Yes, Cecchini has been raking all year. Glad he is healthy now, and living up to what scouts said. Nice to see Britton progressing too. Lackey had another nice start last night, to bad the bats couldn't get it going.
1st inning was the difference in the game. Sox had runners on 1st and 3rd with 0 outs, Pedroia hits a rope right at the 3B and then Ortiz and Napoli K'ed killed the rally. One area of concern for the Sox is they usually put together 1 big inning where they score 4 plus runs then can't buy another hit with a RISP for the rest of the game. I'm starting to be thankful that Sox took away Napoli's 3 year deal. He's just way too streaky. The Sox need to upgrade at 1st for sure in 2014 and maybe even in 2013.
Four Sox players made BA's top 50 mid season prospect list. #4 Bogaerts #21 JBL #37 Anthony Ranuado # 41 Cecchini Matt Barnes and Allen Webster were in the top 50 at the start of the year but since Webster was in the MLB on July 1st he wasn't in allowed to be on the list and Barnes, with his struggles in Double A this year, has fallen out of the top 50. Would be interesting to see where Henry Owens is now, he ranked in at #91 at the start of the year and has had a very nice season so far. Either way it looks like the Sox system is loaded with prospects again, that's not even counting RDLR who's not considered one anymore. A lot of depth right now which is good to see especially around this time of year with the 31st coming up.
Crappy news, Andrew Miller is out for the year and needs surgery on his foot. Really too bad as he was pretty good out of the pen after the first week of the season. Look for Drake Britton to maybe be a key later on in the year.
By the terrible Yankees Fink? You know the awful, overachieving, old, injury plagued, once mighty, has-been Yankees? Just joking but it is a mystery how they are only 4 games out....mindblogging....I do see NY however staying at that 4/5 game out territory all year, unless they start sweeping Divisional series...they are just to inconsistent and hurt...
Ouch, have some faith. That's a ton of upcoming losses I hope don't happen. The pen is falling apart but, it's the easiest thing to fix.
Tampa has been playing very good as of late. Extremely well. Pitching, defense, timely hitting. They just seem to be on a roll. The way it is going I could see TB taking over first before the break. But I wouldn't count on it with not much left. Should be a great 2nd half.
I'm basing it on how historically the Sox played in Seattle and then have to play Oakland for 4 games. Meanwhile the schedule is kind to the Yankees (playing KC and Twins), TB (playing Twins then Houston), even Baltimore has an easy schedule after they play Texas they have the Jays.
Oh I wasn't complaining (although it still bugs me to no end that there isn't balanced schedules in baseball). I was simply justifying why I think the Sox might go into the break not in first place mainly due to the strength of the schedule for this week. Would you rather play the Twins and Astros, KC and Twins or Seattle and Oakland?
Yes I agree with you about the unbalanced schedules I cant stand that the AL it still playing the NL and it is July....and it will continue through August as well.... They were playing those teams out there when you guys has Colo. and SD.....it is really BS if you ask me..
Not only that but the Sox have to go to Colorado on the last week of September for 2 games then go to Baltimore, how does that make sense. I wouldn't mind AL teams playing NL teams if the NL finally got with the times and had a DH. I don't like the idea of possibly sitting your best hitter because of an NL park, imagine if it was a 3 game series and it was the last 3 games of the year? The main thing that bugs me about the unbalanced schedule is the interleague "rivals" have to play each other. It's simply not right/fair that for example the Yankees play the Mets but none of the other AL East teams play them. Regardless of how good/bad any team is they should play the same teams the same number of games. That's my big problem.
JBJ is headed to Seattle. With both Ellsbury and Victorino hurting the Sox obviously can't continue to stick Nava in CF with Carp and Gomes in LF and RF. If I had to guess I'd think Victorino will be put on the DL to rest up a bit and having the All Star break so close will be helpful in limited the games missed by him.
Again regardless of who the team is and how good/bad they are, the fact remains everyteam in the division should play the same number of games again the same teams. Really all of baseball should be balanced but baby steps....
I agree, and honestly they should limit it as well....the fact that teams are playing interleague in Sept is just awful and makes no kind of sense...
Yeah I agree, unless the NL added the DH I don't think it's fair to the AL teams fighting for a playoff spot to have to sacrifice the DH.
While every game counts no matter the month, I do think there's a bit of a disadvantage to go into the final month/week/series/game as an AL team without the DH.
I actually don't think he'll end up throwing a pitch in a MLB game this year but that's obviously just a guess due to his slow rehab. If he throws for teams on August first it will probably take him until September to be MLB game ready, not sure how trustworthy he'll be.
JBJ and Brandon Workman are called up with Alex Wilson going on the DL and De La Torre being sent down. I actually think Workman might be a big arm out of the pen for the Sox. We'll see.
Thank god I didn't stay up for it, I would have had 16 heart attacks. But hey great come from behind wins and Allen Webster you're clearly not ready to be a MLB pitcher, see you next year. The Sox pen was huge last night, 6.2 innings of 1 run baseball. And Bailey might be getting back on track and a good time too because Tazawa looks cooked at the moment. Also nice to gain ground on every AL East team but TB yesterday.
Sox got Thorton and cash for Jacobs. Solid get, didn't realize he was 35 though, always though he was younger for some reason.
Yup I like the deal, he can still get lefties out. Finkle, I read that the Sox turned down a Mets offer for JBL. What were they offering?
I think you'll see the Sox make a deal for a SPer now, can't count on Buchholz right now and they should be planning ahead. At least it gives them a week or so to see if Workman, Britton or another prospect (maybeRanuado) can step in. Also Aceves is officially off the 40 man roster, word is me pissed the Sox off on Tuesday with his "injury". Surprised that all 29 teams passed on picking him up. He's not a bad pitcher by any means but it's clear teams don't want the headache. I don't think he will ever throw another MLB pitch for theSox.
Not far behind IMO..... I think right now it comes down to....Boston, TB, and Det.....With Boston have a slight slight edge over the other 2.... Baseball has so much parody in it this year....The Sox aren't nearly as good as they were in 04 and 07 but yet I could very easily see them winning a championship this year.....
I think you're under rating Oakland too. They have the arms and pop in the line up, they're no fluke.
