If Only

If only this were the Luis Robert Jr. who showed up for every game, like the one in Pittsburgh last night who went 2-for-2 (plus two walks!) with two runs scored and two runs batted in and who made a great play in the outfield. But that would be too much to ask. So, you take what you can get, the Robert who showed up yesterday and may or may not today. In the meantime, you savor that play he made, running to deep left-center field to make a diving, backhand catch of a ball off the bat of the Pirates’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the bottom of the third. And you also cross your fingers that these are the real Jonathan Cannon and Edgar Quero. Cannon needed just 86 pitches to throw seven innings of one-run ball in a 10-1 Sox win. The 25-year old righty didn’t walk anybody, which is great, while only striking out two, which probably leaves the analytics’ crowd flustered. Those are the people who put a premium on strikeouts, damn’ the likelihood of injury to the pitcher. Instead, Cannon went old school, and depended on his fielders. Along with Robert, Michael A. Taylor had a nice, sliding catch in left field in the second inning, when the Pirates had two on and one out and it was still a ballgame at 3-0. Old school works for me. As for Quero, he had a double and a homerun, along with two runs scored. Right now, Quero’s hitting (.274 BA, 21 RBIs in 190 at-bats) is ahead of his catching, but we’re talking about a 22-year old here. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the Sox should be playing both their catchers as much as possible. In the name of Mike Heath, you just don’t have to play one position if you’re a catcher. Odds are, manager New-Mickey Venable will sit Quero and start Kyle Teel; it seems he’s learned his lesson not to DH one of his catchers while playing the other behind the plate. Bad things can happen, like losing the DH when you pinch run for the catcher. Fellow rookie Colson Montgomery has a better chance than Quero to play again tonight. The only question is where? Venable put Montgomery at third with Chase Meidroth at short; it was Montgomery’s second start (and third appearance) at the hot corner vs. eight starts at short. Does the Sox “brain trust” see Montgomery as a possibility at third base? Instead of Josh Rojas? If only.