FredLynn

Exactly. He is openly contemptuous of the fans. If he could do it and get away with it, I am certain he would have given the one finger salute to the Fenway faithful last night. Well screw Josh Beckett. I will help you pack your bags and even carry them in the airport for you.

Got it. I think we are on the same page. And we both know why Wilbur writes that way. You write vanilla fluff and you won't be writing for anyone but yourself and Red Sox boards very quickly.

So let me understand this: you don't like the message, so you attack the messenger? Whatever you think about Eric Wilbur, what he wrote makes a lot of sense this time. Most of it.

I meant figuratively, not literally. As far as I know he hasn't done that in public.

He was sticking his middle finger up at the fans. Again.

In truth, only one team in the league has worse pitching than we do. That, as everyone knows, is the bottom line. It was known this offseason and not addressed. We have plenty of offense. Even with our injured players out for extended periods of time we are still second in runs scored in the AL. But our pitching is of Little League quality. While its too late to do anything about it this year, its time to jettison the underperforming pieces of our franchise and plan for the distant future when we can compete for another ring.

You can take comfort in the fact that its unlikely that Beckett (or Youkilis or Saltalamacchia for that matter) will get dumped. On the other hand, you and the rest of us are going to have to suffer with the consequences of not getting rid of them for many years.

Nope. You make the move and don't look back. Its the right thing to do (IMO, of course).

Beckett is a stubborn, self-centered egomaniac who will NEVER fall into line. NEVER. With that kind of employee its just best to cut ties. And what year is better to do it than during a year where we are going nowhere.

Feel free to adopt that attitude. Others feel that people who think things will somehow change don't know s***.

I would replace him with Miller. Its no longer about this year. This year is gone. We get what we can for the Texas Tough Guy and next year go out and get someone who can pitch and who isn't a cancer in the clubhouse.

This piece by Eric Wilbur embodies everything I think about Beckett and the Red Sox right now: Forget about the golf for a moment. Forget about the fact that Red Sox "ace" Josh Beckett got lit up to the tune of seven runs over a measly 2 1/3 innings by the Cleveland Guardians last night at Fenway Park. Forget about the fried chicken and beer, Beckett's reported refusal to participate in workout drills, and his public relations firm members who sit high atop home plate at Fenway Park. Those are all reasons Josh Beckett needs to go. But during last night's postgame press conference, Beckett gave everybody -- fans, the front office, media members -- a reason to run him out of town with a ferocious vigor not seen in this town in years. Beckett's smug defiance encapsulates everything we need to know about the 2012 Boston Red Sox, an over-privileged, under-achieving group of players who have become enemies to nearly every baseball-loving fan in Boston. And Beckett is the contemptible bandleader. Two days ago, it was reported by 98.5 The Sports Hub that Beckett, skipped in the rotation last weekend for what the team deemed a sore lat muscle, was spotted hitting the links at a local country club with compatriot in crime Clay Buchholz last Thursday. The assumption was that, if Beckett was indeed hurt, why was he out playing 18? It's a legitimate question that fans deserve the right an answer to, no matter how the story was greeted with such banality by certain members of the local and national media. Last night, after Beckett's shortest outing of the year, an embarrassing performance on a night meant to pay tribute to Carl Beane, everybody got their answers, delivered with discombobulated venom. On the golf: "I spend my off days the way I want to spend them." On his precious off days: "My off day is my off day." On the booing: "I pitched like [expletive]. That's what happens. Smart fans." More on the off days from the father of the year: "We get 18 off days a year. I think we deserve a little bit of time to ourselves." Family must have been out of town, I guess. Spare me the notion that the Red Sox can't get rid of a guy who gave them almost 200 innings of work last season. The franchise is a disgrace, and Beckett is reason No. 1 why they have been an international laughingstock (Hello, Anfield) for the past nine months. This team is going nowhere; poorly constructed, poorly managed, and poorly marketed. The Red Sox need Josh Beckett why again? It's not that Beckett doesn't get it, he just doesn't care, and that is the most damning characteristic an athlete, someone who gets paid millions of dollars to achieve his greatest heights possible in order to help his team, can possess. But it isn't just his public perception that Beckett clearly doesn't care about. Last September proved he doesn't care about his team, causing his manager, trainers, and countless others to lose their jobs. And he's still here. Why? Ben Cherington now has the unenviable task of trying to find some team willing to take this infectious load off his hands. The Red Sox will have to eat a significant portion of Beckett's contract, but what else is new? Add it to the list. If Beckett is here next month, it's a clear sign that the Red Sox don't care what you think either. Really, in many cases they don't, but they have now hit a critical crossroad. An ever-growing contingent of fans is beginning to realize the flapdoodle they're being fed, sold, and lied to about day after day. Did you see last night's "distribution" crowd? It was of course, another sellout, a lie that keeps perpetrating and makes you wonder what other kinds of deception they have under wraps. So, the advice to John Henry and Co. is to make an attempt at winning back a fan base that has lost faith in anything happening at the corners of Brookline Ave. and Yawkey Way. Begin the cleansing you hardly completed last fall and you may soon rectify faith in the coming years, if indeed you even still own the team. I have never witnessed a more hated team in Boston than the 2012 Boston Red Sox, and there is one, snarling way to, hopefully, begin a process that will give us something to cherish once again. See ya, Josh.

This loss was on Beckett, not the Sox hitters. You cannot expect them to go out and get 8 runs every night. ALL on Beckett.

She does.

Your cat is a whore

And the Celtics are up by 4 entering the 4th period. They look solid, but you never know.

Joe "Mr" Smith warming up in the pen. http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/mm428/Taurus_070/Matrix.jpg

Thanks.

2007 Not many people realize that. His career ERA with the Sox is over 4. Some ace.

Where do you find those stats? Baseball reference,com?