illinoisredsox

The game is simple, hit the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball. So far none of the guys who have played 3rd this year can do any of them with regularity. If Marrero can come up and do the last 2 of those, it's an improvement.

The Red Sox have had 5 guys play 3rd this season. The ONLY one who has not committed an error is Selsky, who managed to make the play on the only chance he got in the 3 2/3 inning he played there, The sorry stats are: Sandoval 16 games, 139 1/3 innings, 36 chances, 4 errors Hernandez 9 games, 72 innings, 25 chances, 5 errors Rutledge 3 games, 27 innings, 9 chances, 2 errors Holt 1 game, 8 innings, 2 chances, 1 error Selsky 1 game, 3 2/3 innings, 1 chance, 0 errors That doesn't even account for balls that get by through the hole for hits that most 3rd basemen make. I don't understand all the advanced fielding metrics, but there's not a single one of the ones listed in Baseball Reference that's a positive number, which can't be good.

They had 13 pitchers on the roster last night; that's too many.

BTW, Bogaerts did exactly what he was supposed to do on his RBI single last night. It was a play you will see a couple dozen or more times this season; he forced the cutoff and allowed the second run to score. The Oriole's screwed up the run down, but Bogaerts (and the coaches) did nothing wrong on that play.

There wasn't a darn thing either Moreland or Pedroia could do on that play. If they go halfway and the ball is caught, one of them is going to get doubled off. If they hang near the base and the ball drops, well, you saw what happened. I think everyone though an infield fly had been called. The triple play is on JBJ, who despite everything could have avoided the whole thing simply by stepping on first base instead of peeling to the dugout. That was just a weird play that sometimes happens. What the team lacks is overall baserunning instincts. Some players have them and some don't. Lowell, Napoli and Ortiz had them. Even though they weren't fast, they could read a ball and knew when they could try for the extra base and when they shouldn't. When to draw a throw and allow a runner to score. Most of the time they were right. Hanley is still faster than those guys ever were, but he runs into an awful lot of dumb outs. His instincts are lacking. Daniel Nava was a terrible baserunner. I'm not sure Benintendi is a good one, he's at least cautious though. When he gets on, JBJ should be able to steal a lot more bases than he does; he just doesn't seem to be able to read a pitcher. Part of that may be on the current coaching staff but a lot of it is on every coach these guys have had since they started little league.

Workman has started exactly 1 game since 2014, a 2 inning stint in the Gulf Coast League last year (which I suspect was more of a rehab start). He had only appeared in 4 games with Pawtucket this year, going 8 total innings. There is no way he is stretched out enough to start in Boston right now.

I'm not talking about a kumbaya type thing. I'm talking about a 2013 World Series type that Ortiz held in the dugout during one of the games. It lasted about 30 seconds and he was the only one who did any talking, er, yelling and essentially telling them to get their heads out of their collective rear ends. Unfortunately no one on the team has that kind of gravitas. Varitek led his teams in a totally different way but there was no doubt he was the leader.

As the Fonz would have said, exactamundo.

They are really missing Ortiz and I don't mean in the lineup. There is no emotional leader; no one to hold that team meeting. Ortiz was it the last few years. Varitek did it in a different way before that. Pedroia is the heir apparent but I'm not sure he is the guy for the role. Not sure who is.

That looked like some good natured ribbing with Machado. Nothing at the stands. The kind of stuff winning teams do with each other.

No they need to let it go. They have far more to be concerned with than more revenge.

Sure looked like it. I've seen guys fined for less but you can guarantee Torre will back ex-Yankee Showalter and do nothing

I have not called for that yet but right now I give it a week. If the boneheaded stupid play continue for another 4-5 games it may have to be done.

Nah, the O's are just setting us up for a triple play.

There are people who have called for him to get the job even if Sandoval was still available. Sox 3rd sackers are reminding me of the year when Butch Hobson made 30+ errors and was adjusting bone chips in his elbow betweeen pitches.

Anyone still think Hernandez is the answer at 3rd? He hasn't shown me much there this season.

3rd base is an absolute disaster area this year. That is 8 errors at the position this season.

Not against the Red Sox he doesn't. Nothing will happen tonight unless it's a blow-out game. Showalter will order retaliation at some point this season, but he isn't going to have one of his mainline guys do it. It will be a back of the bullpen type and I predict it will be at Betts when it does happen.

I'm really getting concerned about the defense. You can't give bad teams 4 and 5 outs, much less good teams. 4 errors and a PB today. Farrell's braincramp and Sox D is the difference in the game.

The funny thing is, while that never works with icebergs, it can sometimes work with baseball teams. Not always, but sometimes.

Ding ding ding. The primary job of a lead-off hitter is to get on base so that the so-called big boppers can do their thing and drive him in. Speed is vastly overrated for a guy in the #1 lot. Is it a plus? Absolutely. Is it a necessity? Absolutely not. If you disagree, Wade Boggs is on line 1 for you.

Exactly; you can't play baseball well in a rage. And even if you could, it is impossible to keep that up day after day for 6 months. It's not football, where you get to turn it on once a week. Even in football, positions such as QB and receiver cannot be played angry.

And if we look back in the archives, you will find a thread (or 2) just like this from last year. And the year before that. And ... Some of it's bad contact, some of it's bad luck. Benintendi hit a couple of balls for outs yesterday that were stuck well. Bradley smashed at least 2 bullets right at the first baseman. I am concerned about 2 guys, Bogaerts and Pedroia, who have combined for all of 2 extra base hits. These are guys (especially Bogaerts), who should be doubles machines, who should be in the 40s at least for XBH over the season (Xander should be 50+).

A lot of credit. Filthy.

Don't fall for his bait, Max