Boston Red Sox - 2006

[Dispatch]

Willy Mo flicks the bat and the ball ends up in the Yankee's bullpen. 2-1 Yankees. We need to win today.

[Thrasha]

Keith Foulke looks to have returned about 2 weeks too late. Too bad.

[GBrushTWood]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

I never thought I'd see the day!

I believe in accountability.

I am also turning into a Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers fan for the next 2 months. If those teams can't defeat the Yankees, then I am a Los Angeles Angels fan. If those three teams can't beat the Yankees, then I am turning into a Chicago White Sox fan.

If none of those American League teams can defeat the Yankees, then I am turning into a New York Mets fan.

If the Mets can't make the World Series, then I'm cheering for the Los Angeles Dodge...

Wait, rot in hell and eat $hit Grady, I hope you never win anything except a Special Olympics gold medal.

Good lord, I hope one of the Tigers, Twins, or Angels can sack up and defeat NY. I really don't want to lump myself in with CWS fans. I really don't want to see another Subway World Series (though I would like to see Pedro try to beat the Yankees again). I hope Liriano can get healthy. Throwing a healthy Santana and Liriano 3 times out of 5 games should be enough to defeat NY, right?

[TheGenius]

During the 2004 Playoffs I was amazed at Terry Francona's managing. It was perfect, he pulled all the right strings and played every game to win. I haven't seen him do this as Red Sox manager before, or since. It seems like he just coasts along and then once the playoffs start he puts on his "manage for real" hat. He still gets a free pass because he brought a World Series title back to Boston but good lord he's made some horrendous decisions this season.

Hitting Coco leadoff, even though he has struggled in the spot and Youk has excelled (and yes I know Youk was out today, but Coco also had one hit in this entire 5-game series)

Moving Youk into the 5 spot to "protect" Manny. Yeah, he can hit for average but he's not gonna slug (or frieghten) opposing managers. Torre exploited this by the numerous intententional walks to Manny and they all paid off. Wily Mo needs to be in the 5 spot so Manny at least has to be pitched to. You need to protect him just like Ortiz, as he is the best pure hitter on the team.

Bullpen management. Ugh, not even gonna go into this one now, but this one has a lot to do with the front office's management of the pen and call-ups/send downs.

What an utterly frustrating weekend of games. A single series just destroys the entire season basically. Wow.

[Misfit]

Oh come on, how can you honestly blame Francona for much of anything? Moving Youk out of the lead-off spot was not the smartest thing, but it didn't cause the Red Sox to lose 5 in a row here either. Beckett's ERA is over 5. Nixon, Varitek, Foulke, Wells, Clement, Crisp, and Wakefield all either spent a ton of time on the DL or are still on the DL. Timlin hasn't been good. Hansen and Delcarmen can only pitch to the NL teams. They have had no bench all season. Other than Schilling's bounce back season, Papelbon's emergence, and the seasons by Ortiz and Manny, nothing has gone right. In retrospect, I can't believe this team has hung around this long.

Clearly going into the season, the Red Sox were just plugging holes with temp guys and putting a lot on the rookies. Loretta and Gonzalez were just stop-gaps in the rotation and Wakefield and Schilling are just here until they can't go any longer. Wells will be done after this year and Nixon and Clement might be as well. The Sox were hoping to add to the present and future by bringing in Beckett, Pena, and Crisp in trying to create a new nucleus for the club since Manny will be gone after 08 and Ortiz and Varitek are only going to get older. It is hard to say when this team will be a true force again, I'm of the belief most of that resides on Beckett's shoulders and if the front office panics and deals away Crisp and Pena before giving them an entire season here in Boston (which I would not be in favor of).

Next year's team will look a lot different all over. And I'm talking about next year because this year is over and done with. Right now the Red Sox have 69 wins and have a chance of finishing the season at .500 or worse. 90 wins is really starting to look like a long shot given their schedule to close out the year.

Really, I don't have much to complain about. Even in my pessimism, I didn't actually believe the Sox would drop 5 in a row to the Yankees but it is what it is. They won the whole damn thing less than 2 years ago, and the Patriots have dominated the NFL for the last few years so all in all I'm pretty content, even if momentarily frustrated at times.

Now everybody, repeat after me: Five year grace period. Five year grace period. Five year grace period. Five year grace period. Five year grace period...

[Thrasha]

Quote: Originally Posted by Misfit

Now everybody, repeat after me: Five year grace period. Five year grace period. Five year grace period. Five year grace period. Five year grace period...

Screw Bill Simmons, I'm a Titans fan. Not a lucky Pats fan.

The Red Sox are all I got.

[Misfit]

Even still, they ended an 86 year drought. We'd be greedy to expect another championship any sooner than 5 years. As for you being a Titans fans.........I'm sorry.

[Dispatch]

Where do you guys think Pedroia will play next year? So far in AAA he has played 28 games at 2B and 69 at SS. I think it's a toss up since he is supposed to play solid defense at both positions. But I would like him to play SS cause that is what he has played his whole life and its probably more natural for him.