Maxbialystock

Now Meija comes in throwing nothing but fastballs and our guys just roll over and play dead--pop ups to the outfield.

Interesting. 2 outs, then 2 hard hit double off of fat pitches, then a bloop single off a pitch up in the strike zone. The second double was on I think a 3-1 count when Porcello had been trying to go low in the strike zone, couldn't, then served up a fat curve right in the middle and with not much break.

Betts Pedroia Bogaerts Moreland ! Young LF Bradley Travis (DH) Leon Marrero Like last night except Moreland is indirectly in for Beni and Leon--I'm guessing Porcello asked for him because Leon caught him last time when he went 6.1 giving up 3 earned runs--in for Vazquez. Anyway, 7 righty bats tonight, same number as last night. Farrell simply replaced one lefty bat, Beni, with another, Moreland. My NOAA map also shows no clouds headed toward Boston tonight. A bunch of stuff over the Great Lakes, however.

I thought we "traded" Manny only because he wanted out because the Sox would not give him a ten year ARod-type contract, which would have been insane. I too saw nothing wrong with Valentine and was of course wrong. You do have a pretty darn good grasp of a lot of stats and use them well. Better you than Bill James, I say.

It's in our blood because we are, theoretically anyway, all New Englanders. Think Jonathon Edwards, "sinners in the hands of an angry God," only we get to be God and the players are the sinners.

Max ain't nuttin, but YOTN mojo is everything! Three straight against the best W-L road record in MLB would be sweet.

Exactly.

Here's a switch: Sox are going with righty Porcello and Twins with lefty Mejia Youth wants to know: can Porcello pitch a second decent game in a row and can our hitting score 4 or more runs for our third game in a row? Stay tuned. Barring another rain delay, this game is five hours away, plenty of time to continue the conversation in the 6/27 game thread about this series, the upcoming road trip, the bullpen, the rotation, the hitting, and where this season is going for the Sox. The good news right now is the Sox are 1 game in front of the Yankees for the AL East title. The less good news is that our winning percentage of .558 means 90 wins for the season and that the Yankees, Orioles, and even the dadgum Rays could beat us out because all four teams are at .500 or better. I just checked a stat I heard on Fox. To date the Sox are 39-10 in games in which they score 4 or more runs. So, I don't know about anyone else, but I think 4 stinking runs is a pretty low bar for our lineup. Heck, it might be even lower against the Twins who have scored all of 14 runs in 5 games vs. the Sox this year. Farrell is sure to bring out the righty bats again tonight--last night they had 9 of our 10 hits (JBJ had the 10th, a single). Travis at 1B I think. Vazquez catching. Young DH. Marrero--one of the great righty bats of this era--at 3b of course. He doubled last night. Eckersley and others had a discussion on the pregame show last night or the night before about pitching adjustments when guys are getting hit hard. So maybe Porcello has made one or two.

I would be dishonest if I didn't admit that I too have excoriated our players during the game and in the heat of the moment. What I really like about talksox, however, is that there are usually a lot of very thoughtful comments in the postgame part of game threads. See, for example, all the comments above on the Sox situation in the pennant race. I think you can make a solid case for pessimism or for optimism this year--take your pick. But what I really like about this season is that to me it is different. We are prevailing despite the loss of Ortiz and because the pitching has been so good. We have some new guys too and maybe more to come.

Our optimist, but I happen to agree that being 1 game up on the Yankees is a good thing. While I agree with the possibility of the team--primarily the hitting--taking off, I am less sure that will happen than you are. On the other hand, I also think injuries have affected the hitting. Not the crew at 3B of course, but HanRam and maybe Betts and maybe Pedroia. Our .558 winning percentage projects to 90 wins, so better hitting would be most welcome even though that .558 is actually the 2d best percentage in the AL. .558 also means that NY, Tampa, and Baltimore (now at .500) are close behind. Any one of them might also get hot.

A nice win. Pomeranz once again proves you can be an effective starter with just two pitches--fast ball and knuckle curve--and decent command. It's hard to maintain my skepticism in the face of his undeniable success. These game threads have a strong tendency toward excoriating anything our players do wrong and almost ignoring what they do right. Pedroia was 3 for 3 with an rbi and 2 runs scored last night, but the only comment was about his terrible baserunning--"worst in baseball"--for trying to stretch a single off the green monster into a double. The attack on Pedroia occurred during a game whose outcome after the Vazquez 2 run dinger was never in doubt, rare as that is these days. The game started late because of the rain and then had a lengthy delay near the end of the 2d inning, yet Pomeranz hung in there to go 5 innings, giving up 1 run--but a couple of people complained he didn't go 6 innings and that this unduly stressed the bullpen. Meanwhile, the Sox, who just lost 2 of 3 to the .500 Angels, have now taken 2 straight from the Twins who only have the best road record (but might not after this series) in MLB. I've said this at least twice before but it bears repeating. The Sox are something like 40-10 this year when they score 4 or more runs. The hitting is way off from the usual Sox standard, but the pitching has been pretty darn good--especially the bullpen--and should be even better after the ASG when Rodriguez (one can only hope) returns.

Burke, VA here.

First, I apologize for the longwindedness in the OP, but that's just the way i am. T Second, some good short comments from everyone else. I'm as anti-Pomeranz as anyone, but have to admit he is proving me wrong and i couldn't be happier that he is. Third, mlb.com says the Sox will go with this lineup Betts Pedey Bogie Young (DH) JBJ Travis (1b) Beni Vazquez Marrero By my count that's two lefties and 7 righties.

Two lefties, Santiago vs. Pomeranz Huge win last night with a solid start by Sale, great GIDP by Hembree in the 7th, solid 8th by Barnes, ditto Kimbrel in the 9th--and some good hitting by Moreland, Pedey, and even Betts for a change. vs. a Twins lefty, maybe we see Vazquez catching and Marrero (really?) at 3b and Young in RF tonight. I'm fine with any lineup. About 3 games or so ago the Fox announcers said the Sox are 37-10 when the score 4 or more runs, which was exactly the case last night. In other words, unlike almost all other Sox teams in the John Henry era, this team needs solid pitching to win consistently. Solid hitting would also be nice, but some hitting might do it. Still "tied" with the Yankees, the Sox are now 3 up on Tampa and 4.5 on the Orioles and tied with the Yankees for #1 wild card. #2 wild card right now is, guess who, sports fans, the Twins, who have easily the best road record, 23-10, in MLB. So no cakewalk tonight. We need solid work again by our starter and bullpen--and just enough hitting. Some good D would also be nice.

I'm fine with Kelly in the 8th, but I also like that he can be thrown in there earlier when trouble might be brewing. I think he's already done that at least a couple of times. It's like when Farrell brings Kimbrel in to pitch the 8th with men already on base. Kimbrel and Kelly have easily the best pitching WAR ratings among the Sox relievers--and it isn't even close with respect to the others. But just maybe Kelly is the wild card up Farrell's sleeve.

Is it safe for me to rejoin the thread? I had to suspend things because I was washing windows tonight and got the whole upstairs. But I had the ipad on and could listen and occasionally watch. Gutsy game by Sale, fantastic GIDP by Hembree, three great K's in a row by Barnes, and of course typically letter perfect managing by Farrell both on the lineup--Lin in for a cast of thousands--and the bullpen. Solid all around game by everyone even though Bogie does chase a lot of breaking stuff away.

SHame on Bogie for the GIDP, but all else was fine in the 1st. Sox have had 2 hard hit balls that were outs so far. Ump ain't calling the corners for either pitcher.

Thanks for both data points. It does occur to me that our guys get injured regularly via HBP and other actions by opposing players. Pedey got spiked by Machado and more recently hit by that Astros pitcher with a pitch I thought was definitely intentional. George Will did a baseball column on Sunday I think and commented on the shifts and how those seem to be driving hitters to get loft in their swings to hit over the shifts. But he made no mention of the easiest way to slow down an opposing hitter--just hit him with a pitch. These days you can do that without fear of penalty.

Pitchers' duel: Berrios, 7-1, 2.67 ERA, righty vs. Sale, 9-3, 2.85 ERA, lefty Betts Pedroia Bogaerts Moreland Benintendi Young (changed) Bradley Leon Lin First time in awhile Farrell has had 5 lefty bats against a righty starter--thanks to Leon over Vazque and Lin over a cast of thousands. What does Tzu-Wei sound like out loud? We're still in June, but no time like the present to say we need this win.

Some numbers as of June 26, 2017 OPS OWAR Bogaerts .843 2.6 JBJ .850 1.6 Betts .818 1.6 Moreland .837 1.0 Benintendi .781 0.7 Pedroia .720 0.3 Travis .962 0.2 Young .732 0.2 Vazquez .705 0.2 Ramirez .747 0.1 Leon .706 0.0 Rutledge .558 -0.2 Sandoval .622 -0.3 Marrero .488 -0.4

Hold it right there, buster. Are you and Kimmit disagreeing with me and supporting HanRam, he of the long hair? Fine with me. I hope you're right and I'm wrong and that he reads your stuff, not mine.

Someone needs to remind Price that they went after Ted Williams too, enough to cause him to stop tipping his cap--even when he hit a dinger on his very last MLB at bat.

I've been down on Price a lot, but I agree with you. I think he has some good starts ahead of him. Of course, I would also like to have Vazquez shot at dawn for insisting that Price keep throwing fast balls.

Agree. Devers would be an improvement at 3B, but would this be good for his long-term development? He's 20 and at Portland, not Pawtucket. When Pedroia came up for good at 2B, he had a terrible April and I think maybe May, but management stuck with him because they knew he was the goods. Ditto Betts. Ditto Bogaerts. Ditto Lester. Funny thing, but JBJ had played at Pawtucket, and there is no question he was ready defensively. So when the Yankees (foolishly) outbid the Sox for Ellsbury, JBJ got the CF job in 2014 and bombed out at the plate. Back to Pawtucket. Then in 2015 it was like he was on a shuttle between Pawtucket and Boston. Finally, o/a August 1, the Sox made a trade or something, which gave JBJ one more opening at Boston, and he took off like a rocket. Up and down since then, but overall a pretty good OPS. With Travis lined up for 1B, it makes sense to commit to Devers at 3B, but he does need to be able to field the position.

Hmmmm. You have been the most faithful of all of us with regard to, "the hitting will be there." It's become my hobby horse which I ride incessantly, but I still think it's the loss of Ortiz that has done most of the damage. He was a great bat and especially a great lefty bat. Too many of our righty hitters can seem to adapt to pitchers with good heat, good location, and especially good pitches that break down and away from righty hitters. I except none of these four: Betts, Bogaerts, Pedey, and HanRam. Everyone keeps saying the fix is to get a good hitting thirdbaseman, but that guy was Travis and will probably be Devers and in between was supposed to be Pablo Sandoval. My point is that it's silly to blame that position when our key righty hitters--all our hitters, really--can't produce runs.