5GoldGlovesOF,75

Most Errors Red Sox Regulars: 5 Duran, Abreu, Bregman, Story, Campbell 4 Brennan Bernardino 3 Rafaela, Narvaez, Hamilton, Toro, Gonzalez ... the outfield isn't usually as pivotal as infielders not turning double plays, but last night's muff by Anthony shows the difference -- when an infielder misses a grounder, the batter reaches base; when an outfielder misses a grounder, runners circle the bases. Boston's starting outfield was maybe slightly overrated early on as the greatest in Sox history... 13 Es in less than half a season by Duran-Rafaela-Abreu doesn't look so good compared to the 2018 season total of 11 for the trio of: Beni 4, JBJ 6, Mookie 1. Or how about this 1977 Red Sox unit (when intact): Yaz 0, Lynn 2, Evans 1... the first two played all year, but Dewey missed about 100 games with injury, and was spelled by primary DH Rice, the erratic Carbo, and Rick Miller, another Gold Glover.

It's Cora's fault! Before the game he told him to field a single on the side instead of get in front of it. AC's just has to be better at preparing the defense to play sound fundamental baseball.

Multiple choice: when he homers, and one of the Roman candles they shoot off hits the manager, who was aiming at Cora? A: Brez, B: Raffy, C: Ron Roenicke, D: Joey (haha)

Yes. Billy would hit him with a sucker punch. But Earl would knock him out with bad breath.

I'm just here to hit. They told me to put away my spikes. Next thing you know, Hammy will pull a groiny, and they'll ask me to pinch run.

I don't really care about fielding percentage, but I really care about defense. My post was in reply to Max, who always tries to separate and stress hitting and pitching over defense. The whole idea is that pitching and defense are directly connected -- they both happen on one side of the ball in an attempt to prevent the offense from scoring. And the correct ruling on that Garcia grounder you described should have been a fielder's choice, not a hit. Semien chose to pursue Meidroth instead of immediately making a throw that would've beaten Garcia to 1B. I realize sometimes it goes the other way, like if a shortstop dives in the hole to make a stop and only has one chance at an out by throwing to 2B or 3B to force a lead runner; if he gets the out, it's a fielder's choice, but if everyone's safe, the batter gets a hit because there was no way he was getting thrown out at 1B.

John Henry doesn't want to lose more baseballs that fly out of Fenway Park.

I think there were Yopherys on my Yes poster. Or was it Tull?

The best sign that Campbell is figuring it out wasn't his home run to the joke porch in Yankee Stadium. It was his last 10-pitch at bat in the Bronx: three sharp oppo fouls, three pulled fouls, and finally a line drive single to right. Campbell kept his hands above the ball on every swing.

I think ESPN should interview a few more hundred Yankee players about Dobbins vocal hate for pinstripes... ... but make sure in every interview they plug in shots from the Judge Cam -- Judge is sitting on the bench, Judge is smiling, Judge is changing his baby's diapers, Judge is walking his dogs, he - he's putting on his batting gloves... Judge is on deck!

Rookie shortstop for the A's, Jacob Wilson, is second in the AL in hits and batting average, and has only struck out 16 times in 268 plate appearances. He's 5th in OPS (between Bregman and Devers). Unless pitchers can write a book on him soon, Wilson seems an early lock for Rookie of the Year -- and another good reason for Boston to stop waiting to bring up Anthony (and not have to worry about paying him what he's worth in the 2030s).

It's true the Red Sox need to start diversifying more. Over 20 years ago, Theo Epstein could see they couldn't possibly win with too many Dominicans -- like Martinez, Ortiz and Ramirez -- so he looked to the Far East and brought in Dave Roberts, who is half Japanese, and Kevin Millar, who was actually going to Japan, but turned his plane around. Then in '07 Theo signed Matsusaka and Okajima, who are both literally Japanese, and the Sox won another ring. Breslow and Bailey were both relievers on Boston's '13 champs, but they had mound time diminished by the presence of Japanese set-up man Tazawa and closer Uehara... so maybe the current braintrust views too much diversity as bittersweet. It's not like the Red Sox have a history of racism tainting their place in the standings. Sure, they were the last MLB team to allow an African American player to wear their red socks, but it only took them 20 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier to finally recruit a multi-cultural roster good enough to win the pennant. That was in 1967, when the front office looked at the roster and saw way too many players with last names ending in vowels -- Yastrzemski, Petrocelli, Conigliaro, Stange, Santiago, Lyle -- and balanced it out by putting as many as six black players on the field in Scott, Foy, Smith, Tartabull, Howard and Wyatt. Those guys took them to Game Seven of the World Series.

They always call that. Meanwhile, when Duran led off the game, on one pitch his bat never moved but he just took a stride and they immediately checked the check. Ya, check your hat at the door.

Torrorro Show!

That HR by the Carnivore is a home run in every Yankee Stadium in the majors!

Mayer and Campbell hit their first home runs in the Bronx this series. Now we just need Anthony to... oh, wait.

Until ESPN announcer says: "A Yankee Stadium home run by Campbell" (you mean like a thousand hit by Judge, Stanton and DJ vs. Boston)

Bad defense directly affects pitching and leads to bad pitching. Bad plays can result in men on base, which forces the moundsman to pitch from the stretch instead of the wind-up, and always extends innings requiring more pitches to retire the side. More mistakes on the field = more pitches per inning = more chances to make mistake pitches... which most big league hitter clobber. Last word on fielding percentage: no error is issued for a fielder who doesn't charge a grounder or doesn't get a good enough jump to outrun a fly ball. No E is charged when a first baseman ranges too far to his right for a chopper and nobody covers the bag in time. And no double play can be assumed after a fielder's choice gets the lead runner at 2B -- so a wild or late return throw to 1B is not an error... that's because often it's caused by an imperfect feed throw to the pivot, who maybe double-clutched or rushed the transfer (or in the olden days was trucked into LF by Hal McRae or Don Baylor). None of those miscues decrease a team's fielding percentage -- but players, managers, coaches, and scouts are very aware of the difference between a sharp, tidy D and a loose, shoddy D. Fans, too...

That made me laugh saridinically (sardines are good for something). So when Gio was a zero, he was worth more than when he actually pitched and had less value than a guy Ramon Vazquez picked up off the street with the team bus when driving Raffy's glove -- which he took by mistake -- back to the team hotel.

But 12-year olds with good arms always want to show them off. Or young men acting like 12-year olds. Why do we assume guys who play a kid's game for a living would ever be mature? (the reason I played for half a century was to try to stay young as long as possible...)

I'm not convinced Varitek is the coach to blame for game-planning starters to veer away from their pitching strengths. When he caught World Champs and no-hitters, Tek's pitchers were stars because of fastball command, change-ups and splitters. The term "sweeper" didn't even exist.

It's Cora's fault! He doesn't have them properly prepared for starts! Cora should be putting on the mask and squatting behind the plate in pregame warm-ups, and giving them targets on the black perimeter of the four quadrants! And all catchers and catcher coaches should be made to crowd around to watch him demonstrate! And then Cora should fly a helicopter over the mound to blow fastballs past the batters, and tilt the rotator blades to make breaking balls spin at inhuman revolutions. Only he can make the pitching staff good again... like it once was when they had a complete rotation of five major league pitchers... When was that, anyway -- last decade?

We will see these moves, plus a fulltime opening in the outfield for Anthony, when the front office and management finally acknowledge publicly that it's a Bridge Year -- a creaky bamboo wooden bridge swinging over the gorge. Impatients may cringe at times watching youngsters adjust to the big leagues, but they know they no longer want to watch washed up veterans on the Dying Dutchman in the Dead Sea.

No matter who the Sox trade in the next month, it has to be for pitching, pitching, pitching. Duran should return an actual starting pitcher with potential -- not an All-Star like Duran was (and still might be), but someone young and just breaking into a five-man rotation. Abreu, even though he leads the team in homers, might not net anything more than a decent reliever or a minor league reliever with a big arm. Kyle Manzardo was a power-hitting prospect when Tampa traded him to Cleveland for Aaron Civale, at the time a viable member of the starting rotation. Manzardo's worth can be debated, but he also leads the Guards in HRs this season. As mentioned above, attaching Yoshida to any trade will require expanding the deal to include Red Sox prospects. Since Boston is still rebuilding -- and is content to just store Yoshida and his bat in practice camps -- that scenario doesn't seem likely until maybe the offseason.

I don't have stats for hitters batting in the top 3 spots in the batting order compared to the bottom 3 spots. But I know coaches and the rest of the batting order favor guys at the top that take a few pitches, especially at the beginning of the game. It gives the whole dugout a view of a pitcher's arsenal and release points, his approach in certain counts on the batter, and most importantly, it raises his total pitch count -- which often leads to more mistakes vs. subsequent hitters, and can lead to the ultimate goal, which is forcing opponents to go to the bullpen early. In those regards, it's hard to justify batting Rafaela at the top of the order right now. We all know Ceddanne sometimes swings at every pitch... so hacking at three straight splitters in the dirt (which we've seen him do) does nothing in regard to accomplishing the objectives described above.