06/04 Vs Joe Mauer's shattered remains

[Northern Star]

The fundamentals of this team are terrible. My mojo cannot overcome that.

 

I'll ask again. How do so many players make it as far as the majors when they butcher fundamentals?

[jad]

Thanks. SBF was beginning to give being an old fart a bad name.

[SoxHop]

The fundamentals of this team are terrible. My mojo cannot overcome that.

 

I almost find myself not blaming the coaching staff on this. At this point in a players career, you either have it or don't. I look at Hanley, and I think no matter how much you coach him, he will never do the fundamentals well. I think when we picked him up, we knew what he was.

 

Did anyone see Hanley play short? That must have been an adventure....

[jad]

I almost find myself not blaming the coaching staff on this. At this point in a players career, you either have it or don't. I look at Hanley, and I think no matter how much you coach him, he will never do the fundamentals well. I think when we picked him up, we knew what he was.

 

Did anyone see Hanley play short? That must have been an adventure....

 

Only the famous play last year where, after misplaying a ball, he refused to hustle after it because (employing the logic of Ray Lewis, I suppose) it might hurt his street cred.

[SoxHop]

Thanks. SBF was beginning to give being an old fart a bad name.

 

 

that guys cheese must have slid off his cracker a long time ago....

[pruneface]

A Modest Proposal.

 

Kilkenny isn’t famous for just beer; it can also lay claim as the birthplace of Jonathan Swift, the famous Irish author and political commentator. Years ago, he came up with a modest proposal to alleviate suffering during the Irish famine: eat babies. Cure hunger and reduce population in one shot. Many people confused this work of satire for genuine advice, which shouldn’t be a surprise given how modern society considers Gulliver’s Travels a children’s story. As such, quite a few people adopted the measure with mixed results.

 

My own modest proposal concerns the sorry state of mediocrity the Sox find themselves in. The problem is they're boring. Neither good nor dreadful, they have no flair, no pizz-pazz, no identity; they’re merely a forgettable collection of underachievers already effaced from the history books before they’ve even been written. Seeing how attempts at fielding a winning team haven’t worked, I propose steps in the opposite direction: try fielding the shittiest team possible.

 

It should be infinitely easier than assembling a winner, but effort is still involved. The team must be so bad as to be indelible. They should inspire monuments to be erected in their dishonor. Scour the beer leagues for the fattest drunk to be the ace of the staff. Pilfer the sickliest patients from hospital wards. Scout old age homes. Select only the most down-on-their luck homeless people. Be sure to include nauseating baseball scribes. They’d have to change their underwear each half inning, that’s how excited they’d be. Recruit scrawny librarians, solicit people with heart conditions, the blind, the paralyzed, the amputated. The only limit is your imagination.

 

Imagine the fun that would result. At any given moment, a player might drop dead. The suspense would be intolerable. Shaughnessy would s*** his pants and cry like a baby after getting beaned and retired players like David Ortiz could write mean things about him in the Globe. The act of ‘hoping’ would find its proper milieu in despair. As the losses mounted, SeabeachFred could command a subscription fee for access to his diatribes that, for once, would be justified. Fans could take solace in witnessing a group of millionaires actually worse off than they are. And what if they won a game? It would eclipse the accomplishments of the WS champions for that year.

[SoxHop]

So I'm watching the 9th inning because I want to see what went wrong and I'm a masochist.

 

Swihart plays that ball like a panther..... then throws low....... Sandoval should have had it.......

 

Koji's splitter not dipping at all. Can't say it was his fault...... but he wasn't dominant..... and he wasn't dominant against Texas.....

 

I wish Hanley got as pissed off at himself as he does in the batters box when he does something wrong, as when he does something wrong in the field. I in no way think transitioning to an outfield position in the MLB is easy. But if I was Farrell, I would have a long talk to Hanley about what a complete player is, and what makes a great player, and how to help the team. (this is my caveat, I am taking a rather large dislike to Hanley and may talk s*** excessively about him to the point where I seem obsessed. Please internet slap me if you find I do that. But I'm really not liking him much)

 

On a positive note........

 

We just threatened a streaking hot first place team and made them s*** their pants....... and the Sox are seriously looking way better than they did a few weeks ago. Now we may be talking about breaking out of the funk up until game 161, but the play lately, the hitting lately, the pitching lately....... had been at least promising....

 

I'm a dreamer...

[SoxHop]

A Modest Proposal.

 

Kilkenny isn’t famous for just beer; it can also lay claim as the birthplace of Jonathan Swift, the famous Irish author and political commentator. Years ago, he came up with a modest proposal to alleviate suffering during the Irish famine: eat babies. Cure hunger and reduce population in one shot. Many people confused this work of satire for genuine advice, which shouldn’t be a surprise given how modern society considers Gulliver’s Travels a children’s story. As such, quite a few people adopted the measure with mixed results.

 

My own modest proposal concerns the sorry state of mediocrity the Sox find themselves in. The problem is they're boring. Neither good nor dreadful, they have no flair, no pizz-pazz, no identity; they’re merely a forgettable collection of underachievers already effaced from the history books before they’ve even been written. Seeing how attempts at fielding a winning team haven’t worked, I propose steps in the opposite direction: try fielding the shittiest team possible.

 

It should be infinitely easier than assembling a winner, but effort is still involved. The team must be so bad as to be indelible. They should inspire monuments to be erected in their dishonor. Scour the beer leagues for the fattest drunk to be the ace of the staff. Pilfer the sickliest patients from hospital wards. Scout old age homes. Select only the most down-on-their luck homeless people. Be sure to include nauseating baseball scribes. They’d have to change their underwear each half inning, that’s how excited they’d be. Recruit scrawny librarians, solicit people with heart conditions, the blind, the paralyzed, the amputated. The only limit is your imagination.

 

Imagine the fun that would result. At any given moment, a player might drop dead. The suspense would be intolerable. Shaughnessy would s*** his pants and cry like a baby after getting beaned and retired players like David Ortiz could write mean things about him in the Globe. The act of ‘hoping’ would find its proper milieu in despair. As the losses mounted, SeabeachFred could command a subscription fee for access to his diatribes that, for once, would be justified. Fans could take solace in witnessing a group of millionaires actually worse off than they are. And what if they won a game? It would eclipse the accomplishments of the WS champions for that year.

 

ahahah....... why not.

 

I'm all in.

 

Let's just hire the Jamaican bob-sled team and DFA our current team.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

I think it's about time to blow it up, move the people you can realistically move, and line the team with prospects in their place. Fire Farrell and the coaches too.

[User Name]

Chili needs to go.

[SoxHop]

This is crazy, but I actually feel more confident about this team than I did a few weeks ago. (succeeding in the weak ALE)

 

We need a solid bullpen arm.

 

We score less than 2 runs sometimes now, compared to every stinking game.

 

The starting pitching is solid if it keeps going like this. Wright is exactly what we needed depending on offense getting going. E-Rod is exactly what we needed.

 

The D was a s*** show today...... and tough to swallow.......

 

I'm hanging in a couple more weeks before flying the white flag.....

Edited June 5, 2015 by SoxHop

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

It's pretty clear that Farrell has lost the clubhouse and that his coaches are incompetent. Based on things I've seen from and read on him, Farrell strikes me as being similar to Scott Skiles in the NBA; he'll get a team to do very well at first, but he has a domineering, overly intense personality that wears thin quickly (especially in baseball, where seasons are marathons) and will lead to him being ousted after a few seasons for poor performance as a result of the team tuning him out.

[cp176]

I hope that the Red Sox front office did their due diligence with respect to the 2 field player acquisitions that were made this off season. Attitude and your overall approach to things counts for a lot. There is a lot more that goes in to a winner than being able to hit a baseball.

[jad]

I hope that the Red Sox front office did their due diligence with respect to the 2 field player acquisitions that were made this off season. Attitude and your overall approach to things counts for a lot. There is a lot more that goes in to a winner than being able to hit a baseball.

 

Maybe. But why would anyone assume they took the care required to vet cheap players like this, when they obviously didn't bother on the expensive ones they acquired over the winter?

[User Name]

Panda was just a terrible signing all-around. This team would be much better off with a platoon in left and Hanley in 3B, where his defense was far from terrible, and his bat would be in the lineup.

[mvp 78]

Yup, that was the move I questioned all offseason too. The pitching moves made sense. Signing two 3b's didn't.

[redsoxrules]

Panda -0.3 WAR

WMB 0.7 WAR

 

Terrible. It's only been 2 months so I hope he turns it around

[mvp 78]

Smells like an ownership "bring stars here for ratings" signing.

[SoxnCycles]

Smells like an ownership "bring stars here for ratings" signing.

 

If that's the case, it was the wrong reason.

 

You'd think they learned their lesson with the 2010 off season orgy.

[Spudboy]

Panda was just a terrible signing all-around. This team would be much better off with a platoon in left and Hanley in 3B, where his defense was far from terrible, and his bat would be in the lineup.

 

Amen to that.

[wyo-sox]

While the Panda signing does not look good right now, don't you all think the issues with this team are much much bigger than one or two signings? There does not seem to be much intensity, focus, drive, etc... on this team from top to bottom. As bad as Panda appears... SF managed to win more than one world series with him. As bad as Ramirez appears the Dodgers managed to win 86, 92, and 94 games with him the last few years. This is an organizational cultural issue, not a player here or there issue. Edited June 5, 2015 by wyo-sox

[Bellhorn04]

If that's the case, it was the wrong reason.

 

You'd think they learned their lesson with the 2010 off season orgy.

 

But they didn't.

[SoxnCycles]

I'm really hoping Pablo's fielding yips are just a temporary thing, but he's starting to look like the ghost of Edgar Renteria.

[BigPapi]

While the Panda signing does not look good right now, don't you all think the issues with this team are much much bigger than one or two signings? There does not seem to be much intensity, focus, drive, etc... on this team from top to bottom. As bad as Panda appears... SF managed to win more than one world series with him. As bad as Ramirez appears the Dodgers managed to win 86, 92, and 94 games with him the last few years. This is an organizational cultural issue, not a player here or there issue.

 

 

Only thing I blame on pablo right now is his bad defense lately. Other than that it's all on the sox. He's actually not performing too much worse than he was at this time last year offesnively. Anyone who thought he would be a 25 hr guy with an ops in the 800s like he was 4 years ago was just fooling themselves. He's a solid, above average hitter who has shown to be a real difference maker in the playoffs. Unfortunately if you don't make the playoffs, he doesn't seem too spectacular.

[User Name]

Smells like an ownership "bring stars here for ratings" signing.

 

That's what I was thinking too. Apparently they have not learned their lesson yet.

[gojohn99]

Good one.. maybe Panda is one of those guys not suited for Boston.

 

I'm really hoping Pablo's fielding yips are just a temporary thing, but he's starting to look like the ghost of Edgar Renteria.