GAME #7 - FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022 - MINNESOTA TWINS @ BOSTON RED SOX

[longgame]

2:10PM Eastern

Red Sox

Nick Pivetta (R)

1. Enrique Hernandez (R) CF
2. Rafael Devers (L) 3B
3. Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
4. J.D. Martinez (R) DH
5. Alex Verdugo (L) LF
6. Trevor Story (R) 2B
7. Bobby Dalbec (R) 1B
8. Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) RF
9. Christian Vazquez (R) C

Twins

Joe Ryan (R)

1. Byron Buxton (R) CF
2. Luis Arraez (L) 3B
3. Carlos Correa (R) SS
4. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B
5. Max Kepler (L) RF
6. Gary Sanchez (R) DH
7. Trevor Larnach (L) LF
8. Miguel Sano (R) 1B
9. Ryan Jeffers (R) C

Gametime Temp: 58°F
Chance of Precip: 0%

[longgame]

Finally Fenway!

[Sea Dog 23]

Joe Ryan?  I'm drawing a blank.

[SeaBeachFred]

Joe Ryan?  I'm drawing a blank.

Let's hope Sea Dog the Red Sox don't draw one when they get to the plate.  Semi unknowns have been known to make our hitters look absolutely miserable, and now we have a very unhappy Xander Bogaerts and his "insulting" offer to deal with.  I  remember how this situation derailed our team in 2014 and led to two last place finishes in a row.  Hopefully he will gear up and have a stellar season instead of sulking and forcing us to trade him for a patchwork bunch mediocrities come summer.

[longgame]

Pivetta gave up a run already although it says the ball deflected off of Verdugo.  I may have seen the play but it's that time of year when MLB subscriptions don't work all of a sudden.  They even blocked the WooSox game last night.  Hopefully my resets are working!

[Sea Dog 23]

Pivetta did not bring his A-game today.  Touched up for 4 runs in 2 innings.  Verdugo did get a homer for us.  4-1.

Well a short turn for Nick, Valdez is now on the mound in the 3rd.

[markj]

I'm glad I didn't waste my afternoon watching this game up to now. Down 6-1 in the 8th? Yikes. Not the way you want to open your first homestand.

[markj]

Bad day for Sox pitchers.

[SeaBeachFred]

A stinker all the way, but are we really surprised at all?  Our pitching is crappy and we did little to improve it over the winter.  We have a very angry player in Bogaerts because of the low ball contract proposal he received and you can almost bet he will be playing at half-speed much of the time.  Of course, the Red Sox brought this all on with their miserable offer and perhaps it was intentional because they signed Story and feel Bogaerts would be hard to sign.  So that is that.....or is it.  If some team is going to try and win a WS this coming season  this might be the right time to look into trade possibilities for the guy, get a couple of good young players and get on with our rebuilding because with our pitching that is what we're doing whether the team wants to admit or not.  Our relief pitching stinks.  Sawamura looks like an overweight wrestler and to boot he can't pitch worth shit almost every time out.  Barnes still has the irritating habit of walking the first man and Brasier and Davis each pitched a good inning today after getting shelled the last time out.  Consistency is not one of their strongpoints.  We struck out 13 times today and when one of the bright spots was JBJ you know we are bottom feeding at the moment.  But good for Jackie.  He at least came out swinging.

[Sea Dog 23]

Well I did not do my homework today.  The no-name Joe Ryan was actually Twins opening day starter.  He was also presented to Twins as a part of the Nelson Cruz trade to Rays.  So he does have some value, and he put a collar on our guys bats through 6 IP with the exception of Verdugo early.

Otherwise the game was decided on the other end by our woeful pitching.  Fred has pretty much written a diagnosis on that cluster.  The only thing I can add, is that Bloom may have looked at 2022 as really a bridge year.  He wanted to put something on the field to keep the fans interested for three months, then trade at the deadline for pieces he can use to make a pennant run in '23.  One or both of Bogey/Devers may not be a part of that.  And it's looking more and more like Devers may be a trade piece this year before he can be a FA at the end of 2023.  Many months to narrow the contract split, but they are $100mil+ apart they say.

[elktonnick]

If Bloom looks as 2022 as a bridge year then he is a blooming idiot.  The Sox were two games short of the world series last year.  There is no reason why this team should not have been upgraded to win it all this year.

[MongoLikeSox]

Not the first time we've had ceremonies and come out lame. You'd think the 'Sox would know how to handle this situation by now.

OB's call on Ryan's mannerisms reminding him of Greinke was spot on.

The ball Sanchez hit up the middle - was that a slowing SS or poor positioning?

And finally, a quote from my wife he walked that batter. "F**king Barnes!!!". Usually it's just a sigh, or maybe a "damn it". Nope, she brought out the pure anger and frustration F-Bomb for Barnes in an early April game. Something about that is sticking with me. It changes a man.  rofl

[longgame]

Funny how bad pitching and a lack of hitting seems to be a hindrance in winning baseball games.  Too bad Bloom never got that.  Is he like Epstein, a kid that never played ball and geeked out on stats?  He clearly needed better pitching, needed to add one more bat, not take one away with JBJ, and take care of your key guys who give your team an identity.