hogan873

Some terrible 2-strike approaches so far today.

I got home at about 10:30 last night and looked at my phone. Saw the score and that the Sox were coming up in the bottom of the 9th. I turned it on just in time to see Moncada swing through a fastball. I grudgingly continued watching. Yonder again made a nice adjustment and took a ball the opposite way. When I saw Nicky come up I was hoping for at least a flay ball deep enough to score Rondon. Even when he hit it, I said "That'll get the job done." It did...and more. Really exciting baseball the past couple days. This team looks halfway decent at times. I'll take the heart-stopping last-minute wins any day.

I enjoyed the episode. The final 10 minutes or so with the slowly building ominous music was great. Still for me, Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards were two of the best episodes of TV ever. Whenever I try to get people to watch the show, I always talk about Hardhome. "Just wait until season 5. There's an episode that will blow you away."

Oh he'll come back to earth. He's playing well offensively and defensively, and the playing time he's getting (50% or so) seems perfect. If he were playing 75% of the time, we might see a more drastic correction. For now, I'm going to believe that he's going to have a better year than expected.

I can see that rationale. However, my thinking was that with 1 out and a runner on third (and no force plays), a fly ball or a grounder to the right side ties the game. That would seem to be a higher percentage success than trying a safety squeeze.

I don't think there was one person at the game or watching it on TV that saw the bunt attempt by Rondon and said, "Ah, good strategy." Trying to bunt there, with a pinch hitter, is dumb enough, but to do so in the 9th inning of a double-header after your bullpen has been decimated is a fire-able offense. I haven't been as hard on RR as others, but that had to be the worst piece of managing I've seen in a long time.

Yonder saved the game from some abysmal managing. What the fuck was that bunt attempt by Rondon? Why? And Capra walked over to him and told him the play. That’s little league bullshit.

More than most teams would be willing to pay...and it doesn't matter. He's not going anywhere.

This team is exciting, that's for sure. I forgot how bad they were at the beginning of the tear last year...8-19 is bad. I still don't think, however, that they can compete for the division yet. Half of the offense looks really good, a few others look okay, and a few look awful. Back end of the bullpen looks awesome. Starting pitching will be the biggest hurdle to conquer.

What was the deal with Garcia yesterday? He made two very lazy plays in a row on fly balls to the outfield. On the first one (the Davis pop-up that led to him getting caught between 1st and 2nd), Garcia looked like he completely gave up well before the ball was going to drop. The second one looked like he just didn't see it.

Banuelos looked good. The comparison to Quintana isn't far off as least at first glance. The most important thing about the start was that he looked confident and relaxed. Even when the defense committed TWO errors on the same play, he kept his demeanor and bailed his team out. I jokingly said before the season started that McCann would outperform Castillo. I know it's still early, but he's looked pretty good both at the plate and behind the plate. He's obviously not going to bat .340 all year, but he's certainly trending to be better (much better) than his career average. After a very slow start, Abreu looks really good. He's hitting the ball hard, and the ball is often falling for a base hit. He's raised his batting average a hundred points over the last week or so. It's not a stretch to assume he'll end up near his career average. Nice win against a bad team. The Sox have struggled over the past few years when they play bad teams. They seem to sometimes play down to the competition. They did that in Baltimore last week. So far on this home stand they're playing like they should against these bad teams.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more conversations about yesterday's game. Friday's come back win was awesome, but what Lopez and the bullpen accomplished was something special. The Sox tied the all time MLB record for strikeouts in a 9 inning game. Lopez set a career high with 14 strikeouts. He's only the third pitcher in history to strikeout at least 14 and give up no earned runs in 6 or more innings. What we saw from Lopez is very encouraging. I obviously don't expect him to come out start after start and pitch like that, but it's got a be a huge confidence builder for him. He certainly has the stuff to be an ace. He had his best stuff along with excellent control yesterday. 70 fastballs thrown, 34 swung at, and only 3 times was the ball put in play. That's pretty damn remarkable.

No. Lopez’s stuff was good enough to strike out anyone from any team. Let’s not diminish his accomplishment.

What a performance by Lopez. His fastball was electric. His off-speed stuff was good. But together, it was masterful. Loved that he reached back and finished with a strikeout.

Thank god.

I'm usually more tolerant of veterans signed or traded for. I'd typically be willing to give them more rope. But I'm absolutely done with seeing Santana pitch. He has nothing out there. I'm getting close to being done with Nova, too. He showed a couple times that he might be serviceable, but that's about it. At this point, I'd rather see Banuelos, Fulmer, or Covey.

He could have had a bat made from Valyrian steel. Doesn't matter if he can't make contact.

Adam Engel will NEVER be a .275 hitter. If he were given an entire season to start, he'd be exactly what we see. Very good defender with little hitting ability. He wouldn't get on base enough to steal 50 bases. Regardless, the Sox do not need him moving forward. They have plenty of prospects that deserve a chance. Engel has had his chance.

Cordell looks pretty good. Definitely better than Palka, and is so far a better hitter than Engel. It'll be interesting how he does with constant playing time.

It seems like Castillo and McCann are getting equal playing time. So far McCann has performed much better. I doubt he keeps it up, but I still think he'll end up better than Castillo.

Great episode this week. Nice set up for the ensuing battle. I have a feeling many of the series regulars will be killed. Some of the deaths are going to surprise us, I'm sure. It's going to interesting to see who is left standing. I would agree, after seeing some other posts, that Brienne, Grey Worm, and Lyanna will bite it soon. Seemed like some pretty blatant foreshadowing.

There’s some exciting talent to watch. Most games have been at least somewhat fun.

*looks at Castillo’s numbers* They’ll probably both suck.

My “out there” prediction was that McCann would outperform Castillo. Doesn’t seem so out there now.

J-Mac. I bet he’d like to play the O’s everyday.