SoxFanForsyth

WTF is this thread??

Can you DL a player for family medical reasons? Lackey's head is clearly not in the game, nor should it be with all of this going on. Either way, if I were him I would want to spend as much time as I possibly could with my wife, so maybe a 15 or 30 day DL stint would be in both his and the teams best interest.

Hill got the first 2 outs before getting pulled!! He only had 1 out remaining in the inning! There was absolutely no reason why he pulled Hill there. To save 6 pitches?? Please! Not to mention the fact that he obviously didn't want to use him last night or he would have used him and pulled Lackey, and today is a day off, so why the hell spare him 6 pitches if, regardless of the fact, he's out of commission for the next day anyway! It makes absolutely zero sense. None whatsoever.

I don't know who is judging him by the boxscore. We're judging him based on 8 years of horrid bullpen use. He's completely lost in terms of bullpen management unless he can go Bard - Pap. It's not like he used to be good and then stopped. Last year, through the middle of the season, he started having a quick trigger with the bullpen and we started winning a lot of games. This year? He waits for implosions before warming anyone up. The thing is, if he's so worried about our bullpen arms that he's willing to let Lackey turn a 1 run game into a 6 run game in a matter of 3 hitters, then maybe we should look into restructuring our bullpen. First thing - get rid of Wakefield. He's not an effective reliever, and when Jenks and Wheeler get back, Wake should be one of the ones to go. He's entirely too one-dimensional and we have Aceves who can spot start and be much more effective and *key word* consistent than Wakefield. Second thing - We need to just man up and go with a 13 man staff. Darnell McDonald has had 20 AB in 37 games this year. He is providing us nothing in depth, and when he does get up to the plate, he's hitting .150. Regardless, our problem right now is NOT hitting. We're hitting much better than we have been all year. Our problem is pitching. We need to DFA D-Mac (or look to trade him) and bring up someone from AAA (Doubront would be great). Then, when Wheeler and Jenks get back, we need to DFA Wakefield and option Okajima. It's like Francona doesn't evaluate the team needs, he just goes with what's out there. He doesn't look to improve the team at all. He doesn't realize that having a one-dimensional, inconsistent knuckle baller in the bullpen is a wasted roster spot. A bench of Varitek - Scutaro - Cameron, and a bullpen of Papelbon - Bard - Jenks - Albers - Wheeler - Aceves - Hill - Doubront would be much, much more effective and would cater to Francona's horrid bullpen management. If he would learn to go to the pen before shooting ourselves in the foot every game, we would be above .500.

Sox were 19-18 through 37 games last year. This year - 17-20 and haven't touched .500.

See - you're exactly right, but the thing is, in the American League, bullpen management is the top priority. Especially in the AL East, where its murderers row all over the place and 2 outs in the 6th could very quickly turn into a 5 run inning. That's where Francona becomes incredibly complacent and lethargic. He just watches our SP get busted for a huge late inning rally, and often times its without pitchers even warming up in the bullpen. When Lackey went out for the 7th inning last night, after how he had thrown the entire game, it is absolutely inexcusable not to have someone warming up in the bullpen from the first pitch of that inning. Francona is entirely too reactive rather than being proactive. Lackey should have been pulled after Bautista's wall ball single. Then he wasn't. Then he walks the bases loaded and had no business being out there. Then Francona stayed with him. Then he walks in a huge insurance run. He's absolutely gassed. He can't find the paint. And Francona leaves him in. Francona has no excuse having any say over the bullpen management. Line up's and stuff, eh, ok with our line up it's pretty hard to go wrong so we'll let him handle that, even though he gives preferential treatment (Crawford should be in the 2 hole, no doubt about it). But bullpen management? We need to delegate those duties to Curt Young. At least he will see the signs of a gassed pitcher and actually act on it.

welp. back to our losing ways. eat a dick francona. you're the worst. seriously. i hate you. and i don't hate anyone.

Well. If Francona knew how to manage a bullpen, Lackey would be getting pulled before he gets shelled for 9 runs over 6.2 IP. Seriously. No excuse for it. Francona is just the worst bullpen manager of all time. I don't see how he can be so insanely complacent. He allows huge innings against us in the 6th and 7th innings far too often. His ass better be on the hot seat.

I have zero respect for Francona. If it's not the 7th inning and a 2-3 run game in our favor, he's a complete moron. If he can't go Bard - Pap, we're f***ing dicked. Thank you, Francona, for taking the night off. Get your f***ing head out of your ass

i will never support francona. Ever.

How is that to HIS credit?? Hell throw f***ing Papelbon, Bard, I don't care. Put someone in there that gives us a chance. But for f***s sake. After your pitcher walks in a run, his 3rd walk of the INNING and has thrown 120 pitches, PULL THE f***ING TRIGGER!!!!!!

I'm so pissed off at Francona right now I'm about to break my tv. That's absolutely inexcusable. With a day off tomorrow, there is zero reason not to go to Bard with the bases loaded there. No reason at all. I honest to God hope that Francona is fired tonight. Swear to God I hope he gets run out of town.

i am beyond words with Francona. I absolutely despise this guy. He's SOOOO BAD with the bullpen. Why the f*** does he still have a job?!?!

you know what? f*** this team. francona is the absolute biggest f***ing retard manager alive. I would rather see a f***ing middle school chess squad bitch run this team than Francona's idiotic complacent ass. He's such a f***ing moron. 117 pitches and 3 walks, including one WITH THE BASES LOADED THAT PUSHES ACROSS A f***ING RUN and you STILL DON'T f***ING GO TO THE PEN?? f*** you Francona. At least ACT like you're trying to win you lazy ass complacent bitch.

f*** you lackey. and f*** you francona. learn how to have a f***ing trigger. You're going to let a SP walk in a run in the 7th and you STILL don't do anything. Get a f***ing CLUE!!!!!

Crawford was safe. That pitch on Salty was down and away. Yet Craw gets called out, and Salty gets rung up. Seriously?? Let us at least lube up first. Learn how to make a call.

God we got f***ed so insanely hard that inning.

How about some f***ing protection Salty?!?!

DAMN!!!!!

Crawford. Steal. Please, PLEASE steal. We didn't pay you this much money to not use your legs and you have't used them much this year at all.

With Yankee Stadium as hitter friendly to RF as it is, it's going to be veryyyy interesting to see how they pitch to Gonzo this weekend. Thatta baby Papi!!!

Holy s*** Gonzo. Catch fire why don't ya.

I cannot believe that the Red Sox have made me hate baseball season this year. That just blows my mind. I count down the days until it starts, and this team has just completely ruined me.

why is this happening?? I don't understand what the f*** is going on. how is it possible for us to be so f***ing bad