Maxbialystock

I'm from the older generation, and that is one of my favorite words, but I try to use it with some discretion, which means I don't use it on blog sites.

We are now in the 4th inning, and Fister has given up 5 runs, 4 walks, and 5 hits. He has thrown 96 pitches--50 for strikes and 46 for balls. Again I say, Farrell is sending a clear message to his lineup: I'm not interested in winning this game.

Fister is awful. No stuff and no control. He threw 27 pitches in the first inning--15 for strikes and 12 for balls--and gave up two doubles and a run. The scary part is that he wasn't really "off," he was just being Fister. When Farrell uses him in a reliever role, it's tantamount to putting up the white flag. I understand about keeping the rotation fresh and not fatigued, but sending Fister out also signals to the lineup that Farrell is giving this game away.

I love that stuff. Good stats, plus good summary. I'm not a Holt fan and certainly not as much as Farrell is. I was happy with Lin/Marrero and am thus chastened by Lin's .703 against righties. Thanks.

I am generally in favor of aggressive baserunning, especially when Betts does it because he is fast and has great instincts. Yes, he ran thru the stop sign and was out by a good margin, but I think he gambled when it was called for. He was on first with two outs, Pedey hit the double to left center, and the next batter was going to be Bogaerts, whose hitting this month has been awful. I hate it when HanRam gambles because he has terrible instincts. Beni has speed, but not very good instincts. JBJ is good on the basepaths. Moreland is OK. Vazquez is OK, Leon is just slow. Bogie is pretty good on the basepaths--speed and instincts. All in all, Kimmi's baserunning stats are borne out by what I see in games. As for bunting, I really like bunting when the Sox have men on 1st and 2d with no one out and a so-so hitter at the plate. Even there the problem is that most Sox hitters can't bunt worth a darn.

To me baseball is absolutely the best sport to watch in person. I've been a Sox fan since 1949 but only been to two games at Fenway--both within the last five or so years. Fenway is a fantastic park to look at but the sight lines down the right side and especially in deep right field are the worst of any ball park in the nation, not just MLB. Like watching the game thru the wrong end of binoculars. My griping aside, keeping Fenway small and unique was a smart move because it is probably the most photogenic ballpark in MLB. And the size helps to ensure the park is normally full or close enough to it even when a lousy team comes to town. One could argue Fenway was the template for all the new ballparks these days that actually seat fewer fans than the parks they replaced. As for why the attendance is down, that's easy. When it was up, it was because the Sox had a really good team almost every year and especially a team that could hit and score runs. But starting in 2010 or 2011 (remember the September collapse which cost Francona his job?), a good year was the exception. On top of that, as has already been said repeatedly, is the insane cost of actually going to Fenway. Sox tickets are near the most expensive in MLB, and everything else is expensive too. espn tracks attendance by team and ballpark. The Sox are ranked 9th in MLB for home attendance and 7th in MLB in road attendance.

And here is the actual muddlers row for today-- Betts Young (!!!) LF Pedroia DH (!!!) Ramirez 1b Bradley Bogaerts Leon Marrero 3b Holt 2b That's 6 righty bats plus one switch-hitter (Leon), and 2 lefties (Bradley and Holt)

Belated congratulations to Kimmi for resuscitating this homestand with two key wins. While I truly admire her enthusiasm for today's game, the realist in me says that winning with Fister has the same promise as swimming with the sharks.

Watching Pomeranz is like watching those old movies about the perils of pauline. He gets himself into and out of all kinds of trouble--just about every inning. He is at his best when JBJ makes a grab in deep centerfield with the bases loaded and 2 outs.

You must mean WAR, but, me, I think percentage of quality starts is a better indicator, and to date Pom is 9 for 19. Everyone else, including Porcello, has a higher percentage.

Clearly Farrell and I don't quite agree, according to this official lineup Betts Benintendi Pedroia Moreland Young Bradley Vazquez Holt Marrero We agree on 8 of the bats but not on the order. I'm assuming Young got the nod over HanRam because he played 15 innings last night--so hard to quarrel with that.

For the record, Pollyanna was the ultimate optimist who always had something positive to say to everyone and about everyone. Thus, if you are a true pollyanna, then you believe nothing on this team needs fixing. Kimmi is not quite that optimistic, but optimistic enough to think the FO should be cautious about what they give up to "improve" this team. In 2013 the Sox did make a late trade--3 way to get Peavy and give up a very good defensive SS named Iglesias. I hated that trade because I loved watching Iglesias at SS, but I had to admit the Sox already had two viable SS's in Drew and Bogaerts. Since then, it is worth noting, Bogaerts's WAR has been higher than Iglesias's in very single season including this one. Peavy wasn't great in 2013, but he did have 6 quality starts in 10 starts and an ERA of 4.04. Less good in the post season, but still a good acquisition I think. Oh, and the Sox played the Tigers in the ALCS and beat them 4-2. I think our hitting sucks, but for that very reason I don't see how one bat is going to fix everything. And if it is just one bat, that bat just might be Devers.

You and Kimmi are turning into pollyannas, which is probably a good thing given the general cynicism, especially mine, on this board. But overall I have felt for sometime that I don't want a trade because I too see some good in just about every position. The Marrero/Lin fix at 3b worked amazingly well because it helped the hitting a little and the defense a lot. Good for you for remembering what Moreland did early on. Plus I need to remind myself that Moreland and Ramirez are playing hurt right now. I think the Yankees gave up too much for Frazier.

Need Pomeranz to be solid tonight. But a giant caveat to the above: the Sox are now 48-10 in games in which they score 4 or more runs, which means they are 5-32 in games when they score fewer than 4 runs. Happ last night is a lefty, tonight it's righty Sanchez, but I see a similar lineup tonight but with Moreland back at 1B and HanRam back at DH and probably Vazquez catching because Leon caught 11 innings last night: Betts Benintendi Pedroia Bradley Ramirez Moreland Vazquez Holt Marrero I moved JBJ way up to 4th to allow Farrell to alternate righties and lefties, plus Kimmi says 4th and 5th slots are both important.

The Pedroia critics are wrong--even about how he handled the Machado spiking and what followed. He was the one who got spikes and apparently the only one who saw it for what it was--a hard but fair slide with no intent to injure. He's lost a step on defense and on the basepaths, but still has great instincts. And right now he is our steadiest hitter. On top of which he is the only player on the team with any capacity to lead.

Agree on taking called third strikes. Also agree with Farrell letting Pedroia swing because lately he is our best hitter and Beni is not much of a basestealer--good speed, no instincts.

You did it! Against all odds, Kimmi pulls out the win with minor assists from Johnson, Barnes, Kimbrel, Velazquez, Pedroia, Young, and the long-haired dude (Hanley Ramirez). I went to bed at 11, which was still late enough to see the Sox tie it and Kimbrel--miraculously, these days--getting through the 9th without giving up any runs at all. Do you believe that? Gotta love that double play Pedroia initiated with a man on third. Huge. What was that song from "Damn Yankees?" You Gotta Have Heart.

Actually, they did have Bogaerts at SS earlier and must have changed it very recently. Now it reads-- Betts Benintendi Pedroia HanRam 1b Young DH Bradley Leon Marrero SS Holt 3b I would far rather have Travis--who is back in AAA--at 1B tonight and HanRam at DH. Kimmi is showing a lot of guts starting this thread. Tonight we have for us a weaker lineup than usual against a pretty good lefty, Happ, while we are hoping Johnson will be adequate.

I am actually happy that you disagree and choose to defend our hitters. Someone should. But just for the sake of argument, I would still point out-- Betts this year ain't Betts last year. In particular his avg. has dropped from .316 to .274. He, by the way, is the one who is hard to strike out, not Bogaerts. I had/have no intention of writing epitaphs. In fact, I hope Kimmi's optimism about this lineup comes to fruition. So your point is well taken. In fact, I hope DD doesn't bring in someone from outside and would rather these guys just find themselves. The age 25 thing works better when you don't remember that for both Betts and Bogaerts this is their 4th season in Boston. Betts has over 1800 mlb at bats and Bogaerts over 2200. Benintendi has 428 mlb at bats and is hitting almost as well as Betts and better than Bogaerts. About the striking out. Either I miswrote or you misread, but my intent was to say that our guys are not making solid contact with the ball. In fact, it sometimes worries me when our starting pitchers accumulate a lot of K's because that usually takes more pitches. Too often what opposing pitchers seem to do well is to get out guys to hit the ball up high or down in the dirt--either way, an easy out--and to do that early in the count.

I like the stats and agree they have meaning, but I also watch the pitcher-hitter confrontations and offer the following-- Pedroia seems to be the only real student of the game who is hard to fool. He likes to take that first pitch, but will also swing at and probably hit a fat first pitch. Bogaerts, Moreland, and HanRam in particular seem to go to the plate with not a thought in their heads and by and large no ability to discriminate between a breaking ball and a fast ball. Bogaerts is sometimes saved by his remarkable hand-eye coordination, but he is still clueless at the plate. HanRam is further affected by an apparent desire to swing as hard as possible when he does swing although lately his helmet isn't falling off as frequently as it once did. Benintendi and I think JBJ do discriminate somewhat, but JBJ's swing still tends to betray him. Both benefit from hitting from the left side. Young also has a good eye for balls and strikes, but can't hit spit anyway. Betts will nail you if you throw him a fat pitch, but otherwise he is not hard to get out. Almost no one on the Sox is good at hitting a breaking balls solidly, but almost all are great at hitting them onto the ground and into double plays when the other team needs them. Most opposing pitchers will throw first pitch strikes with some assurance that our guys are sticking to Bill James's injunction to get a walk, which means to take pitches no matter what. Betts in particular tends to get into 1-2 and 0-2 counts because he thinks he is supposed to get a walk. Brock Holt is not going to be an improvement over Lin/Marrero at 3b.

I'm as down on the hitters as anyone, but have to admit that Marcus Stroman seemed to have two very good pitches--a fastball that breaks down and a slider that breaks down and well to the right. He dominated our lineup until the 7th when they got some timely hitting. Then, however, the Jays bullpen seemed to have no problem setting our guys down in order--one hit and no walks or runs in 2.1 innings.

To be honest, Hembree's terrible 8th was probably a blessing in disguise. Our hitters looked awful last night despite that great 7th inning rally.

Bullpen blew it. Again.

Is that Tulowitski at the plate who just fouled off a fast ball down the middle and missed on a fastball well inside the zone? The Sox need to trade for him right now because he will fit in well.

Anybody else notice that little kick of his left foot by ERod long after he releases the ball? That's so he can be sure to be in terrible fielding position in case the ball gets hit back near him.