Red Sox (Gray) vs Yankees (Fried): 9/30/26, 8:00pm

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

4 minutes ago, Cole67 said:

They didn't choke, they aren't good. In fact, you could say the same for the entire league. Baseball has changed to the point that it's not really baseball anymore. No more science to the game. What happened to real lead-off hitters, guys who can actually work the count and get on base? The hit and run, players that can bunt, or hit the other way and move the runner along? How about a few more stolen bases. Everybody steps to the plate trying to hit the ball out. They're all pull hitters. Rob Deere, who barely hit over 200 (if he did), would make millions in whatever the game is today. And what exactly is the managers role? I don't know exactly how many players hit over 300, just know it wasn't a lot. Six, maybe seven? That's disgraceful. 

What have the owners done to the game I used to love? If it were real baseball, guys like Jones (and their are a lot of guys just like him), would be in some other line of work. It costs a lot of money (parking, tickets, concessions) to watch players who are unable to hit their weight stumble around the ballpark for nine innings. I would argue that the time spent watching this for free in front of the television is to expensive. Unless of course you have trouble sleeping. Just the fact that the owners are cool paying for whatever this is, should tell us that they don't really give a rats @zz about the fans, or winning or losing. Maybe the whole idea is to get the fans inside the ballpark, and then get them out as soon as possible. 

Baseball really needs a boycott.

The real problem, IMHO, like I've posted before, is that there's too many teams and not enough Big Show talent. But quantity of money will always beat out quality of product.

[FredLynn]

14 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Well, thank you game threaders for another fine season of posting, and for providing some entertainment even when the team doesn't.

You’re welcome 😬

[Cole67]

9 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

The real problem, IMHO, like I've posted before, is that there's too many teams and not enough Big Show talent. But quantity of money will always beat out quality of product.

I agree, that's a problem as well. Two many teams does water down the talent. But everything I originally said is true as well. 

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, Cole67 said:

I agree, that's a problem as well. Two many teams does water down the talent. But everything I originally said is true as well. 

I wasn't disagreeing with you. Your points are well taken. However, boycotts will never happen, which I'm sure you know. 

It'll be interesting to see how long the lockdown lasts next season. Because it's about money, it'll probably last a while.

[Cole67]

2 hours ago, FredLynn said:

The pitching has been excellent all year. This year is proof that pitching and defense only carries a team so far. You still need to be able to hit the baseball 

Pitching has been excellent, because the entire league has been hijacked by a league of mediocre hitters who are up their trying to hit every pitch out of the park. You need a few guys who can hit the ball out, but you also need players who can get on base. Most of the time, hitters are at the plate helping the pitcher out by swinging at bad pitches. Don't believe me, just look at the averages. Jones is hitting 206, and was the lead-off hitter. I don't know about you, but to me, that's not major league baseball. 

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 hour ago, Bagwell Anderson said:

This 2 game performance could not have d gone any worse for Tracy. Terrible line up decisions.  Mis management of the starters and a complete wrecking ball with the pen. 

But other than that he was ok.

[Cole67]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

I wasn't disagreeing with you. Your points are well taken. However, boycotts will never happen, which I'm sure you know. 

It'll be interesting to see how long the lockdown lasts next season. Because it's about money, it'll probably last a while.

I know you weren't. It's a message board, fans are allowed to have their own opinions. :-)

And I know the fans won't boycott, but I really wish they would. If anybody should be striking it's us. I do think attendance has been down in a lot of cities, but how cool would it be if the fans just realized that they are the ones in control, and decided to just stay home because they no longer wanted to help support a poorly built baseball team? The owners would have to come to us and listen to our demands. I would love to speak up on behalf of the fans. 

[FredLynn]

24 minutes ago, Cole67 said:

Pitching has been excellent, because the entire league has been hijacked by a league of mediocre hitters who are up their trying to hit every pitch out of the park. You need a few guys who can hit the ball out, but you also need players who can get on base. Most of the time, hitters are at the plate helping the pitcher out by swinging at bad pitches. Don't believe me, just look at the averages. Jones is hitting 206, and was the lead-off hitter. I don't know about you, but to me, that's not major league baseball. 

The pitching was excellent all year compared to the other teams. Last I checked the Flops team ERA was 2nd in the AL and the pen was best in baseball. Those figures could be a bit different as I haven’t checked for a while. You can’t judge pitching in a vacuum.

The glaring weakness was always hitting. Everyone knew about it over the winter. It wasn’t fixed. 

[a700hitter]

Put the interim tag back on Tracey and fire him.  He takes out his horses in the 5th instead of riding them until his offense can put up some runs.  It’s just plain stupid.   

[Randy Red Sox]

3 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

I wonder how many teams that made the PO's had to have a rebuilding period the following season? There's no question this team needs to be rebuilt.

havent even looked at the FA market due to both the impending lockout and the Sox reluctance to go all in on any of the top FA's even though they will say they are in on several of them. I see them letting Gray walk and looking for the next Sandavol, Fullmer, Richards type P coming off TJ or similar injuries or else trading a couple more of our top prospects other than Arias if we actually have any left with any real value.

i see us letting go of a few of the AAAA players we currently have and replacing them with similar types.  Rinse and repeat--we've been watching this for several years now.  This series was an insult--just pathetic all around.. 

[Randy Red Sox]

26 minutes ago, a700hitter said:

Put the interim tag back on Tracey and fire him.  He takes out his horses in the 5th instead of riding them until his offense can put up some runs.  It’s just plain stupid.   

Gray was at 70 pitches i believe.  i bet he was thrilled.

[Randy Red Sox]

1 hour ago, FredLynn said:

The pitching was excellent all year compared to the other teams. Last I checked the Flops team ERA was 2nd in the AL and the pen was best in baseball. Those figures could be a bit different as I haven’t checked for a while. You can’t judge pitching in a vacuum.

The glaring weakness was always hitting. Everyone knew about it over the winter. It wasn’t fixed. 

and it likely won't be fixed this offseason either

[FredLynn]

13 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

havent even looked at the FA market due to both the impending lockout and the Sox reluctance to go all in on any of the top FA's even though they will say they are in on several of them. I see them letting Gray walk and looking for the next Sandavol, Fullmer, Richards type P coming off TJ or similar injuries or else trading a couple more of our top prospects other than Arias if we actually have any left with any real value.

i see us letting go of a few of the AAAA players we currently have and replacing them with similar types.  Rinse and repeat--we've been watching this for several years now.  This series was an insult--just pathetic all around.. 

Exactly. I’ve been saying this all year. I don’t think the owners will spend much on talent and our GM isn’t smart enough to find good offensive talent in sufficient numbers. We will likely be even worse next year.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Tracy managed to lose. I've never seen worse managing in a PO series.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

My last post of this 2026 season is Fk RA!

[oldtimer]

Congratulations to the Sox for making the wild card and giving the fans some hope. Our pitching was generally quite good but our offense was not competitive toward the close of the season. Pitching has become dominant these days as starters go shorter intervals and a hitter faces more pitchers per game. Still, I agree that the talent has been watered down. Maybe we can take a step next  season. That's the old refrain I know but hope spring eternal.

[Old Red]

Start spreading the news.

The Red Sox lose

Who was responsible for it.

NEW YORK NEW YORK.

 

The old saying of what payback is was doubled, and tripled, and then some for the Yankees. That sweep against the Yankees while so good at the time was a long, long time ago, which rings pretty hollow now.

[Old Red]

Tracy, and bresLOW really distinguished themselves in this series which extinguished the season. NOchet shouldn’t have even of been on the playoff roster. Did he talk himself on to it. NOman little Anthony shouldn’t have been on the playoff roster. His feeble attempts in his two AB said it all. Did he look like he even wanted to swing a bat? Miller Time not once, but twice brought into a 1-0 game when he had no business being anywhere near those two situations. What did Tracy see in Miller the last two weeks that made him think Miller warranted those situations, and was a better option than leaving Gray, or the Toll Man in the game, or should I say what Geek, or nerd made that situation for him? The front page of the Globe said it best. From feeble chirps this brief attempt at the playoff run was DOWNRIGHT EMBARRASSING.

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

I'm glad they lost last night so I don't have to watch this team anymore.  That was the worst lineup for a playoff team I've ever seen. They don't need a bat they need 5 bats.  They were never going to win this series with Cole on deck. Raffy is no longer with us.  

But looking back the season was somewhat of a success. They did exactly what I thought they would do in April, make the playoffs but never had a chance when there.  But there were a lot of positives.  They build a really good pitching staff with a few young pitchers to get excited about. They went from one of the worst defensive teams to one of the best.  Yeah that's it, that's the list.  And with the lockout I don't plan on seeing them again for a long time.  I'm not convinced there will be a 2026 season, this is a really tough negotiation.  

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, oldtimer said:

Congratulations to the Sox for making the wild card and giving the fans some hope. Our pitching was generally quite good but our offense was not competitive toward the close of the season. Pitching has become dominant these days as starters go shorter intervals and a hitter faces more pitchers per game. Still, I agree that the talent has been watered down. Maybe we can take a step next  season. That's the old refrain I know but hope spring eternal.

Having a winning season, and getting into the postseason should be the goal of every team every year, and the Red Sox just accomplished that, but let’s not pop the champagne corks like the Red Sox did just for getting in. A pretty low bar was set after the 22-24 seasons. What the Red Sox just put on the field starting with NOman little Anthony was a pretty feeble attempt to go anymore than two games, which is what they did.

[NHNative]

9 hours ago, vegasbob said:

You are naive 

Possibly.

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, NHNative said:

Possibly.

We're all allowed to be as optimistic or pessimistic as we please.  It has no impact on the team's performance either way.  🙂

[NHNative]

1 minute ago, Bellhorn04 said:

We're all allowed to be as optimistic or pessimistic as we please.  It has no impact on the team's performance either way.  🙂

Of course. Its a great game and Red Sox fans are too.

[mvp 78]

6 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

havent even looked at the FA market

It's bad.

[mvp 78]

Sox tried relying on injured players coming back healthy to get them through a playoff run. They predictably faceplanted. 

We saw it all September. They were the walking wounded. They couldn't hit a lick. The season was on borrowed time. Blaming Tracy for them losing is just cope. They were going to lose no matter how it was managed. 

[jad]

9 hours ago, Cole67 said:

They didn't choke, they aren't good. In fact, you could say the same for the entire league. Baseball has changed to the point that it's not really baseball anymore. No more science to the game. What happened to real lead-off hitters, guys who can actually work the count and get on base? The hit and run, players that can bunt, or hit the other way and move the runner along? How about a few more stolen bases. Everybody steps to the plate trying to hit the ball out. They're all pull hitters. Rob Deere, who barely hit over 200 (if he did), would make millions in whatever the game is today. And what exactly is the managers role? I don't know exactly how many players hit over 300, just know it wasn't a lot. Six, maybe seven? That's disgraceful. 

What have the owners done to the game I used to love? If it were real baseball, guys like Jones (and their are a lot of guys just like him), would be in some other line of work. It costs a lot of money (parking, tickets, concessions) to watch players who are unable to hit their weight stumble around the ballpark for nine innings. I would argue that the time spent watching this for free in front of the television is to expensive. Unless of course you have trouble sleeping. Just the fact that the owners are cool paying for whatever this is, should tell us that they don't really give a rats @zz about the fans, or winning or losing. Maybe the whole idea is to get the fans inside the ballpark, and then get them out as soon as possible. 

Baseball really needs a boycott.

I think somebody just stepped on your lawn.

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Sox tried relying on injured players coming back healthy to get them through a playoff run. They predictably faceplanted. 

We saw it all September. They were the walking wounded. They couldn't hit a lick. The season was on borrowed time. Blaming Tracy for them losing is just cope. They were going to lose no matter how it was managed. 

Tracy embrASSed himself, and that you can blame on him. If you think bringing Miller into the game both nights down only 1-0 was the best move then here’s your sign. Those moves were either geeks, and nerds, or a little League manager IMO. going to loose no matter how they were managed is a different argument all together. Tracy got roasted, and toasted on the airwaves yesterday, and he’s gotten roasted, and toasted already this morning, and that’s not going to stop for a long time.

 

[mvp 78]

14 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Tracy got roasted, and toasted on the airwaves yesterday, and he’s gotten roasted, and toasted already this morning, and that’s not going to stop for a long time.

Those people on the airwaves know even less ball than the people who thought bringing in injured players to win a postseason series was going to work.

[illinoisredsox]

Bottom line, they scored 2 runs in 2 games.  At least in the modern era, I’m only aware of one team that has won consecutive postseason games scoring 2 runs.  The Orioles pulled it off in games 3 and 4 of the 1966 World Series, winning a pair of 1-0 games to complete a sweep of the Dodgers.

Forget getting a hit with RISP, the Sox never got a hit with a man on base the entire series.  Think about that.  The only guys who touched 3rd base were Contreras and Sogard on the homers.  I think Eaton and Story were the only other guys to touch 2nd.  It wouldn’t have mattered how Tracy managed the pen, 

[Cole67]

27 minutes ago, jad said:

I think somebody just stepped on your lawn.

No, my lawns fine. The game on the other hand is a mess.