redsoxfan3

Surprisingly we are still only down 1.

Come on guys. Give Albers a chance. He is good enough to be our next closer. Seriously though, don't give up any runs, Matt.

At least we have the top coming up for the 9th.

Way to give me a heart attack Thomas. I guess we got some luck there. This game is not out of reach. Time to get our bats going.

Throw strikes. Holy s***!

Seriously? We should have brought in a new pitcher when Pena came up to bat. We could have got out of the inning. Now we leave the bases loaded with f***ing Justin Thomas pitching. God damnit.

That a boy, Bard!

Great hustle by Luke Scott. I have a lot of hatred for that guy now.

I'll take the 10 pitch at bat from Aviles.

Damnit Aviles, that would have been ball four.

Good, quick start for Bard. Let's get some offense. Prediction: Pedroia doubles and Gonzalez drves him in.

Lots of empty seats at Fenway from what I can see. That does not surprise me since it is day game during business hours.

Today is awesome. I get to watch a game that isn't at night where I don't have to go on break to watch only 30 minutes or so of it or try to watch it while I am working.

lmao @ Lin. There is no doubt that this guy can shag fly balls, but there is also no doubt that he cannot hit the ball past the mound. On a serious note, I don't see him as anything more than a bench player and a pinch runner.

No doubt, but it may be for the best.

Who else would you prefer? Please do not say Sweeney. We need someone faster than Sweeney at leadoff. Speed wise, Pedroia, D-Mac, and Aviles are really the only three guys that I would prefer to hit there. Pedroia will more than likely stay in the 2 hole. D-Mac is not hittin so well rigt now. Aviles has close to a .300 BA and an over .300 OBP, so I think he is the best of option we have right now. I like Sweeney in the middle of the order.

I kind of like the early game time. It is not very often, but I get to wake up and watch the Sox.

Bowden was starting to grow on me. He did get his chance to pitch this year and gave up a homerun. He has potential, but is still very inconsistent. I don't really know if there is a future for either Bowden or Exposito on the actual Red Sox roster.

I do agree with you about D-Mac. I am just saying I think we can get by until Ells and Crawford returns. I know that we do not know the extent to how long Ells is out. I have heard 6-8 weeks and that they do not know until more tests are done. I think the reports are that Crawford will return sometime in May (probably more towards the middle or end). If we can get both back by June 1st, then I will be happy. Realistically, it would not hurt this team one bit to go out and trade for someone to help us get by until they both return.

I noticed something different about Youk while watching him in Spring Training. Last year he was very happy to sign autographs for the fans. He was nice about it and chose to do so almost after every practice. This year he seemed like he was forced to sign autographs for the fans. He would get agitated with fans asking for autographs and would even not sign for some people that yelled his name to sign autographs. He seemed very on edge and unhappy to sign, so why even do it all? I think he has an attitude problem. I am not a big Youk fan and I have stated that several times. Maybe this is a wakeup call for him. He needs to realize that his time in Boston is not guaranteed. He has a 13 million team option for next year and if he continues to play like s***, then he is going to find himself packing his bags at the end of the year. I am glad Bobby V is challenging him. This is something Francona would have never done. Yes, this does kind of raise questions why he would publicly say this, but at the same time Youk needs to realize where Bobby V is coming from. Youk needs to start getting his s*** together if he wants to be in a Red Sox uniform next year. If it is true that he was considered the cancer of the clubhouse last year and Bobby V is coming out and saying that he is not emotionally and physically into the game right now, then something needs to be done to really take a look if he is hurting the clubhouse chemistry.

I am not really big on batting Sweeney leadoff. I like the fact that he is getting on base and getting hits, but I like Aviles' speed at the leadoff spot. He is faster than Sweeney. Aviles is batting .290 through nine games. He is doing decent. If Craword comes back before Ells (hopefully Ells isn't out more than two months), then I could see us going with Crawford at leadoff, unless Aviles really is doing well. I am content with Sweeney, Ross, and McDonald as our OF right now. I am also not agaist looking to trade for someone. I know that a couple months ago if you told me the OF is going to be Ross, Sweeney, and D-Mac, I would have thought the FO is crazy. Ross can hit when he is hot. He is not a horrible option in CF. Sweeney is a big surprise. D-Mac will get better. I think we can get by with the OF that we have until both Crawford and Ells return. Hopefully that is sooner rather than later.

I would rather keep Papi around until he retires. If Youk has a poor year, then let him walk after this year. I know Papi is older, but Youk does not look so good this year. I am not sure where you getthe idea that the plan is to let Papi walk. The FO obviously wanted to keep him around. Papi will retire in the near future and our DH spot will be available. Hopefully we won't have to give that to one player after he retires. I don't like the idea of Youk taking over the DH role. He has not proven he can hit consistently. If anything, we have both Salty and Lavarnway, then Lavarnway can split time at DH and C.

The Rays do have a balanced team. Their pitching is solid and so is there lineup. It is too early to tell how good they really are. I do agree that this series will be a good indicator to where this team stands, in your words a good thermometer. I will be happy if we can at least take two games, of course any more than that and I will be ecstatic. I think that we are putting four solid starting pitchers out there, we need Beckett and Buchholz pitch their best and we need to give them plenty of run support.