*OFFICIAL* 6/18/22 Making Orange Juice out of Verlander SOX 7 HOU 0 Postgamer

[Frater Perdurabo]

Vaughn, Robert, and Abreu did the damage to get Cueto his first, well-earned win. Lopez also is stepping up big time in the bullpen; he was hitting 99 in the 9th.

After last night’s debacle, to have a chance to win this series with a win tomorrow is huge.

[Frater Perdurabo]

Cueto and Lopez held the mighty Astros lineup to three hits.

[voodoochile]

Team us growing and developing. They aren't just hitting against bad teams/pitchers. They are just hitting. Cueto doesn't have ace stuff anymore but he's got ace mentality and he was awesome today. I was actually walking around the community trying to find my Amazon package for the 9th inning, so missed Lopez second inning of work. Nice to see he's settling in to a late inning roll well.

Vaughn and Robert and Abreu oh my...

[LITTLE NELL]

Cueto has been a heck of a pickup, with a little luck he could be 4-0.
Nice to beat Verlander. Before going in I was hoping the Sox could at least get a win in the series, might as well win the series tomorrow night on National TV.

[BigKlu59]

Well that was something special. Nice to see that parry today after getting slashed to bits yesterday. Live to fight another day. Great example of gettin them on gettiin them around and gettem in. Nice win for Johnny. Well deserved.

BK59

[Harwar]

Outstanding day for Johnny Cueto . Frank Menechino takes a lot of heat, but a nice game plan against Verlander . a job well done i say . Michael Kopech tomorrow night . should be a good one.

[WSox597]

Cueto has turned out to be an excellent pickup. Well worth the attempt by the Sox.
Good to see the team pick themselves back up after a bad game the night before.

[ChiTownTrojan]

Glad they could put an end to the narrative that they can’t win a game in Houston. Win tomorrow, and that narrative gets flipped on its head.

Cueto did his best Carlos Rodon impression, shutting down the Astros over 7 innings. I can’t believe they were able to pull this guy off the scrap heap after the Lynn injury. The Sox are lucky to have him.

It’s funny how Robert can look pretty awful at the plate, and then you blink and he is 3 for 5 with a couple RBIs and runs scored and a 9-game hitting streak. Just pure hitting talent there. Still, I want to see him drive the ball like we know he’s capable of. I can’t remember the last time he’s hit one out. I guess I’m just being greedy, but the lineup needs more power and he’s capable of more production.

[Frater Perdurabo]

It’s funny how Robert can look pretty awful at the plate, and then you blink and he is 3 for 5 with a couple RBIs and runs scored and a 9-game hitting streak. Just pure hitting talent there. Still, I want to see him drive the ball like we know he’s capable of. I can’t remember the last time he’s hit one out. I guess I’m just being greedy, but the lineup needs more power and he’s capable of more production.

I too want to see more power out of him. That said, I took a look at his career stats. He’s now played 173 games, so determining his “162 game average” is now possible based on real data and not having to extrapolate. Here’s what he’d be expected to do if he played a full 162-game season:

187 hits
34 doubles
28 homers
24 steals
96 RBI
.292 AVG
.340 OBP
.480 SLG
.819 OPS

Put another way, that’s the equivalent of his rookie season. And he turns 25 this August 3.

After many years of CF being such a difficult position to fill, it’s nice to have Robert locking it down for the next 5 years.

[priznr]

I too want to see more power out of him. That said, I took a look at his career stats. He’s now played 173 games, so determining his “162 game average” is now possible based on real data and not having to extrapolate. Here’s what he’d be expected to do if he played a full 162-game season:

187 hits
34 doubles
28 homers
24 steals
96 RBI
.292 AVG
.340 OBP
.480 SLG
.819 OPS

Put another way, that’s the equivalent of his rookie season. And he turns 25 this August 3.

After many years of CF being such a difficult position to fill, it’s nice to have Robert locking it down for the next 5 years.

if only we could dependably lock down a few other positions. i'd sure like to see the eloy we thought we had and the moncada we thought we had.

[Frater Perdurabo]

if only we could dependably lock down a few other positions. i'd sure like to see the eloy we thought we had and the moncada we thought we had.

Agreed. Let’s hope they get healthy and stay healthy.

[ChiTownTrojan]

I too want to see more power out of him. That said, I took a look at his career stats. He’s now played 173 games, so determining his “162 game average” is now possible based on real data and not having to extrapolate. Here’s what he’d be expected to do if he played a full 162-game season:

187 hits
34 doubles
28 homers
24 steals
96 RBI
.292 AVG
.340 OBP
.480 SLG
.819 OPS

Put another way, that’s the equivalent of his rookie season. And he turns 25 this August 3.

After many years of CF being such a difficult position to fill, it’s nice to have Robert locking it down for the next 5 years.

No doubt he’s had a fantastic start to his career. But the numbers you cite just emphasize the fact that his current production (.326 OBP, .406 SLG) is below pace for what we have gotten used to and what he is capable of. Yes I know I’m nitpicking, since those are some of the best numbers for anyone on the team.

His biggest issue is in his approach - he still has way too many non-competitive at bats where he makes weak contact on the first pitch of an at bat, or flails at a couple sliders out of the zone to go down 0-2. He needs to be more selective and wait for pitchers to make a mistake that he can drive.

[voodoochile]

No doubt he’s had a fantastic start to his career. But the numbers you cite just emphasize the fact that his current production (.326 OBP, .406 SLG) is below pace for what we have gotten used to and what he is capable of. Yes I know I’m nitpicking, since those are some of the best numbers for anyone on the team.

His biggest issue is in his approach - he still has way too many non-competitive at bats where he makes weak contact on the first pitch of an at bat, or flails at a couple sliders out of the zone to go down 0-2. He needs to be more selective and wait for pitchers to make a mistake that he can drive.

But that will come. As pointed out, he's played roughly 7 months of MLB baseball total so far - a little over a year of at bats. While we've been seeing him in uniform for 3 years, he really doesn't have much actual in game experience at this level and what he does have has been broken up by injuries. Assuming the injuries don't become chronic, he will start to settle in and find a rhythm. The fact he is now taking those breaking pitches on the outer half to RF is normally a good sign he's about to go on a tear.

[StanBahnsen72]

Probably our most impressive win since game 3 of the 2021 ALDS- at Houston vs. Verlander- with a dominating shut out win.

Sox are now 5th in the AL in team OPS over the past 30 days- with just about everyone starting to come around (even Harrison hitting .265) with the exception of Leury Garcia hitting .188 and Engel .226). Probably some more upside in the theoretical scenario that we get healthy, productive versions of Grandal, Moncada and Eloy in the 2nd half.

The inexplicable 3 year deal with Garcia is looking worse and worse as the season unfolds.