Maxbialystock

Absolutely true. Of course, early in the game with Price on the mound, Mookie was earning his pay dragging down those liners deep to RF. I usually like a close game, but last night was frustrating.

Yup. Heaps and heaps.

Sale and Price. That's impossible, of course, but both are underperforming. In general, I agree DD doesn't need to pick up another starter.

Back to back terrible games by our two high priced non aces. DD can’t be smiling.

It’s simple. Tampa,loves that cut fastball and the 4 sea,er just as much as Price does. He has actually been lucky tonight.

While we're at it, let's dump Devers and Bogaerts and see if we can't get a closer of the caliber of Kimbrel. I mean, Kimbrel got us the WS last year, didn't he? Who needs hitting? Relief pitching is what wins games.

Sure do.

Reassuring.

Oh, I love it. Sending sample size--moonslav59's favorite catchall--right back to him. He's got a point though. We have seen a good sample size on Chavis. He had an OPS of 1.061 in April, then .788 in May, .730 in June, and .729 in July. We've only seen 62 at bats with Marco this year, but they have been choice-OPS of .859. Plus he's a better fielder at 2b. As others have said, however, Hernandez is so much like Holt: both bat lefty and can play 2b or SS or 3b, and Holt has a huge sample size and some pretty good success to go with it.

Are you insane? To date, believe it or not, ERod has been our best starter. That's right. Better than Price or Sale. Sale has big time control problems to go with a slower fastball, which is why the Yankees feasted on him Sunday night. Price has pretty good control, but not much of a repertoire--fast ball, cut fast ball, and changeup. Diaz, meanwhile, does have those 23 saves, but his ERA this year has ballooned to 4.95 vs. 1.96 last year, and his WAR is -.1.

That was six days ago when Morton beat him despite the Sox giving Price a 2-0 lead. Wheels came off in the 5th when Pirce gave up a single, a wild pitch, a single to drive home a run, and a double to drive home the winning 3d run. Sox scored 2 in the 2d and never scored again after Devers drove in 2 with a single. Mortion went 7 and struck out 12.

No question JDM is getting some curves to the outside, but that ain't all. He also sees some fastballs and other pitches because those are what set up the curve/slider to the outside. His OPS vs. lefties is 1.302 and vs. righties is .773. A huge difference which underscores "trouble with the curve." Station13 is right. This should be a good game tonight, probably low scoring even though anything can happen at Fenway. Five Sox lefty bats: Devers, Beni, Moreland, Holt, and JBJ.

Bring him back. Send Travis down.

Im pretty close to the same position.

Me too. Marco Hernandez looked awfully good this year. If he can keep hitting, a better choice at 2b than Chavis.

The hitting is clearly back when their worst game vs. NYY still gets them 6 runs. Rotation wasn't too shabby either. Bullpen still a little scary, however.

One thing, though--I just don't understand the attacks on the espn commentators. To me they were fine, about on a part with all the other announcers, including those from NESN. Of course, I also keep the sound off.

Nicely done. Numbers are a huge part of baseball. As Kevin Costner says in For Love of the Game, "we count everything in baseball." And earlier in Bull Durham he explains, correctly, that the difference between hitting .300 and .250 is one hit a week. But your last bit is hilariously counter to the fixation on the new stats. Funny thing about WAR (not dWAR), however, is that the player with the highest WAR at the end of a season usually gets voted in as the league MVP. In the old days, it used to be the guy with most rbi's. I happen to think that baseball is absolutely the best professional sport to watch in person, but these days am aghast at the very high cost of going in person combined with the increasing length of games in order to allow batters to repeatedly scratch themselves, adjust their gloves, examine their bats, adjust their caps, pretend they are interested in signals from the 3b coach, etc. And pitchers are no better because they seem to believe that throwing the next pitch is never something to be rushed but rather is something to be savored like a fine wine.

You're right he does, but I happen to think Leon is a better defensive catcher than Vazquez, including his pitch-calling. That said, I thought Sale had great stuff last night, but terrible command, with the result that, if the Yankees were patient, they would either get walked or get a fat pitch to hit. That's exactly how they got their first four runs--two walks followed by two dingers, both in the middle of the zone. So I don't blame Leon. Consider this little stat. Vazquez has missed 16 games this year, and the Sox record in those 16 games is 14-2.

Enjoyed the tale of your own experiences, but over the years have come to believe that MLB hitters can hit 100 mph if the batter is sure that is the next pitch. Thus 2-3 years ago Devers hit Chapman's 103 mph out. Last night Bogie pulled a Chapman 98 mph fast ball with no problem. Somewhere around 8-10 years ago Rookie Daniel Nava singled off a Verlander 100 mph fastball in large part because he knew that was the next pitch, plus he didn't try to pull it. What makes Chapman so good is that he can also throw other pitches for strikes to set up the fast ball (or vice versa). It's that combo that makes relievers effective. Uehara rarely threw a fastball more than 90-91 mph and usually in the high 80's, but he had great command and confidence, along with a terrific splitter, and that made all the difference. Last year Kimbrel was great before the postseason as long as his knuckle curve was working as well as his fastball. When batters knew the fastball was coming, they could hit it.

I could be wrong, but I thought Sale had a good stuff last night-a fastball that reached 98 mph once or twice, a changeup that broke 10 inches, and a slider that broke 11". But man oh man did he have control issues. He walked three guys and they all scored and two of them scored on dingers off pitches in almost the geometric center of the zone--in other words, fat pitches. Sale made too many mistakes, and the Yankee bats capitalized on them.

Sox tonight seem intent on giving this game to the Yankees.

Going to blame Cora for the wild pitch too? How about all those walks while you’re at it?

You seem to think Cora is the problem tonight, and you could not be more wrong. Without JBJ’s boneheaded play, Hernandez gives up no runs in the 7th, and the intentional walk worked fine until JBJ gave the Yankees 2 runs.

Wron, wrong, wrong.