seabeachfred

Jung, IU was cursing my head off in the sixth when Farrell kept Lackey in the game. He was done in the fifth but Farrell took a page out of Francona's book in that he wanted John to get a win. I can sort of see that but cannot understand how he let him go out for the sixth frame. The Tampas were on to him and he looked gassed. Laying off so long made him less sharp that he needed to be, but at least the bullpen rose to the occasion and I wonder what Maddon is thinking now. He sounded cock sure that today would be different with his ace on the mound. Well it was; they only lost buy three runs instead of nine.

Anybody who saw today's game has to know that we might resign Ellsbury to a long term contract. He creates havoc on the bases, he drove Price crazy today both at the plate and on the bases and forced the Rays lefthander to lose concentration to the o ther batters he was facing. He can also hit lefthanders. With all due respect to Bradley, he cannot hit lefties at this point very well at all, he doesn't have Ells' speed or base running acumen, nor can he hit like Jacoby can. If he is not in our lineup next season there will be a serious void at the top of the order.

It reminds me of a guy we have out here in LA who is a columnist for the LA Times......one Bill Plaschke, maybe you heard of him much to your chagrin. This guy goes from the stratosphere to the infernal reaches game by game an does that with everybody who play for an LA team---The Lakers, Dodger, Kings, Clippers, SC, UCLA. His latest caper was yesterday morning and this morning. On Friday morning he was anointing the Dodgers as the greatest thing since sliced bread, that they have the Braves' number and it's not going to be much of a series. In today's paper he was shedding crocodile tears and moaning how the Dodgers blew their chance to take full control of this series and hurling blame on the manager. I still think the Dodgers will prevail in this series and that's what made his column so ridiculous. They got ten hits to the Braves' six and left a ton of runners on base. So I know exactly where you're coming from on that score.

Notice how many times the camera zeroed in on Maddon today? It seems like it was every damned minute. Unlike a lot of you I think he is a good manager, but I get the impression that TBS is trying to make him out to be a TV idol. To be honest I got a little pissed off seeing his face shown repeatedly on the screen today. It if wasn't overkill I don't know what is.

Truth be told VA I would much rather have to endure Olbermann in a sports venue that have to listen to that crud on a political forum. Until Bill O'Reilly's humungous ratings drove him off of MSNBC I literally wanted to throw my soda glass at the TV whenever he started spouting off. There was man was absolutely disgusting.

I'm loving every minute of reading these posts. I'm really LMFAO! However, forgive me if I don't join it at the moment. I fear if I pop off I might jinx our guys. They made me a very happy camper this season and got me out of a very angry funk. Don't want to do anything to upset the applecart, but if you think your nasty and funny posts will not hex the Red Sox keep having at it.

I know I may be entering hostile territory saying this since there seems to still be a lot of affection for Terry Francona on this board, but he did nothing to try and take the game to the Rays. Not once did he try to steal a base, try to use the hit and run, the run and hit, maybe lay down a bunt, maybe move the runners. It was the old station-to-station game he used a lot with us. With guys like Swisher, Cabrera and the like in his lineup it might have been a fool's errand to depend on those and others to save his bacon.

It's all guesswork Thunder. MVP said that I and everyone else who made predictions were FULL OF s***!!!!! I can't remember any other time when someone said that to me that I didn't get mad, but this time I didn't because he was right. There is no way to know for sure what's going down, but I did get one prediction right about an hour ago. Dodgers up 2-0, runner on second and Gonzales up. I say to the TV, walk him and set up a potential force play while a righty is pitching to a righty. The Braves manager pitches to Gonzales......boom, two run homer. BTW, I stopped watching that game. Kershaw with a 5-0 lead? As they say in Boston, this game is OVA!!!!!!! However, trying to make accurate prediction is a losing proposition most of the time. I just hope I'm right this time out. I think the Tampans might be a tougher opponent than either Oakland or Detroit.

You're right Jacko, and I think the Red Sox know that. It is amusing to read my colleagues ripping the s*** out of Maddon and the Tampas, Longoria and Moore and hard not to laugh my ass off because it is funny. Still, that team will challenge us and one thing I think that might help us if we make Matt Moore work his ass off on the mound. He has a tendency to be a mite wild and we have to run his pitch count up and especially do not let the get the jump on us as they did against Texas and Cleveland.

Gracias!!!!

Thunder, strange as it seems I actually believe that this upcoming series with the Tampas might be a tougher one for us than taking on Oakland or Detroit should be prevail against them----which I certainly believe we can if we do not spot them leads as Texas and Cleveland did. The Rays are a very well managed team, they are resourceful, they have outstanding starting pitching and they are killers on defense. The Tigers are slow, and aside from Iggy, they are not good defensively. Neither is the A's with the glove and they are slow too and it has become home run or nothing with them. The Tigers are that way as well though both teams do have good starting pitching. It just seems to me the Tampas are a better well rounded team. I hope we get to see my theory thrown into action down the road.

Doesn't matter my friend. They are in the way and we have to take care of them. We are NOT Cleveland; we are better and we can and should win.

Well said Jung....BIG DEAL!!!!!! Of course, good teams have to be alble to beat the crappy teams and break even with the contenders. The Guardians were adept at the first thing and totally inept in the other, and tonight is a good example why they will be going golfing this weekend. Let's just make sure we are ready for the Tampas.

From what I can see, this year the front office, especially the meddling Lucchino was kept at bay and let Farrell and his coaching staff run the show without any interference. To be sure, Cherington and Farrell seem to work well together and get along very well. You can't minimize that importance. Our friend Jung might have hit the nail on the head though. The Guardians were what, 56-18 against the dog shits in the league? Compare that to their record against teams over 500. Big difference right? My complaint against Francona has always been his stubbornness in adhering to that boring station-to-station philosophy which could be a reason we led the league in hitting into double plays six of the eight years he ran the Red Sox. However, he does have a good chance to win the MOTY this season. Maybe.

It is stark reality sk7. And the script is being played that way in Cleveland tonight as Francona's forces are on the wrong side of a 3-0 game with two outs and one on in the home half of the 8th. They have left about nine runners on base in this game and once again he is stuck or wedded to his station-to-station strategy that he used in Boston. Fort he record, he has done a solid job in Cleveland this season considering how lousy they were last year, but it looks like the prince will turn into a pumpkin within the next half hour. And BTW, Nick Swisher has to be as bad a post-season choke up artist as there is in baseball. He has stunk again tonight going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and at least four runners left on base.

Amazing how you can dish it out but go into a frenzy when someone comes back at you. A scout? I've mentioned that about three or four times that I have done some scouting for friends who are scouts. I don't go droning in on that incessantly and you seem to be the only one who has trouble with it. Frankly, I'm sick of the way you keep insulting Sox Sport, 700 Hitter and others who you disagree with. Where the hell is that "we can agree to disagree" mantra that most of us have. If someone agrees with you high praise emanates from your computer as if you have a pipeline to on high. And how stupid can you be? When Salty showed improvement this season I said so; when he looked like a player with problems last season I said so too. Again, you need to accept the fact that "we can agree to disagree", but that fact seems to escape you. If you cannot accept that the best advice I could give is the old slogan.....To be seen stand up, to he heard speak up, to be appreciated SHUT UP!!!!!!

You get over yourself numbnuts. Another know-it-all muttering from the best ass inspector on the board. If I'm full of s*** you're the expert who can tell me that. If your irony-meter is about to explode it would be a major improvement over your thinking that your s*** doesn't smell. Either accept other opinions not in line with yours or shut the hell up. Some of us are getting tired of you thinking you're some kind of ace around here. You're not. And aside from you, I have bent over backward to getting along with everyone on this board.

MVP----I will second that. All we are doing is making educated guesses and I don't think any of us would put any serious money on it. But we should be able to disagree on something without being attacked. At any rate, let's hope our hearts triumph over our heads. It would mean better news for the Sox.

My heart says the same thing you predicted Thunder; my head is a jumbled mess trying to figure this thing out. Certainly it is anybody's game. You know what I would really like if I was able to get my wish. The Pirates vs the Red Sox in the WS. What Pittsburgh did this year was terrific and their fans seem to finally ( though most likely temporarily) moved from football to baseball. I also like the way Clint Hurdle runs a baseball team. He should be hands-down Manager of the Year in the NL in my opinion.

There you go again, being a God damn know it all. How the hell do you know I will jump his bones? You some sort of Merlin or something? I made an accurate statement that Jarrod improved markedly this season, both offensively and defensively, and you're no mind reader either. You have no clue at all except your opinion that he will regress. That may be your position and you could turn out right. You could also prove to be full of s***.

It is possible that Francona operated with a freer hand in Cleveland than he did in Boston. I mean, how many GM's are meeting with their manager every damned day before games as Epstein did with Tito? And knowing how inept Boy Wonder was in judging talent and knowing how meddling Lucchino and Henry were in Francona's last few years, it is possible Tito was working under extreme pressure, something maybe that he doesn't have to deal with in Cleveland. Now all of this wasn't the front office's fault. Francona was a very stubborn person, and his "I DON'T WANT TO LOSE HIM" routine that he used constantly to offer succor to players who weren't performing became more sickening as the y ears went by. He also seemed to make the same mistakes in the dugout over and over again so perhaps he either learned from that or we will see a redux of this as he keeps managing in Cleveland. HOWEVER, fair is fair, and in my opinion he should get American League Manager of the Year. At least the Red Sox were respectable the past decade, save for one month in '11 and the 2012 season. Aside from 2007 it seemed the Guardians were always locked up in the outhouse.

Finally Jarrod is emerging as a solid catcher and hitter-----nothing spectacular but steadily getting better and fitting in very well with the rest of the team and the pitchers. I don't know why we would want to jettison him now. I think we need to keep as much of this team together as possible. Decent talent and chemistry showed its beautiful body this season for us and while we will most likely lose some players I would hate to see a whole new slew of people on our roster next season when we have people here who have proven they can do the job. Salty stopped swinging for the fences this season, upped his average close to 50 points and smacked out 40 doubles. I'd like to see him stay with us, especially if McCann is going to cost us a bundle. What I would really like to see is a No. 1 type ace pitcher who we could swindle some team out of.

I both like it and hate it Ted. Sure, Koji was the best closer in baseball this season but I hate to have to wear out the guy. If we keep advancing in the Playoffs he will be called on a lot more than he was during the regular season if he is expected to pitch two innings most every time out, and that is the dilemma we face because guys like Thornton, Morales, Delarosa, and the rest of the relief crew, save Breslow, have been inconsistent, and now we have Doubrant saying he doesn't want to pitch in relief. I would add Tazawa to that list but that poor guy has been worked to the bone this season. Perhaps with a few more days off he can regain some savvy and strength in his arm and become a dependable reliever again. If we can get solid pitching all down the line we have a chance to make some hay, but it will come down to the pitching and I sure as hell hope the bullpenners stand up and make a statement.

Well Jung, we're going to have to bow our necks and win one more game because it tonight is of any indication the pathetic Mariners are going to get swept the way the miserable Twins will be. They're mailing it in. Tomorrow we finish the job.

Stirring the pot? User, I'm trying to unstir it. You and Ted need to make peace and stop this stuff. We are having a whale of a time and might even do even better. I tried to call 700 Hitter to tell him the same thing. The last thing I want to do is raise hell, except to stick to that f***er Showalter. I've haven't been this happy about my team in five long years.