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First of all, the mountains were much cooler! I was actually cold at night in my tent. Great hiking until the thunderstorms chased me off the mountaintops.
Enjoyed listening to the game by the fire on Friday night and after hiking Saturday afternoon. The Sox seemed to have turned something of a corner. The impact of Story coming alive cannot be understated. He won't hit bombs every game, but just having him be threat in the lineup makes a big difference. Also nice to see production out of Franchy and Dalbec. Franchy is a pretty impressive athlete and if he can put it all together may be a good bench player who can back up OF and 1B, assuming there's a better every day option at 1B. Dalbec should learn from the much more selective approach Franchy takes which has resulted in him getting good counts.
As everyone else said though, this bullpen is frightening. I don't get why they keep running Barnes and Robles out in high leverage situations. I think Stram may be the best right now but he can be shaky, Schreiber has made us pay attention, but its still very hit or miss with this group. Keep putting up runs and it won't matter as much, but will be important if they want to be competitive later.
If and when Paxton and Sale come back, does Sale go to the pen? What about Houck or Whitlock? Can someone tell me why we have a 46 year old pitcher that can only go 4 innings on a good day?
A 46 year old pitcher going only four innings? Why you ask? Not sure but here's a guess. Hill had some injuries the past season and perhaps they are waiting for him to be fully healed and in tip top shape and then stretch him out for six innings or so. That's as far as my brain takes me on that. As for Barnes and Robles, who the hell knows what goes on his Cora's head. Perhaps he thinks suddenly like magic Matt will return to the form of early and mid 2021 when he was really on his game. As for Robles, all I can say on that is what I surmised in my missive to Mongo. Perhaps Cora sees something special in the guy that none of the rest of us sees, or perhaps he is a favorite of the skipper and he is determined to give him as many chances to prove himself right since he is also known to be a pretty stubborn person. After that, your guess is every bit as good as mine. As a side light, that was the way to enjoy the day hiking and listening to the game. Did you do this Saturday as well? Well at least you got two wins for your troubles. Good show my friend.
First of all, the mountains were much cooler! I was actually cold at night in my tent. Great hiking until the thunderstorms chased me off the mountaintops.
Enjoyed listening to the game by the fire on Friday night and after hiking Saturday afternoon. The Sox seemed to have turned something of a corner. The impact of Story coming alive cannot be understated. He won't hit bombs every game, but just having him be threat in the lineup makes a big difference. Also nice to see production out of Franchy and Dalbec. Franchy is a pretty impressive athlete and if he can put it all together may be a good bench player who can back up OF and 1B, assuming there's a better every day option at 1B. Dalbec should learn from the much more selective approach Franchy takes which has resulted in him getting good counts.
As everyone else said though, this bullpen is frightening. I don't get why they keep running Barnes and Robles out in high leverage situations. I think Stram may be the best right now but he can be shaky, Schreiber has made us pay attention, but its still very hit or miss with this group. Keep putting up runs and it won't matter as much, but will be important if they want to be competitive later.
If and when Paxton and Sale come back, does Sale go to the pen? What about Houck or Whitlock? Can someone tell me why we have a 46 year old pitcher that can only go 4 innings on a good day?
Fred, I agree with you on Robles. It's a process, not a 1-2 time tryout in the 5th or 6th inning and poof, you're a closer again. Same with Barnes. He owes a couple of personal favors from getting bailed out after being hit like HARD in the game before. Maybe some car washing and yard work at a minimum and leave it at that.
Simply put, when Robles has not been walking everyone, he's been giving up bombs and line drives. Slow-road him for a few weeks. Then give him the mid-game stopper assignment for a couple games. In the end, remember how we got him for a midling prospect in a pitcher-craving market. There's a reason that value was there.
I've liked the overall approach of the Red Sox play this season. Feebles seems less wind-millish, despite last night's Vazquez play, which was more on his route to home than anything, IMHO. Starters have been holding their own for the most part. Bad outings are going to happen. Last night may have been won by a Grand Slam, but it was only because others shortened their swings for the x-2 counts. They've been trying that all year a lot more than last year and it's starting to work. They'll try it some more, too, as it's proven effective.
Errors are down, overall misplays are down. They did right with Franchy this time around, so far, instead of throwing in the the deep end and watch him drown for 2 months. I was much more PO'd at management last year for HOW they did Franchy than I was at Franchy. Kudos to Franchy for having the fortitude to regroup and at least try down there instead of fizzle out like many have.
This team's record does not reflect their abilities with the exception of the Bull Pen. The weakest link theory is hard at work.
