Maxbialystock

Another K for Houck! 1 down in the 5th.

Great at bats by all four hitters in the 4th!!! Thus no surprise when Devers nailed that game-tying double. I don't like JDM pulling that slider, but it was a pitch to swing at. Vital now for Houck to pitch a scoreless 5th. If he keeps it up, 13 1/2 pitches per inning, he could go 7 innings, easily his best start ever. With Plawecki catching. Now let's see what he can do.

Duran swung at the 1st pitch but didn't quite get all of it. Fastball in the middle. Good at bat.

Top of the order. Rasmussen nailed the Sox first time thru--9 "hitters," 9 outs, 34 pitches. This time thru, the Sox lineup needs to do something good. Kike gets his 2d BB.

Houck, meanwhile, is pitching his heart out--despite the absolutely abysmal support from the lineup.

Truer words were never writ.

Rasmussen, despite that great fastball in the first inning, is now mixing his pitches, still hitting his spots, and absolutely dominating the Sox hitters. Correction on "hitting his spots." He went with nothing but heat vs. Cordero and all three strikes--swung at and missed--were in the middle on the zone.

Marvin, Marvin. You get four straight sliders, and you swing at strike 2 way, way out of the zone, and look at strike 3 in the zone. This is sheer incompetence.

Houck is pitching well and getting zippo support. Looks like last Saturday, both games, in which the Sox lineup produced 1 earned run in 15 innings. Today, however, we can't be sure the bullpen will be much help. Day before yesterday, given a lead after 5.1 innings, they gave up 6 runs in 3.2 innings.

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.