GAME #74 - MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2022 - BOSTON RED SOX @ TORONTO BLUE JAYS

[markj]

7:07PM Eastern

Red Sox

Connor Seabold (R)

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

Blue Jays

Kevin Gausman (R)

1. George Springer (R) CF
2. Bo Bichette (R) SS
3. Vladimir Guerrero (R) 1B
4. Alejandro Kirk (R) C
5. Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF
6. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (R) DH
7. Matt Chapman (R) 3B
8. Santiago Espinal (R) 2B
9. Cavan Biggio (L) LF

Gametime Temp: 62°F
Chance of Precip: 0%

[SeaBeachFred]

A good sweep of a ho Indian team who seemed to be on a roll before we got to their town so this was a very rewarding weekend of baseball for our team.  Now we have go to Toronto where we have not had much success this season against their team, though at that particular time we were playing crappy baseball.  Right now I am pissed off at Duran and Houck for not getting vaxed and having to replace them with inferior replacements.   I don't even know who we are throwing tomorrow, but I do know we are going to have to hit better than we did in Cleveland on Sunday.  We leave too many men on the bases and we have a key player who for some reason has a lot of trouble driving in runs even though he bats in the cleanup position====which he should not.  I would like to see Cora make that switch and get Bogie out of the #4 spot.  To me he has never been good knockind in runs like Devers, Martinez and even Verdugo can.......and certainly not as good as Story who seems to be keyed as a run producer.  Still we're playing well and hope it keeps up.

[Sea Dog 23]

Cora says they’re giving Connor Seabold the start today.

[MongoLikeSox]

A good sweep of a ho Indian team who seemed to be on a roll before we got to their town so this was a very rewarding weekend of baseball for our team.  Now we have go to Toronto where we have not had much success this season against their team, though at that particular time we were playing crappy baseball.  Right now I am pissed off at Duran and Houck for not getting vaxed and having to replace them with inferior replacements.   I don't even know who we are throwing tomorrow, but I do know we are going to have to hit better than we did in Cleveland on Sunday.  We leave too many men on the bases and we have a key player who for some reason has a lot of trouble driving in runs even though he bats in the cleanup position====which he should not.  I would like to see Cora make that switch and get Bogie out of the #4 spot.  To me he has never been good knockind in runs like Devers, Martinez and even Verdugo can.......and certainly not as good as Story who seems to be keyed as a run producer.  Still we're playing well and hope it keeps up.

I would love to see a Duran-Bogey-Devers-JD-Verdugo-Story-Vasquez-1B-RF lineup. I'd even take a Verdugo in the 2-hole and Devers in the 3rd spot, but the tougher late-game lefties would kill us. My main point is that Devers behind Duran takes the bat out of Devers' hands too much. If we protect against that, we lose some of the benefits of Duran's speed.

Notice how different your boy in RF swings on the road? He got fooled on pitches this weekend that he does not get fooled on that much on in Fenway this year. Earlier in the series he sold out for pull and got fooled, but the same pitches got him when he kept his shoulder in and didn't sell out. He's just not seeing it. I hope he sees it well in Toronto. :) 

Not winning 2 or 3 in Toronto is going to make a few people in the 'sox Nation very vocal when it comes to our two non-vaxineers. I hope it doesn't come to that. I like these two.

[longgame]

Kind of a tough spot for the Sox.  They've been on a tear but they'll be lining up to take shots them if they lose tonight.  If they win 2 out of 3 people will be all over them for losing the one game.
(I'm not exempting myself from any of this by the way!)  Like Mongo said, it's too bad these two kids made a poor decision, especially given potential career impact.  Duran has looked great and Houck is figuring out what it takes so this is a setback for them and the team.  I just keep telling myself that the next three weeks could be big, but more likely will prove that the Yankees are good and the other three teams not in Baltimore aren't bad. 

I don't like Devers second just because it would be great if he had more men on in front of him, but Verdugo is so streaky so let's keep him where he is.  Right now that 2-3-4 stretch is killer, even though it would seem to make more sense to move them around except for the RH/LH thing.  Fact is if 2 out of Story-Verdugo-Vazquez are going they'll keep winning.  It would be nice to have a more consistent 1B-RF though.

[longgame]

Why is Franchy out vs a righty? 

[Sea Dog 23]

Fazoo!  Jays have gotten to Seabold with a couple homers and 4 runs.  Theyre still batting in the 3rd.  4-0.  Change of scenery aint looking so good.

[MongoLikeSox]

So, I don't think it's fair that I'm the only one with an ear worm after looking at Seabold and that mustache looking like Paul McCartney a little bit. I can't get the song Hey Jude out of my head.

[Sea Dog 23]

Welcome to the ALEast.  This must be a division for the long ball.  But really, the Sox managed much of their winning streak by playing small ball.  FC's, stolen bases, moving the runners. 

Somebody besides Devers will need to start supplying the power, because Jays and Yanks can put up crooked numbers in a flash.  But the Sox lineup is what it is, we're more nervous about our bullpen than the batters.

[MongoLikeSox]

A slap-down by a good pitcher is going to happen. I'm not overly concerned with just the one game. The Jays will put up some big K nights of their own sometimes. I hope we see one tonight. :)

Was he hitting his spots all night, or were they hitting him at his best? So, with Winckowski's first outing, you just knew he was off. He was missing every target by a big margin. That's without seeing much of him at all on MiLB-TV. It was the same for Seabold last year's debut. The only thing I saw early was Seabold not getting his Sinker called for strikes. Beyond that, I didn't really notice. Maybe I spaced it or forgot to pay close attention.

I hope we're not seeing the best version of Story that we're going to see this year. He's always had his K's, but this is far more than most of his career.

[longgame]

I think he was rattled in that first inning and never recovered.  He kept closing his eyes and trying to settle himself down but never seemed to.  Has to be tough to come up like that and you have to be thinking "if I blow it I'm done".  Add to that Gausmann who has been pitching well and has some history with the Sox and it was a bad night all around. 

Need to bounce back tonight though.  Just one game.