5/17 at New York Yankees

[Dipre]

Dominate? Dominant?

[SoxSport]

I can't see a more underachieving pitching staff in Baseball right now than the Red Sox. The FO must be going nuts. Harrell who?

[TheMino007]

Dominate? Dominant?

 

you don't watch many games do you? Stop reading the stat lines and watch the guy. He is far from steady out there.

[transcam21]

Bard as closer?

 

Why the hell not? I bet he could have given up 2 HR's in the ninth just as good as Paps :dunno:

 

Might as well try it

[a700hitter]

You are right' date=' he should have pitched the 8th, the Sox would have had a better chance to win.[/quote']Time for a fearless prediction from you. If he continues to do worse, he'll suck.

 

Edit: Isn't that your prediction?

[Dipre]

you don't watch many games do you? Stop reading the stat lines and watch the guy. He is far from steady out there.

 

I was correcting your grammar.

 

Don't be an idiot. I watch as many games if not more games than you do, and i've been bitching about him losing his splitter for months.

[SoxSport]

Papelbon can't hold a lead against the Yankees and hasn't been dominate in 2 years' date=' it was half to be expected he would blow the game. Paps might as well be A-Rod's bitch b/c he can't ever get the guy out[/quote']

 

Pap has lost his splitter and a couple mph off his fastball. He is not the pitcher he was a couple of years ago, and won't get the big contract he's looking for. Time to look at Bard as the next closer.

 

There is a folly in replacing an effective pitcher with an unknown. If Bard pitches the 9th, too, they probably win. But that's Baseball these days. Musical chairs in the bullpen.

[BucShot]

Tough loss guys but on a lighter note, the Rays won..! :thumbsup:

[yeszir]

Alright well I'm gonna go cry myself to sleep now

[suns]

Tough loss guys but on a lighter note' date=' the Rays won..! :thumbsup:[/quote']

 

BUT MY Guardians LOST!!

[ORS]

Time for a fearless prediction from you. If he continues to do worse, he'll suck.

 

Edit: Isn't that your prediction?

Nice try. You took that oversimplification as some sort of moral victory.

 

I said I didn't like the change in his performance (to my eyes), as hitters were able to put more quality ABs against him, and that I didn't like where his stats were heading.

 

You said he wasn't to be worried about, full stop.

 

We'll see what happens.

[a700hitter]

The season is slip sliding away. One more game against the Yanks. After that, we don't play them again until August. If the Sox lose tomorrow, they'll be 8 games behind the Yanks with no opportunity to close the gap in head to head games until August. Today, there was a glimmer of a hope for turning things around, but Papelbon s*** all over that.

[a700hitter]

Nice try. You took that oversimplification as some sort of moral victory.

 

I said I didn't like the change in his performance (to my eyes), as hitters were able to put more quality ABs against him, and that I didn't like where his stats were heading.

 

You said he wasn't to be worried about, full stop.

 

We'll see what happens.

He'll be fine, but the 2010 Sox will not be fine. It is a poorly put together team that needed to stay perfectly healthy to compete. A couple of injuries and they can't cope. As for Papelbon, he'll have 4 or 5 very productive years, whether for us or for someone else. But I do agree that if he steadily gets worse, he'll suck.

 

Edit: He is far from this teams biggest worries. Start with the starters for worrying. Then go to the defense that has been handing over games.

[a700hitter]

I said I didn't like the change in his performance (to my eyes), as hitters were able to put more quality ABs against him, and that I didn't like where his stats were heading.

How do you see quality ABs on Gamecast. The biggest reason for his increase in WHIP has been walks due to wildness, not quality ABs. He apparently has changed his arm slot last season and he has not been able to harness his control.

 

He had a really s***** night, but I'll be very happy if they have the opportunity to put the ball in his hands tomorrow night with the lead.

[ORS]

I wasn't prioritizing him as a worry, just stating that he is one.

 

If he is one, the price he indicates that he wants to be under contract (Rivera money) becomes unattractive for his talents.

 

When that happens, it's time to look at alternatives.

 

This is the synopsis of the "Bard as an alternate" topic that you bitch about incessantly.

 

I'm just throwing a s***** comment your way as you so often do when circumstance suits your point.

 

I recall something about dishing it out but not being able to take it being thrown my way.

 

How you like them apples?

[a700hitter]

Everyone do a rain dance tomorrow.

[ORS]

How do you see quality ABs on Gamecast. The biggest reason for his increase in WHIP has been walks due to wildness, not quality ABs. He apparently has changed his arm slot last season and he has not been able to harness his control.

 

He had a really s***** night, but I'll be very happy if they have the opportunity to put the ball in his hands tomorrow night with the lead.

Easy, Gom, they tend to show quite a few Sox games on TV, especially when they play the Yankees.

 

And the quality ABs goes back to last year, when I had mlb.tv.

[a700hitter]

I wasn't prioritizing him as a worry, just stating that he is one.

 

If he is one, the price he indicates that he wants to be under contract (Rivera money) becomes unattractive for his talents.

 

When that happens, it's time to look at alternatives.

 

This is the synopsis of the "Bard as an alternate" topic that you bitch about incessantly.

 

I'm just throwing a s***** comment your way as you so often do when circumstance suits your point.

 

I recall something about dishing it out but not being able to take it being thrown my way.

 

How you like them apples?

Hey, I can take, and dishing out s***** comments has always been your specialty. I'm not going to bury Papelbon for this one game. I'd still rather have the ball in his hands at the end than anyone else in the pen.

[a700hitter]

Easy, Gom, they tend to show quite a few Sox games on TV, especially when they play the Yankees.

 

And the quality ABs goes back to last year, when I had mlb.tv.

Then you should know that his problem was wildness if you were watching, not quality ABs.

[26 to 6]

I can't believe the way this game played out. Luckily for us it worked out the way it did, but in the end it was just another incredible Yankees/Sox game when it comes down to it. I could vent a lot of my frustrations from this game (i.e. Chan Ho f***ing Park), but I really just have to appreciate that kind of quality baseball. Great game, looking forward to tomorrow.

[diony]

The team did its job' date=' which the closer promptly undid.[/quote']

 

Dice-K did his job?

[ORS]

Then you should know that his problem was wildness if you were watching' date=' not quality ABs.[/quote']

No, he used to be able to blow it by hitters in the zone. Now they foul him off a lot, which increases his pitch count, and exposes his lack of control. He has never been a control guy. His best season was 55% of his pitches finding the strikezone, where adequate performance, adequate not excellent mind you, is considered at 60%. He just got people to chase before, but they've stopped.

[a700hitter]

No' date=' he used to be able to blow it by hitters in the zone. Now they foul him off a lot, which increases his pitch count, and exposes his lack of control. He has never been a control guy. His best season was 55% of his pitches finding the strikezone, where adequate performance, adequate not excellent mind you, is considered at 60%. He just got people to chase before, but they've stopped.[/quote']When will he not be an elite closer in your estimation? This season? Next season? How many closers will surpass him in the next couple of years? I don't think there will be too many guys better than him in the next 2 to 3 years. He's not Mariano River, but who the hell has been. If the Sox are smart, they'll keep Papelbon in the organization together with Bard to shorten games to 7 innings The rest of the pen can be used to mix and match to get to the 8th where it will be locked down on most nights. This should not be an either or proposition. Two horses at the end of the game is a huge advantage in today's game.

[Lester82]

If the Sox are smart, they'll keep Papelbon in the organization

 

Oh, god.

[example1]

I can't see a more underachieving pitching staff in Baseball right now than the Red Sox. The FO must be going nuts. Harrell who?

 

That sums it up pretty well. I'm not shocked that this team is hovering around .500 at this point in the season; I'm shocked that it's been such s***** pitching on such a consistent basis. Lester and Buchholz have both been dominant at times and at least servicable otherwise, but my lord, the rest have been unpredictably bad.

 

I would love to rip into Theo and the FO, but it seems like the offense is more than adequate and that's the part of the team everyone was criticizing coming into the season.

[Lester82]

That sums it up pretty well. I'm not shocked that this team is hovering around .500 at this point in the season; I'm shocked that it's been such s***** pitching on such a consistent basis. Lester and Buchholz have both been dominant at times and at least servicable otherwise, but my lord, the rest have been underachieving in a completely unpredictable.

 

I would love to rip into Theo and the FO, but it seems like the offense is more than adequate and that's the part of the team everyone was criticising. Were people predicting that Beckett and Lackey's performance wouldn't be worthy of holding a starting position on most teams? I don't think so.

 

Bizarre s***.

 

exactly. A certain poster here can talk daily about the poorly constructed team, but who the bleep thought a staff of Lester-Beckett-Lackey would be underperforming so much? More so with Lackey, Beckett. The team wasn't so poory constructed when possesing a front three like that, not that you don't need other elements to win. But they should have been pretty pitching strong.

[Chamomile]

This game sucked. That's pretty much all you can say.

 

It's frustrating to see our pitching be some of the worst in the league. But sooner or later, it's going to turn around and anyone who knows anything about baseball knows it.

[The Village Idiot]

This is what happens when an elite pitching staff and bullpen collectively underperform in the first 40 games of a season at the same time that a team suffers several key injuries as early as week two.

 

The Sox's offense has been very consistent, scoring lots of runs, hitting a lot of homeruns, and picking each other up. Our pitching staff, especially the bullpen--that was supposed to be the foundation on which this team would be built--has literally been crumbling right in front of our eyes since last season. I'm curious to see how Theo et al attempt to address these issues this season.

 

The only bright side I can think of, possibly, is that the Yankees pitching staff has been overperforming but likely won't continue to do so, and they're finally starting to show their age. The Rays have strong pitching, but their lineup is overperforming and likely will regress as the season progresses.

 

I'm not giving up, by any means, but this pitching is going to have to go on a very dramatic, sustained run/tear to see this situation improve. If it's any consellation, there really are still ~120 games left. Plenty of time...but oh so frustrating to watch, for sure.

 

Does this mean I have to get a competing hobby this summer? Damn it, I was really excited about baseball starting just 8 weeks ago. That feels like an utter eternity ago.

[example1]

Nice first post!

[Keeper]

JFC Papelbon.