Maxbialystock

One thing the Rays can do is put a bunch of lefty bats in the lineup against a righty pitcher. Unearned run thanks to Plawecki. Duran had no chance, but it was still a lousy throw.

Nice throw, Plawecki.

A second seeing eye hit for the Rays.

It also appears Rasmussen can throw that fastball and slider on the corners and margins of the strike zone. So far, no hits, 2 K's, 1 BB, and 23 pitches in 2 innings. Houck has thrown 30 pitches.

Finally, a slider by Rasmussen, that is in the middle of the zone and which Devers pops up. First pitch to JDM, a slider for a strike. Then a fastball, strike 2. And another fastball for strike 3. JDM swung at 1 pitch.

I hasten to add the Sox do have some batters who can hit fastballs with some regularity. But Duran is just one example of several Sox hitters who are completely cowed by heat.

Stunning first inning. Houck mixes his pitches and locations and gets 3 outs in 13 pitches. Excellent work. Rasmussen does what no pitcher on the Sox roster, now or in the recent past, is capable of doing. He throws nothing but fastballs, walks the leadoff batter, and gets the next three guys out, easy-peasy, on 12 pitches. No doubt moonslav can confirm or disparage my impression, but I believe the Sox pitchers don't have good fastballs--thus requiring all of them, without exception, to mix in other pitches--and opposing pitchers seem to be able to get away with lots and lots of fastballs.

No how, no way is Cora hearkening to us. Nor do I think he has suddenly decided that Plawecki is in fact the better catcher. More likely might be some combination of Plawecki is hotter at the plate and behind it. And just maybe this is sending a message to Vazquez: straighten up: stop running the bases like an idiot: focus when you are behind the plate; and, oh, yeah, do something about your hitting. With Schwarber and Arroyo lost in the IL wilderness, perhaps never to return this season or not until September, Cora needs to get the most out of the guys who are still able to play.

That doesn't leave much to argue about. CERA may not be relevant, but the mindset of pitchers is crucial and it can vary not only from catcher to catcher, but also from inning to inning.

All stats have flaws, but most stats, even flawed ones, have useful information. I like CERA--or even moonslav's OPS against--as a way of looking at how well catchers handle pitchers because I emphatically believe what Mike Mussina reportedly said: pitchers often struggle because that don't have their best stuff or good command or both in every game. Thus, no matter what the game plan for going after opposing hitters may say, the pitcher and catcher must improvise based on what that pitcher has that day. And that especially applies to this season when pitchers suddenly have to deal with not doctoring up the baseball to get more spin/action/movement on their pitches. Thus it is interesting to me that this year Vazquez was Eovaldi's primary catcher before the Commish's dictum hit MLB in June and that Plawecki and Wong have caught Eovaldi more than Vazquez after the dictum. On the other hand, it sure looks as though Vazquez is the right guy to catch ERod, and maybe Plawecki is better with Pivetta. As for Perez and Richards, I don't care because they both stink. So right now I'm thinking the tiebreaker is that Vazquez is better with the bullpen, and the bullpen has saved the Sox ass innumerable times this year. Plus all that stuff about better mechanics, arm strength, whatever. My cautionary note, however, is that the bullpen has stunk for 3 straight games, and in 2 of those games Vazquez was catching when Cora brought in his best relievers, all of whom were pounded. In the 3d game, last night, Plawecki did a great job with Eovaldi and Rios, but lousy with Valdez--but also with an insurmountable 20-1 lead. Bottom line, regardless of CERA or any other stat: Cora knows what he is doing and prefers Vazquez. That said, my guess is Plawecki, catching every 5th game, will continue to catch Eovaldi.

Agree. Nothing is turned around, but a big win is way better than another painful loss. And, if there is to be a turnaround, it must begin with winning.

Weird game. Not like the Rays to allow their starter to get steamrollered for 10 runs (or more).

That single by Kike off a changeup at his shoe tops and outside reminds me of the dinger Guerrero hit off Richards on Sunday. He golfed an excellent changeup into in the stands like it was a 9 iron shot.

Left field, one more position where Gonzalez shouldn't play.

Good decision to pitch to Duran. More than that, the Rays pitcher threw a bunch of what mvp 78 calls competitive pitches. It's like the Rays figured out the hole in Duran's swing and just kept throwing low pitches there--low and inside. He was helpless.

Neat word, noncompetitive, because it implies location, rotation, and speed.

I could have been one of those who disagreed with you, but now agree completely Barnes is dead, dead, dead without a great knuckle curveball. Actually, a decent knuckle curve can work if he can command it and not throw it in the middle of the strike zone. Meanwhile, right now is fastball might as well be renamed "dingerball," because it's the one that is just killing him. The WEEI guys want Barnes to stick with the fastball and curve, but right now I think his pretty decent changeup could help him. But, yes, you and others who have questioned Barnes were dead on target and us defenders were wrong.

Renfroe wasn't the problem. That double brings in 2 runs without the error, and that's all the Rays needed. This team right now is bad in every aspect of the game: hitting, rotation, bullpen, defense, and baserunning. Ironically, the weakest part, the rotation, has been pretty good for four straight games, giving up 6 earned runs in 20 innings. I wrote on another thread that I saw some good signs in the loss on Sunday. Now I think this team is collapsing. Every reliever is suspect, no exceptions. Every starter is suspect, no exceptions. The defense is unreliable and doesn't have much range. The baserunning is as bad as I have ever seen for a Sox team. And the hitting, which has been solid for a huge chunk of this season, is also coming apart, especially when there are scoring opportunities.

I'm not so sure about ownership being so bad. The team that is losing now is almost exactly the same team that lead the AL East for 2/3 of this season. But now they are terrible in every aspect of the game--pitching, hitting, running, defense. The same guys. What we all wanted more than anything was a good starter, but one good starter does not fix this team when the bullpen, hitting, defense, and baserunning are all so bad.

I guess that's why he doesn't want to throw his knuckle curve. Up in the zone and, well, hanging. Two games in a row when the bullpen has absolutely blown a game. Barnes is the guy the Sox just extended two years with a really nice pay raise. Smart move.

The idiots on WEEI can't even tell when Barnes is throwing a changeup, and he has thrown several already.

Cordero also sucks.

At this point I suspect that the Sox pitchers were even more dependent on doctoring up the baseball than most other pitching stuff.

Barnes gives up a double on a fastball after getting two quick strikes on curves.

Now let's see if Barnes keeps coming with heat, which has hurt him so much recently.