Maxbialystock

Rangers are definitely tough this year, and last time, June 26, Perez went 6 giving up 1 run, a solo dinger, in Texas where we lost 6-2. Monday our guys showed they can beat the crap out of lousy pitching, but last night good pitching held them to 2 runs despite getting on base a lot. We will have our ace, Wright, but Hanigan will likely be catching, and doesn't do well with the knuckler. I think it will be a good game, but am not confident we can win, especially against a good lefty. Last night we had 11 hits but were 2 for 16 with RISP. This is starting to look like some kind of fungus or bacterial invasion--RISP disease.

I honestly think the Sox lost the game in the first inning when Texas scored 2 and we failed to score with men on first and third and no one out with Bogaerts, Ortiz, and HanRam coming to bat. Yes, we tied the game at 2 later on, but then completely ran out of gas. We couldn't score in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th innings. Kimbrel giving up 4 in the 9th was simply putting our team out of its misery because this time the Rangers pitching had our collective number big time. The Sox were 2 for 16 with RISP. And didn't Shaw get nailed in no man's land yet again? That throw home by the RF actually went all the way to the catcher and was not cut off, but the Rangers catcher still had ample time to throw to 2B way ahead of brainless Shaw. For all we know the 1B coach waved him on to 2B. As for Kimbrel, he needs to make up his mind to be a complete closer, one who will go in and pitch well when a save isn't on the line. Interesting how a Yankee fan is allowed not only to offer his opinions, which is fine with me, but then to pick fights with Red Sox fans. He has done his best to turn this thread into a bitch session.

It is unforgivable to have men on first and third with no one out and have the middle of the f***ing order all pop up weakly. It looks as though they forgot the last time this guy pitched and on top of that decided not to watch and video of the guy. Now the bottom of the order comes up and gets a dinger and a triple.

Terrible umpire. Horrible. Had zero effect on the game because the Sox were hitting and Porcello recovered nicely from that first inning, so the Sox win 12-5. And you will not see a headline anywhere in Texas saying, "our Rangers got screwed by that lousy home plate umpire." Why? Because missed calls on balls and strikes do not normally keep good pitchers from getting men out and bad pitchers from getting hit.

If pigs had wings, they could fly. The Sox currently lead MLB, by 30 runs and the AL by 43 runs. They average 5.63 runs/game to the second best AL team's (Baltimore) 5.12. That's better than the bodacious 2004 lineup, anchored by Manny and Papi, that averaged 5.85 runs/game vs. second place Yankees 5.54. These guys are hitting up a storm and you guys are saying, "we need more hitting so we can win more consistently." How about, instead, "some pitching would be nice."

The point is, one guy in the lineup does not transform an offense (even though Ortiz comes close to that). Pedroia's OPS is around .800 and he got the AL MVP when it was I think around .850, so right now he is .050 short of being the AL MVP (and exaggeration) and you think he ain't hacking it.

For the first half of this season Ortiz has been our hitting star--beyond question. But a bunch of other guys have contributed--Bogaerts, Betts, Bradley, Shaw, Young, HanRam, Pedroia, Leon, and in his three latest games, all wins, Holt. He has been hot exactly when the Sox needed a spark. What does amaze me is that Betts, batting leadoff, is second on the team in rbi's. This can only happen if the bottom third of the lineup is getting on base. And it could only happen with this Sox team.

Watching the movie Patton sure as hell doesn't make you knowledgeable about military discipline and morale in wartime. You and I have different definitions of sloppy too. Our biggest problem isn't sloppiness but terrible pitching and periodic lulls in what is otherwise a great hitting lineup. I am by no means letting Farrell off the hook because he is ultimately responsible for the overall performance and especially the W-L record.

Great line, and I'm inclined to agree.

Gritty start by Porcello against a good hitting team. Now the box score says that 3 of the 4 first inning runs were earned.

1. That wasn't an error. 2. If Pedey goes for the out on Fielder the guy on 3B could score before we actually tag Fielder. I agree, he probably should have gone for Fielder, but the run was also possible.

I honestly don't think it makes that much differece who bats where with these guys. Betts leads off and leads the team in runs scored, but he is also second in rbi's. And the lineup only leads MLB in runs scored by 25 runs or so.

I certainly didn't think we missed Holt, but in these three games, all wins (big assumption about today), he has been a real tonic. Great dinger to right center and great throw home to nail a runner from 2b who was running with two outs. Two hits in each of his first two games back.

Umpire is definitely not good, nor has he prevented the better pitcher and his team from getting a lead. Indeed, Porcello's biggest problem in the first inning was the error by Leon that led to 2 unearned runs.

2 of the 4 Ranger runs in the 1st were unearned.

Pedey leads the Sox in GIDP with 15. Second is lumbering Ortiz with 12. Then the next guy down, someone with wheels, is Bogaerts with 7. Pedey also has a decent OBP, .366, and OPS, .801. Before monkeying with the batting order, it might be worth noting that the Sox lead MLB in runs scored by about 25 runs. On the previous game thread someone said Brock Holt was holding this team together, which at the time I thought was silly. Today with the bases loaded he took 2 pitches in the heart of the strike zone, then had to swing a low pitch for an easy groundout.

Bosoxmal, I thought I was an over-reactor, but you take the cake. I'm old, but you are older and should know better than to compare one stupid baseball game to Dec 7, 1941. And what is all that stuff about a lousy mindset? I say again, it was just one game. If you are saying Shaw is a little too error prone, I agree, but he has been that way all season long and starts because of his good bat against righties. As for the Leo Durocher quotation, you got that one wrong too. He was talking about opposing players, not opposing managers. And guess what, MLB has worked steadily at eliminating the style of play espoused by Ty Cobb, who loved to slide into second base with spikes high. But back then players were only making a little more than the average fan and were expendable. You're right that Farrell tends to be a good guy (or a nice guy), but, heck, so is Joe Maddon. You keep wanting to move Betts down in the batting order and his OBP says you could be right. But he is second on the team in rbi's and leads in runs scored. Moreover, despite recent scoring woes, the Sox lead MLB in runs scored. The problems are all with the pitching, not the hitting.

I started this thread because, while I believe managers can deserve to be fired based on the overall performance of a team, I think too many hotheaded fans tend to focus in on specific decisions and explain them in black and white terms to prove that a manager is utterly inept (your term). And you are a case in point. There are two things true about Wright's fastball and one thing true about his knuckler. The fast ball works when it is unexpected and doesn't work when the hitter is sitting on the fast ball. The latter was absolutely the case when he gave up the dinger. Better, by far, to throw another knuckler as he was told to do because, guess what? If he walks the hitter, 1 run comes in and the Sox are still up 5-1. It was in fact incredibly stupid to throw the fast ball when the hitter was looking for it. As for the knuckler, it comes and goes whether or not it is raining. That's why Wright gets a lot of walks and, for that matter, passed balls and wild pitches. It is effective precisely because it is unpredictable. As for having guys warming up in the bullpen, the Sox were up by five and WRight was pitching a shutout going into the 6th and the bullpen has been clearly overworked the last couple weeks (even though thursday was a travel day). Did I forget to mention you are bellyaching about a game the Sox won? Or that, as good as they were in the final four innings against the Angels, they have been hugely inconsistent--Kimbrell would have given up the tying run in the 9th were it not for the Sox fan not grabbed a ball that was headed back to the playing field)--this year? Wright was/is our best pitcher, and you want him out of there at the first indication of trouble.

Strangely enough, I agree. I don't mind defending specific decisions by Farrell, but always think a manager is partly responsible for the overall team performance. Right now the pitching is getting worse and the hitting is falling back from the highs of April and May. This is beyond question a June swoon.

REally? I started on "referendum on Farrell" thread and there were plenty of people back then who wanted Farrell fired because he kept using Young, including against righties. But I agree with you it does stink--it's bad for him and for the team. What doesn't stink is the policy now that says concussions have to be treated carefully and not glossed over.

Meh. Stadiums are nice, but it's the fans (and the players) who make the difference. The Yankees have almost brand new ballpark with way more seats than 100 year old Fenway and a franchise that has won more world championships than any other professional sport team. But as of today the Sox combined average attendance, home and on the road, is higher than the Yankees. Whatever Yankee Stadium and the Yankees as a team have to offer, fans aren't much interested.

Just 1 single from the first 4 in the Sox lineup.

I think Tampa is also good at developing pitchers. The Sox clearly are not.

Wow. It sure looked as though the Ray pitched around Bogaerts to get to Ortiz. Four straight balls to load the bases.But he walks Ortiz to bring in a run and face HanRam. And HanRam K's looking. Smart move by the pitcher. HanRam was the guy to go after with a 6 run lead and the bases loaded. Strikes out looking at a hanging curve near the center of the strike zone.

Finally, a solid single by Pedroia.