Maxbialystock

I just watched a replay of Mookie getting doubled off 2B and must say he didn't take much of a lead and was in fact hustling back to 2b on a close play. Schoop just made a terrific grab and flip to Machado. You want boneheaded--look at the 2 or 3 times last year when JBJ forgot how many outs there were when he was on base. The next two guys grounded out anyway. As for Bogie getting throw out, it was a hit and run and the pitch was in the dirt, but fielded cleanly with a good throw to 2b. Our problem tonight is another horrible start by Pom and weak hitting against Cobb and his 7+ ERA going into this game.

Is it unfair of me to point out that our greatest ever centerfielder has had zero impact on the game even though lots of flies and drives have gone to the outfield. He also contributed nothing to last night's win. Nothing. The pitcher is 80% of the defense, and we are seeing that again tonight just as we did last night.

Are you serious? What's to call? He has just two pitches and not much command. His fastball is very hittable, but that knuckle curve is to when he leaves it up in the zone. He walked the first batter of the game on four pitches, and you want to blame that on what Vazquez called?

We are seeing the real Pom tonight. I don't care what he did last year. He is still a putz because he has just 2 pitches, one an inocuous fast ball, and not all that great command of his pitches. He does have a changeup, but absolutely will not use it.

Plus he overthrew the cutoff man allowing the batter to make a single into a double.

I listened to the Orioles feed on the way back from the hospital even though my cell would allow me to get the NESN feed thru mlb.cm. Why? Because NESN has to be the absolute worst station and announcers I have ever listened. The Orioles guys are professional, constantly feeding useful information both about what's happening and the players doing it. Plus they are not homers. The NESN guys hate talking about the game and the guys playing it, and the commercials on that station are just painful--repetitious and compressed to ensure as many as possible in the 2 minutes alloted.

I just looked their individual OWAR's (offensive wins above replacement) for their 9 best hitters: the total for those 9 is 7.7. The total for the Sox 9 best is 9.1.

My NOAA maps says no rain heading for Fenway. What is the local report?

Meh. Black hole or not, this lineup is doing about as well as your guys. I don't disagree Betts and JDM could drop back, but at the same time think it's foolish to assume the black hole will stay that way. Leon and Vazquez have both hit in the past. Moreland is available to replace JBJ in the lineup. And Pedroia is due back this month. So I'm not worried about the hitting, but am about the pitching, and there moonslav says I'm wrong--so I hope he is right. Overall, I expect this to be a real horse race, underscored by the fact that the teams have split 6 games and the Sox looked tougher in their losses than the Yankees did in theirs. The Sox had a real shot at winning games 1 and 2 at Yankee Stadium, which happened when they were in one of their big winning streaks.

I'm thinking Leon is in there tonight, but not sure about Moreland vs. JBJ. If JDM is still sick, of course JBJ is in CF, Moreland at 1b, Hanley as DH, and the regular outfield. Maybe Holt at 2b vs righty Cobb.

Nicer.

Nice.

Cobb ® vs. Pomeranz (L) Cobb is lousy so far this year, ERA over 7, and Pom is inconsistent.

Anecdotal, but very impressive. I like both points: he played in to catch short flies/lines and prevent scoring from 2b on singles; he could also go deep and snag long shots.

Agree with both--that he is among the top 5 defensive centerfielders in MLB and that he is not the greatest centerfielder in a generation or whatever. I think those who are saying he's the greatest do so to justify keeping him in the lineup despite his horrible slump. In 2014 I was very enthusiastic about JBJ as our starting rookie centerfielder because I thought Ellsbury was way overpriced and the Sox were right to let the Yankees steal him away. But he ended up in Pawtucket because he could not hit MLB pitching, and that continued until he was called back again in August 2015 and suddenly blossomed as a hitter, which continued all the way through the 2016 season and sort of (his OPS went below .750) in 2017. For those 2 2/3 seasons I thought we had a very good all around centerfielder who was an especially good defender. This year I expected the same, and I'll bet the Sox FO and new manager did too. For roughly the first 20 games, JBJ was good enough at the plate to keep his regular job, but then three things happened. The Sox incredible winning streaks stopped and the Yankees went on their own tear and caught and passed the Sox for the best record in MLB. At the same time, the pitching dropped off a tad, the hitting became that more important, and the bottom third of the lineup became more and more of a drag on the offense. JBJ became the most expendable guy in the bottom third because Nunez was still our best bat at 2B, Leon/Vazquez were the only viable options at catcher, and JBJ went into an even worse slump.

Perhaps it is. But to me it's better than observation or memory or whatever of two players separated by 50 years. I understand the enthusiasm for JBJ, but I haven't seen the same enthusiasm outside the domain of the Red Sox fan base. I'm serious about that. I've seen no commentary outside of Boston about the greatness of JBJ. I do agree DWAR's are imperfect, but would go on to say there are no really good metrics for defensive prowess, especially in the outfield. One of my measuring sticks used to be assists vs. errors, but then I realized that smart teams and smart players try not to run on good arms. So fewer baserunners will try to go from first to third on a single to right when they know Betts is in right field. Plus moonslav has made the point that errors are not the best way to measure good defense even though talksoxers are more than happy to make an exception in Devers case: he errs, therefore he is hopelessly incompetent.

Maybe too high. Blair won the Gold Glove 8 times and JBJ none. He is 28 and fast running out of time.

About right. Heck, I don't even mind the 2 run dinger because it will remind Price next time not to fall in love with that cutter. It was a terrific outing that saved the bullpen, got us a nice win, and gives Price a ton of confidence. Sox now "tied" with the Yankees for 1st but have a lower winning percentage of course. Tomorrow it's Pom, and one can only hope he will improve on his last outing. In the one before that, he was our best starter in the 3 games at Yankee Stadium. Good news is that Cobb's ERA is even worse than Pom's.

He's made 80 put outs to date, not including tonight. How many of those weren't catchable by the average centerfielder and also in fact saved a run? I would say maybe 5.

The dinger and the double were both off of cutters on the inside of the plate around waist high. Price is human after all.

Exactly. He gets a million dollars for every start thru the first 30. The rest are free.

Read what I said again: Betts is a better defensive rightfielder than JBJ a defensive centerfielder. JBJ is no doubt a better centerfielder, but he sure as heck isn't the greatest ever. That's just nuts.

Orioles announcers are talking about the great jump and straight route Mookie had to make that grab. I truly believe he is a better defensive rightfielder than JBJ is a centerfielder.

No manager in MLB, including Cora, would keep anyone in CF who was getting a single every 10 at bats. Aesthetically, you have a point. Great defense is the poetry of baseball and what we love to see in person and on the boob tube if only because of the sheer repetition and sometimes monotony of pitching and swinging. But surely even you can see that tonight the defense is all about Price and the offense about those two dingers. All the other stuff is fun to watch and even comment on but has no effect on the game outcome.

I thought I'd try anyway.