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They were and are winning because they have great starting pitching and kill LHP. Their record against RHP is mediocre and that's against a lot of poor competition. Like most teams their record when hitting HR is way better than when they don't hit a HR. The Sox are 14/15 among AL teams in HR's per game. Only dreadful KC is worse. It would definitely improve the Sox chances going forward to rectify the lack of HR power and the lack of balance in the lineup when facing stronger competition and better teams which will happen in the playoffs. This cannot be denied since 75% of pitchers are RH. This is something the Sox should be obsessed with if the goal is to win the World Series this year. They have to be obsessed with winning the World Series in order to win one especially if the starting pitching hits a lull due to guys like Kopech, Rodon, Crochet or Cease going above and beyond IP they haven't done the last 2 years or in their whole career. The Sox become a very different team if Rodon cannot pitch through the playoffs at the effectiveness he's been at so far and he's already above the amount of IP of the last 2 seasons combined as is Kopech and it's not even the season midpoint.

Not sure the Sox have any major prospects left. 2 of their top 10 haven't even played yet in Cespedes and Norge Vera.

You may be right however do you think its the final verdict ? Along with guys being figured out being as old as the game is also guys who get figured out who then make adjustments to those adjustments by the pitcher. We don't know yet if Yermin is capable of that. The game has always been a learning process and a game of cat and mouse between pitcher and hitter.

I think they already said he'd miss today also.

Some times you're in such a hurry to disparage the Sox . Did you know TB is 2nd in MLB in runs scored per game on the road barely behind the Astro's ? Astro's 5.78 and TB 5.77.

I know some will never believe in him even after hitting righties well ins a SSS and chalk it up to BABIP luck but any time you can combine great defense with a power hitting offense you have to give him an extended shot. I nice percentage of his hits going back to last year are extra bases and he hits the ball hard. He is the type of player Tampa bay would covet.

Sacks packed .

Feels like a hangover headache.

That must be one bad sinus infection. Now feel free to tell me how bad they can be everyone !

He might be one of a few who doesn't care about the sticky stuff to enhance his pitching.

Si day game , tune in if you can.

That's very sweet .

What do you owe him ?

Keuchel's best game of the year ! Mendick a big hit and help from TB defense. Engel HR now with 3 in a short period of time !

Sure why not ? Make him part of Team Hamstring . But it all depend on what JR is willing to do. Still need a backend RH relief pitcher and 2 of those would be good too. Or 1 and a long guy .

I wouldn't mind it happening just because his HR power is good but I wouldn't call it perfect since he's better against LHP like the rest of the team. But he does still provide power against RHP. Better to get him than not get him if you can't find or get a more balanced player like Starling Marte . Get both and that's perfect.

Very Doubtful. Sox arms held them down but they erupted like a volcano against Boston after us. Some good lefty bats with some pop and a couple of relief arms and this team is good to go. Oh and Be very very careful with Rodon.

Yes he needs to keep playing but only against LHP and maybe the same can be said for Mercedes. I see so much support for Vaughn and it doesn't add up. I mean we want to win don't we ? Vaughn against RHP: 112 AB .188 BA .248 OBP .250 Slg. .498 OPs . Billy Hamilton against RHP: 44 AB, .182 BA, .213 OBP ,.273 Slg ,485 OPS and Hamilton sucks against RHP. He should hardly ever play against RHP but he has a great glove and can contribute on the bases so he brings more things to the table than Vaughn even against RHP . Yet all I constantly see is Vaughn should keep playing. Give me one good reason why. Against RHP he doesn't contribute anything hitting,defensively or on the bases. If it was any other player everyone would be calling for his head. Sure he's a top draft pick. But the lineup has to be stronger against RHP in all facets of the game to get to where we all want to go. Edit: sorry got Hamiltons stats wrong.

It's more important than ever now to mix and match. Like against Tampa Bay in the first game TLR should've been mixing and matching, Meadows is RH and their BP is all RH except for 1 guy. I don't care about personal opinions about Collins or Lamb. When the Sox can face a RHP they need to be in even over Mercedes and Vaughn I still see so many here saying Vaughn has to play every day. No he doesn't, he has proven he hit's LHP at this point in his career. His numbers are putrid against RHP. Terrible, disgusting even. If you truly want to win games, just as you don't want other bad hitting players in the game you shouldn't want Vaughn in the game either against RHP. Vaughn isn't good enough defensively or fast enough to justify a spot in the lineup against RHP. He doesn't bring a damn thing to the table. Hamilton is more valuable against RHP than Vaughn is. Open your eyes and stop blindly supporting Vaughn. He may become a very good player but it isn't now. Btw way Bama Doc this isn't directed at you maybe except for the 1st paragraph. You are one of my favorite posters.

Perfect example was tonight game against TB . LaRussa elected not to play Lamb and Collins against RHP and the predominantly RH BP of TB while TB over loaded it's lineup with LHH against Lynn. TLR couldn't even be bothered to pinch hit for any one. Result: 2 LHP power hitters hit HR's for Tampa Bay and the Sox middle of the lineup (hitters 3 through 7) went 0 for 18.

Leury also gets bashed a lot about his baseball IQ but in tonight's game against TB he hit a double took 3rd on a fly ball by Mendick and scored a run on a wild pitch that probably most of our players do not score on. He got a big secondary lead off third and made a split second decision to go home once the ball was in the dirt and bounced away from Zunino. He was really surprising how fast he got home and was easily safe. His speed, versatility, switch hitting and his OF defense all help win games. The same can be said for ( except for switch hitting) Hamilton. Until Eloy and Robert come back I suspect both will be around until then or the trade deadline.

There's no need for any of that until Eloy and Robert come back. So you just keep reassessing their time on the roster until such time either at the trade deadline or when Eloy and Robert return you are forced to make decisions. Lot's of guys get cold at different times especially guys like Mercedes and Vaughn who haven't had much time facing MLB pitching. Others like Eaton maybe get cold because of nagging injuries. All 3 may survive Eloy and Robert coming back depending on their future play . Between Eaton, Vaughn, Lamb, Leury, Hamilton, Engel and Goodwin some will see a lot less playing time and some won't survive the coming roster crunch in the OF. I don't know how likely it is any of them get traded but between them and the minor league OF's ( Rutherford, Gonzalez and Adolfo) we have a ton of OF's to be rid of one way or another.

Turned a very nice unassisted DP and got a hit tonight when our 3 through 7 batters and our other RHH's looked like dog shit.

Crochet will be BP only and the Sox recently announced they will use him now for some 2 inning stints. Maybe by the end of the year they move him up to some 3 innings stints. My personal opinion is if the Sox get 70 healthy innings this season and perhaps 80 counting the playoffs that would be great. More than that might be pushing the envelop a bit . He's around 22 so far counting tonight so my guess, if healthy, he gets to 65 but if Fry comes back and Crochet has one of those phantom injuries it may not be that many. I don't think there's any way he gets over 80 including the playoffs but I'm not managing his health and IP so I don't really know what they have in mind. I'm erring on the side of caution while I think your guess is throwing caution to the wind.

And their BP , defense and talent evaluators. Any time you have a good team like the Rays with RHP who throw good sliders they will beat the Sox without more LH bats in the lineup. The difference tonight is TB loaded up on LH tonight to face Lynn and they have 2 LHH who hit for power in Meadows and Lowe. Batters 3 through 7 for the Sox went 0 for 18. Yermin Mercedes and Vaughn all couldn't hit sliders. Perhaps Mercedes,Eaton and Vaughn shouldn't have played and been replaced by Collins, Engel and Lamb. I'm surprised none were used to PH to at least put some pressure on the TB RHP.