oldtimer

What, are they stealing our signs?

Yes, Beni and Devers are the only two without a hit.

Eovaldi had none of the velocity we saw recently. Ninety or 91 MPH across the center of the plate. Was his tipping pitches or what was happening. It would be good to get Kinsler back to shore up the defense but to see JBJ make a critical error was discouraging. Maybe just one of those nights. Two in a row come to think of it.

I am old school but find it interesting that those who might disagree with you are idiots to your way of thinking. All change is not bad, the shift came in as a change and has changed the game and not for the better. Starting pitchers used to finish games at a much higher rate, but now we have a line of RP's in from the 5th inning on, each throwing 95 mph or greater. We have umpires who invent their own strike zones. The offense has changed to mainly HR's. These are all recent changes by my standards. Give the hitters a break. If it takes some limiting of the shift and standardized ball and strike calling, so be it.

Actually Pom did a better job last time out than we got from Porcello. What's up with him?

We are living in the virtual world of video gamer's, but I prefer baseball played by real live people with all their strengths and flaws. Those that love to talk in stats can have them. I guess when it comes to paying players there has to be some way to justify the pay differences.

The earliest for Swihart is the 14th while Vaz is around the end of August. The finger was expected to heal up in 6 to 8 weeks from the surgery plus sme time to get in a game or two in AAA.

I wonder how many of these hamstring injuries are related to the hard running associated with stealing bases? Also, while Swihart's numbers don't look good for the season, he did seem to be on the upswing (no pun intended) just before he went on the DL.

I still play softball, even at my advanced age, and I do know that it is hard to hit a ball that is outside of the strike zone. It must be doubly hard with baseballs that are coming in at very high velocities and have movement. I would think it makes a world of difference to a hitter whether a ball that is 2 inches off the plate is called a strike.

I've noticed how Kelly now relies on the same 2 pitches as Kimbrel The 4 seam fastball and the knuckle curve. Kelly throws harder, but may not have as much deception or movement. Having Kimbrel follow Kelly is like oh, here comes more of the same.

Electronics can be used as a tool to help the umpire get the call right. When a tool comes along to enhance accuracy why not use it? Right now the umpire's calls are bing scored against the electronics, so why not just go with them?

Brasier has been a real find. Excellent addition to the pen.

We have Devers back tonight I think. Hope he didn't go bananas overeating while laid up. We also have Kinsler and Swihart days away and Sale reportedly available by the Baltimore series. That will make this team even more formidable. I like the idea of a lineup with no holes. Makes it extremely hard on the opposing pitching.

You sound kind of like my wife, who was a college math professor before she retired. The analytical approach and I agree with you. It probably was the right move but not a no-brainer.

The era of electronic strike and ball calling is coming and soon. One could put an ear plug in the umpire or place a vibrator in his hand and have it feed back calls to him while he stands behind the plate to handle other issues like tipped balls, etc. I tend to be old school, but when I see umpires with variability behinnd the plate and when the electronics have progressed to where they are now, it can only help the game. On another note related note, stats are kept but don't seem to be readily available regarding hitters taking called strike three. JBJ did it in the last inning for instance. Called strike three volume doesn't necessarily relate to win percentage as the Sox took a bunch and still won the world series. I do think a hitter with a large number of called strike threes doesn't see the pitches well and maybe doesn't know his strike zone. Certainly some called strike threes are on overly generous calls by the umpire, but one would think that would average out in a similar way for all hitters so a guy who has a lot of called strike threes has a problem picking up pitches. I looked at a list from 2013 ande noticed Napoli was high on the list of called strike thees for 2013. That's the only reference I could find.

All good points and Kimmi assures me that all the many variables are accounted for in the analysis that indicates one has to be successful more than 70% of the time to make the steal a viable threat. I liked it more wehen everything wasn't broken down to numbers.

There has been a long drought between the last Beni HR as he continues to hit mainly to left and center. He had one against Baltimore that he golfed over the fence, but it was taken away due to the rain out. I still would like to see him pull some of the inside pitches.

Starting Pom and Johnson is not exactly putting our strongest foot forward.

I'm [rpbably from your dad's generation and I remember Dom Dimaggio as being an excellent CF for the Sox. Not the big hitter but very viable.

I had to hit the hay last night due to an early softball game this morning and thought the Sox had about a 10% chance of winning facing a tough Yankee BP. Something like the meltdown which happened with Champman had to occur to givve us a chance and we were fortunate that it did. I went to bed thinking the decisions made or not made in the 7th had lost our opportunity to win. Those decisions. 1. Cora might have shifted to our normal outfield to strengthen our defense (and probably weaken our offense) at the start of the 7th. The problem is that the Sox bench is pretty light right now with Renza, JBJ and the catcher. I can certainly understand Cora not making that decision. 2. Price was up in pitches and had been missing spots set up by Leon. It might have been reasonable to pull him at the start of the 7th but Cora decided to let him pitch to Gardner lefty on lefty. Garner got a hit that Mookie might have gotten to. Then Cora let him pitch to one more and that was in my opinion not the best idea with Price issuing a walk and putting the team in trouble with 2 on and none out. 3. Cora and the coaches went to Hembree. Relief pitchers generally have a couple of pitches they get get over and that are hard to hit. The situation which arose was on Hembree and what I saw as a lack of situational awareness. He had the bottom of the order up who wanted to bunt. The last things a relief pitcher wants to do in that case is balk, hit the batter, throw a wild pitch or lastly walk the batter. A bunt moves the runners but produces an out, much better than giving up the walk as the team can then walk the lead off batter and set up the double play. The worst thing happened when Bogaerts made an error on a double play ball following the walk but sometimes those things happen. Amazingly after that mess the Sox were gifted the opportunity to get back in and win the game. It must be our year.

I disagree. With a day off tomorrow and our BP not used much in the last two games, 6 innings by Price should have been enough. Trying to push Price longer, when his control was getting worse was not a smart thing to do, although Hembree wasn't the answer either. It didn't work out so we move on for the next series.

I thought Cora left a tiring Price in one batter too long. Hembree has his problems at times under pressure. Coming in with 2 on and a 1 run lead is a pressure situation, but he was ahead in the count and whatever he was thinking, he made the cardinal sin of walking the 9 hitter to put up the Yankees best in Hicks. The error by Bogaerts compounded the issue and the game was out of hand. Another hit and a sac fly and it was 4 to 1. With the Yankee BP, the game that we had a god chance of winning is now a less than 10% chance. Lot of unfortunate decisions, pitching and field play in one inning. Good start by Price and now he probably will lose this one.

I know someone in the Cardinal's organization that swears that Pujols was older than reported by several years. They were glad to see him go!

The runners don't usually run on their own but are sent. Therefore, when they are caught stealing is it on the manager or the player? Now stealing to avoid a double play can be a good thing and that has to be considered as well as putting the player into scoring position when they can either be moved to 3rd on an out or score on a single. My view is that is more complicated than just making an out versus stealing a base. Even the pitcher is impacted when the steal occurs as now he is less likely to throw for a ground ball that can move the runner. Don't know if anyone has attempted to review the many aspects of stealing and hit and run versus hanging at 1st base.

The Yankees look like they will continue to lose a significant amount of games during August. If the Sox continue to win series against weaker teams and at least split with the stronger teams, I don't see the Yankees gaining on us in the standings. Id E-Rod gets back and pitches well, the our starters will be rock solid. I am assuming Eovaldi keeps his momentum going forward.