Maxbialystock

No he isn't. But it's clear to me that he is, hands down, the best defensive catcher on the Sox. I think he is vital the pitching success of the Sox.

Keuchel looks like he ain't throwing anything that great, but he sure is keeping the ball low, which works like a charm with most of our hitters. Almost none of our pitchers consistently keep the ball down in the zone.

Sunday night games are the worst.

Those are both still very good OPS's. JDM's problem against the Astros has absolutely nothing to do with where he hits, but with how well they pitch to him. The comment about "too bad JDM didn't hit a dinger with 2 on in the 9th" is just play laughable. He got a grounder single in the first game and nuttin good in the 2d because the Astros know how to pitch to him. Hence the putrid GIDP that actually happened in the 9th yesterday. Despite all my whining, I agree with Kimmi's basic point: the Astros are better, but not a lot better. If Chris Sale is healthy, I think we have a very good one-two punch in him and Price. I also don't think the bullpen is as bad as they looked Friday. On top of that, I really like this team and that means everyone on it, even the ones I gripe about.

I like your optimism and always have. But this time I just think the Astros overall simply look like a better team: better rotation, better bullpen, better defense, and an offense better than ours, but only because their hitters get to go against our pitching and our hitters have to go against their pitching. Our better hitting is negated by their superior pitching which is helped by a better defense than we have. I look at those two games as harbingers. In the first, Price had a great start, but their pitching was good enough to keep them in the game until their hitting clobbered our bullpen, including Brasier who has the lowest ERA. In the second, they got the early lead, and that was the ballgame. Yes, in game two we did have lots of baserunners, but, I say again, they dominated our best rbi man, JD Martinez, who was hitless and left 5 on base, including 2 with a game-ending GIDP. To me that's good pitching. Also, they made some big defensive plays and we made some so-so (Betts and JBJ) and one bad one (Devers, but, luckily, Poyner kept the Astros from scoring).

You're absolutely right. How could I forget we split in Houston? All the more reason to worry--the Sox seem to be regressing. However, if the Sox pull out a win with Porcello tonight, the season goes 4-3 Houston, which takes a little of the sting out.

We are now in the 3d game of a nice 9 game home stretch. Up next the Jays and Mets. Then six on the road vs. Cleveland and the Yankees, a further test of the Sox readiness for the postseason.

If Porcello loses to Keuchel tonight, the "clowns" will have taken 5 of 6 this year. They don't have the best pitching staff in MLB--they have the best pitching staff in MLB by a wide margin. They certainly have JDM's number: his OPS for the season is 1.036, but against the Astros it's .589. Their hitting/scoring is 4th best in MLB, which is enough to score off our pitching staff almost at will. And their defense looks pretty good to me. What about you? But, really, it's that darn pitching. I'm certainly no expert, but it seems to me that almost everyone the send to the mound can throw hard (95 mph and above), can hit their spots, and have some pretty good breaking stuff. I like that they can get strikes low in the zone or even right below it, but also throw high in the zone. That our hitting managed to get three runs each in the first two games is actually pretty commendable. Especially last night when they clearly had JDM's number, including that weak GIDP to end the game with men on 1st and 3d in the bottom of the 9th. JDM only leads MLB in rbi's. Our Sox clearly have a pitching problem--both the rotation and the bullpen. And it is not helped by the defense. Friday our great right fielder Mookie, playing on his home field, caught a middling fly near the line and threw home when there was no play (it was a good throw, by the way), which allowed runners on 1st and 2d to advance to 2d and 3d. Today JBJ had a tough by catchable ball in deep CF that went off his glove because he misjudged and which I believe the Houston CF would have caught with ease. Nunez has good hands and a good arm at 3B, but no range. Devers range is better, but his error rate remains very high. Bogaerts is steady eddy at SS, but with not much range even though he works very hard on his defense. Kinsler is solid at 2b and Moreland has clearly regressed at 1B. I think our defensive catching overall is at least average and certainly above average when Leon is behind the plate. The good news, and I mean this, is that yesterday and Friday are not, repeat, not the actual postseason. I'm worried, but by no means ready to throw in the towel. As Kimmi and others have pointed out, the bullpen, the rotation, and the catchers are being evaluated and re-evaluated. I personally hope Leon is the primary catcher in the postseason. I see Sale and Price as obvious first two starters assuming both are healthy. After them I honestly see Porcello, ERod, and yes, Wright in the mix for the 3d and 4th spots. I'm also wondering about last night and what we saw vs. the Rays. What, for example, would have happened if Workman or almost any other righty reliever had started the game and Cora then brought in ERod in the 1st, 2d, or even the 3d inning? The Astros started 8 righty bats, and they hit ERod hard, but maybe Workman could have bought some outs for ERod. Also, it bothered me that with all those righty bats ERod, who has a good changeup, didn't throw his first changeup until the Astros had scored 2 runs in the 2d inning. To me this is all grist for the mill.

I'm happy to say I think I was dead wrong. The bullpen was terrific with Vazquez catching, so the earlier problem was with ERod, not Vazquez. Still I nasty loss at Fenway, however, which demonstrates the value of good pitching and the agony of lousy pitching.

ERod only has 77 pitches, and has given up just 4 runs. Plus I honestly don't think our guys will come back anyway, not after that miserable bottom of the 3d when we get a leadoff double and the 2-5 batters can't bring him home. But I think at this point it does make sense because I honestly think ERod is frustrated and losing confidence with every pitch. And I honestly believe that some of that is on Vazquez.

Perhaps. But I believe you also think the bullpen is worthless.

Two sliders to a righty batter--one for a dinger--and no changeup.

Moreland has a single in his last 24 at bats, including that miserable K with 2 on.

Fast ball down the middle and Beni hits a can of corn to CF.

With Sandy Leon catching, ERod pitches like an ace. With Vazquez catching, he looks like a scared rookie and is getting hit like one.

Only one of these two teams looks ready for the postseason.

Also: I'm now beginning to wonder why Vazquez was our primary catcher all season long. Right now he looks like a really stupid catcher. And he was catching when they scored 3 off Kelly last night. Plus he got the stupid injury sliding into 2B when he had no business trying to get 2B.

I'm serious when I say I wonder what the heck ERod, Vazquez, and the pitching coach were thinking.

Also: last night Price threw a ton of fastballs, but was avoiding the center of the strike zone. Not so ERod today. Way too many fast pitches.

Horrible, horrible game plan for ERod. Almost all fastballs until Houston had scored 2 runs, then finally a changeup. Now more fastballs to get two more Astro hits. ERod has probably the best changeup on the team, and they don't want to use it with a lefty going against 8 righty bats.

About Kelly. I was pretty mad too, but I just looked at a replay of that egregious 8th inning and noted the following-- 1. He walked no one and gave up 3 runs on 4 singles, no walks, and no extra base hits. 2. Two of the singles were grounders, one fielded by Kinsler who almost made a great play to get an out. 3. The first run scored on a bases loaded fly out to RF when Betts unwisely and mistakenly threw home where there was absolutely no play to be made and which resulted in the other two runners advancing. The smart play was to throw to 3B, not home. 4. The second run scored on a WP which Leon might have blocked but Vazquez could not. 5. Yes, Kelly did in fact give up 3 earned runs, but Brasier was the one who gave up 2 doubles that enabled the Astros to score 3 runs in the 7th. 6. About Brasier. Cora absolutely made the right move in sending him out there in the 7th because there were two on and one out in a 2-0 game and Brasier has the lowest ERA in the bullpen. 7. But Brasier promply gave up a double off the green monster by Gurriel that brought in 1 run and put men on 2d and 3d with 1 out. Then Brasier showed his mettle by getting Reddick to pop up for out #2. But Kemp got a miracle opposite field double off of a low and inside (and very good) pitch by Brasier that gave the Astros 2 runs and the lead.

I think it was more than luck, but generally agree with your point that it was a hard fought game to a point. One thing that bothered me a little was that both bullpens threw pretty good heat--Kelly and Brasier both throw in the high 90's or 100 mph--last night, but the Astros hit our fast balls and our guys for the most part swung and missed. Back to your point about luck. Last night the Astros pinch hit for their catcher and Kemp doubled in 2 runs off of Brasier. Cora pinch hit twice for our catchers (Leon and Vazquez) and Holt and Devers both struck out. Season to date, however, the Astros OPS when pinch-hitting is .559, and ours is .661. The double by Kemp was opposite field down the line from a low and inside pitch on a 3-2 count.

What does that mean? This game was all about pitching, not hitting. The Astros have the best pitching in MLB by a big margin and we have a pretty decent rotation. We scored 3 runs, which is in fact the Astros ERA, and they hammered our bullpen, just hammered it. Houston pinch hit for their catcher and Kemp got a double and 2 rbi's. Holt pinch hit for Leon and K's and later Devers did the same thing for Vazquez. I'm pretty sure the Sox also have the worst pinch-hitting stats in MLB this year. I do not see how anything we saw tonight can be blamed on Cora.

My goodness Betts was quick: 1st to 3d on a hard hit single to left against a pretty good arm (Reddick).

My impression of downtown Houston in the summertime is that very few people use the sidewalks. Kind of like Montreal in the dead of winter.