jung

Renaudo looked very good. He must look huge standing on the mound looking at him from home plate.

Man has Britton turned it on at the right time. He is starting to get into the same neighborhood as Miller was in when he went down and Bres was not headed that way...neither was Thornton before he went down. He has given us some big innings and has also come in and put out fires..not exactly the same skill set and often harder to come by.

Joe Cronin with 5 in 1943.

And yes that hill out there is a total joke. Someday a fielder is going to hit that thing in stride unexpectedly and get hurt in the process. Somebody please correct me on this if I am wrong but isn't that hill supposed to be some sort of an homage to the grade up to the wall that is in the Astrodome? The Astrodome surface was so f***ed up and they went through so much s*** trying to make it right over the years, finally giving up. I think the grade was one of the things that was always screwed up there. Anyway, sorry if I got that wrong but I think that is what the hill is about.

Naps just got the ASB off not too long ago. But I do agree that Naps was always going to require more time off than the Sox seemed ready to give him IMO. However I think there is more to it than that. A day off is not going to quicken Naps bat that much.

Well I am sure part of the "logic" used for tonight was that the Astros would not be able to hold the Sox down two nights running especially with tonight's Astros starter going and ....here we are. I still have a bigger issue with throwing Lavs to the wolves. He obviously could not catch the knuckleball and considering how knuckleball pitchers can often start badly and then rattle off 6-7 strong innings that to me was the bigger issue. I seriously doubt Lavs would have gotten any better catching the thing regardless of what Wright did.

Sox can still win this game. If we get stuck on 4 against this pitcher and pen, that will not bode well for the rest of the road trip. Naps seems genuinely stuck in a rut. If there is one thing that reminds me of WMB in Naps struggles at the plate is that I have not seen Naps do anything differently all season long. At least while he was up here, WMB did not make one single adjustment. Same with Naps. Same AB's, same approach....same, same, same from beginning to end of this season for Naps. He does not even seem to make situational changes during the game which is I guess why the result hardly ever changes....K or extra bases.

Well we need runs. Workman, our other option for tonight is not really making us forget Cy Young either. Throwing Wright on a short leash was not a bad idea but throwing him without having some confidence that your catcher was going to catch the ball was pretty bad. Catchers often have trouble getting the pocket of the glove to the ball, hence the big catchers mitt. However Lavs was not even getting his mitt in the same zip code with the ball. Not saying that I could catch the stupid thing. But the guys that I have seen that have been successful catching knuckleballs, let the ball come to them and try to caress the ball with the glove. Often they don't even try to catch it cleanly as much as they are corralling the ball. Lavs was stabbing at the ball which is just doomed to failure.

Virtually everybody on the planet is now calling for Naps to shorten up his grip on the bat which I thought he was on his way to doing about two weeks ago because it made so much damned sense. However it looks like he is only doing it occasionally and I cannot figure out what logic he uses to do it or not do it. Sometimes, with two strikes, sometimes with less than two strikes, sometimes not at all. There is no shame in going to a lighter bat either. So many guys have done that to try to quicken their bats a little.

Last night was much the same. No effort to stop the Astro's runners from getting walking starts or as much of a lead as they wanted to take and that was with an experienced pitcher on the mound. So, I am inclined to think that this is how the Sox want to play it for some reason.

Do you think the Sox might learn at some point that they need to pay attention to the base runners since this is a team that is truly relentless about running? This is two nights in a row and it is like the Sox just don't care. The pitchers barely look over, let alone throw over.

They had Wright on a very short leash apparently knew they would pull Wright once they got Workman up. Even if Wright could throw it, it did not appear that Lavs could catch it.

Lavs almost caught that one with his face mask.

Might they have asked Lavs if he could catch a knuckleball?

I don't mind Ells swinging at really good 0-0 count pitches but that was not that good an 0-0 count pitch and it would be nice to see Ells at least see if the pitcher can actually throw more than one strike every once and awhile.

"Kill the Hill" Sox really stank up the joint last night and were dominated not only by the Astro's starter but the Astros pen as well. Usually you want to get the starter outta' there and work on the reliever but Sox could not even put the bat on the ball. If the Astros are able to do that again tonight I say its the Hill. Sox should play under protest and get the league to force Houston to get rid of the damned thing and the Astros should forfeit the game. Sox hitters must be mesmerized looking out there at the stupid thing. Must remind them of all the idiot little league, high school and minor league fields they have played on and they start reminiscing. Before they know it, they are walking back to the dugout. So I say....Kill the Hill or forfeit the game.

Your behind by a few posts with that argument. They already know what they have in Workman. At least I think so. You guys act like starting Wright is conceding the game. Where is it written that starting Wright automatically equals a lost game. In the first place, I don't think the Sox will come out and lay two eggs in a row like that. But if they did, I don't give a rats ass, what Houston did to or for or about the O's or anybody else that is not the Red Sox. I would be concerned about seeing that offense shut down two in a row by the lowly Astros.

I don't know how reliable Dempster is at this point. I don't think I am the only one that has taken something of a "when we see it we will believe it" attitude regarding Buch. In fact I think that is where the Sox brain trust is right now. Hence, I still think it wise for the Sox to look at Wright in a starting role. You guys don't think so...fine by me. I do.

Iggy is currently energized by the trade. We have all by now seen what Iggy energized by something looks like. I suspect once he comes down to earth, he will again be what he had become at the plate for us...somebody will a good deal more work to do to even maintain something like a .250 BA. He can do it ...but man he has a lotta' work to do.

Much of the current data compiled for the rotation stats include Buch's first two months, Lester's first half and Dempster's first half for that matter. Is Lester the pitcher he was early in the season now? Is Buch even pitching now? Is Dempster the pitcher he was in the first half? I would answer No to all those questions. As such, I think it is wise for the Sox to plan for the possibility that they will need more rotation arms even if just for the possibility of injury, barely avoided last night I might add. The total 2013 stats compiled by the Sox rotation to this date, does not change the reality of being close enough to needing additional rotation arms to want to give themselves the opportunity to see Wright start up here after having seen what he was able to accomplish in relief all-be-it against only one team. The Sox do not have much time here. I would rather see Wright against Houston in this situation than against some of the other teams they are facing on the road. It is not the Sox brain trust's fault that they did not have a crystal ball telling them that the team would come out and lay a total egg in game 1 of the Houston series and that is in part what this is about anyway. Frankly, that it did not take much for Houston pitchers to totally dismantle this offense is more a concern to me than Wright starting tonights game.

I think in part, Wright is getting this start because this rotation is far from set. Right at this very moment not including newcomer Peavy, the most reliable guy in the rotation is Felix. The only reason Felix did not start the season as the rotation 5 is because the position defaulted to Lackey, just back off injury. Not real inspiring when the guy who for all intents was your 4 or 5 is now the most reliable guy you have out of the guys that started the season with you. Lester continues his up and down s***, thankfully more up than down recently but is far from awe inspiring. Buch is well Buch, Mr. On the Shelf and Dempster has taken a turn for the worse. That is not very encouraging even without adding in the potential for additional injury. The Sox already know what they have in Workman. You can easily convince yourself that down the stretch the Sox will need Workman + another starter just to get to the finish line. Lackey is no spring chicken for example. A little more turn on that ankle last night and.....crack....."hey does anybody know if Wright can start up here?"

The question with Felix is exactly described by this season so far. Will Felix ever really get it? Will he continue to show up for ST out of shape as he has twice now. This year it very likely cost him early season performances that can turn what is on balance a ho-hum year into a great year, a watershed year for him. This year, for the first time, Felix has shown that he has developed the mound maturity and has the stuff to be more than a rotation 3. But does he have the head to even maintain stature as a rotation 3? Pitchers that are perennial rotation 4's and 5's and not improving from there, end up trade cannon fodder and sometimes worse. What worries me is that the brass ring has been hanging out there for Felix to pull for a good long time now. Didn't stop him from showing up out of shape again this past ST.

Jeez two more games like this in a row will drive me right over the cliff edge.

This place has that weird, hollow, Trop Field feel to it.

This game has featured all manner of suckage so far. Lackey coming out for that inning was just a continuation of it.