illinoisredsox

That was set up by the strike 2 call, which was 3-4 inches outside.

Gonzalez ruined the shutout. Game should have been over but he ole'd that grounder that would have ended the game. Run was unearned after that error.

Hey, plunking the next batter is old school:D (though I never understood why they threw at the next batter, he didn't homer).

Ah, the old vote of confidence, which is generally followed by some heads rolling.

In case anyone missed it, the Angels hit Chapman and the Yanks with a 7 spot in the top of 9th last night to win that game.

My mistake, Minor is a southpaw.

It won’t matter to the doom & gloomers. They just don’t get that sometimes major league hitters hit home runs, even on good pitches.

Couple of thoughts: 1) Minor is a right handed pitcher; Dalbec has been, shall we say, pretty weak against righties this season. 2) More likely. Dalbec had to come out of last night's game, seemingly with some heat related issue. He may not be over it yet and they are probably being cautious with him. As of right now, it appears to be 92 in Boston with a heat index of 99.

There’s a classic paraphrase from yesteryear.

The other provision is there has to be less than 2 out. It’s designed to prevent the defense from turning an easy double or triple play since the runners have to hold their bases. With just a guy on first, if the D let’s it drop, it should only be a force play unless the hitter doesn’t bother to run and that’s on the offense. It doesn’t apply on bunts.

You talking about the Vazquez pop up? If so, the rule isn’t applicable since it requires men on 1st and 2nd (obviously bases loaded fits that requirement) and in this case, only first was occupied.

What do you mean by this?

One of those things. I remember when the Mariners first came into the league back in 1977, the Yankees, in the midst of a pair of 100 win seasons and 2 World Series titles, had a heck of a time winning in Seattle. They went something like 3-8 out there those years and added another 1-4 or so in 1979. The expansion Mariners would win 64 and 56 games those first 2 years. The Yanks just struggled out there. In contrast, the Sox went 8-2 in Seattle those same years.

I think the umps are required to check each pitcher when he comes out of the game.

Cue the worry worts.

Houck is not ready to be part of the rotation right now. When the Sox sent him down in April, he went on the IL and just got off of it. Last I checked, he had made 3 appearances at Worcester for a grand total of 9 2/3 innings and has been hit around in those games. He is basically back in spring training; it might be several weeks before you could put him in a major league rotation.

The Sox are in the midst of playing 16 straight days, so I'm guessing most guys are going to get a day off sometime this week. As for Verdugo, he's been scuffling a bit the past several days (I think he's 5-33 over the past 8 games with 9 K's) plus Duffy is a lefty, so it probably is a chance to give him that day off.

Thunder works the Travelers PGA Tournament every year; CBS has the telecast. His assignment must be one that gets TV time.

I was about to type that they need to be careful with Judge; as Jim Palmer (who never gave up a grand slam in 20 or so years in the big leagues) once said: “There’s always a base open, even if it’s home plate”. Whitlock had other ideas.

Do they use Taylor for the 8th, even with all the RH hitters?

In other words, he’s actually pitching today.

He’s “working”. We haven’t seen the Ghost either, since he went off on moon the other day.

Safe (an out with a left handed first baseman), but not enough to overturn

Chavis has been in the minors most of the year; what expectations can we/they have for him? Dalbec, in 1/2 a season (81 career games) has the following slash line: .224/.291/.465/.756 with 17 homers Many years ago, a team brought up a kid. He played in 145 games over his first full year (plus a September call up), putting up the following slash line: .197/.324/.357/.683 with 18 homers. He was also no great shakes in the field and struck out a ton (151 times) which was a lot for that era. His second full season, he lead the NL in homers. He retired 18 years later, having slugged 548 home runs; Mike Schmidt was elected to the Hall of Fame 5 years after that, having played his way into conversation as the best 3rd baseman ever. Now Dalbec is not going to be Mike Schmidt, but my point is you never know when the light is going to turn on for some players such that they will have productive careers. 1/2 a year is way too quick for that judgement and none of us are qualified to even attempt to make it. We may like or dislike what we see in certain players, but there's a reason that none of us is working for a Major League Baseball team.

It's 10 days (there are ways it can be done earlier than that involving injuries; e.g. Chavis was able to come back faster than 10 days due to Arroyo's injury). I think Valdez was sent down around the 10th of this month, so he should be eligible to come back either way. Houck has only been in 3 games at Worcester for 9 2/3 innings and has spent much of the season on the DL; no way is he ready to take anyone's spot in the rotation. He's basically in spring training again.