Maxbialystock

Well put, even though commenting on someone else's comments is frowned upon.

Sox now need to avoid a sweep by a team that was great last year but going into this series had a losing record.

Sox had 9 hits and 2 runs, KC 5 hits and 2 runs. To me the two key plays were our inability to bring a man home from 3d with no one out and KC's ability to do exactly that.

Brock at least hit a hard grounder.

He's a knuckleballer, so of course there will always be residual concern. But so far this season he has impressed the heck out of me. Right now he is our ace, simple as that. He eats innings and doesn't give up a lot of runs. And he might be giving Hanigan ulcers over all those PB's.

Interesting and productive are obviously in the eye of the beholder, especially when the commentator is a newby. Changing the subject back to the game, I think Wright has pitched a heckuva game despite the early dinger, but he ain't getting much support. I think the key play was earlier when the Sox had one run in, men on 1st and 3d, and nobody out, and Shaw and Rutledge struck out--Shaw looking.

Helluva game. Two great plays by KC to cut our guys down, but especially Bogaerts going to third. In his defense, if he is safe, that fly to left would have scored him.

Let's see if I have this right. I commented on my own statement that Wright looked bad in the 1st inning, which has caused now four different comments discussing, not the game or the action on the field, but me and my comments. And the specific complaint was that I wasn't commenting on the game. Hmmmmm Meanwhile, back to the game: Shaw, Rutledge, and Bradley between them have left 11 guys on base. Also, the Sox overall have struck out 13 times and been walked once.

Agree. I also thought your sarcasm was self-evident and very appropriate. Note that there will never, ever a be a comment from the Farrell-bashers that playing Young today against a righty paid off. Nosiree. The Farrell bashers know for a fact that Farrell does not understand the intricacies of making up a lineup card, who to pinch hit for or with, who to bring in from the bullpen and when, etc.

Man on third with one or no outs, you must make contact but don't need to get a hit. Even a GIDP by Shaw would have been preferable to the K.

Hey, dipstick. Did you notice Wright has now thrown three straight shutout innings? What you don't know about baseball would fill a book.

Wow. Just wow. Man on third with no one out and the 5th and 6th hitters, Shaw and Rutledge, strike out. Shaw struck out looking at a pitch in the middle of the strike zone. Bradley finally hit a grounder to 2B to bring Ortiz home only there were two outs already. At this point Wright should consider calling his lawyer to see what he can get for non-support.

For all those who want to blame this game on Young, I might point out that four other batters have K'd against Kennedy.

It was on another thread, but I could swear someone was assuring me, very recently, that our rotation is fine. We basically don't have a 5th starter. Our ace is a deuce. Buchholz continues to struggle. And now Wright and Porcello are showing feet of clay. Top of the 3d, and we have 1 hit, Young, in for Holt who is in a slump, just struck out on 3 pitches (against a righty of course), followed by a K by Hanigan and another 3-strike K for Betts. Hmmmmm

Looks like the same lineup as last night--Betts, Pedroia, Bogaerts, Ortiz. Ramirez, Shaw, Bradley, Vazquez, and Holt. Back to back lefty bats, Shaw and Bradley, have been a rarity this season.

Royals are 1 game under .500 but were great last year. They are much better at home than on the road. Pitching is slightly above average for AL but their hitting thus far is sub par. Sox have a 3 game set here, then go back to Boston for 6 against Cleveland and Colorado.

Royals ballpark is very nice with good sight lines--just an hour from Leavenworth and Fort Leavenworth, KS, and several state and federal prisons, including the Army's Disciplinary Barracks. Tonight it's Betts, Pedroia, Bogaerts, Ortiz, Ramirez, Shaw, Bradley, Vazquez, and Holt, maybe the first time this season Farrell has gone with back to back lefty bats.

One nutty thread because OPS does not claim to be anything more than adding to numbers (percentages) together. It is almost impossible to see OPS without seeing, right next to it, the actual OBP and slugging percentage. It is far from being the ideal representation of a hitter's worth, but it's not bad and has the virtue of simplicity.

Buchholz and Price both have 8 starts. Price has pitched 48 innings and Buchholz 45.2 innings. Wright and Porcello both have 7 starts and have pitched 45.2 and 46.1 innings. So the average innings/start for all four starters are 6 innings for Price, 5.7 innings for Buchholz, 6.5 innings for Wright, and 6.6 innings for Porcello. That looks like a pretty tight shot group to me. How about you?

The Sox are one of very, very few MLB teams with 8 relievers, but it's pretty obvious why.

Everyone else, he was the most sensible poster on BDC. Youk of the Nation, feel free to kill this after about 12 hours or so.

I continue to think the $13M was a reasonable investment whatever the outcome. He has had good stuff that has allowed him at times to be very good. His biggest liability in the past was health/endurance/innings pitched. Right now he seems to be healthy. Yesterday was a microcosm of the this season to date. He gave up 5 runs, including a grand slam, in the first two innings, then shut the Astros down for 4 innings. I think one key for him is throwing strikes, especially early in the count and especially on the first pitch. I also think he relies too much on fastballs and cutters.

I continue to maintain that fans are mostly clueless about what constitutes good or bad in-game decisions. Rare, for example, is there any mention in any game thread that the manager made a good one. Frequent, however, are complaints about so-called bad ones. I tend to give the lion's share of the credit to the players myself, but last night I did think Farrell did a commendable job with the pitching--he left Buchholz in about the right length, 6 innings, and brought in 5 other guys to take care of the rest of the 11 innings. Buchholz gave up 5 runs in the first 2 innings, and he and the rest of the staff held Houston scoreless in the next 9 innings--a high-wire act, but one which of course got no kudos from talksox.com. The other high-wire act--relying on youngsters like Bogaerts, JBJ, Shaw, Betts, and Vazquez--will continue through the season. I doubt that any other team in MLB with a winning record has so many young guys playing everyday (Vazquez only playing about half the games). That 162 game season is a grind, and this particular one includes a ton of road games in the dog days of August and September, so, me, I love it when the young Sox of May and hopefully June beat up on the weak teams because it is my guess that we will need that cushion for what is ahead. Old fans like me remember the days when the June swoon was almost obligatory. However, in recent times it was a veteran Sox team that screwed the pooch in September 2011, a season that cost Francona his job. The Sox not only had the worst September for a contender in MLB history, but some of them were enjoying beer and chicken while games were being played. I thought Lovullo was rehired with a pay raise because DD or maybe John Henry wanted him handy so they could fire Farrell. Perhaps. But two other reasons are that Lovullo's insights as a bench coach are also retained. Plus it's possible Farrell's health could suffer a relapse of last year.

Ortiz is unreal.

I can't remember, but I might have been one of the guys screaming for Davis's scalp on BDC. However, I also recognized, because it was so obvious, that the hitting was coming around in August and September.