redsoxfan3

haha, too funny. If he does this, he does realize he would get a lot of criticism. Drag Queen Rodriquez. The articles points out that this is not his cup of tea, but I disagree. This suits him well.

Every fan in baseball hopes that their team wins the World Series every year. The reality of that is up to the fan. Knowing whether your team is talented enough to make the playoffs to even get a shot to win the World Series is the perception of the fan. Some fans have a blind outlook on reality in terms of their team. For instance, my brother is a Twins fan and thinks that they can compete with the Tigers this year. When he said that, I just ignored it. My perspectve as a Sox fan is that we do have the talent to win the World Series this year, but I also do know that there are a lot of other factors involved. If we have injury to Beckett, Lester, or Buchholz, then that chance quickly starts to decrease. There are so many questions with every team that it is hard to predict anything this early on in the season. It takes an injury to Verlander, Cabrera, or Fielder and the Tigers chances are a lot less likely. We did get spoiled with winning championships in 2004 and 2007. Those are two seasons that I am really thankful for. Neither of those seasons has an impact on my thinking for this season. We have a lot of talent on this team. A lot of guys need to fulfill their potential and come through for us this season if we want to make the playoffs. One big thing is that hopefully Crawford will have a better season when he returns and can spark this team. I look at Pedroia as the one that is the leader of the clubhouse and the guy that keeps everyone going. He has looked good so far this year coming up with several key hits. I guess the point I am trying to make is that each fan can choose to view this team and think of this team at his or her's own discretion. There are a lot of pessimistic fans, just as there are neutral and optimistic. Either way, I have fun discussing things with every type of Red Sox fan, just as long as the fan gives a logical opinion and backs up assessments with facts.

There are always ups and downs in baseball. You cannot win every game. I remember in college during my first year we started out 1-15. We bounced back and went 23-1. We finished the regular season going 24-16. We ended up winning our conference for the first time in 20 years and winning our third conference championship ever. You have to have a good short term memory in baseball. You also cannot let the negatives get to you too much and you cannot get too excited about the positives. You have to be on an even keel. I think that logic is the same as a fan as it is a player. There are going to be games and streaks where we lose a couple of series in a row. We are 1-5 and we still have 156 games left to play this year. We are yet to even play our first game at Fenway. There wiill be a lot of excitement at Fenway this year. We play four home games in a row against the Rays. All it takes is a sweep to get us back to .500 and for us to even forget the start of the season. As of right now I don't know how realistic that is. We just have to take one game at a time. We have a tough schedule for the beginning of April. After we play the Yankees in April, I think I counted 21 games in a row where we play teams that we can beat. We could go on a real run to get this season turned around. Stay optimistic and if we lose a game, know it is not the end of the world. I know that we started off horrible this year and last year. You also have to remember we have two new guys in our rotation, a virtually new bullpen, a new starting SS, a couple of new OF's, and a new manager. They are still learning and they are still building team chemistry. Crawford is not back yet. Hill, Dice-K, and Bailey are all coming back at some point. This team will grow and progressively get better. I knew that we were going to have our struggles this year. I am glad that it is at the beginning of the season. We are only six games in. If you are getting stressed out right now, then my only advice is to take it easy, there are even going to be more growing pains. Bobby V does not know everything about this team. Our offense will start to produce more. There is a lot of hope and potential for this team. Just give it time. We will get things going. I am predicting us to be a little over .500 in the middle of May. You have to remember that we are playing extremely talented teams. Our first five series are teams that all have legitimate shots to make the playoffs. I know the Jays are probably the weakest of the 5 teams, but they are going to be tough this year, especially if Romero can pitch the way he did yesterday. The Rangers, Yankees, Tigers, and Rays are no doubt some of the toughest teams in baseball. Then we follow up with playing series against the Twins, White Sox, A's, Orioles, Guardians, and Royals. For those who are already tripping balls about being 1-5, it is going to be a long season for you guys. The pitching willl come together. The offense will start to produce. Things will get better.

Let's win the series. Hopefully Lester has a good outing today.

Always will respect Terry. I don't blame him one bit.

Here is a conversation between me and a guy from my macroeconomics class. Guy in my class: Did you watch the game last night? Me: Yes. Guy in my class: We sucked last night. Bard is not a starter. He should go back to the pen. (Note that I am getting agitated because this guy is a total joke of a Red Sox fan.) Me: Bard didn't suck last night. It was his first ever major league start. He pitched decent for his first start. He did struggle a little, but he looked better than the stats indicate. Guy in my class: I still think he should be moved to the bullpen. We cannot afford to lose anymore games with him in the rotation. HE SUCKS! Me: That is your opinion. He will get better as a starter. Guy in my class: We need to start Cook over Bard. Cook gave up no runs in his first start this year. Bard gave up a lot of runs. Me: You do realize that Cook pitched in a AAA game and gave up no runs, right? That is not really relevant when you compare him to Bard. I do agree that Cook might be a decent starter in the majors, but Bard has a lot more potential as a starter. Guy in my class: It doesn't really matter what league he gave up no runs in. He still pitched well and deserves to start over Bard. (Note that I am starting to get pissed talking to this guy who is very ignorant.) Me: You are joking, right? It does matter what league he pitched in. There is a reason why he is in AAA. Bard will be fine as a starter once he gets more experience. Cook is not a bad backup option. He is there for insurance just in case we have an injury. Guy in my class: Cook pitched better than all of our starters in his first game. He gave up no runs. Every other starter gave up a run. I think we should try to trade Beckett and Buchholz for real starters. Cook is the best option we have. He might even do better than Lester this year. Me: Is this a joke? Guy in my class: No. I am being serious. I am tired of losing and we need to trade some players to win some gmes. Me: I really don't have anything else to say to you in regard to the Red Sox. We will be fine. The five starters we have now are better options than Cook. Guy in my class: Are you f***ing kidding me? Do you even watch the games? Me: Yes. I watch every game that I can. Do you watch the games? Guy in my class: No. I don't usually. I just look for the stats at the end of the night. (I just sit there and don't say another word to him the rest of the class. He still tried to talk to me.) I love talking baseball with people. Even if the other person is not even really into baseball. This guy is one of the dumber fans I have talked to. There have been other conversations with this guy worse than this one. I can tolerate a lot, but this guy just gets on my nerves. /end rant

I agree. Bowden did not look horrible, except for giving up that home run. The guy has some potential.

I was not happy with losing yesterday, but there are some bright spots from the game. I think Bard did decent for his first start. He kept us in the game through five by only giving up three. If Thomas does not come in and give up two more runs for Bard, then Bard's start looks that much better. I think it is time for Thomas to get his bags packed. I would prefer Padilla, Atchinson, or even Albers over Thomas in that situation. I like how this team keeps fighting until the end. We continue to score in the 9th inning. I really like the no giving up attitude in the clubhouse. Pedroia is doing a great job of getting things going for this team. He cannot do it all though. We will get results from the rest. I really hope Ellsbury gets things going. He could use a big game. All in all, if the pitching was utilized better, we have a legitimate shot to win this game. This is good experience for Bard. Maybe he will get a W next time around with more run support.

That works. Thanks for the information. I just want to be able to watch the game tonight. I have the night off of work. I will be pissed if the game is blacked out.

Jackson would definitely have been a good addition. I am not worried about that now. We have who we have.

I hope that Gonzalez is the home run leader this year. I just hope he has a great year and can help this team win.

I never opposed that. I like the power with Gonzalez and Papi. That reminds me of the power we used to get back when we had Manny and Papi, and something similar with what Detroit has in Cabrera and Fielder. I know Papi is past his prime, but he can still hit for average and give us some decent power. I am really hoping that Gonzalez has a career year this year. That is true. I would not be opposed to putting Sweeney in the five spot if he continues to keep this up. It would definitely be a reality check for Youk. Bobby V has said multiple times that he is going to change the lineup around. I am all for it to see what works best for us.

A Red Sox game is a Red Sox game, but at the same time there is nothing like being around several thousand other diehard Red Sox fans. It is a great experience and a great atmosphere. As a Red Sox fan, I can say that I would prefer to watch a Sox game at Fenway than any other park. Everyone, of course, has a different opinion in that aspect.

I am not too worried about it since it is the beginning of the year. He pitched well in his first start, so if that is the performance we get from him every game then I will not be worried about his velocity. You have to start worrying about that if he starts to struggle. It is also hard to make a judgment about his velocity off of one start. Maybe it is something to take note of towards June or July.

Maybe Bobby V is hoping that since Drabek is pitching that he will give Youk another chance in the 5 hole? I think if Youk wants to get going offensively, then he has a good chance with facing Drabek. I would prefer if Sweeney does not hit 5th. You want someone with consistent contact batting 5th, so if Youk does not start to hit then maybe Sweeney will get moved up. Typically, you want a guy with some decent power hitting 5th, which is the strategy with Youk hitting 5th over Sweeney. If Ross gets things going, I would not mind seeing him bat 5th over Youk.

Hopefully Ells and Youk can both have solid games. They both could use them. Salty needs to get going too.

I don't think the game tonight will be blacked out if I live in Florida, correct? I am not part of the local area network. I am assuming the games will be blacked out when we play Tampa, but I can always watch them on TV. I do not like how on Saturday and Sunday, some games are blacked out at certain times.

I agree. Iglesias has only played 4 games and Lavarnway has only played 5 games this year in AAA, but they are struggling at the plate to start the year. Middlebrooks is doing solid after 6 games in AAA. Ciriaco, Nava, Repko, and Gomez are all having solid starts in Spring Training. With Ciriaco being 26, does anyone think that he could realistically be used as trade bait? I know that a team would probably love to have him as a backup IF or even a starter. I don't know what we could get in return for him. Maybe a decent bullpen arm. I don't really consider him a prospect because of his age. He doesn't have a chance to start at 2B because of Pedroia. He doesn't have much of a chance to start at SS or 3B because of Bogaerts, Middlebrooks, and Iglesias.

Score prediction: Red Sox 9 - Blue Jays 4 We need to jump on Drabek early. Let's start out the first inning by scoring a couple of runs. Give Bard some run support and get him a W in his first start.

I go to the same college that Sale is from. He was a beast in college. He made his way to the majors very fast. He was a great starter in college and has a lot of potential. I always saw Sale as a natural starter. Sale reminds me of Bard. Both good starting pitchers in college. Bard obviously has not been a starter longer than Sale, but both have great potential to be successful starters.

I am not a big Youk fan, but I do hope for the best for him. I hope that he snaps out of this little funk he is in. If Big Papi has a solid year this year, Youk struggles, and Middlebrooks is MLB ready by next year, then this may be Youk's last year in Boston. I have always been a person to not use the temperature as an excuse. I do understand that they were use to nice, warm weather for a month and a half, but that is not an excuse for Youk not being able to hit the ball. He was born in Ohio. He grew up playing in cooler weather. I did the same growing up. Youk will get things going. I like the sound of this. I hope you are right.

Let's get another W today. The offense needs to produce early. I expect Bard to give up some runs in his first start. Hopefully he can prove me wrong. We just need to get ready to hit today.

Prediction correct. I got out of work just in time last night to watch Pedroia get the double to lead off the ninth. What a great comeback and a great first win.

Even more frightening than Aceves or Melancon? I really like Morales in the set-up role and Aceves as the closer, especially if Padilla can be reliable in the long reliever role. I just hope Aceves can get back on track, if he doesn't, I could see us realistically going to Morales as the temporary closer. In my opinion, you have to keep pitching Melancon and Aceves and hope that they pitch better than they did in Detroit. I would really like to see Melancon in the 7th, Morales in the 8th, and Aceves in the 9th. I am not big on Albers, but if Melancon and Aceves both continue to suck, then he might deserve a shot. I am really interested to see how Bowden does this year. I think he will be a nice addition in the pen.