*Official* 6/23 Heading Home Happy Postgamer

[thomas35forever]

Great pitching overall and some timely hitting end the five-game skid. Let's get back to our ballpark.

[kingpin_rcs]

What a relief to get back in the win column.

[Frater Perdurabo]

At least today we didn’t have to walk the plank.

[voodoochile]

YAY!

Should have been easier, but I'll take it...



:

[Lipman 1]

Nice to get the win and with Cleveland off the lead is now 2 1/2.

Heuer looks nothing like the pitcher he was last season, not even close.

First time in a week they scored over three runs.

Maybe playing at home in a fully opened stadium will help, we'll see.

[Paulwny]

I'm concerned about Abreu. I hope he's just in a funk and that it's not his age catching up with him. For ~ a week he hasn't been able to catch up with fast balls.

[berwyn]

Hendriks didn't have control of the slider and their one and two hitters were all over him cuz they knew the fastball was coming. He and we are lucky he survived. Good hitters can handle 99 if it's all they expect. Yas is showing signs of waking up. Need it.

[berwyn]

Nice to get the win and with Cleveland off the lead is now 2 1/2.

Heuer looks nothing like the pitcher he was last season, not even close.

First time in a week they scored over three runs.

Maybe playing at home in a fully opened stadium will help, we'll see.

Heuer's stuff is good, but it's not good enough to throw down the middle. He's got to start working the corners, even at the risk of walking a few more batters. As I mentioned elsewhere, he's got the Nate Jones motion which shows the ball to the batter before he delivers it. He not too old to learn. Right, Ethan Katz?

[Foulke You]

Nice to get the win and with Cleveland off the lead is now 2 1/2.

Heuer looks nothing like the pitcher he was last season, not even close.

First time in a week they scored over three runs.

Maybe playing at home in a fully opened stadium will help, we'll see.

This felt like a pretty big win to get today. The whole squad looked to be pressing and you really didn't want to drop an entire road trip. They've played well at home all year so hopefully they can keep that going again on Friday against Seattle. Even the 2005 team lost 7 in a row at one point. Hopefully this road trip is just a bump in the road and the Sox can maintain their lead until the reinforcements arrive.

Heuer's stuff is good, but it's not good enough to throw down the middle. He's got to start working the corners, even at the risk of walking a few more batters. As I mentioned elsewhere, he's got the Nate Jones motion which shows the ball to the batter before he delivers it. He not too old to learn. Right, Ethan Katz?

Codi's season is tough to figure out. I'm not so sure showing the ball on his delivery is the issue. You're correct that Nate Jones really showed the ball high behind his right ear to hitters before he released it but it didn't always matter when he was locating his 99mph heater. Codi has a bigger wingspan and brings his arm back a little lower than Jones did. It's really just about pitch location with him. The stuff and the velocity have been good but he has been leaving his fastball in hittable locations. The Ks are about in line with his 2020 season but it's the contact that's killing him:

2020- 1.52 ERA, 23 IP, 12 H, 4R, 1HR, 9BB, 25Ks
2021- 5.65 ERA, 28IP, 36 H, 18R, 4HR, 4BB, 29Ks

A lot more hits and a lot more HRs with the same "stuff" as 2020 suggest hitters have figured out his pattern or he's just not locating well enough (or both). It's easier to correct something mechanical than it is to ask a guy to start throwing 98 mph with movement again. This suggests that it is correctable. However, it remains to be seen if the Sox are going to stick with him in high leverage while he figures things out.

[FielderJones]

Heuer's stuff is good, but it's not good enough to throw down the middle. He's got to start working the corners, even at the risk of walking a few more batters.

No. The Sox cannot afford to give free baserunners to the opposition in the late innings. That is a recipe for disaster. Codi needs to trust his fastball even more when he's ahead 0-2 or 1-2. Getting batters back in the count with uncompetitive offspeed pitches of has been his downfall. Throwing a 99 heater on 0-2 to a batter who's expecting you to make them chase junk is a sure way to lock them up and take strike three.

[berwyn]

No. The Sox cannot afford to give free baserunners to the opposition in the late innings. That is a recipe for disaster. Codi needs to trust his fastball even more when he's ahead 0-2 or 1-2. Getting batters back in the count with uncompetitive offspeed pitches of has been his downfall. Throwing a 99 heater on 0-2 to a batter who's expecting you to make them chase junk is a sure way to lock them up and take strike three.

Posted above: 4 BB, 29 K and getting hit all over the place in 2021. He could afford to work the corners a little more.

[voodoochile]

Posted above: 4 BB, 29 K and getting hit all over the place in 2021. He could afford to work the corners a little more.

Makes you wonder if he's tipping or yes he's got a standard pattern he needs to break

[longtimefan]

If Heuer's problem is pitch tipping or poor mechanics, I hope Katz can fix him.

[Chez]

Meanwhile Ryan Burr has done a nice job when called on. I think he's leap-frogged both Foster and Ruiz in the bullpen pecking order.

[Zakath]

Happy? Wouldn't go anywhere near that far after a 1-5 road trip. Maybe heading home less apoplectic...