Maxbialystock

Neat thought. I'd like to see that.

Meh. The defense helped accumulate some of those pitches. Very gritty 5 innings and one earned run. That unearned run was thanks to not one but two errors.

Bad luck. Seeing eye grounder in the hole, about as well as you can do against Longoria. Walking Bourjos was the biggie. But that has always been ERods problem. Nice 2d out. Bogie is good on those pop ups.

It was the tag at first. Just bad luck. Nice to have Davis though.

Heck yes he is confident. His splitter and fastball are working well. But, like ERod, who also has given up no earned runs in the first four innings, he is fresh, rested. Six of our so- called elves have played a lot of innings in the last 43 hours.

Still awful after 4.5, but signs of seeing Odorizzi's pitches better.

Those self same elves are 8-2 coming down the stretch and who have shown a lot of grit. Or have I got that wrong?

Really? No credit for those first four innings when his defense deserted him and he still only gave up one very unearned run?

After 4, Sox still have 0 hits and 2 errors and a darn good pitcher on the mound with 1 unearned run.

I also watch NCAA basketball and pay a small amount to use the Ken Pomeroy website. He's a statistician who started as a weather forecaster and is so good that Las Vegas opening betting line is usually the same one he has for every single Division game. He's not only good at predicting game outcomes, he is also amazingly accurate at final scores. I am confident he could never do that with MLB games. Way too hard.

Odorizzi pitching with a lot confidence. That splitter sure helps. So does our guys having maybe a letdown.

Pedey now 0 for 11 in this series.

After 3, ERod is the only guy keeping the Sox in the game. Understandable in that he is also the most rested.

After 2.5 innings, the Sox have 0 hits, 4 K's, 0 runs, and 2 errors. This looks like a letdown by six guys--Bogaerts, Beni, Betts, JBJ, Devers, and Moreland--who have now played 27 grinding innings in under 48 hours near the end of the longest season in professional sports.

Still too many fastballs I think. Three straight led to that clean single.

ERod throwing a lot of fastballs, but gets the K with the cutter.

Now three K's by our 5-7 hitters. So far ERod could sue for desertion.

ERod just might have pitched the best inning of his life. Big game, first inning, historically his weakest. Defense completely deserts him and tries to give the Rays a big inning. Instead, one unearned run despite men on first and third, one run in, and no outs thanks to terrible defense.

Two errors in the first inning. Hmmm. Two errors and no hits by the Sox in the first.

Meh. Numbers permeate MLB and we ignore them at our peril. I mean just look at the central reality of every single at bat--the balls and strikes which are announced by the umpire as they occur. Even the bases have numbers, and the number of each means a whole bunch to the cognoscenti. The number of outs in each half inning has similar impact. We count everything in baseball and do it as a matter of course. And behind those numbers are other layers of stats, even some esoteric ones. Thus do MLB teams, front offices, owners, managers, and even players study those stats and even recite them--and that includes several levels of professional minor league baseball. The great thing about baseball is that all those numbers and stats ain't nearly as predictive as one might think--moneyball notwithstanding. You just can't be sure what this pitcher--far less this hitter--will do in this inning, let alone this game and season. Unlike the other major professional sports, the difference between winning and losing teams tends to be small. A .400 team is lousy, maybe enough to get the manager fired, and a .600 team is certain to be in the postseason and probably a Division winner.

Come on, gang. Cleveland is tough, simple as that, and it is no fluke. They went to the WS last year and lost in 7 to the Cubs. This year they are better and have outscored their opponents by a bigger margin than anyone, even the Dodgers. The neat thing to me is they have not exactly dominated us this season. I think they go all the way this year, but that we got a shot.

Eduardo Rodriguez vs. righty Jake Odorizzi, advantage good guys. 1 Bogaerts SS 2 Pedroia DH 3 Benintendi LF 4 Betts RF 5 Moreland 1B 6 Vazquez C 7 Devers 3B 8 Holt 2B 9 Bradley CF Last time out ERod went 6, giving up 1 run, and striking out 9 with 4 walks against the A's--his best start since returning from the DL. Note that 3 of the first four in the lineup are those same killer B's who have been repeatedly chastised this season for not living up to their potential, being just plain awful, etc. If you look at the Sox individual hitting stats (as I did), season to date, you find those three, but mostly Betts, leading in every single offenseive category--hits, runs, rbi's, HR's, doubles, triples, OBP, SLG, OPS, stolen bases, and total bases. It is no coincidence that all three lead the Sox in total at bats. If you throw in Bradley, who missed a bunch of games but is 4th on the team in OPS, the four killer B's have been pretty darn useful at the plate and in the field (Bogie not so much). Now here we are in crunch time. The Yankees are playing great, 8-2 in their last 10, and intent on closing that 3 game gap to win (or tie for) the AL East. Heck, you can even say Farrell's job is on the line. So who does he have batting 1st, 2d, and 4th? His most reliables, of course.

I said on the first page I liked the Sox because Porcello wasn't half bad last time--6 days ago--against the Rays. He was excellent tonight, and Reed came in to finish the 8th and Kimbrel to close. And three runs was not only enough but 2 runs more than 6 days ago against Cobb and the Rays bullpen. I say again, this team has grit. Yankees are now 8-2 in their last 10 games. But so are the Sox.

Lot of gloom and doom for a game in which the Sox have looked awfully good to me. Great start by Porcello. Timely hits. Nice steal of 3D base by Beni even though it no doubt broke the rules of good fundamental baseball. Poor Beni can do nothing right.

1. Bogaerts. SS 2. Vazquez. C 3. Benintendi. LF 4. Betts. RF 5. Moreland. 1b 6. Young. DH 7. Devers. 3b 8. Holt. 2b 9. Bradley. CF