Maxbialystock

True. When he is good, he is very, very good.

Seabold gets an out on a hard hit ball and decides he ain't throwing any more strikes. If he can just keep walking guys, eventually Cora will pull him and he can go home to Worcester where it's safer.

Two fastballs back to back and right down the middle, and Renfroe could only close his eyes, swing the bat, and hope he hit something.

One of the absolutely worst at bats I've ever seen Devers have. He looked completely lost, and Cease didn't even throw a changeup. Devers seems to think chewing that tobacco is good for his game, and he is dead wrong.

Stunning. Huge swing.

Agree on all, but especially on what you look for in a starter--four excellent nouns. Those should be applied when evaluating all starters.

Well, we'll see "my" lineup tonight, 9 of 9 if not in the same order. I disagree about Dalbec because he has been hitting well in both August and September and because his defense at 1b has improved, which was inevitable. 1b is not hard even though it's much too hard for Arroyo, the same guy who has played all of 53 games this season. Thus Kike at 2b because, unlike Iglesias, he doesn't have bad hands and can hit. Verdugo in CF, I agree, is a step down, but he still has a decent bat. Same for Renfroe in RF, Schwarber in LF, JDM at DH, Devers at 3b, and Bogey at SS. Too late to fix the defense this year. I thought Iglesias would help but he cost last night's game with a terrible play on an easy grounder. Plus 2-3 games ago he cost a GIDP by fumbling the throw to 2b.

Meh. Label me the advocate for "hit first, defend later" crowd. I do love great defense, however, because it is the poetry of baseball which is too often defined by the relentless, endless, prosaic confrontation between pitcher and hitter batter which composes 90% of every game. Most 4 hour games can be boiled down to 10-15 minutes of: final pitches of walks or K's, fair balls hit and ensuing defense/baserunning, balks, HBP's, etc. That said, the big bats--herewith defined as Devers, JDM, Renfroe, Dalbec, Bogey, and Schwarber--are going to get into the lineup one way or another. I added Dalbec because of his 70 rbi's and .793 OPS and despite his negative DWAR, which I think is misleading. Kike and Verdugo will get in there because they can hit and field. Indeed, someone quoted Cora as saying Kike is the best fielding second baseman he's seen. Thus this lineup: Kike, 2b, DWAR +1.7 Schwarber LF/DH/1b, DWAR -.3 Bogey SS, DWAR 0.0 Devers 3b, DWAR -.4 JDM DH/LF, DWAR -.9 Renfroe RF, DWAR -.2 Dalbec 1b, DWAR -1.3 Verdugo CF DWAR +.2 Vazquez C, DWAR +1.1 Duran, Arroyo, Plawecki, et al, play as needed.

You make this sound as though the Chisox are vastly superior when in fact they are 2 games up on the Sox, who are in a much tougher division. The Chisox have much better pitching, which barely showed yesterday. If Iglesias doesn't make that error, his 17th this season and twice as many as Bogaerts, it's 3-3 going to extra innings. Houck left that slider up against Abreu with his 29 dingers and 107 rbi's--so one more dinger and 3 more rbi's. Sox bullpen--D Hernandez, Feliz, Ottavino, Brasier, and Taylor--went 4.1 scoreless innings. Kike, Schwarber, Renfroe, and Devers all went hitless yesterday. Some of that was excellent Chisox pitching, but not all. Devers gigantic wad of chewing tobacco which he masticates like an addict is abundant evidence he is feeling the pressure--.740 OPS in August and so far .736 in September. My guess is that the entire lineup is feeling the heat, especially since, in addition to hitting, they also compose one of the worst defenses in the MLB.

Great win, maybe best this season. Much needed. Excellent Sox defense, not just Renfroe.

Sox split the series in the Trop last week, 2-2, and won the last two games, 4-0 and 3-2, which look like pretty good Sox pitching to me. ERod started in the 4-0 win. Sale in the 3-2 win. I do agree, however, that the Rays are the much better team.

Rasmussen: 6 innings, 1 run, 7 hits. ERod: 3.2 innings, 6 runs, 8 hits. Hard to see how ERod outpitched Rasmussen. Indeed, you can almost make a case that Feliz, 2.1 innings, 2 runs, outpitched ERod.

Probably true. Of course, no one on talksox thought so either.

Hyperbolic, beyond question. Same for eating my words, which I would love to do tonight. But I still think you are obtuse to declare ERod is pitching well when the Rays have nailed him for 5 runs, etc. Ditto for Rasmussen pitching poorly when the Sox have just 1 run in 4 innings. Whoops, there goes another dinger by the Rays, and out comes Cora to pull ERod, who only gave up 6 runs in 3.2 innings--on 2 dingers, a triple, 3 doubles, and 2 singles.

2 stinking singles by Schwarber and JDM. I love it! Time for Devers to get us back in the game.

You have to be one of the more obtuse fans I can remember encountering. ERod stinks tonight, and the Rays are clobbering him with 6 hits, including 2 doubles, a triple, and a home run. Meanwhile, Rasmussen gave up a lead off single and double in the 2d--putting men on 2d and 3d with no outs--and easily held the Sox to one run off a groundout by Vazquez.

I figure Cora will let ERod keep pitching until at least 7 Rays runs score--and why not? No bullpen. Sox can't hit with RISP. Not much improvement in the defense.

Not seeing a lot of luck with the Rays. Solid pitching, solid defense, and the most runs scored in MLB. Bad luck to have to play half your games in the Trop, but apparently the players like it. It's nice and quiet.

Great pickoff throw by Vazquez. Saved ERod's ass--for now.

Verdugo can't field and can't hit. Recently.

Looks like a repeat of yesterday's game--same weak pitching and weak defense--but without the good hitting. But it's early. Devers, Renfroe, and Verdugo are going to make Rasmussen wish he never came came to Fenway.

So much for lights out. Two hard hit doubles back to back in the 2d inning. Followed by a hard hit single. Looks like batting practice--first time through the Rays batting order.

Prophetic

Yep.

Absolutely not. This defense is significantly worse than 2018's. My argument is not that this defense is OK or adequate, but that hitting and pitching (even when backed up by a weak defense) are the drivers and that overall the Sox have tended to prefer hitting and pitching a whole lot more than defense. These Sox could well make it to the playoffs despite the defense, despite the current unsteadiness of the bullpen, despite the impact of covid, and despite the fact that Bloom, no doubt with the approval of JH, did not acquire players for this season which were expected to be competitive. It's 7 freaking September, and, despite tremendous effort, the Sox defense has been unable to knock this team out of the playoffs. Indeed, despite what seemed like a thousand unearned runs yesterday--to say nothing of other weak defensive plays that did not count as errors-- the Sox had no less than two very good chances to win yesterday's game in the 9th and 10th innings. Oh, and the pitching stunk too.