Jake

Guys please, you have to challenge. You can't start every at bat with a ball called a strike.

Brutal call to start Miguel's AB

Well, he must not be hurt too bad

Anyone else not totally buying that Vargas is getting a day off for no reason at all, just for the purpose of keeping him fresh going forward? Just had a day off on Monday.

Interesting seeing Peters give way to Braden there so Lowe wouldn't be as tempted to tag up

This particular one was a miss outside but the bulk of them are missing high which is a manlet problem more or less (IMO). Non-power guy has to be careful with challenges but he needs to learn the height of his zone as well as possible to get the umps to call it correctly.

Had to look it up: Chase leads MLB in pitches outside the zone wrongly called a strike to start an at bat. 32 times after tonight which is kinda crazy.

Comeback starts now

Sam was keyed in on 4-seamers which he has a hard time laying off of. Bubba mixed in a sinker and it locked Sam up because he was thinking it was a 4 seamer that would miss high/in. Colson pretty reliably gets locked up on that pitch as well from any pitcher that makes him respect the 4 seamer.

What do you like about going to the game? "Pretty much watching the players play." That's about the maximum level of substance I can coax out of kids that age when I speak to them too

Well you can see why Bubba entered the season as #2 pitching prospect in MLB. Has pretty expected level of 2nd time through the order penalty too which tracks if his whole deal is having the heater rise up on you.

It's crazy how often Chase's at bats start with a pitch out of the zone called for a strike. Usually high

Keep the WHAT fresh?

Looks like a nice start from Thorpe tonight. Just pounded the zone and they never hit him hard.

Ultimately, I wish Burke pitched better but we got a big clue about what's going on from this one getting pushed back. He must be wearing down. Hopefully the Sox can get him back to form.

Really no consistency with how he's calling strikes.

I'm surprised Burke was allowed to pitch to Cruz but I guess it worked out for now.

Ump is having a brutal day as well. Not to anyone's advantage

It would make me of course write off that trade as an epic fail but (if it's true that Thorpe is no good) it would make me really respect Getz for not getting overly attached to his guys.

I think the initial roster move tomorrow is likely to be Schweitzer down, Brazoban activated.

Short of a double play from this batter, Burke is already toast. Too many pitches to be able to safely pitch the rest of the game.

Would be tempted to use Urquidy here but he might be too good to be worth wasting int his game.

So I think we can conclude that Burke got those extra days off because his arm/body weren't feeling right. And the extra time off did not pay off.

Nice win. I'm sure nobody in here was saying things they would go on to regret around the 4th or 5th inning...

Okay in the box score, but not a good outing for Noah by the metrics. Batters didn't whiff very much, his velo was down, he wasn't throwing pitches in the zone very often. He was getting them to chase a lot, which is great, but I think he's probably wearing down.