vegasbob

Sox pound Yefry Ramirez off the hill in his first start. Hope his confidence isn't ruined by the 1-0 deficit he leaves his teammates. Someone educate me on why Sale with two outs thinks he should start practicing his curve ball losing all sense of rhthym and strike zone instead of just going hard fastballs and change to get out of the inning more quickly. Kimbrel does the same at times. I realize you can't throw every pitch hard and in the zone but too much sloppiness with 2 outs leads to 25 pitch innings. Also Sale is getting his customary support level of 1 unless JDM opens the floodgates.

If Kimbrel is your hero, consider someone else. That was a terrible 9th inning. He is becoming more dangerous each outing.

You are so right, they usually throw the "out" pitch for strike 2 , then give up the walk or hit with two down. Rodriguz on pace for another 5 inning/100 pitch effort.

Great Comments on HH's business card. The real guy who needs to be available here is Carson Smith , whose card would sya "Can throw anything , anywhere including my shoulder"

When you follow the HR stroke with that flailing to K with 2 on, you know you are dealing with a non serious young kid.

If that's what the O's announcers think, then I hope OB and Remy get to call the scrum on the field after Rodriguez puts one in Machado's ear.

So far it is like other lineups of the last 6 or 7 games, going nowhere

23 pitches to close it, allowing a walk, while striking out 3 guys. Interesting approach to giving the fans their money's worth. All Sox relievers use a lot of pitches but have an pretty fair record and low ERA's.

I would say if jackie has not gotten hot by mid-October , it will be getting late. Here's my take : he's had hitting coaching for multi-years now, and from a variety of sources. He had from mid Feb to late March to reinforce that training, then April, May and half of June to do something with it. Of course, he may get hot but it would be due to leprechaun luck not applying himself consistently to a functional swing, opposite field hitting and for s***'s sake the ability to lay down a bunt , either sacrificing or for a leg hit. No, he will rollover and ground out to the overshift right side or better yet flail over top of a low inside breaking ball. This has been true for the last 3 years, with the intermittent streaks that disguised his fundamental bad habits. That said, no other team is going to do you a favor and trade for him this year. Box him up over the winter and get someone who can play right field, and hit .245-.265 all season long, letting Mookie go to center, or switch to a LF'er and put AB in center. Meanwhile, JBj, do us a favor and get hot for a month to help this team. The Sac fly last night was appreciated and very welcome

63 pitches to get 5 shutout innings for Wright. Nothing more he do than that and nothing his hitters can do with anything from the second worst pitching team in MLB, although Bundy is the best of the bunch, so that must be it.

That's because Vazquez may have fooled the umpire to get another chance but he cannot resist the slow breaking ball down and outside. he is a pitiful hitter. Nunez looked about as sick, Bogie advanced on his own skills

He needs to remain an habitual fielder and keep playing like those two grounders. It was always the arm to me that was questionable for accuracy but that has come around too.

I think they are stuck for awhile and JBJr would have to be part of a bigger 2 for 1 or 3-2 package . Despite his defense you cannot carry an OF'er at .200 or less who shows no real progress over 3 years, plus .200 at catcher and a low average at 3rd. Too much dead weight right now.

props to Devers for a good play and throw to end the inning, saving the run. He deserves that credit. Now to see if the heart of the lineup can do anything except make outs swinging at air. the White Sox induced slump continues through the first three in Camden Yards

So after another fairly futile first inning, we get to see if Steven Wright can duplicate his success from last week and further nail down the #5 starter role. Wishing him the best for a shutout,so he can get a 1-0 win. Very nice to see Betts back hacking away. That should help because he replaces a .150 hitter.

I think it was sarcasm. Holt should be in there playing and rest Nunez. Sarcasm---just another service we gladly provide.

So far with less than a 100 games to go, Nunez has over double the AB's that Holt does, and is carrying a .253 BA which is acceptable for a utility infielder now playing virtually full time because of Pegleg Pedey's inflammation, which is a real post-op after effect. Maybe they just need to sideline Pedey until late July to try and allow better healing. What's not acceptable is the non-small samples from Devers, Bradley, Leon/Vazquez on a team geared to compete for the WS title. Swihart has now 64 AB's so I'd say under a .100 is still a small sample but he is going to have trouble getting back in barring injury. Sam Travis wasn't going real well at Pawsox and is just filling a seat until DD realizes that Gonzales is out there, lol.

Time to rest Holt and cool that bat off. How is Nunez's knee holding up but Pedey can't get off the trainer's table?

In other great news for the Sox, AG became available to day. One of Boston's clubhouse and fan favorite can come home and energize this bunch. Having beat the Yankees, the Mets no longer needed Adrian's services. Just get him a between inning chiropractor.

Well, it's near summer and the heat is on to take 3 or all 4 in this series. A re-injury of the strained muscle would be some kind of bad news, so expect Mookie to bunt 5 times tonight. At least Mookie sat down Blake Swihart for a well deserved rest. .. Now it's time to watch the 4-9 hitters led by Mr. Devers.

Who are you ? John Henry's loan officer. Unless you are writing the checks, don't worry about budgets and luxury taxes. That's not the fan's concern. Yes, the Sox have an enviable record, slowly slip sliding away, and there are notable holes at 2nd and catcher, with Devers , like JBJr, being affordable on the field when the other main cylinders are clicking above them in the lineup. But that's not what they have right now. The only place these guys are going this past week is towards a one game play-in for the WC.

So to continue the 5-9 thoughts (regardless of who plays), that cohort went 1 =15; 4 for 19 and 4 for 19 again this series where the team scored 6 against a bad team with decent pitching this weekend. JBJr's HR was the only stroke worth even noting. 9 for 53 is a .169 clip from over half the lineup. RISP of 1 for 11 today. Never liked Matt Barnes, don't like him now and won't feel good about him tomorrow. Is he being overused because of idiot Smith, and wounded duck Thornburg. Maybe so . and put that on the FO and Cora for not being ready for idiot Smith's tantrum, and I disliked him more than Barnes going back to opening day.

I think they do, but the real issue is that if they pick him back up on the roster, he adds considerably to the luxury tax.

Starting the 5-9 hitting watch, those guys today (actually 7 players ) went 4 for 19, but the highlight and very welcome was JBJr's HR, proving the old squirrel/acorn story. JBJr had the only rbi in the bunch and only run scored courtesy of his dinger. Today's lineup featured 3 of the 5-9's hitting below .200 at the beginning of the game. Sure glad Mookie sounds a little better since he will cause one of these dudes to take a seat when he returns. When he departed his BA was at least double one of them.

If Barnes is so settled in, didn't he allow a hit and a walk in a tight game 8th inning. Granted, He did not allow a run so he did his job but this guy is always one long fly from a mess. Not saying dump him, but he's not a lights out reliever.