April 2nd @ Kansas City

[jacksonianmarch]

Well, my take:

 

Sox offense was pretty bad today, but Meche was on. Sometimes you run into a hot pitcher. What I found inexcuseable was the fact that Meche crossed into triple digits in pitches in the 8th inning. If a pitcher is dominating you, you must take pitches, work counts and get his pitch count up. Against the Royals, you must try to get into the pen. That pen is awful and the sox didnt take advantage of it. The bottom of the order went 2 for 10 and did not work counts.

 

As for the pitching, the sox relief was okay, 4IP 2ER 4H 0BB 3K. Not too bad. The starting was awful. Schilling looked injured or old, or both. He wasnt finishing his pitches. His fastballs were tailing over the plate and his splitter was staying high. And his velocity was sitting around 90-91 with as low as 88 and up to 94 when he really muscled up. He also walked 2, one with the sacks packed, which is extremely un-Schilling like. Overall, it could have been just a bad game, but that was an awful start for him, reminding me of what he looked like to end the yr.

[jacksonianmarch]

Thoughts....

 

Schilling didn't just look like he was getting roughed up. He was wild, his velocity was inconsistent, he wasn't finishing pitches. I don't know where it came from because everything looked solid 5 days ago, so the postgame reports should be interesting.

 

Tek looks completely lost. This isn't decline, it's a complete mindf***. I wonder how long it takes for him to get it together, if he even can.

 

I was writing mine before I saw yours. Agree completely.

[seabeachfred]

Crisp with his bat on his shoulder for 2 straight fastballs down the plate

 

Watching that game today was like someone shoving a steel rod up my ass. It was painful to watch and disgusting as well. I can accept Manny going 0 for 4 because unless he suddenly loses it overnight I know he will be back with a vengence, but watching Lowell, Varitek and Crisp flail away tell me their troubles in ST might just carry over into the regular season. Crisp looked absolutely pathetic, Tek worse, and Lowell's first three trips to the plate was almost a passion play. Even Lugo k'd three times today.

 

Not much to cheer about was there? Pedroia got two hits and maybe that will shut down his critics on this board for at least a day or two, but did you see Piniero? Three batters, two hits and even Francona had enough and yanked his worthless ass, but the creme de la creme was having Pena bat in the ninth inning. Ever see anything more pathetic that that? Hey Theo, I know it is only one game but we do have some dead weight on our pitching staff and lineup. Now we have to wait a couple of days for redemption. It is going to be a long 50 hours from where I'm sitting.

 

Thanks for listening my friends. Right now I am as pissed off as I could be. :( :(

[seabeachfred]

Thoughts....

 

Schilling didn't just look like he was getting roughed up. He was wild, his velocity was inconsistent, he wasn't finishing pitches. I don't know where it came from because everything looked solid 5 days ago, so the postgame reports should be interesting.

 

Tek looks completely lost. This isn't decline, it's a complete mindf***. I wonder how long it takes for him to get it together, if he even can.

 

From what I saw of Varitek today it is evident that he is in steep decline. Of course, I am basing this on what I saw last week in Fort Myers, and most of last year, and the tag end of 2005. Lowell looks like he is in for a bad time unless he snaps out of it, and you know how little I think of Crisp. Those three could be a big black hole in our lineup. That is why it is so important for Ortiz, Ramirez and Drew to hit big for us, and for the Lugo and Youk to get the singles and doubles to set up rallies. Unless the other three start doing something quickly we could find ourselves depending on five people to carry the load. I do think, though, that Pedroia is the real thing. Only one game, yes, but I have been one of his biggest boosters throughout. Remember, it is Pena and Crisp who are on my s*** list.

[Cityofchampions33]

Not too worried about Schill, probably just had a s*** day commandment-wise. Needs to get his fastball and splitty to be more consitent with location and velocity (fastball). Needs to decide what he wants to be this season, a power guy who gets Ks like he used to (spli/fastball) or transitioning into finesse type of guy (with a still good fastball, but can mix in slider and change). Promising play from Pedroia, and Drew. But Lugo, and Tek looked like they didn't realize the season was starting (Tek also looked like he was a bit more hesitantw ith his swings). Not gunna get myself worked up about anything as of coruse it's the first game, but against the Royals it sucks a bit more.

[EvilDonut]

I'm curious to see what Schilling says about the start on his blog. It'll probably be updated tonight or tomorrow.

[riverside sluggers]

Josh Beckett vs Odaliz Perez on Wednesday night. Beckett vs the Royals in 3 games is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA. Perez vs the Sox in 3 games is 0-1 with a 3.32 ERA. On paper it looks like a possible pitcher's duel

[ANiMAL]

Great way to start off the season.

looks like pedroia and youk are the only ones that can hit so far this season, too bad they both cant run

[a700hitter]

From what I saw of Varitek today it is evident that he is in steep decline. Of course' date=' I am basing this on what I saw last week in Fort Myers, and most of last year, and the tag end of 2005. [/quote']He's one of those guys who looks like he is blind when he is going bad. Remember that Daubach could look like an All Star for two or three weeks and then look helpless for a month.

[redsoxrules]

Great way to start off the season.

looks like pedroia are the only ones that can hit so far this season, too bad they both cant run

 

pedroia only counts as one person

[ANiMAL]

He's one of those guys who looks like he is blind when he is going bad. Remember that Daubach could look like an All Star for two or three weeks and then look helpless for a month.

 

he better look like an allstar soon, he's on my fantasy team

[jacksonianmarch]

pedroia only counts as one person

 

rofl, I was just about to give him a lesson on subject verb agreement.

[ANiMAL]

pedroia only counts as one person

 

my bad

[ANiMAL]

rofl' date=' I was just about to give him a lesson on subject verb agreement.[/quote']

 

could you?

[TheKilo]

1. Schilling was absolutely awful. I think he can turn it around fairly quickly, but we'll have to see. I will say that these types of games are what would make me wary of committing upwards of $13 million to him.

 

2. For all of the hand-wringing of the bullpen, 2 runs in 5 isn't awful. At least they didn't lose us the game.

 

3. Varitek, IMO, looks cooked.

 

4. I think Crisp and Lugo will have decent years. If Crisp even sniffs his '04 numbers I'll be ecstatic.

 

5. The offense needs to work counts more. After the first inning I thought they'd be able to do that, but they failed to do so for the rest of the game. With a lumbering Schilling on the mound, that's a recipe for disaster.

[SchillingIsTheNatural]

Red Sox fans are truely amazing. Everyone jumping off a bridge after game 1 of the season.

 

Schilling sucks, Tek sucks, the bullpen sucks, Lugo strikes out, terrible on the bases, blah blah blah....friggin relax

[TheKilo]

Red Sox fans are truely amazing. Everyone jumping off a bridge after game 1 of the season.

 

Schilling sucks, Tek sucks, the bullpen sucks, Lugo strikes out, terrible on the bases, blah blah blah....friggin relax

 

Schilling was bad, and Tek looked awful last year, too.

[redsoxrules]

Red Sox fans are truely amazing. Everyone jumping off a bridge after game 1 of the season.

 

Schilling sucks, Tek sucks, the bullpen sucks, Lugo strikes out, terrible on the bases, blah blah blah....friggin relax

 

what are you talking about ? everyone that was a sox fan before this game is still a sox fan after the game am i right ?

 

we didn't jump off any wagon we're just pissed cause they loss wich is normal

[EvilDonut]

It's not just the loss.

 

It's how they lost, who they lost to, and that it happens to be opening day.

 

Nobody has jumped off anything.

[seabeachfred]

what are you talking about ? everyone that was a sox fan before this game is still a sox fan after the game am i right ?

 

we didn't jump off any wagon we're just pissed cause they loss wich is normal

 

Well said RSR!!!! We love the Sox and we all feel it deep down when they lose as they did today, especially the way this game went done. Being pissed off is the one luxury we have right now and we'd be saps if we didn't take advantage of it.

[Mr Crunchy]

161 more to go

relax is right......that said

what the f*** happened here

gil meche handcuffs us??

the O has been dormant and they once again look flat

how can you be flat on opening day??

 

seems they need a catalyst...

and our ace??

he is supposed to handle this team with essential ease,kc came to play and everyone needs to understand that the worst team is going to win 60-70 games and the best team is going to lose 60-70 games

 

i would like some steam coming from this offense tommorow and expect nothing less

[Red Sox 4 Life]

There is one thing about today's lost that bothers me, Schill and the bullpen. The hitting will come around give it time but the pitching. Most always when a season starts the pitching is dominate. Schill had no control. :wtf:

[ANiMAL]

I think it was just one bad start from schill, happens to the best of pitchers, now if he sucks in his next start, then i would start to worry

[jacksonianmarch]

I think it was just one bad start from schill' date=' happens to the best of pitchers, now if he sucks in his next start, then i would start to worry[/quote']

 

a bad start is having a few mistakes and getting beat. Schilling made mistakes all day long. He is lucky he wasnt facing a good offense. He'd have given up 10 runs in those 4 innings.

[EvilDonut]

It really wasnt a good day for a lot of pitchers.

 

Webb, Sabathia, Contreras, Santana (kinda), Pavano etc

[example1]

No big deal folks, the Royals sold out their stadium and had a pretty good game. Meche had to come out and prove that he was "worth" all the money they paid him and the Sox bats haven't clicked yet. Personally I think this team can survive if 'Tek isn't what he used to be, as long as someone else steps up like Crisp or Pedroia.

 

I think it is fair to say that Youkilis is in for a career year. He has looked phenomenal at the plate, even without a whole lot of power.

 

Pedroia used this game to get the monkey (i.e., many of the fans here and those complaining on EEI) off his back a bit. That should make him relax a little bit.

 

Schilling looked bad, but not as bad as a lot of people here are saying. I think we're going to see a fair amount of adjusting on his part this season and he will eventually figure it out. Whereas Josh Beckett is learning to be a power pitcher Schilling is learning to be a finesse guy.

 

I thought the worst part of this game was the announcing by Joe Morgan. Not only can I not stand his discussions about 'stats' and how he doesn't put weight on them (WTF DO you put weight on Joe?) but also the broadcast teams complete inability to call a changeup when they see one. I'm pretty sure that when Tek was putting down "4" he was calling for a changeup. They mis-identified it as a splitter a number of times and never mentioned that its a new pitch that he's working on. They kept saying things like "I think he'll throw a fastball here, he's afraid to throw the splitter in the dirt with runners on base and his curveball isn't very good." Was anyone else worried that a splitter in the dirt would somehow allude Varitek's mighty chest? I sure wasn't.

 

Meanwhile all of us have been reading Schilling say that his changeup will be a strikeout pitch. It's not quite there yet but you could see him trying it today.

 

I just hope people can remember what a LONG season it is. This team will play differently two weeks from now, two months from now and 100 games from now. They'll hit their stride eventually.

 

The disappointing part is that I imagine a number of people left work early (like I did) or recorded the game or some such thing for this performance. Now I wish I had saved it for Dice-K's start on Thursday. Oh well.

[example1]

a bad start is having a few mistakes and getting beat. Schilling made mistakes all day long. He is lucky he wasnt facing a good offense. He'd have given up 10 runs in those 4 innings.

 

Don't blow this out of proportion jacksonian. He was uncharastically wild with 2 walks in 4 innings, including (I believe) a BB with the bases loaded. He also struck out 5, which is pretty encouraging. He wasn't getting above 92 on the gun.

 

Carlos Zambrano had a worse line than Schilling, but I'm willing to call it a bad start too.

[jacksonianmarch]

Schilling wasnt that bad? Did you watch the game? Even when Schilling was getting hit around last yr, he wasnt missing this badly. To beat Schilling, you typically have to wait for him to make one mistake and if you dont get it, you are screwed. Today, he made a litany of mistakes to nearly every batter. I have never seen him leave so many breaking balls down the middle and belt high. He has a lot of work. Like I said twice, he was pitching as if he hurt his back. He didnt finish his pitches, everything was up and for the most part, his velocity was way down. He has to either tell someone he is hurting, or even more seriously, adjust his stuff if his body is okay.

[jacksonianmarch]

Don't blow this out of proportion jacksonian. He was uncharastically wild with 2 walks in 4 innings, including (I believe) a BB with the bases loaded. He also struck out 5, which is pretty encouraging. He wasn't getting above 92 on the gun.

 

Carlos Zambrano had a worse line than Schilling, but I'm willing to call it a bad start too.

 

Zambrano also walked over 100 last season. Zambrano has a history of having his control go into the shitter. Schilling's history when he gets beat is getting hit, but never control issues like this. If I had more to go on, I'd say dont worry about it, but he looks like the same guy who finished last season, only worse and fatter.

[example1]

Schilling wasnt that bad? Did you watch the game? Even when Schilling was getting hit around last yr' date=' he wasnt missing this badly. To beat Schilling, you typically have to wait for him to make one mistake and if you dont get it, you are screwed. Today, he made a litany of mistakes to nearly every batter. I have never seen him leave so many breaking balls down the middle and belt high. He has a lot of work. Like I said twice, he was pitching as if he hurt his back. He didnt finish his pitches, everything was up and for the most part, his velocity was way down. He has to either tell someone he is hurting, or even more seriously, adjust his stuff if his body is okay.[/quote']

 

 

If you were a Red Sox fan I'd say you were essentially jumping off the bridge. Given that you're not I'm not sure what you're doing. It's the first day of the season man. If three starts in Schilling has done nothing but throw crap then fine, I'll join you. Given that Schilling threw very well in ST in a fair number of innings I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet (despite what you may want).

 

I really can't help but wonder: what the hell are you doing on a Red Sox site so much on opening day? Is there not a single yankees board that wants your opinion? Not trying to be a jerk (you know I like having you around) but I would think that on opening day--if ever--you would be with your own instead of with your baseball-enemies. I don't get it :dunno: