Scottish Red Sox Fan

Come on guys let's not break out the suicide pills just yet! We're only 11 games into a 162 game season. The race has barely begun. Terry Francona knows what he's doing and has proved it time and again. Let's keep a bit of faith in him and other born winners like Pedroia and Youk. This team WILL get hot. I know it sucks right now and that 2-9 does not look good but we are the Red Sox. Keep the Faith!

7 times World Series winners says different. :harhar: Tool strangler.

Another one in the L column huh? We really do suck against Tampa Bay these days. The Rays have been kicking our asses for 2-3 seasons now. :thumbdown I still believe this team will come good. They have way too much talent to suck this bad for an extended period of time. I predict we will get hot fairly soon. As Corporal Jones said on Dad's Army 'Don't Panic!'

I think you've got a good point there actually. A lot of Dice-K's pitches were right over the middle of the plate last night and he did indeed get clobbered. Rick Sutcliffe was saying in commentary that Kurt Young had been trying to encourage Dice-K to pitch to contact and perhaps what happened last night was a result of that. I have to say though that if Kurt Young is trying to get Dice-K to pitch to contact then that is something that I wholeheartedly support. Dice-K's continual attempts to nibble the edge of the plate are what leads to his high pitch count and short outings. Maybe, after another few weeks of adjusting to this new way of pitching, things will improve with Dice-K. I wouldn't bet on it though.

What should we do with Dice-K? Well, where do you start.................... First of all I'd send the guy packing to Pawtucket. Whatever his issues are - whether they be health issues, mental issues, mechanical issues or just plain lack of ability issues - let him sort them out in Pawtucket and not in a Red Sox uniform. If he's going to continue to pitch like an ass then I'd rather he did it somewhere where it's not going to harm the Red Sox chances of being successful. If by some miracle he can get his finger out of his arse and start to look like a quality pitcher then we can always bring him back to Boston and give him another chance. Matsuzaka has made around 100 starts for the Red Sox now, he's had various pitching coaches and catchers to work with and yet he continues to have the same problems he's had since arriving in Boston ie. refusing to pitch to contact and being unable to get past the 6th inning. Enough is enough. It's an absolute sin to think of the amount of money the Red Sox have wasted on this guy. I'm a big fan of Theo Epstein but oh boy did he get it wrong when he decided to plough so much of our resources into Dice-K. I wish there was some way we could trade him but given the salary he is on I think it is very unlikely that we could. So I guess we're stuck with him. I've had it with Dice-K and just wish to never see him on the mound in a Red Sox uniform again. I'll be honest and admit that I haven't really been a fan of his since Day 1 but with each inept performance he puts in I find my intolerance of him growing and growing. Taxi for Matsuzaka! :thumbdown

Roger Clemens or Pedro Martinez. Two of the greatest pitchers ever to step on to a mound.

I think John Lester will be our main man this season.

In theory most of us should say the final out of the WS in 2004 but life would be boring if we all said that so I won't. My own personal favourite moment was Dave Roberts crossing home plate to tie the game in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. That was the moment the worm turned for the Red Sox. We were staring another humiliation at the hands of the Stinkees in the face until Roberts crossed home plate and gave us back our belief. If I live to be 100 there will never be another series to top the 2004 ALCS. I recall sitting up till 5-6am desperately listening to crackly, breaking up coverage of games 4,5 and 6 on MW Armed Forces Radio and jumping around my living room like a loony each night as we pegged the Stinkees back. Good times.

For me it has to be Julio Lugo. Every day I looked at our line-up and saw his name in there I just used to beat myself about the head with frustration. Awful, awful player for the Red Sox. :thumbdown

Ah well, I don't suppose your average Shetland crofter is all that concerned with looking stylish when he's up to his ankles in mud and feeding his flock.

I think we should allow Tim Wakefield to fill the first two roles on this poll. For the most part, I would have him in the bullpen as a long reliever. Then on days where we are in need of a spot starter we could bring Wakefield out of the bullpen and use him in that role. There is bound to come a point in the year where we are in need of starting pitching. We've all seen seasons before where the Red Sox have looked stacked with starting pitching in Spring Training but come June/July we are desperately scrambling around trying to fill gaps in our rotation. Injuries are always a concern, especially when you're relying on guys like Josh Beckett and Dice-K who have suffered injury problems aplenty in the past, so you can never have too much starting pitching at your disposal. Tim Wakefield still has a role to play for the Red Sox it's just not as a regular starting pitcher anymore that's all.

Yes it does. It's also where the ponies are from.

Cliff Lee choosing to sign for the Phillies instead of the Yankees was one of the great moments of recent Hot Stove seasons. It was great to see somebody finally turn their nose up at Steinbrenner's dirty money.

I am very excited at the prospect of Crawford playing for the Red Sox. Crawford is a player I have admired for a few seasons now and he is a guy who has given our pitching staff absolute fits with his base stealing ability. Signing Crawford is a double win for the Red Sox: 1. He will add to our team 2. He won't be able to cause chaos against us in a Rays uniform anymore I am hoping at some point to see the Red Sox go with a 1-2 punch of Ellsbury - Crawford at the top of our line-up. The thought of that will cause opposing AL managers/pitchers many sleepless nights.

I think Youk is the most natural No. 3 hitter we have so I'd like to see Youk hit in that spot with Gonzo backing him up at No. 4.

Hello there fellow Red Sox fans. I am a Sox fan from not so sunny Scotland. I hail from Edinburgh originally but I'm now residing in the Shetland Islands(never heard of them huh? No worries, there are people in Scotland who don't know where they are either lol - the Islands are off the North coast of Scotland if you're interested :thumbsup:) Anyway, why does a Scottish guy follow the Red Sox? Well, I used to love watching Cheers when I was a young boy and, of course, Sam Malone would always mention the Red Sox....so if I was ever going to be a fan of baseball then the Red Sox were likely going to be my team. I only actually started watching baseball in 2001 though, the Yankees - Diamondbacks WS was on the TV over here so I stumbled across it by accident and decided to have a watch. It was such a great series that it really hooked me on the game of baseball and I have been watching ever since. Once I decided I was going to watch more baseball I began to look more into the Red Sox and find about about the team/players. At the time the Red Sox had some great players....Pedro, Nomar, Manny etc so they were a very easy team to like and great fun to watch. And that's been me ever since. I've been very, very lucky.....I've only been watching the game for 9 years and have seen two Red Sox World Series wins. Just think of me as your lucky Scottish omen Anyway, I hope to have a blast on here and find some good debates about all things Red Sox. There isn't exactly an abundance of Red Sox fans where I live to discuss the Sox with. SRSF