WhiteFanposts Fanshots Red Sox StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Red Sox NewsYahoo Red Sox Team PageYahoo Red Sox ReportYahoo Red Sox Depth ChartYahoo Red Sox TransactionsYahoo Red Sox PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ed Sox Game StoriesRed Sox 6 http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey , Orioles 4: The young guys come back for a winNew,3commentsThe players who are going to matter in 2019 were pretty meh.EDTShareTweetShareShareRed Sox 6, Orioles 4: The young guys come back for a winButch Dill-USA TODAY SportsThe Red Sox travelled to take on the Orioles on Wednesday, with a good number of regulars making the trip, but not all of them. Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts all had the day off. Without them, the offense struggled to get much going against Dylan Bundy. The minor leaguers who came on later in the game had a nice rally late (with the help of some miserable defense by Baltimore) to get the win, but the early performance was what matters more for our purposes. On the mound, Rick Porcello was solid even if he wasn’t spectacular while the bullpen was more of a mixed bag.Rick Porcello doesn’t overpower, but is fineAs I said, Porcello got the start for the Red Sox on Wednesday in what is expected to be his second-to-last outing of the spring. Boston was hoping to get him up to 75 pitches on the day, but he didn’t get up that high. Don’t worry, though, as it was actually because he was too efficient, and he finished up his work in the bullpen. Porcello needed only 58 pitches to get through five innings of work, and Alex Cora and company wanted to get a look at some of the relievers battling for roster spots. So, Porcello was pulled after five. Before that Christian Arroyo Jersey , he did give up a big home run to Cedric Mullins in the first at bat of the night for Baltimore, though he settled down some after that. He still wasn’t perfect, allowing some hard contact scattered around the outing, but he threw strikes all day. In all, he allowed the one run on the homer, three singles and a walk while striking out one. You’d obviously like to see an outing without a long ball from Porcello, but all things considered this is a fine step towards the end of camp.Bobby Poyner leads the way in the bullpenAs I mentioned above, the Red Sox wanted to get some work for their bullpen, which is why Porcello only went five innings. Three guys ended up working the last four innings, with two of them struggling a bit. Bobby Poyner was the third, though, and he looked good. It should obviously be mentioned that he had the last two innings of the game when Baltimore’s minor leaguers were in the game. So, we probably shouldn’t read too much into this performance. Still, Poyner is in the thick of the battle for one of the final two bullpen spots, and he tossed two scoreless innings with three strikeouts while allowing just a single. Prior to the lefty coming in to finish things off, Jenrry Mejia and Heath Hembree had the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. Mejia has had a somewhat eye-opening spring so far Nathan Eovaldi Jersey , but largely late in games against weaker competition. He was facing better hitters in this one, and he struggled. The righty allowed a pair of runs on two doubles and a single, though he did strike out two. I’d expect him to get another early-ish appearance before spring is over, though I still would be totally shocked if he made the Opening Day roster. Hembree, meanwhile, is a lock for the Opening Day roster and he made a big mistake to Dwight Smith Jr., who launched a solo home run. Hembree also gave up a single in his inning of work.Other NotesThere really isn’t a ton to note here from the offense. Andrew Benintendi had a couple of singles, which is nice to see after he struggled for much of the middle part of this month. Jackie Bradley Jr. also got on base twice with a single and a HBP. On the other end of the spectrum, Eduardo N ez, Mitch Moreland, Brock Holt and Christian V zquez all went hitless.That late-game rally was aided by weird defense, a passed ball and a wild pitch. The Red Sox also drew a couple of walks, Aneury Tavarez had a double to start the rally and Sandy Le n had a big single.BOX For the first time since becoming an every day player, Blackmon didn’t improve from the previous season"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Scaling the RocksPebble ReportRockpileRockies Game ThreadsRockies Fan ExperienceRockies Player ReviewsRockies fans saw something new from Charlie Blackmon in 2018New,14commentsFor the first time since becoming an every day player, Blackmon didn’t improve from the previous seasonByEric Garcia McKinley@garcia_mckinleyNov4, 2018 http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey ,7:00am MSTShareTweetShareShareRockies fans saw something new from Charlie Blackmon in 2018You’re reading the 2018 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at the season had by every player to play for the Rockies in 2018. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the least amount of rWAR and end up with the player with the most. . 14, Charlie Blackmon (0.8 rWAR)We saw something new from Charlie Blackmon in 2018. For the first time since he became an every day player, he didn’t get better. In Blackmon’s first full season in 2014, he was a surprise All-Star selection as he laid claim to a full-time spot in the Colorado outfield. Then, in 2015, he made some changes to his approach at the plate, which resulted in swinging less and taking more walks. He took that to another level in 2016 by translating “not swinging as much” in to refined pitch recognition and more productivity at the plate. But his masterpiece came a year later, when everything from pitch recognition to making contact with authority came together. He led the National League in plate appearances, runs, hits, triples, total bases, and batting average, and he came in fifth in the MVP vote. It was one of the best seasons by an outfielder in Rockies history. He was rewarded with a contract extension that will keep him in Denver through at least 2021. Given how good he was in 2017, it’s not surprising that Blackmon didn’t get better during the first season of his extension. That would have required another MVP-caliber year. But we can’t let that get in the way of how valuable he was to the 2018 team. His season was somewhere in between his raw and improving 2014-2015 seasons and his peak 2016-2017 years. He hit .291/.358/.502 for an OPS+ of 115 in 2018, and he did it while leading the team in plate appearances with 696.Charlie Blackmon Matt Andriese Jersey , 2014-2018YearAVGOBPSLGOPS+YearAVGOBPSLGOPS+If 2018 is about where Blackmon’s offensive baseline will be for the remainder of his extension, the Rockies and Rockies fans should be pretty satisfied. He took a step back from his very high peak, but he was still one of the most valuable players on a very good team. At least at the plate. By Defensive Runs Saved, Blackmon was the worst defensive center fielder in all of baseball by a fair amount. His -28 DRS among ranked last among 32 outfielders to log at least 500 innings in center — number 31 was Adam Jones with -18. Blackmon has never had a positive DRS since he became a full time center fielder in 2015, but his previous worst was just -7. Additionally, if we do an apples to apples comparison and look at Blackmon’s defensive season center field alongside others in Rockies history, -28 DRS is also the worst since 2002, which is as far back as the stat goes. The second worst was Preston Wilson’s -19 in 2005. Offense and defense are two distinct aspects of the game, and just because Blackmon is poised to continue to perform well at the plate, it doesn’t mean he’ll be able to maintain his status as a solid center fielder. This past season showed that. Luckily the Rockies have options, and Blackmon is capable of playing either corner outfield spot. Blackmon may never have another year like 2017, but there was much more room to go down than up. But the work ethic, studiousness, and self-evaluation that played a role in his year-to-year improvements from 2014 to 2017 should also play a role in keeping his level of offensive productivity high, as it did in 2018, for the next several years.