joe

I will have to say Amen to that. Adam Stern is clearly not ready to play in the majors. I believe he belongs to AA at best. Red Sox is a world champ team, and quite honestly, to stay competitive, they do not have time for baby-sitting.

Teams that have bad managers will lose winnable games. Issue1: Question1: Why did we hate Grady Little? Answer: Because he did not take tiring Martinez out of the game, and we lost that game. Question2: Why did Francona keep tiring Wells in the game in the 6th inning where he allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, and bases were loaded? Even the conservative “Jerry Remy” did not like it! Question3: How many times did he do this same idiocy this year? Issue2: Why did Francona replace Millar with Stern in the 8th? Stern is not a fast runner (he is no Dave Roberts!), and not a good hitter (bat Ave .154), and has not matured yet. When the score is tied, and we are late in the game, good managers do not replace their veteran regulars with kids like Stern, and put Stern in situations where he will fail, and make the team lose. There are situations where it will be OK for the manager to take his veterans out of the game though. For example if the team is up by 5 runs. Question4: Will Francona ever learn from his stupid mistakes? Answer: No. I do not believe so! Idiots never learn from their mistakes, and this is why they eventually get fired.

I would not blame this loss on Trot or Schilling. I would blame it on Francona’s poor managing of the game. Basic baseball coaching rule: “Whenever the starting pitcher exits a game, he creates a defensive gap (or weakness), which means the manager must make the defensive moves to counter this gap”. Wells exited the game at the top of the 7th, so why Millar was still in the game at the bottom of the 7th? Olerud was ready! It all started when Millar could not handle an easy throw in the 7th. That same runner scored! The score was tied. I’ll tell why he kept Millar: Millar was due to bat in the 8th. He was 0-3 with two strikeouts, and Francona wanted to give him a chance to bat. Millar batted and got another strikeout (as expected) and was 0-4. Francona likes to please Millar. This is not the way to coach. Good managers stick with the fundamentals.

Francona got free ride to the World Series. It was Theo, and the "idiots" who got us there. And, no I am not a Yank fan. However, I must admit that I would rather see Joe Torre managing the Sox.

Good managers do not win games by "good faith", they win by making good scientific decisions. It was very clear that Wakefield was tired. A good manager would have taken him out. No room for wishful thinking. NO I do not want Grady Little although I think Francona is worse than Little! I would rather see smart manager.

What did Francona do wrong today?? Very simple: Wakefield’s pitch count over 100. 1 on base 2nd on base Home run 1 on base 2nd on base another home run Finally, Francona took him out!

Every time I say that we lose games because of Francona’s idiocy, I get nasty responses from Sox fans. Tonight was a good example of his “idiocy in action”. It is not bad to make bad decisions, but it is very ugly to keep repeating them, and never learn anything from them! His idiocy was the reason why the Philly’s hated his gut, and flattened his tires!!!!! As I said before, I no longer enjoy watching any Sox game because of him!

This is the Red Sox’s perfect storm: pitchers, bullpen, and hitters are all in or near a slump. This will not last for too long. 1-Manny has been in a slump for a while. Manny has not been playing the “Manny’s way”. He has been wasting his time watching videos, and replays (trying to be too cute) instead of practicing and I suspect this had something to do with his low batting average this year. 2-Olerud, Bellhorn and Foulke are all injured! 3-Theo had made the mistake of picking up guys who can’t hit: Stern(had only one ML hit), Corra(bat = .206), and Kapler(bat= .150). My viewpoint is: If a batter can’t hit better than .240, I would rather not see him in a Red Sox uniform! I hope Theo will make wise mid-season trades. 4-I really can’t blame Millar for this slump (he was good during Yanks series).

I agree 100% with this post. Tito does not have the skills to be a manager. It is just a matter of “when” not “if” he is going to be an ex-manager of the Red Sox. I agree that keeping Embree into the 8th inning was a mistake, especially that the bullpen had three days of rest. “Schilling as closer” this is very exciting for fans and media, but any smart manager will find it stupid to send a pitcher with an ERA of over 8.xx to the mound in the 9th inning against the Yankees best batters in a tie game! In my opinion, since June 29th, the Red Sox had lost 5 games because of Tito’s idiocy. I have reached a point, where I no longer enjoy watching any Red Sox game because I am tired of watching Tito’s stupidity in action. Theo, please, please, please, do not extend his contract!!!

I will always pick Olerud over Millar. Only a dull manager (sorry Tito) will pick Millar over Olerud!

Foulke had 2 blown saves in less than one week. After the first blown save Tito told reporters that Foulke is a lot healthier today, than he was all of last year. Yet, shortly after the second blown save we "suddenly and mysteriously" started to hear about knee issues! I do NOT believe all this crap! I believe Theo has decided to get rid of Foulke, and this is just a marketing scheme. The message that Theo wants to deliver to other teams is: " Foulke is an excellent closer, the reason he has not performed well is because he has minor knee issues. So come on and grab him" joe,

Francona is the player's manager. He likes to please his players because he is a survivalist! A- Millar complained about not getting enough playing time ------Mientkiewicz started playing late innings only! B- Payton complained about not getting enough playing time ------Nixon now plays occasionally, and does not face left handed pitchers. Tito needs to learn that he does not have to please everyone to survive!!! He needs to put the interest of the team above the desires of “loud speaking” individual players. Joe, Boston, Mass

I disagree that playing 2nd is that hard. Anyway when 1st base is unoccupied the 1st baseman’s position is almost half way between 1st and 2nd. When 1st base is occupied the 2nd baseman moves to (almost) that position, and instead of receiving the ball he delivers it either to 1st or to 2nd. Infielders do not run as much as outfielders do! If Youkilis could play at 2nd and 3rd don’t tell me Millar cant play at 2nd! I am not saying Millar should be the second baseman, I am just suggesting that he could replace Bellhorn late in the game. Olerud should be the 1st baseman. The other issue: The reason I said Renteria should bat 6th is to take some pressure off him until he is comfortable playing at Fenway. Making him bat 2nd with Ortiz, and Ramirez coming to bat after him in Fenway Park is too much pressure to handle. I suspect this is the reason why he is not batting as well as he used to be.

FYI: I know his name. Even if I don't it will take me few seconds to get it! I did not want to mention his name because I disliked him last year, I still dislike him this year, and he is one of the reasons I dislike Tito. Also, He was a Yankee player and a big Yankee fan for a while. If you read a post just to criticize it, you will make wrong conclusions.

1-Oh I am sorry I forgot to put “a” before “starter” and “closer”. I do not proof read when I write to adults. 2-“Payton as Nixon's replace”: means if Nixon is not playing, then use Payton. It does not mean you take Nixon out and replace him with Payton! 3-Using Miller as (a) closer is just temporary until (a) closer is found. If he can’t take care of 2-3 outs every other day, then get rid of him. Arroyo is (a) better starter than him. 4-Millar is very smart guy, and can be trained to play second. I just wanted to give him more playing time and give less playing time to Bellhorn (tired of his strike outs!), and yes he is kind of overweight, but note that Ortiz is doing good job on 1st! I do not believe playing 2nd is rocket science. 5-Francona has made many errors in the past. On scale of 1(worst)-10(best) I give him 4 because I must admit: he works very hard. 6-I looked back at my previous post, but could not find any reason why some are so hostile! In forums you should always expect to hear different ideas, and opinions. You need not trash others who differ with you. If you do, then you do not belong to forums. Thanks.

I do not blame Foulke for losing that game. I blame his manager. We all knew that Foulke has been struggling all year long. He came in the 8th and showed us his stuff. We did not like it. However, apparently his manager did like it, that is why he brought him back in the 9th, and did not bother to ask Halama or Embree to warm up during the bottom of the 8th. Don’t blame Foulke for the loss. Blame his manager for it!!! Joe's wish list: I would rather see the followings gone from RedSox: Francona, Embree, Vazquez, Shoppach, Foulke, 3rd baseman coach. Replacements/changes: - Wade Miller as closer or until new one found. I like Arroyo as starter more than Miller. - Renteria bat 6th. - Nixon bat 2nd - Olerud in 1st base - Millar share 1st and 2nd base so that Bellhorn gets less playing time. - Payton as Nixon's replacer Joe,

For those who do not know why Francona has to go: Francona is the one to blame for yesterday’s loss to Cleveland. 1-Why did he take Myers out too early? Myers is good consistent pitcher. If he gave up a hit, you don’t rush to take him out early in 7th! You do that with inconsistent pitchers like Foulke, Embree, Mantei. 2-Why did not he bother to have someone else to warm up in the bullpen during the bottom of 8th when it was clear that Foulke was struggling big time! Those bullpen pitchers are paid very well and should always be ready to pitch. 3-Why did he keep Millar at 1st in the 9th ? Olerud is much better defensively especially with slim lead. Millar missed catching one of the hits by few inches. Olerud is taller than Millar, and would have caught it. 4-When bases were loaded, Francona finally woke up and decided to send Embree to warm up. By then it was too late. 5-Why did he keep Payton ? Nixon is better hitter than Payton. RedSox did not win World Series because of Francona, it is because of the players themselves. With this team, even if your manager is a DOG, you will win World Series!!! Francona’s performance is masked by the performance of the players. Look at his miserable past records and then judge for yourself.

Definitely, Foulke must go NOW!!!, along with his stupid manager (Terry Francona), and Alan Embree. It is time to do some house cleaning. joe,

It is hard to make predictions at this early stage. However, I believe you are overly optimistic in your article. Good luck Sox Nation!

Good riddance Kim! joe,

Not so sure, never bought this type of tickets, but I've heard they start from rear of the Green Monster just across from Lansdowne Street, and extend all the way to the rear of right field side.

Since the ticket is SRO, the "Row/Box 2, Seat 70" means nothing. You just go to the SRO section and hang wherever you want. You must note that typical baseball game could last 3 or more hours. If your wife does not enjoy standing up for 3-4 hours, then SRO tickets would be the wrong choice!

It depends on which Nomar you’re talking about. There was good Nomar in the late 90's (or at least we thought so). I would say good riddance to the Nomar of 04. The team had better chemistry with Pokey Reese than they did with him. I remember him as crybaby who cared less about his team. He did not like 17.5mil and now he is (humbly) happy with 8mil and only one-year contract? What a stupid moron! As far as him winning World Series with the Cubs, I would say let those Chicago media daydream, we did that for 86 years.

There are many on-street ticket sellers for almost any game (even NYY-SOX). Most are legitimate tickets, but some are bogus, so you would do it at your own risk! Also, don’t buy tickets from them once the game has started. Good luck!

I heard that his agent was asking for 12.5mil and the Sox do not want to pay him more than 10mil (if not less). He is very good player, but I personally would only give him 8.5mil. If he wants to be a looser like Nomar, let him go!