Maxbialystock

Heck, it isn't even about this year, let alone a realistic view of 2018. It's now about fantasy and what if and maybe and what about.

Betts RF Hanley DH JDM LF Moreland 1B Bogie SS Nunez 2B Devers 3B Leon C JBJ CF Five righties and a switch hitter vs. left Snell. Last night the Sox won mostly with good pitching and defense.

What the heck is wrong with 87%? You take away the balls and strikes from umpires, it would be best to call everything with robot umps. Baseball is a human endeavor, and humans make mistakes. I happen to think the umpires on average are more professional than the players, and I can live with their mistakes. In fact, I prefer mistakes now and then. The only problem I see today with respect to mistakes is how we obsess over them. And it ain't just baseball. Football loves replays and now has lovely little ceremony--throwing a flag--to celebrate each opportunity to review a play and occasionally redress a wrong so egregious that humanity weeps at the injustice. And don't you just love those endless official timeouts in NCAA basketball to verify a shot was in time or how vicious a foul was or, better still, how outrageously a player faked being fouled? Computer chips, that's another matter. Also the infinitely accurate parts to a jet plane which, if off by a thousandth of an inch, could cause an engine to explode in flight.

Fine. You actually like HanRam. If so, why no slack for Cora? And why no answer to the question, is this team not playing way better than you expected?

Very good point. This lousy, no good stinking team with the most wins and the best record in MLB is in great need of fixing. This is one more example of fantasy baseball fixation run amuck. The real team, the one I'm rooting for, has flaws, and I like them almost as much as I like Mookie and JD and Sale, etc. I don't want to win this year with Machado. I'm fine with Devers at 3B, Bogie at SS, Pedey/Nunez at 2b, HanRam/Moreland at 1B, etc. I've beat up on JBJ as much as anyone, but rejoice at the thought that just maybe he is getting his swing back. I can't stand Pom, but hope he has a great start Saturday. I don't like HanRam's hair, let along his weak hitting and his inattention on the basepaths, but right now I just want him to start hitting again.

We get it. You hate HanRam and want him benched or batted 11th or whatever. You are certainly entitled to your opinion as we all are. But when you then use that to paint Cora as an inexperienced, actually, a lousy manager you need to have more than that because managers are evaluated on wins and losses and absolutely not on their lineups. Right now the Sox have the best winning percentage and the most wins in MLB. Their hitting this year is much better than last year and 2d best in MLB. And all that has happened while HanRam has been in a slump, ditto JBJ, Ditto Vazquez/Leon, and Nunez almost in a slump and certainly not as good as last year. I happen to like Moreland in the lineup instead of HanRam or JBJ, take your pick, but more than that I want to win games not only now but for the rest of the season and, if possible, the postseason. So, me, I give this manager a lot of slack because overall the team so far is way better than I expected. If you had a single honest bone in your body, you would agree this team is better than expected even though it has flaws.

Back to A Realistic View of 2018, Part II. In the Sox most recent 10 wins, the other team has not scored more than four runs. During that "run," the Sox W-L has been 10-6, which is .625 and below the Sox winning percentage for the year. However, .625 would lead to 101 wins, which I think most of us would consider a very good season. In the three seasons--2004, 2007,2013--the Sox won it all they won 98, 96, and 97 games in the regular season. It could be that these 16 most recent games are the template that best suits this year's Sox, specifically, that pitching is pretty important. Right now the Sox have the 2d best team ERA in the AL, but 9th best in MLB. At the same time, the Sox also have the second best hitting--runs scored and/or OPS--in the AL and in MLB. In the three WS seasons of 2004, 2007, and 2013, the Sox led MLB in scoring in 2004 and 2013 and were 4th in 2007. Their team ERA in those three seasons were 3d in the AL in 2004, 1st in the AL in 2007, and 6th in the AL in 2013. However, the Sox postseason ERA in 2013 was the lowest, 2.59, in MLB. Hitting and pitching aside, I am always more interested in how well the Sox play specific teams, especially the good ones. We are 3-3 vs. the Yankees. Very shortly we go to Houston and play 4. Houston has the best run differential, +110, in MLB and the best pitching in MLB. Even sooner, the NL East leaders, Atlanta, come to town and play 3. OK, now back to the far more important topic of whether the Sox re-sign Mookie Betts.

And they would wonder why Cora still had his job because on talksox he does nothing right. Well, nothing that actually gets mentioned. His gaffes begin with the lineups and go downhill from there.

Well it’s fixed now. Happy? We are. Yankees might want to open up a new can of pitchers. My goodness.

Excuse me, but it is not nor has it ever been instant. It is interminable replay.

Wrong, wrong, wrong! Where did you come up with this crap?

You guys get a lot of mileage from unsubstantiated bs. JBJ ain’t going down.

I'm in Fairfax County and sort of root for the Caps. Hard to root for the Wizards.

Ballgame. Way to prove me wrong, Kimbrel!!!! Yanks down by 2 going into the 9th.

OK. The frightener is back. Let's hope he scares the opposition this time.

Sox defense has been excellent tonight. Price pitched great, and the guys made some good plays and no errors. I would like to see Kelly come back out for the 9th if only because Kimbrel threw a whole lot of pitches last night while scaring us to death.

I've watched it 20 times and you can't convince me a slide by Nunez would have made any difference in the outcome. It was a great play on the relay throw plus the catcher had the plate blocked plus a slide would have meant Nunez got there a little later than when he did. And you persist in ignoring Vazquez scored our crucial first run on a single and the GIDP from Hanley.

A real hit, and by Bogie. Could not have come at a better time.

JD breaks the hitting drought by forcing that 2 base error! Whoopee! Why didn't Hanley think of that?

I'm no Hanley fan by any means. But these big rallies you claim he stifles are nothing than walks. I say again, the top six in the order are hitless going into the 9th inning. Whatever Hanley has done wrong, he has had a lot of help.

Oh, I agree that Archer was fantastic thru 5 innings--good stuff, mixed it up, and, as you say, his his spots. But even then the bottom third was getting hits, including JBJ's double to right center. I've rewatched that play at home and think Nunez was dead either way--the plate was completely blocked by the catcher. Are you still completely unaware that Vazquez led off the 6th with a single and scored the Sox only run so far? How many freaking hits do the top six in the batting order have tonight? How many rbi's? How many runs scored?

Actually, no. His GIDP drove in the only run. JD was next up and fully prepared to K again. None of the top six gotten a hit, gotten an RBI or scored a run. But I sure hope that is about to change.

The top six in the order have cost us the game so far. The pitching and defense and bottom third of the order have been fine. Vazquez scored the only run we have.

It's the top six in the order who are lousy tonight, not just those two. The bottom third, the ones everyone says can't hit at all, they're the ones who have the hits and generated what little offense we have had.

The offense is coming from the three guys in the bottom of the order whom just about everyone has said is worthless at bat.