2011 Playoffs for granted?

[iortiz]

A week ago, I would've said "of course! we are not just gonna make the POs, we gonna win the Division". Today, sadly I'm not sure anymore.

 

Let's take a look...

 

RSOX (85-58; .594; projected, if we play .300 baseball: 90-72) Last ten (3-7; .300)

 

3 Games at TB

2 Games vs Toronto

4 Games vs TB

4 Games vs Baltimore

3 Games at New York

3 Games at Baltimore

 

Vs TB (5-6, .454)

Vs NY (11-4, .733)

Vs Toronto (9-7, .562)

Vs BaLtimore (8-3, .727)

 

TB (78-64; .549; projected, if they play .500 baseball: 88-74 ) Last ten (5-5; .500)

 

3 Games vs Boston

3 Games at Baltimore

4 Games at Boston

4 Games at NY

3 Games vs Toronto

3 Games vs NY

 

Vs Boston(6-5; .545)

Vs NY (5-6; .454)

Vs Toronto (10-5; .666)

Vs BaLtimore (8-7; .533)

 

The projection indicates that Boston goes to the POs; nevertheless, if Tampa plays .600 baseball and the RedSox continuos playing .300, the record will be tied and guess who goes to the POs? TB:(

 

Is it possible? Well, considering our rotation and the injuries, we definitely could finish playing .300... As a matter of fact, in September we are a .250 team after 8 games already played and 19 to be played.

 

On the other hand, TB has played .550 vs AL East and .571 in September; want it more scary? The 3 games that TB lost in September were against Texas and guess what? they won't face 'em again (4-5; .444 vs Tx), so....

 

We better recover Beckett and/or Bedard and/or our offense save our pitching ass as they've been doing all season.

 

Stack your odds Gentlemen, it isn't over, is it?

[a700hitter]

It is still a long shot for the Sox to miss the playoffs, but if they get sweptr this weekend by Tampa, the situation will become perilous and no longer a long shot. If Lackey comes through and wins tonight, it would be a real longshot for them to blow it. If the Sox win 2, I will declare victory. They just need to avoid the sweep. Horseface Lackey needs to earn his money tonight.

[SoxSport]

If they miss the playoffs, heads will finally start to roll.

 

They need a wake up call.

[TheMeanWalrus]

LOL

this thread is funny

[Cocos Disciples]

Still about a 99% chance the Sox make the playoffs. Not panicking. They're not going to play .300 for the rest of the year.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Count me out of the "Panic" group. The Rays have 13 of their remaining 20 games against NYY and BOS. Excuse me for being optimistic here, but I just really don't see them picking up 6 games with 20 to play with that schedule.

[Palodios]

Count me out of the "Panic" group. The Rays have 13 of their remaining 20 games against NYY and BOS. Excuse me for being optimistic here' date=' but I just really don't see them picking up 6 games with 20 to play with that schedule.[/quote']

 

+1

 

 

Can someone close some of these threads? Its getting old.

[SoxFanForsyth]

And another thing that I somehow missed.

 

Are people forgetting that we're 2.5 games out of the East? Check this out:

 

The Rays E# is 14. Any combined Red Sox wins/Rays losses totaling 14 eliminates them from the PS. Here's the beautiful part of this. The Rays have 6 games left against the Yankees. If they are going to make a move on the Red Sox, they've got to go something like 4-2 or 5-1 against the Yankees. Guess what door that opens up?

 

Oh, the AL East.

[a700hitter]

And another thing that I somehow missed.

 

Are people forgetting that we're 2.5 games out of the East? Check this out:

 

The Rays E# is 14. Any combined Red Sox wins/Rays losses totaling 14 eliminates them from the PS. Here's the beautiful part of this. The Rays have 6 games left against the Yankees. If they are going to make a move on the Red Sox, they've got to go something like 4-2 or 5-1 against the Yankees. Guess what door that opens up?

 

Oh, the AL East.

We should only be 1/2 game out, but we missed 2 golden opportunities to pick up games the last 2 nights.

[Station 13]

It would take a collapse to not make the postseason. But if they don't start playing better, a quick exit is likely in the 1st round.

[a700hitter]

It would take a collapse to not make the postseason. But if they don't start playing better' date=' a quick exit is likely in the 1st round.[/quote']As I posted earlier, as long as they don't get swept this weekend, they'll be okay. If the Sox take 2 of the 3 games, it's locked up, but the thought of Lackey opening the series tonight makes me want to vomit.

[iortiz]

It is still a long shot for the Sox to miss the playoffs' date=' but if they get sweptr this weekend by Tampa, the situation will become perilous and no longer a long shot. If Lackey comes through and wins tonight, it would be a real longshot for them to blow it. If the Sox win 2, I will declare victory. They just need to avoid the sweep. Horseface Lackey needs to earn his money tonight.[/quote']

 

Agree.

 

This series could mark our future.

 

As you said, Lackey better put his s*** together and start performing as a 80 MiUSD player for once and for all. After all, he is our second best card these days LOL.

[iortiz]

5.5 GB and counting down gentlemen...

 

Sure, not enough in order to push that panic button yet.

[a700hitter]

5.5 GB gentlemen...

 

but sure, not enough in order to push that panic button yet.

Panic button gets pushed if we lose the next 2 games.

[SoxSport]

Never mind the stats. What's important is how they are playing right now. The team is falling apart--especially the pitching.

 

All this pretending that Lackey is a #3 starter is pretty ridiculous. Staying with Wake and Miller has also been ridiculous. The team can't be expected to score 8 runs a game to win.

 

Beckett misses a start, Bedard misses a start, Dice-K and Buchholz miss almost the whole season. They have no pitching depth to make up for these things.

 

Who in the the front office vetoed the Harden deal? They should be fired. Man, was that dumb.

i guess Theo thought Miller would turn into Randy Johnson in a few starts.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

If the Sox don't make the playoffs I'll buy everyone on this site living in or close to Boston season tickets and everyone else MLB.TV. Put that in your sig.

[Palodios]

Done.

[iortiz]

Never mind the stats. What's important is how they are playing right now. The team is falling apart--especially the pitching.

 

All this pretending that Lackey is a #3 starter is pretty ridiculous. Staying with Wake and Miller has also been ridiculous. The team can't be expected to score 8 runs a game to win.

 

Beckett misses a start, Bedard misses a start, Dice-K and Buchholz miss almost the whole season. They have no pitching depth to make up for these things.

 

Who in the the front office vetoed the Harden deal? They should be fired. Man, was that dumb.

i guess Theo thought Miller would turn into Randy Johnson in a few starts.

 

+1

 

 

I didn't notice but physically they are very similar, but there's an abysm at pitching.

[iortiz]

Panic button gets pushed if we lose the next 2 games.

 

push it when you consider it adequate.

 

4.5 GB

 

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/2860/screenshot20110910at101.png

[SoxSport]

push it when you consider it adequate.

 

4.5 GB

 

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/2860/screenshot20110910at101.png

 

I'll panic when Tito panics.

[a700hitter]

I'll panic when Tito panics.

Tito panicked on Saturday when he pitched Papelbon on the road in a tied game for 2 innings, so you are late.

[iortiz]

3.5 GB, gentlemen, 3.5 GB.

[Divinity]

If the Sox don't make the playoffs I'll buy everyone on this site living in or close to Boston season tickets and everyone else MLB.TV. Put that in your sig.

 

As if a high school kid has thousands of dollars laying around?

[SoxFanForsyth]

Couple of things -

 

- In April, we started out 2-10. Right now, we're on a 3-9 streak. After our 2-10 start, we had a home series against Toronto. We swept that series, and went on an 8-1 streak.

 

- The Yankees are 3.5 games ahead of us. For the Rays to catch us, they will have to pick up 3.5 games while playing 11 of their remaining 17 games against BOS and NYY. 8 of those 11 games are away. We split our games with the Rays, or even take 3/4 against them at home, and all we need to do is take care of business against BAL (7 games left against them), and we will either catch the Yankees, or build on our lead over the Rays.

 

- Beckett looks like he's going to throw against the Rays next weekend, so we will have Beckett and Lester going against the Rays. That should be good for a split. If our offense can pick it up, it could much better than that.

 

- It wouldn't surprise me in the least for Adrian Gonzalez to put this team on his back over the next couple of weeks. He was robbed of a chance at the post season last year, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if he wills this team to finish strong.

 

- Is it really possible for this pitching to continue to throw at this horrid level? It's got to normalize at some point.

[jacksonianmarch]

It doesnt have to normalize when your rotation isnt normal. Beckett has to pass his mound session before you declare him ready. And Bedard has to come back to stabilize the rotation. Right now, Wake, Miller, Lackey, and Weiland are auto-losses.

 

The Rays go to Baltimore for 3. The Sox play Toronto for 2 and get Romero in one of them while throwing Wake and Lackey. Then the sox play 4 in Boston vs the Rays while seeing Niemann, Hellickson, Shields, and Price. 2 losses are built into that series, so the best you can hope for is a split if Beckett can take the hill and Lester can avoid s***ing the bed like he did today.

 

I still think the sox win the WC, but I think that after the sox-TB series, you guys will be tied. The sox will seriously benefit from the yanks playing TB

[SoxSport]

Couple of things -

 

- Is it really possible for this pitching to continue to throw at this horrid level? It's got to normalize at some point.

 

Look at the whips. They keep throwing starters out there with 1.5 whips--they get hit.

If any of their good starters go down, they are in trouble. That's what is happening.

They have no pitching depth.

 

The organization thinks they can wild card into the playoffs on hitting, and then get lucky.

 

Pitching wins championships, not hitting. That's why the Yankees used to beat the Red Sox every time when Williams played on those good hitting teams--with Raschi, Reynolds and Lopat.

[SoxSport]

Tito panicked on Saturday when he pitched Papelbon on the road in a tied game for 2 innings' date=' so you are late.[/quote']

 

Good sign that he was awake--at least.

[iortiz]

The pitching-match-up panorama against Toronto and TB isn't encouraging at all.

 

Jacko is right there; normalize to me is when you are a 3-4.5 ERA pitcher and a couple of bad nights caught you by surprise somehow but you know that you have the abilities to come back and go through after all. This ain't the case with our pitching staff. Look at the ERA numbers of our current rotation. Miller-Weilands-Lackey-Wakefield are 6.0+ ERA pitchers.

 

We have 2 options:

1. Recover Bedard and Beckett @ full of their abilities = 3-4 ERA.

2. Avoid that Lester gets pounded early in the games and pitch at least 7 inning & hope that our offense produce those 10Rs per game more often till the end of the season, especially when Lester is not pitching.

 

That's the scenario, scary huh!

[SoxFanForsyth]

The Rays go to Baltimore for 3. The Sox play Toronto for 2 and get Romero in one of them while throwing Wake and Lackey.

 

The Sox face Morrow and Romero, both of which get absolutely crushed by the Sox. If the Sox lose either of those games, it will be a 12-10 affair.

[jacksonianmarch]

Romero just dominated the sox in Toronto