Maxbialystock

Sox with 2 errors which did not lead to unearned runs--only adds to the luster of Criswell's night.

He sure is. But right now he's still better than--wait for it--Devers with the Giants. The guy I wanted the Sox to hang onto, Duran, left 2 on with 2 outs. So I would definitely be a crappy CBO--and after all the training and schooling I've had. If only SADULU actually meant something in baseballese. Ditto for LARS,.

I keep blaming the Sox for 0 runs, now in 6 IP, but the fact is that Brown has been tough. Uh, oh. Here's trouble. Leadoff double. Followed by an easy pop fly. I see Varitek is still growing. Weight-wise.

Finally, finally, Bregman does the right thing and nails a first pitch--straight to the third baseman. Strikeout king Duran doubles, also on a first pitch.

Criswell never got the word that on the Sox the changeup is to be neglected. His is pretty good. Quality start for Criswell. My oh my. What Criswell and lousy baserunning have taken away from the Astros, the Sox lousy hitting has given back--and then some.

Are the Astros the worst baserunners in the history of MLB? No, but they're trying. That's 3 inexcusable mistakes leading to 3 easy outs for the Sox.

No one in their right mind could have expected "a couple of steaks." The Astros Brown is just demonstrating why his ERA is 2.44.

Credit Brown for hitting a lot of corners.

Narvaez just repeated the pattern. Takes 2 strikes and then swings at a pitch way outside.

Error by Astros baserunner, easy double play for Sox. Criswell is 3 outs from a quality start. Who woulda thunk? But the Sox hitting stinks tonight.

Error by Story on throw. Not good.

Amazing pattern is emerging so far. Toro and Story both took pitches that were strikes, then swung at pitches that were out of the strike zone. They aren't the only ones. That's the downside. The upside is that Criswell is in the 5th inning having given up 1 run.

You should be mad. I hate it when mlb.com does this to us. I got lucky--my ipad gets the game.

I am a huge Ted Williams fan and like to point out that he was as good a pilot--on jets in the Korean War--as he was a baseball player. When he enlisted in the USMC he did so because he was getting a lot of heat from other players. He did not fly combat missions in WW II, but was reportedly an excellent instructor. 7 years later he did fly in combat over Korea. He gave up roughly 5 years of his career to serve, and the World War II years were especially dear because 1941 was the year he batted .406. And no, I don't think Devers is anywhere near the hitter Williams was. Williams was 41 in 1960, his final season. His OPS was 1.096 and hit 29 dingers in 113 games. Devers will never have a season that good.

I sure did. What the commentators said was he is one of the best sluggers in MLB today. That could well be true. But what really irritated me was that practically every commentator said letting Devers go was a huge mistake. After 6 weeks, it doesn't look that way. Quite the opposite.

I agree with you of course, but will defend the rights of others to gripe, moan, obsess, whatever about missed opportunities That's what we're here for, right?

Agree. Of course.

Meh.

I think it says the Sox FO likes the players they have. Heck, they dumped the greatest Sox hitter ever and got better! Both Gonzalez and Toro have higher OPS's than Devers' .692. So do 8 other Sox regulars. Crochet, Bello, and Giolito are the best top 3 in the rotation since 2018 and the team ERA is ranked 10th, the best since 2018. Forget the total errors. Individual DWAR's say this is the best Sox defense in a long time. The lineup is 4th in MLB in runs scored and 5th in OPS. The bullpen has a pretty good duo in Chapman and Whitlock, plus guys like Weissert (ERA 2.93), Wilson (ERA 2.65), and Murphy (ERA 2.70) who can contribute. New lefty Matz, ERA 3.44, could also help. I would have loved for Breslow to get a frontline starter and believe he tried. I think trying to get a better first baseman and/or backup catcher was unnecessary. Cora has even been able to solve the "too many outfielders" problem by moving Rafaela to 2b or Anthony to DH. Speaking of Anthony, he is now leading off because his OBP is .402. To be honest, I would have loved to get a frontline starter, but think the FO almost certainly tried to get one.

Edge to the Astros.

DD had carte blanche and the highest payroll in MLB. JH doesn't want to do that again and has no doubt given Breslow limits on what he can do. On the other hand, Breslow was allowed to sign Bregman, Chapman, Crochet, Buehler, and Giolito, none of whom were bargains The first three are clearly worth bucks. Buehler isn't but still might be a decent 4th starter--and the same goes for Giolito. Plus Narvaez is an amazing bargain. I think JH and probably Breslow too have decided that July is the wrong time to go after real talent.

My scorecard says the Sox are much better without Devers and the Giants worse--and that's over a 6 week period. And that's with the Sox playing a tougher schedule. Those other names are just chicken feed. You said Devers would be fine at 1b, and I agreed with you. But who the heck cares when job 1 is hitting? In 37 games with the Giants Devers OPS is .692. In 43 games, Anthony's OPS is .830 and rising--and he has DH'd and played both LF and RF with positive DWAR's. These ten (!!!!) Sox players have higher OPS's than Devers: Bregman .922, Gonzalez .885, Ref .843, Anthony .830, Abreu .807, Duran .793, Rafaela .752, Narvaez .751, Toro .719, and Story .708. To be honest, I think Devers real problem is that he is in a crappy lineup.

Meh. I'm sure you're right about the numbers, and I also don't care. The Sox have just been through a gauntlet of 16 games, 9 of which were on the road, and came out 10-6 and 59-51 overall. I rooted for Devers and always found excuses for his defense. This season I thought he was perfect as the DH. However, if you look at the Sox schedule, you will discover that the Sox were 26-26 the day before Bregman went on the IL. 2 weeks later, with Devers and without Bregman, they were 30-35. Then the Sox came roaring back with a 6 game winning streak--to which Devers contributed almost nothing--that put them at 38-36. Without Bregman and Devers, June 16 and after, the Sox should have collapsed. But on July 13, right before the ASG, they were 53-45. So why oh why should the Sox have spent a zillion bucks to replace Devers? That would have been stupid.

You sure are persistent, and of course you could well be right. Maybe a 3-way trade would have worked. As for ESPN and other commentators, they have to say something outrageous because their readers expect it. As I've already said, they kept saying the Devers trade was disaster for the Sox and a bonanza for the Giants--over and over and over again. You are a far better informed critic than those guys.

To quote Sidney Poitier in Lilies of the Field, "Amen. Amen. Amen, Amen."