a700hitter

Often times when a manager gets fired, they say that it is easier to fire 1 than 25. A GM is responsible for more than 25. He's responsible for the scouting and development people. Our farm system is not the envy of baseball as some would like to believe. He's also responsible for the strength and conditioning program. That didn't do to well either. Plus, he's responsible for the manager and the players. A lot of things went wrong with the Sox organization this season-- big things. They happened on his watch. It's easier for the owners to fire Theo and let the new guy make all the other changes.

You were in plenty of denial that the failure was Theo's responsibility. Many posts were exchanged with you, me and IOrtiz on that topic. The owners agreed with me and IOrtiz, and so did Theo. He never made excuses, probably one of his most admirable qualities. I do have faith in and a very high regard for this ownership. They are doing what is right for the franchise. It does seem like you have transitioned into anger at this most recent news. Gosh, you're the social worker. Do you really need me to tell you that you are going though the grieving process?

Everything went wrong for the Sox -- Lester, Beckett, Papelbon and Bard all failed, and they still missed the post season by 1 stinking game. It wouldn't have taken much to turn the disaster into the playoffs. Theo didn't get it done. It's the small details that bite you in the ass sometime, but they are usually indicative of deeper issues. There were deeper issues, but Theo probably would have survived if the team had made the playoffs and definitely if they got to the ALCS.

Well, I see that you have moved beyond denial to anger. That's good, and this housecleaning is healthy and it will be good for the organization.

In a big organization, the moves at the top are often for show. Nothing sends a message to the rest of the organization like firing one of the top guys. It sends shock waves through an organization. Everyone will have resumes circulating if they haven't already done it.

You can look at it the other way-- that a team with so much talent only needed a little tweak to get it into the post season. He didn't do what little was necessary. His final week pursuit of Capuano and Chen was damning evidence that he had blown it at the trading deadline.

Hey, I don't need the enzyte. And I don't need to be celebrating anything to chase skanks, so you can't draw an inferences from that.

I'm not at all happy about this. I wish he had done better. I thought we had a good team to start the season. I still think if he made one or two moves at the trading deadline that the Sox are in the playoffs. Fister would have put us in the ALCS, but Theo thought that he didn't need to pay the price and that we had the post season locked up. He miscalculated terribly. Add this year's flop to last year's flop, a sweep in 2009, and his horrendous record with FA's and he was doomed. It was his responsibility. He did a lousy job and he paid the price with his job, but hey he is going to a make a ton of money from his failure, so there's no reason to shed tears for him. Speaking for myself, I always liked Theo. When he made mistakes, he stood up and took the hits, even though so many were willing to let him slide. Criticism of an organization is healthy and this FO under Theo lost some of its edge. It was time for new blood. I'm not happy about being right in this instance. He had to go. Big changes are needed. When the Mets had their collapse in 2007, Mets fans thought Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya would be fired. Instead, Randolph stayed on and Minaya got an extension. The following season, 2008 was practically a carbon copy of 2007. They missed the playoffs on the final day of the season. Their franchise is still reeling. Cleaning house was the right business move, and these owners know how to run a business.

Lackey is a difficult decision, because he is owed so much money. Varitek and Wake are no-brainers. It's time to move on.

Unless Verlander can pull out a victory in game 4, the sweep prediction is looking pretty good. I think the NL team will win the WS. It would be nice to see the Brewers win for a change. If the Brewers go to the Series, look for Fielder to have a monster series catapulting his salary demands into the stratosphere. The same goes for Pujols if the Cards make it.

It came at the expense of the post season. A milestone like that would normally be associated with good memories, but not this one. Mention of Wakefield's 200 wins will always conjure up memories of an over the hill player's futile effort to win his 200th and racking up loss after loss as the Red Sox spiraled out of control on the way to the worst collapse in team history.

The owners have made all the difference. They gave the fans what they wanted and they were able to turn the franchise into a gold mine. The prior owners were small minded. They had no vision. That being said. It's time for ownership to bring in new blood to the FO. The current FO has lost it's edge. They've gone soft. JH knows this and changes will be made.

High OBP guy- MoneyBall type. You would have liked him. LoL!

That is impressive. When I was a kid in the '60's and early 70's, I could name just about every one on every team's roster. I would probably still do pretty well on a 60's quiz. You rocked this quiz. You obviously ate, drank and slept baseball in the 90's.

Schiraldi took plenty of blame too. I think his promising career was derailed by his experience in that World Series. I was happy when they shipped him out of town, so I didn't have to be reminded of that Series.

The Wilpons

People forget that till this day there is bad blood between Johnny mac and clemens. Years later Johnny Mac claimed that Clemens asked out of the game. Clemens has denied it. If Billy Bucks had been the only goat, that pitching change would not have been discussed for more than 10 years.

There were plenty of goats for the fans at the time. You are younger than me, but I can tell you that all of those guys-- Gedman, Stanley, Clemens and Johnny Mac were all getting blamed by Boston fans. The Buckner play will always be the enduring visual of that Series. He can't escape that. As far as I am concerned you are the Queen of TalkSox.

It was inarguably the turning point of the Series, so they will always show it. I was drunk before game 7 started, because I had to dull the pain that was going to be inevitable. As far as blame, there was plenty to go around. Everyone was blamed from Gedman, Stanley, Clemens and McNamara. After 2004, no one discussed it anymore. That doesn't change the fact that the Buckner play will continue to be the play that defines that Series. There were plenty of goats discussed by the fans. It wasn't limited to Bill Bucks. To say that Bucks took all the blame is completely inaccurate. Similarly, we have to be subjected to the Bucky Dent HR and it was the Reggie HR later on that proved to be the winning run. Dent's HR was the turning point, so that's what we'll see-- that plus Yaz's popup.

If you want to know how fans with fully formed adult brains felt at the time it happened just pay attention to my posts. It was devastating.

He acted like a dick. If he had acted at all like he felt bad about it, people would have had empathy for him. He was not a likable guy. He even acted like a dick about having the ball. When some guy was selling the ball for big bucks, Buckner claimed that he had the ball. Check out the video footage. Buckner never goes back to pick up the ball. He just walked off the field.

He had a bad ankle for his entire career. It was a degenerative condition. He'd been playing on one leg for the last three-quarters of his career. Just as heroes are created by one play so are goats. Other than Red Sox fans, few remember that Bernie Carbo hit the 3 run HR to tie the game up allowing Fisk to hit the game winner. People remember Mazeroski's Series winning HR, but they don't remember Hal Smith's 3-run HR in the 8th inning that gave the Pirates the lead going into the 9th inning. Bobby Thompson is remembered for the Shot Heard Around the World, but no one remembers that 3 other giants got hits in that inning. Buckner is remembered because his was the last in a series of miscues in the pivotal game of the World Series. If the Stanley wild pitch had been the final play, that would be what would be remembered. They are always going to show the final play. The goat grudge didn't last as long as people think. When he returned to the Sox at the beginning of 1990, he was warmly received with a standing ovation. The New England grudge was gone, but the play will live on in infamy, because it was last.