Maxbialystock

It's his 24th and he threw the same stuff he threw last night. But last night was not for a save.

If we could superimpose last night's Jansen's pitches with tonight's, I swear we would find he three the same exact mix and locations. But this time he gets the save, and the Sox get a much needed win.

Jansen get his walk, and the Astros pitcher deserves some kind of booby prize even though they can still get out of this inning.

You're darn right it doesn't. And tonight has been a perfect night/game in which to vent our frustration. If you will remember, it was 10-20 games ago when the the Sox came to bat in the bottom of the 10th inning with the score still tied--the Mariners had failed to score in the top of the 10th. The Mariners manager brought out a lefty reliever and pitched to Devers, who promptly tattooed the LF wall with the winning hit. The consensus on talksox, was naturally that the Mariners manager was an idiot for even thinking of pitching to THE GREAT ONE, RAFAEL DEVERS. And I said it was apparent the choice of a lefty reliever meant the manager wanted to pitch to Devers. If he got him out, he could always walk the next Sox hitter, a righty (Ref?), who would be followed by one or more lefty bats. I did point out that statistically Devers is not only weaker with RISP but also against lefties. No one agreed with me of course. Top of the 9th and Devers just crunched a screamer to RF.

This year I think I've seen Bailey out there more often than any Sox pitching coach I can remember. I like it because I like him, but I have no idea if those mound visits are working.

His freaking shoulder was hurting early in the season and ever since, and this is the best season he's ever had for the Sox. These days, thanks mostly to the MLBPA, players are pretty well protected from abuse. Plus, of course, Devers has a guaranteed contract. I think he is playing hurt because he wants to, Cora wants him to, and the doctors say it won't make his shoulder worse. I do share your frustration with his at bats tonight, but I haven't given up on this team in this game or for this season.

Last night Astros committed 4 errors (plus the ump-called K on the batter for a false step at a critical point in the game) and gave up 3 unearned runs and 1 earned run. But they won because they outhit the Sox by a big margin, 13-7 and even though one of their runs was also unearned. Tonight Casas, Duran, and Abreu have been carrying the load with all 5 rbi's, 6 of the Sox 7 hits, etc. No errors by the Sox, plus Casas has looked pretty darn good at 1b. He uses his height better than anyone I can remember in stretching to get those throws to 1b. I could be wrong and often am, but I do think the starters overall would do better if they all had good changeup pitches. With Ref in LF and O'Neill in RF, the Sox have their weakest defensive outfield. Both are also hitless at the plate tonight.

You're the pathetic one. Devers, with all his faults, leads the team in OPS (.958, highest of his career), dingers, rbi's, and BB's--and he is second in total bases. His 4.3 WAR is 2d highest on the team.

You got me, dead to rights. I did say sabotage, and it does mean what you say it means. And it's just wrong. I was exaggerating, but failed to make it clear I was. The rest of that long post is pretty close to what I think. I'm not a Breslow fan, but I also think he took on an impossible job because John Henry and the Sox seem to be in some kind of weird transition phase. And I quote moonslav because I think he's got it about right. The lineup this year and next looks pretty good, and Breslow could be the right guy to fix the pitching (rotation and bullpen), but he can't without the monetary support of owner John Henry. And the weird part about that is that for his first 18 or so seasons of Sox ownership, JH supported a big payroll, usually among the top 3 in MLB. In 2018 and 2019, the Sox had the top payrolls in MLB. Since then, a steady progression downward to 11th this year.

I never said or implied Breslow "threw a season." In fact, I've repeatedly praised him for insisting on a new pitching coach and bringing in Bailey. I think the Sale and Giolito deals were stupid, but agree with moonslav that last winter they almost made sense. Certainly his intent was to improve the rotation and not destroy it. Once DD was fired in 2019, which was just 5 years ago, I think the Sox entered something akin to what Rod Serling called the Twilight Zone. Big bucks for big starters were out and overall the Sox payroll went from #1 in MLB in 2018 and 2019 to 11th this year. Chaim Bloom was hired, I think, to replicate the low cost success of the Rays, and that simply did not happen. Not even close. Instead, CB hired short term starters and was allowed to give Devers the big extension--but not Mookie-- and 5/6 year contracts to Story and then Yoshida. moonslav has pointed out that this upcoming offseason is a great opportunity to fix the rotation and the bullpen because the Sox can offer some (not all) of their best prospects and at the same time pay good money for quality starters because they can spend $90M more and still avoid the surtax or whatever it's called. But moonslav also says we have no idea whether JH will go for that. The irony of that is that right now this year's lineup--the 1/2 of the team that scores the runs and now and then plays defense--is hitting up a storm and most will return next season along with Story and 1 or more of the hot prospects now at Worcester. The bats look pretty good, and, if Story and Mayer are both viable, the defense should be too. I'm not a big Breslow fan, but I also think he was given a near impossible task. In fact, right now I doubt that John Henry or anyone else even defined what that task was. But now he's about a year into the job and can see clearly what needs to be done. Thanks to that core of Devers, Duran, Abreu, Rafaela, Ref, Casas, and Wong--along with Story, Mayer, et all in the wings--Breslow can focus on the pitching. But, as moonslav insists, he must have JH's support in getting that pitching.

Why would any fan want to spend his money/time watching pitchers, catchers, and hitters challenge balls and strikes?

Old news. No one on talksox has argued Breslow did much for the pitching before this season or during it. He tried to sabotage the rotation by giving away Sale (and paying his $17M salary) and hiring Giolito--for $38M--to recover from elbow surgery.

I'm confused. If they use robo-umps, why allow challenges? Or are the robo-umps used only for challenges?

Disappointing. The Astros had the 5 errors (including the called 3d strike for an illegal batter timeout), but they also had 13 hits to the Sox 7. Sox led 4-3 after 7, but reliever Sims gave up 1 run in the 8th and Jansen 1 run in the 9th. All too typical of this season's Sox.

Ball game. Too bad.

Nope. I take it they use roboumps.

Not sure Casas is ready for this level. Three K's tonight and no hits. Plus the missed popup, which is a reminder that, while I think he's pretty good grabbing throws to 1b, he seems indifferent toward grounders and popups.

The Astros have made 5 errors, including the hitter who took a disallowed timeout for strike three. But they have tied this game thanks to the error by Jansen and the lousy 8th inning--2 hits and 2 walks--by Sims.

Sims has thrown 10 strikes and 11 balls. But he could still get lucky and hold this to 1 run.

Tie game because of the crappiest bullpen in MLB.

Another fantastic play by Romy, necessitated by a horrible toss by Rafaela.

Just a reminder, which I provide every season. No one, I repeat, no one on the field of play can see that silly rectangle superimposed on our screens. Not the pitchers, hitters, umpires (including homeplate), coaches, et al. Furthermore, we can't even be sure it's the right dimensions because players have different dimensions. Then there's the problem that the strike zone may or not be 3-dimensional. Does only the front edge of the plate count or does the whole plate? On top of all of that, I sometimes wonder if MLB doesn't tell umpires to call strikes tight or loose. If the former, it favors the hitters. If the latter, the pitchers. And of course on top of that is that extra rectangle just outside the one we see. That's the one I get on my gameday graphic sent to me by none other than Major League Baseball.

I believe we can safely call that the Astros 5th error. Just stupid. I also suspect the home plate umpire discovered he made a couple of bad calls against Houck in the 6th--and is now making up for it by lavishly calling strikes in favor of Martin.

All that does is transfer funds. It has no effect on the umps. I prefer that umps call balls and strikes, even if imperfectly. What I don't like is what has happened tonight with the ump's calls favoring one team, the Astros.

Top of the order coming up for Houston here in the 7th. Devers bounced it and that was costly.