Astros (Arrighetti) vs Red Sox (Early): 5/2/26, 4:10pm

[Brandon Glick]

Despite the struggles of both teams, at least today should be a fun pitching matchup between two young starters.

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Zack Kelly	0	20	0	0	19	39
Tyler Samaniego	0	8	0	0	0	8
Ryan Watson	0	18	0	0	0	18
Jovani Morán	0	0	39	0	0	39
Greg Weissert	10	0	13	0	0	23
Garrett Whitlock	0	0	15	0	16	31
Danny Coulombe	0	0	0	0	8	8
Aroldis Chapman	0	0	0	0	16	16

[notin]

Arrighetti is a strikeout machine again.   Having him face Story could lead to a strikeout in just two pitches..

[moonslav59]

We have 3 batters under .550 in just about every line-up we put out there.

There aren't really any better choices, so we have to hope they snap out of it. Maybe some have already started snapping...

9th Durbin (.851 last 6 games)

5th Story (.619 last 11 games)

1st Duran (.550 last 9 games)

[JoeBrady]

• DH Jarren Duran L
• 1B W. Contreras R
• LF R. Anthony L
• RF Wilyer Abreu L
• SS Trevor Story R
• 2B M. Mayer L
• CF C. Rafaela R
• C Connor Wong R
• 3B Caleb Durbin R

Not sure why Duran played LF last night while Anthony DH'd, and today it is just the opposite.  My preference is to have Duran in LF.  But same lineup as last night, and this is my preferred lineup.

[JoeBrady]

29 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

We have 3 batters under .550 in just about every line-up we put out there.

There aren't really any better choices, so we have to hope they snap out of it. Maybe some have already started snapping...

9th Durbin (.851 last 6 games)

5th Story (.619 last 11 games)

1st Duran (.550 last 9 games)

Last 7 games?

Name	AB	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Willson Contreras	22	3	8	2	6	0.364	0.444	0.818	1.263
Andruw Monasterio	13	1	5	0	0	0.308	0.308	0.692	1
Ceddanne Rafaela	20	0	2	1	6	0.35	0.381	0.6	0.981
Isiah Kiner-Falefa	7	0	1	0	1	0.429	0.429	0.429	0.857
Caleb Durbin	21	1	4	2	3	0.286	0.348	0.476	0.824
Marcelo Mayer	16	0	2	1	1	0.375	0.412	0.375	0.787
Wilyer Abreu	23	0	1	4	2	0.304	0.407	0.348	0.755
Masataka Yoshida	3	0	0	0	1	0.333	0.333	0.333	0.667
Carlos Narváez	9	1	1	1	3	0.111	0.2	0.444	0.644
Roman Anthony	20	0	1	2	7	0.25	0.318	0.3	0.618
Trevor Story	21	0	0	1	5	0.238	0.273	0.286	0.558
Connor Wong	10	0	3	3	0	0.1	0.308	0.2	0.508
Jarren Duran	23	1	3	1	5	0.087	0.125	0.217	0.342
Team Total	208	7	31	18	40	0.269	0.332	0.433	0.765

Even over just the last 7 days, the main offenders continue to be Anthony, Story & Duran.  But the 7 HRs and the 40/18 K/W look more sustainable.

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

• Not sure why Duran played LF last night while Anthony DH'd, and today it is just the opposite.  My preference is to have Duran in LF.  But same lineup as last night, and this is my preferred lineup.

Maybe to keep Anthony ready to play defense, in case he's needed more.

Maybe to rest Duran without sitting him out.

Before the year started, I felt Anthony would be the better LF'er. I was wrong.

[JoeBrady]

9 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Before the year started, I felt Anthony would be the better LF'er. I was wrong.

His scouting report was an okay CF destined to be a corner.  I can't believe how ploddy he looks so far.

[illinoisredsox]

24 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

• DH Jarren Duran L
• 1B W. Contreras R
• LF R. Anthony L
• RF Wilyer Abreu L
• SS Trevor Story R
• 2B M. Mayer L
• CF C. Rafaela R
• C Connor Wong R
• 3B Caleb Durbin R

Not sure why Duran played LF last night while Anthony DH'd, and today it is just the opposite.  My preference is to have Duran in LF.  But same lineup as last night, and this is my preferred lineup.

Anthony can’t improve on defense if he never plays defense.

Do not discount the possibility of this being dictated from above, and if it is, what’s Tracy going to do? Do it his way and they aren’t going to send Chad back to Worcester, they’re going to put him on the unemployment line.

[moonslav59]

15 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Even over just the last 7 days, the main offenders continue to be Anthony, Story & Duran.  But the 7 HRs and the 40/18 K/W look more sustainable.

Okay, how about last 14 games?

.336 Wong (19 PAs)

.438 Masa (21)

.471 IKF (17)

.495 Duran (41)

.567 Story (50)

.631 Monasterio (26)

Anthony is right in the middle (7th best out of 13) at .643.

.933 Mayer (just 30 PAs)

.933 Narvaez (just 27 PAs)

.804 Contreras (56: Mr Steady)

.739 Abreu (55)

.677 Ceddanne (47: been more consistent in '26)

.670 Durbin (maybe turning things around?)

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

His scouting report was an okay CF destined to be a corner.  I can't believe how ploddy he looks so far.

Yes, but my opinion was based more on Duran being inconsistent and erratic with a noodle arm.

Anthony has looked much worse than I expected and worse than what we saw in 2025, although he DH'd mostly in '25. 

[illinoisredsox]

5 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

His scouting report was an okay CF destined to be a corner.  I can't believe how ploddy he looks so far.

He did add some muscle in the offseason.   Could be adversely affecting him across several fronts.

[vegasbob]

Today will be another run scoring challenge for the Yellowshirts vs the arrogant Arrighetti

Probably be a run explosion both ways

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Watched last night's game after watching the Bruins lose their 1st round PO series to the better Sabres' team. No surprise there.

Hopefully the Sox can take advantage again today on hanging curve balls.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, vegasbob said:

Today will be another run scoring challenge for the Yellowshirts vs the arrogant Arrighetti

Probably be a run explosion both ways

I'd be very surprised if that happened. Maybe by one team, but not both.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Houston has a good offense and lousy pitching. The Sox have a bad offense and decent pitching.

They both have sad W/L records.

[alsoason]

Walks kill you 

[alsoason]

28 pitches to get 3 outs, the arson squad  is getting loose

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

The Sox scored 3 runs against a rag arm with an almost 7 ERA last night. Today's Astros' pitcher is much better.

[vegasbob]

2 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

The Sox scored 3 runs against a rag arm with an almost 7 ERA last night. Today's Astros' pitcher is much better.

Yes, on one swing of the bat.   That was an anomaly when Duran hit an HR with MoB.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

2 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Yes, on one swing of the bat.   That was an anomaly when Duran hit an HR with MoB.

True, but mostly it was a hanger.

[vegasbob]

15 minutes ago, alsoason said:

28 pitches to get 3 outs, the arson squad  is getting loose

Vs. Arrighetti's 10 pitch effort to retire our #1-3 batters.

What the heck is going on with Anthony.   Does he need to go to Worcester so he can be MLB's #1 prospect again and be somebody ?   Obviously that is not going to happen, but I will dump on him if he becomes our best hitter again in the late part of  a wasted season

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

3 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Vs. Arrighetti's 10 pitch effort to retire our #1-3 batters.

What the heck is going on with Anthony.   Does he need to go to Worcester so he can be MLB's #1 prospect again and be somebody ?   Obviously that is not going to happen, but I will dump on him if he becomes our best hitter again in the late part of  a wasted season

In the words of Pastrnak before last night's loss: "We just have to be patient."

[vegasbob]

Sox  #4-6 batters stretched Arrighetti out to 12 pitches in the 2nd, so there is that.     Mayer predictably chasing a breaking ball on 3-2 that wasn't particularly close.

[vegasbob]

3 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

In the words of Pastrnak before last night's loss: "We just have to be patient."

Regrettably,  watching the Bruins was a lot like watching the Sox.  A definite deficit of scorers

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Good inning by Early.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

10 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Regrettably,  watching the Bruins was a lot like watching the Sox.  A definite deficit of scorers

The Bruins head coach Sturm did a remarkable job. He developed a system to make up for the B's weak offense and it worked. At least it got them into the PO's. It didn't hurt that the B's had Swayman, IMHO, the best goalie in hockey.

Btw, I believe Sturm should receive the Adams award as best coach in the NHL for the season. PO's don't count in the voting.

[alsoason]

big spot here

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, alsoason said:

big spot here

Houston removed the spot.

[alsoason]

1 minute ago, alsoason said:

big spot here

fail

[vegasbob]

There were many outcomes Contreras could have achieved. instead he executed the absolute worst one.