VA Sox Fan

RED SOX (14-18) Ellsbury CF Pedroia 2B Gonzalez 1B Youkilis DH Lowrie 3B Cameron RF Saltalamacchia C Crawford LF Scutaro SS Pitching: RHP Clay Buchholz (2-3, 4.81) WIN PLEASE!

TWINS (11-18) Span CF Plouffe SS Morneau 1B Kubel DH Cuddyer RF Valencia 3B Revere LF Butera C Casilla 2B Pitching: RHP Scott Baker (1-2, 3.16) RED SOX (14-17) Ellsbury CF Pedroia 2B Gonzalez 1B Youkilis 3B Ortiz DH Drew RF Lowrie SS Crawford LF Saltalamacchia C Pitching: RHP Tim Wakefield (0-0, 4.08)

THAT SUCKED!!!!!!!!!

Pregame notes from Fenway Posted by Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff May 5, 2011 10:55 AM Sleepy morning here, but the Red Sox are making moves in their bullpen. Lefty Rich Hill and righthander Scott Atchison are active for today's game after coming in from Scranton where Pawtucket was playing. Both Dan Wheeler (calf) and Bobby Jenks (biceps) are heading to the disabled list. Terry Francona announced the moves. He also said it was unlikely that Daisuke Matsuzaka would make his scheduled start on Friday. That means someone else. Could that be Alfredo Aceves? Aceves was scheduled to make a start for Pawtucket tonight. we'll see if he's yanked from that one. J.D. Drew, who had a bout of virtigo last night, was back in the lineup today. Dustin Pedroia is getting his first day off after four strikeouts. Francona said the second baseman did not fight him. Francona slept at the ballpark as did many of the clubhouse workers.

No. All players slump. He is slumping.

Nice WIN. Damn Papelbon, made me nervous for a second.

No Way. You can but it makes me want to puke.

SCOOT

HELL FK'N NO!!!!! Let Sterling sound like an ass, not Orsillo.

PAPI PAPI PAPI!!!!!!!

ADRIAN WITH THE HR!!!!!!

YEAH JED!!!

Way to go GONZO!!

ORIOLES (9-12) Brian Roberts 2B Nick Markakis RF Derrek Lee 1B Vladimir Guerrero DH Luke Scott LF Adam Jones CF Mark Reynolds 3B Matt Wieters C Robert Andino SS Pitching: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (1-3, 3.12)

f*** the NYY and losing to the struggling White Sox. It happens to all teams!

I'm good thanks sweetness. But damn, we lost. O's weren't going to slump forever. Win the next 2!!!!!

Clay sucked as did our offense. Nice pitching by the O's. WIN TOMORROW!!!!!!

Seriously?

Pregame notes from Camden Yards Posted by Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff April 26, 2011 04:20 PM BALTIMORE - Jason Varitek was catching Clay Buchholz tonight and will catch Josh Beckett tomorrow. A lot of catching for the supposed Sox "backup" catcher so we ask has there been a change in the depth chart? Nobody is calling it that. Terry Francona reminded all of us in the media that he has said all along that Varitek would catch more than the average backup. Lately, he might be catching more than the average starter. Buchholz has been Saltalamacchia's duty. But Buchholz is 1-2 with a 5.31 ERA entering tonight's game. It appears the Sox want to get Buchholz straightened out. He allowed six homers in four starts, four of them coming vs. Texas back on April 3rd. Francona said that Varitek "has been catching so well" and that he felt batting righthanded against rookie southpaw Zach Britton is "where he should play." Varitek is hitting .074 (2-for-27) and both hits have come off lefthanded pitchers. When asked how he felt Salty had caught Buchholz, he said "pretty good." He also mentioned Buchholz shaking off Salty but that "Buck shakes everyone off." On Sunday, John Lackey praised Salty's work behind the plate in a 7-0 win over the Angels in which he pitched eight scoreless innings. It seems now that the Sox bats are starting to get hot, carrying Varitek's lack of offense isn't as big of an issue. It would appear that Camden Yards would be another good ballpark for Adrian Gonzalez. The most stunning aspect of Gonzalez' early tenure with the Sox is that he has one home run in his first 85 at-bats. Gonzalez is hitting .282 with 12 homers so there's likely no need for concern.

On this forum? So many people overeact when we are losing and winning. God forbid we lose the O's series or worse, get swept....doom and gloom will again prevail.

Regarding what any of us thinks or feels about Salty, I cannot imagine the team/FO giving up on him so quickly into the season. They know more about the situation than we do and will do what is best for the team IMO.

EXACTLY. Agree again. Not exactly making a direct comparison but SO many people were calling for Papi to be let go in April 2010, he looked done and lost at the plate. I realize he is only DHing.

Agree 100%.

NYY LOSE!

The leaving 20 base runners on per game HAS GOT TO STOP!! The clutch is stuck for the Red Sox Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff April 22, 2011 01:25 PM By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Red Sox are hitting .190 with a .281 on-base percentage and a .256 slugging percentage in 195 plate appearances with runners in scoring position this season. That's the worst batting average in baseball in such situations, the second-worst on-base percentage and the second-worst slugging percentage. There's no gift-wrapped explanation for it other than that the Sox aren't hitting very well (.237/.335/.375) in any situation this season. The good news is those statistics tend to even out over time. The Sox were .268/.339/.451 overall last season and .269/.361/.458 with RISP. A look at the hitters this season with RISP, from best to worst: Scutaro 3-8 Gonzalez 5-17 Saltalamacchia 4-14 Pedroia 3-11 Lowrie 3-11 Ellsbury 3-16 Ortiz 3-17 Cameron 1-6 Drew 2-14, 7 K Youkilis 2-18, 6 K, 2 GIDP Varitek 1-10, 6 K Crawford 2-20, 4 K McDonald 0-6 You don't need to be Bill James to figure out that Drew, Youkilis and Crawford are fairly important parts of the offense and are 6 for 52 (.115). Drew is a career .276 career hitter with RISP, Crawford .308 and Youkilis .328. These guys didn't have their clutchability stolen overnight by Dr. Evil. They're just going through a bad time. The day is coming when this turns and some poor group of pitchers will pay a harsh price. That's how it works. But for now maybe the Sox should have their runners crouch down so the guy at the plate can't see them. (And for you smart SABR guys out there, I know there's no such thing as clutch. That's kind of the point of this, to show it's an anomaly.)