Maxbialystock

Mookie doesn't have to hit to his average to bring the runner home. A WP or a BB does it. With the bases loaded and the game tied, the pressure is much more on the pitcher than the batter. Granderson was playing in as he should have been. All he had to do was field the ball cleanly. After that it was a short throw not requiring a strong arm.

Cora didn't send him, the 3d base coach did. I agree the normal call would be send him, but the 3B coach could see the play and how slow Nunez was getting around 3B. In the event, Nunez was out by a big margin. It did not take a perfect throw especially with a slow runner like Nunez.

So much for the Kimbrel is invincible theory. Sending Nunez home in the 9th was costly.

OK. The real Sox showed up in the 9th and amazed us yet again. Nunez had no chance to score because he's slow and the ball was hard hit and the 3B coach was not paying attention. Great 9th!!!!!

My one criticism of Cora tonight might be starting four lefty bats and Leon, who is hitless as a righty this year, against a righty starter. As it turned out, one lefty bat had 2 or our 5 hits and our only double.

Horrible game for the lineup. HanRam and Holt each had 2 hits. The other 7 guys had one flaky single and 11 K's among them. JD and Mookie each had 2 K's and no hits.

I think Happ was excellent tonight. Average or not, he was throwing good pitches. Betts and JD are pretty good, experienced hitters and they looked pretty bad tonight. That's good pitching.

Good job by Porcello. Not so good by our lineup. So far.

You haven't. My point is that Happ is the problem, not Beni. If Mookie is having a problem, then the pitcher is probably having a good night.

He ain't no more overrated than JD, who stinks tonight, righty vs. lefty. JD is the one getting the big bucks, not Beni.

That's all right. Great double by Holt and huge single, hard hit, by Hanley Ramirez. 3-1. More than that, hope.

OK. Whoever defended Porcello was right and I was wrong. He had some bad luck and certainly has not been hit hard. Now he is cruising. But will the hitting turn around? In our lifetimes?

So far Happ is doing what Manaea did in his no-no--but for that very fluky single to the 2b. This is now three straight games when the bats have gone to sleep and I mean all of them.

Now JD is putty in Happ's hands. Horrible at bat.

That's twice Beni has K'd on the high inside fastball. He is putty in Happ's hands. A roast to be carved up.

And you think Betts has done better tonight? It ain't Leon that's the problem. It's Happ, at least so far. Plus credit to Porcello for stinking things up.

6 fastballs and he made fool of Betts, easily our best hitter.

Tonight anyway Happ is simply the better pitcher and by a good margin. I'd love to say it's early, but fear that just means the margin will increase.

I don't know whether it's important, but that at bat by Devers showed something no Sox pitcher can do. Happ thru 7 pitches, one on the outside corner waist high and the other 6 low, lower, and lowest and got Devers to ground out. Sox pitchers will go low now and then, but none, repeat, none stay there through an entire at bat. And certainly not Porcello.

An inauspicious 1st. 3 easy outs on 6 pitches by Happ.

That's about where I am. I had an uncle who watched every game religiously and remember thinking he had to be slightly nuts. Now I am. Game threads don't make it any easier.

Fine. Forget the Pom first start game. Just look at the team won-lost record and don't forget to look at the close ones when the manager might have been partly involved in the outcome. That alone should give him the benefit of the doubt. But, fine again, don't consider the won-lost record. Just focus on the April 22 game 8th inning. Price gets an out and gives up 2 singles, at which point you want Carson Smith in there instead of Price. A fresh arm. But I say I want more than a fresh arm in a tie game with 2 men on in the 8th inning. I want a good arm, by which I mean someone who can throw good pitches when it's crunch time. Carson has pitched in 9 games and has the worst ERA and the lowest WAR (-.1) in the Sox bullpen. He has given up 6 walks in 7 innings. This year he has yet to pitch well with the game on the line and with runners on base when he goes into the game. I will grant you he probably would not have given up a dinger, but Oakland didn't need a dinger. All they needed was maybe a walk to move that runner to 3b and then a fly or a grounder with eyes to get thru the drawn in infield with 1 out. Or forget the walk and just get a single to bring the runner on 2b home. Price, on the other hand, has had men on base several times in 5 starts and 27.2 innings and done pretty well up until that April 22 dinger. And up until that fatal pitch he had gone 7.2 innings while giving up 1 run and 1 walk. So I honestly think leaving him in is defensible.

Good lineup. Play Seattle 7 times in June, 4 of them at Seattle. If we had scheduled 4 on this trip, it would have been a lot of consecutive games without a break, at least on the schedule. We were rained/snowed out on April 16. If that had not happened and the Sox played 4 in Seattle before heading east, it would have been like 25 consecutive game days. Whatever, we got back to Seattle in June, then play them at Fenway, and that's it for the season.

I was in a missile unit once, and we called it missile tape, but in fact it was duct tape.

I do and agree with her. I do not intend sarcastic nastiness and do not object to other points of view on managerial decisions. I just enjoy defending them.