hogan873

Again, didn't see much of the game (damn these west coast games). But I saw enough to be frustrated by the continued defensive woes. The 3rd inning was ugly, and Giolito had to throw way too many pitches. But, Giolito did pitch well overall. Also nice to see Robert destroy a baseball. Collins looked good at the plate, not behind it. Vaughn's first hit was encouraging. I think he needed that first one to get going. I expect many more. I didn't see the rest, but it sounds like Crochet was good again, and Abreu did more Abreu things. This team is exciting and frustrating. Going to be a great season...that will cause me to drink more beer.

I was able to see a few innings of Rodon pitching, and he looked great. Command and confidence. He did a nice job with fastball location, and his multiple-speed sliders kept the hitters off balance. Anybody have money on Rodon being the best pitcher through one rotation of the starters? I can't wait until the Sox are done with this damn west coast swing. I want to watch an entire game.

After watching Mercedes hit this past week, it's amazing that he hasn't gotten an extended look at the MLB level before. And it's entirely possible he only made the team this year because Eloy tore his tit. I understand that he's essentially a DH that can catch a bit, but he's shown the past two seasons in spring training that he can hit and has shown so far in the majors that he can hit. He seems to have a pretty good eye and doesn't chase too many bad pitches. He has a ton of power but doesn't rely on it with every swing. He goes up there looking for a hit, not just a home run. If he continues to get playing time, which he certainly should, he's going to hit some monster HRs. He's an exciting player, and I'm happy he's with the Sox.

Yeah, he seems like too nice of a guy to do that. Maybe this is where TLR steps up.

The majority of the blame for the 1-3 start is on the players. The manager didn't make Madrigal make a bad play. LaRussa did not cause a fly ball to smack Robert in the melon. TLR was not batting when there were runners in scoring position. These are professional god damn baseball players making dumb mistakes and not executing when the damn well needed to. If this sort of play continues, it's evidence that the manager is not addressing the shortcomings and not holding the players accountable.

There are other teams that are expected to be good besides the Sox that have had a bad start. The Braves are 0-3, the Cardinals are 1-2, The Red Sox lost 3 games to the Orioles. We're close to this team, so the bad stuff is magnified for us. Yeah, they played some shitty baseball this weekend. But we all know this team is better than what we've seen so far. What we need to see, in addition to some wins, is better execution when there are runner sin scoring position, better defense, and more consistency from everyone, but especially the guys who we are expecting to help carry this team. My son and I were talking yesterday, and he said it best: "This is a very frustrating team to be a fan of." Remember when Keuchel bitched the team out last season? Someone is going to have to do that again pretty soon.

He didn't look good during the first inning but improved as the game went on. My biggest concern with him is how badly he misses with a lot of his off speed stuff. Many of the pitches he threw were never close enough for the hitter to even think about swinging at them. It's clear he has good stuff, but he still has a long way to go to control it.

Making it illegal to provide food and water to voters in line has nothing to do with showing an ID. Nor does limiting drop boxes, making it harder to do absentee voting...the list goes on and on. This is a restrictive voting law.

Go look on social media. Plenty of fans proclaiming to never watch a baseball game again.

Good news. It's a shame for the city of Atlanta, but it's the right thing to do. MLB says they are already working on an alternate city. It'll be interesting to see where it lands.

Giolito looked really good, but it did seem like he used a lot of energy early. That's to be expected, and I'm glad he was hyped. Striking out the side in the first was awesome, and that changeup to Trout to end the inning was gross. TLR made a good decision to pull Gio when he did. Something we wouldn't have seen last year. Yoan looks much better than he did last year. Certainly seems like he was heavily affected by COVID last year. Adam Eaton, at least for a game, made us thankful that he has returned and has proven to already be better than Mazara. Madrigal needs to get his shit together. His yips from the wild card series have carried over. It sucks to lose game 1, but it's one game out of 162+. This team is loaded with talent and will be one of the best teams in the AL.

Moncada leads the team in HRs and triples. The Sox acquire Bryant before the trade deadline. Cease and Rodon combine for 35 wins and both have ERAs under 3.5. A brawl starts after Hendriks does the "I'm done with you" hand wave after striking out someone on the Tigers.

The CDC stated yesterday that data shows vaccinated people do not carry the virus, which means that only do the vaccines prevent symptoms, they seem to prevent infection at all. This is huge and even more important as restrictions are being relaxed and people are caring less and less. The magic herd immunity number to 70% - 80% should be reached by early summer. Let's hope vaccination rates can stay ahead of the dumbass rate and prevent another wave. Because that's what it's going to take. People aren't going to go back.

I've seen several articles and interviews with people saying we need to expand eligibility sooner rather than later. The upticks in positivity rates are being driven by younger people (18-35 or so). Couple that with the latest news that the vaccines are 90% effective in the real world, the quicker we get people vaccinated, the quicker we can squash a potential wave. There are always going to be holdouts, those who will never get the vaccine. We can't worry about them. Hate to say it, but it's the truth. If the vaccines are 90% effective against even catching COVID, the truly small population of anti-vaxxers won't matter to the population as a whole. Regardless, we're so close to the finish line. We can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. Keep putting shots in arms, keep wearing masks, keep taking precautions until it's safe enough to relax.

Only if Tim goes to C. That would then put Lamb at 3B and Yermin at SS. ?

Todd Frazier just became a free agent.

Good lord, the sound of Moncada’s HR.

Bryant makes too much sense...and too much money for this team, unfortunately. He'd be perfect to fill the hole and would be another back-up for Moncada.

Vaughn may not be too bad out there in LF. He just needs to not run into Robert, not fall into the netting like a puppet with his strings cut, and not run into a wall ala Aaron Rowand. So, essentially don't do the stuff Eloy has done to hurt himself. In all seriousness, though, this could be a great opportunity for Vaughn. If he's decent out there, he solves several problems for the Sox and makes himself even more valuable.

True. That would be the biggest hurdle.

Oddly enough there was an article about that with three potential packages (speculation, of course). None were devastating combinations of young talent. Names like Collins, Stiever, Lambert, Burdi, Burger, Adolfo, Thompson...one package mentioned Cespedes. I think he'd be off limits.

I would agree. Vaughn in LF is a scary thought...for him. Last thing we need is for someone else to go down. Possibly too many question marks signing Yoenis. A proven OF and bat makes the most sense.

Runs into Robert a few times, smokes his melon off the wall once or twice, falls into the netting like a doomed trapeze artist...only matter of time until he tore a tit. Sucks. Hopefully he'll be healed and ready to contribute at the end of the season.

Injuries happen, and sometimes a big gun like Eloy goes down. What's the most frustrating is that it was completely avoidable. He truly is like a clumsy newborn giraffe out there, but he makes it worse by taking unnecessary risks. I imagine Hahn is already on the phone.

It was in a USA today article.