oldtimer

it will be interesting. Moreland, who has looked good at times, is not good enough in my opinion. I don't see an obvious answer.

Clearly Sale, Pomeranz and Porcello will be our 3 and as it looks now E-Rod is a more reliable 4th. Having Price in the BP (provided he continues to look good) does give us a backup to our starters who might not be able to go beyond 5. The BP has Kimbrel, Reed, Kelly, Maddox, Barnes and Scott. I don't see the need for another lefty with both Price and Scott. I could argue for either Smith or Workman over Maddox or Barnes, but can't really see that either is really better. In the case of our field players, I assume Pedey will be healthy enough to play and that Nunez is also. So our regular starting lineup and two catchers with the exception of Hanley, who may not be well enough to add anything (I assume he is not able to play). Nunez and Pedey could switch at 2nd/DH. That leaves 4 utility positions available. I like Davis over Young who is mired in a terrible slump. Davis at least has speed. I can see Travis as a back up 1st baseman or even a starter against lefties. I know Holt will get a postion so the question is who else should make it. My assumption of Hanley not being physically able leaves that position open. It would have to be Lin or Marrero. Both have superior gloves and could even spell any position around the infield. good insurance.

Don't get your advocacy here? Did you mean the FA first baseman in the 4th slot? If we do sign Nunez, who would you prefer as DH, Nunez or Hanley? Unless Hanley improves which is really questionable, I would play Nunez when he wasn't filling in for Pedey. I think the question remains on Devers best position with now 13 errors in 46 games. A lot on throwing across the diamond.

Getting closer due to genrally great pitching and good defense except for Devers. The kid needs to get his head together and get over the error/game mode.

Devers 5 errors in the last 5 games. Could have been a killer

Just did the numbers. BA through 10 innings .138. Pretty miserable performance and against a pitcher that hasn't been that good.

Can't blame JF for that. It looked like his best move, yet the hitters didn't come through for the second inning in a row. Two double plays.

Tough with Beni in scoring position and one out. Betts tried with a fly to left but Moreland didn't get a pitch below his letters but continued to swing at them. Wish he had shown a veteran presence and forced pitches in the zone.

Totally agee and to that add that we need to revamp our utility field players. Young, Holt and Davis are not the Red Sox future. We can do as well and more cheaply from the Travis, Hernandez, Lin and Marrero group or possibly someone who will emerge from the minors in the next few months.

Holt was unable to execute a bunt on two fastballs down the middle and then takes a call third. Get someone in that can! The result, is rather than a fast guy on second with one out, Bradley is put in the position of potentially hitting into a double play and he obliged. I don't think the bunt strategy was flawed, but the guy we asked to execute it was unable.

Two hits by the Sox. While they are tired, they look impotent. Got to get going as it is too much to expect our BP to keep Baltimore completely off the board ad infinitum.

One thing that almost all of the Sox hitters have in common, other than Hanley and perhaps Moreland, is that they are relatively small. They don't hit the ball as far as Judge or Sanchez, simply because they are not as massive and cannot generate the bat speed of big powerful guys like Stanton. Guys like Mookie are 180 pounds soaking wet. Now, when they get a ball on the inside half, and have good timing, they are more able to pull the ball to a shorter part of the park for a home run. Same with Beni. Pitchers have consistently stayed away from Betts so he has to hit mistake pitches for HRs. No way that outside pitches can be pulled and our smaller guys tend to hit those to center or opposite field for long outs. There is a knack and timing for getting hits opposite field, but fly balls won't get it done, they have to hit liners. After a while of pitches on the outer half of the plate, hitters timing gets into their muscle memory. I can only imagine what it is to get timing down when the ball is coming at 95 mph plus. Guys like Moreland now almost exclusively go opposite field and it shows in too many fly ball outs. Digging in usually meant digging the foot away from the pitcher into the batters box so that a player has a strong platform to stride into the ball and transfer his energy. They try to meet the ball slightly out front of the body. Our guys are professional hitters and most have that concept down. Mookie has a really quick bat and Beni has nearly a perfect swing. The others have something in between. The hitting coach needs to work with the guys when they notice players getting in ruts. Mookie now seems to be coming out of his rut and there are signs of even Bogaerts coming along. Beni hasn't hit a HR in quite a while and neither has Devers. Lets hope that they can look for good pitches to hit and pull on those good pitches. see the ball, hit the ball.

We need him in the lineup every night. Catch or DH him, but find a way to keep his bat in the lineup. I wouldn't have guessed it but he is now one of our better hitters.

My point earlier is 12 errors in now 45 games are too many and Devers needs to improve. Given that he is a rookie and only 20, there is a likelihood that he will improve, but like the AAA, you have to admit to having a problem before you can solve it.

Even though JF managed his pitching staff like he too thought the game was lost early, the guys refused to lose. JF would up heavily using his BP anyway, and he usually does better with the pitching. Maybe the team attitude is getting to the point where they expect to win. A good thing.

My feeling is Fister obviously didn't have his control tonight and JF stayed with him too long. Then when it became obvious he was unable to get anyone out, JF probably thought the game lost and stuck in his weaaker BP arms to compound the issue. We battled back but 8 runs have not been enough to win the game and we stand a 50/50 chance of losing it. Some of this comes back on JF and his judgment of the pitching staff.

Would you have any faith in him at this point?,Travis is a better hitter than either of them at this point. By pinch running for Vaz, we now have a lineup without much punch.

Devers made his 12th error in his 45th game tonight so consideration of his converting to 1st next year still should be an option. I realize he is very young and should become much better but that error rate as it stands is pretty unacceptable. The problem is Nunez has his own problems.

We miss his bat tonight.

Had to try but Hanley couldn't get it done and then neither could Beni. Britton is pretty hard to hit.

Good by Reed to get out of the mess. Notice the Orioles have a good hitting team. It's their pitching that tends to let them down.

He showed his worth with the bat tonight. Has a chance to bring him in but couldn't get it done.

And our manager looks bad too.

That is now his 12th error in 44 games. Way too many.

JF is putting in our weakest relief pitching in this game. Remind him that we need to win it.