Red Sox (Suarez) vs Astros (McCullers Jr): 3/30/26, 8:10pm

[vegasbob]

If anyone could not see Suarez's shortcomings in ST and WBC followed by the trash pitching tonight, I'm sorry you are so uninformed.   This will be a Yoshida like 5 years of nothingness. 

I'll give the batters (not really hitters yet)  through the Astros series before offering any SSS opinions but it does not look good either.   

Watching Altuve launch off clown Oviedo was another shot , not unlike Weissert who is in a league of his own.  

[iortiz]

Gray, Suarez, Oviedo, Durbin and Contreras have looked like a nightmare thus far, geez!

[vegasbob]

OK, hard to resist but IKF, Yoshida, Contreras and Durbin are hitting a combined .083 , but it is early to be fair

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

5 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

OK, hard to resist but IKF, Yoshida, Contreras and Durbin are hitting a combined .083 , but it is early to be fair

Sox offense=Abreu.

[vegasbob]

Altuve must be Oviedo's daddy .    If Jose can clear the fences tonight twice then maybe 1 hiter on the Sox can do so, just fo rthe fun of it.

[Oscars]

Keep playing like this, and we are looking at a 1-5 start before getting home to Fenway . 

[Maxbialystock]

Miserable game with just one  bright spot.  Cora sent Oviedo out to eat up 3.1 innings so the rest of the bullpen could, well, rest.  Good decision.

Hitting stinks except for Abreu, and Anthony is one of the stinkers.  Durbin now hitless in 4 games.  

Dombrowski unloaded Suarez on the Sox--sort of.   

[Tedballgame]

42 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

OK, hard to resist but IKF, Yoshida, Contreras and Durbin are hitting a combined .083 , but it is early to be fair

And the weather has been terrible...........er..no it hasn't. Its been awesome. This team just can't hit.

[moonslav59]

Man, Lance McCullers- of all people.

Can Bello be the stopper?

[mvp 78]

Ranger will be fine over the long haul. I think the WBC is just bad for pitching and getting ready for the season. 

[Hugh2]

The despair of a crappy start to the season is always somewhat mitigated by the insanely hilarious way too early hot takes. 

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, Hugh2 said:

The despair of a crappy start to the season is always somewhat mitigated by the insanely hilarious way too early hot takes. 

You know what other recent Sox team won the Opener and dropped the next three? 

2020

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

18 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

The despair of a crappy start to the season is always somewhat mitigated by the insanely hilarious way too early hot takes. 

The rotation has been inconsistent, with good starts by Crochet and Early, and bad starts by Gray and Suarez. But how much does that matter if the Red Sox' first four batters at the top of the order have 25 strikeouts in 63 at bats for a 40% K-rate?

And be honest, which is more insane -- the whiffs for Anthony-Story-Duran-Contreras, or the fact that Rafaela has only fanned once? This offense is what it is.

Durbin isn't going to hit zero, but the only thing hilarious was the prediction that Fenway Park would double his home run production because he's a high fly pull hitter -- has anyone seen him pull one deep yet, including in Florida?

[Old Red]

19 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

You know what other recent Sox team won the Opener and dropped the next three? 

2020

Well they started 1-4 last year, so no big deal in this early stage yet even though they don’t look very good.

[Old Red]

10 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

The rotation has been inconsistent, with good starts by Crochet and Early, and bad starts by Gray and Suarez. But how much does that matter if the Red Sox' first four batters at the top of the order have 25 strikeouts in 63 at bats for a 40% K-rate?

And be honest, which is more insane -- the whiffs for Anthony-Story-Duran-Contreras, or the fact that Rafaela has only fanned once? This offense is what it is.

Durbin isn't going to hit zero, but the only thing hilarious was the prediction that Fenway Park would double his home run production because he's a high fly pull hitter -- has anyone seen him pull one deep yet, including in Florida?

What was discussed yesterday on another site was why would Milwaukee get rid of Durbin so quickly if he was so good especially being young, and cheap.

[moonslav59]

13 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

 

Durbin isn't going to hit zero, but the only thing hilarious was the prediction that Fenway Park would double his home run production because he's a high fly pull hitter -- has anyone seen him pull one deep yet, including in Florida?

Has anyone seen him hit in Fenway, yet?

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, Old Red said:

What was discussed yesterday on another site was why would Milwaukee get rid of Durbin so quickly if he was so good especially being young, and cheap.

Apparently, they liked the young and cheap Drohan more, as well as min wage Harrison & DHam.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Has anyone seen him hit in Fenway, yet?

Pinched hit for last night, because no one has seen him hit anything yet except for meaningless ST.🤭

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Apparently, they liked the young and cheap Drohan more, as well as min wage Harrison & DHam.

Which should tell you something. Not the infamous DHam.

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Which should tell you something. Not the infamous DHam.

It should tell you something: they dumped DHam then got him back.

[Old Red]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It should tell you something: they dumped DHam then got him back.

It tells me that Milwaukee is awfully hard up for a SS.

[mvp 78]

33 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

The rotation has been inconsistent, with good starts by Crochet and Early, and bad starts by Gray and Suarez. But how much does that matter if the Red Sox' first four batters at the top of the order have 25 strikeouts in 63 at bats for a 40% K-rate?

And be honest, which is more insane -- the whiffs for Anthony-Story-Duran-Contreras, or the fact that Rafaela has only fanned once? This offense is what it is.

Durbin isn't going to hit zero, but the only thing hilarious was the prediction that Fenway Park would double his home run production because he's a high fly pull hitter -- has anyone seen him pull one deep yet, including in Florida?

Rafaela has a good k rate (19.9%). It's not surprising that he is k'ing less than the other guys TBH. He swings at everything, but just makes a lot of bad contact. 

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

It tells me that Milwaukee is awfully hard up for a SS.

Kyle Harrison: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 ER

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Kyle Harrison: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 ER

I know I look at the box scores every day. 😃

[drewski6]

Oh no, quinn priester part deux.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

The despair of a crappy start to the season is always somewhat mitigated by the insanely hilarious way too early hot takes. 

That’s Boston. Here, there, and everywhere. I love it especially the game blogs as things happen.

[mvp 78]

18 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Oh no, quinn priester part deux.

We'll see if Harrison develops Thoracic Outlet Syndrome too. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

34 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Rafaela has a good k rate (19.9%). It's not surprising that he is k'ing less than the other guys TBH. He swings at everything, but just makes a lot of bad contact. 

The subtle warning sign for this team was that on his one K, Rafaela was given the green light on 3-and-0 vs a pitcher who just threw 7 straight balls. And the Red Sox were trailing, with Anthony (who wasn't yet ice cold) on deck.

Did Cora give Ceddanne an ill-advised green light at that moment, or do all Sox batters have that option now? I ask this because Merloni or Middlebrooks was talking how 3-1 pitches were not guaranteed to be fastballs anymore, and a better fat pitch might now be 3-0... 

But the way most of these hitters hack and swing and miss, it may be better to hope for a walk sometimes.

[moonslav59]

43 minutes ago, Old Red said:

It tells me that Milwaukee is awfully hard up for a SS.

Yup, and thinking DHam can play SS shows they have some major issues with logic or scouting.

[moonslav59]

37 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I know I look at the box scores every day. 😃

That's your "eye test:" we know.