vegasbob

Praising Weber for exceeding his abilities is to Ryan's credit. Fans appreciate a boy scout who helps the team. Expecting him to be a regular starter and highly effective is DD/Cora's fault, not the fans. He was always a filler, not a building block

Already got the 9.00 ERA rolling

Taylor's fresh and used to high leverage MLB situations. What's that ? His first time ! Nice Alex

The good news on that throw by JBJr to prevent a tag up run is that Vazquez caught the bounce.

The ironic thing is that it is the 4th inning, one run down, a very winnable game. Now Cora has to manage the next 5 to salvage a win. Changes quick here. Cannot see Weber back for the 5th

When pops go pop, strange omens appear. Why can't beni do that once a week ?

Huge comeback about to erupt. Get the bullpen ready, lol. Jackie working on that OPS with the 4 bagger

I think he was actually on an upswing in effectiveness. That game should have been a rainout and we'd all feel better

Without even evaluating his available choices , Cora has seemed to be managing the next game at the expense of the current game. Odd fact, they all count the same.

Some of the more marginal pitchers simply cannot come to grips with a few hits or runs, and suddenly lose their total ability to throw the ball. Reminds me of the quote "profanity is the product of a weak mind trying to express itself forcefully" Same for pitching, so f***'em.

Chavis is too short, send him down until he grows up

It can certainly appear that way at times. Not shocked that there may be a hangover from last night. No way Weber's off speed stuff was going to be a dominant force this year.

Weber reverting to his historic mean so far in this one. Overall still the problem of a pitching staff with significant liabilities in its back half.

Thanks, I'm trying to think more about the situation like a grownup, rather than just saying , screw you Beni.

Better wait out the AB before coaching Mookie, lol

Prove me wrong Beni, but you will be at .250 when this night ends. Beginning to reach your Peter Principle as a lead off hitter . BTW, a rollover soft grounder to the right side equals a pop-up, so you are still Pops, pup

Bullpen aside, we don't see much pinchhitting, particularly on the Sox, but every manager who puts in a PH is placing a hitter in a 70-75% chance of failure . Yes maybe the guy taken out has a 80% chance of failure or worse, but PH'ers are far more inconsistent in getting results than relievers, so are PH'ers on the manager, the hitter or the opposing pitcher. With a 3 run lead, and even after the first HR, Brasier was a fair choice to close this one. After the walk, maybe a not so good choice, when the .087 guy hit a 2 run HR, it was a WTF Cora, fire him!!!! moment. very bad choice. All it took was one ground ball to erase 2 , and have no one on, 2 outs. Brasier would have looked pretty good. I don't know how mentally tough Brasier is and he's now had multi-flops, so I would not go back to him in the 9th for a long while, until I saw where his confidence and ability have settled.

Glad to see Mitch get that pesky annual IL trip out of the way early. Not hard to see why his back would suffer a little given the big swing he puts on the ball. Ditto for JDM. Over 30 is not a great time for a ballplayer's body. Chavis take note, save yourself.

Moon, never be surprised, only disappointed in your fellow fan. After a vanishing win like yesterday's, a knee jerk reaction is not unusual. Here's the real stat, after a game more than a 1/3 of the season, a team (minus 2 guys, plus 1 guy )that won 119 and a WS has not played nor pitched fundamentally well consistently, resulting in a 29-26 record . Only one string of 5 consecutive wins, a few 3 win "streaks" and not a lot of success against top tier teams yet. 2018 probably set an upper range boundary where everything went very well. Now , not so much. The bullpen's cumulative talent depth was suspect coming into ST. The babying of the starters in ST was questionable, with 2 of them already using IL vacations so far. Based on their experience levels, expecting Brasier, Walden, Brewer, post surgery Thornburg, now Lakin, Velazquez, soon to be Brian Johnson to be consistently successful was whistling past the graveyard. I said many times that the great WS win in 2018 gave the FO and ownership a pass on 2019 as long as they played reasonably well. It looks like the fan base expected deja vu all over again. On a game by game basis, I have no issue either applauding or booing individual managers, coaches, players for their performances. They are well paid professionals who put themselves out there to show their talents and reap the rewards. f***'em if the paying customer doesn't appreciate their skills or efforts.

Loving it FOY: Here's the only stat that matters 29-26 after 33.95061% of the season played. All the other stats are simply time consumers between actual games.

It's about who starts the game thread. The thread starter of a previous days win, gets to go until he loses. Never jump in on a winning streak, no matter how short, which most this year have been real short.

Correct and good memory on JBJr save. Brasier was a filler/project guy that made DD look like a genius last year , and good for all of us. he got the ring, the check, and the plaudits. But if you look at his talent level, how did 29 other teams miss grabbing him ? Lakin was not expected to be in the BP this year until maybe later. Walden , another filler that has been successful prior to tonight, but is running on fumes. It was ,cold, wet , delayed, etc, etc. But you got beat by inferior players on an inferior team because your marginal dudes were inferior tonight

Walden, Barnes, Brasier and Lakin used 62 pitches to get 6 outs. Gave up 5 runs, 5 hits, 2 HRs, 5 walks and 1 K WTF. Mark down tonight as the one loss that may cost you come September 30

You're kidding right ? Workman pitched the 7th tonight

You could try to write this game off as just one of those "baseball" things that happen. But, I would say it is a clear indictment of DD to think that a junk squad bullpen and some retread veterans ( Pearce, Nunez) could stay very competitive for the season. They are relying on guys like Chavis for whom they did not plan to promote until September. What should Cora have done in the 9th. The FO gives him chicken shits and expects chicken salad . Cora leaves the so-called MLB level throwers out there to show Dombrowski, you give me crap, I give losses. The players will say you brush it off and line up tomorrow. That works for them. For the organization as a whole, this game highlights some real shortcomings they will need to deal with.