Maxbialystock

My thanks--again--to Station 13 for the sterling two game win streak and trying to nudge it to three.

Velazquez went 5, and Farrell needed Ross and Barnes to cover 3 innings. Big deal. He's still got 5 or 6 for tonight who didn't pitch last night. About Sales: am I the only one who noticed his ERA in April was 1.19 in 5 starts and so far in May it's 3.86 in 3 starts? Or that in his last two starts he went 6 and 7 innings? Maybe giving him an extra day of rest ain't such a bad idea. And, as I have already pointed out, the Sox right now are not exactly knee deep in starters. Sale, Porcello, and ERod are fine, but after that not so fine until Price is back.

You surprised me with the irony which I completely missed the first 3 or 4 times I read it even though you were/are not being subtle. Just a brain cramp on my part. Funny thing is, Velazquez wasn't all that bad. Oh, I'm not saying 6 runs in 5 innings is a quality start, but am saying our #2 pitcher just went 6 while giving up 4 in a game that ended up going 13 innings. The threshold for most MLB managers for pulling a starter is 7 runs, and Velazquez was 1 under that. Last time out, Pomeranz went 3 innings, and the time before that he went 4 and gave up 6. And let's not forget that until Price is activated the Sox basically have Sale, Porcello, ERod, the redoubtable Pomeranz, and a pitcher to be named later. Also, because Velazquez actually went 5 innings, Farrell only had to use 2 from the bullpen last night, leaving 5 or 6 reasonably well rested for tonight and the weekend. I am not, FWIW, saying Farrell is always right, only that some of these very obvious mistakes he is accused of don't seem all that obvious to me.

1949 when I was 8. I'd been born in Boston (Fort Banks), but left with my mom 6 months later. But that summer (1949) we visited Boston relatives on the way to Germany, and I can remember looking at Sox box scores--more than 24 hours after the fact of course--in the Stars and Strikes in Germany and especially Ted Williams's numbers. 4 years later we lived in West Springfield while my dad served 14 months in Korea, and I listened to Curt Gowdy call the games both summers, '53 and '54. And collected Topps baseball cards of course. But my Sox fandom waxed and waned subsequently because we never lived where we could get Sox games--ditto when I went into the service. 1967 is blank because of where I was and what we were doing. Everything changed after I retired and my wife and I finally settled in N. Virginia and circa 2004, maybe earlier, we got a TV package including out of area games. Since then I've watched an insane number of games. My first time in Fenway was about 10 years ago on a business trip. Terrible experience because of the execrable sight lines down the right field line. I went one more time, had the same experience, and am sure I will never go back. Fenway looks great on TV, but is easily the worst MLB ballpark I've been in. I've been to the Phillies ballpark (1961), the Royals (1986-89) (very nice, but really hot in the summer), the Orioles (2000-2015) (Camden is easily the best ballpark I've been in), and the Nationals (not as pretty as Camden, but excellent sight lines). Also Griffith Stadium (Washington Senators, 1955).

Velazquez is 28 and from the Mexican League and has a 1.55 ERA in five starts for Pawtucket. The "A's" are ranked 26th in runs scored.

Giving credit it where it's due, this has been maybe the best 2 game winning streak I can remember and certainly this season to date. It could not have come at a better time.

Excellent post above from bosoxmal, with whom I rarely agree--but that story is a gem and the explanation of foot in the bucket clear as clear can be.

A short update--revisiting the thread topic--based on two recent events. The first of course is that insane thread arguing that Ortiz should be the manager. I'm happy to say the idea is not getting much support. The second event is the now concluded 2 game sweep of the Cardinals--NL Central leaders--in St Louis. To me that series suggests this team just might be better than I thought because I thought both wins were gritty. Last night's 13 inning, 4 1/2 hour monster required Farrell to use 12 of his 13 position players and 9 of his 12 pitchers. All to good effect: after giving up 4 early runs, Porcello pitched 4 scoreless innings and a total of 6 before Farrell brought in 8 relievers who held the Cardinals scoreless for 7 innings. So, yes, I think Farrell did a good job. But my real point is that the players overall were great in this series. They won two close games on the road against a good team with very good pitching. In the second game, they came from behind (4-0) to finally tie the game in the 8th on that magnificent triple by Bogaerts followed by a gritty sac fly by Benintendi, who is in a terrible slump (0 for 26) but rose to the occasion. Moreland made a really dumb play on a bunt to enable the early Cardinals rally, but hit that double in 13th and scored the winning run on Young's pinch hit single. Zowie. Last year the Sox finished the season with 6 of the top 32 hitters--defined solely by their OPS's--in the American League: Ortiz, Betts, HanRam, Pedroia, Bogaerts, and JBJ. Right now we have 2 of the top 32, Betts and Bogaerts. Yes, we lost Ortiz, but the other 5 are back, and for the first month this year Benintendi had a high OPS. I think most of us believe Benintendi's slump will not last. My point is the same one Kimmi and others have made--this team should be able to hit and probably will hit this year. When they do, this can be a good team despite my periodic rants about lousy defense (Marrero has fixed the 3B problem, and everyone else is decent and Betts is terrific), lousy baserunning, etc. Assuming Price comes back and in decent form, that's four pretty darn good starters: Sale, Porcello, Price, and ERod. The bullpen, with occasional lapses, has been pretty good too. I personally dislike Pomeranz, but I have seen far worse 5th starters. So my other point is that just maybe Farrell has been managing well under trying circumstances and that it makes sense for DD to keep him around.

Thought I'd quote myself this morning because I've rarely been happier being dead wrong. Porcello got way better and went 6, the bullpen was fantastic--7 scoreless innings--the defense was fine, and the clutch hitting was very much in evidence. This was probably the best win all season, but I still went to bed at 11--9th inning--and didn't see the final until an hour ago. This was a win to build on. The Sox just swept 2 from the NL Central leaders in their NL park. On to Oakland.

Slick pitching by Porcello to sucker the Cards into getting that GIDP.

Wow! Great, heady play by Bogaerts to start the DP. This only underscores how dumb Moreland is.

Porcello has bought into that good cop, bad cop routine, only he goes good inning, bad inning.

Small milestone. Benintendi is over halfway to going 40 at bats without a hit. I think he just has 17 to go.

this is a surprise?

Beni,bidi, bici--isn't that what Caesar said?

Yankees pummeling KC again, Orioles down 5-4 in the 6th at Detroit.

Leake takes away the GIDP just in time. Then Pedroia hits a perfect grounder to the SS, but Betts was on 2B.

Sox are playing errorless ball tonight. All runs are earned.

Betts and Bogie stay hot, but now Pedroia will demonstrate his patented GIDP.

No error by Moreland, it turns out. He seems to be terminally stupid thinking he can field a bunt and then throw across the diamond to get a runner coming from 2B who must be tagged. There is some good news, however. Porcello is even worse than the fielding and getting hit hard. No way are the Sox going to score runs off Leake. So this game was lost from the beginning--Morehead just helped to expedite things a little. Best part is I get to bed at a decent hour. Bad news is Benintendi looks a little lost at the plate--he K's on 2 very hittable called strikes, then swings at a pitch well inside.

I love it because it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ortiz doesn't know jack. JD Drew the best? In his five years with the Sox he was never rated better than 3d in MLB in RF. Last year Mookie Betts--you know, Ortiz's teammate-- was not only ranked #1 among all MLB rightfielders, it was by a huge margin. I agree JD Drew was a five tool player--hitting, hitting with power, running the bases, fielding, and throwing--and might even have had a slight edge in fielding. But Mookie has the better arm--more accurate, quicker release, stronger--runs the bases twice as well, really does hit with power, and hits for average. More than that, he plays every day and is the right guy to have at the plate when you need some runs. In five years with the Sox, 2007-11, Drew never drove in more than 68 runs. In his entire career he never drove in more than 100 runs. Last year Mookie drove in 113.

Porcello vs. Leake (the famous anthropologist). Our starter has double the ERA of their guy.

What a great post! How can a Cardinals fan pick up the talksox lingo and perspective so easily and completely? I mean, he is disgusted with his own team for losing to the Yankees and Nationals, two of the hottest teams in MLB right now and even though the Cards are leading the NL Central, which only includes last year's best team, the Cubbies.

All due respect--you did, after all, start a winning thread--I give our guys a lot of credit. Cardinal errors helped, but we still had 5 rbi's and 2 dingers. Plus the Cardinals only rally, 3 runs in the 3d, depended heavily on ERod hitting their pitcher and put him on base instead of getting should have been an easy out. I whined about ERod, but he went 6 while giving up 3, a quality start. The bullpen was great. The defense was very good, especially the great play by Mookie in RF, plus having Marrero at 3B. No errors. The Cardinals are right now leading the NL Central and were playing in their park--thus no DH (probably a blessing in disguise for the Sox) and their starter Lynn had been very good his previous 4 starts. So wasn't it neat when Betts lead off with a dinger and JBJ added one an inning later? I am the world's leading proponent of the thesis that earned and unearned runs are total bs created by the pitchers lobby. To me a run is a run, and an error is not an excuse for a pitcher to say, "OK, whatever happens now ain't on me but on the turkey who just made the error." Our team beat their team 6-3 on their field fair and square.

Great play by Mookie. JBJ does not make that play because he is incapable of a quick release combined with an accurate throw.