5GoldGlovesOF,75

Duran was 0-for-4 with 4 strikeouts -- for the second time in about a week vs. the Yankees. With his speed from the left-handed batter's box, it may not be a bad idea to learn how to bunt... you know, to stay in the big leagues. Maybe a coach can teach him... from another organization that values batters who can do more than flail.

Fernando Abad pitcher?

The Sox have an academy on some island where pitchers are trained to bounce throws past any base. If they hit the actual bag with a throw they are automatically voted off the island.

I am a fan of a big league baseball team. There are nine positions on the field, but my team refuses to play a big leaguer at each position. They haven't had a first baseman all season. I used to pay bad money to see them in person. I still pay good money to watch them on cable TV. So they owe me a real first baseman. Breaking news from the Trop: the Red Sox starting pitcher just used an Old Hickory to pummel a clubhouse toilet senseless, causing a flood so deep that wild manta rays are now swimming under the dome.

Cora invented neither. But I'm sure you know most organizations now make staff decisions based on entire departments that analyze the successes and failures of other trend-setters. Not too many Joe Morgan hunches or Grady Little refusals allowed any more... If you want to blame him for agreeing to keep an open mind about other teams' ways -- or just agreeing in order to keep his job -- then have at it.

Here, let me spew the misinformation, to spare us all later: he made Whitlock a starter, and used all those other crappy chokers in relief (the ones signed by his CBO), and played a bad outfielder at first base, and a back-up infielder in right field, and he still can't coach either how to catch a freaking pop-up.

Ha, I was thinking about my own hot streaks -- when I'm on a roll, I never want a day off, lest my luck runs out or I have muscle forgetfulness...

I'm with you; ride the wave. If you lie on the beach, by the time you get back in the water it may be dead calm.

What it also says is that 90% of their pitching staff having career half-years all at once may not be sustainable. As far as NY's offense, it still looks all or nothing to Sox fans.

I watched; he came up huge. So did your namesake in the postseason of '04 -- the same year he led the AL in Ks with 177. Story is second right now with 104, but 10 behind Suarez (though Napoli's Sox record of 187 appears at risk). He's a great athlete, though, which means he can certainly evolve and improve. And he seems to like the AL East scene (at least he said so in the postgame interview).

Story has to make an adjustment at the plate. It may be something as simple as his stance: holding the bat straight up, parallel to his body, hands shoulder-high -- this is all out of Ted Williams' The Science of Hitting. Standing there with his barrel pointing down his back has to be one reason he strikes out every single game; by the time his sweet spot is over the plate, big league pitches are often past him. As a guess hitter, which they all pretty much are, he is putting himself at a disadvantage.

Remember that night at Fenway in July '22 when the WooSox came from behind to beat the almighty Yankees! Looking at sports pages of three big city newspapers, expecting an obvious headline... but instead, the first two words of each were cliche: Yankees lose... Yankees stunned... Yankees blow... Is is possible editors are banned from offending an icon? Is this so sacrilege: Jeter Downs New York

There used to be more fans here, but some may have joined forums of other teams to insult posters with timeworn putdowns that weren't funny even back in elementary school. However, those of us with patience should forgive their frustrations with the internet, where they can't steal our lunch money or knock books out of our hands. For the benighted knights of the keyboard, stepping on others may never fill the holes in their soles (unless we have gum in our hair).

Name-calling also reveals a lot about human intellect...

Abreu would thrive in Fenway, and might just up his game amidst AL East competition. He was MVP of the league just a summer-and-a-half ago. I really can't get into the Judge/Devers contract speculation right now. Not when the Sox need to make some moves to survive this month and press for the playoffs this year.

The better team won the first game, as the Yankees were one run better than Devers. Both starters were meh, both bullpens lights out, and line-ups quiet. No need for anyone to post that NY won without Judge and Rizzo, since injuries are part of the game, and 4/5ths of Boston's big league rotation is on the IL. Since half include Wacha and Hill, veteran starters seemingly bound to break down, critics can point to Bloom's lack of foresight (and this doesn't include Paxton, who the Sox knew wouldn't be contributing soon). Eovaldi and Sale weren't his signings, but knowing their durability histories also has to factor into planning... There was also an article about Franchy today with a headline that included the words "on the job training." That phrase just clashes with New York vs. Boston, postseason contenders, arch rivals, and summer showdown. How much longer can a pretender play without an actual first baseman (no one's allowed to say "Schwarber" unless they can document the last time Cordero hit 10 home runs in 12 games, or 16 HRs in 18 games). Jose Abreu is a free agent after this season, the White Sox are going nowhere, he's 35 so can't cost much, and his bat would be welcomed in the middle of an order that has produced 15 homers combined in half a season by its three-four hitters.

Imagine invading a rival's forum and mocking the intellect of posters there, after admitting you didn't know that on the day your team got slaughtered, 16-1, at home, that a back-up infielder set a record hitting for the first postseason cycle. History is rife with such rich moments.

Most Red Sox fans on this Red Sox forum acknowledge this version of our favorite club is full of flaws: aging, injury-prone starters, thin bullpen, bats with holes in them in the line-up. There's no need for a front-runner who roots for our rivals to point these things out -- and not show up here during the Wild Card game when your half-billion-dollar starter is getting lit up and your MVP is getting thrown out at the plate. The fact that these incomplete Sox are in a playoff hunt should maybe give pause to humble fans of the greatest team in the history of this year so busy fitting their middle fingers for rings. Beating up on the mediocrity and suckitude of the 2022 AL may not be much to brag about nor such good preparation for the actual contenders you'll inevitably face in the postseason.

Imagine having such low self-esteem that you have to post on a rival's forum every day to bust chops, just because your favorite team is having a great regular season, but hasn't even been to a World Series -- much less won twice -- in the last dozen years.

If it was the future, and all clubs played a balanced schedule, then I'd agree. But it is more likely that some Central or West team, amidst the suckitude of their own divisions, rises to the level of mediocrity required to pass one of the four decent or better East teams.

It's not a bad call; most of the greats were or are better in the heat. This is why Devers hot XBH start may result in a career year, and why there's still hope for power from JD and X -- if they're not struggling with undisclosed injuries holding them back.

You read me quiet and unclear. I've always defended Cora here, even in the most overblown "scandal" in the history of baseball (a strategy that has been part of the game since the invention of the game). I've never blamed him for using the roster the front office has assembled -- nor especially converting Whitlock to a starter, because I don't believe he did, since it goes against the goal of a manager: to win this year, and not build a guy up to be better in some future season when there might be a new skipper if you lose now. What I have is a distaste for the opener, which was invented in Tampa, and has been adopted by most MLB teams since.

They tried but it was too late; everybody knows the Trop is nowhere. Batters have been cursed with hitting long drives that disappear before they're ruled home runs, only to reappear as foul pop-ups in the vicinity of infield gloves. Meanwhile, defenders are haunted whenever they look up to see the grinning visage of Beelzebub on the ceiling, swallowing fly balls and spitting out stitches onto catwalks. Rays' players know such eternal damnation also skews their individual stats. "WAR is Hell," said one player, recently traded for two minor league arms that each throw 97 with a change-up.

I'm 100% on board promoting Bello for a spot start (and who knows, maybe a regular turn if he fares well). I'm also in favor of Seabold and Wink, even as they work out the kinks. This is what contenders with solid minor league pitching do -- and have been doing for over a century... not bullpen games that risk even more wear on already overused relievers.

I also appreciate Bobby D's tune choices. But we're running out of time; when a pitcher throws one in Dalbec's kitchen, he needs to start cleaning his plate!