Wow, I have been derelict

I know I said I was gonna be better in the second half, but holy shit it takes a lot to write after every single game.  I gotta get back into the swing of it.  Shit's been busy lately, personally, professionally, etc.  But I've still been watching every game.  And that's what matters, right?


And I have some thoughts.  You can't use Steven Wright to pinch run.  Ya can't.  I'm 1000000% OK with using a pitcher in that spot, I actually love that and think it's smart.  But use Buchholz (especially if he's about to come into the game to pitch) or Pomeranz, who was in the NL earlier this year.  I don't think Steven Wright has ever been on the bases in the major leagues (I could look that up, but that's not happening).  Part of it is on Steven Wright for not being able to run on the bases without hurting himself.  Ugh.


Losing that extra game to the Yankees on that homestand hurt.  Should've taken 2 out of 3 from them.  Sweeping the DBacks took a little of the sting out of that. 


Had to miss the Cleveland makeup game because of work, but was very glad to see that Pomeranz, who has faced a LOT of criticism, was able to contribute and pick up a win.  Let's hope that trend continues. 


LOVED what I was seeing from ERod last night.  Not too worried about the hamstring, but definitely not thrilled.  Very glad to see the bullpen (minus A-BAD) pick him up.  And Mookie.  What is there left to say about Mookie?  Just incredible.  He's putting on a show every game.  Besides being so dominant, he's incredibly entertaining.  Good idea to move him to 3rd/4th in the order so he starts getting more chances to hit with men on base.  He's been incredible.


Price NEEDS to step up tonight to keep this thing going.  Feels like the 1000th time we've said that.

Quick Hits

A few thoughts on the Seattle series...


These late night weeknight games completely drain me.  They seem quicker than normal games, but they're so late I'm just exhausted.  Had to actually go to bed and throw it on the radio and listen in bed last night.  It caught up to me after 3 late nights...


Was encouraged by the starting pitching this week.  Price was veru good until he hit the wall, and ERod and Porcello did their part and Pomeranz gave you 6, which is more than you would've gotten for Buchholz.  He's getting better.  Losing that Price game was very tough, since it was very winnable and we thought they had it. 


What was up with the whacky, untrue stats Lyons was spitting at us about Seattle starter Wade LeBlanc the other night?


Farrell should not have sat Benintendi last night.  I know he has all of 2 games of big league experience, but he's a better option than Brentz at this point.  He's hit LHPs well so far as a pro and last night's starter (Ariel Miranda) has been eaten alive against lefties in the minors this year, and we saw Travis Shaw go yard against him early.  It would be nice if Farrell thought outside the box maybe once in while....


Interleague play this weekend.  Goin on 20 years and I still hate it..

Biggest hit of the season?

I heard it said on both the radio and tv that Pedroia's 9th inning, 2 out 3 run HR was the biggest hit of the season so far.  Definitely have to agree.  You drop 3/4 to the Angels this weekend and you're feeling pretty shitty going into Seattle. Instead, you've got a new lease on life and a renewed belief in your team's ability to come from behind.  Huge hit indeed.

I have been staying up late for these games.  Saw Hanley's throwing error.  That was tough because that could've been a win that they didn't necessarily deserve, and you need those through the course of the season.  Porcello came up huge and showed who the real stopper is on this team Friday night.  I missed most of last night's game but did see a few innings, including the end.  Still holding out hope for Pomeranz (I guess I'm just an optimist).

Don't forget Buchholz chipping in with 3 scoreless innings in relief to get the win today.  Huge pick up and an actual contribution from that guy for the first time in a while.

That was needlessly difficult

Was at a wedding over the weekend, so I missed Friday and Saturday's games.  Was checking up on the disappointing results, but couldn't actually watch.  Saw Hanley's 3 HR performance and yesterday's game.


I know any team can win any game at any time, but you shouldn't have to scrape, scratch, claw and bite to split a series with the 2016 Minnesota Twins.  It should've been a sweep, or at least 3/4.  I know it might seem like we're splitting hairs over literally one game here, but every game matters in this playoff system and you can't afford to lose games you should win. 


Pomeranz has to have a better showing tonight than in his first start, right?  I mean, could it be much worse?

Porcell 000 000 0

I know Porcello didn't go 7 but I'll take 6 1/3 blanks against a top team like the Giants.  Great performance.

Being at the game last night, I was very glad to see the Sox welcome back Jake Peavy and Javier Lopez in their first appearances at Fenway after the '13 and '07 series championships.  Call me a sentimental old softy but I love that shit.  I eat it up.  Easy to remember Peavy, but '07 and Lopez were a while ago.  Goes to show if you win in this town you're remembered forever.  I love it.

Let's see my boy Pomeranz tonight!

Second half starting out nice

Okay, I know there was no game to blog about last night and I know my second half resolution was to be more consistent with these, so apologies all around.


Glad the Sox represented well in the ASG, very glad to take 2 out of 3 from the Yanks in NY to start the second half.  Very concerned about Price's showing against the Yankees.  It's starting to feel like he's not going to reach his normal performance levels at all this season.  He needs to stop being a weak link in the rotation.


Speaking of the rotation, I love the Pomeranz trade.  Sure it's a gamble on a guy in Drew Pomeranz who is really just now having his first good season, and he's doing it in a pitcher's park against NL lineups.  I get that.  But the pitching market is thin.  What other names are you hearing?  Sonny Gray has been shaky at best this year and would probably cost more than Espinoza.  I love Rich Hill, but he has serious injury questions.  I would love Jeremy Hellickson, but he's not pitching anywhere near as well as Pomeranz.  The Sox desperately need starting pitching, and by giving up such a top tier prospect they forced the Padres to make the move now as opposed to waiting two more weeks.  They're ahead of the curve.  Look at the rotation now.  If David Price can EVER start pitching well on a consistent basis like he should for the second half (he was brutal last night) then we got Price, Wright, Pomeranz, Porcello and Rodriguez (who looked phenomenal on Saturday.  I get that it's just one start against a weak Yankees lineup but he looked like a different pitcher).  I get that you have to figure Wright and Porcello will come back to earth a little bit, but that's still a rotation you can work with when this lineup is scoring runs the way they usually are.  This lineup doing what it can do + that rotation = October baseball, which = something we haven't even come close to here for these last two last place finish seasons and counting. 

 

And, while I grant that it hurts to give up a guy who's listed as one of the top 15 prospects in baseball or whatever it is, keep this in mind.  Kid is 18 years old.  When will he be able to really contribute to a big league team?  4 years?  5 years?  We could and probably will all be dead by then.  Pomeranz is getting the job done now and is under contract for two more years.  And like my dad pointed out, if Espinoza winds up being really good the Sox can always just go and get him back.  Wait until he's a free agent, we have the money. 

Dombrowski's approach has definitely been to treat the farm as a means to acquire established, proven talent, as opposed to Cherington who seemed to view the farm as a system for developing young players to contribute to the big league team and was very reluctant to deal any prospects.  We should be very glad about Cherington's patience, having just watched Bogaerts, Betts and Bradley all start the All Star game. 


This particular trade depends on how you view the sustainability of our offensive production, I suppose.  It HAS to come back to earth a little bit, there's just no way they can do in the second half what they did in the first half.  So what does that mean?  Are they going to go so cold that they won't score enough runs to keep them in games?  Last night notwithstanding I don't think so.  Getting Brad Ziegler will really help the bullpen, especially once Kimbrel and Tazawa come back and if Heath "Don't Call Me Alan" Hembree and Matt Barnes continue their emergence.  is it the Yankees bullpen?  No, but I don't think Dombrowski is done in that area yet, either.


How's all that opinion?  Feel like you got your money's worth?  Does it make up for me being a deadbeat lately?  I hope so!  I'll be at the game tonight, so look for me on TV (if anyone knows who I am!)

Second half mon GO!

Ok, I know I'm supposed to do this every day, but it's been busy.  Spent the weekend painting the living room while listening to the game, so I can't comment so much on what I saw as what I heard. And I'm typing this on the T while standing next to a weird lady humming some non descript song and ignoring the looks I keep giving her.  So don't question my dedication.

I have high hopes for the second half.  And you f you're questioning my dedication in light of my lack of blogs lately let me assure you I'm dedicated, as evidenced by my fight with the gf over my refusal to see "Secret Lives of Pets" tomorrow night.  I'm DYING for that Sox-Yanks game, so I'll deal with a miserable life in the meantime.

So I'm PUMPED about the Drew Poneranz acquisition.  I think he is exactly what we need.  Sure we paid a steep price, since Espinoza is so highly touted.  But he's also 18.  Long way to go there.  Signing Groome kinda softens that blow, gotta give up something to get something, etc. etc.

Ok, weird lady is still humming and I'm at my stop, so bring on the second half!

I haven't forgotten you all....

I haven't forgotten about you all, my many, many, many loyal readers who have been no doubt clamoring for the next blog entry.


Seriously though, sorry.  My bad.  I have been busy, but not THAT busy.  I'm trying to finish up the bar I'm building in my house.  Once that's done, I'll have MUCH more time to blog.


So, what have we missed?  The Sox have taken the last two series, and had 6 (possibly 7) players named to the All Star team.  We should be feeling good.  So why aren't we?  Why are we feeling like this is headed in a concerning direction?  Aaron Hill is not going to be enough, but Shaw is obviously tired and can't hit lefties so Hill should help with that.  Farrell has done a lot of very puzzling things lately, and one has to wonder if that's going to catch up to him at the All Star break.  No reason to lose a game this weekend with the Devil Rays (they'll always be the Devil Rays to me) in here.


Side note:  I'll always try to limit this blog to last night's game, but last night's atrocity in Dallas should remind us all that police perform an excruciatingly difficult job under circumstances that the rest of us just don't have to face in our jobs.  We're thinking of you Dallas PD.


 

21-2

What can you really say about a 21-2 loss?  If someone told you the Sox would give up 21 runs in a game who would you guess would be prominently involved?  Yeah, I'd say Clay Buchholz too.  And today we hear he wasn't too happy about being lifted after 62 pitches.  The balls on this guy!  How much rope does he want?! He had already given up 4 and had 2 more on base who eventually scored. And I guess he stormed off the field too.  Geeze, when is enough gonna be enough with this clown?

Thankfully they bounced back today.  But ultimately I'm not sure if winning on this homestand is a good thing, since all it might serve to achieve is enable John Farrell to keep his job.  Not sure that's the best thing for the team right now.

I listened to the game at the beach today (almost didn't have anywhere to park to get on the beach, waited in line for over an hour to try to get a shuttle to Crane Beach, wound up ditching that plan and going BACK to Singing Beach and by sheer luck getting a spot on the street.  What a day) and was encouraged by Sean O'Sullivan's performance.  If he can pitch like that then please, for the love of God, let it be Bye Bye Buchholz.

Damn, it's easier to remember to write when they win

Ok, I've been outta the country, on vacation and trying to catch up getting back to work.  So I haven't had time to write.  Poor excuses I know.  So what the hell has been going on here???  Holy shit the wheels are coming off.  Can't pitch.  Can't hit.  JBJ couldn't run the bases today.  Can't manage the game, the bullpen or the roster (Mike Miller called up to spell Bogaerts at SS and then sits on the bench while Tazawa, Koji and Kimbrel pitch in a lopsided loss????? The hell is that?!).  10-16 in June is brutal, this team should be better than that.  Something needs to be done with the roster or with the manager.  Let's stay tuned and I'll try to write more (of course there's an off day tomorrow and I'm going to Weezer Friday, but that's beside the point).

Are the wheels coming off?

Funny how it can be tougher to find time to write entries while on vacation than during the work week..

Are the wheels coming off? What's Farrell doing? Papi hitting before he could tie the game? That I didn't hate as much as Marrero hitting in the 9th last night.  I'm worried about Koji.  And two nights ago - you load the bases with nobody out you gotta figure out a way to score.  Been frustrating losing these games lately.  Worried the wheels are coming off.

About to board a plane to Montréal.  First time visiting, oughta be fun.  Why did the Expos ever leave?

Did you think I quit?

You're not getting rid of me that easily!

Didn't see much of the weekend series with Seattle.  Had puppy duty Friday night.  Had my sister's wedding Saturday morning so I actually got to see most of that game.  Went with the gf to see her dad for Father's Day and spent most of the day at the beach, so caught a little on the radio on the drive home.  So not a whole lot of impressions from the weekend in Seattle other than Elias sucks, Porcello finally put together a decent start (and JBJ really crushed that HR) and it looks like Price is getting going.

As far as tonight's game (I know that's not the name of the blog) I can't believe they didn't score when they had bases loaded nobody out. Ugh.

On vacation this week so I'll do my best with entries for the games.  Montréal Thursday here I come!

Another wasted Price start

Price was pretty damn good last night.  Set down a bunch in a row against a damn good lineup.  But Tillman is just one of those guys we always have trouble with.  A modern day Rodrigo Lopez only actually pretty good against teams other than the Red Sox, if you will.

The question for me is why was Rusney hitting for Vazquez in the 9th?  Guy hasn't had a plate appearance since before the Celtics season ended.  Maybe you could've found him an at-bat in the 15-4 game a few days ago if you were planning to send him up against one of the best closers in the game?  Just a thought...

Free blog for my 100th page view.  Who's it gonna be?!?!

Last weekend's games

Sorry for the long delay (if there are any actual readers of this blog out there), but we were dog-sitting our dog's sister over the weekend, and these are two pretty high-energy dogs that take up a lot of time and effort, so I didn't even have time/forgot to write even a short entry.  But I do have some thoughts on the weekend...


The Twinkies are so bad you gotta sweep 'em.  You just do.  You show up for a season in baseball and you win 60 and lose 60.  So it really just comes down to those 42 swing games, how do you handle those.  Sunday was one of those and it went in the L column.  Not good.  I was glad they were able to get a win for Steven Wright, and I was glad they had a mashfest on Saturday like they should against such a weak team.  But they needed to go for the kill on Sunday.  Bogaerts losing his focus in the field was hopefully just a one-time thing.  He had the base-running issue when he thought he homered, and the lack of focus on Sunday, so hopefully he has this stuff out of his system now.  Obviously he's been pretty stellar other than that.  Pretty questionable call for Farrell to have Shaw try to lay down a bunt when that's clearly not something he's ever done very much.  They definitely had a chance in this one and it's frustrating to lose to a team you really should've swept.  Hopefully Price can get them back on track in a good pitching matchup tonight.

Cheers!

No game last night, so we watched Cheers.  Starting season 5 (again).  Grew up watching this show.  Love it.  This is the season where we've had about enough of Diane.  Still great though.  Hope to sneak in an episode before tonight's game.  Could be tough since we have our dog's sister joining us for the weekend.

As far as the games this weekend, the Sox better win at least 3. No excuse to lose to this team.

A split

A mid week split with a pretty good team.  Tough to lose a well-pitched game, but Bumgarner was pretty good too.  Giving up a homer to a rookie like that hurts, and that guy was almost the goat too when he coughed up Hanley's fly ball the next inning.  Tough to strand the tying run like that, but what can ya do?  Nice to see Chris Young continue his hot streak at least.  Another night off tonight and then a weekend taking on the brutal Twinkies.  Should take all 3.

Thought I spotted that wild haired Sox fan from the games in Chicago at The game Tuesday.  Didn't notice him last night but we'll see if he makes the trip to Minneapolis this weekend.

Late post - shocking I know

Sorry for the late post.  Judging by my 81 views on 28 posts I have a lot of people relying on me for their Sox news, so I apologize.

Bogaerts really coming into his own.  I suspect he'll be the main focus of quite a few Sox game storylines this season. He already has.

The play of the game was definitely Chris Young avoiding being tagged on Papi's pinch hit grounder to prevent the double play.  I was talking with my brother about the Sox base running this season the other night.  It really has been noticeably excellent, which was a hallmark of the 2013 team.  That team had great base runners.  Obviously guys like Ellsbury were fast, but I'm talking guys who were smart on the bases like Napoli, Gomes, Victorino.  It was great to watch.  Pretty much everyone except Daniel Nava.  That dude could not run the bases.  Where is he now anyways?  I think I'll Wikipedia his ass..

As far as Porcello, I'd say he performed about as expected against a decent team.

Ok, Price v Bumgarner has already started, so time to settle in and check this one out.

No game

No game last night, so I did a lot of yard work.  It was getting bad and I'm actually pretty pleased with how it looks now.  It's really hard to have a yard and a young dog, so we'll see how long it lasts, if at all.  I don't have high hopes.  Also took her for a long walk and went to the gym.  How else would I spend a Sox off day?  We'll find out Thursday oddly enough.

Settling in for tonight's late night game and what do I see but Steve Lyons.  What the fuck! Isn't it bad enough we gotta stay up late for these games?  Now we have to stay up late AND put up with Lyons?  Geeze, what did I do to deserve this punishment?  I had my hopes up that Eck might make this trip since he's from the San Fran area.  No such luck I guess.  Story of my life!

Ok almost game time once the Giants finish up their David Ortiz tribute.  The fuck?! You read that right.  Isn't this getting to be a bit much?  We already knew it would, but still.  It's not like David Ortiz has a long, rich past in San Francisco.  They probably could've/should've sat this one out.

Sat-Sun split

Funny there's been some games where Steven Wright didn't necessarily deserve to lose or get a no decision and did.  So it kinda balanced out on Saturday when he picked up a win without having his best stuff.  Had some bad luck too.  Maybe it all does even out?

ERod got hit around pretty bad Sunday, huh?  I missed some of the start of it since I started drinkin early at the afterparty for a 5K race in Cambridge.  When I did watch I spent a lot of time waiting for the Sox to just get a hit.  Gotta figure that's an anomaly.

But what we can't say is an anomaly is the shitty pitching we've been subjected to lately.  Guys are coming back down to earth, relievers are getting worn out, new guys are struggling.  Something's gotta be done.  I hope Dombrowski doesn't wait until we fall real far behind.  Staring and relief help is needed badly now.  The sooner the better.

Are you glad to be alive?

I missed last night's game because I was at the Cowboy Mouth concert on the rock cruise ship.  Anyone know this band?  If not you should.  Amazing show.  Actually it was more than a show, like Cowboy Mouth shows are.  It was a celebration of being alive.  Love it.  Got way drinker than I should have, but that's part of the beauty.  Incredible music, unbelievably fun show.  Do yourselves a favor and check them out the next time they come by.  You can thank me later.

As far as the game, I guess Bogaerts' hitting streak is over now.  We couldn't hit the knuckler. Let's hope that's the case for the Jays this afternoon.