Maxbialystock

I have no idea whose idea it was, but I have to say I love how aggressive Betts, Pedey, and Bogie were in the first inning. Screw Bill James.

Wow. JBJ strikes out on 3 pitches swinging at all three and not able to even get a foul--foul tip, yes.

I will give Price credit. He's throwing a lot of fastballs, but he is going for the corners, plus getting swings on high ones out of the zone. I think he threw 1 of 18 pitches as a changeup, but it was outside and a ball. So far the ump is giving him the corners and the fringes of the strike zone. Those two ground ball singles to Bogie and Pedey were definitely fieldable. Musgrove has a pretty decent sinker, and that might be all he needs if he can keep it low and near or in the strike zone. Beni's single came on a sinker near the middle of the strike zone.

Price loves his fastball. Boy, does he love it. Problem is, so do opposing hitters.

Why do you have the sound on? I rarely do.

It worked! First three guys blasted the ball, but only Bogie of all people got the dinger in straightaway CF. Is that how it should be done? You ask them nicely? Goodness gracious.

Well, that's certainly the question.

There is absolutely zero correlation between the way Pablo is playing and the Sox are playing. Pablo is either the worst or second worst position player in MLB based on his WAR rating. A Sox team made up of similar quality players would be playing at a .300 clip, Farrell and DD would be gone, and John Henry would never go to a game at Fenway. There would be riots in Boston, cats living with dogs, and other disasters. No one would care about global warming.

Hah! emp9 and kimmi fire back with upbeat assessments. I love it. I completely agree Sandoval is almost irrelevant to the success or failure of the Sox this year. For evidence, I cite the simple but crucial fact that so far he has played in 30 games--less than half of the 68 the Sox have played. So already the Sox are looking at options--Marrero, Rutledge, et al, to say nothing of Devers at AA Portland. So it's clear to me anyway the Sox really don't need Pablo or a rental to succeed this year. Meanwhile, he is still an investment of significant dollars, one who played well at San Francisco, has lost some weight, and is still just 30. He basically didn't play last year and missed a lot of games this year, so maybe he just needs more time. Right now he has zero trade value, which means the Sox will be paying 100% of the freight for whatever train picks him up. That's why he still plays even though time is clearly running out. I say all that because I don't think Pablo is the problem. Hanley is. This year all the Sox need is his bat--as DH, no less--and to date he has the 9th best--tied with Young, who has played in 14 fewer games--OWAR (offensive wins above replacement) on the Sox. Last year he was 5th best on the team at 3.3, and right now he is at 0.2.

Exactly. Baseball is that one sport that depends so heavily on what players, especially hitters and pitchers--and that's just about everybody--do as individuals. Porcello gets the ball at the beginning of the game, and it's almost entirely on him. The defense can help--and did last night. The catcher last night was our best defensive catcher, Leon. The only weapon Farrell had left was the bullpen, but those 6 Astro runs in the first three innings and the paucity of Sox hitting took that weapon away. What I'm reading says that everybody knows what Porcello's problem is. He is keeping every pitch up in the strike zone. The pitching coach is reportedly working with him, but so far to no avail. He still has the same repertoire that worked so well last year, but lacks command, and we have seen enough pitchers like that to know it can be disastrous--see some outings this year by Pomeranz and Price. The manager is equally helpless when a hitter goes into a slump, for which remedies include days off, extra batting practice, more attention from the hitting coach--none of which will work until the hitter somehow finds his swing again. This year see Beni, JBJ,and others, but especially Pablo. The nature of MLB today is such that every single swing by a hitter and pitch by a pitcher is recorded and scrutinized to the nth degree. Hell, espn, fox, and other networks can do some of that analysis themselves--and do, with stop-action video to make the point stronger. To me the manager has one really good weapon at his disposal, his bullpen, and even the bullpen depends heavily on individual performance over which the manager and pitching coach can have only a small effect. He also probably needs to keep his players in the right frame of mind. I'm guessing here, but I think relaxed and very focused on what's happening are about right. I think the Cubs manager probably does that well and this definitely helped last year when they won it all and broke an incredibly long no world series streak. But guess what? This year so far that exact same team has a losing record to date, so what the hell do I know?

In one sense, this was an almost ideal kind of "waste not, want not" kind of game. Porcello did not waste a great return to cy young form start on a night when the Sox weren't hitting, and the Sox didn't score 4 or 5 runs on a night when Porcello was once again a disaster. On the other hand, Porcello clearly showed he has lost command of his repertoire. As everyone now knows, he keeps everything up in the strike zone while other pitchers with lesser stuff but better control thrive on simply keeping the ball low, lower, and lowest. And the hitting remains troublesome, obviously. No wonder the Sox are mired 1 game back of the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East.

Hitting ain't great, but this team is working at being what Kimmi says they can be. Last night was a terrific win. Unfair of me, but I like not seeing Hanley or Pablo in the lineup. Again.

Killer combo with moonslav inside and spudboy outside

Here's an interesting question. Today is June 17. Which five Sox relievers have higher WAR (wins above replacement) ratings than Porcello, last year's Cy Young winner, and Price, our $210M starter? Answer: Kimbrel, Kelly, Barnes, Scott, and Abad. I might add that all but Barnes also have lower ERA's than our ace and very possible Cy Young this year, Chris Sale, whose ERA is 2.82, well below all our other starters.

Right now he has the 3d highest OWAR and 2d highest DWAR on the team. In both cases, he is right behind Betts. Anybody on this team can slump--and has--but JBJ this year seems to be steadily improving, April to May to June, so I think we may be seeing the next chapter in the JBJ book. I like him in the lower part of the batting order even though Hanley sucks so far. And I think that lefty bat is really handy especially when he seems now to also be able to hit lefty pitchers. We have a basketful of midgets in the outfield, and they just might be the best in MLB, hitting and fielding. Beni is by far the weakest link, which is saying a lot about the other two.

This is a really dumb thread. Who cares about a bunch of stiffs who normally don't even sit in the dugout? We need a Benintendi thread or a 3b thread or a JBJ thread. You know, something with real importance. That said, right now and for most of this season the bullpen has been saving our ass. This is the first season in the John Henry era when the Sox have played competitive ball--3d best W-L record in the AL and 5th best in MLB--with for them weak hitting.

Now on our 34th page of a thread dedicated to 3b. Hitting, a far more important topic, only has 32 pages. Plus we keep repeating ourselves, and I'm as guilty as anyone. I despise Pablo precisely because he is lousy at bat and at 3b. But I also agree with Kimmi that the FO--meaning Farrell and DD--should probably keep him awhile longer because of the money, because he was pretty decent with the Giants, because he did finally lose some weight, and because he's still only 30 years old. Devers doing so well at Portland means help is just around the corner. And right now the Sox are just 1 game behind the Yankees and have the 3d best winning percentage in the AL. So me, I say getting a rental or whatever is not yet the right move. Hell, I could live with Rutledge

I'll tell you what I liked about last night's (2-1 win over Houston) hitting. The Sox played in Philly the night before, and in the first two innings and good scoring opportunities and actually hit the ball hard--but right to someone--with RISP. Vazquez it's true had a GIDP, but Houston had 3 of them. Bogaerts really struggled last night, but we know he is a good hitter. What is hurting the Sox in the hitting department is being dead last in the AL in dingers but leading the AL in GIDP. Moonslav is probably right the hitting will improve, but no one should claim it will be as good as last year. Improvement, whatever it is, could be enough because the Sox right now have the 3d best won-loss record in the AL and the 5th best in MLB. The pitching is saving this team, and I think it's fair to say that's the first time that's happened in the John Henry era now in its 15th or 16th season.

I don't like Pomeranz one darn bit, but last night he was terrific: 6.1 innings, 1 run, a solo dinger. Nothing wrong with wanting a big bat, but not at the price one would likely cost. This is so far as I know the first Sox team in the John Henry era that has had strong pitching and relatively weak hitting. That would be terrible except we have the 3d best record in the AL and only 2 NL teams have better records. moonslav insists the hitting will improve, and for now that's good enough for me even though I think Ortiz left a big hole in the lineup. To me 3b and DH--Pablo and Hanley--are the shortfalls and Cherington paid a big price for both of them. Moreland is better than expected, Pedey is coming back, the outfield, even JBJ, are hitting well, and Bogie is in a slump but still a good hitter. Catchers not so great, but good enough.

You deserve the s***. Season to date, the Yankees have outscored their opponents by 112 runs and the Sox theirs by 34, but we are just 1 game back in part because Farrell has been masterful with the pitching staff.

Aptly said. 1 back of NYY!

I whined at the outset tonight and a lot in the last game, but I really liked the first two innings of this game, especially given they played a night game in Philly last night and are at Houston--best in the AL--tonight. Excellent start by Pomeranz whom I have bashed endlessly, and both times hard hit balls with RISP, to say nothing of Pedroia stealing 2b to be eligible to be RISP. Definitely rooting for our guys and plan to do no more whining.

With Pomeranz on the mound, the Sox need to swing some big bats tonight, especially against the Astros who are likely to pound Pom.

3 lefty bats and no Pablo and no Leon against a righty starter.

There sure was. Very helpful and surprising.