oldtimer

Cross your fingers, the go ahead run is at the plate.

I'm waiting for two of our big hitters to come back as well. Betts and Beni.

One guy they put up was Beeks who we discarded. I was concerned about that since I thought he has good stuff but needed to be guided. We got Eovaldi, so I understood the move. The point is that the Rays were beating us with some questionable arms.

The research triangle in NC might be big enough to support a franchise. I spend summers in the mountains and the state is really broad east to west so don't see anywhere like Charlotte as being big enough..With Buffalo you only have that city and Erie close by with Rochester a good drive. I would suppose Toronto would keep their fans to home.

Yes, havinng Nunez hitting better is a plus. He really helped the team last year and is showing signs of getting back to that form or at least close.

Getting swept by the Rays is disturbing, getting swept in the way that we were is alarming. Poor hitting, poor pitching, poor baserunning. Time to see if Cora can reenergize the team.

Devers appears to be in need of additional time in the minors. Both the error rate and his hitting difficulties are signs that he could use more development. He probably also could get into better shape as well. Do we need another left hand power hitter in the lineup? Yes we do, but only if he is ready to contribute.

Where would you put those franchises? Montreal again? New Orleans, Raleigh? Not a lot of big cities in the west that don't already have teams>

I really like what he has done for the Sox but I am more of a realist going forward, at least for this year.

We had the very good situation of two table setters who had high OBP and hit with some power. That hasn't been the case of late and really since the AS break there has been a tail off. In the case of Betts he just was found to have a hole on primarily sliders away. That can get into your head and of late he is struggling. Too good to be down for long but it is hurting the team. In the case of Beni, he really didn't lose the ability to maintain a solid OBP but he has not hit with much authority. If you notice, he fouls balls off to the left side and hasn't ulled the ball. I haven't checked, but I think it is one HR since the AS break after 14 earlier on. Something changed in his thinking as his swing still looks good. I notice him swinging through fastballs across the plate a lot more. Both these guys need to get back to nearly where they were. I don't think it has all been about good pitching. Slumps happen to all players and in Beni's case it is more of a power slump than an OBP prooble,. The good news is that JDM, Bogaerts and Nunez seem to be hitting, and by the way, against the same pitching that is so much trouble for our lead off guys.

We came off a tough Cleveland series, hopped on a plane and were playing ball tonight. We had 13 hits and 3 walks but only managed to push 3 runs across. Betts and Beni at the top of the order didn't deliver much and down at the bottom Bradley wasn't hitting. The Rays pitching seems to confound the Sox at times and Betts is in a little slump. Our starting pitching wasn't up to it tonight at all and Cora stayed with it to take us totally out of this one. Our record is so good I will refrain from criticizing him but do confess to not understanding his approach. Lets hope we do better tomorrow with Porcello. It looks like the Yankees will gain a game on us tonight.

Mookie's in a mini-slump. Needs to break out to help the Sox offense. He will, but not tonight apparently.

To take this thread in a slightly different direction: Now that we have seen Swihart play behind the plate for several games and watched him hit, what are people thinking about the return of Vaz. Vaz is maybe a week away and he was our starting catcher before getting injured. Leon has shown himself to be a excellent handler of the pitching staff and good defensively. Not a great hitter certainly but a contributor. Do we find a way to keep all three? Swihart has the ability to play several other positions and his hitting is coming along. I thought he did a creditable job behind the plate. Interested in what others are thinking.

My hope for the Sox in this late August stretch beginning with the Tampa Bay series is that they would win the series against the weaker teams and split with the stronger teams like Cleveland. Despite looking ordinary against Tampa Bay, they won that series and losing the first two against Cleveland, they came back to split. On schedule as far as I'm concerned. The Yankees will not buzz through their schedule and if the Sox can do what I had hoped for, we should maintain a very nice lead going into September. A bright spot would be the return of E-Rod, but that may not happen until the end of August. Still not sure when Wright is scheduled to return and Sale now looks like a Sept return. So we go forward with a depleted staff. Our offense has to produce to get through the last week of August in good shape.

Ahead two strikes and throws 4 balls to put another man on. Do these guys think at all?

Interesting> I have been around a long time and I hadn't ever thought about that. Most effective reliever. There must be some way of qualitying that.

We got three innings for our relief pitching to do their thing. Hembree has already pitched so we should be into our best quality relief. We need this game guys so do your thing.

Right now I am most comfortable with Brasier, Barnes, Thornburg, Kelly, Velazquez and Workman in that order. Kimbrel is a special case as the closer. He has been off but he is what we have. I don't trust Hembree since he has often had terrible outings. Once in a while he actually does some good.

Especially Brasier. He has been a find.

This loss is just an indication that our offense, which had been incredible, is now at a lull. Betts isn't hitting and he is one key to our offense. Another game with 5 hits or less. Whether it is lack of aggressiveness or some other issue, I can't really say. There have been no homeruns of late either. Cleveland has a lot of power hitters in their lineup where we have one or two, depending on how the guys are going. Three losses in a row, but the symptoms were showing before the Cleveland series.

The Sox hitting is not getting it done. Beni is the only one that seems to be solid. The guys need to wake up, never mind the pitching.

Betts has a very good n base % but has recently struggled with sliders down and away. Any FB over the plate is his meat and potatoes. Perhaps he will adjust to the way he is being pitched soon. Beni has not hit for power in a long while and seldom pulls the ball but he is also has a solid on base % with singles and walks. Good in the 1 or the 2 hole. Moreland and Pearce are both professional hitters with some pop and fit well into the 3 slot. Arguments could be made for Bogey there, but that is Cora's call. JDM is our main power hitter. He has chased some pitches of late but he is very likely to know all about that and make adjustments quickly. Bogey has been as constant a plate presence as we have with a new found slashing stroke this year, Great to have him in the 5 hole Our top 5 hitters are tough to face and will continue to give us a lot of runs. Our problem last night reminds me of the saying "for want of a nail, the shoe was lost and for want of a shoe the horse went lame, and so on". Last night it was for want of a momentary focus by Porcello Cleveland had a base runner who bothered Porcello and perhaps took his focus away from pitching. Home run, tie game and we were in a different place for an eventual loss. Small things matter.

Up and out of the zone. Too bad.

We have 12 hits but no home runs. Just not stringing things together. We really need Mookie to get going. In the last 7 days he has gone cold with 4 hits in 24 AB's and little or no power. The slider away his getting him right now. He is a very good hitter and will make an adjustment, I just hope he can get on to lead off the 9th. We will be facing their closer so it won't be easy.