Maxbialystock

More fun winning without Verlander.

Nice win without Mookie--thank goodness. Nice move by Cora leaving Hembree in despite the back to back triples and the walk. Yankees back to 2 behind. Sox have their own reckoning with the Astros at Houston this weekend.

Exactly what they did with Youkilis, who I thought looked pretty good at 1B.

Failure to shave or left side tightness.

Sure hope Foltynewicz's dad makes it to Fenway today. Tough righty, hard thrower. Devers in, Nunez out. JBJ in, Swihart out. Leon in, Vazquez out. Yankees tied in the loss column, four back in win column.

I'm not going by sample sizes, but by what I see. So please tell me of one other MLB starter who relies on just 2 pitches and is not, like Wright, a knuckleballer. I know his ERA is bad, but I don't understand how he gets anyone out with that 87-91 mph fastball and the knuckle curve. I'm assuming that because of his size batters might a problem picking up the ball when he pitches. But, I say again, he lacks two things crucial for an effective starter: command of his pitches; an effective repertoire of pitches.

Well, that's sort of what we all thought was the case with Hanley, and looked what happened to him. The thing about a starting pitcher is that he can destroy a game all by himself. It's a sad fact that they are paying Pom $14M this year, but it is his last year. I would go with Wright, Velazquez, or Johnson over Pom. However, it's possible he will start again because Cora will still have at least two good long relievers to send in when Pom bombs again.

Bad call, moonslav. Not like you at all.

I will say one thing more that I said in the game thread. I loved the way Pom pitched today because it reconfirmed how lousy he is and makes it easier for management to move him to where he can't wreck a game every time he goes onto the mound.

I honestly don't see where the hope comes from. He has a sorry ass fast ball and that knuckle curve, and that is it. If he had great control, he might manage on two pitches, but he doesn't. The telltale is the unbelievable amount of time he takes between pitches because he is afraid to throw anything. Tell me, please, what you see in the way he pitches that makes you think he can stay in the rotation.

Great win, one of the best this year because Pom stunk yet again and the Sox overcame that lead. Here’s hoping Pom’s next start is a long time coming. Meanwhile Wright and Velazquez are much better and available. 8 runs even though Mookie and JD could only muster a single between them. It sure helps that Hanley is gone. Now somehow Pom needs to be shelved too.

I have to be honest and say I do not understand why anybody could think he is a viable MLB starter--or reliever. He has two pitches, a slow fast ball and a knuckle curve, and not enough control to make them even remotely effective.

If by some miracle Pom gets thru the 4th without giving up another run, Cora needs to replace him for the 5th.

Pretty terrible 2d inning. Pom does his thing by giving up 2 runs, but our guys absolutely could not capitalize on 2 men on and nobody out.

Man on third, one man out, and Mookie fails to bring him home. Not good.

That's our Pom. A walk and a dinger. 2-0 Atlanta.

I think location is way more important than his speed.

Sox have three long relievers on the roster: Velazquez, Wright, and Johnson. I personally don't have much faith in Pom these days, and Cora has shown he is more than willing to pull a starter early.

Betts RF Beni CF JD LF Moreland 1B Bogie SS Pedey 2b Nunez 3B Swihart DH Vazquez C Just 2 lefty bats vs lefty Swanson

Good riddance. He's the seasoned pro who was thrown out going home after that big pause--with two outs, mind you--between 1b and 2b on the double to right center field. He was looking for a dinger so he wouldn't actually have to run all the way around the bases. So I ain't buying the idea that he's actually trying out there. This is kind of an extreme move by DD because Hanley could go to another club with the Sox paying his salary, which to me confirms the notion that he was viewed as not a positive influence on the team. I am not ignoring that this move also prevents Hanley from being vested. His cumulative WAR for four (-) seasons in Boston is +1.4. He was a really, really dumb acquisition.

I would believe you when you say you give him plenty of slack if you could cite just one example when you stated on talksox that he managed a single game well or even that he made one good decision in one specific game. I think you are on record as saying MLB home plate umps should do better than 87% correct calls on balls and strikes. The Sox have played 50 games so far. Assuming at least 10 decisions for each game--including lineups, pitching decisions, placement of fielders, baserunning signals, etc, etc--that's 500 decisions so far. But you focus on the 5 ones you don't like and all of which can be defended and ignore the other 99% that apparently were OK. I admit I'm completely on the other side of this. I give any manager a lot of slack because of their greater experience and access to trends, stats, players stengths/weaknesses, the context of the season, etc. On top of that, I believe a MLB manager has less ability to affect what happens on the field than any NFL coach or NBA coach or even NHL coach in their domains. On the other hand, I do agree there is a psychological dimension to MLB managing and that managers can indirectly have a positive or negative effect on his players. Ultimately, however, it boils down to wins and losses. And in the first 50 games this season Cora has been the best manager in MLB.

YOTN's point is especially poignant given that the Sox currently have the best record and the most wins in MLB. On the game threads too often it appears we have dumbest players, the dumbest manager, and the dumbest GM in MLB. At least half the lineup can't hit, over half can't run the bases without "running into outs," and Mookie and JBJ alone are adequate fielders.

Boy would you make one great GM. Like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland: "off with their heads! off with their heads!"

I hate losing as much as the next guy, but I find a certain satisfaction in games like tonight where everything goes wrong--lousy starter, errors weak hitting, you name it. No way, no how were we going to win this one.

Lovely first inning. Our lineup sucks and so does our starter.