jung

The Sox are a poorly constructed team...been saying that for awhile and I don't see management as committed to eating contract to right the wrongs of the past. If not, it remains a poorly constructed team made up of to many high salary long term contracts, to few cost controlled young players all of them not really meshed well to result in a team effort. Baseball does not require a team effort necessarily but the parts must mesh well. It is a little like the Miami Heat. Not enough basketballs to go around for King James, DWade and Bosh and one taking the lead from the other just at the right moment is simply to complicated a task. They may finally win one of these days but I expect if they get past the Celtics who they should have blown out of the water, they will be beaten by Ok City, a well constructed team of mostly younger players with a few seniors for stability and experience. So they are paying three guys superstar salaries when really only one of them can play like a superstar at a time. The Miami Heat are a poorly constructed basketball team as we are a poorly constructed baseball team. Why does a team that plays half its games at Fenway need to pay CC and Ells upwards of what their combined salaries will be? If they are both playing well they are basically the same player. That is a Theo mistake but we are still stuck with it and unfortunately, CC and and Ells is just an example of a more widespread problem.

First time in God only knows how long we have seen Agons turn on the classic green light pitch for LH hitters...down and in. That might be his most encouraging at bat this year! As for Youk, since coming back I think he has made good, smart plate appearances. He is still struggling with the slider from RH pitchers. Even there though I think he has made progress from where he was before going on the DL. Before that he was chasing sliders all over the place. He is still having more trouble hitting sliders but he seems at least to be seeing them better and not chasing those that run off the outside of the plate. Youk has had trouble with the slider in his career but he appears more challenged by it this year than at any time that I can remember.

Actually a couple of times Nava at least worked Strasburg to the best of his ability. Like I said, there are times when his physical limitations are going to get in his way. That is why he is not able to stick with an ML team. However I would very much like to take his approach to plate appearances and graft it onto AGons body or even Mikes body to some extent just to name two. Ross can be kinda' swing happy as well although he is currently injured. Byrd and d-mac....I have not been able to figure out what d-mac thinks he is doing at the plate for two years now and both he and Byrd would do well to make smarter plate appearances as they also have obvious physical limitations.

I don't quite get the approach to the plate for many of the Sox hitters this year and while our hitting coach tends to get rave reviews I wonder if he concentrates to much on things like whether a guy has a hitch in his swing and to little on their overall approach to their plate appearances. Yea, there are times when it almost looks like even some of the better hitters are almost passively looking for the BB and less inclined to swing at the close pitch with 2 strikes. However we also have guys that will not protect the plate with two strikes in the sense of choking up on the bat and being willing to take the ball and just dump it into the outfield insisting on either continuing to try to go the other way if that is their preference regardless of the pitch location or pulling if that is their preference regardless of the pitch location. Nava's lack of physical talent will get in his way but watching his approach to plate appearances is in the main, refreshing.

and yes pumps I cannot put together a rational expectation for a comeback from 5 down for these Sox against these Nats. That is two rally's at a minimum for us, uncontested by them.....I just don't see that in the cards. I can see tossing in the towel earlier than me but I tend to think you can at least make one rally in a park that is so HR friendly and you can even get some pitching and make one rally uncontested...two rallys uncontested is marginally more offense than I can expect us to muster these days against these guys and more pitching than I think we have.

NESN just showed it....it was a strike at least according to the software.

Yea Youk could not let that go and I have a feeling it was a strike anyway.

I will say this though about this game...if the Nats score one more and put us down 5, I don't see us comin' back from that under any circumstances that I can reasonably assemble. I think Pumps maybe tends to close the curtains at about 3 runs.....I am more like a 4-5 runs and lights out sort of guy.

I am never ready to pack in games as early as pumps appears to be. I thought pumps was really trying to use this game as a means of expressing his views about the general state of affairs. I don't think we are out of this game but I am really concerned about the idea that I think we have a rubber meeting road kinda' month while we are sort of up on the alignment rack.

To pumps point though...I have thought this would be the tough month for us. Early days are over...you can tell from schedules everybody that counts is going to be playing to mean business this month and we are hangin' on with our teeth both in the pitching (has performed somewhat over its head so far) and in needing to get the injured everyday guys back. This month has had Oh s*** written all over it for several weeks now.

Red is just not his color. Handle is not "FAT" Albers for nothin'

Pumps even Black Clouds run in fear when they see you commin' bud. They are overmatched:D:D

Seriously, the next guy we have that might really be something is the kid that is just to far down the ranks yet to be ready at this point.....Ramirez might be the next guy to watch but that is going to take some time.

I don't know....I hear this guy Bard is pretty good:D:D

What do you say V....time for another pep talk. I know it is only the 4th but I wish V would take into account more the way a pitcher is pitching, not just the pitch count and the inning blah blah blah...Felix is a train wreck waiting to happen tonight.....V had to see this coming.

Geez I don't think Felix will get away with many more of those...they are up with nothing on them. Even these guys will likely hit that.

Felix is up to much tonight...does not have it this evening.

That "thing" that Strasburg throws for a breaking ball to the right hand hitters is just nasty. Geez he almost does not have to throw that for a strike. Start it in the middle of the plate and watch guys go nuts trying to get to it, especially with two strikes.

Well Remy just said it so I guess it was a slurve.

Holy Cow....what the hell was that to Pedey...a slurve!

Felix is leaving some mistakes out over the plate and the Nats seem to be hitting almost every mistake he makes.

Actually V seems to have anointed himself for this particular Felix task even when Mac is around.

V out for one of his Felix pep talks...."Ah throw strikes Felix....and also....ah get somebody out".

I actually thought he was scheduled to go two innings but that could have been changed after I heard two....could have been changed couple minutes ago for that matter. Anyway most of us said the same thing when he went down...he had to realize that he could not pitch that way up here. Opposition pitchers would not care if he was hitting guys by accident or on purpose...if you are going to insist on running a guy out there that does not know where the ball is going, expect retaliation and I mean RETALIATION.

Geez Sweeney has lost more balls up there in a 3rd of a season than most do in a couple of years....maybe even several years.