GAME #74 - WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2021 - BOSTON RED SOX @ TAMPA BAY RAYS

[markj]

7:10PM Eastern

Red Sox

Garrett Richards (R)

1. Danny Santana (S) CF
2. Alex Verdugo (L) LF
3. J.D. Martinez (R) DH
4. Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
5. Rafael Devers (L) 3B
6. Hunter Renfroe (R) RF
7. Christian Vazquez (R) C
8. Enrique Hernandez (R) 2B
9. Bobby Dalbec (R) 1B

Rays

Rich Hill (L)

1. Brandon Lowe (L) RF
2. Ji-Man Choi (L) 1B
3. Wander Franco (S) 3B
4. Austin Meadows (L) DH
5. Randy Arozarena (R) LF
6. Joey Wendle (L) 2B
7. Manuel Margot (R) CF
8. Taylor Walls (S) SS
9. Mike Zunino (R) C

Gametime Temp: 95°F
Chance of Precip: 0%

[SeaBeachFred]

7:10PM Eastern

Red Sox

Garrett Richards (R)

Rays

Rich Hill (L)

Gametime Temp: 95°F
Chance of Precip: 0%

Richards needs to finally throw a gem tonight, get his breaking stuff over, pound the strike zone with good location. Sometimes he seems to throw on a one plane delivery and that makes the ball easier to see.  Perhaps a tad more three-quarter would help.  At any rate, we can play better defense than last night, Garrett could outdo E-Rod's performance last evening, our hitters can stay on course and with all that we could pull out another game tonight.  That would certainly help rally the team on this critiical road trip.  Please go for it guys.

[longgame]

Santana leading off again.  Meanwhile Duran is raking in Worcester.  What the heck is going on here?  He has to be better than both Santana and Hernandez.  Arroyo should be back any day now too.  Bring up Duran, keep Marwin and Kique for back ups and only play them in case of emergency. 

[elktonnick]

Santana continues his demonstration of futility at the plate.

[elktonnick]

Garrett Richards continues his demonstration of futility in pitching in the early innings.

[markj]

This is a tough hole to climb out of.

[elktonnick]

My gosh how can a team which plays such sloppy baseball be in first place.

[MongoLikeSox]

Time to end this Santana nonsense. I don't give a crap who it is at this point.

[Schloicka]

Time to end this Santana nonsense. I don't give a crap who it is at this point.

Santana makes Dalbec look decent.

[MongoLikeSox]

I hope the any kids watching will appreciate just how hard it is to hit below .100.

[SeaBeachFred]

Santana leading off again.  Meanwhile Duran is raking in Worcester.  What the heck is going on here?  He has to be better than both Santana and Hernandez.  Arroyo should be back any day now too.  Bring up Duran, keep Marwin and Kique for back ups and only play them in case of emergency.

Ted---I said a few days ago why guys like Santana and Marwin are in the lineup but it sounded  tacky and made me look bad.  You have a better answer.  There is NO freakin' way that Danny Santana should even be on the team, let alone leading off.  O for 5 tonight, hitting even worse than the rotten JBJ did for us.  There is no excuse for not bringing Duran up  to take over the leadoff spot except for Cora's stubborn attitude.  Still the bad guy tonight was Richards.  His one plane delivery is easy to pick up and hit and his control is pitiful as well making him almost as useless as a starter as Andriesee is as a reliever.  Well it was a bad night as we lost early in the game and can only wish that tomorrow will bring glad tidings and a series win at the Trop.

[Sea Dog 23]

When I saw the pitching matchup with Rich Hill out there, I was convinced there was bad mojo for the Sox.  If memory serves in 2017 or 2018 Dombrowski gave up on Hill, didn’t offer him a contract.  He went on to do well at LA.  Then in the Series of ‘18 Roberts inexplicably pulled Hill who had pitched a great game against Sox.  No telling he still holds a grudge when he sees Boston, at least in my mind. HA!

[MongoLikeSox]

There is one move available that involve a guy already on the 40 - Marcus Wilson. He's been improving AND consistent the first 8 weeks or so of AAA ball. 2nd 4 weeks the K's are in half of what the 1st 4 weeks were. Natural CF'er. He was our Swihart prize from Arizona. I do not know anything about his defense and have no idea if he's a disaster waiting to happen with MLB pitchers waiting.

I am convinced that the Red Sox wait too long on these borderline ready types. Imagine, if you will, having to adjust to MLB, and then adjust to the adjustments MLB has made to you. Hard enough, right? Now do this while you're youthful strength and speed are leaving and you're trying to adjust to that at the same time.

It is nice, though, that Cora is showing loyalty to Kiki, Marwin and Santana. It's heart-warming. Can someone gimme a hug, please? <sniff sniff>

[longgame]

Cora can only play the players he has on his bench.  If not Santana, do you want Marwin batting first?  I lay this all on Bloom, he thinks he's invincible and probably uses Renfroe's slow start as an excuse (see, my guys get better!).  Santana is a bust.  We have Hernandez for another year yet.  They need to either make moves or call guys up because having a leadoff guy who gets the most at bats in a game who strikes out (hitting after Dalbec who strikes out all the time too), is just deadly.  At least Dalbec has potential and you can carry one slug, but not 3. 

[SeaBeachFred]

A win tonight would calm the angst many of us feel right now.  Tuesday's comeback victory was nice but with last night's stinkeroo and a tough game on tap this evening the  team has to rally and get back out in front.  Santana IS a bust, pure and simple and he needs to go....for just about anybody and I do not expect that Cora will maintain his stupid stubborn attitude and lead him off tonight, but Dalbec, Vazquez, and Arroyo (when he gets healthy again) have to step up and hit better than they have been.  I could say something positive for Marwin but  that could be a lost cause.  I do feel Kiki Hernandez is better than he has shown and ne really needs to step it up and Pivetta must stop throwing the home run ball and show what he did a month or so back. It seems simple from here but I do question why Bloom has been slow on the draw to get the excess baggage off the team and why so many our our pitchers cannot seem to put two good games together.