a700hitter

^This is getting obnoxious.

Nice comeback by Aceves getting out of that jam!! Now score!!!

I've posted it over and over this season. When Pedroia hits, we win. We need him now and for the rest of the week.

How do you get Ellsbury by that much on a P?

Can this team dig deep and pull out a victory in this game?

That would have been another run and Ortiz in scoring position.

How could that ball be foul? There is no foul territory past that pole!!! For Chrissakes!! Can't the umps get it right!

Yes, they couldn't expect this kid to do what he has never done before. He has been a reliever for most of is life. The most they could have expected was for him to go through the order once.

You don't know what you are talking about. The Red Sox have never collapsed like this in September. It never happened. This will be a first if it happens.

These are desperate times. He couldn't go 3 innings? I would have started him and hoped for 3-4 innings. When he got gassed, I'd have gone to the pen for Weiland and Co. and they'd all have been on a short leash.

If the Sox don't turn this around fast, this will get really ugly in the final week. If you think it is distressing now, it will become excruciating as the end approaches.

Weiland has not yet had a successful major league start. In the past, Dubront has had some successful starts. Why would they have elected to go with Weiland today?

I said this two weeks ago. Unless the Sox took matters into their own hands and buried the Rays, the Sox were set up perfectly to be burned by the Yankees. They play all their guys against the Sox and lay down for the Rays. At the time, most people disagreed with me.

It's not a "heart" problem. They are rolling out garbage and kids up and down the lineup. Yesterday, they had two hacks in the OF-- D Mac and Conor Jackson and another hack at third base-- Aviles. These guys are not good defenders. They helped give away yesterday's game. Except on rare occasions, our starters blow us out of games early. It's hard for the crowd to have any life when the starter puts you in such a hole, and there is no energy for the team to feed on. It's a cycle of collapse and despair. This is what it looks like. I saw this at Shea Stadium in 2007, 2008. The Sox are circling the drain. Willie Randolph would say things like Francona is saying, i.e. "this will make us stronger." Willie also said that it would make the champagne taste sweeter. As this progresses, Tito will make similar remarks and it will be very annoying as the fans come to the realization that the team is just circling the drain.

How did he not catch either one? Now the Orioles are tagging the kid. He's a baby. He should not be put in these situations. It's not his fault. The kid was a closer in college.

This is a continuing nightmare.

D MAc gets one back!! He's still a minor league hack.

By the way, how is J.D. 's wittle finger boo boo doing? It's alright I guess since we can torture some stats to prove that he really is earning his money.

I feel bad for Weiland. D Mac has taken a wrecking ball to this inning.

In 20+ years of watching Yaz play in day games, I never saw him lose a ball in the sun in LF, and they played many more day games. You need to know your home field. That should never happen. And then he drops a second ball. The guy is a minor league hack. This is another guy who never should have been invited back after 2010. We were lucky to get what we got from him in 2010, they should've realized that. He was not a diamond in the rough. He is just a bush leaguer and we caught some lightning in a bottle in 2010. He should have gotten a thank you and a pat on the back, but not a roster spot. He has made a mockery of this inning. I can't remember a LF botching up an inning like this at Fenway for the Sox.

When Dave Winfield would limp to the finish, Steinbrenner him nicknamed Mr. May. Despite his stats which have been good this month, he has not been Mr. September.

Plenty of names have come up. The Theo fanboys either tell us that they couldn't be acquired by the Red Sox because they were too costly or some other reason. Yet, these guys were acquired by other teams. Other names that have come up have been met with the argument that they couldn't perform in the AL East or some other argument why they would not perform. If we mention, Freddie Garcia or Colon, that is met with a response that the Yankees were just lucky. It's my opinion that there is a lot to criticize. The Trading Deadline decisions are certainly up for debate. Additionally, the way this team was built from the beginning should be called into question. There was never sufficient depth for this roster, at the minor league level or in the bullpen. If we criticize them for resigning Wakefield who was embarrassingly and obviously over the hill in 2010, we are told that he was the best available player for that role. Going back to the offseason 2010, I still believe that the FO made a mistake by going after Lackey and Cameron instead of Matt Holliday. If the Sox had acquired Holliday in 2010, that would have allowed them to make a big push for Cliff Lee. I continue to think that Lackey, Cameron and Crawford was the wrong direction. I also think Theo's record of failure with regard to big ticket free agent acquisitions is fair game. Some posters will defend the FO and Theo and make every excuse for them to explain the team's performance. I continue to believe that injuries are a big cop out excuse. Those of you want to give him that as an excuse, good for you. That's your opinion. I believe differently. In the end, the FO will take the credit if this team succeeds. They should also be accountable if it fails. Not to do so would just be homerism. As for calling pessimists the people here who have criticized the FO, speaking for myself, I still think they will manage to hang on. In the poll, I voted that they would hang on and win the World Series. That's not pessimistic. Many of the other posters criticizing Theo and the FO still think we will make the post season. Those of us who are being critical of the construction of this team warned that the Sox were on the verge of a collapse before we played the first September series against Tampa. We were told that it was unfounded fear and that it couldn't happen and that the Sox would put the dagger in the Rays that weekend. As it is turning out, more than two weeks since some of us started sounding alarm bells, the Sox are precipitously close to collapsing and they are playing terrible ball. Our fears and concerns were and still are justified and warranted. We never said definitively at any point, including now, that they would completely collapse. We only said that there was danger of a collapse. What was not warranted was the mocking of those who have been critical by calling them pessimists. Apparently, what was not warranted was the confidence that some posters held after the first September weekend series.

It was a mismatch from the beginning, but it looked like we caught a break when Price had to leave after 4, down only 4-2. I was very optimistic for a short while. However, Tito left the old fossil in the game because he had reached neither 100 pitches or 7 runs. When he hit 100 pitches, he'd given up 6 runs and the optimism was gone. Wakefield doesn't have anymore good games left in him. He has been finished for 2 years. He has just been embarrassing himself and he doesn't give his team a chance to win anymore. It's time to walk away. He had a great career for a guy with no major league skills and a trick pitch. People who say that he is certain to come back next season, because his is a good option for the price and in serious denial. It shouldn't be difficult to find a spot starter who can pitch to a 5+ ERA.

This is my first Game Thread of the season. I don't know if anyone has enough mojo in the world to overcome this pitching mismatch of Wakefield v. Price Timmy, if you have one good game in those old bones of yours please have it be today. I'm not talking about 4 or 5 runs in 6 innings. That will not get the job done. You'll need to pull out a 1995 vintage Wakefield start for this. Keep the damn ball down and win!!!