Pretty interesting piece on Eduardo's 2017 season thus far.

That is an interesting piece. I'm extremely bullish on EdRod. NESN had a nice piece last night on the way he's picked up his pace and I think that's working for him.

Me too. Even last year's stat line is a bit misleading as he struggled with his mechanics in the first half, but he was a much better pitcher in the 2nd half (9.15 K/9, 3.24 ERA, 3.48 FIP; though his xFIP was 4.35).

Some really frustrating losses, mainly because of a lack of run support. Despite that and Price having yet to throw a pitch in 2017, I'm satisfied with how this season's started. They could have easily started out in a sizable hole a la the 2011 Red Sox. They're currently rocking a team ERA+ of 126 and are top 5 in all of MLB in ERA/FIP/xFIP. At least the run prevention has been working out. But ####### would it be nice if the Sox would stop hitting ground balls.

Betts
Pedroia
Bogaerts
Benintendi
Ramirez
Moreland
Young
Leon
Rutledge

That's today's lineup. That top five is what worked for five months last year safe Benintendi for Ortiz. I like it. Might not matter but maybe it shakes things up.

Also according to bradford Price and the Sox are targeting the White Sox series as a return date. It's loose right now but that is what they are looking at.

That's today's lineup. That top five is what worked for five months last year safe Benintendi for Ortiz. I like it. Might not matter but maybe it shakes things up.

Eh, I don't know. You want crooked numbers on the board, but everything was round or straight today.

Fire Farrell!

(That's very funny vi)

28 runs in 2 days. I accept.

Not exactly seizing the day here, 7-8 so far over the first 15 games in this stretch. The good news is that no one in the division is really doing much of anything in that time period so it's just kind of muddling along.

My daughter and her boyfriend were playing chess the other day. She was far ahead in captured pieces, but was putting herself in really bad position* because she didn't want to lose her queen, even if it ended up being a trade queen-for-queen. After the game I reminded her that when you're ahead, swapping equivalent pieces is generally a great move because it hurts your opponent far more than it hurts you. There are exceptions of course, but the point was that she shouldn't feel bad about treading water as long as her head is above the water.

The Red Sox do not have that kind of advantage right now. But it's a long season, and nobody right now has that kind of advantage. Boston is hovering around .500 and 4 games out of first, which means the first place team is hovering around 4 games above .500, and 4 games can evaporate easily over 4.5 months. Every win counts, obviously, but a 7-8 span with most of that being on the road... meh.

* At one point she was two moves away from checkmating him, but was so focused on defending her own queen that she almost missed it.

10 - Yup, my default in this situation is to turn things around. If the Sox had a 4 game lead would you be declaring the division all but clinched? Of course not so there is no reason to feel this is anywhere close to insurmountable. The big thing for me is the Sox have yet to have a hot streak. The best ten game stretch is 7-3 and they've won more than 2 in a row once all year.

Make that twice, now. A 4-game winning streak, and knocking the Rangers down to .500, was a pleasant surprise. Good Drew Pomeranz showed up in the finale; Boston struck out 20 batters (Kimbrel with 4 in one inning); and Bogaerts hit his first HR of the year. There's a lot to like there.

Great to see Pomeranz using his cutter and changeup more last night. It seemed like he ditched his cutter after the trade (it wasn't working due to injury reasons, perhaps?) and it was a very effective pitch for him in San Diego. If Pomeranz can get back to his 2016 Pre-ASB self, I'm feeling pretty good about the rotation. I'll feel even better if Price is effective.

I wanted to get something up last night but I'm feeling crummy. The big takeaway for me is this is the first time this team has looked right to me all year. They were grinding out at bats this week and took advantage by getting into the soft underbelly of the bullpen on Tuesday which likely forced Bannister to stick with Perez too long on Wednesday (then go to Dyson). I'm feeling very encouraged.

Health permitting I'm off to Portland tomorrow to see Devers and anything else of interest there.

Red Sox rotation has an ERA of 4.18, but their FIP and xFIP are 3.64. Worth noting Porcello has a .370 BABIP allowed, though his ground ball rate continues to decline (now just 39.1%). In fact, Red Sox starting pitchers own the lowest ground ball rate in the league (38.2%). They are first in K% and BB% though.

Opportunity taken. 14-10. With a bit of luck 4-3 through Baltimore and New York would be very nice indeed,

And Good Drew Pomeranz showed up again. Last 2 starts: 13 IP, 2.08 ERA.