Maxbialystock

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.

I'm almost sick and tired of the mantra urging the FO to get another starter because it seems the only ones available are available for a reason--they are on the downside. Maybe, maybe Price is about to turn things around, but to me it's pretty obvious we should have kept Lester. At the time, however, I wasn't so sure because I tend to defer to the FO.

I apologize to one and all for this stupid thread. What I really wanted to know is how rigorous the testing is these days. In any case, I hope Youk comes along and kills this thread.

I said Ramirez in the OP, but my heart is solidly with you. Pedroia by a mile!

The NOAA weather map is ominous. The weather report says rain from 6 to 9:45.

I honestly don't regret being down on Ramirez last year. Heck, he had a significantly negative WAR and was getting a paid a lot of money. Moving him to 1B was a smart move, but I think he just decided in the offseason he was going to turn over a new leaf. The 2016 Hanley is way different from the 2015 one.

Forget DWAR for now. I'm talking about the eye test. I'll start by saying that I wish it were Bogaerts because he works so hard at it and so far has no errors, but I think his range ain't great. So my no doubt contentious pick is Hanley Ramirez because he has 0 errors and because he is still quick on his feet and, as a former SS, is more likely to have excellent range.

First, I have zero suspicions. Indeed, I don't recall any Sox player being suspended but suspect one or more has been. But I ask the question because I don't know how MLB is testing/checking this year.

Vazquez has always looked dumpy to me, but there is no denying is talent and training behind the plate. Forget the arm and the framing of pitches, I like the way he prevents wild pitches and fields bunts. That guy is focused and mobile on every pitch, and he has good instincts. All that said, I think his hitting will improve even though I'm fine with where he is now.

Do you do this for every Sox game? It kind of reminds of the algorithms Ken Pomeroy uses for college basketball only he provides predictions for every single game played by all 351 Div I teams and updates the predictions daily.

Let me hasten to add that I think there can be no question the Chili Davis has been a boon to Red Sox hitting, whether they are going opposite field or just whopping the ball. And it's working throughout the lineup. Davis has to get a lot of credit.

Sox are still percentage points behind the Orioles, so a win would definitely be nice.

To me it's all about the pitching. Even a so-so pitcher can have a good game now and then. What I like very much about our lineup right now, however, is that there are a lot of good bats. Heck, our guys are even hitting lefties! Sooner or later the hitting has to cool off a little. That's when the pitching needs to kick in.

A great bat following a great bat definitely helps. Ortiz was nothing at Minnesota and went on a tear instantly with the Sox because he batted third and Manny Ramirez batted 4th. When Manny left for LA in 2008, Ortiz's numbers, while still good, went down. That's when Ortiz started saying, "I can't get a pitch to hit." Protection, if that's the right term, is no myth. That said, Ortiz's protection--with Hanley Ramirez following him--isn't that great, but he is still hitting up a storm but also getting walked a lot.

One more time, then I will drop it. I see no need for Youk to read every thread. My idea is to simply check the number of replies after the thread has been going for, say, one day (or two days). If the number is low, move it to the scrap heap thread. That said, I truly appreciate what Youk is doing because talksox is a good website and fun to contribute to. I had no idea we only have one mod. Max