9/17 Red Sox vs. Rays

[SoxFanForsyth]

Is there any more doubts that this team deserve to be out of the playoffs?

 

Like I said before. Give a team (Rays) a chance to win it all.

 

Red Sox ain't going anywhere.

 

Rays deserve it more. Coming from like 9 and a half games back to almost at the brink of overtaking the Sox.

 

I hope Sox lose their remaining games just cause.

 

All you're doing is putting more emphasis on the final 25 games than the first 137. You can't say the Sox don't deserve it just because of a bad streak. A horrid streak, sure, but they played the hell out of some baseball for the past few months.

 

Regardless, I have a very good feeling about tomorrow's game for some reason. If the Sox win tomorrow, everything is fine, and I have a strong feeling that they are going to win. We'll see if that feeling really means anything.

[iortiz]

All you're doing is putting more emphasis on the final 25 games than the first 137. You can't say the Sox don't deserve it just because of a bad streak. A horrid streak, sure, but they played the hell out of some baseball for the past few months.

 

Regardless, I have a very good feeling about tomorrow's game for some reason. If the Sox win tomorrow, everything is fine, and I have a strong feeling that they are going to win. We'll see if that feeling really means anything.

 

Not sure but I think that he is referring at how these teams could face the POs and which one would have better possibilities once there. If that were the case, seems like TB could be better once there but we'll see.

 

Hope that the RS after all make the POs and once there you never know.

[a700hitter]

This team is mentally devastated and that is what worries me the most.

 

Grand part of this issue is of course charged to the pitching, but especially to the fact that every single game our SPs s*** the bed early. Their incompetence is taxing our offense.

 

Our pitching depth urgently needs to be reconstructed from its foundations. We can't continue living only with Beckett/Lester/Buch.

There was very little life in the ballpark today. Except for the 5 little kids who would have been just as enthusiastic if the Sox were in last place, the place was surprisingly unenthusiastic and apathetic. Idon't know if it is because the fans see the collapse coming and they are a little stunned or because there are so many pink hats at the game, or a combination. There just wasn't a good vibe in the place. It was like 37,000 people really didn't care that much about the game.

 

I am sick of Lester's first inning BS.

[a700hitter]

We have to hope that the reverse lock theory is in effect with Price going against Old Man River tomorrow. It looks like a 2 game lead going into the 10 games. It's not looking very promising.

[a700hitter]

Condition of Red Sox called into question

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

 

That's what ESPN's Buster Olney put on Twitter earlier this evening. It's a pretty damning statement given that Buster is well-connected within the game and not the kind of reporter who throws things out there for the sake of a headline.

 

It's hard to disagree with that perception. The Red Sox seem to have suffered an inordinate amount of injuries over the last two years and many of them could perhaps be traced to poor conditioning. The Sox also have a number of prominent players — David Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis — who are excellent baseball players but don't look like decathletes. All three of those guys were All-Stars this year and two of them will receive MVP votes

 

Dave Page is the strength and conditioning coach and has been for six seasons. He was there in 2007 when the Sox seemed in perfectly fine condition to lift a big trophy. Page won the Nolan Ryan Award that season as the best strength and conditioning coach in the game.

 

Professional athletes aren't horses or dogs who can be worked into shape whether they like it or not, they're grown men who decide what they will do and how far they'll take it. Page can't lift the weights or do the sprints for them. Strength coaches are there to make sure players work out properly, they're not there to roll them out of bed.

 

I can tell you this from being around the team: There are certain guys who bust their asses every day and there are certain guys who don't. It's like that on every team. Jonathan Papelbon looks like a linebacker this year and Alfredo Aceves has probably dropped 35 pounds since he played for the Yankees. Carl Crawford works out like a fiend. Jacoby Ellsbury is ripped, too.

 

But the Sox also have an old team and old players tend to be slow and less athletic. Throw in of-injured players like J.D. Drew, Erik Bedard and Jed Lowrie and the perception can spread pretty quickly that the Sox are in bad shape.

 

If the Red Sox were 12-4 this month instead of 4-12, this would never come up. But losing raises questions and everything is fair game.

If the Sox do not get to the post season, every aspect of the teams management will be dissected and torn to shreds by the press and deservedly so.

[iortiz]

There was very little life in the ballpark today. Except for the 5 little kids who would have been just as enthusiastic if the Sox were in last place, the place was surprisingly unenthusiastic and apathetic. Idon't know if it is because the fans see the collapse coming and they are a little stunned or because there are so many pink hats at the game, or a combination. There just wasn't a good vibe in the place. It was like 37,000 people really didn't care that much about the game.

 

I am sick of Lester's first inning BS.

 

Great to hear that you were there my friend despite the loss.

 

Tomorrow the table is set for TB. We'll see.

[iortiz]

If the Sox do not get to the post season' date=' every aspect of the teams management will be dissected and torn to shreds by the press and deservedly so.[/quote']

 

Agree.

 

As I said and still saying, OUR INJURIES ARE NOT A COINCIDENCE and mostly in back to back seasons. Questions will be asked, you bet.

[SoxSport]

I first broached the idea of poor conditoning last year as a possible reason for so many injuries. And I have continued that theme this year.

 

You think those media types don't read our posts? Damn right they do. And more power to them. It's good to see that our ideas have some impact with them. After all, we are the fan's voice--at least to them. And they do listen.

 

Now, what they have to do is go after the Red Sox management. Something they are reluctant to do.

[SoxSport]

Abraham says "Professional athletes aren't horses and dogs who can be worked into shape whether they like it or not...."

 

 

Disagree with that. First of all, race horses ARE athletes: they need conditioning, they have their ups and downs (that tells the trainer they need a rest),and they have their soundness and injury problems.

 

Whether an athlete stays in conditioning is up to the management--and the tone that is set for the team. If conditioning is left up to the players, especially those with little contract incentive, then some of those players will cheat. My impression is that is the case with the Red Sox. Francona is an easy going guy, hardly a Belichick. The team needs a tougher manager who will make sure these guys get in shape in spring training and are ready to play a season--which they were not this year.

 

It's not a question of "liking it or not". This is the real world--not fantasy.

[yeszir]

There was very little life in the ballpark today. Except for the 5 little kids who would have been just as enthusiastic if the Sox were in last place, the place was surprisingly unenthusiastic and apathetic. Idon't know if it is because the fans see the collapse coming and they are a little stunned or because there are so many pink hats at the game, or a combination. There just wasn't a good vibe in the place. It was like 37,000 people really didn't care that much about the game.

 

I am sick of Lester's first inning BS.

 

I don't think so. I was there and there seemed to be just as much energy as there was during games I went to earlier in the season.