Maxbialystock

Meh. Last night our two hottest hitters, Nunez and Devers, were 0 for 8. Throw in our next hottest Vazquez and the three of them were 0 for 10. But we still scored 4 runs, which 75% or more of the time is enough for us to win this year, and won. And Holt scored a run (thanks to an error when he hit to the opposite side of the field). This is really far-fetched, but Farrell rarely uses his lefty bats back to back high in the order. By putting Holt in front of Beni, he gave Beni a chance to see what Shields was throwing against lefties. The point is, it worked and worked on a night when nobody was hitting that much--just Beni and JBJ with those two huge 2-run dingers when we needed them. Besides, it's just 1 game, and there can be no question he has been tinkering with the lineups ever since Devers and Nunez joined the squad.

Short thread. Does this mean we prefer griping?

Sox stay hot, including Pomeranz. Not so Nunez and Devers, which is fine when Benintendi and Bradley come thru.

Showed up on mlb.com at 7:34 last night. He could not throw his 3d flat ground session because of soreness.

Pomeranz tonight and Fister tomorrow. Because of the day(s) off, Sale will pitch the first and last games of the total of 5 against the Rays and Yankees. I think it was spudboy who declaimed in last night's thread that ERod is borderline worthless and our 5th starter if not our 6th. I sure hope not because Price had another setback--pain while pitching--and we will need Fister, which means we darn sure will need ERod too.

The day after I now think ERod had a pretty good game last night, all things considered. As I look back at the mlb.com summary of the play by play, it's apparent that the White Sox did hit him hard, but most of them where caught. I think he did get better as the game went on. I also think that leadoff error by Bogaerts could have set him off but did not--he got out of that inning fine. Six innings and 2 runs is definitely a quality start. I also thought the Chicago pitcher Carlos Rodon pitched well --good stuff and good command of his pitches. Once again the killer b's--Betts, Beni, Bogie, and Bradley--struggled, 2 for 18 and no rbi's or runs scored. In the previous 9-5 win everyone in the starting lineup got a hit, but last night was clearly a struggle. I don't think that means the improved lineup isn't really improved. I'm down on Farrell but have to say I thought he managed the pitching well. Sending ERod back out for the 6th was a gamble especially after Moncada singled, but it worked and thereby limited the bullpen to 5 innings in an 11 inning game. And how about replacing HanRam with Moreland at just the right time? Of course, Ramirez made that a lot easier when he struck out three times in four at bats. Speaking of which, the Sox struck out 14 times last night while getting no free passes and they still won. Which leads me to the conclusion this was a very good win, 4th in a row, that has the Sox now 3 games up on the Yankees. Last year's team, which had a similar record about this time, had a 6 win streak that started on 12 August, but last year other teams were also winning and it took a great September to get the AL East title. Congrats again to mvp78 for getting this team going in the right direction.

I've seen ERod throw five different pitches tonight---4 seamer, 2 seamer, cut fastball, slider, and changeup. Not bad. The problem is that the only pitch he trusts when he absolutely needs a strike is that fast ball, and, just to be sure, he goes for the middles of the strike. He throws the slider and changeup very sparingly. The first inning, I think he one non-four-seamer (93 mph). And all three Chicago hitters in the first hit the ball hard but were outs. The error by Bogaerts didn't hurt except for elevating the pitch count.

Porcello gets a well deserved win. Sure can't complain about 5.1 big innings , 6 scorching k's, and just 5 runs and one measly dinger. Our cy younger ace is back! Well, maybe not. A porcello start is like a box of chocolates.

Yes he stinks tonight. He has decent stuff--two seam fastball, four seam, slider, curve, change up. None of them great but still a good arsenal. But he is dead meat when he can't hit the strike zone except right in the middle of it. His curve has been especially bad, but his slider not bad at all. Control is the sine qua non for any MLB pitcher, and great control will allow you to succeed when you really don't have good stuff. Great control gets the hitter to hit your pitch weakly.

3 sources: espn, twitter, and MLB.com

Game is postponed to August 14 from 2 sources.

NOAA says a big storm coming thru. Rainout?

I would like to add however that those five games have depended heavily (for hitting anyway) on Nunez, Devers, and (four games only) Vazquez. HanRam, Bogie, Beni, Moreland, and JBJ have done little. Betts has helped some, so has Holt. Of course it's also just a 5 game sample, as moonslav will remind us.

Actually, those are great stats moonslav has assembled--so wild applause for him. I personally am inclined to think of JBJ as more up and down than consistent. The four year picture is that he was handed the CF job in 2014 and ended up in the minors that season and in 2015 with periodic trips to Boston and which culminated in the August-Sep breakout which ensured he would stick. 2016 was easily his steadiest year--a very good first four months and so-so August and September but overall pretty good. This year, however, those numbers are almost back to 2015. April and July both below .600, and May-June .808 and 1.009. And so far August is looking like July for JBJ. Last night the Sox had 15 hits and scored 12 runs while JBJ was 0 for 4 with 3 of our 7 K's. In his early years Pedroia, especially his rookie year, tended to get off to a slow start, but by and large he has been the soul of consistency on this team. His career OPS is .810 and this year, despite the knee, the spiking, the hard block at 1b, etc, it's at .792. It is criminal to suggest in any way that JBJ is as consistent as Pedroia even though we might agree that his potential might--and I emphasize that word--have a bigger upside. All that said, I would like to add to the discussion by asking a simple question. We all know the hitting is down this year. I have attributed that to the absence of Ortiz. My question is: how much in our collective opinion do we think the weak hitting is the result of injuries, some of which guys are playing (and swinging the bat) with? Before you answer, consider this. In the five games both Nunez and Devers have played in--the last five games in fact--the Sox have scored 36 runs, an average of 7 runs per game. They currently have OPS's (I'm only counting Nunez's five games with the Sox) of 1.400 and 1.200, which are both higher than Ortiz's OPS last year. Maybe just one or two guys can energize a lineup. We all remember the two great 3 run dingers by Moreland and Vazquez last night, but Nunez had the most rbi's with 4.

By the way, that miracle GIDP Boyer got in the top of the 6th after loading the bases? It was on fast ball right down the middle about waist high. Talk about living right. Nunez had four more rbi's and Devers a couple more hits. Just maybe this lineup is coming together and not too soon with with the bullpen falling apart. I'm not absolutely sure Sale is telegraphing his pitches to the Guardians--tonight he wasn't exactly hitting spots especially with his breaking balls. Still, . . .

Congrats too to mvp78 who took on the challenge of starting the Fister thread and now has a double. And to Kimmi and all the others who have shown more faith and griped less than me.

I saw the whole darn thing and I still don't believe. Two three run dingers, including the gamewinner, in a game when both team had good starters out there and in our case the odds on favorite for the Cy Young this year. He gives up 7 after the Sox get 5 early runs. Meanwhile the Guardians took their starter out in that second inning Sox rally. Magnificent catch by the Guardians centerfielder saved them at least the dinger. Oh, and the Yankees lost so the Sox are back in 1st place in the AL East.

There's that killer slider again, against which Betts was helpless even though it was actually up in the zone and should have been hittable.

Cleveland gave him lots of trouble last year too, and maybe before that. There is little doubt in my mind that he has a "tell" in his setup that only they have figured out. My guess is that they try to not to use it too much to keep him from figuring it out.

Fister was incredible. Wild applause for starting him (and maybe fixing his delivery). I would have tossed him onto the ash heap of history. I loved the hitting of course, but it still amazes me what a difference the starter can make. However, I gotta give credit to DD for acquiring Nunez and bringing up Devers.

Well, apparently the DWAR compilers heard you because today Gardner is ranked higher than Benintendi. No question Gardner runs better routes, etc, but I am not down on Benintendi to the degree you are because of the reasons I gave. At the same age, 23, Gardner was still in the minors and didn't play his first full season with the Yankees until 2010, when he was 27. Ellsbury's first full season with the Sox was 2008 when he was 24 (he turned 25 that year). Benintendi was born in 1994 and has already turned 23 this year. So, you are absolutely right in slamming the DWAR, but I disagree that Benintendi is as bad as you (and others) say he is.

damme, but that Kimmi is tough with the numbers, on top of which she is invariably nice to everyone. Sadly, I must abandon my belief that the absence of Ortiz is the key to everything that has beset this year's lineup. FWIW, I was also sure Nunez could not possible help, and I've been wrong there too. Tonight against the Guardians' righty Clevenger, I'm hoping Beni, Moreland, Devers, and JBJ have a good night. Could be Vazquez will be out there again tonight because his bat seems to have heated up again, including against righties. Also FWIW, I don't see how Chili Davis can escape some blame for what has happened this year.

I have to agree with moonslav on this one. I too have raved about the absence of Ortiz and its effect on this team, but I honestly never thought it would be this bad. So of course I side with DD on going after Sale because our biggest problem by far last year and coming into this year was the rotation. Also, Ortiz had an incredible year, which DD was never going to be able to fill in for. There were literally no comparable bats available. Does no one else know that last year he had the highest OPS, 1.021 in MLB last year.

I was just quoting some facts that happen to reinforce my impressions of Benintendi. You seem to have forgotten a couple of things about him. 1. He has mostly played centerfield in the minors and before. 2. This is his first full season in MLB after skipping AAA last year. 3. The green monster has made things difficult for a lot of other leftfielders because it is tricky, as is the way the left field stands are almost in LF. 4. He has also made some very good plays, does have a pretty good arm, and has 6 assists to 3 errors, not too shabby. 5. He is hands down the best leftfielder the Sox have, certainly better than Young, for example. What's with the insults, by the way?