5GoldGlovesOF,75

He's repeating game-winning feats. If I say the guy has a knack for big moments, someone else will surely say if a player swings a thousand times, the ball is bound to hit his bat once in awhile. As for it happening in the late stages of the game, that must be randomness -- and not a cool cat beating a nervous reliever, who is often not as good as the starting pitcher. Ceddanne may only think he's following a song by Billy Joel: "Swinging too hard can give a heart att- hack-Hack- HACK!"

"I was ready to spit on any pitch thrown outside the Chesapeake Bay."

So true. When Bloom signed Devers to play third base for the next hundred years, he explained to fans at Winter Weekend, "You know what's coming!" We thought we did, and they're here. Or were. Some will flop, some will improve. Few will star. Here's how I know you're right: my son, who knows so much about minor league prospects that he should be working for Baseball America, has no interest in attending a Portland Sea Dogs game for the first time in half a decade. Their current batting order has one guy with an average higher than the .220s (Castro, .267). The Sox need to promote them all to WOO asap so they can pad their stats and get overhyped by the PR machine!

Can't you just round it off? 35,990

The concise version of my post... Brez has built a roster to contend -- that's his job. He also did it while trading a key member of the roster in-season, a move arguably more risky than when Epstein traded Nomar. Then Theo's team won it all. Breslow's club still has a few months of trying, to go...

It has to be because when Ceddanne is in his swing-at-every-pitch mode, no viewers can reach through our TVs and hold his arms back. And no matter how loudly we yell, "TAKE A PITCH" he can't hear us -- or worse, ignores us.

What was obnoxious about Bloom filling the shopping bag from the bargain bins is that for the price of just two Klubers, the Red Sox could have had one Eovaldi-type instead. Nobody is guaranteed; maybe none of us would have given Jordan Montgomery a ride from the airport to Fenway a few years ago, but I bet we'd all have chipped in a dollar each to hire Uber. And now Nate is injured again, after a great year -- just like Sale before the playoffs last season... but everyone knows what I mean. What we really don't understand are all the actual changes that Bailey and his staff make to improve new pitchers. There are stories behind everyone. Why is Bello better? Why are Pivetta and Priester better elsewhere? Why hasn't Harrison -- a guy Bailey worked with in the past -- evolved like Logan Webb? Did Giolito's body finally accept the alterations his mind bought into two years ago? Whoever the Sox sign or trade for this winter to help the rotation, we have to trust they're guys management believes it can remodel into upgrades.

Team's in a steady position right now. But a week ago we were wobbling. No one expected to win 3-of-4 in the Bronx, and now no one expects to lose a series in Baltimore. Things change fast, and while I'm satisfied with Breslow doing his job, there should be no bows until the Sox officially clinch a playoff berth. One more W vs. the O's, or Pirates in Fenway this weekend, and August will be a winning month for the first time this decade. Guys are stepping up. Hamilton drives me crazy sometimes, but last night he popped a homer and actually laid one down (and then Narvaez touched the ball and scored the runner from 3rd). Hammy also used his speed to rob a few singles in the hole vs. NY. It would be great if he could contribute consistently so Ceddanne can stay in a CF -- where he's a difference-maker and superior to anyone else on the roster.

I can see Campbell having a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. type career. When I saw the loaded Fisher Cats' Double A team featuring the sons of greats -- Vlad Jr, Bichette and Biggio -- Lourdes played shortstop and batted clean-up. He played SS and 2B in his first year in the bigs. Soon he morphed into an All-Star leftfielder, with an eight-year, 162-average of 24 HR, 92 RBI, .275, .775. Would we take that over the course of the team-friendly contract that KC signed?

We know Bregman and Chapman can perform in the postseason. Buehler and May also have rings, but when they throw them on their dressers at night the jewelry sometimes winds up under the bed.

Kody has some assets and versatility, like a lot of players already on the 40. But he isn't a full-time second base solution. But I probably do this deal if you take out Clarke, who early in the Spring was looking like the Sox' best starting pitching prospect in decades (before Tolle grew his mustache).

I can't see trading Duran AND Mayer AND Clarke AND Sandlin for Joe Ryan, who just got tuned like a piano by the Blue Jays, the team the Sox are chasing in the AL East. Ryan pitches in the weak-hitting AL Central, home of the three worst offenses in the league, and now has an ERA of 3.22 -- compared to the 3.07 of Bello, a guy he'd presumably bump to the middle of Boston's rotation (who also owns the mighty goon squad in the Bronx). I'd still love to have Ryan, but not for two starting position players and two pitchers who could be parts of big league rotations in the next year. We covet Ryan because of the fantasy that he'll be the missing link to another title, but no one even knows how he'll perform yet in the big market spotlights of the postseason.

It's a marvelous night for a moondance

Password runs his helmet off for no reason. I don't like Chappy vs. the bottom Birds in the bottom of the 9th...

Man on 3rd, one out... TOUCH the ball!

"That's an impact arm."

Don't hang one...

Biggest at bat of the game.... ..

And the Bronx squirrel! Clearly, the Yankees were willing to pay what it takes to acquire him, even for peanuts and Crackerjack.

Not even at a brunch table.

Merloni just said hitters can't bunt anymore because they're all focused on exit velocity, the opposite of your goal when laying one down. To be a good bunter, you have to crave exit viscosity...

Another injury to Fitts, who knew his elbow was cooked as soon as he threw that last pitch. Criswell on the IL, Buehler banished to the pen, May doesn't have it, Harrison too wild... Let's see if Matz is ready to get stretched back out. If not, the open spot in the rotation just may be Payton's place.

Leadoff home run to Romania. Three-run shot by Duran to take the lead. Timely HRs and instantaneous runs... seem like a mirage...

My list of non-Red Sox with .250 averages with men on base doesn't show anything clutch -- they all fail to get hits 3 out of every 4 at bats. The one positive they all have in common, however, is the longball. Raleigh, Schwarber, Suarez, Ward all have 30, 40, to almost 50 home runs this year... or at least 50 percent more to twice as many than any Red Sox batter. This all came from someone describing the Yankees batting order as "terrific." We all know they only have one truly terrifying batter... but what they do have are EIGHT guys with 16 or more homers. The Red Sox have three. The pair of Yankees who hit two HRs apiece last night are batting .247 and .239. Two of the other Yankees with 18 and 17 HRs -- Volpe and Wells -- are batting .208 and .207. They're not good nor clutch, but when they make contact and it goes over the fence, it just seems that way. The scoreboard might even reflect multiple instant runs...

A month ago, nearing the deadline, a few Boston talking heads were in favor of trading Tolle for Ryan. Their reasoning was that if Tolle's ceiling is a #2 starter (because Boston hasn't developed a #1 for decades), then why not give him up for a guy like Ryan, who is already a proven #2. But this winter that probably makes no sense, since Tolle is a step away from the '26 rotation, and may even become a #2 himself by next season for MLB minimum wage and six years younger than Ryan.