Maxbialystock

You and A700hitter are so right. Now is the time or past time for Cora to publicly flagellate himself and say he should be fired for malfeasance. Are you guys nuts? I'm perfectly willing to give Cora "credit" for a lousy ST which probably caused the 6-13 start and abysmal work by the rotation, but that's now water under the bridge. As moonslav pointed out, the Sox have gone 13-6 since the 6-13 start and are just 5 games out and 3 1/2 back of the Yankees with 124 games to go.

I'm anti-JBJ, I guess, but I agree that right now he is the best option. Keeping him in the lineup right now is helped by having 8 decent bats--Beni, Betts, JDM, Bogie, Devers, Chavis, Moreland, and Vazquez--in there with him. Also, for every brilliant defensive game JBJ has, there are maybe 5 or even 10 games when his skills don't make a big difference.

On top of that, you have to look at the individual games to realize Cora made an awful lot of good decisions. Of course the players get the lion's share of the credit. It's why the get the big bucks. But Cora was pretty darn impressive, especially, as you say, when those guys vastly outperformed any reasonable expectation, especially in the postseason.

Interesting. I would have thought you were a diehard JBJ supporter--a believer that his glove transcends all else.

Others will recall I have said repeatedly, "what's JBJ done for us lately?" Well, last night's grab was the answer. And,frankly, I think a catch like that is way more dramatic than an extra inning dinger.

JBJ keeps playing because, frankly, he's the best option despite the weak hitting and because good options aren't available. Plus for the most part the Sox now 8 pretty decent hitters for the other slots--Beni, Betts, JDM, Bogie, Chavis, Devers, Moreland, and Vazquez. Also, I think the tandem of JBJ in CF and Mookie in RF is pretty reassuring for any pitcher. At this point even moonslav might agree JBJ is on borrowed time. He gets to play because no one on the bench is hitting that much better plus the rest of the lineup ain't half bad--for now. I won't argue last night's game-saving grab was something only JBJ can do, but it was pretty spectacular because he timed it so well. Did anybody else notice the Orioles hitter acknowledge that catch?

True, but they weren’t throwing great stuff, especially that guy in the 10th or 11th who only threw 92 mph fastballs.

All true, all good, but I’m pissed it took 12 innings to score that 2d run. Sox are finally at .500, but they are not like last year’s team despite returning almost all and adding Chavis. Agree with Kimmi bullpen moves were good. Hard to blame DD for the rotation. Ditto the lineup, almost all of whom are below last year in OPS, etc.

Congratulations, and wild applause for your son!

And 5 behind the Rays.

Pretty nice grab last night—a game saver.

Big hit. Big.

Sure it does. I even commented on it last night. But in the great majority of games this year it hasn’t made much of a difference. And at least twice this season JBJ didn’t make plays which definitely hurt. He’s still playing because is the best option, but his very weak hitting ain’t helping.

This team is pathetic. Seriously. To waste a great start by Sale by not being able to score more than a run. Against the Orioles.

At my age, I like to test my memory, which means I like to memorize the 25 man roster, including changes. Position players have been easy, but the pitching staff impossible. I am inclined to think the position players will not change a lot from what we have now, but the pitching will change weekly if not daily.

Absolutely, DD must dump that worthless Moreland character. I looked at the stats--and he is only 4th on the team in total bases, leader in dingers, leader in rbi's, etc. He should be declared an embarassment to Red Sox baseball and sent packing. I agree with whoever says Moreland tends to regress in the 2d half of the season, but that hasn't actually happened yet this year. As for next year, it sure looks as those Devers or Chavis is a better fit at 1b--provided someone else can do as well (hitting and fielding) at 3b/2b.

Back to JBJ. He was useless at the plate last night, but I thought he had a good game because he made a couple of nice grabs in CF. And Mookie got one too. As much as I complain about JBJ, I have no problems with how Cora is using him, which is just about every day. It definitely helps that on most days the other 8 hitters--Beni, Betts, JDM, Bogie, Moreland, Devers, Chavis, Vazquez--are all hitting pretty well. Moreover, the three guys usually on the bench--Leon, Nunez, Pearce--ain't hitting too well either.

A contrarian view. I happen to think the 25 man roster has worked remarkably well so far. Cora loaded up on pitchers with 13 from the get go--season began with a lot of games without a break--and has stayed there. Thus, despite having just three benchers, we have seen Chavis blossom and assorted others--Nunez Pearce, Lin, etc--get a shot. More to the point, the usual lineup has 8 pretty good hitters right now--everyone except JBJ.

Last night Means was tough to hit and went 7 innings. tonight Hess isn't quite so tough. But Velazquez is still a question. Cora going with 4 lefty bats and what is very likely his best lineup these days-- Beni LF Betts RF JDM DH Moreland 1B Bogie SS Devers 3B Chavis 2B Bradley CF Vazquez C I have ranted mightily against JBJ, but still agree with Cora using him. 81 degrees right now in DC and mostly sunny.

I don't understand those numbers/percentages.

Of course the mental aspect of the game is important, but it's also hard to measure. I'm always astounded that MLB players can stay focused for 162 games, playing 6 games a week for six months, each game lasting over 3 hours, much of which are consumed by bs mannerisms by pitchers and hitters.

I'm fine with pitching being 40% and defense being 10%, but disagree emphatically that idea that defense can have that transformational effect on the pitching.

Following up on the .980 fielding percentage. A batting average of .300 approaches nirvana and pretty much guarantees a hefty salary for that hitter. Thus, if you field 98%, you're only doing what's expected, and if you hit 30%, you are made for life to borrow of mafia movie experession. I am not against great fielding because it is the poetry of the game which consists mostly of the prose of batter facing pitcher, which can sometimes get tiresome. What I am saying is that great fielding in my opinion only makes a difference at the margins and that what wins games is good pitching and good hitting, just as losing games is the result of bad pitching and bad hitting. I might add that I think the way WAR is computed reflects the above reality.

Let's understand something. A fielder with a .980 fielding percentage is normal, routine. Moreover, a slug like JDM who is routinely excoriated on talksox for his incredibly poor defense, actually makes some good plays now and then and usually makes the routine plays. And the worst third baseman, Devers, in the entire history of MLB, who leads the known universe in errors right now with I think 10, has a fielding % of .917. And we are furious he is so lacking in skill. But we sure like his hitting when he is right. Last night was a textbook in how a pitcher can shut down an opposing batting orders--in this case, the Sox, who recently have been on a tear but last night were putty, hitting meek ground balls and easy fly balls. Davis did make a nice flip to the pitcher on that grounder to the right, but the best defensive play of the game was probably JDM who got credit for the out when the Orioles fan interfered. The point is, routine defense is pretty effective with very good pitching and almost everyone in MLB can play routine defense. Meanwhile, great pitching is hard to come by and comes at a price. Meanwhile, any Sox fan with half a brain knows that we got off to a slow start this year because of lousy pitching, primarily the rotation, which even a world class defense with gold gloves at every position could not have prevented.

Wrong!! Orioles have as good a home record as the Sox have on the road. So you cannot assume an easy game. On top that the Orioles pitcher is pitching great and mowing down our best hitters while Cora was forced to start a journeyman.