August 10th @ Baltimore

[riverside sluggers]

Tomorrow's game is now Beckett vs rookie pitcher Garret Olsen. Right off its the pitcher's advantage as it will be the Sox's lineup first view of this kid

[stcjones]

Man' date=' I just got home and I see the box score on Yahoo, what a clusterf***. Team hasn't been playing very well the past 2 weeks, and I guess the law of averages had the bullpen blowing a game here sooner or later. I only question why Gagne was brought in with a 4-run lead, where was Oki or Delcarmen? Ballbuster nonetheless.[/quote']

 

This team is the typical red sox team that will go nowhere this year.......the stanks will come back and snatch the division....sox in wild card one and done....and that will be it.....they don't have the consistency to get it done just like almost every year.....this one was f'in sad.....game was in the bag.....JD screw.......botched the game more than Gagne,.........but I think we now know that our bullpen is not as tough as we have heard from the media........this was a really tough loss.......

[example1]

Tomorrow's game is now Beckett vs rookie pitcher Garret Olsen. Right off its the pitcher's advantage as it will be the Sox's lineup first view of this kid

 

I would rather have the sox offense and Josh beckett than the O's offense and Olsen.

 

If the sox were going to lose any game of the series (i.e., if it were acceptable for them to lose any game this series) it was tonight. Bedard pitched his heart out.

 

I don't know what's going on with gagne. He struggled down the stretch with the Rangers, and he's struggling now. Everything they are hitting is hit hard. It is weird.

 

Back to Okajima and Papelbon to set up and close, I guess. :dunno:

[SchillingIsTheNatural]

How many of those did we have last year? How many this year?

 

I'd say the timing really sucks for this team to have random issues. All the issues we have are costing us wins and this is the time of year you want to be firing on all cylinders. They need to get HOT because someone is right behind us and its not a fluke....anyone who thinks the Yanks are going to cool off is confused

[example1]

This team is the typical red sox team that will go nowhere this year.......the stanks will come back and snatch the division....sox in wild card one and done....and that will be it.....they don't have the consistency to get it done just like almost every year.....this one was f'in sad.....game was in the bag.....JD screw.......botched the game more than Gagne' date='.........but I think we now know that our bullpen is not as tough as we have heard from the media........this was a really tough loss.......[/quote']

 

Why was it a tough loss, if they're just going to give it up and "go nowhere this year"?

 

If you're so convinced then this loss should have been par for the course, not tough, right?

[Cocos Disciples]

Doing his best impression as Rudy Seanez' date=' Mike Remlinger, and Blaine Neal[/quote']

 

Was it Remlinger or Stanton who was called up for the Yanks series at the end of 05?

[riverside sluggers]

Was it Remlinger or Stanton who was called up for the Yanks series at the end of 05?

 

Stanton. The Red Sox traded some go nowhere player for Mike Stanton from the Washington Nationals. It was just for the last 2 games of the season

[example1]

I'd say the timing really sucks for this team to have random issues. All the issues we have are costing us wins and this is the time of year you want to be firing on all cylinders. They need to get HOT because someone is right behind us and its not a fluke....anyone who thinks the Yanks are going to cool off is confused

 

Why would the timing have been any different between a blown save in May and a blown save in August? They are all devistating. Do you think the Sox chose a bad time to win games earlier in the season when the Yankees were losing? I don't. Each game is a game unto itself.

 

Yes, the Yankees are hot. They SHOULD be hot. They have a tremendous team. C'est la vie. It is easy to get all doom-and-gloom, but the sox came back and 'won' this game tonight, if not for the pen. They had a 4 run lead. This bullpen will not give up many 4 run leads.

[SchillingIsTheNatural]

Why would the timing have been any different between a blown save in May and a blown save in August? They are all devistating. Do you think the Sox chose a bad time to win games earlier in the season when the Yankees were losing? I don't. Each game is a game unto itself.

 

Yes, the Yankees are hot. They SHOULD be hot. They have a tremendous team. C'est la vie. It is easy to get all doom-and-gloom, but the sox came back and 'won' this game tonight, if not for the pen. They had a 4 run lead. This bullpen will not give up many 4 run leads.

 

I think it does make a huge difference what time of the year a team gets hot. The Yanks were torn to pieces in every newspaper, tv show, website...they were left for dead with no hope to return....now they are coming on stronger than imagined and you know they want to prove everyone wrong...

 

meanwhile the Red Sox are just trying to stay afloat. Sooner or later they will catch up and have momentum on there side. Best way to reverse that is take the first series against the Yanks but with our offense I don't know if I see it happening.

[stcjones]

Why was it a tough loss, if they're just going to give it up and "go nowhere this year"?

 

If you're so convinced then this loss should have been par for the course, not tough, right?

 

you must be a psych professor....."what do you see here in these ink blots".....This is just the typical sox "coming down the stretch" performance....where all the wheels come off and we are once again preparing to hand the first place banner over to the evil empire.......NOW is about winning these games...not making blunder after blunder and shooting yourself in the foot......that is what is tough about it. This team is NEVER consistent enough (well except 2004) to get it done......while the stanks continue to consistently step up when it matters most.....and WIN.........

 

This is what is tough about it.....when you are this close....and yet once again....so far.....

[yankees228]

Both teams are very good. In the end all of the hot streaks and slumps will probably even out, and I believe the season will end with the Red Sox winning the east and the Yanks taking the wild card.

[SchillingIsTheNatural]

Both teams are very good. In the end all of the hot streaks and slumps will probably even out' date=' and I believe the season will end with the Red Sox winning the east and the Yanks taking the wild card.[/quote']

 

I'm gonna predict the opposite. The Yankees have a solid rotation and plenty of arms in the bullpen to hold leads. They typically have plenty of run support anyways so blowing a 5-1 lead seems unlikely. Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera will shut the door on everyone. Meanwhile nobody can beat the Yankees hitting.

 

The Red Sox have some real holes in the rotation, an average lineup, and some good relievers but the coaching might be the worst thing the Red Sox have. Great comment from rotoworld:

 

It's nice that his players like him and all that, but Terry Francona really can be an awful manager when he gets the chance. The Orioles had left-handers Corey Patterson and Nick Markakis due up to start the eighth, but Francona went to Gagne over Hideki Okajima. A double, an RBI single and a walk followed. Gagne finally recorded the first out on a tapper back to the mound. He actually bobbled the ball and only got the out because it happened to be Kevin Millar plodding to first. Aubrey Huff, another lefty, then doubled to right to bring the Orioles within one. That finally got Okajima into the game -- now against a righty -- and an RBI grounder through the infield tied it. The Orioles ended up winning in the bottom of the ninth. Had the Red Sox gone Okajima/Jonathan Papelbon or even Okajima/Gagne, it likely would have been an easy win. Instead, Francona defied all logic, simply because Gagne was acquired to be The Eighth Inning Guy.

[jacksonianmarch]

Right now it all comes down to matchups. Tomorrow is Beckett vs a pretty good lefty rookie which means the sox will struggle to score off him. Beckett better be on his game because you wont likely give him any support until the mushy underbelly of the Oriole pen is exposed. Then you get to have the tossup of Schilling vs Trachsel, who both are old and spiralling into suck mode. If I was a betting man, I'd assume you win both.

 

In terms of TB, you guys get their 2 toughest pitchers right off the bat in Shields and Kazmir. These 2 series are anything but a walk in the park against these typical pushovers.

 

Now for us, we beat the hot Carmona and miss Sabathia, only to get Guthrie and Bedard in Baltimore. Same deal, we just need to keep hitting the good pitching.

[jacksonianmarch]

I'm gonna predict the opposite. The Yankees have a solid rotation and plenty of arms in the bullpen to hold leads. They typically have plenty of run support anyways so blowing a 5-1 lead seems unlikely. Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera will shut the door on everyone. Meanwhile nobody can beat the Yankees hitting.

 

The Red Sox have some real holes in the rotation, an average lineup, and some good relievers but the coaching might be the worst thing the Red Sox have. Great comment from rotoworld:

 

Rotation wise, the sox throw a strong top 2 and a mediocre 3 and 4 which is usually enough to win some games. Having Phil at full strength is certainly an advantage over Lester, who is pretty obviously not at full strength. Your pen is still better, even though I do not think Gagne is very strong at this point IMHO. We shall see who hits the good pitching down the stretch.

[Mr Crunchy]

I dunno

i like schill becks dice and wake in a short series with paps oj and gegne in the pen

i do

it will also be the reason ny ends up a bit short this year

 

i dont care what head is sitting on the shoulders of the lefty(bedard is real good)

we are corholed by the lefties forever and elways it seems

5 up and its 8/11

i like our chances and we havent been playing all that badly

ny is in orbit and i can only hope theyre peaking a bit too early

nice effort by the savior too

didnt we shut out cleveland 1-0 then get blanked 1-0 the next game??

ny is on fire

burn baby burn

[Rdsxmbnt]

Its frusturating.

 

No way should ever possibly lose that game with a 4 run lead in the 8th. Awesome job coming back, WMP came up huge, I was trashing him at home during that AB about how he couldn't hit a curveball to save his life, and he did it. Touche Mr. Pena touche.

 

Matsuzaka is a fantastic pitcher, his control was shaky in the beginning but he got better as the game went on hes a gamer and its really unfortunate he's a victim of poor run support when he consistently puts up huge performances against very good pitchers (Kazmir/Sabathia/Bedard in his last couple). He's going to be a tremendous pitcher, he has this season and once he refines his control here in the US he'll be one of the top pitchers in baseball.

 

Gagne, idk, he hasn't looked good. He throws almost all FB it seems and they get crushed, his curve and changeup need to be used a lot more or else he won't be beating anyone. Can't blame Oki, he had to clean up the mess.

 

I'm tempted to write a long reactionary post but I won't. I will say though that Josh Beckett is the ace, he'll right this ship, he's the stopper.

[Mr Crunchy]

it didnt appear to me that gagne changed soeeds enuff but hey

they have had a hard time winning here when it mattered forever

pena??

after the 1st called strike which was a foot outside then the feeble ck swing i told anyone who would listen that the next pitch would be a curve in the dust

instead it was a gift ball 1 abd pena regrouped

it was his finest ab in a sox uni and it came at a pivotal time

 

if the choices are wi mo and bobby keilty i dont know why we would go with keilty outside his lefty bat and perhaps more versatile glove

wi mo

a nice effot in crunch time

[jacksonianmarch]

I know this loss hurts for most sox fans, but how many times will your pen be the culprit? Answer: not many. They flubbed one tonight, so be it. The only thing that should be concerning is that it was one of DiceK's starts, which as I pointed out previously, should be won.

 

In terms of worry about the yankees, it is within 5 which is the marker for me to get excited about the division. Yet, we have been within 5 before and each and every time we get this close, we falter back. So no excitement yet.

 

What I would say, though, is that with DiceK neutralized and a loss in his start, this hurts a lot. Not only do you lose a game that you should have won, you lost a game that you should be able to pencil in as a win prior to even taking the field. The last silver bullet in your arsenal is Beckett before you have to step down to the 3,4,and 5 which is anything but a sure thing. If you lose tomorrow, then worry should set back in.

[Gom]

I love it...

 

The Sox are definitely starting to hear footsteps. I only wish we were playing the Sox now instead of the end of the month. Regardless of what happens in this series, the key series of this month [until we square off against each other at the end of the month] is going to be the D-rays in Fenway coming up. If you lose that series, which you shouldn't by any stretch, it get ugly for RSN. Very quickly....

 

Time for the Red Sox yearly August swoon...right about now...

[jacksonianmarch]

It is almost as if sox fans on this site died last night. Where the hell are y'all?

[VA Sox Fan]

I was out drinking and watching the game at a sports bar. DAMMIT it sucks out loud to lose a game like that!

[jacksonianmarch]

I was out drinking and watching the game at a sports bar. DAMMIT it sucks out loud to lose a game like that!

 

good to see ya back VA. It must have been a tough one, but having a 5 game lead is not cause to dig your head in the sand like some of your compadres.

[Gom]

How funny..as improbable as it may be....the Sox swoon could keep them home in October.

[VA Sox Fan]

good to see ya back VA. It must have been a tough one' date=' but having a 5 game lead is not cause to dig your head in the sand like some of your compadres.[/quote']

 

 

Hey mj. Hope things are well with you. Your Yanks are on a tear, dammit all to hell.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing Beckett today. Who's pitching for yous guys?

[jacksonianmarch]

How funny..as improbable as it may be....the Sox swoon could keep them home in October.

 

Dont think so Gom. As mediocre as the sox have looked at times over the past 2 months or so, take a look at the competition for the WC in the event that we would overtake them (still unlikely). To be honest, while the tigers and mariners are losing to the white sox, drays, and A's, we have been tooling on the shittier teams and the sox have at least held their own against both the good and the bad. Unless something drastically changes, I would not be surprised if we both make the playoffs. One thing though. I REALLY HOPE we win the division, because the angels will be the 2 seed in all likelihood and I dont think we can take them in a short series. Imagine, after this crazy ass season, if we both meet in the ALCS again for the 3rd time in 5 yrs. So sox, tank the division, take the wild card, waltz over the angels like you always do and see us in the ALCS. Sound like a plan?

[jacksonianmarch]

Hey mj. Hope things are well with you. Your Yanks are on a tear, dammit all to hell.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing Beckett today. Who's pitching for yous guys?

 

The revamped Moose against Paul Byrd. We hit Byrd well (to the tune of a .325BAA over the last 3 yrs).

[VA Sox Fan]

The revamped Moose against Paul Byrd. We hit Byrd well (to the tune of a .325BAA over the last 3 yrs).

 

Figures. <_>

[Gom]

Jacko, if we make the playoffs, we will waltz through the AL. Watch, we will win the series against the Angels this year, and if we face them, we will beat them too. It's still a big if if we win the wild card, but if we do, I have no doubt we will be seeing a National League team. Take away the Sox's first six weeks, and they are a .500 team.

 

Am I saying the Sox are a bad team, won't make the playoffs, etc. No, not by a long shot. However, if they don't right their ship soon, they are in trouble.

[jacksonianmarch]

Jacko, if we make the playoffs, we will waltz through the AL. Watch, we will win the series against the Angels this year, and if we face them, we will beat them too. It's still a big if if we win the wild card, but if we do, I have no doubt we will be seeing a National League team. Take away the Sox's first six weeks, and they are a .500 team.

 

Am I saying the Sox are a bad team, won't make the playoffs, etc. No, not by a long shot. However, if they don't right their ship soon, they are in trouble.

 

I wont throw around that kind of language with the schedule we have in front of us right now. We still have ??? on our end too. Just our offense has made those ??? less apparent. Hughes helped clear the picture a little last night and with Joba looking like a dominant force in the pen along with vintage Mo, and we sure do have some nice answers. But lets wait about 2 weeks before we start talk of winning the ALCS.

[Mr Crunchy]

i read what i wrote last nite and i can only hope i see that spanish chick with the kind bud again

i had s*** pains all nite after i went over the game in my mind for 3 hours

laaaaate nite

 

anyways

yanks fans should be walking like peacocks today

sox fans should be down but only for last nites collapse

lets not toss the baby out with the bath water just yet people

 

becks is the annointed #1 and the proverbial stopper

game on kiddo

we're .500 over the last 10 including the murderous tour of the west

baltimore always plays us well and that was their #1 last evening and for the life of me i dont know why we are owned by any lefty that throws strikes

well f*** me alex

5 up and its 8-11

i would say the schedule is in our favor and as it stands we will be playing ny down the stretch for the division and we will have a lead when we start with them at the end of the month

our next 16

2 with the o's

6 with the rays

4 with the angels at home

4 against the chisox

 

the yanks next 16

8 with the floundering tigers

3 with the 0's

3 with the angels

2 more with the tribe

 

a nonpartisan voice would say the sox have an advantage for the next 2 weeks before we hook up

and anyone who has watched ny over the last month cannot feel comfy with a 5 game or evena 10game lead at this point

 

we arent a .500 team and i believe our starters will be the difference when we down and dirty in the last month

 

sox fans need not panic

this time down the stretch we got the better pitchers and pen for a change and i believe that will be the reason we hang on

 

of course if the yanks insist on hanging double digits nightly it wont matter

they wont

but

they will be there as always at the end as well so just hang on and enjpy the ride

we're in pretty good f***ing shape my friends