SonofaRoache

Something to keep in mind. The Cubs lost yesterday. And if they lose again today, they may need to win Friday to clinch their division. Yu Darvish is scheduled to go.

Who is going to chew them out?

Come on big game. Let's get an oppo delight.

I played football in college. Baseball isn't a sport where players can get fired up after a coach yells at them. Our guys that are struggling are putting forth effort. Some just suck, some are young, and some are just in a typical slump.

What is chewing the guys out gonna do? They aren't gonna magically hit top notch pitching and beat hot teams because they are getting yelled at.

Come on Gio let's keep it close!

I appreciate Abreu being a leader, and vocally, but I'm not buying it. These guys haven't relaxed after clinching as we see many of the same good things and bad things. Maybe that was the case the first Cincy game. The reasons I think they are struggling in order. 1. Facing good teams with elite pitching. 2. Not hitting enough with runners on base, not squaring up bad pitches. 3. Walking too many batters. 4. Poor lineup construction and bullpen usage.

Signing EE was the right move at the time. He is a quality bat and they didn't know Abreu would go nuts. Collins and Vaughn were probably not in the plans for this season. Signing Grandal over McCann is the right move and I have no problem with that. Trading for Mazara over signing Ozuna or trading for Joc was a problem. Not giving more at bats to McCann over EE a few weeks ago was a problem. Playing Mazara over Engel is still a problem. Lineup construction and order is still a problem. Go Sox!

Yoan's approach at the plate has been questionable. It's not just him being late on pitches or not hitting them with authority. Hopefully next year is a fresh and productive bounce back for him.

I said after the Minnesota series that these last 10 games would tell us a lot about our Sox. The pitching we were facing was gonna be real tough. So far we are 1 and 4 and get Cy Young tonight. DK speaking up won't help because it is not an effort issue. Many of our guys are young and still finding their way. We have EE and Mazara who have been bad all year. This roster is still flawed but with a few additions, it can become a complete team that is slump proof. That starts with great pitching. We have to be able to rely on 3 starters, if not 4 going 6 or 7 innings most nights if we want to hoist that trophy. This takes a lot of pressure off of your offense and bullpen. We also need a good RF to balance our attack and to bring in a good utility man to occasionally replace slumping players and to give guys adequate rest. Lastly, we need RR to step his game up.

Darvish vs Cease Friday, that whole plan probably goes to shit.

He is right though. If that were anyone but Luis people would be calling for a send down. It also helped that Luis played well for a good stretch to give him more of a leash.

Ricky definitely made that call from the locker room.

In a little over a week Luis Robert lost ROY Jose Abreu is losing MVP to Ramirez 1 seed in AL to facing the red hot Yankees if we don't pick this thing up.

Engel Hernandez

Tigers had bases loaded and nobody out and screwed up.

This is one of those moments from MLB the Show. Are you gonna fight and win this game, or will it demoralize you and ruin the rest of your season if lost? We shall see.

Yep. That's my point. 6 to 9 months is the start, and hoping all goes well.

Sorry, but Grandal has been pretty good overall. He could be better, but so could everyone else. He is still playing like a top tier catcher overall.

We could have DH'd Eloy since he was slightly hurt and put Engel in LF.

They are saying 6 to 9 mo the at least for vaccination of the people. It may be a problem for the season.

Let's get this division in the next few days and rest people according to how the bottom teams are doing. I'd like to split with Cleveland this year.

Exactly.

Renteria and our leaders already said they want to win the division anyway. That was their next goal after clinching. So we shouldn't all pretend that wasn't a goal to alleviate pain of possibly blowing the lead.

They actually said they care about winning the division last week.