Maxbialystock

Other Sox pitchers, please take note. Rodriguez actually ran to cover 1B on a grounder to the right side, caught the flip, and got the baserunner out! Try it some time.

Three innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 GIDP, and 0-4 with RISP for our guys. Oh, and the run was unearned. About par for the course.

Fascinating. Thanks. Last night I was certain that Milwaukee has a much better infield than the Sox. The handled three GIDP's flawlessly. We should have had two, but Pedroia was, I think, slow on the other and the batter beat the throw (by Bogaerts) to 1B. Nevertheless, the Brewers are right up there on the s*** list not far below the Sox. We have 56 misplays, they have 52. So I'm not so sure about the validity of that chart. However, I am pretty sure that our infield defense, including catcher, is not very good. Too many errors. Not much range.

Kendrick is what he is, but tonight he pitched way better than last time while his teammates did everything in their power to make things worse. Herewith a short list-- 1 for 11 with RISP. Pedroia gets a perfect double play ball, and takes so long to get it to Bogaerts, there is no chance for two especially with how slow Bogaerts is at turning the ball around toward 1B. Vazquez makes a horrible throw to 2B to make sure the guy on 2b can score and the guy on 1b gets to 3b. Hembree gives up the single to ensure one more run is charged to Kendrick. Another GIDP by our guys, what else? b

After 3 innings at bat the Sox are 0 for 6 with RISP. Sound familiar?

I find the assertion that the standings are irrelevant laughable because I can guarantee that, were the Sox in first place by 5 games right now there would be lots of crowing. Oh, nobody would claim the season was over and all would insist it's still a marathon, but nobody would be saying, "this isn't the right. A losing streak is right around the corner because our hitting and pitching aren't this good."

Clearly, management read my post and decided to send JBJ out there tonight to take another shot. For the record, when JBJ finally started hitting in August 2015, I was astounded. I had no objection to giving him additional shots in Boston because of his defense, but didn't think he would hit. And right now I favor giving him a shot only because he still has some skills.

Sox now 4.5 back of the Yankees and 5 back of the Orioles. Hitting seems to be coming back, but Pomeranz and Kendrick can fix that easily enough.

Of the bottom 5 from last night's lineup only Rutledge remains--HanRam for Moreland, Bradley for Young, Vazquez for Leon, and of course Kendrick for Pomeranz.

We truly are back in 2015 except that we have seen that sometimes JBJ really can hit. Back then he couldn't hit spit in MLB until August of 2015. Whatever, the case for keeping him is a good one. He is a great back-up and should probably get one or more chances to start again.

Who gives a s*** about Fred Lynn? Seriously. Benintendi is all of 22 years old, batting cleanup, and leads the current Sox in dingers, OPS, total bases, runs, and rbi's. Last year he skipped AAA to get to the big club. He is exactly what the Yankees thought they were getting when they offered Ellsbury $154M. They thought they were getting the 2011 Ellsbury, he with the .928 OPS, 32 dingers, 117 rbi's, etc. Lynn was probably a better fielder, but Beni is decent enough to allow Farrell to keep our best OF arm in RF where he belongs and to put Young in LF while JBJ necessarily rides the pine. OK, OK. I looked up Fred Lynn and agree he had an incredible rookie year and was about the same age as Benintendi but 5 months older. And he was a better fielder. I was in Germany that summer and the next four.

Hmmm. I completely agree that the bottom half of the order was terrible last night, but the Sox still scored 7 runs. It would appear that Farrell's changes to the lineup have now paid off for 3 straight games. But your comment about leaving Pomeranz and Hembree in too long makes no sense at all. Almost all the damage to Pomeranz was done in the first inning, but he finally got out of it with just 5 runs. There are very, very few MLB managers who will take out a starter in the first inning for less than 7 runs. As it turned out, Pomeranz went 3 more innings and gave up 1 more run, and the Sox got it back to 6-4 when Farrell pinch hit for Pomeranz in the 5th--in my judgment, exactly the right move. As for Hembree, he went into that game with an ERA below 2. Plus we were just in the 6th inning. Farrell had every reason to expect one inning from Hembree and lots of reasons to hesitate replacing him. Plus he only threw 13 pitches as it was. Had it been late innings and the Sox ahead, then pulling him quickly might have made sense.

Here's what bothers me about Pomeranz. Forget the stats. What I saw last night and see too often is that he is a MLB starter--not a reliever--with basically two pitches, a knuckle curve and a 90 mph fast ball. And he does not have the exquisite control needed to get away with just two pitches. Plus a 90 mph fastball is something batters with any sense will sit on--that is, wait for one that is somewhere near the middle of the strike zone.

Possibly. My point is that sometimes bad base running occurs because some players just don't have a good feel for timing things on the basepaths. Sometimes--like that triple play on what seemed at first to be an infield fly rule--it's just a bad situation for the baserunner (s). My all time favorite gaffe occurred with Nava on 2B when a Sox player hit a ball deep to RF. Nava couldn't decide what to do, but finally decided it was going to be caught so he actually slid back into 2B just to be absolutely sure he would be safe. The ball went all the way to the wall and should have been at least a double with Nava scoring, but it turned into a single with the hitter wisely spotting Nava's indecision at 2B and holding up at 1B. Some players simply can't run the bases.

Last night I watched part of the 9th inning of the Nationals at Orioles game when Washington had a nice rally going. They had cut the margin to 6-4 with just 1 man out and runners on 2d and 3d, so a single can tie the game. Instead, it was hard hit grounder to the firstbaseman Davis who grabbed, sprinted to 1B to get the runner out, and headed toward home thinking there would be a play. There wasn't. The guy on 3B changed his mind. The guy on 2d, a pinch runner in for the guy who just hit a double for the Nationals, however, was headed toward 3d and got caught in a run down, so finally the guy on 3B heads for home and then just stands there so someone could please tag him out. End of game.

A lot of truth in that.

A key point. We don't know if the Sox have turned a corner scoring runs, but that's a very good sign. Interesting that Farrell's 1st, 3d, and 4th hitters are the three B's, but not in the order one would expect. Bogaerts with no dingers but the best OBP on the team, is batting 3d.

Think of Marrero as Ensign Pulver (Jack Lemmon) in the movie Mr. Roberts. You think he isn't doing anything, but he is actually saving up all those hits for when they will really do some good. Just like Pulver and the marbles.

chris young chokes with the bases loaded--lineup to CF. Thank goodness.

Let's not forget that Santana--lowest ERA in MLB and 5-0--and the Sox pummeled him for 6. By pitching the 6th, Sale gets the win. And the Sox lineup, with Betts leading off, Pedroia 2d, Bogaerts 3d, and Benintendi 4th--a change I never would have thought of--appears to be recharged with 11 yesterday and 14 and counting today. Who woulda thunk? Certainly not me because I have badmouthed this lineup forever.

Good. The putz amazes with a sharp single to LF.

Walking Benintendi and going after the putz is such a no-brainer.

Back in the 5th, I say again for the upteenth time, the ump called a ball on what should have been a strike that was high but in the zone. That would have been strike 3 and prevented the 2 run single by that batter. Sale was not getting calls today, so I'm delighted that Kimbrel did.

He stuck to his rule. This is a 5 out situation thanks to both Barnes and Scott screwing up. Thank goodness Farrell left Sale out there for the 6th. The Twins would have run up a bunch more runs before Kimbrel came in.

I love it. Mauer called out on a pitch on the corner the ump called a strike and gripes knowing that the Twins got at least one crucial ball called on what was a strike back in the 5th inning. Great inning by Kimbrel!!