moonslav59

How much did Yoshida’s OPS go up in just one inning?

Extending Devers was a big mistake!

WOO lost game one 5-4 Walter: 5IP, 6H, 2ER, 1BB, 2K Hamilton hit his 4th HR Dalbec 1-2 w BB & HBP Abreu 1-3 w BB Goodrum 1-1 w 2BB Mata getting lit up in 2nd game. POR won 6-1 Sharp has been amazing: 6IP, 3H, 1ER, 4BB, 3K (1.00 ERA) Sikes 3-4 w BB Yorke 0-2 2BB Rafaela 1-4 w 2B McDonough 1-4 w 3B Scott 1-2 w 2BB Diaz homered GRE lost 4-1 Ferguson with 1st HR SAL winning early E R-C 3 IP, 1H, 0ER, 1BB, 1K Castro, Chacon & Ravelo 2-2

In theory, we can pass 'em all. I know we can pass BAL and TOR and think we will.

Looks that way, although Meidroth and Hamilton may be close.

Ferguson needs to improve his batting skills, but he walks a ton. Rosier and Hamilton are off to nice starts.

Maybe, but with so much time missed, they should still have something left in the tank. Kluber has pitched in 13 seasons but only has 1600 IP, which is about 8 seasons at 200 IP. Paxton is 34 and has pitched in 9 seasons with just 750 IP. That's just 4 seasons at 190 IP. Porcello had 1200 IP by age 26 and almost 1700 at age 28.

Yes, McGuire got Sale all ready for that good start with Wong.

I'm not sure McGuire is who I hope(d) he is or will be. I'd be thrilled, if Wong wins the job, because he is doing better and continues getting good results from the pitchers he catches. It is likely we settle into a specific catcher-pitcher set up. Already, McGuire has not caught Whitlock or Houck, and Wong has not caught Bello. My guess is, Sale, Kluber and Pivetta will settle into a one catcher routine, at some point. Just so you know, I'd be defending Wong, if anyone was harping on him, too.

You knew we'd be good. You were just hedging against another disappointing season.

Funny, but the fact is, our opponents are 11-11 vs us and... 78-40 vs all others.

It's weird that out BAbip suggests we have been unlucky, and yet we are 3rd in runs scored while being 12-13 in meaningful metrics. We have capitalized on errors, catcher interferences and this has helped, but may not be sustainable: .745 OPS .799 w RISP .818 w Men on Base .947 2 outs & RISP

It really gets you wondering about those ingrained suppositions.

Indeed, and to other ALE teams, too.

I know we can pass BAL & TOR.

We all are concerned about Kluber, Chang, Arroyo and Casas. Some are concerned about more than those 4 slots, but imagine being a fan of other ALE teams. Sure, we'd be much happier with their records, but we'd have these concerns and questions with them, too: BAL .602 OPS from their #4 PA guy (Santender) .665 & .668 from their #6 (Henderson) & #7 (Frazier) .462 (Vavra), .544 (McKenna) and .556 (McCann) #10-#12's Rotation: Irvin 10.66, GRod 6.91 and Kremer 6.16 That's 3 out of 5 SP'ers doing as badly as ours. TOR .602 Springer #3 in PAs .642 Varsho #5 .566 Belt #9, .466 Jansen #10, .394 Biggio #11/.384 Espinal #12 (These last 2 combine for 78 PAs at 2B which would be #5 in PAs) Rotation: Berrios 6.23 and Bassitt 5.40 Pen: Y Garcia leads the pen in IP and has a 7.20 ERA NYY 10 of their 15 batters have an OPS at .711 or worse. The guy at .711 is Franchy! 8 of their top 14 batter by PAs (17+) are at ,672 or worse. 6 of those 14 are at .591 or worse. One of their 4-5 good hitters is on the IL (Stanton.) 3 of their best 5 hitters are 33 or older (Stanton, LeMahieu & Rizzo.) 1 of their top 5 hitters has a .730 OPS from 2020-2022 (Torres.) Positional OPS: .582 C .608 3B .613 LF .631 RF .659 SS The bottom of their order starts at the #5 slot: .639 #5 .548 #6 .411 #7 .770 #8 .521 #9 Rotation: Schmidt 8.79, Brito 5.40, German 4.50 Pen: Holmes is not the 2022 Holmes (4.15 ERA/1.385 WHIP) but the rest has been solid.

Whitlock missed some time, last year and needed more rehab, before joining the rotation. He's had some bumps and blips, but he looks to have his stuff back, Some of those hits by the Brewers, yesterday were off some nasty pitches, where the batter nearly threw his bat at the pitch and got a hit. I'm not worried about Whitlock as a pitcher- just his health and season IP limit. Sale missed a lot of time. I did not expect him to come back to greatness, day one. I'm seeing good signs from him, of late. Houck is doing better than I expected as a starter. I thought he'd be a great replacement for Whitlock in the pen. (Thanks to Wink, we haven't needed Houck in that role.) Pivetta seems to be as steady as ever. Bello, Kluber and Paxton remain the big question marks, but if those other 4 come through, we may be able to get by with just one of these guys giving us a 4.80 ERA. I still feel that one can give us 4.25, but I'm not so sure, anymore. Having Jansen has cooled a lot of the hotheads from yesteryear.

That might be part of it. Maybe waiting for Story, Duvall and Martin to return offers way more hope than last year's Sale, Paxton and Taylor did. Maybe realizing the opponents we broke even with were really not the push-overs many felt they were, when we saw the schedule over the winter. Here are the records of the teams we have faced, minus our games with them: (Note: we only have a losing record vs 2 of the 7 teams we have played) 14-3 TBR (4-0 v BOS) 12-7 PIT (3-0 v BOS) 14-5 MIL (1-1 v BOS) 12-5 BAL (1-2 v BOS) 10-8 MN (1-2 v BOS) 9-8 LAA (1-3 v BOS) 7-9 DET (0-3 v BOS) Flip one DET loss to a win, and every team we have faced would be at .500 or better in all their non-Sox games. We've been a pretty scrappy team that has fought from behind to win a few games, and I think that helps with the gut feelings many fans have about their team's chances. We have some major weaknesses, but so do other teams ahead of us. Rotation: I'm sticking with my belief we can and will be near the middle of the pack by season's end- maybe even top 15. Middle IF: Our only real hope is Story and/or Mondesi. If Duvall comes back, it allows Kike to play SS or 2B, but I'm not so sure that is a good thing. 1B: This position has to get better, and there are some shifts we can make, if Casas does not fulfill his promise, this year: Turner to 1B and Yoshida to DH, when Duvall returns, of find some platoon like EValdez/Dalbec or Duran/Refsnyder. The trade market may help in July, and we so appear to have some lux tax room to add salary, but I'm not sure we can wait that long, and we may be toast by then. That being said, I'm still optimistic about this season.

Speaking of SBs, our top 3 leaders were all acquired via trade: SB/CS 11/3 Hamilton 8/0 C Rosier 8/2 M Ferguson 8/0 G Allen 5/0 Bleis & McDonough 5/1 Chacon & Liendo 5/2 Rafaela 4/0 Sogard & Meredith

WOO postponed POR won 3-2 Denlinger got the win in relief: 2IP, 1H, 0ER, 0BB, 2K 2-4 Yorke w 2B 2-4 Rafaela w 2B GRE won 13-5 4-5 Jordan w HR & 2B, 4 rbi 3-5 Hickey w 2B 2-5 Ferguson w two 2B, B, 3rbi 2-4 Miller and Lopez 1-4 Meidroth w 2 BB 1-4 Mayer w BB SAL lost 8-5 2-3 Anthony w 2 BB 1-3 Chacon w 3B, BB 1-3 Rosario w 2B, BB 1-5 Bleis (.719 OPS)

It would be nice to win another series, especially against a good team, but we really need a streak. As always, though, one game at a time. Go Sox!

I'm way more worried about who is playing SS, 1B and 2B. Who is our #1 and #2 SP'ers? We have 8 #3s to #5s.

CERA, this game: 7.50 Wong 0.00 McGuire (LOL)

I get that, but this sample size is not 21 games. We are talking about 2 games- one with Sale and one with Kluber that are supposed to change our opinions. I know these are not final judgments by anyone. McGuire has better OPS Against numbers with 6 out of 11 pitchers, but the two lopsided sample sizes of Sale (64 to 25 PAs) and Kluber (64 to 19) flip the score to Wong 7 to 6. Even 7-6 is not very convincing. Just my opinion. IMO, and catcher who gets to catch Whitlock and Houck, exclusively should have a better overall CERA.

I stand corrected. (Actually, I'm sitting down.)