Maxbialystock

We lived in N. Virginia when my son came of age and there was no MLB team in Washington because two versions of the Senators had departed for greener pastures, the first to Minnesota and the second to Texas, so my son remains to this day an Orioles fan and I find it hard to hate them with quite the same vehemence as our illustrious moderator. Nevertheless, I do see them as an irritant, but would remind everyone that last year Baltimore lost 11 games to the Sox including all 4 of the final 4 game series, Sep 19-22, in Baltimore. This time just two quick ones at Fenway, and the first--tonight--is their Dylan Bundy vs. our Pomeranz, with a huge edge to Bundy who went 7 with 8 K's while giving up just 1 run to the Blue Jays. Bundy reportedly has great stuff and just one downside--how long will his arm last this year. The Sox, meanwhile, struggle at the plate, yesterday being only the most recent example of a team that has scored 22 runs in 6 games. The worst scoring team, Atlanta, in MLB has scored just 4 fewer--18 runs. Right now--granted, just 6 games into the season--our third highest OPS belongs to Pedroia at .613. Then Benintendi at .601, Young at .554, Sandoval .504. Bradley's at .782, but he's on the DL. Bogaerts and HanRam could both start tonight, but their hitting--very small sample--is also off.

Hand-wringing is what us older guys do best. If the Sox were 6-0 right now, we'd be saying, "yeah, fine, but watch out for the June swoon." To be honest, I'm surprised the pitching has been this good, but Pomeranz should take care of that tonight. And I'm chagrinned that the hitting hasn't been better even without HanRam, Bogaerts, et al. Both times Sale has been a joy to watch and Porcello OK. ERod and Wright also OK. Best of all might be Kimbrel who eschews a routine save and prefers to keep us on the edge to the very end.

All in all, a painful game. 3 hits normally does get you much offense, but we got help from a Detroit error. Someone else said these day games are a pain, and I agree.

If you mean his flexibility (all positions except pitcher and catcher) is crapola, I agree with you.

Did Holt mishandle the grounder or was it a legit double?

Sale is pretty amazing, especially for a Sox pitcher. He works fast, throws a lot of strikes, has good heat and a curve/slider and changeup.

Agree with the above from slasher9. I'm watching on my ipad. Hitting could be worse. Nice to get the one run.

The sweet swing, on the other hand, is looking just a tad sour. But you gotta believe in Benintendi.

Hernandez might be faking it, but he looks like a hitter to this ignorant person. He nailed that Verlander pitch.

I'll take run too. After 2 what Sale is doing to Detroit has to be unlawful in at least two states. Doesn't the 13th amendment--great flick, in case you haven't seen it--expressly forbid ownership of another person? So far Sale owns six Tigers.

Porcello gives up 11 hits and 4 runs in 6 innings on a day when we needed something better than the sigh young award winner. Plus one of those runs was because he failed to cover 1b on a grounder.

Porcello looks like the Sigh Young award winner. That second Detroit run was on him for not covering 1b. And he has thrown a lot of pitches.

Good for you, Kimmi. Upbeat. Darn flu. The pitching should have come to the rescue, especially in the Friday Tigers game. Instead they were terrible even after the great Sox comeback rally. Could be, however that some with flu bug played.

I'm glad I was wrong about no scoring this game and about Moreland. Wright wasn't great, but was OK. The Sandoval dinger was fantastic. But my gosh that bullpen. Hembree, Scott, and Kelly managed to give up 4 walks, 3 hits, and 2 runs in one rotten inning. Last season someone quoted I think Whitey Herzog: the difference between a good manager and a bad one is a great bullpen. Those three weren't great today, and, if you ain't great today, you ain't great, period. Four walks????!!!!

This was the perfect time for Wright to give up the 2 run dinger because the Sox lineup today is dead, dead, dead. Moreland is now hitless in his first three games as a Sox but he still bats right there in the middle of the lineup, 4th or 5th.

4 runs in 5 innings, plus no DH to worry about. 7 hits, 2 walks, but no dingers.

Great! I sure hope you are right and I am wrong. However he turns out, this looks like the best rotation in quite some time.

The only guy in the lineup I don't like is Moreland. Except for him, however, there is a lot to like.

After ST, I thought the Sox would be good hitting and almost as good pitching this year, but in two games the pitching has impressed me and the hitting only adequate, albeit a very good adequate with those two 3-run dingers. I'm old and still have a day job, but nevertheless didn't go to sleep until Leon won the game in the 9th. Sale looked pretty good in ST but even better last night. Bullpen scared me in ST but so far has been excellent. I don't see E-Rod and Wright doing as well as Porcello and Sale, but I think they will be good enough. I didn't like Pomeranz last year--who did?--and still don't.

Betts not playing in game 2? Is he injured?

Last year the Sox scored 100 more runs than the second best offense in the AL, so, even without Ortiz, I expect the Sox to do better than "top 3-4 offense." For counting purposes, I assume Moreland, not Ramirez, is Ortiz's replacement in the lineup. That's a pretty big drop-off. Sports Illustrated used to have a stat called "runs produced." It was runs scored + rbi's - home runs. Last year Ortiz "produced" 168 runs for the Sox and Moreland 88 for the Rangers. Even if they can't make up for those 80 runs between 168 and 88, the Sox would still have the best offense in the AL--maybe. I think the Guardians, who were second in scoring in 2016, picked up Encarcion. On the other hand, I expect Sandoval and Benintendi to be pretty good plus-ups. Pedroia might go down a little, but Bogaerts should go up. I will be more than happy if Betts and Bradley are about the same as in 2016 even though both are young and could improve. Leon will still be Leon, but Vazquez should be better than he was last year at the plate. Ramirez 2017 should be on a par with Ramirez 2016.

I wanted to keep Ellsbury, but not for the money he wanted and got from the Yankees, who overpaid because of the departure of Cano and Ellsbury's very misleading but spectacular 2011 season. No doubt they thought the short porch in RF would also help. I also wasn't that much of a Bradley fan in 2015 but agreed with the Sox decision to keep giving him shots with the big club--which finally paid off I think in August when he caught fire at the plate. The giant irony of the 2016 season is that the defensive stalwart JBJ came much, much closer to Ellsbury's 2011 offensive stats than Ellsbury did.

Good win, good game overall. Porcello was excellent over 6 innings, then the error by Sandoval to kick off the 7th, which hurt along with Barnes ineptitude. Good plays in the outfield--Bradley in the triangle and Benintendi over the shoulder. Clearly, too, this lineup can hit although I have serious doubts about Moreland and would never bet him 5th, but what the heck. Kimbrel gave up the double off the monster and hit someone with his infamous knuckle curve, but otherwise looked very good for the save.

Kimbrel's in a groove, just like in spring training.

Can Moreland hit lefties? I ask because he doesn't seem to hit righties too well, say I after one game.