oldtimer

Too bad as we might have had two on for Hanley. Oh what might have been. Hanley seems to be thriving in the 7th spot.

He stuck him out to get out of a big jam. Good for him.

Too bad, but we have to make some threat to counter that. Fortunately the Yankees are losing both games today so we can really put them far behind us with a win and at least 4.5 games back even with a loss. Our lineup isn't strong tonight and we are hitting into tough luck like whenDevers gets a single but Bogey, who walked is hit by the batted ball. What looked promising turned sour.

My tendency is to advocate going with the hot bats at the current time. Just because Bogey has roughly a 750 ops for the year doesn't mean he is doing that in the second half split. In fact, his performance every year of his career but one had a worse performance in the second half. This year his injury hampered him but it appears to be more than that, so why bat him 5th in the lineup tonight following another underperforming hitter in Betts. Believe me when I say I would love for both of them to turn it around but evidence indicates they are off right now. Both taking early strikes and swinging at balls out of the zone. If they both act as rally killers tonight it won't help us. I don't understand JFs thinking. I prefer to group hitters who at least make solid contact so they can get more runs across the plate. Now Young is being used to take Moreland out of the second game in a row when he has been one of our hottest hitters. Young has been pathetic of late and consistently so. Quoting when he has done in the past doesn't mean much when you have to win a game tonight. Heres hoping that this lineup idea will work but I am hiighly skeptical and also believe lineups do matter.

You make some good points, but one I question is whether taking a 750 OPS for an entire season and applying it for a stretch of time toward the end of the season is a valid approach. If you look at Bogey for instance, his OPS in the second half has gone down in every year but one during the second half and perhaps even more than normal this year. He has suffered and injury, but his plate apprach has not been good in the second half either. He takes good strikes early and swings at balls out of the zone later. He only makes solid contact once in a while. Betts swing doesn't seem as flawed, but he takes a lot of first pitch strikes and swings at a lot of sliders down and away. That means to me he isn't seeing the ball very well, but I don't really understand why. I do prefer to group the hitters who are making hard contact on a fairly regular basis in order to maximize run scoring. No one does it all of the time. Guys like Bogey isn't one of tthe hard contact hitters currently and neither is Betts regularly. Because of his speed and versatility I would still bat Betts 1st and then the group of hitters who are currently making solid contact sequentially after. I would go Beni, Nunez, Moreland , Devers, Vaz, Hanley, Davis and Bogey. Hanley seems to be responding to being moved down so I would keep him there for now. The situation will change when JBJ gets back or when we face a lefty, but I would avoid using Holt and Young in the lineup unless forced to, preferring a bad L on L matchup to helplessness. Two days to go before things change for the better. More subs and a deeper bench.

Wouldn't I love it if Yaz could be in tomorrow.

That is true about Bogey who appears not to be making much of a case for arbitration or major contract going forward. Too bad as he has shown flashes of being a lead off 300 hitter. He just doesn't seem able to maintain his performance in the second half.

Sorry to break away from the storm situation, but this is the place also too talk about the Sox going forwward this year. As a division leader, I see the Sox as vulnerable for now and maybe going forward and heres why. Starting pitching is our strength with Fister stepping up as he has ( DD accolades). Perhaps the only point is we have a couple of guys who typical go 5 or 6 innings and need to be covered by the BP The BP is strong at the top with Kimbrel, Reed (more DD accolades), Kelly and to a lesser extent Workman and Scott. Abad, Henbree and Boyer are specialty or longer relievers who aren't particularly trustworthy. We can't go with Reed and Kimbrel every day without quickly wearing them out which puts a lot of work into Kelly, Workman and Scott. We need another quality reliever to help and perhaps Smith will be up on Sept 1st (now only two days away). We are going with 12 field players and we have some strength in Nunez (DD again), Beni, Moreland, Devers, Vaz and Rameriz. Davis (DD again) looks like a decent utility outfielder. Beyond those, we have Betts who is underperforming at the plate, Bogaerts slumping wih an occasional decent night and very little depth with Holt, Young and Leon all weak at the plate. JF continues to play those guys in the righty/lefty scenario because Moreland doesn't hit leftyies well and Leon catches Sale at least. Help is on the way which should make us less vulnerable. Smith might be what we need to shore up the BP. JBJ is expected back on Saturday and Pedey might make it back soon. No expected date as yet identified. With our full team, we are more competitive but with Betts and Bogey off we are no juggernaut. And we should remember that Devers is still a real green rookie. Our main competition in a playoff situation appears to be Cleveland, who has a very scary good lineup and decent pitching. When they get their returning players they will be even better and maybe World Series good. That is lookiing ahead and for now, we need to secure our pennant and that is still a reasonable expectation.

I wonder about Nunez defense. He can play 2nd well enough but SS is a tough position.

I think the answer is that Sale feels more comfortable with Leon behind the plate. Young put up another stinker, so I am looking forward to Sept 1st. Bogey looked bad again tonight and Betts little better. Food for thought. Yaz should be in tomorrow. Moreland instead of Young and Hanley as DH. Davis did a nice job and should play CF until JBJ is back. Front load the offense except keep Hanley and Vaz back at 7th and 8th. Move Bogey to 9th.

Great pitching thoughout. Timely hitting by a few and aggressive base running. Good win and with the Yankees going against Cleveland in a DH tomorrow, weather permitting, I;ll bet they lose at least one. We are back to a 4 game divisional lead.

I thought JF did the right job at the right time to take Sale out with 107 pitches after a fairly long sitdown where the Sox were up for a while. Reed came in with two men on and none out and got two strikeouts and finally got a tough hitter in Pearse. I was surprised that he threw him 8 straight 4 seam FBs. Wonder why he didn't trust his slider? Anyway, he got him.

I know we don't talk clutch on this site, but what Beni did was come through when we needed it. Lots of aggressive base running tonight, using our speed to advaqntage. Too bad Betts couldn't hit a ball to the outfield nor could Bogey come through. Extra runs are always a help.

The book on Hanley must be that he can't hit a fastball as all four pitches were 4 seam fastballs. He showed the Jays the book is wrong. We desperately needed that run as Sale may only go another inning. I thought we might put Moreland in for Young but with 2 outs and no one on, JF decided to stand pat.

Bigger question, why did Beni steal second with 2 men out, a man on third and Betts up? I suppose if Betts hits a single we score two but if Beni gets thrown out we waste an opportunity. No matter, Betts took two on the plate and then hit a ground ball. Need more from him. Maybe Moreland will come in for Young with a right handed pitcher.

That was quick. Dribbler by Bogaerts and two line drives. We need to get to this guy and will if they leave him in.

Davis Nunez Beni Betts Bogaerts Devers Hanley Young Leon I understand Leon with Sale on the mound and I understand trying to load up with righties, but tonight that leaves us without the hot hitting Vaz and also Moreland who has been hot. I realize Moreland has not been hot against lefties but maybe being hot in general would produce more than our cold hitting righties. We shall see.

Yes, playing Holt, Young or Davis hasn't worked out but Pedey does create a problem in that we still need Nunez's bat.

We need JBJ and Pedey back to help us do that. It sounds like both will be back during this week so things are looking up.

The return of JBJ and Pedey sounds like it is only days away. When that happens, JF will have to make some hard decisions like how do we keep a hot hitting Nunez in the lineup, while playing Pedey. If JBJ returns our utility outfield problems are greatly reduced. The return of both buys improves team defense so it is no smalll thing. The other decisions to make is who could we call up on Sept 1st. Certainlly our pitching staff has looked tired of late and we could use fresher arms. Smith appears ready. I have no idea whether Price will make a reappearance this year but if ready, he could take some pressure off the starters and give them a rest. Also, Barnes went on the DL. Will he return this fall? I have mixed feelings about Barnes as he had good games and very bad games. I have hoped for the return of Lin to give Bogey a blow at times. He is our best defensive SS alternative at this point although Marrero could fill that role. Perhaps if Swihart is ready, he could act as an insurance policy to allow Vaz to get more ABs during games either by catching more games or PHing.

Facts like the OPS seasonal numbers are interesting but I still like to go by observation of how the guys are doing of late. Are they hot or at least making solid contact. We won't know about JBJ when he returns nor Pedey, as they have been away from live pitching for a while (in Pedeys case sing July 28th). I like the idea of front loading the team with solid contact hitters and moving Hanley to the back end at least temporarily. Vaz night indicates that he should get more PAs and more time in the lineup. If we have to bring up a 3rd catcher to make that a possibility, then do it. Our entire utility outfield core is not solid at the plate at this point whether it be Holt, Davis or Young. Fortunately, we are 3 days away from the Sept callup so just maybe the Sox will help themselves or we will get our players back off the DL.

Cross your fingers and hope that the storm continues to move to the east and away from your already flooded area. If the water starts to recede, you will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. We are wishing for the best outcome for you and the many in the area who have gone through so much.

Kimbrel in the 9th almost gave it away. I wondered if the baseball gods had something against us winning.

Theeeeeeee Yankees lose

He would do well to read Talksox if only to get opinions that are not within the organization. Stringing together the hard contact hitters can't hurt. Moving Hanley might wake him out of his bad performance. I don't know how many recommended Vaz as a spark to the lineup but he certainly has been tonight and has done well in the month of August. I often wondered why he didn't get to pinch hit more, but JF has to be prepared for an injury to Leon when he is in.