Millar calls for Media / Fans to back off

[soxie thefangirl]

This is interesting:

 

 

BOSTON -- Kevin Millar, sore left foot and all, took the occasion following Sunday's game to make a request of the media and Red Sox fans -- go easy on Edgar Renteria.

Millar, making a comparison to his famous "Cowboy Up" rally cry of August 2003, felt it time to stand up for the shortstop. Renteria was booed again during the 5-2 win over Atlanta after going 0-for-4, which dropped his average to .239.

 

"Fans have the right to do whatever they want," Millar said. "I'm just saying let's not boo him over salary. They're obviously booing him over performance. They gave him $40 million -- what does that have to do with anything?

 

"The point being, the guy comes out here and works hard, and don't let six weeks shadow eight years of greatness. The guy's a great player. My message for Red Sox fans is, 'Lay off Edgar Renteria, he's going to be fine. The Sox will be OK. We're battling right now. Get on me, I [stink]. I [stink].'"

 

Millar, who is batting only .243 with two homers, said while he took the initiative over the weekend to give Renteria a pep talk, the shortstop did not vent any frustration about the recent booing at Fenway.

 

"I feel it's my right to stand up, because I'm not a very good player, but I bring some intangibles and it's my job to speak about the way I feel about Edgar Renteria," Millar said. "He's my teammate, my family member, and I think he's a great player."

 

Before signing his four-year deal in December, Renteria was a lifetime .289 hitter with 83 homers and 565 RBIs in eight full Major League seasons.

 

 

 

:dunno: Personally I think Edgar should be in the 9th spot where he excelled a good amount of his career and Bellhorn should be in the 2nd where he also fared better but what can you do? And I'm starting to feel bad for the guy I guess.

[Sox fan in Tex]

I'm glad Millar and the rest of our guys are standing up for him. I saw the interview on NESN today with Jason Varitek where V-tek stood up for Renteria as well. Boston is a tough town to play in, don't begin thinking that Rent is this bad....he's getting adjusted and in 4 years we won't regret signing him.

[soxie thefangirl]

yeah I saw the Tek interview too. poor guy, it must be tough on him I think. Boston fans are harsh as hell.

[Zenny]

Renteria sucks. Millar sucks too. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[RedSoxRooter]

This is exactly why I'll miss Millar when he's gone. He may not be the best player, but he's a great teammate. I believe in Renteria. I believe he cannot be this bad.

[yeszir]

Millar actually has spare time in between baseball and making KFC commercials to voice concerns? Well I'll be.......

[sarasoxfan]

I have to go with zenny's comments-

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Sizzlin22]

Whatever I tihnk Rent will break out of it jsut give him some time. Millar needs to learn to shut his mouth.

[soxie thefangirl]

I agree that Edgar will break out of it. but I think all the negative feedback really has an impact and is just gonna make him play worse I think.

 

Millar does talk a lot but it's nice to see someone speak out about it.

[sarasoxfan]

millar ought to shut his big fat mouth, Mr. 2 homers should be getting booed himself. Renteria is a big boy and he should defend himself.

 

Millar is lousy first baseman who should only be playing if he can hit homers which isnt happening..youk at first ..youk at first.

[SuperManny]

yeah booing renteria really helps out because Im sure he's not trying until he gets booed then hes gonna really try. come on what are we yankee fans who boo our own players? we just won the championship last year and are ahead of the yankees in the standings. The fans booing him all the time will alienate him and he's going to hate playing at home. Why not try to support our struggling players instead? We seriously sound like spoiled yankee fans.

 

so what if a couple players are starting slow - are you gonna start booing schilling because his ERA is in the 8's or because Foulke's is in the 7's ? Hes also batting 11 points higher than Belhorn so if your going to boo renteria you should start booing belhorn who has also K'd 50 times this year and is on pace to break his own club record in Ks.

 

Oh yeah and about Millar being terrible at 1B - his fielding % is .991 with a range factor of 9.3 (which happens to be the highest on the team). In comparison perennial GG winner Todd Helton has a range factor of 9.6 this year - not bad company to be in.

[sarasoxfan]

did someone actually say in 4 years we wont regret signing him????

so given this new PC way we are supposed to be as fans we should wait until his contract is up to see if he works out.

I am not condoning nor would I wont become a spoiled yankee fan but isnt there some accountability for any player--now we have a series win, we have to applaud weak play and turn our eyes away from problems...

 

Thank God theo hasnt been de-balled like that, I would really like to see us keep winning--

and if I am not mistaken you need guys to perform to do that.

 

Listen there were guys in here who were totally and admantly against signing Tek for that much money, and I am glad we did, there were guys in here opposed to sigining renteria and i wasnt one of them, I was wrong so far.

Thats what makes all this fun that's why they keep stats--lets not get complacent and ridiculously PC-

 

There has to be balance between becoming like yankee fans and sounding like devil rays fans...

I still want to win.

[soxie thefangirl]

I was against signing Edgar but I do think that we should support him and not kick him when he's down. I'd say the same about any of the other players, including Bellhorn. theyir hitting is not exactly up to par, but it will get up there and they're contributing in other ways.

 

as for booing him, it just doesn't help. the guy already looks like he's gonna throw up when he's AB and looks like he just wants to get out of there as quickly as possible, I don't think this will help in any way.

 

as far as Bellhorn is concerned, yes he does strike out a lot, but those strikeouts might be a double play ball when hit by others and personally I'll take one out over two.

[sarasoxfan]

No offense but that isnt setting the bar very high..i would prefer a hit now and again. Your boy had five hits all week, and 8 K's...

 

 

what is this romper room, he gets paid a ton of money and it costs a ton of money to go the games...

I say produce and do it fast...this is millions of dollars on the line and every game is important..

 

Get your s*** together edgar and do your own talking and millar has enough problems with ihs own numbers!!!!!

 

as for bellhorn, we'll out of defference to you soxie, he' s okay.

 

.

[CajunSox]

I respect Millar for standing up for one of his struggling teamates. No Red Sox player should be booed at home, I agree with the earlier poster who said we are starting to sound like the Yankees which is not good at all. This guy is obviously a great player but he is just in a slump. If the fans get behind him it may really help the guy out, because booing him is only going to bring him down more. Hopefully he will peek at the right time.

[soxie thefangirl]

that's what I mean. booing someone does not make them produce. unless it's like with the Yankees booing Pedro last year and he produced just to spite them. it's different when your own fans are booing you.

 

haha I don't expect much from Bellhorn, though. his career average isn't through the roof and he doesn't make a whole lot of money. it's different with a guy like Edgar. he came with a load of expectations.

 

I do think we should be encouraging the guy instead of kicking him when he is down just 'cause we're mad about his performance. I'm not exactly thrilled with Manny's performance, etc. but there's no need to be mean to them especially when Edgar seriously looks like he's gonna have a mental breakdown any day now.

 

just my opinion though.

[yeszir]

I respect Millar for standing up for one of his struggling teamates. No Red Sox player should be booed at home, I agree with the earlier poster who said we are starting to sound like the Yankees which is not good at all. This guy is obviously a great player but he is just in a slump. If the fans get behind him it may really help the guy out, because booing him is only going to bring him down more. Hopefully he will peek at the right time.

I tend to agree with you. Booing a person based on performance helps no one, and it happens too much in Boston. We're overly negative fans, its a fact that we have to live with. Players know when they aren't performing well, the fans don't need to boo them out of town for them to realize this. Point in case: Derek Lowe as a failed closer.

 

I don't boo people based on performance, I boo on attitude. If a player has a bad attitude/ does something wrong, boo him mercilessly. Jason Giambi is the player most deserving of boos in baseball. And A-Rod.

[soxie thefangirl]

exactly. boo people for having a bad attitude. or being rude. or slapping the ball out of someone's glove. don't boo them if they're having a bad time AB. it won't help them.

[Soxfan1]

I agree with Millar here he's just standing up for the new guy and there's nothing wrong with that.

[Sizzlin22]

Don't get me wrong I'm all for people standing up for thier teammates just not Millar no one takes him seriously anymore when Tek did it I was with it fine he's the captain and that's his right to speak out but not Millar.

[soxie thefangirl]

well Curt spoke out about it now too on the radio this morning. so it's not just Millar or the Captain anymore.

[CrespoBlows]

Fans have the right to boo, but it isn't right.

 

BUT, Renteria does deserve those boos, he's hitting a paltry .239 when we could have gone after Julio Lugo for a year for about 35 million dollars cheaper. Lugo probably would have given us the same production. (.280 10-15 HR's)

 

Millar doesn't deserve the boos though, it's expected of him to have one crappy half, and one dominant half. He also doesn't make even close to the money as Renteria does, plus Millar is an excellent teammate.

 

Bellhorn is different, he deserves boos, but why bother? Not one of you can honestly say, that you expect Bellhorn to do anything when he's up. I sure as hell don't even watch his atbat's, because I know he's going to walk or strikeout. Have to give some props to him though, he is a good clutch hitter.

[Zenny]

No Red Sox player should be booed at home

Correction: No Sox player who was a contributing member of the 2004 World Series Championship team should be booed at home. Everyone else is fair game, especially Renteria. I was never in favor of the signing and likely never will be. I've been disappointed in Theo for that move from the start.

[Sox fan in Tex]

Correction: No Sox player who was a contributing member of the 2004 World Series Championship team should be booed at home. Everyone else is fair game, especially Renteria. I was never in favor of the signing and likely never will be. I've been disappointed in Theo for that move from the start.

 

I kind of agree. I'm not really a big fan of booing my own team or players on them, but I can see reasoning that some of these guys would be. Maybe booing Renteria will make him realize once again just how much the town of Boston expects from this team. Hopefully he doesn't cave under all of this pressure on him.

[mosox]

I'm glad the players are standing up for each other. But on the other hand fans can boo. That's what they do, either cheer or boo. The players are strong, they're very well paid and they can take it. And if they can't take it, then they can quit and go to work like the rest of us.

[Sizzlin22]

well Curt spoke out about it now too on the radio this morning. so it's not just Millar or the Captain anymore.

Curt needs to learn to shut his moth too, he's done NOTHING this year. Renteria needs to just shut everyone the hell up and hit the ball then there's no need for anyone to stand up for him at all.

[schillingouttheks]

Well, on the bright side of the boos, at least we're not like the Yankee fans last year booing Jeter off the field for his miserable start...that was pathetic, as he has helped them in so many ways that I can't count that high. Renteria is different. He comes here for a shitload of money, and doesn't do anything...I would like to say he is the Derek Jeter of this season with his slow start, and then I hope he just smashes everything in sight.

[GodzillaKilla36]

Renteria will break out soon...its still early..as for Millar, Im a big fan of Millar's work ethic and the way he provides support for his struggling teammates...every team needs a Millar in the clubhouse to keep the spirits up...Oh yeh, and SuperManny knows his s***...i could read his posts all day!

[truth2034]

It is ridiculous to me that we get on Rent for a few weeks of bad play yet the 20 million dollar man is batting worse than Rent is. If i remember correctly cabrera had a slow start too and then he picked it up. Hopefully renteria will do the same and hopefully manny will play like a number 4 hitter again.

[Johnny_RedSox]

Millar should worry about himself

 

he grounds in that double play tonight, this guy is scaring me!