seabeachfred

LMFAO 700---but I could throw batting practice as well as Wakefield does, I'll bet. And that's what he throws and the balls leave the bat ten times as fast as they get to the plate, but as Pumpsie says, he's cheap and it looks to me like the front office is looking for another cheap way out. A shame too because unlike my pal Pumpsie, you, I and User, and I'm sure a few others, actually believe we could make a go of it next season with some tooling up. The word is the team is waiting for the prices to come down, but I counter with WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY WAITING FOR INSTEAD?

I've read your missives about your reservations about Fenway Park and while my feelings are based on emotional appeal, certainly sitting in right field with no real view of home plate minus a neck sprain is no picnic. I've often wondered if they could tear those seats out during the off season, install new and more comfortable seats, whether that might makes things more palatable for the fans. It is easier for me since I get my tickets through Red Sox Destinations and from a friend who manages a hotel in Boston, but, then, again, sitting in the Coca Cola section in April is a quick ticket to a cold or pneumonia. What I like is to go to the standing room section, get a spot next to a post to lean on and watch the game with some real fans. Again, though, it is an emotional appeal for me. I've mentioned that I might be the oldest dog on this board (71), and I remembered as a kid growing up in Queens how I reveled at going to Ebbets Field to see the real Dodgers play. Ebbets then was what I see in Fenway Park today and Fenway has even more ambiance than the old ballpark of decades ago. It is like I'm transported in time when I go to Fenway. The parallels between the two ball parks, the neighborhood and the fans are uncanny. 700 might be able to add something to it. He told me his dad was an old Brooklyn Dodgers fan, and I'm sure 700 has heard all the stories. Well to me Fenway is like being transported back in time. It's just an emotional high for me.

I promised myself that I wouldn't post on Christmas but this topic just whets my appetite to no end. I hope the Red Sox keep playing at Fenway at least until the Lord calls me home. It was love at first site for me, and the second time I saw it in 2000 I became a Red Sox fan and will be one through all eternity. BTW, my wife bought me six Christmas presents, four of which are Red Sox gifts. No, Fenway is a great ballpark, a great place to watch a game in my opinion. The whole neighborhood around the ballpark along with Fenway itself is just an emotional high. For those of you who are overweight, lose a few pounds if you can and adjust. When Fenway is gone a lot of what makes baseball so eternal is gone too.

I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas tomorrow. Have a wonderful time with friends and family, and I'll head you guys off at the pass on Monday.

:lol: Well let me try to help you out......Some kind of title? If you read the thread on the Christmas wishes you would have come across my wish for an AL East Title next year. Yes, I would be satisfied with that since it would mean we're starting to make progress again. For the record, I have maintained that FrancoMa cost us three of them in his tenure, 2005, 2008 and 2009. We can make a run despite the the ineptness of the FO if Valentine gets the team ready in ST and we open the season mentally in tune for the year, something we were woefully deficient in this past season. You with me so far? World Series or bust in not an option; I just want the team to be able to compete for one, which is something we have been unable to do the past three seasons, and it is now four that we haven't won a damn thing. Pumpsie and Elk asked me to come back on this board with them after the season. Last time I was on some people here ( I don't remember if you were one of them) swallowed the ******** of some Dodger fans I had trouble with on another board when they accused me of not being a Red Sox fan, an accusation that by now you know was pure ********. I hope I cleared up a few matters for you. It is not my aim to confuse you. At least now you have some answers to your questions, and if you need more just ask. BTW, I do not take this personal at all. I'm more than happy to let you know where I stand and I hate to confuse anybody.

RS Fan For Life----and you thought I was bad. Well I can be easily upstaged by a lot of people around here. Pumpsie's my pal and User and I have agreed a helluva lot more than we've disagreed so I can see their points of differences. Well hell, this is what the off season is all about, right? You may be young but you're learning fast that conflict within the Nation can be rife with hard boiled disagreementss but let some outsider start dissing us and we'll be all over them like smell on s***!!!! I personally as disappointed we haven't done more this winter and have said so in no uncertain terms. It does not go from there to suggest that we are dead men walking next season. I fully expect Youkilis and Crawford to come back strong, for Gonzales to get rid of his stupid pills and not partake in HR Derby before next year's AS Game, an effort that seemed to debilitate him in the final two months. Bucholz ought to come back strong and if we can get a decent starter and another good reliever we could catch lightning in a bottle. No team in the division looks like a runaway leader; each team has their own weaknesses. Most importantly, and this is where conflict with others arise, not having FrancoMa in the dugout should be a real shot in the arm for us since he was, in my opinion, a miserable field manager while Valentine's strength is in game situations. Also, we should come out of ST in April in much better shape than we did this past season. We weren't ready physically or mentally when the bell sounded and that is as good a reason as any why we were 2-10 after the first dozens games. We will not be 2-10 next year after game 12.

Well Ex1, sometimes you just can't win no matter what the score. Pumpsie says this is a rebuilding year and MVP tells him he's off his trolley. I say we can actually make a run for some kind of title in 2012 and MVP hints I may not be in my right mind. I guess there is a happy medium in there somewhere. I do think, though, we have to upgrade our pitching EX. Right now we need a proven closer and another solid starting pitcher and most importantly we need to keep our so-called "Big Three" healthy and productive. I really do think the AL East is open for a good race next year and anyone of four teams could win it. Since in my opinion FrancoMa cost us three division titles during his tenure with some very piss poor managing from the dugout, maybe Bobby Valentine, a proven solid game manager, might be able to transform those 10-12 games that Tito helped cost us into a majority of wins. In fact, that's one of the things I'm counting on next season.

Frankly, I wasn't too gung ho about Gonzales. Too damn many walks---and I'll tell you another thing on that. While the Mariners, Rangers and Angels are not noted for high OBP and tend to be aggressive at the plate, the Yankees most certainly aren't and neither for that matter are the Rays. Gonzales would be gassed out by the fifth or sixth inning facing those teams four or five times a year. You need an example? Try Josh Beckett against the Yankees this past season. He literally owned them. Why? They tried the same s*** with him waiting him out and forcing him to throw more pitches. The only trouble was Josh had excellent control and too often the Yanks found themselves on the wrong end of an 0-2 count. I was at one of those games in April at Fenway and he had the Yankees tied up in knots always behind in the count. When you get in that kind of position with a good pitcher you're dead batter walking. Gonzo would not be as effective pitching at Fenway, or YS or Baltimore where the ball flies out much better than it does in Seattle or Oakland or Anaheim.

Well he's a partisan Yankee fan and you have the right to take him to task; I never denied you that right. It just kind of shook me up to see how you called him dumb; we're all ju st giving personal opinions. Still, you keep plugging away. I like the way to take a stand and back it up with some hard facts. I'd rather see one of my collegues be on the enthusiastic and aggressive side than a namby-pamby who skirts the issues time and again. Besides, Jacksonian once defended my very enthusiastically when a couple of crumbs from a now defunct Dodger board started giving me a ration of s*** about something I wrote negatively about their team on another board. Stange as it may be, one of those "crumbs" is now a good friend of mine.

Shoot Bellhorn, if I would have read your post before I answered with one of my own I could have saved myself the trouble of writing one. Absolutely correct!!!! I saw Manny do that three times in person. Hale was more than cautious; he was a crappy third base coach and helped FrancoMa make us a timid team on the bases.

Sorry Dojji, but I'm not buying Hale in any way as a decent third base coach. Yes, Sveum was reckless to the point of near incompetency and Bogar was just plain stupid down there, but Hale was a safety first guy to the nauseating extremt, always with his two hands up holding runners continuously. I saw Manny Ramirez on THREE occasions in games in 2007 and 2008 run through a stop sign at third base and make it home those THREE occasions STANDING UP!!!!!! Hale was totally a clone of the safety-first, station-to-station of his boss, the incompetent FrancoMa. To me coaching third base is not an easy job at all, but it seems the ones we've had went out of their way to make it harder. Just my opinion.

Come on User, take Boomer off that list. Pretty please. I was wrong. Boomer is an *******; you wouldn't want anything to do with him. You're of a different cloth. Just take Boomer off your list. Besides, it was just a one or two day thing between you and me on that one.

It wouldn't play very well at all, either in the AL East or at Fenway Park Forstyh. Besides, we have to start thinking of our future as well, and Middlebrooks and Lavarnway are two real keys to our future. Two RH hitters who are run producers and who have the ability to be 25-35 home run men. We can't keep raping our farm system for people who may not produce for us and Gio is not going to be pitching in Oakland if he comes here, and he is not going to he be facing mostly Angels and Mariner lineups. He pulls that BB s*** on the Yankees and they'll tie a tin can to his ass and boot him out of Yankee Stadium. Just sign the Phillies free agent, send Bard back to the bullpen and keep our good prospects. Right now there's damn few of them and we cannot afford to lose two of our best.

Forsyth, I like a lot of the stuff you write but I don't appreciate you telling Jacksonian that he looks dumber and dumber with each passing post. He has layed out a case that makes a lot of sense to some of us and while he may be off a shade there is more to like in what he says than not. Besides, it is becoming evident that what we're doing here in nothing more than an exercise in written verbiage, and with the risk of me looking dumb, it seems more and more likely that the Red Sox are not going to spend any more money this season in signing free agents. Ortiz' signing has sucked the wind out of our budget and you factor in the raises that Ellbury is getting, plus Gonzales' big contract kicking in, where is any money left to spend on players unless Henry decides to open his wallet and let the moths out.

An AL East Divison Title in 2012. I would settle for that since we only have one in the last 16 years with our disgraced fired manager having cost us such titles in 2005, 2008 and 2009 with some of the very worst dugout managing I have ever seen. That to me would be an ideal Christmas present from the Red Sox.