Best of the first half

[MANNYHOF24]

Starting Pitcher: Jon Lester

Position Player: Kevin Youkilis

Relief pitcher: Jon Papelbon

Bench player: Sean Casey

 

Favorite game: Jun 24th against Arizona (4 runs in the 8th to to go ahead 5-4-I was at this game)

[a700hitter]

Starting Pitcher: Jon Lester

Position Player: J.D. Drew

Relief pitcher: Jon Papelbon

Bench player: Sean Casey

 

Favorite game: Weekend against Texas-- April 20-21st. The Red Sox won both games in comeback fashion with three runs in the 8th on Saturday and 4 runs after 2 were out in the 8th inning on Sunday.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Starting Pitcher: Jon Lester

Position Player: Kevin Youkilis

Relief Pitcher: Jonathan Papelbon

Bench Player: Sean Casey

Sox Comeback player: JD Drew

 

Favorite game: Tossup between Lesters' no-hitter against the Royals and Youks' walk-off in the 1-0 win against Halladay.

[redsoxrules]

Starting Pitcher: Jon Lester

Position Player:JD Drew

Relief pitcher: Jon Papelbon

Bench player: Sean Casey

 

Favorite game:Lesters no-hitter

[Cocos Disciples]

Starting Pitcher: Jon Lester

Position Player: JD Drew

Relief Pitcher: Jonathan Papelbon

Bench Player: Sean Casey

Favorite Game: Lester's No-hitter.

[msubulldogs21]

Starting pitcher: Jon Lester

Position player: JD Drew

Reliever: Jon Papelbon

Bench player: Sean Casey

Favorite game: 7/8 vs Minnesota. My first game at Fenway and getting to see the Sox put a 4 spot on the Twins in the 8th inning to cap an awesome comeback win 6-5.

[TheKilo]

Starting Pitcher - Jon Lester

Position Player - JD Drew

Relief Pitcher - Jonathan Papelbon

Bench Player - Casey, by default. He rarely got any burn later on in the 1st half.

 

Best Game - Lester vs. Toronto in late April - Sox won 1-0 and was the turning point in his season.

[Matt]

Starting Pitcher - Daisuke Matsuzaka

I know he walks a lot of guys and can be frustrating to watch, but the ERA, wins and strikeouts have been there all season for him. He's got the mental toughness to pitch out of a lot of jams as well.

 

Position Player - J.D. Drew

He's given the Red Sox the production necessary to fill in as the #3 hitter in place of David Ortiz. Without Drew's performace in the first half, the Red Sox offense would be slightly above average at best.

 

Relief Pitcher - Jonathan Papelbon

If you've watched any games this season, this pick is pretty self-explanatory.

 

Bench Player - Sean Casey

Anybody who can hit over .350 for you off the bench is a pretty productive member of the team.

 

Favorite Game - Jon Lester's no-hitter

I prefer to watch good pitching and defense over good hitting, so anytime I witness a no-hitter it's going to rank up there as one of my favorite games.

[BoSox21]

Starting Pitcher: Jon Lester

 

Beckett has been inconsistent. Dice-K has been a bit lucky considering the walks he allows and Wakefield has been good but not good enough to keep in mind how inconsistent he can be.

 

Position Player: Kevin Youkilis

 

I almost picked Mike Lowell here but Youkilis has been on fire the entire season. Drew, Manny and Pedroia have also been good but went through bad to major slumps.

 

Relief pitcher: Jon Papelbon

 

Every single relief pitcher on the roster has been disappointing, with the exception of David Aardsma. Papelbon has underwhelmed me a bit as well but it's a testament to how good I think he is when he has the numbers he does and can still disappoint me. He's still our best relief pitcher by far though.

 

Bench player: Sean Casey

 

Who else are you gonna pick, honestly?

 

Favorite game: Lester's no-hitter

 

A no-hitter is always an event but a no-hitter from a guy who was diagnosed with cancer less than two years earlier? It's one of the more amazing sports stories in a long time and really puts that game on a pedestal above what any other regular season game could be.

[redsoxrules]

Position Player: Kevin Youkilis

 

I almost picked Mike Lowell here but Youkilis has been on fire the entire season. Drew, Manny and Pedroia have also been good but went through bad to major slumps.

 

actually youk had a worst slump than drew and manny .

 

Relief pitcher: Jon Papelbon

 

Every single relief pitcher on the roster has been disappointing, with the exception of David Aardsma. Papelbon has underwhelmed me a bit as well but it's a testament to how good I think he is when he has the numbers he does and can still disappoint me. He's still our best relief pitcher by far though.

how about Javier Lopez?

[TheKilo]

Javier Lopez has been awful.

[BoSox21]

how about Javier Lopez?

 

his nifty ERA doesn't reflect the shitload of inherited runners he allows to score

[Cityofchampions33]

Yeah I f***in hate Javy Lo, despite his ERA, can anyone find his balls-strikes ratio? because I swear he warms up for hours, then comes in and gets to at least a 2-2 count every time unless the hitter hasn't already hit a bomb.

[redsoxrules]

Papelbon is obviously the best one in the bulpen , but lopez has actually been pretty good this year. the only problem with lopez is his walks . he's had 33 IR and 9 have scored. thats pretty good . he makes it look ugly but he's been getting the job done so far

[TheKilo]

You know who's been the guy in the bullpen who's gotten the job done all year? Aardsma. I'd like to see if they give him some more hi-lev innings coming out of the gate in the 2nd half.

[schillingouttheks]

I specifically remember JHB predicting that Aardsma would be a solid contributor despite his mediocre career numbers. I don't feel like fishing for the post though.

[Youk Of The Nation]

I said it too!

 

I don't know if I said it on here, but I know for a fact I mentioned it to a few people in conversation at the beginning of the season.

[mannyforpres]

Starting Pitcher: Tim Wakefield

Position Player: JD Drew

Relief pitcher: none deserving

Bench player: Sean Casey

 

best game: coco crisp manning up and charging the mound vs the d-rays then getting his hair pulled by carl crawford

(could also qualify as a terrible game because ellsbury hurt his wrist, which still lingers)

[soxfan17881]

Starting Pitcher: Jon Lester

Position Player: Dustin Pedroia

Relief pitcher: Jon Papelbon

Bench player: Sean Casey

[ksushi]

Starting Pitcher: Jon Lester

 

I think Dice-K has been better according to the numbers, but Lester has exceeded all our expectations and set new standards for himself. I knew he would eventually be this good, but I didn't think he would turn the corner in a matter of months.

 

 

Position Player: J.D. Drew

 

I know Youk has been good, Mike Lowell hit the DL and is still on pace put up very good power numbers, but Drew is the story of the first half. Youk always has a first half as good as this, the power numbers are up, but seriously, he is a miserable second half player until he proves otherwise. We needed Drew to step up and earn his contract and right now, he is. He has another month like he did in June and he will be in the MVP race. With him swinging well, we can become a powerhouse in the second half with Ortiz back and Lowrie getting a chance.

 

 

Relief pitcher: Papelbon

 

Having an off year, but is still an animal. The BABIP gods haven't been kind to him yet this year, but thats what you get for running your mouth about your contract and sounding like a moron.

 

Bench player: Coco Crisp

 

Having one of Crisp or Ellsbury (usually crisp, so far) come off the bench late in games gives us the best OF defense in the majors late in games. I don't think you can say enough about how much that helps out our pitching staff. I think that makes Coco my MVBP.

 

 

Favorite game: Lester's no-hitter

 

That was a rewarding game. I was catching a lot of flak for my love for Lester from my roommate this year until that game. Pwned.

[mannyforpres]

wow ksushi, i didnt think your roommate even knew what baseball was? i mean, besides the bat and balls part i cant see him being that interested. im surprised that he would be willing to give you opinions about red sox players

 

but lester's game was pretty sweet and im still upset that i decided to go to my soccer game instead of that game. oh well.