Sox75

YES! My wife said he looked like a short, fat, out of shape, midget Thor! We met him last year in Seattle, and he could not be a nicer guy! Took photos with my wife & son. Rumor has it, he may have pulled an Al Franken on my wife, but I couldn't blame the little guy for trying. Come to think of it, my wife seemed strangely upset about his hair and fitness. Mumbled something about, "not this year in Seattle pal. Not looking like that...." Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure I like this. LOL

That's what I said after his first start 1st inning....

Manny would have! Actually, he probably would have.

Beni should have had that!

Let's get in on ... mmmmm Let's get it on...

Yikes. Forgot about the Eck connection w / E-Rod. LOL :0

Let's hope E-Rod can stay on task. Pound the strike zone. Go after every hitter, & STOP the GD "too fine pitching!" His first game, E-Rod steam rolled the first 3 hitters w 3 strike outs. After that, he nibbled his way to BB after BB. SURE , 21 pitches sucked, but he struck out 3.

Still . . I want him back 100%! I'm pulling once again for him 110%! He's OUR GUY, and yes.... The Sox need him as much as any guy on this team! Having said that, I don't at all feel disloyal for 'wondering' privately, and musing quietly amongst a few friends (you schmucks) , about my personal thoughts.

Look . . I know I appear to be, and am in fact, calling into question, "why Price seems to have a habit of alluding to seemingly serious physical difficulties, that MIGHT explain bad outings?" I know that this perspective of mine suggests that Price 'seems to' have a habit of doing this. He is MOST LIKELY being nothing but honest, but I'm simply pointing out how it could be interpreted by many. I personally don't believe that he purposefully is trying to put forward 'excuses' for failure, but I can easily see how many might feel that way. Look, I love honestly as much as anybody, but I mainly appreciate when a competitor simply falls on his sword, and says nothing more than, "I sucked tonight. No excuse. I simply sucked." If you golf, you know the guy who always comes up with a heretofor unspoken ailment that might explain why he's shanking and slicing the hell out of the ball yet again.... You had a shyte day too, so you just don't want to hear their oh so subtle excuses again. All you want to hear is them laugh it off, & say, "Jesus I sucked today! 19th hole anybody?"

and then again . . . Price is more likely . . .? http://www.weei.com/articles/column/reimer-ridiculous-claim-david-price-faked-thumb-issue Perhaps it really is true that David is just 'more sensitive' than most pitchers? How can you possibly fault a guy for feeling & perceiving weather more than other guys? One thing DP can never be accused of, is being a Climate Denier! Sure . . . East Alglia was an unfortunate incident temporarily setting back the cause, but Climate is a real thing! Don't blame Price for being more sensitive than flat earthers like Sale!

No doubt fxkatt! Fair point. BUT . . . The fact is that DP is not working on cold conducting metal. LIKE EVERY OTHER PLAYER in the mlb, on any given cold night, Price is gripping and throwing the baseball. A beautifull leather wrapped, well rubbed baseball. The same baseball being hit by every batter faced. The same baseball every hitter avoids hitting on the end of their bat on outside pitches. The same baseball every player on the field cringes at when their mate at the plate grounds out on when they SLAP a MAJOR stinger on, grounding out with a weak dribbler to 1st. OUCH! God damn it that hurt like hell! Jesus, Mary, & Joseph that hurt! F THAT! I'm letting every outside pitch go! Anything near or on the outside of the plate! Srew that! "I wonder how that other pitcher feels? I wonder if he is feeling some 'weird tingling' in his finger tips? That POS Yankee pitcher is just hiding it!" I wonder if those Yankum hitters are feeling any 'weird tingling?' I know they are GD it! Why aren't they talking about it? Those sneaky bastards are just hiding it. Why can't they just cop to it! Man up Yankums! BE HONEST like our man DP!

Can we just be honest. It certainly has been one thing after another with this guy.... Having said that, every time he comes back, I'm pulling like hell for the guy! ! ! ! I will pull for him AGAIN & AGAIN... So long as he is a Red Sox SP! I could not be more in his camp, but I'm not going to pretend that numerous "injuries" haven't been . . . "Nebulous." Almost always .... "--'convenient.' More often than not, the 'recovery' time extends beyond most expectations. Last year's 'injury,' directly after the dust up with Ek, went on FOREVER..... IT strained credulity. Sorry! -but it flat out did. Again . . . I was extatic when he returned, and COMPLETELY DROPPED any and all frustration I was feeling, and ROOTED MY ARSS off for him. He did very well in the short series, and I could not have been more happy for him. Yet, here we go again..... Something goes wrong in a start for him, COINCIDENTALLY ...... against his first REAL challenge. He gets knocked around by a good hitting team, and suddenly he's alluding to some possibly 'serious' .... albeit 'NEBULOUS' ..... 'condition.' Does anybody here NOT remember just how hard it is to hit on a cold day? If you've forgotten, trust me.... it can be absolutely brural! I've done a fair amount of pitching, & a good amount of hitting. I would absolutely rather be a pitcher on a day like that! A fairly serious neurological disease ruined my sports life, but even in middle age, I could still bring the heat, and cntrol severely numb fingers. Even on cold days. Not NEAR at that level, but muscle memory is a stunning friend! Nubbing a pitch with your bat on a cold day still strikes fear into any hitter. You never forget doing it. It haunts hitters. You feel the sting all night, and think about it for weeks.... Long story.... but the short story is this. WAY TOO OFTEN I get the distinct feeling that Price has become way too familiar with .... again .... nebulous 'non-excuse excuse making. It's almost becoming somewhat of an art form. He's getting too good at it in my opinion. Those of us who have played recognize when a guy is trying to put up an excuse . . . CAREFULLY! without overtly making excuses. The back-peddling OFF the original excuse, after making an oblique .... non-excuse excuse, often seems to purposefully add credence to the validity of the excuse. With some guys, when things go badly, it becomes very predictable. Semi-casual, but wannabe golfers know exactly what I'm talking about. You know 'that guyl' Sorry! But that s*** gets old with the rank & file player. The guys get tired of it, and would much rather hear, "I simply f***ed up! I didn't do what I needed to do to be ready to pitch! Bottom line. They were ready, and I wasn't! I won't make that mistake again!" Even if you REALLY THINK you felt a 'twinge.' You just DON'T jump to putting that possible excuse out there! You wait a few days, and see if it was nothing. You suck it up . . . Wait . . . & then pitch your ass off next outing. By then, you'll likely know. At that point, you pitch if you feel fine. If you still don't feel right? Then you say something. Most competitors are loath to be 'that guy.' The non-excuse excuse guy. I just don't completely trust where Price often SEEMS to be coming from. I will STILL ROOT LIKE HELL for him, no matter which way this goes. I'm just starting to honestly wonder if he's a bit of a 'head case?' It may not be fair, but I sometimes wonder? As I did with Buch, Kelley, & many other Red Sox pitchers. Just my ******** opinion. . . . for whatever the hell it's worth? Which is almost certainly nothing! p.s. I reserve the right to completely change my opinion within the week, or at any time during the season. I hope like hell I'm completely full of s***!

Originally Posted by moonslav59 View Post Remember when a few people were worried about Betts doing poorly in spring training? Remember how some clown was saying we should bench HRam vs RHPs and make him earn a FT role? Remember when some said, "Wait until you play a tough opponent." I guess we'll have to wait a week, when we face the Angels. .......... Having said al has Moon, in all honesty, there is no reason not to have total faith in Hanley. Hey, I've grown t like the guy, and uderstand he's had some freak injuries since his LF corner wall debacle. He's had other injuries too.. still, he hasn't inspired a great deal of confidence, an I can understand those who doubt he will give us a strong season. It's looking like he's healthy and ripped, so he should be good to go. Unlike others, I say you ride Hanley for ALL HE IS WORTH, and damn the consequences if he exceeds the ab's needed for an automatic contract in 2019. I think he pounds the ball this year, and gives JDM a run for his money. THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! Best case scenario, no matter what the ney-sayers have to say! As for those who questioned "what about when we play REAL competition?" They had every right to question that with our cool bats. It was beginning to look like 2017 bats, except we were winning with great pitching. Consistently. It was still fair to question the 2018 Sox. As for Mookie's COLD ST? I was mildly concerned. Mildly. He and Beni sure flipped a swtch! Beni's heating up. Hanley would have been the game STAR, but for Mookie GOING OFF! JBJ is still cold, and AL TOO OFTEN rips his head off the ball with that ridiculously violent swing. The simply need to convince the kid to stay within himself, take a clean, controlled, level swing, AND KEEP HIS F'n head on the ball! Other than that, I love the kid. Nuner looks to be a about 70 % Vaz will heat up. Bogie looks like an ALL STAR! Devers is becoming the real deal. He will hit close to 30 HR's. Beni will break out, & have a big season. Could not be happier with the pitching! WS 2018

Not fair quoting me! Kidding! OK . . . I was a little worried about Hanley, but thought he looked VERY FIT! I was optimistic.

I'm taking major incoming s***, but it feels SO GOOD! It just would not have worked out watching it after it was over. No doubt in my mind . . . the Sox would have lost had I made the wrong choice. It's all about dedication!

Watched it out here one the west coast on tape delay also. Caught up in the bottom of the 8th. Skipped a big colleague outing for the game. Something I really look forward to, as it's limited to only my favorite people. Great choice! Season & series opener with the Yankees in a World Series bound season. A no brainer!

Last year felt brutal with JBJ because the team was stacked with hitters who all hit like JBJ. Streaky.... Often cold..... No. You can't field a team that all hits that way. Conversely, you can't field a team where all the players field like JDM! JBJ is a very average, streaky hitter. He got a bum-rap that first year - year & 1/2. Last year was not great at all, but certainly serviceable. Often frustrating, but very serviceable. Add his +++ GG fielding, and this conversation becomes absurd! JBJ is a generational CF'r with pop. He is going to be an ALL-Star CF'r when he puts it all together at the plate. I HOPE! AGAIN . . This conversation absurd . . . . That is . . . Until our bats continue to stay more COLD than hot. Then, all hell breaks loose! Katie bar the door! Take no prisoners! Hang them all..... NO WAY I trade JBJ now that I've seen JDM in the OF!

It's pretty clear that Cora has been asked to shuffle JDM into the outfield lineup, as I'm quite sure there were promises made in contract negotiations. It's already CRYSTAL CLEAR what a difference JBJ makes in CF. There is no denying that his D saves runs. I'm worried that promises 'could have been made' to slot JDM permanently into this OF, which would of course mean trading JBJ, or relegating him to the OF sub role? Sure! There is also no denying that JBJ is streaky. Hell . . . Beni is also pretty streaky. It's been easy slotting in JDM so far, but against good teams, there have already been clear instances where JDM does not get to balls either Mookie would get to in RF, JBJ would get to in CF, and Beni would make in LF. It's tough to watch. So far, no games have been lost due to the shuffle, but that will change against teams capable of making you pay for these missed plays. I wish knew what the end game is, but it appears that we will be dealing with this often cringe-worthy experiment for the forseeable future. In my mind, this experiment is preferable to outright trading JBJ. I THINK Cora's hands are tied on this, so there is no sense bashing him for shuffling the OF. Promises appear to have been made, and those promises are being kept.

JDM has made it clear that he wants to play the OF. When your big $ bat insists on playing the OF, and not just being a DH, you listen. My guess is that promises were made, JBJ is making that call easy right now. I hope we are not shopping JBJ! JDM is not a good fielder.

When your dance coriography is better than your hitting, it's time to hang up the dance shoes !

I hope the dance is dead!

great game!

Tough catch after untwisting the pretzel

That was the pitch!

The Ram puts this away!