moonslav59

The Red Sox are hopeful they caught the injury early enough that it won't be an issue going forward. "I think we got this early," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "He felt a little bit of hamstring tightness come on towards the last hitter of the fourth inning. We checked him in between innings. There was no reduction of strength or range of motion, but it was clear the first two pitches he threw to start the fifth [that] he was not right. "He was definitely favoring it, so we got him out of the game at the time. He feels a little bit looser postgame. We'll have a better read on this tomorrow." It was tough for Rodriguez to come out at a time he felt his stuff might have been the best of his young career. "From last year to this year, that was the first time I felt like that," Rodriguez said. "Every pitch was right where I wanted -- the fastball, changeup, slider, two-seam. Everything was right where I wanted." Rodriguez spent the first two months of the season on the disabled list due to a right knee injury he suffered early in Spring Training. After struggling mightily and then being optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket, Rodriguez has thrived since his recall after the All-Star break, posting a 2.51 ERA. "He's thrown the ball like he has the last few starts," said Farrell. "He's relaxed, he's free. He had such good life to that swing and miss fastball through the zone. He elevated at the appropriate times. He threw enough secondary pitches to keep guys off stride. He had a very good fastball tonight." Rodriguez hopes the hamstring injury doesn't derail his recent momentum. "I felt it on one pitch before the strikeout to [Mark] Trumbo," said Rodriguez. "When I threw the pitch, I felt something get tight in there. When I came out for the fifth, I was feeling like it was getting worse, so I didn't want to do something to something inside of there. I feel like we made the right decision before it got worse." -Ian Browne

On ERod's injury... The Red Sox are hopeful they caught the injury early enough that it won't be an issue going forward. "I think we got this early," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "He felt a little bit of hamstring tightness come on towards the last hitter of the fourth inning. We checked him in between innings. There was no reduction of strength or range of motion, but it was clear the first two pitches he threw to start the fifth [that] he was not right. "He was definitely favoring it, so we got him out of the game at the time. He feels a little bit looser postgame. We'll have a better read on this tomorrow." It was tough for Rodriguez to come out at a time he felt his stuff might have been the best of his young career. "From last year to this year, that was the first time I felt like that," Rodriguez said. "Every pitch was right where I wanted -- the fastball, changeup, slider, two-seam. Everything was right where I wanted." Rodriguez spent the first two months of the season on the disabled list due to a right knee injury he suffered early in Spring Training. After struggling mightily and then being optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket, Rodriguez has thrived since his recall after the All-Star break, posting a 2.51 ERA. "He's thrown the ball like he has the last few starts," said Farrell. "He's relaxed, he's free. He had such good life to that swing and miss fastball through the zone. He elevated at the appropriate times. He threw enough secondary pitches to keep guys off stride. He had a very good fastball tonight." Rodriguez hopes the hamstring injury doesn't derail his recent momentum. "I felt it on one pitch before the strikeout to [Mark] Trumbo," said Rodriguez. "When I threw the pitch, I felt something get tight in there. When I came out for the fifth, I was feeling like it was getting worse, so I didn't want to do something to something inside of there. I feel like we made the right decision before it got worse." -Ian Browne

There are 177 players in the AL with 140+ PAs. The Sox have 3 of the top 9 OPS leaders: 1) Leon 1.054 2) Papi 1.028 9) Betts .926 (JBJ is 18th at .874.) We have 6 of the top 36 and 7 of the top 48 AL OPS guys. Toronto has 1 in the top 9, 2 in top 18, 3 in 36 and 4 in 48. Baltimore has 0 in top 9, 2 in 18, 5 in 36 and 48. Cleveland has 1 in top 9, 2/18, 3/36 and 5/48

After tonight's game, Betts' OPS went up 12 points. He's getting close to coming within 100 points of Big Papi, despite Papi getting on base 3 of 4 times tonight. Some nice things going on with out offense: Pedey, Bogey, Papi, Betts, Leon and Beni are all batting over .300. If you fill out the rest of the line-up with JBJ, HanRam and Shaw, the lowest OPS would be .762 (T Shaw). 8 of 9 players would have an OBP of .347 or higher (Shaw at .318).

Nice to see Young is finally in rehab. Owens had his first one or less walk performance of the year yesterday.

I heard a 100 Republicans signed a petition to have Trump removed from the ticket and Betts added on.

Unless, it is just a minor discomfort.

Several also thought as you do that he is better suited for batting third as he would have a better chance to drive in runs. JF made the move to cleanup earlier then I had suggested and to date, Mookie is looking great in that slot with more RBIs and HR's coming in bunches. I think tonight was just the second time Betts was in the 4 slot this year. He has the 3 Hr game from the 3 slot. Either way, he's looking great in the middle of the order.

This staff looks to be showing signs of gelling at the right time. Kimbrel rounding into form. ERod looked great today (cross your fingers) Pom Pom looked good his last start. Price should be over his "adjustment" phase. Porcello is a Cy Young candidate. Wright needs to get right. Ziegler is doing fine.

Mookie for President!

...and what if ERod can pitch like the top quality pitcher he could be from here on out as well?!?!

To me, it was more about losing the extremely high ceiling of Espi and not the half season sample size of very good pitching by PomPom before the trade. I pointed out how Pomeranz and his low cost for the 2.4 years of team control could save enough money on our luxury budget to allow us to make strong plays for some great pen help, a big hitter and/or a big (ex[expensive) SP'er (via trade). He's certainly an asset on the current team. I never meant to imply he was another Dempster- type. He's better than that - or at least projects to be so. My position has always been to build up the rotation from the 1-2 slot not the 4-5 slot. Building at the 3 has some merit when you look at the cost for a 1-2 these days. Who knows, Pom Pom may end up pitching like a number 2, and I don't mean the doo doo kind.

Imagine how this board would react to the Sox having these numbers from our 3-4-5-6 starters (based on most games started after Tillman and Gausman): 5-9 6.72 (Jimenez) 4-4 5.17 (Gallardo) 4-6 5.67 (T Wilson 3-4 6.22 (M Wright) (numbers as starters only)

There were some major changes made by Tito though that were questionable: David Ross squeezed out Salty. Jonny Gomes squeezed out Nava, even against RHPs Both appeared to work out well. It kind of reminded me of how they used VTek to catch Lester just about all year long in 2009, then went to VMart in the playoffs. That one appeared to not work so well.

just saw yours!

Steve Adams reports.... The Red Sox certainly appear to have fairly strong interest [in Jonathan Papelbon], as manager John Farrell told reporters today that he has spoken with the former Boston standout. Though it isn’t immediately clear whether the club has an offer on the table, that level of dialogue suggests there could be a match.

Nothing against Edgar. He was a great one. I think he deserves the HOF too. I'm sure you can pull up some big numbers for him. Here are some on Papi: For perspective, Papi has a .930 career OPS (.955 with Boston). 141 OPS+ career 1) .962 playoff OPS in 357 PAs (While not all playoff PAs are big ones, most are.) 2) 1.372 World Series OPS in 59 PAs. 3) . 937 High Leverage in 1955 PAs (.901 low). 4) .869 Late & Close (1424 PAs) 5) .996 at Fenway, 1.025 at NYY, .943 at TOR, .951 at TBR and .865 at BAL. 6) .924 1st half / .936 2nd half Edgar .933 career OPS (147 OPS+)- both top Papi. 1) .873 playoff OPS in 148 PAs. 2) No World Series PAs. 3) .942 High Leverage (.919 low) 4) .920 Late & Close 5) .977 at Kingdome/ .879 at SAFECO 6) .942 1st half /' .923 2nd half These two are amazingly close in numbers.

...Just a moment back in time, Mookie was a second baseman, Now he's a very good RF, and in the running for the MVP. ... With a nice stop in CF along the way! I'm trying my best . I'm new to the board. lol Welcome!

Some different numbers.... Sox "Late and Close (L & C are Plate Appearances in the 7th or later with the batting team tied, ahead by one, or the tying run at least on deck.) (40+ PAs unless noted) 1.150 Vazquez (18 PAs) 1.012 Hill (14 PAs) .908 Ortiz .832 Bogey .791 Shaw .771 Pedey .765 JBJ .757 Betts .696 Leon (22) .504 Young (18) .371 Ramirez .321 Holt (26) .220 Hanigan (13) High Leverage .998 Shaw .966 Bogey .966 Ortiz .955 Pedey .820 Leon (27) .770 Hanigan (18) .710 Betts .621 Ramirez .613 Swihart (20) .607 Vazquez (29) .573 JBJ .561 Young (27) .557 Hill .539 Holt .438 Rutledge (17) .354 Hernandez (15)

True, it was about his bat, but clearly nobody expected Beni to be a worse fielder in LF than the Brentz/Holt circus. That's what mattered on the defensive aspect of the call-up.

Can we agree on average silly?

I guess he has played 3B before in Cuba at age 16. Your point is well-taken. The protocol is for a player to learn his natural poisiton, and then, when he is ML ready, you begin to find a new position, if he is blocked. Since Moncada had no "natural position" the idea to move him to 3B takes on a whole new context.

But, he was hitting, and I thought you were with the crowd that thought he should not play 3B this year- no matter what- due to "protocol".

I was being sarcstic towards all the Dempster type pitcher supporters.

He's not a minus. Can we agree on average? He reminds me of Ellsbury. Not great reactions and routes to start out with, but his athleticism makes up for it.