Maxbialystock

Tonight we are again seeing why Houck normally can't go more than 4 innings. 2 innings, 47 pitches.

Houck gets a big break on that fat, fat fast ball in the geometric center of the strike zone.

Looks like we might see the bullpen a little early tonight.

FWIW, Dalbec is an infielder and is worse at 1b than Cordero.

I do think anyone can play 1b, but completely agree just anyone can't make that play or the one Guerrero made last night.

The Sox show every sign of being a team that expects to lose. It won't be easy, I but I think they can basically be out of contention by the time Sale can pitch and Schwarber can hit.

Cordero does not make that play--the one Guerrero made.

Of the four categories, rotation, defense, hitting, and bullpen, I agree the bullpen has been the most reliable. So, when I say the bullpen blew game 1 today, I'm saying the last barrier between the Sox and total mediocrity is showing some cracks.

It matters both for the extra pitches and for the demonstration of incompetence. Or, if not incompetence, then maybe just not giving a darn.

Given that Barnes blew game 1 today, maybe it is fair to say the Sox have a weak rotation, weak defense, weak lineup, and even a weak bullpen.

Vazquez and Cordero do their clown act on an easy pop out, which lands untouched.

Yes, they did piss it away, which I mentioned at the time. The fact remains that Pivetta was going great guns, and I personally wanted him on the mound in the 7th. And, yes, I do know that Cora know ten times as much as I do. I'm just mad because this game was in fact winnable.

True. But I just don't like Vazquez.

Great call Cora, you dickhead. Pivetta has only thrown 76 pitches and got Guererro out 3 times. This was a game that could be won.

So another theory. This one is really simple. Vazquez is overrated as a catcher, and Plawecki knows what he is doing behind the plate.

You have to be blind not to see on the replay that the Jays firstbaseman was blocking the bag with his foot/shin.

Meh. It's the right call but an unusual one. Plus he didn't go ape.

Heart of the order are doing what they do best--making outs when guys are on base and in scoring position.

He couldn't touch the base because the first baseman had his foot blocking it.

He didn't touch the base because the firstbaseman's foot was all over the bag. Safe is the right call.

Darn! I was thinking payback too. I hate conspiracy theories. I mean really, really hate them. Except when I think the Sox are maybe getting screwed.

OK! Pivetta gets the 3d out, a pop up, on a diet of fastballs.

Interesting. Once again, 5th inning after a superb first four innings, and the first three Jays hitters, all seeing Pivetta for the 2d time today, just hammer the ball. Fortunately, two of them were caught.

Great seeing Vazquez at DH, a big improvement over JDM with those strikeouts and GIDP's, to say nothing of his exceptional baserunning skills.

While I agree Richard and Perez are almost certainly irredeemable, last night I watched Eovaldi pitcher very well for 4 innings, at which point he had seen 15 batters (once thru the lineup and then six more of them twice) and pitched shutout ball. Then in the 5th, facing the bottom of the Jays lineup for the 2d time only, the wheels came completely off. Double, double, absolute useless mound visit, double, fly out, another mound visit, Guerroro walked intentionally, then out 2, a K. At that point, the game was tied 2-2 and the Jays had 2 on and 2 out. The next three Jays hitters--Bichette, Hernandez, and Gurriel, went hard single, double, and dinger for 5 more runs and a 7-2 lead., after which Eovaldi was pulled. To me there has to be something wrong with what happened in the bottom of the 5th. Eovaldi has good stuff, especially when he does not over-rely on his fastball, and OK command. But suddenly the Jay were hitting everything, including changeups and sliders low in the strike zone or even below it. I'd love to blame Vazquez for that disaster, but wonder now if somehow Eovaldi didn't start tipping his pitches. Indeed, given the heavy reliance on tv cameras and computer imaging by all MLB teams, maybe that combo, read correctly, yielded the tiny little clues that Jays hitters could recognize and capitalize on. Today Pivetta, who a month or so ago went 6.2 no hit no run innings, is once again going like a house afire--through 3 innings, no hits and no runs. Will the Jays combination of TV images tied to a computer produce another deluge of hard hit balls for zillions of runs?