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You forgot to state why though. It's because the pitcher can only throw to 1st base a couple of times to speed up the game and it has sped it up on the bases. Once you reach the limit then runners can take huge leads and get huge jumps.

Well there are probably quite a few guys like Hamilton who are pretty much defense only Like Locastro or Pache and guys who used to be great defensively and are now considered at least above average still like Cain, JBJ and Starling Marte. More guys to consider Brett Phillips, Cedric Mullins, Adolis Garcia.

1st Star. Dylan Cease 2nd Star. Tim Anderson 3rd Star's . Bummer and Hendrix Honorable Mention. Adam Engel, Madrigal, Vaughn Congrats TLR.

I think defensively Robert, Engel and Hamilton are easily 3 of the top 10 maybe top 5.

Not bad for a ticking time bomb.

This has to be played once in a while.

Marshall is not a good reliever by any stretch of the imagination but If I'm remembering right had been unscored on in his last 5 outings. The guy has to pitch when the Sox need to cover 3 innings sometimes. The Sox just don't have a reliable BP . Thems just the facts. Some times someone, because you don't have better a relief pitcher on your 26 man roster ,has to pitch . That can be true of Foster, Marshall, Heuer and Ruiz any time you bring any one of them into the game. Our best relievers are Hendrix, Kopech and Crochet, our closer and 2 guys on innings limits. That's 1 guy who starts occasionally so he can't be used as much in short relief and another guy who's a rookie and has had injuries that have prohibited him from pitching more than 65 innings in each of the last 3 years or so. After that it's Bummer and Ruiz if you go by ERA. The other 3 guys have 6+ ERA. So pick your poison.

And this just confirmed what I've been saying about Mercedes. He has to know that despite the slump seeing himself in the 5th spot in the lineup every day shows that TLR believes in him.

This is reasonable. I thought bringing Hendricks in for the beginning of the 9th was probably the right call. I think a lot of fans would rightfully criticize that move. Basically Crochet hasn't thrown a lot of innings. You can manage to win every game but you also have to keep in mind the full season and specific plans for pitchers. In my mind I'm thinking Crochet is being groomed to be able to pitch 2 innings in the playoffs and late stressful innings also. So at some point he has to be tried in those situations and not just a couple of times but perhaps a couple of times a month leading up to the post season. It won't always work out but Hendricks also has to be brought in at times with men on base. I have no problems pulling Keuchel early and some problems with not giving Hendricks the full 9th given the context of other things besides just winning that game.There's no guarantee the Sox are going to get reliable BP help at the TDL so Crochet may end up being given more late inning responsibilities than we would like in the post season and he has to be prepared for it

Defense also some times wins games. Look at how the Tigers played D . Their fans should be the ones fuming. Bad D and bad BP doesn't equal many wins on the road. I wasn't too happy with that big inning by the Tigers but I was pretty sure it was still a winnable game.

Plus Abreu's hit was probably just exactly what he tried to do when he saw that big hole on the right side, hit it through it and advance Moncada to 3rd while the OF was playing deep.

Unfortunately bad stuff happens. Bad bullpen and injuries to Eloy and Robert. But for the most part we've had an almost equal amount of good things happening, Yermin for the 1st month, Rodon ,Hamilton providing a little lift, Kopech being real good. Like I always say, it takes a team !

Oh good statistical support as well . I like it. The more informed Sox fans know these things and just don't pound LaRussa just to pound him. Like a full 1/3 of those who voted wanting Lamb gone or questioning why Lynn was pulled earlier for anyone with rudimentary knowledge of upcoming games and stats.

There you go. I know it's fashionable to blame LaRussa for everything but with a 5 run lead how can anyone blame Larussa when Keuchel's been breaking down pretty regularly in the 5th and 6th innings.

He hit it over the drawn in infield. Looks like it would've been a hit even with the infield at DP depth. Edit :My bad you were talking about Abreu. But that's just as bad. I don't know if you ever played slow pitch softball but a good hitter should be able to hit the ball to left ,right, or up the middle any time he wants to. In MLB that's nearly impossible but it's exactly what Abreu wanted to do there . Infield shaded up the middle for the DP. Abreu sees big hole on the right side with OF playing deep to cut off a fly ball over their heads that would score Moncada. He purposefully hit that there specifically to advance Yoan to 3rd. That's not lucky that was planned and a hell of a piece of hitting.

Wugly !

Nah that went about 120 ft. so you were closer than you think.

SO happy for Yermin !

The Grandy Man can.

Mad man !!

They will tonight.

They probably should move him down in the order. LaRussa may be leaving him there to show he's behind him. However at this point it just makes sense for the team to put Lamb in the middle of the lineup against RHP. I'd bench him for a game against a RHP for sure . Until Yermin and Vaughn start hitting RHP better we are going to see a lot more of Lamb . It does suck that Lamb appears to be our 2nd best LHH on the team now. Grandal could be that but when you are hitting under .150 I can't say it with any conviction. Love the OBP from him but the Sox need a guy who can hit his way on base and advance runner multiple bases from the left side hitting 5th or 6th against RHP.

Vaughn can't hit anywhere until he is off the IL.

For sure he is in a slump but any time you take the count to 3-2 that's a good AB. 1st step for him getting back to hitting is being more selective at the plate. For most of the slump I'd say he's been behind in the count a lot. You get guys down 0-2 , 1-2 and the result are going to be terrible for 99% of the guys. Once you can work the count in your favor the results get way better. Vaughn probably won't be on the IL all 10 days so Sheets won't be here for long. Perhaps we get to see him a few times before he goes back down.

We went to a 3-2 count twice last night so I'd call those good AB's.