5/12 vs Canadian Bottomfeeders

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

"Careful kid, they'll break your heart"

[jung]

They certainly are not playing to what they can be. I don't know who snuck into their bedrooms one night and convinced them that they were all wearing superman suits under their unis. I suspect Jacko hired a hypnotist.

 

"Round up the usual suspects"

[jung]

Notice how quickly and effortlessly a team that was grunting, groaning and grimacing to squeeze runs out its ******* is scoring on us now...bing-bang-bong...two more runs. Now it is us on the porcelain throne grunting and groaning...trying to squeeze out runs.

 

But it can turn around for us....but not if our guys just treat this s*** like business as usual.

 

I would pinch hit the batboy for Ells! Think that might send a message?

[jung]

Bu-By Ells......I suspect that genius Gibbons had a RH pitcher out there just to make sure Ells came to the plate.

[TylerD]

"Careful kid, they'll break your heart"

 

Amen to this!!!!

 

I really don't like what I am seeing from the Sox right now. We're falling back into last year where nothing is in sync. The pitching was so absolutely terrible today, I believe if Clay or Lester was in there today we would have won. Yesterday our pitching did its part but the offense was for the most part non existent. This is getting out of control now, Tampa is next. Ugh.

[a700hitter]

How do you guys deal with that s*** when you go to Fenway? I'm telling you, I'd lose it. It's one thing to have fun, but that can't happen if you're getting your ass kicked.

In a game like this, I would have left right after the 7th inning, because my blood boils when the clueless bastards sing that stupid saccharin song. I especially get nauseated by the men singing it. I want to scream "Act like a man!!":lol:

[a700hitter]

"Careful kid, they'll break your heart"

Yep, that's right. That's why us old guys are so cyncal. It's much easier if you expect them to break your heart.

[TylerD]

Well the worst part about this hole thing is playing Tampa next. They are getting hot and we are slumping incredible fast. We usually play tough against Tampa though. This team looks like it has lost some confidence, I am still confidence In our pitching for the most part, but this team is really out of sync right now. Ugh, depressing.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Yep, that's right. That's why us old guys are so cyncal. It's much easier if you expect them to break your heart.

 

That quote is so accurate Fever Pitch is such a great movie.

 

That's why I love Red Sox fans. They've been through so much, yet a lot of them are faithful. 2004 and 2007 was nice, but dealing with 2011 and 2012 was brutal. I expect a lot more up and downs throughout my lifetime, and I'm perfectly fine with it.

[a700hitter]

That quote is so accurate Fever Pitch is such a great movie.

 

That's why I love Red Sox fans. They've been through so much, yet a lot of them are faithful. 2004 and 2007 was nice, but dealing with 2011 and 2012 was brutal. I expect a lot more up and downs throughout my lifetime, and I'm perfectly fine with it.

Oh, I recognized the quote. See my profile. I have a Fever Pitch quote in my profile.

[User Name]

This may be a good time for Farrell to go behind-closed-doors with this team.

[a700hitter]

This may be a good time for Farrell to go behind-closed-doors with this team.

To tell them that they stink?

[User Name]

To tell them that they stink?

 

Subtly, but yes. Something needs to be done to light a fire under them. When they hit, they don't pitch. When they pitch, they don't hit. If they're doing just enough to win a game, they don't catch the ball, or throw it into CF.

[jung]

Hey maybe it is a little bit of an advantage to manager and coaches to be headed into a series where they might see even better pitching. At the rate they are going a couple really good pitchers could pitch two shutouts in a row.

 

"This cannot be our approach to plate appearances going into this series guys" might be a good topic for a closed door discussion.

 

It is not like they are playing the same brand of baseball they were playing and now stink at it. They are not playing the same baseball that got them out to a zillion games over 500. They just aren't and they do not have the lineup to play this way successfully. Although now some of them have managed to develop some individual hitting problems as a consequence of screwing up their plate appearances.

 

For his part, WMB is young and needs to grow as a hitter so his issues are different. We will need to live with his issues and hope he improves.......quickly. Drew has really not hit consistently since the season started. He has been better lately but still goes through 0 for 12's and 0 for 11's etc.

 

Thank God for the Starting Pitching.

[Station 13]

last 10 game 13-for-79 (.165) RISP. That's like pitchers hitting in the NL.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

I'm guessing the game went badly?

[jung]

Badly.....BADLY!!!! It was all the usual suspects as well.

 

Granted this is not the offensive juggernaut of the championship years but when you think about the talent on this team relative to their performance that is when you have to realize they are not playing the kind of baseball they need to play to even have a chance to win games. This is not an issue of playing like s***. They are wayyyyy past that now. They are just not playing a brand of baseball that is a winner for them. To be honest there has been so many sign posts in the road that this is where they were headed.....that they were defocused away from the kind of baseball they needed to be playing.

 

All I can say is that if Ferrell does not have enough ammo to call a "hold on a minute here fellas" meeting behind closed doors at this point, I don't know what it is going to take. Even if he is able to grab them by the throat at this point I suspect it will take a bit to get this straightened out. If Ferrell does not feel compelled to do anything at this point or if they are not in the mood to be responsive then no telling when they will come around. I just hope they don't produce some monster game scoring runs all over the place playing like this cause something like that will only mask the underlying issues.

 

They have time to work this out. They don't have time for the "hey its only one game and its early still" ******** because while they are not or should not be the mess they have been the last 11-12 games, they are not the monster they were for the first 26-27 either. They have proven that they can play and compete with good pitching and a sound, patient offensive approach based on who they are, not who they think they should be. They have also proven that they are a cluster f*** playing this kind of baseball. Honestly, one of the reasons why I was not optimistic about this season was that I could not convince myself that the Sox would play the kind of baseball that this team as constructed needed to play to compete. Nobody was more surprised than I was when they came out in April and did exactly what I did not expect them to do, what I did not expect them to have the discipline to do.

 

That said I guess I should have paid more attention to the complaints out of Toronto last year about the way Ferrell handled that bullpen because that was the other surprise for me. While he must have had a very positive impact on guys like Lester and Buch and really all of the pitchers from the perspective of the empathy they must feel from him, I have been less than impressed with the way he has handled the pen so far and downright pissed off at the way he handed the 9th inning in all respects on Saturday.

[a700hitter]

Middlebrooks' hitting has been very disappointing thus far.

[a700hitter]

The pen is a mess with both Hanrahan and Bailey out. De La Torre is garbage.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Middlebrooks' hitting has been very disappointing thus far.

 

Can't stand watching him hit. He has no power, no patience, and barely getting any contact. What makes it frustrating is we know how good he can really play. Instead we get a guy struggling to hit .200.

 

 

The pen is a mess with both Hanrahan and Bailey out. De La Torre is garbage.

 

Hanrahan wasn't really doing much, but I am going to miss Bailey out the bullpen for some time. I wouldn't say the pen is a mess though, cause we still have some solid arms we can use.

[a700hitter]

Hanrahan wasn't really doing much, but I am going to miss Bailey out the bullpen for some time. I wouldn't say the pen is a mess though, cause we still have some solid arms we can use.

A healthy Hanrahan was a dominating pitcher. Batters were helpless against him. That is the pitcher that we expected. I suspect that his elbow was starting to come apart last year hence his spike in walks and poor performance at the end of 2012. Without him and Bailey the pen will be a mess. They need to get a healthy closer, or we will witness a lot of late game fiascos, and with this inconsistent offense we can't afford not to lock down late leads.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Middlebrooks' hitting has been very disappointing thus far.

 

Overall, yes. But he looks to be coming out of his slump. He's got 5 doubles in his last 4 games, and he's hitting .313 with a .958 OPS in that span.

 

I know it's an extremely SSS, but it looks like his approach is changing and he's hitting the ball with more authority to the opposite field.

[jung]

I would prefer WMB attempt to solve the issues he does have differently. If you check pitchfx he is now taking balls on the inner half or right down main st and shooting them to RF. Pitches on the inner half and pitches right down main st are not his problem. His problem pitches are low and outside headed lower and more outside. I don't want him taking middle middle pitches and pitches on the inner half and shooting them to RF unless there is a specific reason to go to RF, like hitting behind a runner. WMB takes pitches that are middle middle or on the inner half and deposits them in the parking lot over the monster in LF. I do not want to trade away HR's for opposite field hits. Besides, taking those pitches to RF does nothing to resolve the real problems that he does have.

 

What I would like to see him eventually do is foul off pitches that are strikes on the outer third of the plate or take them with less than two strikes and foul them off when he has two strikes. The point being that those are the pitches that he appears having difficulty seeing and that often end up off the plate by the time he swings at them. If he can concentrate his efforts on the inner half, he may well become one of the great mistake pitch hitters of all time. IMO he has that potential. But he won't get their until he stops swinging at pitches headed off the plate outside and/or low and outside.

 

I want him to continue to take those pitches that he has now been shooting to RF and continue to bang them off or over the wall in LF. I do not what to see him do anything to mess with that ability he has to send those pitches into the stratosphere to LF. Shooting those inner half and middle middle pitches to RF will mess with his HR stroke and will do nothing to solve the real problems that he has at the plate.

[a700hitter]

Overall, yes. But he looks to be coming out of his slump. He's got 5 doubles in his last 4 games, and he's hitting .313 with a .958 OPS in that span.

 

I know it's an extremely SSS, but it looks like his approach is changing and he's hitting the ball with more authority to the opposite field.

I am not seeing any consistent improvement from him. He has a good AB or 2 and then he looks awful for a couple of games.

[SoxFanForsyth]

I am not seeing any consistent improvement from him. He has a good AB or 2 and then he looks awful for a couple of games.

 

He's had multiple hits in 3 of his last 4 games. He's certainly not back to being himself, but it's a far cry from the 5 for 54 stretch he went on during April.