moonslav59

AAA Castillo hit his 11th HR (2-4) Owings hit his 5th HR (2-3 BB) de la Guerra hit his 10th. Sturgeon 2-3 E Ramires 5 IP 0ER 0H 1BB 6K B Johnson 2 IP 1ER 2H 0BB 4K Houck 1 IP 0ER 0H 1BB 1K Lakins 1 IP 0ER 0H 0BB 1K AA Duran 2 for 5 J Nunez 5th HR and 4 rbi Matheney 2-4 (2B) A Lozada 4-6 (2 HRs + 2B) Casas 3-3 (3 BBs) Brannen 3-5 Williams 3-5 Granberg 3-6 Cottam 2-4 (1 BB) Howlett 1-4 (2 BB)

Yes, and JBJ was AAAA back then and better than many CF'ers on defense back in 2012.

I've said all along I was fine with DD's plan. I enjoyed the success and enjoyment, and it was worth it. We do have a nice core of young players, but let's not kid ourselves. This team has serious issues going forward: financial and with the poor farm system in an era where it is very difficult to rebuild the farm while winning and being a high spender at the same time. I expected a cliff, and it is quickly coming upon us. We can choose to try and stay pretty competitive for the remainder of this year and maybe next by spending large and wishing our vets bounce back, but sooner or later, we pay the piper.

I think JBJ was better at defense when I saw him in Portland back in 2012 than he is now. Just my opinion.

I fear he may be the next Middlebrooks, but I agree with you. We have to hold onto any semblance of young and team controlled talent. This whole trade the future for the now is what got us in this mess.

Things can change. Hopefully, Price will begin to go longer in games. He has been very good this year. Sale has been a top 3 MLB pitcher for 5+ years; he can regain form. Porcello has had bad stretches before and bounced back. It could happen, but I'm not too optimistic with him. ERod has always had nasty stuff. He's a winner. We hardly ever lose when he pitches. No doubt, they have sucked this year, for the most part, but all hope is not lost.

So, all the great ML defenders skipped AAA, I guess. Yes, I have been to minor league games. I've seen some great fielders, including JBJ way back when. In a sense, we replaced Ellsbury with a AAAA player that many felt should have been DFA'd a number of times, and now we see offense taken at the mere thought that a minor leaguer may be better at defense than JBJ.

Dalbec has an .821 OPS in July. That doesn't sound too terrible. (.746 second half)

Well, they did say a walk somehow can "bat" a run in, but I agree with your point. Wins, saves and BSs are ridiculous. A starter can go 4.2 of shut out ball, while the next guy can go 4.1 allowing 10 runs, but he gets the win. The whole save thing is whacked out.

We always score big after being shut down. (And vice versa.)

Cleveland's remaining games: 4 @NYY 3 vs HOU 3 vs BOS 3 @ TBR 10 MN (7 away/3 home) 3 vs TEX 3 @ WSH (to end the season) 3 vs PHI 6 LAA (3H/3A) 3 @ TOR 3 @ NYM 6 DET (3A/3H) 7 CWS (4H/3A) 7 KCR (4A/3H) The A's have: 3 v NYY 11 HOU (7A/4H) 10 TEX (7H/3A) 5 LAA (3H/2A) 3 @ CHC 3 vs MIL 2 vs STL 2 @ SFG 3 vs DET 4 @ SEA (to end the season) 7 KCR (4A/3H)

Yes, but inconsistent includes times when we look bad, then win 3 in a row.

Easy: 2B.

As soon as this team looks like they are about to be totally out of it, they do something like yesterday, but then they quickly follow it up with a game like today. When you feel like we are getting back in a groove, we have a game like today. We're doing everything we can to sabotage a season that had hope.

I told my wife after winning yesterday by scoring 17 runs, we'd "be shut out today."

My guess is that AAAA CF'ers are probably better on D than O.

What makes you think the difference, especially on defense between the #30 CF'er and a AAAA player is all that much? IMO, there are probably 15 CF'ers in AAA that are better defensively than the bottom 5 MLB CF'ers on D.

Yes, but maybe the other 29 CF'ers are better than we think they are.

He never has opinions.

Yes, I was speaking more to the Kimbrel of 2018, especially the playoffs. He had off the charts numbers with ATL and in BOS in 2017. His o.995 WHIP in 2018 was very good and only slightly over his career 0.929 mark. It's always been the BBs. His career H/9 is an amazing 4.8- almost 1 every 2 innings! His BB/9 is 3.5, but was 5.1, 1.8 and 4.5 in his 3 years with BOS. His playoff WHIP is 1.258 which is fed by a 5.2 BB/9 rate. His last 4 playoff series with the Sox, it was: 2.500 1.714 2.000 1.154 (In 12.2 IP: 8 ERs, 9 BB, 13 H, 2 WPs, & 2 HRs)

Kelly has improved. 1.98 ERA in his last 13.2 IP (7 BB 19 K) But... 5.40 in his last 3.1 IP I'd rather have Workman, but your point is spot on. DD neglected the pen for too long.

Good point. It is the opposite of arrogance.

Not really. He's only allowed 5 BBs and 1 hit in those 6 IP. The Kimbrel I know would have loaded the bases a couple times before K'ing the side. LOL

Yes, noticeably.

I don't think you can be 9 games over .500 and have "shown nothing." We have a top 2 or 3 offense, for one. Our rotation did go 4-5 weeks pitching very well. Our pen did okay for the first 2 months. Our defense has improved at 3B. Look, I agree, we have yet to "put it all together" for any meaningful stretch, but there is still 2+ months to go. I know it is hard to ignore a 99 game sample size, and I'm not. We do have serious issues. We have some in-house options like Eovaldi and long shot Johnson that may solve 2 issues. Moreland's return could help, too. A trade for a solid RP'er could also help. Adding 4 players to a team already 9 over .500 can make a difference. I'm not saying it will. I'm not saying I have any hard evidence, other than this is close to the same team as 2018, to say we are likely to be a top contender by October, but it is possible. I know it wasn't you saying it, but even last year some posters were very pessimistic about our chances vs Houston in the playoffs. That was after winning 108 games. Houston "had a better rotation." Houston has a "better pythagorean record." We came close in 2003, despite going 60-49 for 4 months in a row (.550 winning % that is very close to the one we have now). That team went 17-9 in September and 7-3 to end August. They were 72-55 on August 20th, which is much better than our record is now, but I seriously doubt many Sox fans had hope as late as August31st after we just lost 2 of 3 to the Yanks and were 5.5 out. In 2004, we had a stretch where we went 43-43 from May 1st to Aug 6th. That's a very long stretch of worse baseball than we have played in our first 99 games. The sample size is almost the same. If I add 13 games on the end of that stretch to equal 99 games, they were 7 games over .500- worse than this year's stretch. There was not much hope that year, either, but we finished the season 40-15, and the rest is history. We won the division in 2007, mostly on the strength of our great start (36-15). We went 60-51 the last 4 months of the season, including a 54-48 stretch (worse record than this year for a longer stretch). Nobody expected a ring in 2013 from day one. We had a shorter stretch of pretty bad play by going 48-38 in one 86 game stretch- better than this year, but not by much. All those championship teams, except for last year, looked pretty bad for very long stretches. Let me say one more thing about our team, we've made the playoffs 9 times since 2004. We've won it all in 4 of them- once as a wild card entry. That's pretty amazing, and it speaks to our ability to step it up when it counts most. I realize those were different teams, but 2018 was not.