Maxbialystock

Valdez does something I have never seen a Sox pitcher do. He works the bottom of the strike zone extremely well. I've seen Sox pitchers--rarely--attempt to work the bottom of the strike zone. But I've never seen one actually do it well.

horrible at bat by Hernandez. Wrong! Dalbec--of course--had a much more horrible at bat.

I am not ready to concede that.

Andriese actually did pitch well in the third.

3d inning, 3d at bat for Altuve. My, how time flies when you're having fun.

Gotta give Cora credit. He could have brought Perez out for more punishment. Andriese ain't so hot this year, but this is the right job for him tonight. Plus he just got 2 outs in 2 hitters.

The bad news is that Perez--and the Sox--are getting killed. The good news is that, if Perez were pitching well, the Sox would still lose to Valdez. 6 days ago Valdez went 7 innings, outpitched Pivetta, and the Astros won 2-1.

Weird. The Sox seem happy to swing at almost any pitch, and the Astros sneer at even close ones.

All is not lost. Andriese is warming up.

4 outs for Perez, 4 runs for the Astros. This is getting expensive. Now 5 runs for 4 outs.

Perez definitely pitched Altuve tough. Excellent K despite the ump not giving him that strike.

OK, that time Perez got screwed. Once.

This game is all but over. Perez stinks, and Valdez looks like the same guy who shut the Sox down last time.

Love that tactic by Perez: never, ever throw a first strike pitch because the batter might hit it. Very cerebral.

Got it. Perez was just testing the waters in the 1st and was actually pretty masterful, giving up just the one run, which was actually a lucky hit. And, boy, you just know the Sox are going to hammer Valdez. Why? Because he plays for the Astros and the Sox are the good guys in this game. Go Sox! Win one for the gipper!

I get it, I really do. Plawecki and Perez want to create a masterpiece of painting the corners of the strike zone. At this rate, Perez will be good for maybe 4 innings.

To me the stunner with the rotation is that we are almost at the midway point (3 weeks ahead), and Cora has been able to stick with 5 starters who average a tad over 5 innings per start. I see absolutely no ace on this team, but also no rotten egg, ERod's current ERA notwithstanding. He had a good April, a lousy May, and so far an almost hopeful June. If there are aces, their names are Whitlock and Barnes, and one can argue the most recent trend in MLB is to build a lockdown bullpen, which the Sox don't have.

Nothing more sacred on talksox than your right to your opinion. And I sure hope we never see the day when we agree on most things. Boring.

Quelle difference, which sarcastically means ERA + and plain old ordinary ERA both say the two staffs are evenly matched.

Publicly shaming for the Sox, who were "saved" in part because their sign stealing sure didn't help them in the postseason, plus I think John Henry was sincere when he said he would not tolerate it. Houston's penalties were more definite because their sign-stealing helped them win the WS plus it looks as though management was involved.

"boring and pointless" ????!!!! quantity has a quality of its own, and moonslav provides us with a cornucopia of stats that I consider to be helpful and insightful.

You didn't pick "winning," teams but rather WS-winning teams, which leaves out a whole bunch. Plus right now the talksox consensus seems to be these Sox are not WS-bound. However, your stats do show that Cora has basically been able to stick with 5 starters, which is pretty amazing by itself, given the Sox are about 3 weeks from reaching the 81 game (1/2 season) mark. At the same time, the average Sox starter goes just a tad over 5 innings, which leaves on average 3+ innings for the bullpen to cover. So leaving Whitlock there just might make sense for now. Also interesting are the top six WAR's for the Sox pitching staff: Perez 1.4; Eovaldi 1.3; Pivetta 1.3; Whitlock 1.1; Barnes 1.0; and Richards .9. The six next best are all bullpen: Ottavino .4; Hernandez .3; Sawamura .2; Taylor .2; Valdez .2. Starter ERod is still at -.1. I would argue that those 12 pitchers--5 starters and 7 relievers--are essentially the Sox pitching staff so far, or at least the somewhat reliable pitching staff (which is way better than I expected).

Last time out, Perez went 7.2 in Houston, giving up 0 runs. Valdez did something very similar 6 days ago: 7 innings, 1 run. I think Perez was a little lucky, whereas Valdez impressed me with what he threw, which seemed to have our guys mesmerized. Tonight it's lefty vs. lefty at Fenway and the green monster which loves to gobble up lefty pitchers facing righty-heavy lineups. The Astros and Dodgers lead MLB in runs scored with 313 each, and the Sox are 4th with 299. And the Sox have played 1 more game. Neither team is way up in dingers, but the Sox are #1 in doubles, 136, and the Astros are #2, 112. Astros have the higher team OPS, .766. Sox are .755. Houston's ERA is 10th best, 3.79. Boston's is 11th best, 3.81. Astros are 13-13 on the road, and the Sox are 15-13 at Fenway. 4 of the 5 wins in the streak were on the road. In the past 10 years, both teams have been hammered by MLB for stealing signs.

I like his defense, but agree you gotta hit to play. And he ain't.

5 straight makes the Sox the hottest team in MLB, which is pretty neat for early June. I think these five wins also underscore the surprising depth of this Sox team. They are far from perfect, but the good plays/hits/pitches come through just in time to overcome the not so good plays/hits/pitches. JDM missed 3 of the 5 games and had no rbi's in the other 2.