Maxbialystock

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).

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.