Maxbialystock

Absolutely no one will give Cora any credit, but he is the one who had Narvaez catch his 4th straight game. 90% of the credit belongs to Narvaez of course. One tough hombre.

He's magnificent in CF tonight and hasn't dropped a single fly ball. Plus he deftly jumped high on that CF dinger way over his head.

My lesson learned is that it's pretty easy to get nailed for catcher interference. Duran K's again, lefty bat vs righty pitcher.

Toro is ambidextrous screw-up. Anthony with a sweet double to right. Duran needs to do something besides K.

That was fan on fan interference.

How can you say that when everyone knows he is a serial interferer?

Narvaez is the man!!!!

Abreu K'd again, but is delighted because he hit a long four ball. "My swing is back!!!"

It would be nice if Abreu could reconsider swinging for the fences all the time. I those 2 dingers went to his head. Narvaez is catching his 4th game in 4 days. So much for Cora thinking he's a stupid piece of crap with those insane catcher interference calls.

Also a productive caught stealing or 3d out in 10th.

First pitch fastball right down the middle--deep fly to right, runner advances to 3b. Single drives home tying run.

Weissert in for Whitlock against the top of the Phillies batting order.

I think Rafaela gets thrown out at 1b anyway. Story just made it easier.

And what's downright hilarious about that double is that it came right after a big powwow on the mound to discuss exactly what to pitch to Story. I personally would send Whitlock back out to pitch the 10th. But what do I know?

Story comes thru!!!

Line drive easily caught. Duran still on 2b. Story up.

Bregman makes the 12th Sox player in the game. Everyone but Wong, who might end up playing 1b.

The inglorious 10th is upon us again. I think Duran is on 2b, which is good.

The thing is that so far this year the Sox team OPS is higher against lefties than righties.

Except for the unreal 5th inning of course.

Our lefty bats kind of stink against lefty pitchers.

Umps make a big deal out of those face mask shots. They should. Scary every time.

That's nothing. After giving up the dinger on a fastball down the middle, Chapman unveils a devastating splitter which I don't recall seeing before. Why did he, the catcher, the pitching coach, and the manager keep that pitch on the shelf?

Fascinating. No Bregman and no Anthony. 5 righty bats and 4 lefty. Rafaela at 2b, Mayer at 3b, Ref in LF, Duran in CF. Narvaez catching his 4th game in 4 days.

2021 was a weird season coming the year after covid arrived--fans were reluctant to come to games. Sox averaged 21,300. Sox payroll was 5th highest. The Sox had absolutely no problem playing both Schwarber, who often played 1b, and JDM who occasionally played in the OF. They surprised the heck out of everyone by getting to the ALCS, largely because they had the highest team OPS, .827. Their team ERA was 4.68, however, and the Sox had no closer. And the defense stunk. Verdugo's DWAR was -0.1, Renfroe -0.5, Schwarber -0.5, JDM -0.9, Devers -0.9, and Dalbec -1.4. The Sox lost to Houston in the ALCS because the Astros pitching shut them down in games 4, 5, and 6: 9-2, 9-1, and 5-0. I believe John Henry made the final decision on Schwarber and DD was almost certainly the reason why the Phillies signed him. In 2022 the Phillies payroll was 4th and the Sox 6th. However, thanks to Price and Sale, the Sox active payroll for 2022 was 12th. The Phillies, 87-75, made the postseason and the Sox did not. The Phillies have been competitive ever since and the Sox not. This season the Phillies payroll is 4th and the Sox 13th.