Maxbialystock

The 5 Sox starters' (Pivetta, Eovaldi, Wacha, Hill, and Whitlock) combined WAR totals +6.1. The relievers combined WAR (including plusses and minuses) is +1.7. And don't forget, the starters normally have to face opposing hitters at least twice in a game. Relievers usually (Houck has been an exception) don't. Then, as Old Red likes to remind me, there's the little matter of 14 saves out of 28 save opportunities. Almost laughable is that in the two wins vs. the Cardinals, there were no blown saves even though the Cardinals scored 4 runs in the 9th (to get the score to 6-5 with 2 on and 2 out before that final out) in one win and 3 in the 9th (final score 6-4) in the other win. Maybe my "lousy" is short of your "dire," but my opinion, which ain't worth much, is that Alex Cora is on his way to some pretty important decorations (see Slim Pickens in Dr Strangelove) for bravery.

Of course it isn't. I like jacksonianmarch, but he is capable of blather.

On behalf on the entire talksox nation, I want to thank you, most sincerely, for choosing that moniker. You embody all that was great about Blake Swihart.

I honestly don't think paring our lousy bullpen from 14 to 13 is worthy of its own thread.

Agree. In this series, the three starters gave up 6 runs 17.1 innings. The bullpen gave up 14 runs in 9.2 innings. But, as you said, playing a good team like the Cards and winning 2 of 3 is a big plus. This was mostly a Pivetta/Vazquez win.

Target hit.

Not bashing Cora at all. Nine different pitchers on this team have had save opportunities. I thought Houck was valuable as a long reliever, but he's closing now because no on else has been able to.

Well, you know something? I completely agree with you. I too think that just maybe Whitlock could get 1 out with no one on base and a 2 run lead.

Hmm. Tying run at the plate.

Really tough situation for Houck here. This is going to require great pitching and tons of guts. He's coming in with nobody on base, 2 men out, and a 2 run lead. If he gets this save, think he's a shoo-in for the All-Star Game.

The Sox outfield stinks, period. If Refsnyder can continue to hit and field, he will be the only one.

So of course he K's with 2 men on.

Good thing here is that JDM can't hit into his 10,000th GIDP.

I disagree. Refsnyder is bad fit for this outfield. He can field and hit, and none of those other guys can.

Refsnyder needs more innings/games. Sox outfielders this year can't field and hit, but Refsnyder can--so far, anyway.

I'm going to remember this on Pivetta's next start.

Dumb, dumb pitch for JBJ to swing at, but he definitely came up with chicken salad.

Sox really need this win. I want this win a lot. But the bullpen needs to earn their pay. I'd like to see, for example, if Houck has half the guts of Pivetta.

Pivetta freaking amazes me! Four walks, and he still goes 7 innings against a pretty darn good Cardinals lineup. You gotta have heart, and he does.

Good game so far, highly watchable. Pivetta definitely struggled, but showed a ton of heart. I'm not a Vazquez fan and those weird throws, etc pissed me off. But he has called a good game and made a great throw to get that guy at 2b. Interesting. I thought the Cards did not need to send anyone out to talk to Pallante, but they did, with the result--in my not some humble opinion--that he walked Bogey on 4 freaking pitches. That said, I think Calbrera can get Dugo out easily. I'm impressed by the ability of the Cards pitchers to keep the ball low, but Cabrere did not need to do that to get Verdugo. So he walked him. Just dumb. Of course, Story knew what to do with the bases loaded and bailed Cabrere out.

You're right, of course.

Last night's 9th inning was a harbinger. Tomorrow is going to be another tough game.

A lot of whining on this thread. And I agree with all of it.

Oh, come off it. Wacha went through their entire lineup 2+ times and gave up 1 run. Then Schreiber and Strahm went through their entire lineup once, giving up 2 BB's, no hits, and no runs. Davis and Houck butchered the 9th inning, giving up two doubles, a triple, an HBP, and 4 runs of a 5 run lead. Given the first 8 innings, no other assessment is reasonable. And what is this, "the game was on the line" stuff? They had a freaking 6-1 lead and just had to get three freaking outs. When Houck took the mound, it was a 6-2 lead with two men out, and you want to congratulate him for his brilliant, gutsy, fearless save? The good news is that Houck (and Davis) are still probably pretty good relievers who just had a bad night/game.

Here's some interesting stats on Houck, especially if you think he is the best closer available. In the month of June he has pitched in 6 games, pitched a total of 7.1 innings, registered 10 K's and just 1 BB, and given up 1 run for a June-to-date ERA of 1.23. The Sox won all 6 of those games. In May he pitched in 6 games, a total of 17 innings, and gave up 11 runs (7 in one game vs the Angels and 3 in another vs. the White Sox, and 1 in the other four games and 12 innings vs the Rangers, Mariners, White Sox, and Orioles). If you lop off those first two games, May 5 and May 8, Houck has now pitched in 10 straight games, from May 15 thru June 17, in which he has pitched 19.1 innings and given up 2 runs with 19 K's and 5 BB's. So it sure looks as though the case for House is a good one and that last night was just a bad night in which he still got the save. The caveat to the above is that in 9 of those 10 straight games Houck faced some pretty weak hitting teams: A's (2d worst team OPS in MLB) once; Mariners (8th worst) three times; Orioles (5th worst) once; Rangers (8th worst) once; Angels (10th worst) once; White Sox (9th best) once, and Reds (12th worst) once.