oldtimer

Good baseball is still worth discussing. The play with Holt was not good baseball.

JBJ is up with a runner on first and one out, with the top of the order to follow. JBJ gets a hit, Holt to third one out. Top of the order only needs a fly ball to score him. JBJ strikes out you can send him with two outs. JBJ hits into a double play, its over. I would not have risked getting the second out there.

Generally, Xander looked very uncomfortable handling sliders on the outside of the plate, which has been a problem for him. Don't know how he deals with that as it appears he doesn't see the ball well. Young again was not a plus as a DH. Maybe we need to try something else. The DH should at least have some hard hit balls in play. Beni went back to kind of an inside out swing in this game. When he does that, he hits a lot of weak ground balls and pop ups to the third base side. I know Sabbathia is not easy, but Beni is a lot more effective and has more power whe he can pull the ball.

How many times down one with one out in the ninth do you send a runner? I think it is rare and in my opinion dumb. Holt is not a burner, which makes the decision even more questionable.

Very tough stretch ahead with 2 more against the Yankees and 4 very tough games against Cleveland. Now Bruce is hitting for them as well, so they are kind of a monster to slay.

He is hitting great at Fenway. Leon catches Sale, so maybe Vaz can DH. Can't be worse than Hanram or Young. Last night I wondered if the BP was executing pitches put up by Vaz or they were just shaking him off? Lot of bad choices in the stretch with Barnes, Kelly and Hembre.

This is the kind of game to lift the spirits of not oly us fans but also the players. They need one like this to come out of the doldrums. Message to Hanram and Young, you guys also have to show up.

I wonder if Leon's pitch calling would have made a difference as Barnes, Kelly and Hembre all had issues.

JF favors Holt

The Pablo/Hanley signings were not smart moves and saddled the team with terrible contracts. At least Hanley is trying to earn his money. The Price signing may indeed be worse, with a huge long term contract and a guy who may either be washed up or one not wanting to be here at a minimum. Am I missing where you credited Castillo and Craig?

It may come down to who we can keep of the young talented players we have. We have to deal with JBJ, Betts and Bogey and we may have to choose if the contracts get too ridiculous. Replacing JBJ's contribution would not be easy and Beni is not the defensive player that JBJ is. Betts is a lock so if there is a choice it may come down to Bogey vs JBJ.

Lots of players have a tendency to wag their bat or some other move but need to be set when the pitch is delivered. I think Beni has a nice approach and does get setl whereas Bogey was not totally set and that may have led to a hitch in his swing. He has shown a good ability to hit most years beforre the all star break and certainly can again by making adjustments. Maybe there are signs of that hasppening which would be excellent for the Sox. Just a note. The Cardinals starting pitcher was good last night. He had good velocity and his fastball appeared to sink, giving us a long of ground balls and swinging strikes. He also had good location, painting the outside corner to Beni, Moreland and Betts. When he made a mistake coming into Betts on one pitch, Betts got him for a single. Some times you have to tip your hit to a good pitching performance. I expected the third time around the order to improve, but our heroics came mainly in the ninth. Good win and confidence booster.

We have Smith and Thornburg available for next year. Maybe one will make it back and if we are lucky both. That alone would cause a reset of our BP going forward. I would expect a reset with one of Abad or Scott being a man out.

We lost Wright through a base running substitution by JF. One move that has had long term repurcussions for the team. Haven't seen Velasquez or Owens show that they can handle a SP role. Groome is still a year away and Price (a good name) may never come back. We need to look for a SP as Fister isn't a guy we can trust.

Credit our brain trust with holding Devers back and watching the fiasco at 3rd base playout. Clearly we gave games away while the FO sat and watched.

I liked Hernandez a lot too but he has been injured and would have to make a comeback, also he has never shown a lot of power. On the other hand, Lin seems to have a good plate approach, is fast and flexible in the infield and would be a fill-in tomorrow. I hope he comes up in Sept and gets a chance. Holt is experienced but not the player we need going forward.

Watching the pitchig to Beni tonight and same with Moreland. Beni had two strikes and probably had to swing at balls close on the outside part of the plate. Both resulted in balls to the third baseman, one for a double play and one for a forceout. Moreland hit a little grounder to third as well again on an outside pitch. The pitcher is cagey but they may get to him on the third time around. Adjust and conquer.

The long term situation with Price is now looking worse, if that is possible. What if he is unable to return and provide any value for the big dollars he is owed? We may need another starter.

They want to sell the Marlins and get rid of the big money liabilities. It would make sense they would want young talented players with years of control and generally low salaries. We don't have many of those unless you want to trade Devers and Beni and maybe Groome. I wouldn't do it although Stanton would be a coup he is too expensive for us.

Is it lack or coaching or hard of listening. We can't know, but it seems that corrections are not being made.

Ryon Healy of the A's might help at 1st. Young guy with power and around a 260 hitter. He shold be good for 30+ homers at Fenway. A trade for him is conceivable.

I assume we stand pat with the basic outfield of Beni, JBJ and Betts with Pedey, Bogaerts and Devers in the infield. Catching has worked out better than I expected with Vaz and Leon. Hanley will be here next year. That leaves us with a need for a 1st baseman, 2 backup infielders and a backup outfielder. With Pedey and Hanley likely to need more rest than the other younger players Nunez fits well into this scheme and we woulld like to have his bat in the lineup all the time. That is a management issue to choose who sits to keep him in. I certainly hope we can resign him. I like Lin as our second backup infielder. He is flexible, can play short, second and third. I like his plate approach and speed. If Moreland, Holt and Young all go then we really need to go out into the market and find another 1st baseman with a good glove and who hits with power. Maybe Hanley will still be able to fill in at that position once in a while. Will Brentz or Chavis be able to take the backup outfield position? There is a question about keeping all the younger players with Bogey's frustratingly long slump being a reason to consider a change. I personally hope he pulls out of it and makes that question moot. JF appears to be enamored of Holt. If JF is back then Holt may be. Maybe we ought to replace the hitting coach as well, following a season where so many BA's have gone in the wrong direction.

Beni came alive around the same time and has had a major impact as well. I attribted it mainly to his going back to pulling the ball which resulted in more power. It has been the Beni, Nunez and Devers show for a while and it is now time for others to come through. Mazybe last night was an indication of that with Bogaerts finally having a multi-hit night. No mention was made of Beni's injury after being hit by a pitch. He was taken out of the game but maybe it was just precautionary.

While he would look great in a Sox uniform, there is virtually no chance we go for him. Too expensive in cost and what we would have to give in talent. Two years from now, with Hanley gone, we might think about it but he will go to someone else this year.