Maxbialystock

That too. But what else?

Actually, we saw something like that--2 baserunning outs/errors on the same batted ball--by an opposing team. Sox down 5-4.

What is Cora saying?

Horrible baserunning by both. What is Cora's gripe on the calls?

Exactly my thought.

Duran has lost none of his panache. leadoff double in the 5th!

Buehler gets out of the 4th unscathed despite bases full and 1 out. The defense had a double play they messed up. It's hard to make that throw to 2b and then hustle back to 1b.

We all hated losing Mookie, but I'm convinced the Dodgers were always going to outbid us for him.

The freaking score is 5-4!!!!!

Rafaela walks, steals 2d, advances on a grounder, and scores on Wong's sac fly. Nice.

I would not. Horrible 1st, but decent 2d and 3d innings. He's thrown 67 pitches in 3 IP. I think Cora will simply pull him when he seems to have gone bad again. But he might surprise us and go 5.

2 scoreless IP after the the 1st inning train wreck. Sox are also scoreless in 2d and 3d innings.

Bello is actually a pretty good #2.

He has a +0.6 DWAR at 2b. He got a dinger recently. He loves his mom.

Hmm. Now the baserunning is going south.

The one good thing about the first inning is that maybe, just maybe--folks will stop whining that we lost an irreplaceable stud in Devers and must spend and trade everything available to replace him with someone as good. I disagree of course. The pitching is the freaking problem! The pitching is the freaking problem! Did I forget to mention that our rotten stinking worthless lineup scored 14 runs against a good SF pitching staff? Buehler's wretched performance will of course be blamed on Cora. He's the manager, isn't he?

True.

To win it seems obvious the hitters must s7core runs. Just three righty bats--Story, Rafaela, and Wong. Batting order;; Duran, Toro, Anthony (DH), Story, Abreu, Rafaela, Mayer, Wong, and Hamilton. 76 degrees. Trout at DH for LA. Their lineup has 3 hitters under .600 and none over .800.

I will be watching avidly tonight, hopefully with not too much commentary.

MLB team fielding percentages range from 99% to 98%. Player by player DWAR's are a better gauge. As you say, the problem tonight, other than a late start, is Buehler. Dobbins is on the IL and Fitts is starting Wednesday..

With that name? Do you realize he could be one of those guys from up north? But it is one heckuva name. Jean-Sebastien, welcome to talksox.

True. After game 1, I wanted a sweep, which was killed by errors by Hamilton, Gonzalez, and Duran.

Pollyanna here. Hi, everyone. I don't think things are going in the wrong direction, not with the acquisitions this season of Bregman, Crochet, Chapman, and Narvaez. Plus rookies Campbell, Mayer, and Anthony all show promise. I also like Story at SS, Abreu in RF, Rafaela in CF, and Ref/Yoshida at the DH. Bello's ERA for the season is 3.31. In June it's 2.45 with 4 starts and 6, 7, 6, and 6.1 innings pitched. He shut out the Yankees for 7 innings. I think Bregman's arrival was the major factor in Devers' departure. I'm fine with blaming that on Breslow and maybe even Cora, but see above on how I see the Sox hitting this season. The weak spot is pitching. However, moonslav, always a pain in the neck when I spout my theories and insights, has suggested the contrary. So I checked the espn team stats and noticed that MLB team ERA's ranked 13th through 19th all have winning records. The Sox are ranked 17th. The Phillies ERA is 3.89 to our 3.91, and they are 47-31. The Blue Jays ERA, ranked 21st, is 4.17 and they are 41-36. Today is June 23. The Sox are 40-39, 3 games short of halfway in the season. They are 3-3 on a road trip we hoped the Sox would go 5-4 on. That's still possible despite the absence of both Bregman and Devers, the bullpen's struggles yesterday, and Dobbin's going on the IL. But, if they don't, we know things get significantly better when Bregman returns. Plus Bregman can still make some moves.

Someone had to admit it so that the rest of us can. And why not? Teams and players have ups and downs and we are fans, short for fanatics. We embrace over-reacting. I defended and boosted Raffy throughout this season but now I'm trying to convince people his departure can be overcome. Thus his dinger to beat us Saturday was bad.

That's how I see it. Plus we know Story can play 2b and maybe his hitting is coming around. Bregman, despite the misinformation on mlb.com and espn, started baseball activities Saturday. I think he's no more than 10 days away and he replaces Hamilton in the lineup. How about that for a boost! Rafaela and Story are both hitting better this month. And we gotta believe Mayer and Anthony will both get better at the plate this season. Abreu is hitting. Narvaez is still at OPS .800. With Dobbins out, I think our real problem is pitching, not hitting or defense.