GAME #28, SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2019, RAYS @ BOSTON RED SOX

[Schloicka]

1:05PM Eastern

Red Sox

Chris Sale (L)

1. Andrew Benintendi (L) LF
2. Mookie Betts (R) RF
3. Mitch Moreland (L) 1B
4. Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
5. Rafael Devers (L) 3B
6. Michael Chavis (R) 2B
7. Steve Pearce (R) DH
8. Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) CF
9. Christian Vazquez (R) C

Rays

Tyler Glasnow (R)

1. Yandy Diaz (R) 1B
2. Tommy Pham (R) LF
3. Daniel Robertson (R) 2B
4. Avisail Garcia (R) DH
5. Mike Zunino (R) C
6. Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF
7. Guillermo Heredia (R) RF
8. Willy Adames (R) SS
9. Christian Arroyo (R) 3B

Gametime Temp: 56°F
Chance of Precip: 6%

[Sea Dog 23]

Continued back miseries for JD, yikes.

[Bill-806]

As DAD would say, "SON, its later than you think" !!!  BIG GAME TODAY !! iono iono iono iono

[Sea Dog 23]

As DAD would say, "SON, its later than you think" !!!  BIG GAME TODAY !! iono iono iono iono

Yes, time's a wastin'.  My rough math says we need to go .625 ball the rest of the way to win 95.  Strangely April games DO count as much as Sept.   sigh

[longgame]

Remember they finished a cool .667 last year so the numbers about what they have to do aren't too intimidating.  If they want to win, they're going to have to play to that level at some point, no matter how well or poorly they started.  What concerns me is that they don't seem to be very resilient.  JD goes down, they can't score.  Plus with Leon on the bench they had nobody to hit in that game yesterday either.  The Yankees on the other hand are missing every single player that was expected to contribute and they are on a tear.

It all comes back to pitching for me.  The bullpen has sucked as we know it would.  No improvements made to a pen that lost it's arguably two best arms, even though bringing back Kimbrel or Kelly weren't good options, there were other options out there.  Then you do stuff like sign Sale and Eovaldi to long deals only to find out that Sale looks more and more like he may never be the same guy (he hasn't been in nearly a year now) and Eovaldi has the same surgery he had last year.  Someone pointed out the pitching coach situation the other day and I think that would be a good start.  The Sox have to figure out why they pay guys so much only to see them turn to crap.  Look at Price, it took him a few years to become who he was supposed to be and had been before he came here.

This team needs to find a way to get it going, they're not in danger of falling out, but they're in danger of settling into mediocrity. 

[markj]

Speaking of mediocrity, Sale gets them in a hole right off the bat, so to speak.

[longgame]

Speaking of mediocrity, Sale gets them in a hole right off the bat, so to speak.

Eovaldi beat him to the DL, they're in a real bind now as I'm sure they have to put Sale on the DL just so he can save face at this point.  It's the pro equivalent of falling flat on your face and standing up and looking around in an attempt to blame someone or something else.  Send Sale to the DL and sign Keuchel.

[Schloicka]

Not sure why Sale was signed to a 5 year extension when he was terrible last August & September? We'll end up MANAGING his pitching it seems like for the duration. I thought there was something physically wrong with him last fall and nothing has changed my mind.

[Bill-806]

Time to shake up that lineup ?? Looks to COMFORTABLE ??? Time to hit away from the shift ?? Ya know, "hit it where they ain't" ?????  JBJ looks lost ??? iono iono iono

[Murph]

Not sure why Sale was signed to a 5 year extension when he was terrible last August & September? We'll end up MANAGING his pitching it seems like for the duration. I thought there was something physically wrong with him last fall and nothing has changed my mind.

I said that from the day they did the stupid deal. He also faded during the last 2 months of 17 but not as bad as 18. I f they had in their mind to sign him why not wait at least a few months into the season. They jumped on the Eovaldi 2 month bandwagon and how did that turn out. If they have no intention o resigning Mookie best thing is to see what haul he can bring in. Sounds silly but getting nothing for him leaving in just as dumb.

If the deal is 3-4 years 100-150 mil the Sox IMO made a mistake. With his slinging motion, he can breakdown any moment on the season as was seen with his 41 ip the last 2 months and the PO in 2018
This is what I said in March.

[Bill-806]

CHAVIS looking good …….  Devers, JBJ, TRADE BAIT ?????  Devers GLOVE is killing us & JBJ looks lost at plate ??    BTW, Get some early runs and make it easier for your pitchers …... iono iono iono iono

[Schloicka]

Sale pitched a OK game. Lot of pitches. Error hurt him big time.

[Murph]

As DAD would say, "SON, its later than you think" !!!  BIG GAME TODAY !! iono iono iono iono

Yes, time's a wastin'.  My rough math says we need to go .625 ball the rest of the way to win 95.  Strangely April games DO count as much as Sept.   sigh

79-55 is what they need just to get to 90 wins. Unless a DRASTIC turnaround its not going to happen.

[Bill-806]

Again today, looks like we were SLEEPWALKING iono iono iono iono iono

[elktonnick]

Sale wasn't the,primary culprit in today's loss.  It was and is the team's hitting or lack thereof.  I don't  care how well you pitch or not, you aren't going to win many games scoring only two runs.  Devers still has not figured it out defensively.  I agree that these guys are too comfortable.  Things need a good shaking up.

For me it all comes back to spring training, Cora simply did not instill in this team the ingredients necessary to have a winning attitude.  I am old enough to remember Red Auerbach and the string of 11 out of 13 titles. Auerbach never approached the year after winning the way Cora did this one.  The seeds for this debacle were sown in February and early March.