jung

If the Sox bring in somebody to play LF, I think they might end up compelled to deal off Gomes. That could be fine. But I ended up less than convinced than I was earlier in the year that Gomes had accepted his role with the Sox. About 2/3 of the way through the year we were hearing that he is not quite the bench cheerleader we thought he was and that the cheerleader aspect of his persona only came out when he was in the lineup. That sorta' sucks actually. Then I started to see how he was managing his interviews...all the way up even to Rosenthal last night apparently telling Rosenthal that the question he wanted was "Why is the team 10-1 in the post season with you in the lineup?" Come on Johnny. In fact, Gomes had to be in the lineup last night because of the splits against Wacha. There was more than one game against a RH that had Wacha split characteristics and I completely favored playing Gomes in those situations. But Johnny appears to be a bit more political about playing time than we were originally led to believe. If they bring in somebody like a Beltran, I am not sure it would make sense to keep Gomes around especially if he is going to pout and go into some shell when not in the lineup.

I was thinking a bit about Beltran this morning and the ball he let fall to the warning track in RF last night. As we discussed earlier, if the RFer in Fenway looks over his right shoulder, the wall is actually angling back toward home plate gradually. If he looks over his left shoulder, he has more room. Earlier in series as we know, Beltran got chopped in half by the wall at the bullpen where the wall comes up on the unsuspecting fielder about 5' sooner than he thinks. He did not like that result. But when he turned left last night, he did not seem to realize how much more room there is back in that deep corner. Seemed to have the earlier event burned into his memory banks and had no desire to do battle with that wall down in the game and likely out of it. He just trotted on back, picked up the ball and tossed it back to the infield. Other NL RFer's must be looking at that Fenway RF and thinking about how much of a nightmare that spot really is for anybody that has to play out there.

I am sure that we are going to credit Cherington for having constructed this WS Championship team and well we should. But if the view from Management including Cherington was that he had constructed a team that had a legitimate shot to end up here then we would not have heard the guy with the most marketing intent of the group, Larry Lucchino calling it a bridge year. I very much expect that priority one was to clean out the poison in that clubhouse and return to respectability. In doing so, I would be willing to bet they thought they might end up with an outside chance to get here. But that is not what this team did. This team was the best team in baseball. It did not squeak into the post season and get hot at the right time as we often discuss here. They were the best team this season and they went out and beat the other best teams of the 2013 season. No way Cherington thought he was constructing that from scratch in one year and no way anybody else thought so either. I just don't want the players to get lost in any BC, Boy Genius stuff we might consider here. The players did this....not Cherington...not Farrell and the rest of the coaches though Cherington, Farrell and the Coaches did a terrific job. We caught lightning in a bottle in the sense that we ended up with a very high percentage of the total team in that clubhouse that were veterans that had something to prove to themselves and to everybody else and we had the incredibly unusual experience to have had all of those questions answered in the affirmative with few exceptions. Consider the following: -Jon Lester, not only had Jon at the time anticipated not accepted the role of rotation leader, he actually went a bit backwards, until this year. He had even gotten to the point where he was making noise about not understanding what more he could do, what other level there was for him to seek. Here is the correct answer Jon. This is what we expected of you. This is what we wanted you to expect of yourself. Questions answered. -John Lackey, Could he and had he come all the way back from personal problems, from health problems, from TJ? Could he resist the temptation to go ballistic on the mound when a teammate made an error? Questions answered -Buch, started the 2013 season with lingering questions about his durability and at the end of 2013, those questions still linger. However, in those four innings in game 4, Buch clearly learned things that he did not even know about himself. Did he have what it takes to go out there with a quarter of an arm in the high intensity environment of the WS and battle through four or five innings? If you looked at Buch in the dugout when he came off the mound, it was plainly obvious that he did not know when he took the mound that night what to expect of himself. He was IMO in fact, close to tears in that dugout, very close to being overwhelmed by the emotions of the moment, finally content that he had proved something to himself, never mind anybody else. At that moment I don't think he gave a crap about anybody but himself and his teammates. Question answered -Felix, Could Felix take the next step forward in his young career, having shown up for ST out of shape and ill prepared to start the 2013 campaign? Questions answered -Victorino, Was he now the player of the 2012 campaign or was 2012 the anomaly in what has been otherwise a very good career. Questions answered -Napoli, Could he play more games in this regular season than he had played in years? Could he be a full time 1st baseman? Would his hip hold up? Questions answered -Drew, Would he or could he get back to the player he was before his ankle shattered? Questions answered -Gomes, Was he the everyday LFer? Was he the platoon LFer? What the hell was he? Questions answered -Nava, Was he truly a ML player? Questions answered -Ells, What was Ells? Is he a great lead off hitter? Is he a lead off hitter with exceptional power? Has he enough power to be considered moving out of the 1 hole to something like a 3 hole? We and he and his agent now know what he is. Questions answered. That is ten of the twenty-five guys that broke camp that had major major questions mainly for themselves that answered them for the most part in the affirmative. Even when the question did not receive the answer we wanted, it worked out. Was Bailey durable enough to be the closer for a full season...No. Was Hanrahan good enough to come over to the AL East and Close....No. But the answers we did not want to those questions yielded..... Koji. But it is even better than that because in reality. With the exception of Ells who took the early season before he climbed aboard, every member of this team put his personal goals and aspirations on the shelf and those that had real fundamental questions about themselves found their answers within a team concept that once they found, they never abandoned. They were monumentally consistent in their approach to playing games which in large part is why they never suffered a major losing streak. Not only do I what the players to get the bulk of the credit here because IMO they deserve it, I don't want BC to be put in some position of being another Boy Genius expected to pull off something he was incapable of doing in the first place. He has done a terrific job. We are lucky to have him. But lets not make more of the GM's role than it was just like we should not make more of the Manager's role than what it was. Farrell's best quality is an ability to make the players responsible for themselves while demanding and gaining their respect, that and impeccable game preparation are his true strengths as a Manager. The players did this....your Boston Red Sox did this behind the veteran leadership of Pedey and Popi.

The national media has so much egg on their faces. The Sox pitching staff generally and the starters particularly went head to head with consecutively the Rays staff, considered the best in the East, the Tigers staff, featuring the best rotation in the AL and the Cards staff, considered to have the best rotation in the NL plus the scariest pen in the entire post season....and....out-pitched all of them mainly on the strength of the starting rotation and the closer. In addition, it is not like they just carted their stuff out there night after night and dominated. Lester was able to come to the mound with his best stuff more often than not. Lackey had really good stuff about half the time. Really more times than you would think for a pitching staff that at the end of the day out-dualed the acknowledged best pitching staffs in baseball they had to come out and battle their way through games. That was just an amazing amazing performance and quite possibly the toughest and grittiest performance by a staff and especially a rotation in the post season that I have ever seen. In no way was it the most dominant but it was without question the grittiest I have ever seen. Consider how disrespected they were compared to the competition, how much respect and awe the analysts had for the opponent staffs at every turn and how much pressure they were under to out-pitch those staffs that were shutting down most of the Boston offense every night. I will be real surprised if I ever see anything like it again. I am pretty convinced I have never seen anything like it to this point...maybe the Tigers staff with Rogers that year comes the closest but really..... NOT!!!!

Having lived through many of the bad years....totally hooked by 67. Obviously the 2004 championship was off the charts fantastic. But I actually think I have had more fun watching this team play this year than any other year. It was been terrific baseball....interesting baseball...awe inspiring baseball. 2004 team was awesome but this has been something totally totally different. I am not going to say it has been more special....lets face it, 2004 was a long time in coming. I am so happy for this bunch of baseball players and in fact that is how it has been all year....I have been so happy for them, so anxious for them and at the end have taken so much joy from being so thrilled for them......they are so deserving individually and as a team. Great great year guys....happy to have shared it with you all.

Think it would piss the Cards off if Ells stole 2nd here? I really don't think there is any chance of him going.

Maybe Lackey learns a valuable lesson for next year and no damage done.....Farrell manages and he pitches.

I get it about wanting to stay in for one last guy but if you are going to petition the manager like that...you know what...ya gotta get that one guy out. Anyway great performance by Lackey...just should have come out when Farrell came calling.

You should be able to go to the WEEI web site and pick it up. If not, they are simulcast on a bunch of FM stations. I listen on 93.7 here but I don't know if you can get them on 93.7 from where you are.

Man Lackey....we were supposed to be out-pitched by everybody we faced and we out-pitched all of them...an amazing performance..Sox turned into a run prevention monster....a tremendous effort.

Cards fans should talk....their whole f***ing team just threw in the towel....and we never gave up on the 2012 Sox.....sent ownership a message maybe but that was it.

What the f*** would they know....the price of soybeans today????

Come on John get this second out

You know this was going to happen after the HR.

I want more runs too. This is maybe the diciest time coming up right here. Cards are going to say f*** it and go all loose and easy. Pressure is kinda off now that they are basically f***ed.

Yea David gets the MVP no doubt

By By Wacha Wacha....eat s*** and die......Go back to St Louis and tune in to the farm reports

Beltan another of those outstanding Cards OFer's

Drew Bomb!!!!! Wacha more than a bit unnerved.....

Wacha should be suitably rattled now thank you. Come on John...lets have a shut down inning here.

Gomes just beat it....thank you Mr Joyce and thank you Mr. Vic

Even Methany was not that stupid

f*** you Beltran

Farrell should have played for one run there. The Cards are the team in the hole down 3-2 in games. Put the screws to them.

Damn....XB really showed his youth there. The guys that have done that most often this series have been the young guys or bench guys. WMB did it, now XB and Carp the bench guy sandwiched in between.