GAME #41 - SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022 - SEATTLE MARINERS @ BOSTON RED SOX

[Sea Dog 23]

As for the bullpen, I dont think Cora has many options.  He has only what Bloom gave him while they tried to stay under the LuxTax line.  He has maybe solid arms in Schrieber and Davis  With Danish, Diekman, Strohm, Sawa, those guys are up and down.  Robles and Barnes are used to save the other guys from getting gassed before July gets here.  Face it, none of those guys can pitch every day on top of the other problems.

I guess a trump card for Cora is waiting for Paxson or Sale to get healthy.  Then he can put Whitlock back in the bullpen, where he is a natural.  But Sale and Paxson are nowhere near pitching this year by the looks of it.  If MGT doesnt fix this, the bullpen is going to be flat worn out in August.

[longgame]

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.

Both Friday night and Saturday afternoon. It was great - camping, hiking and Red Sox!

Bad timing for a day off as they've been on a roll.