The Chicken Little thread

[yeszir]

The sky is falling! Air your grievances.

 

The sox just look flat. There are some hope-inspiring statistics, but it seems like we just rolled over for Houston and are now doing the same thing for Tampa.

 

I doubt the Rays can truly keep this up for the rest of the season, but the Sox need some kind of spark.

[BoSox21]

my only real concern is the bullpen, aside from that I still believe the Sox are the best team in baseball. it would be nice to see them play with a bit of pride though

[rician blast]

Kazmir tonight, Pettitte tomorrow. Kazmir, we know, is tough on the Sox...Pettitte has won his last 4 starts.

[Jayhawk Bill]

Boston Comeback Wins: 20

Boston Blown Lead Losses: 17

Boston Other Games: 30-19

 

Boston is .612 in games where the lead never changes, but they're .541 in games where there's a seesaw battle. Something is hurting Boston disproportionately in games decided late, be it bullpen management, bench use, or just the absolute strength of the bullpen and the bench. The Rays and the Yankees (and the Orioles) are much better in games where there are lead changes, as were Boston's last four playoff teams, 2003-2005 and 2007.

 

I blame Terry Francona, but others might point to the quality of relief pitching and bench play. Our substitute players are hitting, as a group, .203/.289/.297, but our relief pitchers are pitching almost exactly as well as our starting pitchers...it's tough to blame the bullpen rather than Tito on that point. Relief pitchers are posting a 4.03 ERA in save situations but a 3.87 ERA in non-save situations, suggesting that we're using our better pitchers at the wrong time.

[ORS]

Either that, or they take the mound in a pressure spot with all the confidence Soxfan#1 has in asserting boundaries in his relationship with that girl.

 

The last 4 losses were by 1, 1, 1, and 2 runs, with the bullpen giving up runs in each game. The pitchers who made appearances were MDC, Hansen, Okajima, Lopez, Aardsma, and Smith. I can't fault the manager there, with the exception of maybe Smith, who had been very effective up until that 3 walk episode.

 

I'm no huge supporter of Francona's in game management. I do feel he does a good job of managing the "marathon" of the regular season, and is quite good at the "sprint" of the postseason. Of course, some occaissional sprinting may be required in the former to reach the latter, and that's where he tends to underperform, IMO. All that said, at some point, our relievers need to stop giving up runs, because right now, it doesn't matter who he puts in, they are all s***ing themselves.

[yeszir]

I'll feel a lot better when either Tek or Manny breaks out of his slump. It's just a psychological thing.

[yeszir]

Add MDC to the list.

 

THE SKY IS FALLING

[Cocos Disciples]

And Craig f***ing Hansen.

[yeszir]

Tito really flashed his incompetence today as well