oldtimer

He appears not to be able to pick up the spin on the ball and layoff those pitches which will likely be off the plate. He does seem to swing early in the count, which means he is aggressive enough, so things are a matter of pitch recognition. As another has said on this site, hitting major league pitching is very difficult and a good hitter fails 2 of 3 times. The good news in Beni has figured something out and has started to hit more consistently. He is going both to right and left. His swing is really text book.Bogie and Devers as also dialed in. Betts is off again on again. When he stops being aggressive, he will take fast balls on the plate and find himself in a hole. Then he too, like JDM, swings at spinners off the plate. Even the best hitters face a constant battle to continue to ake solid contact.

Moon always tells us how Leon gets Sale to pitch better as an excuse for Leon not hitting. The evidence doesn't seem to fit.

Tough game for thed Sox defense. 1. Throwing error by Devers which Moreland probably should have scooped. 2. Bogaerts misplay on a weak ground ball which cost a run. 3. Bradley with a foolish play throwing to an uncovered base. Add to that the 4 walks that all resulted in runs. I saw it that Sale was overthrowing and actually, so was Hernandez. Can't give the Yankees runs and have much chance.

Just wait and see. Those are major trades and other clubs will also be after top level pitching talent. I won't be disappointed if we are able to get one functional BP guy.

I enjoy reading the Yankee site after the three beatings we have given them. Not panicing yet, but they realize they have a serious issue with pitching.

I believe they moved him to the pen because it would take too long to get his strength up to take a starters role this year. Better something from him than nothing. Next year is a different story where he may well be seen as a starter.

The rumores surrounding Madison Bumgarner are smoke. We would not trade for him nor would we or could we trade away JD Martinez. Someones fantasy. I agree, thatt if we went after anyone it would be a solid BP arm. Perhaps Will Smith is one of the leading targets if we do anything at all. Unless we split or win the Yankee series, we could shift to sellers, so DD may wait to see the outcome of the Yankee series before making any moves.

Our Sox played a good game and our pitching was competent. We just ran into better pitching and our offense was held down. Taking 2 of 3 from the Rays was a good outcome. We now have to face a very good Yankee team and we must at least split with them to keep our hopes alive. There are no excuses, we have to perform and we start with Porcello and with a tired BP.

We have to use him. The velocity was there and the ball was moving. He just needs time afterbeing away so long. Put in his in less than critical situations for now until the rust goes away.

Any game where we have a lead we should use our best. Don't worry about tomorrow, win today. If we are way out of a game, that is the time to go with weaker pitchers. I was all for using Workman for 2 innings last night even though it didn't work out.

Biggest problem with the pen is the pen. Came very close to blowing another by not being able to handle the pressure.

Use Porcello or Cashner to close if we are close. We have to win these games if we are ahead going into the 7th. The pen can't get it done so maybe we need to use some of our rested arms.

It took a mound visit to tell the relief pitcher he had to throw strikes. Wouldn't you thinki he would know that?

Its like the pen is trying to throw the game.

Thro w the ball over the plate to Adames and he has a 1 in 4 chanceof getting aq hit. Walk him to face a better hitter and now put up the best hitter with power. I don't understand pitchers.

Got to win this one at this stage of the season. Didn't like Betts plate approach. Took two fastballs middle middle and popped up on a ball in on his hands. Where is the aggresssion?

Leave Workman in for 6 outs

Was Travis avILABLE TO hit for Leon?

Sales done, does Vaz come in and hit third in the 7th?

When we get 17 runs one day and none the next, it can skew the stats. I'll grant it that there is a lot to dislike about our pitching, but we have also looked bad att the plate against so so pitching all together too often. As Cora says, they have t play better in all facets of the game.

The Sox got a win agaainst the Rays due to excellent pitching by E-Rod and by the Sox getting to Jalen Beeks. Good start, but they only got 2 runs against the rest of the relief staff including a position player. It was good to get Eovaldi's feet wet but our relief did give up 4. Be interesting to see how well we do when facing their better pitching against our other starters and our relief.

The Sox currently are a team with a depleted farm system and a team who undertook long term contracts which could limit flexability going forward. Because of our successes and our spending habits, we got bottom of the barrel draft selections. Almost inexplicably, some of our promising players have had off years or worse. Team management has not been working well this year. I am happy with out WS win, but it is becoming more apparent that significant changes need to be made in several facets of the team. 1. Aging starters with somewhat declining performance under long term contracts may be a tough one to solve. It is doubtful to me that we can trade pitchers and get better. Best bet is to let go of Porcello and try to find 1 or2 decent younger starters. Porcello's loss would give us money to work with for young starters. i assume Eovaldi will return to startiing next season. 2. The BP is thin on talent and needs rework with as many as three new arms. I don't know where the money will come from but we need one of them to be closer quality. 3. In the field, we had some deficiencies that were not, and maybe could not be addressed this season. I hope that we can resign Mookie but would offer him a shorter contract and certainly less than $30 Mil AAV. His contract should be based on his performance, which is good this year, not great. The extra money for Mookie is going to be hard to find. I would look to trade Beni, JBJ. Moreland, Leon and make an effort to get better. Face facts, Pedroia is not coming back and we will eat his ill advised contract. I would keep Devers, Bogie, Chavis, Holt, Hernandez and Vaz. and try to find improvements for the others we lose. To help find those replacement, I would bring up the minor league players who have a chance to make the club in future and see if these is a diamond in the rough or two. The question of JDM is a tough one. He is with us unless he opts out (I doubt that) or we trade him. He is a very talented player but the money he represents for a DH only is exorbitent. If we are rid of a $25 mil contract, we could find a DH for less (maybe $12mil) and use the money to shore the team up in other areas. Making these significant changes would make us at least a representative team in 2020 and put us on the road to recovery in 2021 and beyond.

To get an RBI, a hitter needs to have opportunities. Some clubs don't provide as many opportunities so one has to look at that aspect when using RBIs as a figure of merit for a player.

The Sox are soon to lose another game to the Os. Just no life in this team.

Beni is striking out and popping out a lot. He seems to lack coonfidence and is not making adjustments that are helping. He needs some coaching, but he has never really had much power and he has primarily hit to left. Can he come out of it this year? I hope so but am not optimistic.