Maxbialystock

In line with a realistic view of 2018, I will state the obvious and say that, even though the Sox lead the Yankees by 2.5 games and have a better run differential, the Yankees are already the better team. I base that on 2 things. The most important is that the Yankees have a terrific won-lost record despite a slow start--they are right behind us. The other is that they have played the tougher schedule to date--14 of 28 games vs winning teams vs. our 9 of 29 games vs winning teams. We have played 8 games against the three MLB bottom feeders (Baltimore, KC, and Detroit) and the Yankees have played them 4 times. I don't see the above as incontestible, but it's what I think. . ..... .

He ain't worth the price, that's for sure. But he is still a viable starter. Three good starts (0 runs, 0 runs, 1 run) out of 6 ain't bad.

Love how Kimbrel came back for the save today. Nice.

Great win thanks to the mojo of Station 13 and A700hitter. Thanks, guys. Fascinating baseball game. Pom starts out horrible, gets a quality start. Kelly looks OK, but not Barnes, and Kimbrel comes right back out and gets a very nice save. Mookie unreal, just unreal. Plus JD made a very good swing on that 2 run dinger. Go, Astros! If moonslav reads this, I would like his thoughts on CERA with respect to Leon and Vazquez.

good golly, miss molly, but I think Pom now has a quality start. Who woulda thunk it?

OK, credit is now due Pomeranz. I have hammered him repeatedly and not just on this game thread. But Cora stuck with him, and he now has 3 scoreless innings after giving up 3 runs in the first 2. Also, the umpire has definitely squeezed him, especially on low pitches.

Is OB the announcer? If so, I agree with you.

Not that bad a pitch, but a sweet swing by JD.

. . . and going down.

Bottom of the order coming up.

The contrast with Duffy is revealing. So far Duffy has been very effective against a good lineup with three good pitches--slider, fastball, changeup--which he mixes very well. Pom throws that dumb fastball and the sometimes decent curve almost exclusively, and the so-so hitting Royals are hitting and scoring with ease.

KC has 4 hits and 3 runs in 2 innings. Pomeranz is awful again today. Three starts and an ERA of 8.44.

True. And today once again he is throwing just two pitches, the knuckle curve and the so-so fastball.

I didn't see Pom throw any pitches, but notices Duffy has three decent pitches: slide, changeup, and fast ball. And he used the all in the first inning and only needed 11.

Absolutely go with this one.

On the bats? The Sox scored 6, which is slightly better than their average runs per game this year, which is the 2d best in MLB. The game was on the bullpen.

Just because I enjoy a good discussion, allow me to point out that so far Kimbrel has 5 saves in 1 run games and 1 loss and 1 blown save. I'd call that 5-2, and the team is 21-8. He has an ERA of 1.42, which is excellent, but it's for 12 innings. Velazquez has pitched 22 innings with a 2.05 ERA, Sale 42 innings with a 2.14, Porcello 40.1 with a 2.23 ERA, etc. Those numbers tell me Kimbrel is the guy for the 9th, but the team needs a whole lot of help in the other 8 innings, to say nothing of the guys driving in and scoring the runs. The starting pitchers, I hasten to add, normally go thru a lineup at least twice and usually three or four times, but not Kimbrel. On the other hand, he must be ready for that one inning and can't afford to have it be a bad one. In the end, I probably go by WAR, as clumsy as that is. Right now Kimbrel's is .9, Velazquez 1.0, Sale 1.9, Porcello 2.0, and Price .8. Key lineup player WAR's are: Betts 1.7, Martinez 1.2, Bogie .8 (less than half the games). The only salary bargain among the above is Velazquez. Sale, Porcello, and Price are all pricey, and so is Martinez. Betts and Bogie will be.

I'm not so sure the team needs "to improve significantly in other areas." If you mean the bullpen, perhaps. But right now the Sox rank #2 in MLB in runs scored and 6th in ERA and 2d in quality starts. Defense is a little shaky, but adequate. Bullpen hurt last night and clearly needs Kelly back.

Last night Yankees starter Montgomery went 1 inning, after which their bullpen went 8 and held Houston scoreless. Verlander was brilliant for the Astros, going 8 and giving up 0 runs with 14 K's. But the Astros bullpen--Giles- gave up 4 to the Yankees in the 9th including a 3 run dinger by Sanchez. Our lineup is doing OK. So is our rotation except for Pom, who could still come around. But our bullpen and possibly our defense ain't helping much.

Sale went 7 innings last night and gave up 1 earned run. The bullpen went 6 innings and have up 5 earned runs and absolutely killed us. I wonder if using Leon more would help. Regardless, Johnson has to go I think.

True.

Let me go on to say I endorse moonslav's perspective that a big payout to Kimbrel jeopardizes keeping other players.

I agree with everyone who says Kimbrel is pretty darn good, but also think it's possible to overpay for a good thing, a reliable closer. The Sox won the WS in 2004, 2007, and 2013 with three different closers: Foulke, Papelbon, and Uehara. We had Kimbrel in 2016 and 2017 and couldn't get out of the ALDS with him. Absolutely not his fault, of course, but tells me that a great closer isn't the key guy.

I don't like Nunez at all, but he hit the game-tying dinger in the 12th and was in the game for his bat.

Terrific throw by JD, but of course that doesn't count because he's a terrible leftfielder.