July 14th vs Oakland

[jsinger121]

Beckett slate is done..... 4 2/3 runs 7 runs

[riverside sluggers]

23 innings the bullpen will have pitched in the last 3 games, and the lead over Yankees could be trimmed to 1 1/2 games

[RoyNHSox]

Taken from Sox fan in Tex’s post in the “BOS will lose 3 of 4 to OAK” thread:

 

Game two features Josh Beckett. A miserable 7.50 ERA in his last seven starts and a 5+ ERA over the last two months? Guaranteed loss.

 

Nostradamus?

[riverside sluggers]

dogs day of summer, pitiful to watch

 

The Fenway faithful has only had defense plays to cheer about

[ORS]

Ho hum, another squander. So how long will it take to lose the division lead if they keep playing like this. Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday?

[a700hitter]

Ho hum, another squander. So how long will it take to lose the division lead if they keep playing like this. Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday?

Plus, we have one forfeit every 5 days. This week's will come on Monday as Kylew Snyder takes the hill.

[RoyNHSox]

Just speculating, but who else thinks Frank Thomas juiced at some point in his career.

[a700hitter]

Just speculating, but who else thinks Frank Thomas juiced at some point in his career.

They all juiced, so it doesn't matter.

[riverside sluggers]

In other news, Sox have themselves another young hurler. This one a lefty in Craig Breslow. He's actually more tough on righties than he is on lefties

 

Kudos for thowing inside until you hit Frank Thomas, backing up Big Papi

[ksushi]

Beckett is really letting me down, what the hell is going on with him?

[riverside sluggers]

Plus, we have one forfeit every 5 days. This week's will come on Monday as Kylew Snyder takes the hill.

 

And we're facing the Kansas City Royals, all hope is not completely lost with the Royals' tattered pitching staff

[Cocos Disciples]

He'll (hopefully) get back on track vs. Royals on Wednesday.

[BoSox34]

GABE!

[jsinger121]

Synder's start might be moved up to Sunday as Wake's back is still hurting.

[example1]

This isn't about the division lead right now, its about who is winning at the end of the season. The sox are in a tough spot, down 7-0 and looking at a 3 gm losing streak.

I expect that they will continue to be streaky throughout the rest of the season, with more good streaks than bad by a margain of about 2:1. They will end up with a high .500 or very low .600 winning percentage and appear well equipped to challenge for the playoffs throughout.

 

Beckett has been somewhat disappointing this season. I still believe he is capable of winning a Cy Young award in the next few seasons and it is foolish to believe that someone with his stuff could ever be a complete bust without injuries. Do you know how much some teams would be willing to trade to get the rights to Beckett over the next 5 seasons? I don't either, but I bet its quite a bit.

 

I don't know what's going on with all the HRs. He throws hard(ish) and high. His delivery is anything BUT deceptive and his change is thrown too hard.

 

What beckett should do is develop a splitter. He should learn it from Schilling and ask Papelbon what he knows too. Papelbon and Beckett are actually two very similar pitchers. They are both intense and energized. They both regularly hit 95 on the gun, and they both feature largely two pitches but appear capable of throwing a few more.

 

Beckett with a splitter would be nasty, in my opinion:

 

Fastball 95-97

Change 89-91

Splitter 89-91

Curve 84-87

 

His splitter and changeup would be largely indistinguishable from one another.

Beckett hasn't learned to change speed without changing his motion. For a guy who has what he has other teams really are hitting him hard. I went back over the winter and watched most of his FLA starts the past two seasons. He was a much more dynamic pitcher for the Marlins and appeared much more confident.

[BoSox34]

That isn't a good sign, jsinger.

[ORS]

Yankees have 'em juiced with no-outs, 3-3, bottom 8. Looks like 1.5 tonight. We need Beowulf to show up big time tomorrow.

[RoyNHSox]

Coco knocks Zito out of the game. Time for a big come from behind.

[Papelbon58]

come on Youuuuuk!

[BoSox34]

Damn, they're hitting it right to them, oh well, at least we're manufacturing some runs.

[Papelbon58]

7-2

[BoSox34]

NOOOOOOOO SEANEZ WARMING UP IN THE PEN!!!!

[ORS]

I think my hopes of a comback just got dashed, I saw Seanez warming.

[Papelbon58]

oh boy, Rudy to the rescue...of the opponent

[BoSox34]

....so close. <_>

[Papelbon58]

ahhh! TRupiano got me going and then it was foul

[BoSox34]

HERE WE GO PAPI!!! :ortiz:

[BoSox34]

OMG, that was deep.

[Papelbon58]

another gut busting foul call from Trup

[ORS]

With that dinger distance foul ball off the bat of Ortiz, the Sox now lead MLB in foul ball HR.......so we got that going for us.