jung

The shame of it tonight is that Steward lost them the game in three innings of work. So the pen will get worked in a losing effort in game where our starter gave us no shot....sound familiar?

The point is not whether Iggy succeeded or not although he is really being overpowered up here so far...the point is the Sox were willing to give up the out in that particular instance. It is a factor of the team that you have. If you are always going to want for some big bopper to come up and hit a HR then you are very reluctant to give up outs. I have never quite seen the Sox as reluctant to move runners along than they were with the lineup they had earlier this year although they have always been somewhat reluctant as a consequence of being a team built to play in Fenway Park. They have no choice with this lineup. There are no boppers to wait for. I have been as supportive of getting Iggy up here as anybody on this board. However he has to at least be somewhat better than a pitcher in a league that does not let pitchers bat. Right now he is about what a pitcher represents at the plate.

Except as it relates to using the bullpen. V is a factor there. Funny, V seems to have been less effective using the bullpen when he has had more arms to rotate in than earlier in the season when he had what he had.

But they did have Iggy bunting last night and he failed to do that and then failed to do anything positive that particular at bat.

I expected Ells to have a drop off this season from last as I really thought his last season was an anomaly. However I did not expect him to drop like a stone. I think Ells real game lies somewhere between his 2011 season and his 2012 season. Hopefully the Sox will make an offer commiserate with those kinds of numbers and if Ells takes it fine. Tired of these contracts that the player cannot possibly live up to no matter what he does. Makes it tough on the player to want to play here I think because he can never do enough right even if he is playing pretty well.

This guy is going to give up about a million runs tonight....and I don't mean CJ

Worse than that I suspect, V still has a short pen and will be reluctant to bring guys in.

Well be interesting to see what happens with the relief pitchers tonight. I found V's explanation of how he planned out Ace last night totally unsatisfying. So tell me again why you used Bailey in that KC game V if you felt like it eliminated him for the Angels game last night? Worse than that, if Ace came in for the 6th, V's plan was Ace till the end! Is V aiming for some sort of ML version of a maximum run differential rule?

That is as good a lineup as V can throw out there against a LH pitcher regardless of whether the kids are getting AB's or not.

I was in favor of letting Ortiz walk before I saw how he came into camp this season and before the Sox changed the entire profile of the team. The point I think we are missing here is that Ortiz does not have many places to go...he does not have many options...fewer now that he is going to end the season injured. It will not take much money to sign Ortiz and keep him in the middle of that order for at least next year and possibly the year after.

I will say this much about Aces closing career...he did not start the season doing this...he did not start well but he was often overthrowing and you could see that he had just not found a rhythm for closing successfully. He really did not know how to do it. Once he found that rhythm he had his best outings closing. Then he got into this mode where he is now....where he does not pitch with his head but instead pitches with his balls. I refuse to believe that he got through all those innings last year pitching with his balls. He used the variety of pitches to work and pitched tough and with courage. At some point maybe two months ago, which is also when V started using him more in the 8th and 9th innings, he stopped pitching with his head and really started pitching with his balls. That does not mean he was pitching with courage....just the opposite. When you give up thinking on the mound, and just groove the ball insistent that you are going to throw it by the hitter knowing you are losing steam the whole way, you have surrendered....you have given up. Do not confuse pitching with your balls with pitching with courage. That is why I am disappointed in this guy. He has proven to be a schoolyard bully and like most schoolyard bully's when he has met up with something or somebody tougher than he is, he has just given up. It was so incredibly obvious that Ace was going to do exactly what he did tonight. That is why I posted that "watch this" post. I am sure a bunch of you were thinking the same thing.

For those interested in seeing him gone, I think Ace likely sealed his fate right there. How do you bring him back to this clubhouse after he goes nuts on his manager, gets suspended and then comes out and pitches like the turd he is. I don't think you can bring him back to this clubhouse. I was serious....if it were me he would have pitched his last for 2012.

Good point...in fact that is why I thought sure we would see Bailey tonight. You only use him in that KC game if you are not going to use him up....why...well just look at Aces record in games where he had to pitch both the 8th and the 9th. You would not leave yourself in that situation if your life depended on it. I can only hope that V does not have to get hit over the head with a sledge hammer to see what is what.

I would not care how short my pen would be......I would sit Aces dumb f***ing ass for the rest of the season...done and dusted s***-head.

In point of actual fact, Ace is one of the few players left now that the trade has happened that insists on playing the game his own way....f*** stats...f*** baseball tradition..f*** coaching...f*** his teammates....f*** his record of failure late in games insisting on pitching like this....he just does not care.

The only silver lining here might be that V finally might have had enough....it was so obvious that Ace was going to do that. A) he cannot go two innings under late inning pressure....CANNOT Regardless he is going to just challenge the hitter in the worst possible situation to challenge the hitter...when he is fading and the hitter knows exactly what he is going to throw. Reminds me a little of AGons batting earlier this year when he insisted on going to left field with everything....got to be insanely predictable

Ace could have done so many other things than just groove one and the hitter knew he was going to groove one. Stupid thick-headed son of a bitch.

Told ya'....I am getting so sick of his ********

Watch...Ace is not going to waste one here...he is going to go mano a mano

Man Ace has had so much trouble going more than one inning late in the game. Closing is a different kind of pressure and intensity than pitching mucho innings in the middle of the game.

I would have been happier about that missed hit batsman call at home if the ump just saw the play and made the call, even if he saw it wrong....that he allowed the hitter to sell him on it just pisses me off to no end. Why not look at the ball to see if there is a scuff mark on it in red....why not look at that red shoe to see if there is scuff on it....to just get sold on that by the hitter is just not even doing your job...abysmal!

So now the plan must be Aceves in the 8th and 9th...the only other thing V can do is Melancon in the 9th......just slit my throat now and save me the trouble.

Pedro almost swung at that one in the dirt....he might have had to retire in embarrassment if he had.

Iggy....Iggy...Iggy...you are not making my job easy for me buddy. I'm trying to will you onto this team....Feel me!!!!!

I want to go get that ball Kalish just hit and paint a pair of eyes on it cause that is what it was....a classic seeing eye base hit....otherwise known as a smash when d-mac was around.