Maxbialystock

Dead on.

No, no, no, no, and no. I read it on last night's game thread. Cora was an idiot bringing in Wright in the 7th inning, and it is completely irrelevant that he went 2 and gave up 0 runs despite Philip's error (he never should have thrown in the first place) and Bogie's high throw home that Sandy miraculously turned into an out (with some help from the ump). In other words, right now Wright has the right stuff when all those around him keep throwing the wrong stuff (or maybe just in the wrong place). If Wright keeps this up, if Brasier can be Brasier again, if Kimbrel can stay Kimbrel, and if just 2 or 3 others will get their heads repositioned and pitch they way they are able to pitch, this bullpen just might work and reveal--once again--the amazing depth of this team. I like Poyner a lot.

A fascinating game thread with a lot of people climbing on the "what a dummy Cora is" bandwagon. Not me. One guy keeps insisting that sending Wright out to pitch the 7th was completely indefensible even though Wright ended up pitching two scoreless innings despite two terrible defensive plays by Philips and Bogey. Sox now up 8.5 on the NYY with 18 games to go. So me, I'm kind of happy with the manager. If Cora is as dumb as you guys claim, gimme dumb every time and twice on Sundays. We only took 1 of 3 games against the Astros, but they clearly have a better pitching staff and better defense, and their hitting is basically better than ours head to head because our guys have to hit against their pitchers. Porcello surprised me. Well done. Bogey was 8 for 12 in this series including 4 of 4 tonight. Before tonight I was positive the Astros had JDM's number, but tonight he had 4 rbi's. He da man. And boy did Moreland come thru with two hits as a sub for Pearce. Kimmi and moonslav, who have always kept the faith with this team, were also winners tonight. If Sale can get back to his new normal this year, that's two pretty good starters. Somehow among Porcello, Erod, and Wright, there ought to be two more decent ones. The bullpen is definitely scary, but I think they will come around. The hitting is still the best in MLB.

It only won the game, that's all. The Astros leftfielder doesn't try to barehand it if slowpoke JDM is trying to scored from 2B. Lin is fast.

I honestly believe there was no way Moreland would make contact with that heat, let alone get the single. Wow. Great win.

The difference between a good manager and a poor one is the quality of his bullpen. Our bullpen stinks. Houston's is pretty darn good.

You still don't get it. Focus on this game, not the season or some theory you have. This bullpen has been up and down in this series with a lot of guys being used and overall a poor performance. In that context, there is absolutely nothing with sending Wright out there. Plus, oh, guess what? It freaking worked!

Yeah, right. That's why Wright went two scoreless innings--because he had no business out there. Plus you of course know this pitching staff--and baseball tactics--so much better than Cora.

No, you haven't been watching the game. Wright came in with a clean inning and no one one base. He's now pitched two scoreless innings. By the way, I'm just defending Cora's move/decision. Has it ever occurred to you he might know more than you?

Didn't you watch the inning? Haven't you been watching the game and the series, for crying out loud? Wright was fine when Hembree, Johnson, Kelly, and Brasier (Friday night) gave two games away--although thanks to Wright the Sox still have a shot in this game.

Very good point. For really optimum baseball I think every team should be allowed up to 50 on the roster so that the defense doesn't have to bat and the offense doesn't have to field. If that's too much, maybe three DH's instead of the measly 1 each team has.

He missed the call, but it was close and he was in perfect position.

Actually, you have to be kidding with your complaint. Wright is a bonafide long reliever whom the Astros haven't seen much of and who hasn't pitched in this series. In the actual event, he pitched well and got screwed by Phillips error on an ill-advised throw to 1B. Then Bogie did his best to screw him on an easy throw home that was way, way high. The only thing wrong with Wright in the 7th was the Sox defense, which was pathetic.

Notice Keuschel is still in there because, except for that fat pitch up in the zone to JDM, he has pitched well, mostly because he is keeping the ball down.

Maybe Cora should have gone with Brasier sooner, but Brasier got hammered Friday night by not one but two doubles. It was last night's crew of Workman, Poyner, and Thornberg who pitched well, but they threw 1.2, 2, and 2 innings.

Amazing how much the Sox pitching staff seems to love the middle of the strike zone. The last two pitches by Hembree were dead center. In 6 pitches he never threw a low one.

Porcello seems to be going with his fat pitch repertoire. No slides, just fast balls and cut fastball in the middle of the zone.

Meh. Keuchel threw JDM a fast pitch high in the zone when keeping it low has worked so well--see the game ending GIDP last night. Porcello just gave up a solo shot on an 88 mph fastball up in the zone but not above it. That has always gotten him in trouble in the past.

Who gives a s***? The point is that Leon is invaluable because of his catching skills. We've had two good starts in this series vs. the Astros, and he was behind the plate for both of them.

On one of these threads there is a discussion by kimmi and others that Cora is just stupid batting JD Martinez 3d. What they fail to realize that, because Bogey is hitting well, opposing teams are likely to pitch to JDM and not walk him. It goes without saying that Cora knows baseball and this team a whole lot better than our experts, who I will be the first to acknowledge know a lot more than I do.

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).