redsoxfan3

I wonder what the lineup is going to look like on Wednesday and Thursday when we play in Philly. Big Papi at 1st and Napoli in RF? I am assuming it would be a good time to give Big Papi a night off one day and Napoli a night off the other. I don't imagine Napoli would catch a couple of games, unless they really want both bats in the lineup.

Ellsbury CF Nava RF Pedroia 2B Ortiz DH Napoli 1B Drew SS Carp LF Saltalamacchia C Iglesias 3B Iglesias over Ciriaco and Carp getting another start. Drew is hitting 6th. Hopefully we see some good results. A little late on the lineup.

No problem at all. I don't care what happens today (aside from players getting injured), as long as we get the W, that is all that matters. We need to keep up this hot streak.

That is true. I really hope Iglesias stays. It seems like he could find a comfortable role as a utility guy. The positive is you will always get excellent defense from him no matter what. I am sure he will have his struggles at the plate, but that is expected. We will have three guys that have to go. Morales is coming back tomorrow. Victorino and Middlebrooks will be back after their DL stints. Probably Aceves, Wilson, Mortensen, and Ciriaco are three of the guys that would be either sent to AAA or DFA'd (Mortensen). You do bring a valid point about Jackie Bradley Jr. He has been hitting great in AAA recently. I suppose he could come back until Victorino gets back, but I am not so sure if he will stay once Victorino gets back. We have Carp, Gomes, Victorino, Nava, and Ellsbury. One of Carp or Gomes would have to get traded probably for Bradley to stay.

It is not a bad deal at all. I paid about $43 dollars at Lids for it. The stitching doesn't cost a whole lot, as long as you have the Lids card. The hat is $38 in the store. It would have been over $50 without the Lids card. It definitely looks pretty cool, and is something a lot of people will not have if you have extra money to do it.

I wish he could go back to his 2011 form. It is easier to put up with his shenanigans if he is pitching effectively. When he pitches poorly and acts like a clown, there is no need at all to have someone like that on our team.

Exactly. Bailey closing allows Tazawa and Uehara to pitch effectively in comfortable situations. With Bailey closing, everyone else is in their regular role in the pen.

I bought one of the hats yesterday. I do think they are unique. I like how the proceeds go to a good cause and support the troops. I got B-STRONG stitched onto the back of my hat as well. It looks pretty cool. I am just not use to sporting the camo look. I do like the jerseys as well.

Can Aceves salvage any of his trade value today? I know that his trade value is almost nothing and that one game will not make a huge difference, but with Morales coming back and with Aceves being, in my mind, a clubhouse cancer, I would love nothing more than to see this guy get traded. Whether he has improved his attitude or not, I still think we should get him out of here.

What does everyone think of the today's uniforms? USMC digital camo.

Realistically, do you guys think Iglesias has a chance to stick around once Middlebrooks and Victorino both come back? Morales is coming back tomorrow. He is going to either be in the pen or going to be filling in for Buchholz if he cannot make his next start. Depending on how Aceves does today, you have to think that Wilson or Aceves is going to get sent down to the minors when Morales comes back. That means when Victorino and Middlebrooks both get healthy that either Iglesias or Ciriaco gets sent down, plus either Aceves or Wilson, depending on who gets sent down when Morales comes back. Of course that is assuming there are no other injuries. I like Iglesias over Ciriaco as the utility player. I know Ciriaco had a big game offensively a couple of nights ago, but he is still only hitting .227 and his defense has been pretty bad. Iglesias is by far the superior player defensively. I know he would not get as many at bats as the FO would like him to, but he has been solid offensively and has played good at 3B. Ciriaco does give you the option in the OF, but we still have Carp, Gomes, and Nava who can play LF and Nava and Victorino who can play RF. I am not sure if Ciriaco is out of options or not. All I know is that Iglesias has been playing well at the MLB level and I am sure he could handle second base if he needs to play if something were to happen to Pedroia (*knocking on wood*). We all know he can play SS and 3B already. The option of him giving Middlebrooks an occasional day off and Drew and occasional day off, plus maybe being a late inning defensive replacement is ideal for Iglesias. Also, if Middlebrooks doesn't improve much when he gets back, Iglesias could be a realistic option at 3B if Middlebrooks is not performing.

I really do not understand it. He swung at that outside pitch that seemed like it was a foot outside. Then he almost struck out the next pitch in the same location. He needs to seriously look at some film to see how stupid he looks swinging out there.

That was a stressful half inning, but Uehara somehow got out of it against Mauer. Pretty impressive in a bases loaded situation.

That is an understatement.

Game about to get back underway at 7:25.

That's true. Ciriaco is sharp when he doesn't get consistent AB's, both offensively and defensively. On a serious note, I agree with you. Ciriaco is in the majors because he is a utility player. There is no point in keeping Iglesias in the majors if he is not going to start and get consistent AB's. I would certainly love to see Iglesias take over when Drew is not out there because of his glove, especially over Ciriaco, but that is not going to happen unless Drew is on the DL.

That is true. The Jays and Yankees are playing. Kuroda is on the mound for NY. Buehrle is going for the Jays. The good thing for Toronto is that Buehrle only gave up 1 run in 7 innings against us in his last start. As much as I dislike Toronto, I hate the Yankees more, so a big game from Buehrle winning against Kuroda would be awesome. As long as we get the W tonight as well. That would put us in a tie for 1st.

I wasn't really liking the fact that Gomes was in today against a RHP. I guess this is a chance that he can prove to Farrell if he should be given more opportunities to start against righties. We really don't have a choice at this point. Victorino out with the back injury, so Nava has to fill-in there. Carp has to man first because Napoli is getting the night off. At least we are facing Worley, who if we don't light up this time around, I am going to be pretty upset. We could really use a spark from both Gomes and Carp. This is a must win tonight. Tomorrow is going to be tough against Diamond, but it is still a winnable ball game. I think it is time to have strong bounce back starts from Dempster and Lackey. A sweep this series would be an amazing, but eyeing two out of three is what we need to do at the bare minimum to keep rolling and keep heading in the right direction.

To give him credit, the double last night was awesome. Middlebrooks does have eight hits in the last seven games, so that is a big improvement he has had over having only 23 in the first 32 games. Not to mention, if you take out that 4 for 5 game against Toronto, it looks that much worse. The problem here is not lack of power. 18 of his 31 hits this season are extra base hits. His problem is getting walks and striking out too much. Last year he had the same problem. He has only 6 walks this season and has struck out 45 times. That is horrible. It reminds me a lot of Adam Dunn's performance this year. They both hit for power, but strike out way too much. If you take a look at our best player in terms of batting average, Pedroia has struck out 23 times, but has also walked 25 times. His plate discipline needs to drastically improve over the course of his career if he wants to really be successful in the long-term. I know this is only his second year in the majors and he can still work on improving his plate discipline. He has always struck out way more than he has walked, in the minor leagues as well. He has the potential to hit for a good average, it just seems that pitchers are pitching to his weaknesses and he still hasn't figured it out. He still has a long career ahead of him, which is the good thing.

That is fine with me. If we can get decent starts from Webster, that is a huge step forward over just throwing out Doubront out there for batting practice. All I know that if Doubront completely sucks again tomorrow, then it is time to find a replacement. Webster is the next option. I am all for giving him the opportunity. Also, how close is Morales? I know he is in the process of rehab and that they are stretching him out. I wonder if he might get a realistic opportunity down the road. We are out of options with Doubront, so it is either stick him in the pen, try to trade him, or DFA him. The trade options for him would be laughable. If we DFA him, somebody is probably going to pick him up.

Our lineup for tonight: Ellsbury CF Victorino RF Pedroia 2B Ortiz DH Napoli 1B Gomes LF Middlebrooks 3B Saltalamacchia C Drew SS Pitching: LHP Jon Lester (5-0, 2.73).

Says who? I understand it might not be the most desirable spot for him to hit, but when he was asked last year if he would hit lead off, he said he would do it. Pedroia is the type of player that will do what he needs to do to help the team, whether that is bat cleanup or bat lead off. You say his numbers fall off of a cliff when he bats lead off. Well that is a small sample size. Before the start of last year, he hit .269 in the three spot, this year he is hitting .338 hitting in the three spot. He has a career .253 average batting lead off, but that is only in 79 career games. Point being, he has had a small sample size in hitting nothing but the two spot. It might not be his favorite thing to do, but he is a professional player and a great hitter. There is no doubt in my mind that he would find a way to be successful. Everyone is talking about shuffling the lineup around, well this might be a way to do it. Like I said, some people may have different opinions and that is fine. I am just throwing out ideas.

haha, I am just happy I will be working tomorrow night. Fortunately, the restaurant I work at will have both games on. Let's just hope we get a W tonight, then we will worry about tomorrow night when it comes. We really need to figure out something. If Doubront shits his pants one more time, then it is time to give Webster one more chance, then if he completely sucks again, we really need to look at potential trades for another starter.

Pedroia has a .429 OBP this year. He has the best OBP on the team so far this year. What do we need from a lead off hitter? Speed and someone that can get on base. Pedroia has 8 SB's. I know Ellsbury has 12, but Pedroia has successfully stolen 8 out of 9 bases this year. He hasn't really hit for power this year, so why not move him to the lead off spot? He can get on base and can steal bases. I like Victorino in the two hole, he has been pretty successful so far this year. That means that our best power hitter, who has a .329 batting average will move to the three spot. Napoli can then bat clean up. He will not hit for a high average and will have his slumps, but he can still hit for power and is the the best option we have for clean up after Big Papi. Here is my idea for the lineup: Pedroia Victorino Ortiz Napoli Nava/Gomes Salty/Ross/Lavarnway Middlebrooks Ellsbury Drew Obviously the lineup would change if Big Papi has one of his "scheduled days off." I like Pedroia leading off. Victorino and Ortiz have hit for good averages so far. Napoli was an RBI machine in April. Nava has been hitting better than anyone expected. He is second on the team in RBI's. Salty has a better average then Middlebrooks, which is why I have him in the six hole. Middlebrooks is in the seven hole because he has been struggling. I like the combination of Ellsbury and Drew in the 8 and 9 spots. Ellsbury has been struggling, but when he gets on base, he has been able to steal bases. Drew has been hitting the ball better as of late. I like the potential for Ellsbury and Drew being able to get on base for Pedroia. We need a change and I don't think this could hurt anything. I am sure there are different opinions and maybe better options, but this makes sense in my mind.

Thank god. Hopefully he is still alright. I give him props for staying in.