jung

I actually think Cora is going to send rick back out there.

Rick is operating on pure luck. Everything is flat and up. The Astros won't miss many of those. Oh wait, they haven't missed them. Be interesting to see how far Cora wants to push this. If we don't score in the top of the inning, I just don't think he can afford to send rick out there again despite the consequences. Bullpen was going to catch up to us one way or the other. it didn't catch up the one way but it is catching up to us the other way. Gotta' try to grind it out now.

Those pitches have absolutely nothing

The longer he is in the more runs he will give up.

What the f*** are you doing Cora. Like what did you expect?

I don't know why Rick is still in there. He has had nothing all night. Hey, at least we won the game he came into in relief. But that had long term implications written all over it. They are missing nothing he is throwing and they really have not missed anything for 3 innings.

Makes little sense to look for what you can't hit. Look for what you can hit and hit the damn thing. But I agree, that JD is making this too hard. Look for what you can hit and be ready to hit it.

That should be it for Morton

You deserved that JD. You were never going to see a better pitch to hit than the 3-1 and you just let it mousy on by.

I am conversely a bit surprised that Morton has been able to wrestle his breaking stuff to heel. He is not the kind of pitcher that should be able to go very far on 15 innings of work in September and a 8 day layoff here in October. Not expecting him to maintain for long.

Before the crucify the guy, I was never convinced that using Rick in relief and then setting him back a day would automatically have the desired result. He is not making good pitches tonight. No telling why at this point.

So it does look like the Astros RH hitters are onto what we are trying to do to them. Rick has to up his game here and throw better pitches.

Of course we would have had a good shot of that play in RF if the security guard had not stuck his fat ass in the way.

They never have found a good way to deal with doing something for the pitcher who goes from pitching to standing around waiting for Chelsea NY to come up with a decision.

Joe must have had a good angle on Mookie's body relationship to the fence. It is so hard to really have any sort of depth perception on a video screen. That was a heck of call from the field.

Beginning to love me some Joe West. That was also the right call IMO.

Sox RH pitchers pitched away from RF pitching in Yankee stadium. They are pitching to RF here.

Way to roll over Bregs

I can see us getting to Morton. I am at this point interested to see how these lineup changes work out for AJ who has had a hideous series IMO. Bregman is the guy in the middle of their lineup. Now you move him to 1. Guess you have given up on him driving in runs and now you want Springer or Altuve to drive him around. If that was your best lineup, that is what you would have been sporting all season. Keep Bregman in the ballpark. See how Springer adapts to batting 2nd with Bregman on in front of him if he is on and see what Gimpy does. This is a lotta' changes for the Astros.

AJ saying that he has put Bregman at the top because he should be batting lead off if he is going to take so many walks. That does not compute to me. So you are going to encourage Bregman to walk AJ....really....thats your plan??? Gimpy batting 3rd ahead of Gonzalez who pushes up past Gurriel. Looks kinda' desperate to me though I absolutely believe AJ had to do something.

Initially the posted lineup for the Astros was completely different from what it is now. Bregman moved to the top of the order. Springer now there to protect Bregman. Gonzalez up in the order now ahead of Gurriel. Very different lineup in an effort to shake Bregman from the Sox plan. 1. Mookie Betts ® RF 2. Andrew Benintendi (L) LF 3. J.D. Martinez ® DH 4. Xander Bogaerts ® SS 5. Rafael Devers (L) 3B 6. Steve Pearce ® 1B 7. Brock Holt (L) 2B 8. Christian Vazquez ® C 9. Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) CF 1. Alex Bregman ® 3B 2. George Springer ® CF 3. Jose Altuve ® DH 4. Marwin Gonzalez (S) 2B 5. Yuli Gurriel ® 1B 6. Josh Reddick (L) RF 7. Carlos Correa ® SS 8. Martin Maldonado ® C 9. Tony Kemp (L) LF

The MFY's didn't move runners over for one thing. They didn't hit behind runners. They certainly did not hit and run effectively. They didn't manufacture runs and neither is anybody else in the post season other than the Red Sox. In fact, other than the Sox, none of these teams hit and run effectively even down in their batting orders where they should be looking to hit and run. There is more to cobbling together a 108 regular season record and having a decent post season offense than hitting HR's. In fact, if hitting HR's is all you do to generate offense, you are not an effective post season team and you are not likely to go very far. The only opposite field hitting the Yankees did is aiming for that short RF porch in the stadium and doinking a HR over the fence. I suspect that if the Astros were the team they can be and have been, they would be doing it almost as much as the Red Sox. Correa and Gurriel are not hitting to any fields, Altuve is limping and Bregman is having a difficult time figuring out what the heck is supposed to do given that dynamic.

So its time for me to return to an oft repeated theme of my posts in the regular season game threads, going to the opposite field. Once JBJ just gave up his usual nonsense and decided to try to recover some semblance of performance at the plate by going oppo, it turned his whole season around. While he still has a huge hole right where most LH hitters like the ball (low and inside) the only reason he can hit up and in is because by concentrating on going oppo, his head is not all over the place and his shoulders are not flying open so often. When he finally hit bottom this year, the entire strike zone was a hole for his swing...and 6" either side of it was a hole for his swing. Beni, was really not on track for the season we expected from him until he really focused on oppo in the second half of the season. Beni ended up with more opposite field hits than any MLB player, either league! Add JD, Holt and Vaz and Mookie to Beni and JBJ and we have 6 guys in the "willing to go oppo" hitting corp two of them, Beni and JBJ that recovered their seasons doing it. JBJ might have rescued his career from "defensive specialist" banishment doing it. There is no other team currently still playing nor that began the post season that goes oppo more than the Red Sox and that is what distinguishes this team from the fence crashers that in the main represent MLB these days. The rest of these teams can't move a runner over...they can't hit and run with any consistency. They can't manufacture a run. Witness the Brewers/Dodgers game last night with ducks all over the pond all night long and two teams that could not even get one to 3rd and home. Witness how feeble that Yankee lineup looked when they were not allowed to fence crash. The distinguishing feature of this Red Sox team is that while hitting many more HR's this year than last, they are the only team that entered the post season fully committed to hitting to all fields, moving runners, manufacturing runs. By the way, when the Astros are right they this year were the second best team in baseball at moving runners and manufacturing runs. Guriel is not hitting, Correa is not hitting and now Altuve is limping.

That video was not conclusive. In fact, I think it more likely the glove hit the panel in question. We don't know where the mics are. We don't know how those swinging panels react to being hit by a ball or a glove. Just not conclusive one way or the other. Plus if the ball hit the wall we would have seen a shot from CF or LF which would have been conclusive.

AJ made two mistakes over the same decision. Not only did he determine that he could trust Osuna for 6 outs, he told the world and thus Osuna that he would use him for 6 outs. IMO, even if your intention is to use him for 6 outs, you want him giving everything he has to the inning he has been brought in to pitch and then judge for yourself if he has anything left for another inning. I am not sure it mattered because Osuna was already blowing the inning he was brought into. Lesson to AJ, don't even think about it again! AJ IMO has not had a good series. He is yet to come up with a means to protect Bregman in the order. That has been a series long problem. Last night, he was the Manager that left himself an inning short in the pen which is another mistake in having lifted DK one inning early without a real plan that did not involve using Osuna for 6 outs. I expect to see Gonzalez hitting behind Breg tonight because what choice does AJ have? What he has is not working. Gonzalez may not scare anybody either. But he might hit. Gurriel isn't and Correa isn't. The Astros have some nice fill-in players on their bench but nobody that can move behind Bergman in the order.