jung

That was a terrific job by Felix on Napoli. Gave him nothing he likes to hit

Well the DP is back in force. So maybe that walk will work out. Felix was not trying to walk him but It still might not be the worse thing that could happen if he can get Napoli to put the ball on the ground

I think WMB has been fine so far. I am bit disappointed that at least to date he has adopted an approach to his plate appearances similar to a number of his mates. In his case it manifests itself in to much focus on trying to pull the ball. He seems to have power to all fields and does not have to pull to get it out or get an extra base it. Other than that and the occasional lapse in the field, I really can't complain about WMB.

Ii will go take a look and try to see if I can find something relevant. It would be hard to deny that the number of runs your team scores is to some extent tied to the effectiveness of the opponent pitcher though. The more you face the iron of the opposition, the less your run support is going to be. I will try to see if there is something worthwhile in those other years.

The link between Lester's leg kick and his shoulder is interesting and is also accurate I think. Funny how that leg kick has gotten more and more acute over time. It almost looks like he is trying to throw off the shoe on his front foot it has gotten so acute now. But much like the analogy of a golf swing that I used earlier, often things like that do get more and more acute over time and you get farther and farther away from correct whether it is a golf swing or a pitching motion.

Run support is not an element of the game that exists in isolation. If you are either a team 1 or 2 you often get poor run support because of your spot in the rotation. You are for the most part pitching against the opponent's best pitchers. They do a good job of holding your team down and if you as a pitcher do not do a similar job to the opponent's hitters....you lose. In fact, #2 might even be worse than a #1 as far as run support goes. A 1 might get the other team's 5 on occasion because of the way the match ups work out but a 2 more often than not will get the opponent's 2 or possibly the opponent's 1 and maybe on occasion the opponent's 3. So there is the chance that a 2 will get the worse run support of the rotation. Just the way it works out I think.

While a agree with you 700, when a business has seen so many of its recent enterprises blow up in its face (in the case of the Sox bad FA signings) the natural inclination is to pause, even when personnel changes directly involved in those decisions are made (like Theo gone and BC in) the natural inclination is still to pause.....try to digest the true value of the assets that you have, recognizing that losing faith in the part of the organization that had been choosing those assets also means in part losing faith in those assets. The pause also puts the burden on the assets that you have which is again a big part of the process of trying to understand what you really have. Having done that though if the Sox remain oblivious to what they really have, then that will be a real disappointment. As for the damage done to things like ticket sales etc, seeing the wave and more Sweet Caroline in the face of what for a real baseball fan should have been a total embarrassment the other night suggests to me that the Sox no longer rely on people like those that post here for their revenue anyway. IMO, very few real baseball fans occupy those seats very often any longer. Assuming they could have moved him to a place that he would have accepted and assuming that they could have replaced him, the single best thing the Sox could have done before the season started would have been to move Beckett almost regardless of the financial consequences. I have to commend the folks that made that recommendation at the time. I was not one of them mainly because I did not think he could both be moved without great expense to the Sox and would be difficult to replace because there was not much out there. There were guys though. I just thought they represented as much if not more of a gamble than Beckett was and I was trying to gauge the Sox willingness to eat Beckett salary and thought they would have little willingness. Boy was I wrong! They should have done whatever it took to move Beckett and replace him.

There are no quick fixes to this problem and nothing Tek would or could do at this point would have an impact. The Sox are likely stuck with trying to find another arm like Garza just to come in and take some load. Garza is not a solution ala' take us to the promised land but at some point this team will be looking for additional innings from starters. Beckett and Lester are a mess and Felix and Frank have got to be on innings limits. That leaves them with Buch and Cook. They need another starter just to get through the season without turning the whole thing into a larger embarrassment than it has been already. The Sox did not get here overnight and it will take an offseason at least of heavy roster and coach activity just to begin the process.

I saw the link to the piece in the game thread and while it is IMO an accurate analysis of Lester's mechanical problems, the article seems to try to make a case for this being something that will be easy to fix. That is just wrong and does Lester a disservice in the process. The article indicates that this is something that has been getting progressively worse for Lester for two years. So that is two years of muscle memory built up around a bad motion. While the piece even acknowledges the very real problem of muscle memory the whole thing is written from a "see this could be easy to solve in the short run" perspective while in fact it would take a miracle for Lester to solve this that quickly. It will very likely take an offseason of work to get it done. In that sense the piece really does Lester a disservice.

Well that was encouraging. Beckett, having missed starts already this year seems to be petitioning for what....more time off....why to play a few more rounds of golf....this guy has become a compete joke and any notion that relying on him makes any sense at all is just at this point delusional. So what does this really mean....if Beckett does not get a few more days away from the team he can blame that on not turning it around? There is only one solution for Beckett....by by. Am I supposed to be encouraged by a more detailed review of Lester's mechanical problems? So something that took two years to reach its current state of ugly can be resolved in what....a couple of days.....a couple of weeks.....a couple of months......try an offseason and you will likely be closer to reality. While I agree with the analysis and even worry that he will hurt himself throwing this way, there is nothing here that suggests he can fix this in the short term. If he is not careful leaving so much of his body out of position when he actually does release the ball will ultimately come home to roost in a stressed out shoulder as that is where he is throwing from these days. His body is way over to one side of the rubber while his shoulder and the ball are on the other side. So his shoulder is taking all of that added stress. The reference to muscle memory in the piece was really quite valid. Even though the way he is throwing now looks awkward and looks very stressful to his throwing shoulder particularly, it is something he has been doing now that has gotten progressively worse over a two year period. He has to break that down, eliminate it and rebuild his motion again with a more compact, straightforward leg kick and it will feel totally wrong at the start just like a good golf swing feels totally wrong at the start even though it is better than what you had if you had grown used to what you had. Once again at least in my view the Boston media does these guys no good. As for Beckett, I could care less....he wants no part of Boston anymore....not even sure he wants any part of pitching in the majors unless it is totally on his terms whatever they are. But in making it sound EASY for Lester to turn this around Bradford does Lester a disservice. This will be difficult and time consuming. Everything in the Bradford piece on Lester was accurate with the one exception of inferring that this is something that can be cured quickly. It would be a miracle for Lester to cure this quickly.

Buch made a slow and steady recovery from injury that included regaining confidence that he could throw hard without concern for his back. Lester's issues are closer to Bard's than Buch's. Lester's mechanics are a total mess. Lester may pitch better this season than he has. He could hardly pitch worse...but a complete return will likely involve an offseason of work with a qualified coach. Either way it sort of means the same thing about this season....one more starter that was supposed to be a key element to any run the Sox could hope to make that either has to be shut down or will simply be a hit machine when he takes the mound. If anything their rotation is in worse shape this year than last even with Lackey and Wake. At least they had a way to cover the innings they needed last year. I am not even sure they can do that. Lester has been a true innings horse his entire career and he is a mess. As I have said in the trade deadline and other pitching related threads, I suspect the Sox interest in acquiring another starter this year is more about protecting against a complete collapse in the rotation, something they are close to now. They have Beckett....who can't pitch. Lester.....who can't pitch. Buch.....thank God and pray he does not get a bad injury down the stretch. Felix....got to be closing in on an innings limit. Frank....must also be on an innings limit and Cook.....fine until the exact minute in any game when he can no longer keep the ball down in the zone. Sounds to me like they are fast approaching a point where it will be Buch and pray for rain.

Sox games have been really tough to watch lately. They don't play good baseball. They don't play competitive baseball. It just looks like they are playing out the innings of each game now. Guys come up to the plate, take their cuts, either get on or don't. Next guy comes up...takes his cuts....it looks like glorified batting practice without any unifying team offensive intent or concept at work. Then again, that I think be one of the nasty side effects of the starting pitchers digging a deep hole for the in the first inning. I do have to admit though that this "brute force" kind of offense is what they had last year as well. At some point teams do crack. They don't admit it to themselves or anybody else but it does happen. I would again encourage Sox fans to watch a few games between contending teams other than the Sox. See if those teams look anything like the Sox look. If you can convince yourself that the Sox are playing the same game those other teams are playing, God love ya'.

Ross is really a good ballplayer and somebody I would like to see the Sox keep. He is not some superstar though or some big money contract guy. The Sox and to some extent we make this same mistake over and over and over again. We overpay these guys and then they perform to a level that is consistent with what we should have expected. Suddenly the guy is a bum. He is no good. He is a disappointment. Well, who started that whole ball rolling downhill in the first place. Wanna' sign him....fine sign him. Just don't get ridiculous and if it takes getting ridiculous to sign him then let him go. I am so sick of the Sox spending the money because they have it cause as has now been shown pretty conclusively, at some point they stop and when they stop, what ya' got is what ya' got.

I know that some folks looked at last year's result and focusing on the period of the 2011 season where the Sox did well determined that the team had a good foundation to build on for the 2012 season. Others saw the entirety of the 2011 season as problematic and looking at the very same team arrived at a completely different opinion about the team's chances. So at least in my case, I did not like their 2012 chances because I did not like what I saw from 1,2 3 in the rotation and my expectations were low for those three guys. I saw Lester as slipping in major pitching categories other than innings pitched which is a very important stat for a starter. What I did not like in Lester was his demeanor on the mound....for me he was not a leader of any sort and could barely keep his own act together. Since he was slipping in other pitching categories I thought chances were good that he would lose innings pitched for 2012 and I suspect that will end up being true. While Beckett had a pretty good 2011 and I really did not put much stock in the odd/even year thing, It was clear to me that Beckett was going through the usual mid-late career conversion from power pitcher/thrower to control/power pitcher. His biggest issue in 2011 was the one blow up inning he would often have per game and that was a direct result of not really having successfully made the conversion. He was not blowing people away with his usual regularity and when his control would go off, he got tagged. So, while I did not think much of the odd/even year thing, I thought that he would either make more progress in the transition or not and if not, would struggle. He has not made more progress. I suppose it is possible that his new found prioritizing that puts baseball seemingly behind a number of things besides his family has maybe made this transition something he simply cannot pull off. I don't think any of us are any longer looking to see his velo return to 94+ with control. I am willing to believe that if he is traded back home to Texas, he might at least turn back into a decent starting pitcher all be it, not a power pitcher. I truly still think Buch will turn out to be the best of the three. I am grateful that he is doing as well as he is doing although I think most of us would consider his performance so far a disappointment. So while I understand why folks thought those pitchers would do better in 2012 than 2011 I just did not see it. All in the Sox 2012 starting pitching is at least as problematic as their 2011 starting pitching. None of the three looked like a rotation leader to me leaving the Sox with nobody to fill that role either. Beckett could do it but was not interested. Neither Buch nor Lester could do it. The 2011 offense was a brute force offense much like it is in 2012. There are far more similarities than there are differences. So while I am not saying they cannot win games in these two tough road series coming up, in my view, they will not win games because they have shown me anything that would suggest that they will. To me, if they win games in these series it will be because they finally, after this last Jays game realized that their pants are now down around their ankles. They acknowledge to each other that the illusion is gone and they no longer make some effort to maintain it. They are a flawed team very much in need of a complete change both in their starting pitching and in the way the produce runs. If they simply do what they have been doing since the start of the season, only more of it, I don't think we will see any better results. I don't know what to do at this point about their defense. Happy to have Ells back in that regard and that is about all I can say on the topic of Sox defense.

I know that some folks looked at last year's result and focusing on the period of the 2011 season where the Sox did well determined that the team had a good foundation to build on for the 2012 season. Others saw the entirety of the 2011 season as problematic and looking at the very same team arrived at a completely different opinion about the team's chances. So at least in my case, I did not like their 2012 chances because I did not like what I saw from 1,2 3 in the rotation and my expectations were low for those three guys. I saw Lester as slipping in major pitching categories other than innings pitched which is a very important stat for a starter. What I did not like in Lester was his demeanor on the mound....for me he was not a leader of any sort and could barely keep his own act together. Since he was slipping in other pitching categories I thought chances were good that he would lose innings pitched for 2012 and I suspect that will end up being true. While Beckett had a pretty good 2011 and I really did not put much stock in the odd/even year thing, It was clear to me that Beckett was going through the usual mid-late career conversion from power pitcher/thrower to control/power pitcher. His biggest issue in 2011 was the one blow up inning he would often have per game and that was a direct result of not really having successfully made the conversion. He was not blowing people away with his usual regularity and when his control would go off, he got tagged. So, while I did not think much of the odd/even year thing, I thought that he would either make more progress in the transition or not and if not, would struggle. He has not made more progress. I suppose it is possible that his new found prioritizing that puts baseball seemingly behind a number of things besides his family has maybe made this transition something he simply cannot pull off. I don't think any of us are any longer looking to see his velo return to 94+ with control. I am willing to believe that if he is traded back home to Texas, he might at least turn back into a decent starting pitcher all be it, not a power pitcher. I truly still think Buch will turn out to be the best of the three. I am grateful that he is doing as well as he is doing although I think most of us would consider his performance so far a disappointment. So while I understand why folks thought those pitchers would do better in 2012 than 2011 I just did not see it. All in the Sox 2012 starting pitching is at least as problematic as their 2011 starting pitching. None of the three looked like a rotation leader to me leaving the Sox with nobody to fill that role either. Beckett could do it but was not interested. Neither Buch nor Lester could do it. The 2011 offense was a brute force offense much like it is in 2012. There are far more similarities than there are differences. So while I am not saying they cannot win games in these two tough road series coming up, in my view, they will not win games because they have shown me anything that would suggest that they will. To me, if they win games in these series it will be because they finally, after this last Jays game realized that their pants are now down around their ankles. They acknowledge to each other that the illusion is gone and they no longer make some effort to maintain it. They are a flawed team very much in need of a complete change both in their starting pitching and in the way the produce runs. If they simply do what they have been doing since the start of the season, only more of it, I don't think we will see any better results. I don't know what to do at this point about their defense. Happy to have Ells back in that regard and that is about all I can say on the topic of Sox defense.

He has hit into that shift more than once of late. He has definitely hit a tough stretch and has come back to earth. However notice that his tumble has coincided with the return of many of the outfielders and much discussion of who will be gone as a consequence. I think he is pressing and that is not helping him either. He is simply not talented enough to overcome some of the things that more talented players can at least to some extent overcome. This whole "let me hit a dinger" thing seems like a disease and it is particularly bad when a guy like Nava gets it.

I actually think the only way this truly starts to get better is that the Sox entire approach to how they build a team has got to change and the only way to do that is to get rid of LL. LL appears to be joined at the hip to JH. Hence you have to get rid of JH to get rid of LL. I think JH needs to sell this team and let a new group come in with a different approach. Hopefully if that happens this bunch won't trade off the prospects that are down on the farm as I do think one major element of change will be less reliance on big name FA signings and more reliance on the farm system. To the extent that a complete change of ownership is the ultimate "blow it up" I believe that is what has to happen here.

While we often hear the wiin-loss record for games Lester or Beckett start, WEEI had some interesting numbers for the month of July. Lester and Beclett have apparently given up 52 hits and 35 earned runs between them for the month of July. Those are staggering numbers. I think the won-lost for the season is 13-25.

Hard not to feel bad for Lester. He has done a lotta' things wrong....seems to have put his faith in the wrong people and maybe has not even been honest with himself but guys don't do things cause they want to fail. He has got a ton of soul searching to do and it does not appear to me that anybody is there to help find his way back.

Good night Irene

Please get this guy out Jon

Punto is terrible!!!!!! That was such a good pitch to hit.

Punto.......throw your body in front of it Punto

This could be tough...dead pull hitter...look FB at least for two strikes mike

Don't blow this Sweeney