Maxbialystock

I'm not at all sure JBJ is a sure bet to catch a fly that reached the wall in left centerfield, especially when Beni was positioned why the heck over in right center field. Plus JBJ can't hit lefties this season, especially this lefty. The real problem isn't the lineup anyway. It's the starting pitcher, which is plain as plain can be.

You betcha, red ryder.

Thanks, Thunder. I'm pretty sure this is Swihart's third start and all of them have been as the DH. To me this is pretty strong evidence that Cora and the coaching staff don't think that much of his defense in LF, at 3B, or at C. Also interesting that Devers is batting 8th. Last year I argued that was his best spot, but I don't think so this year. I like him 5th or 6th, but only if he is hitting. It's the middle of May and the Sox are already in the thick of a pennant race or at least a contest with the Yankees for the best record in MLB. How sweet is that? The Yankees are at the Nationals tonight and the Washington Post's Dave Shenein had a piece today about how incredible the Yankees are, just like the 1996-2000 model. Oh, and the brilliance of Cash, of course.

Agree on all, especially the pitching. I had my doubts, but regained confidence after the first two losses in Yankee Stadium. ERod was way better than I expected, and it wasn't luck. Porcello was awful for him, but the lineup got us that 6-5 lead going into the 8th when the wheels came off the bullpen. Losses are never good, but some are definitely better than others. Now I still get stuff to gripe about (Pom yesterday), but do see what you and others like cp176 see. Toronto ain't half bad and the Sox darn near swept them. Now it's the A's at our place against Porcello, ERod, and Sale: time to rectify losing 2 of 3 in Oakland 3 or so weeks ago.

Your point was still well taken. In the game thread I kept backing Pom, especially against jacksonianmarch, right up until the wheels came off in the 5th. I have been anti-Pom most of the time, but moonslav has made a good case for being patient. Plus he had a really good year in 2017. For the life of me, though, I don't see how he does it. We have four lefty starters on this team and three of them use their changeup, but not this guy. On the other hand, he went six pretty solid innings against the Yankees. He's now had 5 starts and two were quality, barely. His WAR is .2, and Velazquez's is 1.0, and that to me says a whole lot especially when Velazquez has pitched more innings than Pom.

Agree. But the bullpen done good--four of them, including Kelly with the save.

I wrote it before Pom's start yesterday, which I thought was awful even though he only gave up 3 runs. It took him 12 outs and over 100 pitches to do that. Bullpen had to get 15 outs.

I like Velazquez too. He is a solid reliever and a 6th starter when needed. But it is ultimately the top 5 in the rotation and the collective bullpen that will make the difference over the rest of the season. Earlier, those 12 pitchers had the 2d best ERA in MLB. Now they are 9th (and the Yankees are 10th). Since that 17-2 run, the Sox have had issues with the rotation and the bullpen, but right now I like both (but not so much Hembree and Johnson and Pomeranz). The hitting is 2d best behind the Yankees and generally relies too heavily on the top six or so in the order. If Pedroia returns with a good bat and either Moreland plays more at 1b (and JBJ sits) or JBJ starts hitting, the lineup will be better even if (probably when) Betts and JDM's OPS's drop a little. Sox were 21-7 in March-April and are 7-5 so far in May with 10 of those games coming on the road and 6 of those 10 vs. the Yankees and Jays. Sox are 3-3 vs. the Yankees this year, and the last three in New York were very contested. In other words, as moonslav has said all along, this is a solid team, a contender.

Two wins before going back to Fenway still tied with the Yankees for the best record in MLB. Nice. Semi-miraculous that Toronto only scored 3 runs, but the bullpen was great this time. Three vs. Oakland then four vs. the Orioles. Yankees go on the road.

20-20 hindsight. Pom had used a lot of pitches, but had thrown 4 shutout innings and you basically didn't want him to come out for the 5th.

The frustrating thing about Pom is that he has a changeup, but doesn't use it much even though he faces a whole lot of righty bats. Let's see if Velazquez can bail him out. Officially he needed to 100 pitches to get 12 outs (none in the 5th) and gave up 2 runs.

I just agreed with you, so what are you mad about? I agreed Pom is terrible, but did fine against the Yankees for 6 innings. You are perfectly free to come back at me and say the Yankees are the best hitting ball club in baseball right now. But, if you do, you have to concede that whatever Pom is doing seems to be working. Way too many pitches, I agree, but he did that last year too.

I don't know they would have been the same, but I do know they in fact happened, which carries a strong liklihood they would have.

Sorry, but, while I agree it was not a good play, my guess is that Vaz thought he could get a big jump against that shift. He did beat the throw, but overslid 3B. I'm pretty sure it didn't cost anything because the next three batters K'd, popped out, and K'd.

Not "at least." It was great even though I thought evil thoughts throughout. ERod did that too against the Yankees--took over 20 pitches in the first.

Baloney. A blind man can see Nunez has not range, ditto recognizing that was a very good play by Holt, of whom I am not a fan. But 2b might be his best position. The stunner about Nunez isn't just the lack of range on grounders, he's piss poor against popups too.

Boy, are you ever right about that. He is worthless beyond question. Thank goodness his last outing was against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium--no problems there. They must be the weakest hitters in MLB to do so poorly against lousy, rotten, old Pom.

Nunez never, ever makes that play. Nor, for that matter, does JBJ.

My goodness, this gets old really fast: Pom can't find the plate.

Oh, come on. If that were true, every MLB team would not have 12 pitchers on their 25 man active rosters. This game is dominated by the confrontations between hitters and pitchers, and good pitchers can make a huge difference in game outcomes, as can bad ones. Despite the lowered mounds, smaller ball park dimensions, etc. hitters today struggle against good pitchers and are sort of bottom feeders--looking for that "pitch to hit." Guys like Mookie are definitely the exception, and even he will have his 0-for games. That's I think why good scoring teams have several good bats in the lineup. Plus home run power.

To be honest, all I really wanted to achieve with that lengthy analysis was to underscore that playing or not playing JBJ is not an easy decision for Cora. For me right now it seems obvious to bench him, but you can't be sure he won't finally figure out how to fix his swing. This is exactly what happened in 2014 and again in 2015, both losing seasons for the Sox after winning it all in 2013 with Ellsbury in CF with a WAR of 5.8. In 2016 JBJ had a WAR of 5.3 and last year half that at 2.8. Both 93 win seasons. Right now the Sox seem to have a team, assuming the bullpen comes around, that could win 100 games thanks to excellent hitting and a rotation that was very good early and could be very good again if the last outings by Price, Sale, Pom, and ERod are any indication. Plus Porcello of course. And Velazquez in a pinch.

Actually, no. However effective our offense is against a specific pitcher, 100% of it comes from our hitters. I completely agree that a great pitcher against us makes a huge difference or even a decent pitcher having a great game--see the no hitter earlier. Or Severino last weekend. Or even Friday night's game when our hitters looked tired.

In retrospect the dance was maybe not a good idea, but I kind of liked it because they were all young and relatively small and overall pretty darn good. Plus the team was winning. If JD was the one who killed it, that makes sense and it's fine with me. As for millenials not watching a lot of MLB games on TV, I think that's very understandable. When I was their age, I thought it was insane to do so. Now I'm an addict.

You get my vote. Highest for me was babe ruth league.

WAR ratings for Moreland, +.9, and JBJ, -.4, right now give Moreland the decisive edge. I actually think the gap is larger because Moreland's OPS is almost double JBJ's. I also think JBJ doesn't make nearly the difference on defense that people usually give him credit for. I agree he's good, maybe gold glove good, but I also think 80% of defense is the guy on the mound, not the eight position players on the field with him. There are actually 9 players on defense, including the pitcher. If you divide the defensive pie by 9, you get 2% and change for each. If you divide the 9 offensive players, including the DH, into 100%, the average contribution is 10% and change. That's a five to one ratio, hitting over defense. You can make it closer by saying the pitcher only counts 60%, which is ridiculous, and by giving the centerfielder a higher than average responsibility. But I think the best you can justify is saying offense is twice as important as defense for any player with the possible exception of the catcher. I separate catchers out because they are so important on defense and because so few players want to be catchers or are able to become catchers. JBJ has stayed in the lineup for big chunks of this season for several reasons: great glove, great pitching for the first 20 games or so, great hitting by the team, and a great won-lost record. Now that the Yankees have caught up and there are questions about the pitching, hitting has become that much more important, and JBJ's very weak bat is hurting the offense, especially when both catchers are not hitting well either. Oh, and that .510 of his is artificially high. It was .650 in April and is .212 (OPS, not OBP) in May. Overall, however, I think the Sox want to keep him awhile because it's possible his hitting will come around as it has done in the past. Plus he will remain a world class defensive replacement if nothing else.