I disagree with both of you. Quantrill has been so good this month it might not make any difference, but, knowing JDM is following Shwarber, he will be less likely to throw anything to Shwarber worth swinging at. On the other hand, Bogie is also struggling--2 months in a row--and he is batting 4th. So clearly Cora is going with the guys who have hit the best over the long haul. Duran, Shaw, and Arauz are exceptions because of the guys (Kike and Arroyo) who are unavailable, plus all three are lefty bats.

Good grief. I used monthly OPS's for what is now five months of a six month season. That is not cherry-picking. When I use a small sample, I freely admit it, but five months ain't small. And I resent your cavalier use of the AA analogy. I've been there and done that and been sober since June 13, 1983.

Eovaldi vs. Quantrill Game at 4 pm Both righties, both now aces for their teams. Quantrill has pitched 31 innings in 5 games in August, his first month as a real starter, with an August ERA of 1.45. He's almost as tough against lefty hitters (OPS against, .694), as he is righties (.646). Last night's throw together lineup was disastrous and saved by Arauz's miraculous 3 run dinger in the 8th. Sox had just 3 hits. So Cora has his work cut out deciding on today's lineup. I foresee lefty bats and no Munoz. With Kike and Arroyo still out, Cora can insert JDM if he wants to, but I sure hope he doesn't hit in front of Shwarber again. So now 3.5 ahead of the Rays for the wild card, 3 behind the Yankees, and 7 behind the relentless Rays. Cora is good in the tough times.

Meh. This is not at all like AA because--and I love this quote from the movie, For Love of the Game--"we count everything in baseball." And the numbers, which Bogey and JDM well know, don't lie. Just look at Bogie's numbers. His first three monthly OPS's were .915, .961, and .948. July's was .730 and August's is .777 so far. He's hurting. As for JDM, see my other post: he was great in April and in the succeeding four months--not 4 days or even 4 weeks, but 4 dadgum months--he has been a .800 OPS hitter and this month it's .730. At age 34, it's a good bet he is in decline.

If JDM is in fact an OPS .800 guy, Cora has one or more options I think he should consider. 1. JDM can DH or play the outfield, as appropriate, but he probably should be moved down in the batting order, calamitous as that sounds. I know it happened to Ortiz one season. 2. Give Dalbec more opportunities at 1B (or 3b) as long as he continues to hit like August Dalbec (OPS 1.183, 5 dingers, 19 rbi's). This should be easy as long as Kike and Arroyo are out. If JDM starts tonight, for example, he can DH or go to the outfield (where he still has a good arm). Heck, if he leads off (in place of Munoz), it's doubtful the opposing manager will walk the Sox 9th batter four times to get to JDM. Indeed, before Kike showed he could lead off, leading off for the Sox was like patrolling behind enemy lines and earning medals for courage because absolutely nobody could do it and nobody wanted to do it. Think "JDM the hero."