forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

Artie--switching teams for a minute--what's the local vibe on Rafael Devers?  I know he was highly regarded, and I know he's super young, but he hit .240 last season and this season he's hitting almost .330.  Is the feeling that this year's version is legit?  Granted, a lot of the Boston media consists of fan boys, so maybe the Boston media is the wrong source to ask.  But I'm curious what the current thoughts are.

The skinny on Devers is the Red Sox rushed him to the majors in 2017 because they literally didn't have another third baseman after they released Sandoval.They were willing to live with his defensive deficiencies as long as his OPS was in the .800 range, but his production dipped last year and he started losing at bats to Eduardo Nunez. I think if you asked the Red Sox in an honest moment they would say what he's giving them this year is what the hoped for but didn't expect. When everything settles, he's probably a .275-.280/20-25/75-80 guy,. But they just released Nunez, so he's going to be the guy. 
 

Thanks.  Besides the absurd raw numbers he's putting up this year, one number that stuck out was 30 doubles.  I remember a certain LH 3B that made a pretty good living serving fly balls off of the monster.  I don't know if most of Devers' doubles have come to LF or pulling balls to RF, but if its the former, that's a good sign for a young hitter.

I know this wasn't the point of your post, but the Boston media dynamic has changed over the last 15 years. It used to be the overriding attitude was pessimism toward the Red Sox, but it's hard to be critical of the success they've had lately.
The dividing line these days is basically how much of the Patriots' bullshit you want to believe. The sports talk radio show that draws the highest ratings is the afternoon drive show on the Sports Hub that has two hosts who hammer the Patriots. The featured columnist of the paper of record in town has feuded with the Krafts for decades.
But most of the other media in town try to out-do each other in their fawning over the Patriots, to say nothing of the Barstool bobos and assorted other internet wags whose primary objective in life is to suck Tom Brady/s cock.

The Brewers just took the lead over the Reds with a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth.

artie_fufkin wrote:

Holy schnieckies. Goldschmidt didn't barrel that, didn't get any of his bottom half behind the ball and still hit it into the fucking river.

Thats what i thought.  Sac fly was what it looked to be.

The Cubs coughed up three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Such a shame.

artie_fufkin wrote:

APIAD wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

The Brewers just took the lead over the Reds with a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth.

Cubs and brewers lost. Cards are 1.5 games back. It will be interesting to see what happens when they start playing decent teams again.

Starting Friday, they play three games at home against the Astros, three games at home against the Cubs, two in Oakland and three at Dodger Stadium. The good news is after August 7, the only three teams with winning records they play on the road are Milwaukee, Arizona and Chicago.

Splitting those 4 series is about the best you can expect from this team.