moonslav59

The pitching staff's stretch of doing well is now longer than the stretch starting the season. ERA 5.14 first 28 games (247 IP) 3.96 last 46 games (407 IP) Another view: 4.97 first 37 games (326 IP) 3.84 last 37 games (328 IP) One more view: 5.20 first 19 games (168) 4.73 next 18 games (158) 4.13 next 18 games (157) 3.58 last 19 games (171) Pretty steady improvement, especially when you consider 2 or our SP'ers were demoted to the pen, and Sale, Whitlock, Houck, Screiber and others have been on the IL after those first 19 games. (Paxton was on the IL to start the year.)

Indeed. Those 4 are filling some much needed roles on this roster. As much as DD has gotten grief for trading away over 20 prospects that were or once were top 20 prospects, he kept the right ones. Devers, Bello, Casas, Duran and Crawford are better than those 20+ prospects, combined.

You forgot Jordan Montgomery.

What killed me more than the long slumps was his defense getting worse and worse. The guy was supposedly an OK 3Bman. I think Turner comes back, next year, but if he has a great season, he may think about getting a better deal than the player option offers. There is just no way, barring injury to 2 or more players, Dalbec will see extended time with the Sox, this year. DH: Yoshida/Turner/Refsnyder 1B: Casas/Turner LF: Yoshida/Duvall/ Refsnyder Even with Duvall and Kike gone, I don't see it happening, next year, but it would just take one injury to give him a chance. RF Dugo (Refsnyder when rest is needed) CF Duran/Refsnyder (platoonish) LF Yoshida/Refsnyder (platoonish) 1B Casas/Turner (platoonish) DH Turner/Yoshida (platoonish) Ref sits vs RHPs and one from Duran, Casas, Dugo or Yoshida sit vs L. See the problem? Dalbec would have to prove he hits RHPs better than Refsnyder to win a slot. If Ref or Turner gets hurt we could still fill out the line-up card with guys who look better than Dalbec on offense. (Forget about the D!) No Turner? 1B. Casas, DH Yoshida, LF Refnsyder No Refsnyder? 1B. Casas, DH Turner, LF Yoshida We also don't have the time or space to see if Dalbec can hit RHPs. He's already had 573 PAs v righties and has a .689 OPS. While that's not horrible for a player's first 500+ PAs in MLB, we can't afford to see if he's fixed that problem. His career .855 OPS v LHPs should open some eyes (338 PAs)

I took an extensive class in Existentialism while at ND, and it really opened my eyes. I, then took several other Philosophy electives, almost enough to Minor in Philosophy, but the course on Nietzche was incredible. It helped to have a brilliant professor.

LOL! Good one. I think what drove Friedrich Nietzsche "mad" was his desire to answer every philosophical question put to mankind. This caused others to question everything they ever believed as rock solid truth.

I get that, but when Chang was injured, we called up a 2Bman and kept the inept Kike at SS. We went and got Reyes in May before calling up Hamilton. We've played Arroyo and even Dalbec for one game, instead of Hamilton. We could play Arroyo at SS and Kike at 2B, right now, but we won't. We could call up Valdez and play Arroyo/Kike at SS. It was good enough back a while ago. What has changed? I'm glad we called him up. I wish he was given a chance when he was red hot, but let's see what he's got.

Most players look at film, talk to coaches and fellow players, and tinker with their mechanics and approaches, when they feel they need to or noticed they are doing something different that before. The word "tinkered" covers a wide range of actions, including actions taken by the player alone- both physical and mental. Take Duran, he's been tinkering with his swing and approach for years. It was likely one reason his promotion to the bigs was delayed. He may still be "tinkering" with it as we speak. I think it is funny, when I hear someone say, "Cora needs to sit down with _____ and tell him he needs to swing at in zone pitches more often," or "take more pitches." Like it's that easy. I can just picture a batter walking up to the plate telling himself, "I have to take more pitches." If he's having thoughts like that while batting, he's toast. That's not to say some batters don't need serious help with adjusting their approach or swing. All this being said, and feel free to disagree, it's just my opinion, I would not mess with Devers or Casas- two wildly different approaches. I've said this before, but I think a line-up filled with varying approaches works better that one with all very similar approaches.

Most of us felt like we needed a SS before even EValdez was called up.

So, he's ready now, but wasn't a few weeks ago. Hmmm...

Dodgers add Brasier. Why does Bloom always let the Dodgers take our best players?

His stock has gone up, some, but he's hit well in the minors, before. Some team will want him, but he can't field for jack, and he struggles on his splits in the bigs. What is interesting about him is that teams out of it might trade for him to fill a future need, but also some team in the race might also want him as a platoon Dh/1B option and 3B depth.

That was a big play. Kike made a nice play, too- and throw.

Sine May 3rd: .271 5 16 .371 OBP .467 SLG .838 OPS 20 BB/ 33 Ks in 143 PAs Best Team OPS since May 3rd (70+ PAs) .856 Turner .838 Casas .814 Yoshida .792 Dugo .777 Devers .716 Duran .712 Reyes .672 Wong .636 Kike .606 EValdez (Ref is at .928 but with just 66 PAs)

Revisiting the McGuire v Wong with the staff debate: OPS Against Wong/McGuire Houck .692 (263)/ N/A CSale .633 (185)/ 1.061 (64) Paxton .631 (130)/ .683 (26) Pivetta .651 (125)/ .904 (124) Whitlock .816 (117)/.663 (41) B Bello .701 (115)/ .696 (142) Winckowski .656 (110)/ .595 (62) K Crawford .854 (89)/ .472 (78) K Jansen .787 (73)/ .328 (31) Kluber .699/(37)/.982 (206) Some big differentials on who catches some guys, like... Kluber is almost always w McGuire. Wong is the only one who has caught Houck. Sale 3:1 Wong Paxton 5:1 Wong Whitlock almost 3:1 Wong Jansen 2:1 Wong

Where can he play for us, this year or next? 1B: Casas/Turner DH: Turner/Yoshida

Just about everyone we care about won tonight. (TEX is tied w CWS, late.) Only TBR lost. The O's are just 2 down in the loss column (4 overall.) We remain 1.5 from the last slot (NYY) with 2 teams between us and them.

That's what I always mean. BA is so yesterday.

Indeed: 5 IP 77 pitches Bernardino has been a gem in the rough, so far.

To me, that is great news, because I am pretty sure Devers will hit over .800 the rest of the season.

Firming up the case for his own DFA.

Sister Christian!

DSL Sox W Rodriguez: 5 IP, 2H, 0 ER, 0BB, 5K Linarez 3-6 Asencio 1-3 w 3B and 3BB Solarte 2-5 w HR Semerite 2-5 w 2B Paniagua 2-5 w 3B Jimenez 3-4 w BB FCL is tied 4-4 in the 8th Brannon 2-4 w 2B JH Garcia 2-4 w 2B POR lost 7-2 as Liu got roughed up a bit. Yorke (4-4 w 2B & HR) got 4 of the team's 6 hits. Hickey 1-3 w BB Kavadas 0-2 w 2BB SAL is losing big. Coffey 2-3 w 3B WOR in a close one: Drohan 5 IP 4 ER EValdez and Hamilton pulled early (Reyes injury-related?) Dalbec 1-3 w 2B

Maybe later.

So much for being happy he was on the bench, before the Reyes injury was announced.