seabeachfred

Only if you have batters who have ability to get those runners home------like Bogaerts NOT!!!!!!!!

One fact stands out like a sore thumb my friends and that is the fact that our hitters have been hitting behind the count continuously this season and prime example No. 1 has been Mike Napoli. What has happened to him is that he winds up swinging at a pitch outside the one for strike three or takes one down the middle for an out. I've seen that ample times with him and with Bogaerts, I saw it with Drew, though he stunk no matter what was pitched to him and when. It infected Pedroia this season. He took to many first pitches down the cock that I thought the bat was temporarily nailed to his shoulder. Ditto for Gomes before he was sent away and it was chronic with Middlebrooks and I think that pretty much did him in this season.

You know Ted, I could kick myself in the ass over De La Rosa. I kept telling everyone who would listen that the Dodgers sold us a bill of good when we traded for him. I remember him from when he pitched for the Dodgers and he stunk then. Got behind the hitters and then let a fat one or two get reamed up the alley or into the seats. Again, I went round and round with a few who are no longer here about that too. When he on a few games with impressive performances I allowed myself to drink the Kool Aid even though I should have known better. Now he is looking like the turd I remembered seeing out here in LA. I will say this....he could revert back into a pitcher who impressed earlier but he will never be that big starter who we can depend on. He is inconsistent, erratic and dumb...... and that is not a bell cow you can depend on for a pitching staff. Why he cannot make adjustments and set up hitters better than he does is going to be an epitaph we are all going to have to swallow. Hey Cherington, go get us two solid starters this winter if you and the rest of us know what's good for us. Kelly pitched well today and we finally won a series against Baltimore. Grateful for that. Kelly did come from the Cardinals organization where they seem to develop good young pitchers, something our organization totally seems to suck on.

I went round and round on this with two former posters on this board who conveniently disappeared when the collapse came and their fixation on Bogaert and elation at the Drew signing blew up in their faces, not to mention ours and the team. Sabermetrics has a place but there are too many fans who look at that theory as the New Testament. It is certainly not that at all and once again I bring up what those Sabersolons kept saying was not important......RBI's. This year they only have to look at Napoli's lack of same and the total choking of Bogaerts in just about all these situations when a clutch RBI hit was needed to see how many one run games we lost and how many potential victories got away. You can get on base all you want but unless someone gets those runners home it means little if anything. As for clutch hitters I have always wondered why there are some here who insist that is not important or overused. They only have to look at David Ortiz since he came to the Red Sox in 2003 to see that their myopic thinking on that needs to he hauled out with yesterday's trash. You know, I actually has more confidence in Bradley with men on base than I did Bogey, but it became a Mexican Standoff when Jackie simply couldn't buy an RBI or even a hit or two as the summer descended upon our doomed team.

Bogaerts got everyone all hyped up when he had four or five games in a row of solid hitting but now he is back stinking up the place. The guy is a choker and if he Red Sox are dumb enough to think this guy will be a middle of the order hitter next season they will have been snorting something that will make them ill. He may get somewhat better but he will NEVER be the player the Red Sox envisioned and to those who drank the Kool Aid believing it. I noticed Bradley was once again in the lineup tonight and once again went 0 for 4 and is now at the Mendoza Line. What does he have on the Red Sox that they keep sending him out there when he stinks like a sewer at high tide......and in RF tonight no less. For the last week sit his sorry ass down and makes plans to get him out of town over the off season by plane, train, bus, ship or rail. Just get rid of him. He stinks so badly he gives me the hives.

Well he has to be better than Bradley so let's give the guy a chance. Besides $72 million tells me they're going to give him a big chance but just the same the Red Sox had better have a Plan B in case he peters out. We didn't for Jackie and look where it got us.

It is now highly probable that opposing teams are on to the Red Sox and a few of the other teams that harp on running up pitch counts. This year it seems more than ever relief pitchers especially are pounding the strike zone with good fast balls while our batters are constantly falling behind the count time and again. When you're hitting from behind the count you are most likely trying to not make out rather than belt a pitch up the alley for a double. I think among the other things that Farrell and Cherington have to contemplate this off season is modify their philosophy on running up pitch counts. All they have to do is check over the at-bats and see what the count was on our hitters before they K'd or were retired on a weak pop up. Even those two underachieving lunkheads should be able to do that and learn something from it........well, maybe.

Hey guys, we won an extra inning game ON THE ROAD tonight. Talk about grasping at straws, well that may be a new one for me but right now I'll take any ray of sunshine I can get. We all know by now that Bradley stinks, that Bogaerts has slowed down after a short hot pace and is looking lame again and that Vazquez is going to be a problem with the bat, but what the hell is the matter with Alan Craig. He looks like sh!t warmed over----this guy was recently as last year one helluva hitter. Hey, his foot has to be bothering him and, damn it, let's not let him do to us what he convinced the Cardinals to do last winter and try resting that foot in hopes it heals. Operate on it damn it so next season he might be the hitter we suppedly traded for. And let's get Holt back into the lineup and give Cecchini a few more games at third to see if he can hit Major League pitching. Middlebrooks and Bradley have had their chances and Farrell has to get his head out and realize we need to see these young players in that lineup for the rest of the season to see what they can do----and that means Castillo too and not Bradley.

Yes I know that Gomes-Beard but all of us have to keep our eyes on the real issue here----THE FACT THAT WE HAVE GONE FROM FIRST TO WORST AND HAVE SEEN OUR FRONT OFFICE AND MANAGER MAKE ONE DISASTROUS MISTAKE AFTER ANOTHER THIS SEASON. And it will be a long way back this time.

Well we won't have to worry about that tonight guys because "Beast" Bradley is back in the lineup. I guess having your sister sleeping with the manager has its advantages and it has to be something like that because Jackie has as much right to be in a Major League lineup as my five year old grandson does.

Earth to GomesBeard---I wouldn't say we've been a real team this season.....nothing close.

Kind of like us, don't you think? Think about this one....2013 World Series---the St. Louis Cardinals vs the Boston Red Sox. One year later the Cards are on their way to the playoffs again as the probable NL East Central Champions to defend their National League Championship. The Red Sox, our Red Sox? Last in the AL East and headed for their second totally f***ed up season in three years. Only a Division or AL Pennant next year can make up for this debacle.

I don't know if you know this or not but it was my pal Ted (700 Hitter) who suggested that I could be hard hitting on this board so long as I respected opinions of others unless they got insulting and nasty. You don't fit those last two peccadilloes so there is no reason for us to ever be nothing but helpful to each other. Palodios used to get a little chapped at my bluster but he's convinced that I'm just a little off center and gives me wide leverage to rant since I show him a great deal of respect as well. Truth be told, the antagonists that used to push my buttons have disappeared from the board, whether it is temporary or permanently. This and Bosox Board are my two Red Sox forums and they help brighten my day. I only wish I could have the same for our team.

Palodios, the other teams all know how desperate we are and they are not going to let us off so easy in my opinion. First of all let's just say no thanks to Leake and Latos. I call the latter Lactose because he always seems to come apart in the later innings unless he has a six or seven run lead. He is shitbagged when trying to maintain a one or two run advantage. We don't need someone like that. Leake blows so hot and cold that that he could pass for a weather vane. Gallardo is not of ace material, not even close. The first two are in the building as far as I'm concerned but the Phillies play hard ball and will want quality for Hamels. They now know they must rebuild and Hamels is one big chip that might be available but for a steep price. Cuerto might be less expensive but frankly I don't give two shits about how much Prune Face Henry has to pay.....so long as it is money. I'm not looking forward to sending quality prospects away when the "prospects" we kept this year were little more than s*** on rye. He must empty the bank if necessary to get us Jon Lester back and must expend more cash for James Shields. That would be much better for us because I have a strong feeling Cherry Pie and the Big Dufus Farrell would trade the wrong guys who can play and leave us with the stiffs who cannot......does Bradley and Bogaerts sound familiar. Well at any rate we will soon see.

Well said and taken into full account Spitball. I enjoy our exchanges and hope we can keep this up. Good to have you on this board. And please accept my condolences for your suffering all those years. I honestly feel for you, Ted, irotiz and the rest of the crew here who go way back in their fandom to a time when the Red Sox were a frustrating team to root for. I got lucky when I came on board in 2000 though two of the last three years don't see so lucky after all. You're A_OK in my book.

Unless they sign a top quality FA pitcher and another near top quality one, they will need to trade for a type like Hamels......and that will cost plenty and I don't mean dog shits like Bradley, Workman, Middlebrooks and Mujica. Can you name Betts, Swihart, Cecchini and Ranaudo? If not you better start thinking along those lines, and I'll tell you another thing or two. One Vazquez is a chronically weak hitter who we cannot afford to carry in the lineup unless six or seven others are hitting like hell, and Swihart is a good young hitter and in my opinion Cecchini's final month and a half is more like the kind of hitter he is. The front office of Big Dufus Farrell and Cherry Juice might be in the process of making even bigger mistakes and blunders than they did this year----and this year they stunk like a sewer at high tide.

PS Ted, even earlier than that. Scully started announcing for the Dodgers in 1950 as the third wheel behind my favorite Red Barber and also Connie Desmond, who had a wonderful voice and delivery as well but couldn't keep his hands off the bottle and wound up leaving Brooklyn in 1956.

Vin Scully has been called the best baseball announcer in history. He has been called that in a book about the best callers of the game, he's been called that by just about every announcer who have been at a mike, and fans all over the country back that up and they get no argument from me. However, like you, I have my own personal favorite Spitball and he's in the Hall of Fame as well. The guy's name was Red Barber who I used to listen to when I became a baseball fan and loved to hear some of his witticisms and takes on the game. My biggest disappointment was when that greedy bastard Walter O'Malley refused to extend his contract after the 1953 season because he wanted to save money and allowed him to go to the Yankees. I've always believed a little bit of my childhood went by the boards when Red left the Dodgers.......THE BROOKLYN DODGERS I mean.

Ted, thanks for the backup. I like Spitball and have had some nice exchanges with him but he appears to be one of those stat guys that have taken over baseball in recent years. Your take on Mondesi with RISP and two outs was a better example than the one I gave, but the facts bear that out. The guy was an out man with the game on the line. In fact, by the time he was on the Yankees in 2003 he was called the rally killer by fans at Yankee Stadium after his later pratfalls with the Dodgers and Blue Jays. I remember the July 4th game that year at YS when we hit seven homers in a 10-3 rout. Four times he came up with men on base, three of those times with at least two on the paths and all I did was relax because I knew Lowe would get him out---or he would get himself out, which he did four times. He was only one example of players with great talent who couldn't deliver and every time I see Bogaerts at the plate he reminds me so much of Raul Mondesi who choked his way out of baseball. There are some here who say he is young and give him some time and most likely they are right but as my friend Elk says......we had better have a Plan B is this sort of choking goes on again next season. Face it, the Red Sox screwed this thing up the day they moved him out of SS to sign Drew---something I will rail about until the cows come home. I think our season was guaranteed to go south the moment that signing was made, but I didn't think it would affect Xander than much. He simply collapsed----and now I am very suspicious just how mentally tough the young man really is. His late hitting now that the cows have left the barn don't mean sq uat to me now because there is no pressure and our team is in the outhouse. There is no pressure on Bogaerts to perform now but there will be next season and I have some real doubts how he will perform again under clutch circumstances.

Let's not consign Pedroia to the trash heap just yet. He was hurt in the first game of the year this season and in affected him somewhat. Healthy he is still young enough to make a strong comeback. I'd be more concerned about Cherington and Farrell going stubborn and try and shoehorn Bradley someway into the lineup again next season or believe that Bogaerts is going to be their savior or that Middlebrooks will finally hit 30 homers. Come to think of it, didn't Dustin hit third almost all of the 2013 season and hit 301 with 84 RBI's. He was hurt all year then too and in the first game of that season at YS. Pedey will be just fine.

Still upstaging me my friend. Five daughters to my one and 15 grandchildren to my two. Looks like I'm the Red Sox in one of their typical games this season in comparison. BTW, I have studied this for years.....Whatever men might think of having sons, once they have daughters they know they've hit the jackpot. A son is a son until he takes a wife while a daughter is a daughter for all of her life. Hell, why am I telling you that. You're the pro in this game.

Rumors hell......there needn't be any rumors BEL. Make book that Epstein is going to go hard with a lot of money for Lester.

You need guys like Holt in the lineup as a regular. He is a heady blue collar type of player who never stops hustling and has the capacity to learn and grow with the game----and he is only 26, close to entering his prime. We've had enough of the disappointments, prima donnas, and underachievers this season. Give me some players with spit, fire and toughness to go with their talent and we might get out of the outhouse next season.

Well post here whenever you have the time. Good posters with real baseball knowledge are gems to any board. And BTW, congratulation on being a father. One more piece of responsibility for you but one that you will love.

Bellhorn, I know you want to believe and probably do that Bogaerts is the next great Red Sox player, but take this one to the bank. He will never be the player you expect him to be. His lack of clutch hitting and piss poor performance with RISP and with men on base generally is the sign of a choker who cannot handle pressure. Coupled with his penchant for losing his concentration, rushing throws, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and poor bat control all combine for a player who is of two possibilities----one, still young enough to learn how to play the game better, or a stark warning that this is not the guy you want to depend on down the road. Right now he is a total choker who cannot play well under pressure, and while he held his own last year in the post-season it is starting to look more like a mirage. This season has shown him to be less than what the Red Sox believed him to be and I would not expect to ever see him rise into the star status---AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE RED SOX WERE HOPING FOR. I would gladly include him in any trade for a top flight pitcher or a standout hitter.