VA Sox Fan

From The Globe's Peter Abraham about yesterday's game: • Lots of readers were peeved that Francona ran for David Ortiz in the eighth inning and Adrian Gonzalez in the 10th In the case of Ortiz, the Sox were up 7-3 and he was giving Ortiz a little rest never imagining the A's would rally. Gonzalez, meanwhile, is one of the slowest runners in the game. He has almost no chance of scoring from first on a double, so running for him with with no outs makes sense. You have to manage to win the game right then, not for what could happen two innings later. In Francona's case, virtually every person in New England is absolutely convinced he or she could manage the team. So he's always wrong when the move doesn't work out. But nothing he does is on a whim. **************** Yesterday's "almost" loss was on Pedroia and Paps. The Tito bashing out here is misguided at times and it's getting very very old.

GO RAFA!! Rain delay.

You go Emmz

WRONG! STFU until the game is over!

Way to go Drew!

Wish I could have seen that play. Listening on the radio at work. They are calling it a web gem.

UPDATE, 12:07 p.m.: Buchholz just met with Terry Francona and Curt Young. He said he would pitch in New York.

From the Globe: Stat of the Day: Red Sox catchers are hitting .319 with seven homers and 16 RBIs in the last 19 games.

Buchholz's back an issue Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff June 4, 2011 10:51 AM Clay Buccholz said his lower back didn't necessarily hurt yesterday, but it was on his mind. The Sox are concerned enough that they plan to talk with him about the situation later today. Tim Wakefield will throw a bullpen today. That would make him available to start on Wednesday in New York in Buchholz's place if needed.

ATHLETICS (27-31) DeJesus RF Sweeney CF Willingham LF Matsui DH Ellis 2B Barton 1B Powell C Kouzmanoff 3B Pennington SS Pitching: RHP Trevor Cahill (6-3, 2.31)

RED SOX (31-26) Ellsbury CF Pedroia 2B Gonzalez 1B Youkilis 3B Ortiz DH Crawford LF Lowrie SS Drew RF Varitek C Pitching: RHP Josh Beckett (4-2, 1.80),

ATHLETICS (27-20) Crisp CF DeJesus RF Willingham LF Matsui DH Suzuki C Barton 1B Ellis 2B Kouzmanoff 3B Pennington SS Pitching: LHP Josh Outman (1-0, 2.08)

RED SOX (30-26) Ellsbury CF Pedroia 2B Gonzalez 1B Youkilis 3B Ortiz DH Lowrie SS Crawford LF Cameron RF Saltalamacchia C Pitching: RHP Clay Buchholz (4-3, 3.41)

Brutal getting swept by the White Sox and at home. Day off then A's to town....it'll get better. What a roller coaster ride this season has been.

Only comes around to troll when the Red Sox are struggling.

PAPI PAPI PAPI!!!

A WIN today would be nice. Please, thanks. Pitch well TIM-MAY!!!

WHITE SOX (26-31) Pierre LF Ramirez SS Quentin RF Konerko DH Dunn 1B Lillibridge CF Vizquel 3B Castro C Beckham 2B Pitching: RHP Gavin Floyd (5-4, 3.61)

Thanks but I have to give the Globe's Peter Abraham all the credit!

Lester gets some time to think it over Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff May 31, 2011 11:35 AM By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff Jon Lester had a 5.50 earned average and a 1.53 WHIP in the month of May. To put that in some perspective, only nine other pitchers in baseball (min. 20 innings) were worse this month. We're only talking about six starts, but that is hardly what you expect from the ace of the staff coming out of spring training. Lester allowed 41 hits and walked 17 over 36 innings in May. Control is an issue. The big lefty averaged 2.8 walks per nine innings in 2008 and '09. He averaged 3.6 last season and 3.7 so far this season. His strikeouts have been fairly consistent, so it's not like his stuff isn't there. The pitcher pop psychology term is "executing pitches." When asked what is wrong, Lester invariably says he's not executing. There's also some stubbornness involved. Lester has fallen in love with his cutter, a very good pitch but one that opposing hitters are adjusting to. In 2009, Lester's pitch mix was: Fastball: 54 percent Cutter: 20 percent Curveball: 20 percent Changeup: 6 percent In 2011, it is: Fastball: 47 percent Cutter: 27 percent Curveball: 14 percent Changeup: 10 percent Lester seems to be too intent on tricking hitters instead of attacking them. He also gets frustrated when umpires won't call certain pitches on the corner strikes. His stuff is too good to play that game. Overmatch the hitter and leave the umpire out of it. At some point, Lester needs to get back to pitching off his fastball and using his cutter more as an out pitch. That's part of the reason he is being pushed back in the rotation until next Tuesday in New York. The rotation as it stands now: Tonight vs. Chicago: Alfredo Aceves Wednesday vs. Chicago: Tim Wakefield Thursday: Off Friday vs. Oakland: Clay Buchholz Saturday vs. Oakland: Josh Beckett Sunday vs. Oakland: John Lackey Monday: Off Tuesday at New York: Lester Wednesday at New York: Wakefield Thursday at New York: Buchholz That gives Lester a week to think about what he is doing and how better to execute. The rest can't hurt either after he threw 127 pitches last night.

Time for SOME RUNS!!!! LOTS!!!!!

Nope. Just you.

Who cares? :dunno:

No doubt. What an idiot.