Maxbialystock

I believe we're talking about infielders. My six would be: Bogie, Devers, Holt, Nunez, Moreland, and Chavis. I worry about Chavis's hitting now, but he can play 1b, 2b, and 3b, and Pearce can't and isn't hitting either. Also agree with you and Cora on 13 pitchers, which have basically been the case all season long.

Agree with whoever said we need more runs.

He has been amazing. I have my doubts about WAR, but Walden's is 3d highest, 1.2, on the pitching staff and highest in the bullpen. And it doesn't look like luck when he's out there. .

Thank you. I was afraid I'd overdone the sarcasm, but no. WTF Cora. WTF Cora. WTF Cora. Sox should be winning this game despite Weber's horrible start, but everything remains hopeless because of our dumb manager, who should have had Walden warming up from the get go.

KC respects Mookie's arm--for good reason. Nice out. Need 1 more.

Brewer had that guy--very lucky single.

Probably. But that last strike was a pretty good pitch. Nice play by Bogie to recover and get the batter out.

Chavis still struggling. Not JBJ, who currently occupies the twilight zone between when he is good and when he is horrid.

Greg Maddux had great stuff when he came up, but later had to use junk and great command to get guys out. Weber doesn't have great stuff or command, and Cora was ready to pull him at the sign of trouble.

No need. I kind of like it. The Sox were also lucky that line shot took out the Royals starter. So Cora's lucky. Napoleon actually said he would rather have a field commander who was lucky than one who was brilliant. In Cora's case, luck is the residue of careful thought--and by thought I mean being ready to replace Weber early enough to limit the damage. Sox now up 4-2 with Brewer going 1.2 innings.

This game continues to be hopeless, despite the fact that JDM doubled to put men on 2d and 3d with 1 out and the score tied. WTF Cora. WTF Cora. Worst manager ever. Terrible lineup. Stupid starter.

No truer words were even spoken than that a game thread is an extended gripe session. Yes, Weber stunk today as he did last time. But this time Cora sent Brewer out with 1 out and men on 2d and 3d. He got a K and a fly out. Just lucky because we all know how dumb Cora is. Speaking of which, his stupid lineup just tied the game at 2.

He throws a lot of sinkers that break 8 ", which ain't bad. But big curves that break a lot more are more effective if you throw a lot of the same pitch. I think Weber's problems are: not enough variety; can't consistently hit the corners.

Meh. You really think switching Bogie and JDM between the 3 and 4 slots hurts? Right now Bogie is hands down the best hitter in the team and leads in runs, rbi's, total bases, OPS, slugging %, doubles, etc. But JDM, while down from last year, is 2d in OPS, slugging, dingers (tied with Bogies), etc. I like six righty bats against a lefty starter and think Chavis, Nunez, and JBJ should be 7, 8, and 9--just as Cora has them. But we'll see what happens. Four straight would be oh so nice. Weber was awful last time out, but pretty good before. Bullpen is rested thanks to last night and the day off Monday.

jacksonianmarch can be a pain, but overall is a good contributor. He can have some great insights and is good at opening new topics and discussions. Plus I have always enjoyed talking to Yankee fans because I usually know a lot about the Yankees in any given year. And this. For 86 years there was almost no point in discussing anything with Yankee fans. Now in the John Henry era the two franchise are very much on a level playing field.

Good numbers. You could be right. But my eyes tell me the changeup this year is basically a waste pitch. Last night, for example, he threw 102 pitches, 73 for strikes, and faced 29 batters. if the 15.8% held true last night, he would have thrown 16 changeups, less than 1 per batter. More to the point, he threw 72% strikes last night, but I think maybe 25% of his changeups were strikes. I could be wrong, but I remember the changeup in previous years being more than a waste pitch.

Well, you're smarter than I am because I went strictly on what I saw, not his history. jacksonianmarch predicted this current slide. The pitchers right now definitely have the upper hand, but I agree with you he should have the opportunity to make adjustments. I wouldn't trust him at SS, but the guy is a decent 3b, 2b, and 1b--despite the fact that he had almost never played 2b. Plus he has power.

I thought I'd comment on the above after having watched most of last night's game. I was right about all three pitches: slider is good/great; fastball is less fast but effective; changeup is not used much. But what I missed badly on was the combination of Sale's excellent command and Leon's pitch-calling. To me that is a big deal because in the ordinary scheme of things, no way, no how can a lefty with a great slider, good fastball, but not much of a changeup be able to pitch a 3 hit shutout--against anyone. This kind of reminds me of Uehara, another favorite. He had a great splitter, a not-so-fastball (89 mph), and great command. But he only had to go an inning or maybe 2 at the most. Last night was a dazzling 9 innings, including 12 K's (which I usually deride). From almost the first game he pitched for the Sox, I thought Sale was the most professional pitcher I'd seen on the Sox. He was completely focused on execution, which meant he let the catcher decide which pitches and which meant he was also fully capable of fielding his position. The polar opposite, I might add, of ERod and Pomeranz, both of whom took forever to agree on and then make a pitch and both of whom fielded their position fitfully. Cover 1b on a grounder to the right? Who, me? Nah. I would still like to see that changeup get back into his repertoire.

I love Sale's ERA in May, but not necessarily the way he is pitching. Slider's fine, even great. Fastball is less fast, but still effective. But the changeup has almost disappeared--more of a waste pitch now.

I like the WAR stat because it's the only one that attempts to evaluate the whole player and compare different skill sets--hitting, pitching, defense--to a common standard. But this example doesn't seem to pass the straight face test. No way is our bullpen comparable the Yankees.

I thought I would tack this on. I looked up the combined WAR's for 5 Yankees relievers (the 4 above plus Holder), and they added up to 4.3. I then looked up the 5 Sox relievers I named above, and their combined WAR so far is 3.8. So the idiot DD who assembled a worthless bullpen by going on the cheap ($5.5M for all five of them) just might not be a complete idiot. Since I happen to think the Yankees bullpen right now is their best asset, I actually think that $40M for their four best is worth it since their overall payroll is well under ours. And just maybe WAR isn't quite that useful if our best five have a combined WAR almost as good as the Yankees best five (actually, best 4 plus Holder).

I think the rotation and lineup can handle that, but worry about the bullpen going 17 games (including last night) in 16 days, especially if the rotation has some bad starts.

It's baseball, agree, but it's also statistics. Right now the Royals win a paltry 32% of their games, basically 1 in 3. We win a magnificent 52% of our, basically 1 in 2. So the Royals are actually a decent bet to win 1 of these 3 games based on their and our winning percentages. The Yankees win 64% of the time, so let's be generous and say they win 2 of 3. The Jays win 37% of the time which means 1 of 3, so even they are a good bet to take one of three vs. the Yankees. However, I emphatically agree with your basic point--in baseball, anything can happen, even when one starter is way better than the other.

An early start for a game thread, entirely merited. ERod should be solid, and so should everyone else.

I looked up bullpen salaries with an expectation of proving you can get a pretty darn good one for $30M/year. Wrong. The Yankees have four very good relievers--Brittan, Kahnle, Ottavino, and Chapman--who make a combined $40.4M. Chapman gets $17M, Britton $13M, and Ottavino $9M. And guess what the Sox pay their so-so bullpen? $5.5M total for Barnes, Hembree, Workman, Walden, Brasier, and Weber. Barnes is top dollar at $1.6M and Weber is low with $400K. Obviously, the Yankees can afford to pay more for their bullpen because they are paying less for their lineup and rotation.