<< <i>Bob Ryan wrote about the Red Sox in The Boston Globe: They are down, 3�0, after last night's 19�8 rout, and, in this sport, that is an official death sentence. Soon it will be over, and we will spend another dreary winter lamenting this and lamenting that.
The above written on October 16th, 2004. The game originally scheduled for Oct 15th, was delayed because of rain. Recall that horribly dreary night in Fenway when it was cold, damp and we were getting our rear ends handed to us by the Yankees. A CRUSHING loss of 19-8, putting the Yankees up 3-0 in the playoffs. We all know what happened next, the Red Sox went 8-0 and won the WS. Considered THE greatest comeback in baseball history.
I'm not thrilled with current performance, but I'm in till the last dog dies. As mentioned several times, I think the WC is pretty well in hand...unless there is an absolute collapse, which of course is possible. Assuming we get the WC, the rest is a toss of the dice. The team needs to gel and gel quickly, the LOBs, RISPs and just lack of key hits is killing us. Should this straighten itself out, we have a shot...not a big shot, but we're in the game. The journey is not gonna be easy, but I think it's still doable. Only time will tell.
Let us try to keep the faith till it is simply out of reach. >>
if they do limp in, I like Beckett, Lester, and Bedard against any other team. Excellent in a short series and doable in a seven game series.
<< <i>What is the sense of getting into the playoffs, they will go nowhere there. Might as well let the Rays go, they have a chance to win the whole thing with their pitching. >>
Once you make the playoffs, anything can happen. So don't be so sure of that.
And I thought I was in a bad enough position in 2010 when I had to root for LOSERVILLE to beat Syracuse to move up in the rankings! Now my wife's Red Sox have no choice but to root for the Evil Empire (who play the Devil Rays seven out of ten times).
I guess you could root for them (the Yankees) with a clothespin on your nose.
This feels like a playoff game to me. Now that Lackey has given up 3 runs already but the Sox have given him back the lead (thanks, Lowrie) let's hope and pray that Lackey could stop sucking for just a couple innings.
Lackluster is at it again. They give him 11 runs and he gives back 6 thru 4 innings. Get him out of there. I gave up watching and am now playing pogo as it is more interesting.
11-8 and Fran coma is finally taking out LACKLUSTER to a good booing.
Lackluster is at it again. They give him 11 runs and he gives back 6 thru 4 innings. Get him out of there. I gave up watching and am now playing pogo as it is more interesting.
11-8 and Fran coma is finally taking out LACKLUSTER to a good booing. >>
Fran coma does it again only with a quick hook this time. New pitcher gets 2 outs and he goes out and pulls him for Moralles who promptly
This is the lowest point of the season, in my opinion. Even worse than the terrible beginning of the season. Seriously, if you score 11 runs through 6 innings you shouldn't be in danger of losing the game still. And yet here we are...
They should not have lost the first game...Uber Toad made me uneasy, and Uber Uber Fat Toad made me feel even worse. Surely everyone heard me scream NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
if any other human being screwed up so badly as to hire someone as abhorrently ineffective as this guy, he'd be fired. Yet Theo still has a job. Must be all the performance $20 million+ is getting out of Crawfish.
Curt Schilling was on WEEI today, and he had an interesting take -- Lackey was never a strikout pitcher and never had good control. He was sucessful in Anaheim due to the larger ballparks and anemic hitting in the AL West. Better than average defense helped as well -- he always had men on base, even when he went 19-9 that one year. Now in the AL East, with better hitters, he will do worse (like a 4.50 ERA) when he pitches like he did in Anaheim, and will get hammered when he is in a slump (like all of this year). With all the sabermetrics and Bill James at Theo's disposal, you would think Theo would have figured this out. Maybe he did, and was overruled by Luccino and Henry -- it seems the Red Sox are always anxious to overpay for players that seemed to do well against them, no matter how they did against the rest of the league.
How about the Red Sox trade Lackey for Burnett straight up? Both could use a change of scenery (however, I think Burnett could come back, but Lackey is toast, unless he gets traded to the NL).
Seriously . . . they should consider trading Lackey somewhere in the NL - like San Diego where I'm sure he'd flourish. I know they would have to swallow a giant portion of his contract, but this definitely seems to be a case of addition by subtraction. You just can't expect to win games when he pitches and that is never a good thing to say about 20% of your starting rotation.
Ric Flair doing the lineup??? Isn't that the thing usually offered to local kids to do? Geez, he even did the whoo thing. Kinda beat up Pedoia's and Aviles' names.
It is really difficult to understand this roller coaster performance of the Red Sox. Clearly it has to be laid at the feet of pitching performance, or lack thereof. When I saw Albers come in, it was like an omen...a VERY VERY BAD omen. How Epstein has chosen these duds is beyond me...surely he isn't the final decision maker, or is he? What does he see in some of these selections? It goes back a ways...Eric Gagne comes to mind.
Well, we can all B$tch and moan, ain't gonna change a thing. I still believe they'll get the WC, but I have very serious doubts as to how long they'll last. I think Tito is putting a lot of hope in Bucky being ready, but if past performance is any indicator, Bucky or not, it will take pitching of biblical proportions to pull this year out of the fire.
Tis a sad thing to witness. While the Os season was toast long ago, they are all lovin' what they're doing to the Red Sox at home.
Too many fat cats with multi-million dollar salaries not performing. Too many guys on the sidelines with "injuries" collecting paychecks.
I would like to propose a new payment system in which each player earns 1/162 of his total annual salary for each game won only. No payment for games lost.
I like the way the NFL does contracts, with only a portion guaranteed. Too bad MLB doesn't have a similar system. Teams would not be buried and terrible for years by a bad contract (or a few), like they are now.
I have carped and carped about the overpaid and waaaaaaaaaaaay underperforming Red Sox players since early in the season. Google Red Sox salaries for 2011...see for yourself who is getting what and if you think they deserve the obscene and I do mean OBSCENE amount of money they collect.
I have always believed players should receive a base salary, scaled somehow on years or star status...then when the dust settles in October, the big bag of gold either drops or doesn't. If you can't live on say a mil per 6 months, something is wrong with your thought process.
JD Lozer gets $14m per season...let's quickly do the math... There are 162 games per season. $14m divided by 162 = $86,420 PER GAME. If you allow the average game to take 3 hours, then you divide $86,420 by 3 = $28,806 PER HOUR. This for playing baseball for 6 months, never in bad weather, plus meal money, they don't stay at Sleep Inn, get driven to and from the park...and if their team is fortunate enough, they bag extra coin for the playoffs and WS play. Did I leave out appearances at baseball shows and commercials?
Geez, it is off the friggin hook. This is just Drew!!! Toss in Dicek, uber Toad, Jenks, blah, blah, blah...it is just sick! Now you know why tix are outrageous and beer is beyond crazy prices.
I think a big problem lies in the fact that Tito is a wimp and alot of our beloved Sox players are "Soft" instead of Tito coddling these guys he should toughen up a bit and light a fire under their ass, I truly believe that he is afraid to speak up and drop the hammer because these kids wont play if their feelings get hurt, I applaud any manager that sticks by his guys but enough is enough, these guys are playing garbage baseball.
I am not about to pull for the Yankees. If the Red Sox lose it we will just have to wait for next year. If they win it we will still have to wait for next year.
<< <i>I am not about to pull for the Yankees. If the Red Sox lose it we will just have to wait for next year. If they win it we will still have to wait for next year. >>
If it makes you feel any better I was actually pulling for INDIANA (horrors!!!!) to beat the Duke boys in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. Well, Clown U was lovable underdogs that year and you know how much we have sour grapes over that whole 1992 thing, so...
If you want the BoSox to make the playoffs, then like it or not, you may have to get out your clothespin. I know your rivalry has it's roots in (believe it or not) in the American Revolution days, but shouldn't the Red Sox (or any team's) priority be to get into the playoffs (preferably with a good seed) and then go for the big trophy, even if you may need some not-so-ideal help?
Okay, I'm trying to take a step back so I can look at this situation in a more positive manner.
The Sox are 88-68. Both the Rays and the Angels are 85-70. That means the Red Sox have 6 games left while the Rays and Angels have 7.
If the Red Sox can manage just a single win against the Yankees and another one against the Orioles that would give them 90 wins for the season and it would mean that the Rays and Angels would both need to go 5-2 to force a 3-way tie. Of course, the way the Red Sox have been playing, winning two games might be too much to ask but with Lester pitching at least one of those games there's got to be some hope that it is doable.
The question, for me, is can the Rays and Angels finish 5-2?
The Rays have 1 more game @ NYY, 3 at home vs NYY and 3 vs Tor. Now that the Yankees have clinched the AL East, I worry that they don't have as much to play for and that they'll be working on getting rested and situated for the playoffs. Of those 4 games, I can see the Rays winning 3. Toronto doesn't have much to play for other than pride but they don't have anything to lose either. I can see the Rays winning 2 of 3 here which would give them the 5-2 record they would need to tie the Red Sox (should the Red Sox win 2 games)
The Angels have 1 more game @ Tor followed by 3 vs. Oak and 3 vs. Tex. Thankfully, the Rangers haven't clinched yet, but their magic number is down to just 3. Hopefully by the time they play the Angels those games will still matter to them. The games against Oakland should be relatively easy for the Angels. I think 5-2 is achievable here as well.
So, I guess what I'm saying here is that the Red Sox really need to win at least 3 of their remaining games . . . Hopefully that would be enough.
<< <i>Okay, I'm trying to take a step back so I can look at this situation in a more positive manner.
The Sox are 88-68. Both the Rays and the Angels are 85-70. That means the Red Sox have 6 games left while the Rays and Angels have 7.
If the Red Sox can manage just a single win against the Yankees and another one against the Orioles that would give them 90 wins for the season and it would mean that the Rays and Angels would both need to go 5-2 to force a 3-way tie. Of course, the way the Red Sox have been playing, winning two games might be too much to ask but with Lester pitching at least one of those games there's got to be some hope that it is doable.
The question, for me, is can the Rays and Angels finish 5-2?
The Rays have 1 more game @ NYY, 3 at home vs NYY and 3 vs Tor. Now that the Yankees have clinched the AL East, I worry that they don't have as much to play for and that they'll be working on getting rested and situated for the playoffs. Of those 4 games, I can see the Rays winning 3. Toronto doesn't have much to play for other than pride but they don't have anything to lose either. I can see the Rays winning 2 of 3 here which would give them the 5-2 record they would need to tie the Red Sox (should the Red Sox win 2 games)
The Angels have 1 more game @ Tor followed by 3 vs. Oak and 3 vs. Tex. Thankfully, the Rangers haven't clinched yet, but their magic number is down to just 3. Hopefully by the time they play the Angels those games will still matter to them. The games against Oakland should be relatively easy for the Angels. I think 5-2 is achievable here as well.
So, I guess what I'm saying here is that the Red Sox really need to win at least 3 of their remaining games . . . Hopefully that would be enough. >>
Well done. If we the Halos win tonight, we live to see tomorrow and being 2 out still have a chance. if we lose, that puts us 3 back and pretty much out of it with 6 to play.
<< <i>Too many fat cats with multi-million dollar salaries not performing. Too many guys on the sidelines with "injuries" collecting paychecks.
I would like to propose a new payment system in which each player earns 1/162 of his total annual salary for each game won only. No payment for games lost.
Dream on, I know. >>
Does this mean I get a refund if I attend a losing game?
Let's hope the Yankees play their A-team for the series and not their C-team like last night.
I want the Red Sox to win the WC clean and really not count on help from anyone else. Given recent performance, I'd say it's probably 50-50 right now even though the have a 2 game lead...that could easily be gone by tomorrow afternoon.
Lester, Wakefield, Uber Toad. The bats had better be rockin' !!!
I think it is safe to say that the chances of the Red Sox winning the World Series (never mind the wild card) hinge on Lester tonight. If he loses, it almost guarantees that he will have to pitch the season finale on Wednesday, and Beckett will have to pitch Tuesday. At that point, they have no shot of winning Round 1, if those guys can't pitch until Games 3 and 4.
Comments
<< <i>Bob Ryan wrote about the Red Sox in The Boston Globe: They are down, 3�0, after last night's 19�8 rout, and, in this sport, that is an official death sentence. Soon it will be over, and we will spend another dreary winter lamenting this and lamenting that.
The above written on October 16th, 2004. The game originally scheduled for Oct 15th, was delayed because of rain. Recall that horribly dreary night in Fenway when it was cold, damp and we were getting our rear ends handed to us by the Yankees. A CRUSHING loss of 19-8, putting the Yankees up 3-0 in the playoffs. We all know what happened next, the Red Sox went 8-0 and won the WS. Considered THE greatest comeback in baseball history.
I'm not thrilled with current performance, but I'm in till the last dog dies. As mentioned several times, I think the WC is pretty well in hand...unless there is an absolute collapse, which of course is possible. Assuming we get the WC, the rest is a toss of the dice. The team needs to gel and gel quickly, the LOBs, RISPs and just lack of key hits is killing us. Should this straighten itself out, we have a shot...not a big shot, but we're in the game. The journey is not gonna be easy, but I think it's still doable. Only time will tell.
Let us try to keep the faith till it is simply out of reach. >>
if they do limp in, I like Beckett, Lester, and Bedard against any other team. Excellent in a short series and doable in a seven game series.
It was revealed yesterday that Gonzales has hurt his shoulder that he had surgery on and has no power to left field.
<< <i>What is the sense of getting into the playoffs, they will go nowhere there. Might as well let the Rays go, they have a chance to win the whole thing with their pitching. >>
Once you make the playoffs, anything can happen. So don't be so sure of that.
And I thought I was in a bad enough position in 2010 when I had to root for LOSERVILLE to beat Syracuse to move up in the rankings! Now my wife's Red Sox have no choice but to root for the Evil Empire (who play the Devil Rays seven out of ten times).
I guess you could root for them (the Yankees) with a clothespin on your nose.
D's: 54S,53P,50P,49S,45D+S,44S,43D,41S,40D+S,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 37,38,47,151,193,241,435,570,610,654,655 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
They lose game one!
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
The wheels have officially come off !!!
<< <i>They lose game one! >>
Lackluster is at it again. They give him 11 runs and he gives back 6 thru 4 innings. Get him out of there. I gave up watching and am now playing pogo as it is more interesting.
11-8 and Fran coma is finally taking out LACKLUSTER to a good booing.
<< <i>
<< <i>They lose game one! >>
Lackluster is at it again. They give him 11 runs and he gives back 6 thru 4 innings. Get him out of there. I gave up watching and am now playing pogo as it is more interesting.
11-8 and Fran coma is finally taking out LACKLUSTER to a good booing. >>
Fran coma does it again only with a quick hook this time. New pitcher gets 2 outs and he goes out and pulls him for Moralles who promptly
gives up 2 hits and a run.
Some manager!
ET lives.
seventeen million dollars
three more years
if any other human being screwed up so badly as to hire someone as abhorrently ineffective as this guy, he'd be fired. Yet Theo still has a job. Must be all the performance $20 million+ is getting out of Crawfish.
<< <i>six point four-nine
seventeen million dollars
three more years. >>
Curt Schilling was on WEEI today, and he had an interesting take -- Lackey was never a strikout pitcher and never had good control. He was sucessful in Anaheim due to the larger ballparks and anemic hitting in the AL West. Better than average defense helped as well -- he always had men on base, even when he went 19-9 that one year. Now in the AL East, with better hitters, he will do worse (like a 4.50 ERA) when he pitches like he did in Anaheim, and will get hammered when he is in a slump (like all of this year). With all the sabermetrics and Bill James at Theo's disposal, you would think Theo would have figured this out. Maybe he did, and was overruled by Luccino and Henry -- it seems the Red Sox are always anxious to overpay for players that seemed to do well against them, no matter how they did against the rest of the league.
Sounds like a great idea to me.
I guess it was worth a grin...what the hey.
<< <i>Sounds like a great idea to me. >>
I second the motion. Package Crawfish with him.
And just like that, a 5-4 lead evaporates.
Well, at least the Yankees are beating the Rays. I hate myself a little for typing that.
They might back up into this thing. My next question" will it be vaseline or vicks" that Detroit uses?
You just knew it was going to happen.
Well, we can all B$tch and moan, ain't gonna change a thing. I still believe they'll get the WC, but I have very serious doubts as to how long they'll last. I think Tito is putting a lot of hope in Bucky being ready, but if past performance is any indicator, Bucky or not, it will take pitching of biblical proportions to pull this year out of the fire.
Tis a sad thing to witness. While the Os season was toast long ago, they are all lovin' what they're doing to the Red Sox at home.
Wicked bad bummer.
spot with of all things............ a Yankee win ?!?!
No optimism in The Nation anymore.
wpkoughan@yahoo.com
Collecting 1970-1979 PSA 9 & 10 Baseball Cards
I would like to propose a new payment system in which each player earns 1/162 of his total annual salary for each game won only. No payment for games lost.
Dream on, I know.
I have always believed players should receive a base salary, scaled somehow on years or star status...then when the dust settles in October, the big bag of gold either drops or doesn't. If you can't live on say a mil per 6 months, something is wrong with your thought process.
JD Lozer gets $14m per season...let's quickly do the math... There are 162 games per season. $14m divided by 162 = $86,420 PER GAME. If you allow the average game to take 3 hours, then you divide $86,420 by 3 = $28,806 PER HOUR. This for playing baseball for 6 months, never in bad weather, plus meal money, they don't stay at Sleep Inn, get driven to and from the park...and if their team is fortunate enough, they bag extra coin for the playoffs and WS play. Did I leave out appearances at baseball shows and commercials?
Geez, it is off the friggin hook. This is just Drew!!! Toss in Dicek, uber Toad, Jenks, blah, blah, blah...it is just sick! Now you know why tix are outrageous and beer is beyond crazy prices.
Something wrong about pulling for the Yankees.
I am not about to pull for the Yankees. If the Red Sox lose it we will just have to wait for next year. If they win it we will still have to wait for next year.
<< <i>I am not about to pull for the Yankees. If the Red Sox lose it we will just have to wait for next year. If they win it we will still have to wait for next year. >>
If it makes you feel any better I was actually pulling for INDIANA (horrors!!!!) to beat the Duke boys in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. Well, Clown U was lovable underdogs that year and you know how much we have sour grapes over that whole 1992 thing, so...
If you want the BoSox to make the playoffs, then like it or not, you may have to get out your clothespin. I know your rivalry has it's roots in (believe it or not) in the American Revolution days, but shouldn't the Red Sox (or any team's) priority be to get into the playoffs (preferably with a good seed) and then go for the big trophy, even if you may need some not-so-ideal help?
D's: 54S,53P,50P,49S,45D+S,44S,43D,41S,40D+S,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 37,38,47,151,193,241,435,570,610,654,655 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
It depends on if they get a rainout or not.
It's still possible.
<< <i>Their problem is, in spite of their best efforts, they can only lose one game a day. >>
Homer Red Sox article from January 2011
"If I ever decided to do a book, I've already got the title-The Bases Were Loaded and So Was I"-Jim Fregosi
"Yet one run is all it might take to win a game on some days with the starting staff the Red Sox have assembled.
Jon Lester, LHP
Josh Beckett, RHP
John Lackey, RHP
Clay Buchholz, RHP
Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP"
The Sox are 88-68. Both the Rays and the Angels are 85-70. That means the Red Sox have 6 games left while the Rays and Angels have 7.
If the Red Sox can manage just a single win against the Yankees and another one against the Orioles that would give them 90 wins for the season and it would mean that the Rays and Angels would both need to go 5-2 to force a 3-way tie. Of course, the way the Red Sox have been playing, winning two games might be too much to ask but with Lester pitching at least one of those games there's got to be some hope that it is doable.
The question, for me, is can the Rays and Angels finish 5-2?
The Rays have 1 more game @ NYY, 3 at home vs NYY and 3 vs Tor. Now that the Yankees have clinched the AL East, I worry that they don't have as much to play for and that they'll be working on getting rested and situated for the playoffs. Of those 4 games, I can see the Rays winning 3. Toronto doesn't have much to play for other than pride but they don't have anything to lose either. I can see the Rays winning 2 of 3 here which would give them the 5-2 record they would need to tie the Red Sox (should the Red Sox win 2 games)
The Angels have 1 more game @ Tor followed by 3 vs. Oak and 3 vs. Tex. Thankfully, the Rangers haven't clinched yet, but their magic number is down to just 3. Hopefully by the time they play the Angels those games will still matter to them. The games against Oakland should be relatively easy for the Angels. I think 5-2 is achievable here as well.
So, I guess what I'm saying here is that the Red Sox really need to win at least 3 of their remaining games . . . Hopefully that would be enough.
<< <i>Okay, I'm trying to take a step back so I can look at this situation in a more positive manner.
The Sox are 88-68. Both the Rays and the Angels are 85-70. That means the Red Sox have 6 games left while the Rays and Angels have 7.
If the Red Sox can manage just a single win against the Yankees and another one against the Orioles that would give them 90 wins for the season and it would mean that the Rays and Angels would both need to go 5-2 to force a 3-way tie. Of course, the way the Red Sox have been playing, winning two games might be too much to ask but with Lester pitching at least one of those games there's got to be some hope that it is doable.
The question, for me, is can the Rays and Angels finish 5-2?
The Rays have 1 more game @ NYY, 3 at home vs NYY and 3 vs Tor. Now that the Yankees have clinched the AL East, I worry that they don't have as much to play for and that they'll be working on getting rested and situated for the playoffs. Of those 4 games, I can see the Rays winning 3. Toronto doesn't have much to play for other than pride but they don't have anything to lose either. I can see the Rays winning 2 of 3 here which would give them the 5-2 record they would need to tie the Red Sox (should the Red Sox win 2 games)
The Angels have 1 more game @ Tor followed by 3 vs. Oak and 3 vs. Tex. Thankfully, the Rangers haven't clinched yet, but their magic number is down to just 3. Hopefully by the time they play the Angels those games will still matter to them. The games against Oakland should be relatively easy for the Angels. I think 5-2 is achievable here as well.
So, I guess what I'm saying here is that the Red Sox really need to win at least 3 of their remaining games . . . Hopefully that would be enough. >>
Well done. If we the Halos win tonight, we live to see tomorrow and being 2 out still have a chance. if we lose, that puts us 3 back and pretty much out of it with 6 to play.
"If I ever decided to do a book, I've already got the title-The Bases Were Loaded and So Was I"-Jim Fregosi
<< <i>Too many fat cats with multi-million dollar salaries not performing. Too many guys on the sidelines with "injuries" collecting paychecks.
I would like to propose a new payment system in which each player earns 1/162 of his total annual salary for each game won only. No payment for games lost.
Dream on, I know. >>
Does this mean I get a refund if I attend a losing game?
I want the Red Sox to win the WC clean and really not count on help from anyone else. Given recent performance, I'd say it's probably 50-50 right now even though the have a 2 game lead...that could easily be gone by tomorrow afternoon.
Lester, Wakefield, Uber Toad. The bats had better be rockin' !!!
The Red Sox have to win games.
Had the Sox clinched I'm sure they too would be putting out a C team so the A team could get some rest.
That 2 and 10 start might have something to do with all this.
<< <i>It depends on if they get a rainout or not.
It's still possible. >>
Now it is possible and quite probable. They got the rainout they needed.