Maxbialystock

The most recent Price start was a reminder that for this Sox rotation nothing is certain. Still, I like both the lineup and Sale on the mound today. So of course I expect a win.

Good game by ERod. Even better game Thursday by the bullpen. wow.

It was drop dead gorgeous, and you should be proud. Yes, certainly, it took awhile for the lineup to get that 4th run. But I thought Porcello had a great start and that the bullpen--Workman and Barnes--were fine. The one glitch was that terrible, rotten, stinking throw by Vazquez that led to the unearned run that tied the game. But Vazquez also got that key 9th inning leadoff double, followed by JBJ's single, and Texas was clearly on the ropes. If you're a Rangers fan, you should be furious, not at those two hits, but at the walk given to Chavis, these days the world's easiest out who loves to swing and miss.

On the other hand, I thought Cora's handling of the bullpen was letter perfect. Workman to get the last out in the 7th, then pitch the 8th, then Barnes pitch the 9th.

Cora take notice. I am not forgetting that you brought in Nunez to hit for Holt and he did exactly what everyone expected--a weak ground out.

Oh, OK. I give him a break because this year DD definitely low-balled the bullpen. Their five best--Workman, Walden, Barnes, Brasier, and Hembree--get paid a total of $5.5M. That's less than half what the Cubs are paying Kimbrel this year.

Vazquez definitely redeemed himself. That was a huge hit, exactly what the Sox have needed too often and not gotten. Almost as big was JBJ's single. To me the walks to Chavis and Mookie were simply the result of a pitcher who lost his command. Both were hitless tonight, and Chavis is in a really bad slump. Definite tip of the cap to Thunder. And to moonslav for telling us to stay positive.

No, no, no. Don't you watch the games? When Barnes got nailed the other night and blew the lead, he threw nothing but fastballs, which Texas teed off on.

And you are dead wrong tonight. The bullpen has been fine, but the lineup sucks, especially that game-tying error by Vazquez in the 8th. Only two things wrong with our lineup--they can't field and they can't hit.

Cora is really screwing up. Nunez has sucked all season, and Holt has gotten some timely hits, especially in late innings. He tied the game night before llast in the bottom of the 9th after Devers hit into the DP.

the pitching, including Workman, was plenty good enough to win this game. The lineup once again stinks it up.

Completely disagree with bringing Nunez in for Holt.

4 K's by JDM--he hurt us far more than Workman.

That was an unearned run. Workman did his job and the defense screwed him.

What a crock. Workman was the right guy to have in there and got 4 outs with no earned runs. Vazquez screwed the pooch.

The Sox are 11-2 when Vazquez sits on the bench.

I'm not ready to say "that's how bad this team truly is," but I do agree that was a crushing loss. The bullpen stunk, of course. But Leon's PB and error let 1 unearned run in. And after Beni's 2 run dinger the in the 1st, the offense produced just 1 run in the next 10 innings.

those numbers again. Always with the numbers. But I agree with your point and in fact am encouraged by it. You and Mary Martin--cockeyed optimists--but she didn't know diddly about numbers.

A might not use the word madness, but fundamentally I agree with you.

I know, I know. You, especially, but also others have tried to make that point. But the operative word is "maybe." Maybe this was one of those games, which are pretty infrequent, when good fielding would have made the difference. But I think the Sox pitchers giving up 8 walks had nothing to do with the defense. Hernandez, who looked great in first inning, gave up 5 of them along with 3 hits and 4 runs (3 earned). And Poyner has an ERA of 15.75, I find it hard to believe he was screwed by the defense.

We, even moonslav, are all worried about this year. I've re-watched that insider from last night at least 10 times and just don't see it the same way you do. Yes, Holt, was less than ideal in RF, but Pesky's pole/corner is tough for anyone because of how it is shaped. I have seen our outfielders in LF and CF misplay flies that near the wall which were more catchable than this one. So Holt's miss was not egregious. After that, fate took a hand. The carom went to a perfect spot and settled near the wall at the 380' mark--too far for Mookie to do anything useful and apparently not visible to Holt, who might even have thought it went into the stands. To me it was more freakish than worthy of condemnation, especially when our biggest problem last night was the pitching, I think the problem now is confidence, especially with the pitchers. Four good starters (without Eovaldi) should be enough, but Porcello and ERod have been too inconsistent and they are the two starters who pitched the most innings 12 and 15, respectively, in spring training. So this puts extra pressure on the bullpen, who have definitely had some good games this year, but ain't looking so hot lately. And this. The real heart breaker was Monday night when Beni got the 2 run dinger in the 1st and Sale went 7, giving up 1 run (unearned thanks to boneheaded plays by Leon). The bullpen lost that one, but the lineup only scored 1 run in 10 innings after the 1st and butchered the 9th when the first two batters got on. As unhappy as I am with this team so far this year, I do believe a turnaround is possible because that's the nature of MLB. And Thunder is a good choice to get that started.

Sadly, I agree with slasher9, this is pretty good stuff. While I agree Cora could have managed the lineup better last night, I in no way think a better lineup--like Beni in LF, JBJ in CF, and Mookie in RF-- would have won that game. Our pitching stunk.

Agree. Almost all MLB teams go with 13 lineup players and 12 pitchers on the roster. This has been true of the Red Sox as well, and last year I think they had 11 pitchers for the playoffs. But the Sox have kept 13 pitchers for almost every game this year simply because of that long road trip with no break to start the season--which was then exacerbated by the starters getting bombed early. There have actually been some runs--consecutive games--in which the bullpen has bailed the Sox (and the starter) out, but this will never be a top line bullpen. These days, top line bullpens are pricey. The Yankees top four relievers get $40M this year. The Sox top five relievers get $5.5M. But the real issue--your issue-- is that the Sox needed the rotation to come thru, and they haven't--except for Sale and Price, and they also struggled early in the season. And the hitting is nowhere near as good as last year.

To date the Sox have played 68 games. Of those--in order of total bases they have accumulated--Bogie has played in 65, Devers 66, JDM 59, Betts 67, Beni 60, Moreland 47, Vazquez 55, Chavis 47, and JBJ 60. The Sox won all 3 games Bogie missed. Clearly, Bogie needs to benched a lot more. They lost both games (Houston, 4-3, and TB, 6-1) Devers missed. Clearly, Devers should play every game and maybe every inning. No rests for him. They were 4-5 in 9 games JDM missed, which is not far from the Sox losing % to date. The real problem is the back is affecting JDM's hitting. They won the only game Betts missed, so he should rest a lot more. They lost 7 of 8 games Benintendi missed, so he should not be allowed to miss any more games this year or next for that matter. This guy is a gamer, unlike that piker Betts, who wasn't even missed. They went 12-9 in the games Moreland missed, so Cora need be in no hurry to get him off the DL. They went 3-5 without JBJ, so he needs to play every day for the rest of the year. They went 11-2 in the games Vazquez did not play. Leon needs to play more.

I disagree, especially about last night when the Sox lost 9-5 without JBJ. The problem was the pitching far more than the hitting or defense. The night before the Sox lost with Beni, Brad, and Betts all in their appointed places. And, sure enough, in the very first inning Mookie got on and Beni homered to give the Sox a 2-0 lead with Sale at his best going 7 innings and giving up 1 unearned run, the result of our great defensive catcher getting a passed ball and a throwing error. But after that dinger in the 1st, the lineup scored just 1 run in 10 innings, and the bullpen gave up 3 runs to blow the game up. Last night we lost because our pitching stunk. Working backward from this current series, we lost 3 of 4 to the Rays because they have better pitching, period, not because JBJ may or may not have started. We took 3 of 3 from KC because they stink. We lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees because they pitched better and have better hitting despite tons of good hitters on their IL. We lost 2 of 3 to Cleveland because our pitching stunk to high heaven. Then there's the Astros series, May 24-26, in Houston, when the Sox lost 2 of 3 but overall played well. More on JBJ. Since his reputed turnaround starting May 27, he has missed exactly one game. But--and you will love this--he did not play in four of the games from May 3 thru May 26. Those were because he wasn't hitting. And the Sox won 3 of 4 of those games.