Maxbialystock

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.

And I think your lineup does just that: 3b Bregman, SS Mayer, 2b Story, 1b Toro/Gonzalez, Duran/Rafaela/Abreu/Anthony in the outfield, Narvaez/Wong at catcher, and Yoshida/Ref at DH. Rafaela and Story both have OPS's over .800 for June. Anthony and Mayer with 36 games between the are a bit of a gamble, but I think one worth taking. With Story at 2b, that's one defensive problem solved. If Anthony goes to LF for Duran, that's another. But I suspect we are worrying about the wrong topic, maybe because we have all been mesmerized by the bombardment of all things Devers. We miss him, and the known universe agrees it was the dumbest deal since France let got of the Louisiana Purchase for a song. With Dobbins out, the pitching is in trouble. Plus the bullpen stunk yesterday.

You mean pay Story while he plays for another team? I don't think so. His OPS is over .800 in June, and his fielding is solid. When Bregman returns to 3b, Mayer can moved to his natural SS, and Story to 2b where he was excellent when Bogey was here.

I prefer Mayer at SS because we know Story can be good at 2b and Mayer at SS.

The error was on Duran, not the new guy Eaton. Do I like Mayer at 3b? Heck yes. But Mayer's OPS vs lefties is .200 and Eaton has a hot bat right now and zippo errors (1 game). Right now the Sox are without their 2 best hitters this season, Bregman and Devers, so of course Cora wants to get righty bats in against a good lefty starter. Yesterday he had 7 righty bats against lefty Ray and scored 4 runs off him, 3 earned. The 2 lefty bats. Duran and Anthony, had 1 hit of 12 Sox hits and scored no runs and drove none in. Eaton, in for Mayer, was 2/3 and scored a run. Gonzalez had the solo dinger. Hamilton is our best available defensive 2d baseman with a DWAR of +0.8, but he committed an error Saturday that led to 2 unearned runs in a 3-2 game SF won. Cora ain't the problem. He throws no pitches, takes no swings at the plate, and doesn't play defense. Our pitching, hitting and defense are all inconsistent. It is no coincidence that those 3 costly errors yesterday and Saturday came from our weakest 3 spots defensively--LF/Duran, 2b/Campbell/Gonzalez/Hamilton, and 1b Casas/Toro/Gonzalez. Rafaela in CF, Abreu/Anthony in RF, Bregman/Mayer at 3b, Story at SS, and Narvaez at catcher are all above par defenders and play a lot of innings/games.

I watched the game too, and I'm less sure the defense was sloppy. On the pop to left, both players were busting their buns to catch an inbetweener and collided. It was in Eaton's glove, so Duran got the error, but it could have easily gone the other way. When a ball is just in reach of both players, collisions are hard to avoid and I would not call them "sloppy." On the line drive to Gonzalez, I think it was very hard hit and less easy to position his glove correctly.

I said that. Down 3 you can't make a stupid baserunning mistake. On the other hand, taking 2d base like that is normal for Duran. Plus he beat the throw. I would add that the Giants have a pretty good bullpen, so I'm not so sure this mistake made much of a difference. Bigger was the error on the pop fly, and bigger than that was the error on the line drive to Gonzalez.

Cora was not responsible for the two errors nor for the crappy job the bullpen did. I wouldn't even blame him for Duran's double attempt because Duran is supposed to be aggressive on the basepaths. Plus it was a split-second decision. Plus he actually got to 2b safely before oversliding. On the plus side, I liked Giolito's quality start and the Sox hitting. Game over. Bummer. Sox now 3-3 on the west coast trip.

To beat the throw he had to overslide. Agree the errors killed us, but he bullpen today has been awful.

There is no Sox pitcher who can throw four straight pitches that low in the zone.

Meh. Not when the guys at Hqs confirm it. Moreover, Duran is stupid.

Is that the TV or radio crew?

To make matters worse, the Sox are now making a big deal about the call being confirmed. Duran is the one to trade.

I hope we get the call, but behind by 3 runs that was a stupid effort by Duran. Glory-seeking.

Why was it bad? I thought the Toro was way out of the basepath.

Pretty bad. That error by Gonzalez was nevertheless a hard hit ball.

Sox have given up 5 unearned runs in this game.

Do you agree it was a bad call? I don't.

I would definitely have pulled Giolito, who just K'd Ramos. Quality start for Giolito. 6 IP, 2 ER. How about that?

Lived in Napoli for 2 years and never had meatballs.

Agree Giolito looked Giolito today.