ORS

Getting squeezed after 8 2/3....boo!

Greenville is a run producing machine. Another double digit output from the offense tonight, with Brentz knocking #6 out of the park, and Miles Head hitting his....wait for it....9th HR of the young season.

Ranaudo got pwned in his last start. Looks like he got his professional ball cherry popped. Be interesting to see how he bounces back next time out.

Navarro with 2 HR and a 2B yesterday. It's interesting to note that he has been playing in the OF lately. He's a good candidate to replace McDonald if he keeps this up, and his ability to play all over the IF makes Scutaro expendable. Reddick has fizzled since his 2 HR game.

The called strike was the one the farthest out of the strikezone. Reputation call.

One, if managers aren't all that important on the outcome of games, then it won't matter if they fire Francona to send a message to the guily parties, the players. Two, isn't inspiring performance part of managing personalities? That roster in Tampa is a wet napkin compared to the roster in Boston. Drew Carey has them playing pretty good.

Not so sure I agree. How is chasing personal scoring records in those sports any different than the Willie Mays Hayes Syndrome - swinging for the fences for your own glory rather than helping the team by getting on base? In all cases, when the player is successful, it helps the team, but the issue, and what hurts the team, is the frequency of failure along the quest.

I agree that it won't happen. I just think it should happen. There's a complacency that seems to have set in under Francona. I realize the regular season is a marathon and not a sprint, which in past years has been one of his strengths, as his teams were fresh and his bench sharp going into October. That being said, some more aggressive managing, more attention to the matchups/performance/situation, probably squeezes another couple of wins out of this rough stretch, and with the way they started, those couple of wins could determine whether or not they make the playoffs. Francona's on auto-pilot, which is OK when the machine is running like you thought it would, but it's not, and his inaction is threatening to make October filled with tee times and not playoff baseball. EDIT: What I'm saying is, there isn't one way to manage. You manage according to the situation, and this situation, IMO, calls for more managerial action. When everybody gets going, he can go back to his normal managerial philosophy. He's shown an ability to change the way he manages games in October, so he's got the ability. What's out of the norm for him is flipping that switch during the regular season.

If Lackey gets bombed today then Felix does his thing tomorrow, and the Sox get swept by the awful Mariners at Fenway, running their record to 11-16.....I think Francona should get the axe. I'm already on record stating that Magadan probably should be sitting on a hot seat right now, but if those things transpire, firing the hitting coach may not be a strong enough move/message from ownership.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/131/319047856_dbf1ef3e92.jpg Fkn Fat Albers.

Happy B-Day fellow 4/29'er.

Jason Vargas property of Mike Cameron, Inc.

Walks, always a good idea.

This. Don't have the rates, but just from what I saw in the games, earlier in the year he was hitting the ball hard and getting unlucky. However, since then, the hard hit balls have been fewer and farther in between. He's in a funk. He'll pull out of it, but it is what it is. Given the way others are hitting right now, I want that funk away from the heart of the order. When he starts tatooing balls, I'm all for moving him back up in the order.

Another strawman. You keep extrapolating a different position from what people are saying. I never said comfort and confidence played no role. I said, specifically..... In case you are struggling with my meaning here, allow me to help. I don't think where he hits in the lineup impacts comfort and confidence as much as you are suggesting. Success at the plate, ie hitting the ball hard, is what will bring those things. He can start hitting the ball hard from any spot in the lineup.

This has got to be the weakest justification you've come up with yet. It's a bunch of psychological BS. Everyone has their preferences, in just about every industry, but when it's time to perform your job, professionals perform their job. I don't believe for a second that these guys are so mentally fragile that they need to hit in some mythical "ideal spot" to be comfortable enough to perform their jobs. You want to know what makes zero sense? Chasing leprechauns to make the team better when there's hard data to use.

No, he needs to handle this approach to get his confidence back. Protection won't change the way pitchers are attacking him. What in the world does this mean? He's useful in any part of the lineup when he's performing. He's not performing. His lack of usefulness is tied to his performance, not where he is in the lineup.

Right, so all Carl can do is hit it feebly. He can't take some of those pitches and get on base, where he can use his best weapon, his speed to the team's advantage. I forgot that he has to swing at everything the pitcher throws. Thanks for reminding me of that. EDIT: Also, he's seeing the typical amount of pitches in the zone, 46.6% of pitches are in the strikezone, compared to 43% and 49% the last two years.

This is a strawman. My point is that Crawford has been awful, with his best two games being against two awful pitchers. However, all of them, aside from the catchers, have looked better against good pitchers. Lowrie, Youkilis, Ortiz, Pedroia, Drew, Ellsbury.... all of them, have had at least one good game/performance against a quality pitcher. Crawford...none, zero, zip.

One game is one game, I'm talking about how he has looked the last two weeks. If he can look good more than one game at a time, and only when the pitcher for the other team is awful (Bergesen, Palmer), then there might be a case for him. Right now, there isn't.

Crawford is on the cusp of nothing, not in my opinion, not when I watch him. He still looks like s***. He looked better earlier in the year when he was at least hitting the ball hard with some bad luck. You can still have them hit back to back by hitting the weaker hitter 9th. The only difference is at the start of the game, but that, to me, is a chance to get in the head of the other team by putting up runs in your first turn at the plate. By putting a weak hitter up there, you give the pitcher an easy out to get around early trouble. I don't care if Crawford is making $20M to hit 9th. If he's hitting like a #9 hitter, then hit him #9.

Last night's display of power boosts Reddick and Middlebrooks to.... .296/.376/.691 and .354/.400/.677 respectively. Good stuff.

Vomit. I guess the meme of "gotta have fast guys at the top of the lineup" will never die. Ellsbury should stay up there because he's pounding the ball right now, but Hot Carl needs to stay at the bottom.

http://www.ratewall.com/cpics/e27cb604-503d-4623-a367-2017482bc753_star_trek_jean_luc_picard.gif You! You over there! That was better last night, now do it again!