oldtimer

The team has been on the road and playing virtually every day and with a particularly tough series against the Yankees followed by an arrival in Toronto at 4 AM. Clearly many of the players were tired for last night's game. In particular, Hanley looked bad at bat and to some degree so did Beni. It was a shame to see such a fine effort by Sale go unrewarded. After what appeared to be a move by the Sox to prevent the Jays from stealing signs, Sale looked great and went a full 9 innings with one problem. I told my wife, that this game smells of a loss about the 5th inning. Opportunities to score were squandered and it was just a matter of time before we gave something up as we just weren't scoring. I really didn't understand why Hanley couldn't score on the long double off the top of the wall which bounced away from the outfielder. Couldn't have been running hard the whole time. I wonder why Beni is hitting so many balls foul to the left. It's like he is late on almost all his swings. It looks like he could make a minor change and hit more balls up the middle or to right field. At any rate, we are a tired team and I hope that they get decent rest before game two and that the sign stealing will be handled from out one this time and that some of our hitters get it going today.

If he doesn't throw a strike he can't give up a hit. Is that what he is thinking? Henbree and Barnes have that same lack of mentality or lack of menatality.

I too have been a fan for many years, going back into the 40's. Te 1949 team was one of my favorites ever. We have a very good offensive team, particularly if we sit JBJ and play Nunez. When Pedey gets back, we may even be stronger. Our defense is not great as we suffer from a 3rd baseman with a leaners permit and range issues in the infield. Pitching is worrisome and particularly the BP. Kelly and Kimbrel are high quality but Henbree is a liability and Barnes is only so so. Like many, I am hoping Thornburg will come in and hold his own and Poyner will also do the same. Smith is an unknown. Not great so far but maybe he can at least be useable.

Players maintain a spot on the roster by getting the job done when called upon. Anyone can have a bad day here and there, but repeated incompetence gets you off the roster as soon as someone comes along who looks better. The relief pitching corps is soon to have Thornburg to consider. My guess is Hembree is the one to lose his spot when that happens.

With JD, you get the feeling he resets himself after each pitch and is always thinking about what will come next. He is the kind of hitter that doesn't go into prolonged slumps. JBJ has the athletic ability to be a hitter but isn't. I have pointed some things out about his swing mechanics and so have others, so some of his problems are obvious. Others are probably in his head. I seriously doubt he will come around and that is too bad for him and the team.

I find some of the crude language silly, which speaks most about the people who use it. I think these are kids and then find out they have been around the block. I just ignore them now.

Assuming Thornburg comes up sometime soon, who leaves? Is it Hembree or Johnson or another candidate? We really do need to strengthen the BP as evidenced by the kind of meltdown we are having against the Yankees. Getting beat is one thing but doing it like Hembree did it is hard to forgive.

Tough to hear that Groome is now to undergo TJ surgery. He was our top pitching prospect and now another year before he can even be considered for the roster.

So many negative comments. Sure Barnes and Hembree have looked bad the last two days. That is their bugaboo. Relief pitchers generally only have a couple of good pitches they can use and those two are like that. Both seem to have difficulty in high leverage situations. Kelly is an exception in that he has at least 4 quality pitches he can make and after the first game disaster, he has been solid. Putting Kimbrel in a situation with a man on first and third and a one run lead made it hard for him to throw the Knuckle curve and he tried to paint the corner with his fast ball and that was unsuccessful. He also couldn't get ahead so he couldn't use his high fastball slightly out of the zone to get a strike. He had to come over and Garner was waiting for it. then with another man on third, he tried again to go with the fastball to get Judge. Tough to bring him into a situation he was unsuited for but who else was there? The Sox offense looked solid last night and the defense was good with the exception of Devers who continues to flounder. No time for thinking the Sox are dead meat when compared to the Yankees. I agree Thornburg might help out situation goiing forward and JBJ needs to work hard on his hitting or be a bench player. The team still is formidable and should be in it with the Yankees to the end. A win today puts them in a tie with the Yankees.

The Sox do have a BP problem. Give the Yankees a lot of credit, they are tough outs throughout the lineup and bring the worst aspect of our pen to the fore. We saw it with Hembree, who has a couple of pitches, and once under pressure, no lead is safe with him. Barnes is very similar to Henbree as neither have a lot of out pitches to fall back on, whereas Kelly has more variety. Cora was forced to use Kimbrel to get out of a jam last night. With runners at 1st and 3rd, there was no room for error when he came in. Ask yourself what are the two best pitches for Kimbrel. The knuckle curve and the fastball thrown high and just about the zone. With a man on third in a one run game, the knuckle curve was taken off the table for fear of a passed ball. Kimbrel is not immune to pressure and his first fastballs were slightly outside the zone, so he was limited to thrown a fasball over the plate and the Yankee hiitters knew it. After the triple, the game was in high jeopardy for the Sox, but Kimbrel was faced with the same situation and threw the fastball over the plate and Judge was ready. Right now, the pen is not satisfactory as we have Kelly and beyond him and Kimbrel, we don't have reliable guys to bring in. Certainly Johnson has not been a guy we can rely on and Hembree has beeen very hittable. Barnes has been better but also is not the most reliable pitcher under pressure as he loses the plate. Hope that Thornburg can help with the situation. The Sox offense did its job last night only to be let down mainly by the pen.

Back to Bradley. Cora now is saying Bradley had fundamental flaws in his plate approach and swing mechanics and has given him time off to try to work on correcting them. Many of us have been pointing this out, last year and this but it has taken Cora a while to react. He admits being a rookie manager he has to feel his way for the best way to handle a slumping player. Having Moreland in last night would have been a better approach than leaving Bradley in with his pathetic efforts at the plate. Can Cora get through to Bradley? Haven't they been trying to do this all along? It should have been no revelation that JBJ needs help, but one would think he has been getting it without results. JBJ is a special case in that he is elite defensively and has shown periods of brilliant hitting. If he could regain some of the mojo then fine, otherwise JBJ has to be kept out of the lineup.

You're being too logical. What should happen and what has happened are two different things. JBJ has obviously not learned after what must have been many sessions with the coaches. Since JBJ appears to be athletic, one has to believe his mind is where the problem is. Sorry for him but the time to produce was at the beginning of the season and he has not and has appeared to be overmatched and pathetic.

He is the backup second baseman, 3rd and short. When Pedey comes back, now about 2 weeks away, who do we send down or trade?

Price now is diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I haven't as yet heard if he will need surgery to correct the problem. If he does, we will be without one of our hoped for starters again this year. The Price contract is looking pretty awful at this point in time. Bill

Maybe that proves the others are overpaid. Depends on the way one looks at it.

Holt is back and Lin down for lack of hitting. Hope Holt can produce.

Good game last night with both starting pitchers holding solid offenses down to a couple of runs. In the Sox case, they made some solid defensive plays and many of the better hitters chipped in well considering the pitching they faced. The saame old warts also appeared for the Sox. 1. Devers made a throwing error for his 9th of the season to lead the majors in that category. 2. JBJ's hitting was pathetic while Moreland rode the bench. 3. Hembree had a bad outing. Seems to be a bit of a head case. The Sox BP is strong in some areas but Hembree is not one of those. Barnes is better but also subject to having problems. Cora managed well with the possible exception of leaving Moreland on the bench in favor of JBJ. In a tight game like that, a single extra base hit can make a big difrference. On to the next game

Cora went with Bradley all the way while Moreland sat in a one run game and up against rightly pitching in a very tight game. Bradley struck out 3 time in a pathetic manner and got hit by a pitch. He is a nice guy but I at least thought we had a better option with Moreland and the outfield switcheroo. Cora is sticking with Bradley, but for how long and at what cost?

I hate the contract but Hanley's performance has been good on both sides of the ball. What kind of club would we have if we didn't allow him to vest when he is playing well. We need to make our best effort to win the WS this year and worry about 2019 after the season is over.

Kellt, Beni and Vaz all did good to get out of that with one run. Hembree should be considered for replacement.

This guy is aq head case.Makes a very tough case for Kelly.l

There getting a new one with a dome. I don't know if it is retractable.

Not certain what point your trying to make with these statistics. Clearly we have to keep one of our better defensive catchers in the game and hope they can contribute to the hitting once in a while. Pedey is only a short while away. Will he hit well? Anyone's guess, but based on his history, one would think so. Nunez hasn't seemed to be fully healed and may need more time, perhaps on the DL. JBJ has been the big disappointment, sinking even further offensively. I say disappointment, but in reality he is doing what he has been doing for years. He hasn't been a consistently good contact hitter. I don't see JDM as a horrible fielder. Perhaps more range limited, but okay. Beni can move to center and Betts is the best there is in right. Beni is still making solid contact and should come along. My view is that with Mitch Moreland hitting we can put a lineup out there with only one weak hitter and we can live with that. What could cause us problems is injuries. One key player down and we are weaker. Nunez will contribute if his knee is back to where it was prior to the injury. He can make up to some degree for the one injury. Two key players down and we are in trouble. We still have Holt as a backup plan. Swihart may be traded if we aren't going to use him. The problem being it leaves us without a clear backup choice if either Vazquez or Leon get injured.

Hard to draw conclusions about that since our lineup varies so much from day to day.

Yes, your right and his contract will be prohibitive for the Sox. Lets hope our front office does a smarter job of giving out new contracts in future.