Maxbialystock

Right now it sure looks as though we have a one man lineup, Moreland, and a one man rotation, Sale. Exaggeration? Heck, yes. But this lineup is starting to piss me off.

The game box score says the gametime temp was 69 degrees, but he acted as though it was sub zero.

Barnes gets a huge break because he was really trying to walk the bases full when he accidentally thru a strike of all things and got the ever popular GIDP.

I'll tell you what I love about Sale and no other pitcher on this team. He's over 90 pitches and it's 1-1 in the 7th and leadoff hitter is fouling off pitches like there's no tomorrow. I think he gets to 102 pitches to get him out, then gets the other two out. All other pitchers on this team in the same circumstances--actually, damn few of them even get to the 7th inning and only Sale has gotten thru the 7th--would have given in to that first batter.

Six outs for the win. Is our bullpen up to it?

Looky, looky, bases loaded in the 7th with one out. Weak grounder by Leon, thank goodness, drives in the go ahead run.

Jackie and his GM Branch Rickey both served in the US Army--one during WW I and the other during WW II, and both showed a lot of guts. Today we're seeing our stalwart Sale showing some guts, but not those wimps in the lineup. 1 run in 6 innings???

Finally a fact or two inserted inserted into this unreal thread. Right now the rotation stinks, its one saving grace that its early in the season and one can hope for a recovery. Meanwhile, Wright's knuckler isn't, porcello's fastball is a gopher ball, ERod is still ERod, $30M/year Price is a world class flameout, and Pomeranz, shockinlgly, is leading the Masters after 4 holes--lots of luck with that. Sales alone seems able to start and finish a game, finish being defined as getting to the 7th inning. Now we see the wisdom of hanging onto Holt, of whom I am no fan, but right now we need about 10 guys in the bullpen to make up for our weak starters. So the question is, can he also catch so we can send Leon or Vazquez down for another arm?

Why fix the hitting when the starting pitching is so bad? By themselves Porcello and Wright have made wins impossible. We have exactly one reliable starter at this point.

If it's possible to skip a start or two by Wright, that might make sense.

After Pomeranz's win last night, you gotta like the Sox chances tonight. If at all possible the field crew needs to make the infield even faster for tonight, plus maybe put up a sign nearby saying "danger, fast infield, use caution."

Way back on page 1 or so I wrote we didn't have much chance last night and based it on my assumption that Pomeranz is a putz and the Orioles starter has good stuff. A throwaway game, I said. I also told my boss the same thing. We both live in N.Virginia and both get the Orioles games on a local channel. So he watched and then confronted me this morning for not knowing much about the Sox. Serves me right. \ Reading Pomeranz's postgame comments, I gather he was almost as surprised as I was.

Way back on page 1 or so I wrote we didn't have much chance last night and based it on my assumption that Pomeranz is a putz and the Orioles starter has good stuff. A throwaway game, I said. I also told my boss the same thing. We both live in N.Virginia and both get the Orioles games on a local channel. So he watched and then confronted me this morning for not knowing much about the Sox. Serves me right.

Great, great start by Pomeranz. I had this game as a throwaway and could not be happier to be wrong. Special delight in the 2 Orioles errors. After that double, the bull pen has also looked sharp. 3 runs and 3 Ks vs. Bundy.

I could be wrong because in baseball almost anything could happen, but I do see this game as a throwaway. Bundy looks to be tough, and Pomeranz to be very un-tough.

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.