5GoldGlovesOF,75

The Sox will either win in the 9th or lose in extras. The board will either be happy or blow up tonight and tomorrow.

This is all Youk's rally headband

... uh-uh; each was signed by teams that played in Boston!

Schreiber for the 8th. Could we possibly see Strahm after that for the 785th day in a row?

It's only the 6th...

M's were Dieked!

It's gotta be Matt Strahm.

Now we just have to bring in Barnes... to pitch to the Red Sox!

Here's the Story remembers Romo when he was good in the NL West

Pipi longstockings and Halloween beard aren't distracting Bobby D!

Romo with the slurvy stuff to Bobby

... and rebuilt for Lynn (with padding), after he almost broke his back jumping against the brick wall in center during the World Series.

JD is having a great year so far, but let's not pretend that most of us didn't cringe the past few seasons when he swung and missed repeatedly at sliders down and away. Either he has made the proper adjustments to lay off that pitch or he has crept closer to the plate and is going oppo more (it's likely both). But it's ok for those who recall him getting beat on fastballs once in awhile, because even the best hitters are caught looking occasionally for an offspeed pitch -- when that's The Book on them. Except Rafey... when he misses a heater, it's usually from pulling his head trying to hit it 1,000 feet instead of just 500.

Thanks. Here's what I found on MLB (I was kinda paraphrasing it): Definition ISO measures the raw power of a hitter by taking only extra-base hits -- and the type of extra-base hit -- into account. For example, a player who goes 1-for-5 with a double has an ISO of .200. A player who goes 2-for-5 with a single and a double has a higher batting average than the first player, but the same ISO of .200. The formula (1x2B + 2x3B + 3xHR) / At-bats OR Slugging percentage - Batting average Why it's useful By focusing strictly on extra-base hits, ISO can help evaluate the raw power a player has.

Here are legit questions I'm not sure of for stat-minded posters: if a batter has an OBP of .500, does that mean he reaches base via hit, walk or hbp in half his plate appearances? if he has a slugging percentage of .500, does that mean he averages touching half a base in every at bat? if you add OBP and SLG and get an OPS over 1, does that mean he averages at least a base every single time up? how can they combine one stat that considers PA with another that only uses ABs?

1): MLB.com: "batting average is determined by dividing a player's hits by his total at-bats" 2): I knew I'd get corrected on a statistic that I made up for my own evaluations... 3)... slugging percentage = total bases divided by at bats... but like I said, I subtracted total hits from total bases, to find actual extra bases touched beyond first base (which isn't actually extra).

I actually think OPS is a better metric when gauging pitchers, since it's their job not to allow walks or hits, especially long ones. Walks for batters just aren't worth as much like in the days of Youk, when the approach was long at bats to drive up starters' pitch counts to get into inferior bullpens. Nowadays, there are relievers ready to throw 99 mph waiting around every corner, and even the analytics guys tell us constantly it's a plus when an offense gets to see a pitcher the third time through the order!

Slugging is a good metric, and by all percentages Ward is far ahead of everyone. But he's also only had two-thirds of the at bats of Devers. That's why Rafey (and Judge) lead in Actual Extra Bases on hits. They're ahead of Trout and Harper, too.

Looks like 6. Hey, I'm the one who said he's the best hitter in the league this year. But I also value batting average, which analytics dismiss as an overrated stat. To me, the percentage of hits in at bats when a batter swings matters -- because putting the ball in play forces the D to react, and driving it in the gaps or over them advances baserunners. So let's add Actual Extra Bases to Batting Averages for an Overall Hit Score: Judge 49 + .306 BA = 355; Devers 48 + .340 = 388.

This is a decent assessment, although Devers has markedly improved defensively. His throws are now consistent, and people in the industry are recognizing him more as the total force that he is. I could less about OPS -- because walks aren't as good as hits -- but the two best hitters in the AL so far have been Judge and Devers. If you look at Actual Extra Bases on hits -- Total Bases minus Hits (any bases reached beyond first) -- Judge has 49, Devers 48. But Judge has twice as many HRs, so Devers actually has more XBHs. Judge may have more pop-ups to RF in NY, but Devers has been cracking the ball in every direction and ballpark.

I'd say you mean it's the last time his agent can make crazy demands... but I'd be wrong, since Boras will always make crazy demands. Though, say he asks for $33M AAV-- to top Seager, because Xander is better -- with the idea of settling for $30 AAV, since X is also older... but maybe Bogey will be happy with a "fair" $28M. And not as a hometown discount, but because Bogaerts really just wants to stay in Boston after all. Put it this way: if the Sox offer $50-60M more than they gave Story, it's highly unlikely Xander Bogaerts leaves Boston because another club offered him $65M...

Story homered to tie the score. Kike doubled and scored the winning run. Two positive moments from two other guys just shows what the Sox have been missing for over a month; any contribution from other batters. It's good.

... but not as much as the anxiety of paying what it will take to keep the stars in Boston.

It's only a small, loud, ignorant cell who can slam one ethnicity while rooting for an Aruban shortstop, Dominican third baseman and first baseman, Puerto Rican centerfielder and catcher, Mexican American leftfielder and African American rightfielder...

All we can do is do what we do: speculate (this is why some posters need to relax... unless, of course, they're secret agents planted here by the Red Sox PR dept). With Seager, maybe there was a bidding war -- it only takes two. And maybe, both were division rivals... ... or one was the Yankees, who maybe preferred Seager for his lefty swing to aim at jokefield in Yankee Stadium... and for his non-Correa villainous Astro history. If there was any club that had reason to avoid Carlos, it was NY, especially after he dissed Jeter's D (omg). Btw: re. Story, we really shouldn't be that surprised by his horrendous nightly swings and misses -- now in his 7th year, his 162-game average is 190 strikeouts. When I was a kid, Bobby Bonds set the all-time single season K record with 189 in 1970. The bigger problem with Story is he almost has twice as many whiffs as hits: 41 to 22. But a bigger total shock has to be Marcus Semien, with only 20 hits, zero home runs, and a .157 batting average. This was a star hitter who not only just set the all-time HR record for second basemen, but a guy who was third in MVP voting for two different teams in two different cities the last two full years (no Coors factor there).