SoxBlanco

Love that when Colson touched the plate, he gave Luis a normal high five. Then Robert yelled something as if to say “Hey, what about our handshake?” Colson then immediately turned around with a smile on his face and executed the handshake.

There have been three separate times this game where I have thought, “Wow, Tauchman might be the slowest runner in the majors.” And it’s only the second inning.

Did we know he was returning today? That’s great news. Solid start.

Hoping Hagen can stack another good outing on top of the last one. Get some momentum and confidence building to close out this season.

Update: At the start of the year, I told myself the Sox need to win 5 out of every 16 games to get to 50 wins (and then they’d still have two games to spare). So I will break the season into ten different 16-game chunks. I’ll update every time we finish another 16 games. Here are the results: 4-12 5-11 5-11 7-9 4-12 7-9 10-6 3-13 Total: 45-83, on pace for 57 wins.

That’ll get me to the 50 wins to hit my over bet, so I’ll take it. Civale looks solid to start.

Fine, I’ll start it. Nice knowing that I won’t be responsible for having to start one tomorrow.

Yep. This is what I’m trying to say. It’s almost as if the Sox are prioritizing never losing the DH over getting Teel and Quero the most at bats possible. And I’m not saying this Lee move is what’s causing me to think that. This Lee move will obviously increase the playing time of Teel and Quero because we know the Sox ARE afraid of losing the DH, as evidenced by how infrequently Teel and Quero have been in the lineup together this year.

Yes, obviously. That’s why they haven’t been playing together more, and that’s why I added the part in parenthesis about the reality of what’s happening now. The Sox don’t want a scenario where they lose the DH, so having Lee on the team will get Teel and Quero in the game more. The other point I was trying to make is that another option (which obviously isn’t the way the Sox are thinking about it) is to not worry about losing the DH because of an injury and just play Teel and Quero every day. An injury mid-game is not a common occurrence, and even if it happens, it’s the rest of only one game where you’d be in trouble because of losing the DH. And if that’s the way a team viewed things (which is not the case with the Sox), then having a third catcher would actually reduce the playing time of your top two catchers.

Yeah, I worded my response wrong when I said it could decrease the amount of games they both play. I meant it will be a decrease from the optimal strategy of getting them both in every game. In other words, if you wanted them both in the lineup every single game, then you wouldn’t want Lee on the team. But if you’re scared of losing the DH and don’t play them both enough because of it (which is the reality of what is happening), then having Lee on the team will get them both in the game more often.

I definitely see what you’re saying. In fact, they can’t let Lee just rot on the bench, so he will play some, which could actually decrease the amount of games that Teel and Quero are both in the lineup. If the number one goal is to get Teel and Quero in the lineup every day, then they should play one at catcher and one at DH every single game and deal with the one game consequences should one of them get hurt, which means Lee would not be needed.

Also pretty funny that they’ve won 3 of those 33.

Is 8 games considered close?

What had his velocity been? And what was it tonight?

Yeah, and that’s still luck. That’s why BABIP is a thing. Guy made a good pitch and the batter took a horrible looking swing in both cases and got lucky. But hey, I think we can both agree that losers lose. And that’s why the Sox weren’t able to overcome them.

As many blunders as the Sox have made, they’ve also gotten pretty unlucky. All four runs came after a guy stuck the bat out with two strikes and two outs and got lucky.

Oh, I don’t think he’s fast. But he touched third a fraction of a second after the cutoff man caught the ball. If he’s a third of the way home at that point, I think he makes it. Definitely would have been close, but I think he makes it.

You might be right, but he barely jogged to 2nd and then stutter stepped. And the way the cutoff man caught it, it would have been awkward to spin and make an accurate throw.

Ugh. Chase cost us there.

He busted his ass and noticed the right fielder was dogging it. I loved it.

This is pretty insane.

Glad someone else noticed that. I was shocked.

Looks like the best lineup of the entire season (from an offensive perspective).

I think there’s a difference between being dumb and lacking baseball instincts (particularly on defense and running the bases). In high school, the valedictorian was on my team. Smartest guy I knew, and best hitter on the team. But I’ve never seen a worse base runner in my life. I think there are certain instinctual things you can’t teach in baseball. You either have them or you don’t. Sure, you can teach base running and defensive situations, but some people will never have the ability to just react without thinking about it as it’s happening.

Love the no-stress 9th inning. Nice win, fellas.