[Mike LansWho]

BigSlick, on 25 April 2012 - 03:03 PM, said:

Playing .500 baseball against teams they should destroy will make the panic worse, not better. Considering they have the 2 in the bag already, they need to go at least 14-8, if not better, in this stretch.

Just giving them a little bit of slack. You're probably right though. If they finish that stretch with anything less then they will still have a losing record.

[JMDurron]

The Ghost of Ned Martin, on 25 April 2012 - 09:20 AM, said:

I'm not Lucchino fan but I don't agree with your statement Bozzs. Most of the people left for better jobs in other organizations. Let's face it, until last season, if you were in Baseball Ops, Theo blocked your path. If they wanted to run baseball ops, it was going to be elsewhere. And, all indications are the Theo DID have control over Baseball Ops after his Gorilla getaway. If want to charge Lucchino with being a first degree douche, then I am with you. The poor baseball decisions made over the past few years are on Theo and his team.

Exactly. The success of the 2003-2005 teams drew a lot of smart talent out of baseball ops and into other organizations. That's how it works in sports, success within a given group breeds poaching of that group by other organizations that are trying to win, which leads to a brain drain in Boston and smarter teams elsewhere, eventually sapping away what intellectual edge the team had back then. That's not Lucchino's fault, regardless of whether or not he happens to be a douchebag. Theo may have been as much of a function of the rest of his team as he was his own brains, and as that team got thinner, his decisions (or at least the information he was given to use in order to inform those decisions) got progressively worse, culminating in the crappy FA bonanza.

[RedSoxAnni]

The make up date for last Sunday's rainout has been set. The game will be played on Sat. July 7 at 12:35 pm. That game will be on NESN. The regularly scheduled game will be played at 7:15 pm and will be on FOX.

[RedSoxAnni]

Info on makeup game

[rominer]

And just in case you thought this season couldn't get any worse, Carl Beane died in a car accident earlier today.

[RedSoxAnni]

rominer, on 09 May 2012 - 03:37 PM, said:

And just in case you thought this season couldn't get any worse, Carl Beane died in a car accident earlier today.

I just saw that on boston.com. He was the best announcer since Sherm Feller; he fit the role perfectly. It will be a sad night at Fenway tomorrow. And a silent one.

[Hail Cesar]

For some reason I thought that Carl Beane was the public address announcer for longer than 2003. That's awful.

[RedSoxAnni]

Interesting comments from Peter Abraham

nBut the problem isn't Beckett. The problem is that nobody with the Red Sox — from ownership down to his assorted pitching coaches — has required him to be accountable or demanded that he change.

Beckett is a money pitcher. He is 7-3 with a 3.07 ERA in 14 postseason games over his career and has two World Series rings. The belief is that once you get to the postseason, he'll deliver.

He also has been pretty good in the regular season. Not great, but pretty good. He's 42 games over .500 in his career with an ERA under 4.00. Not too many active starters can make that claim. You may not like to hear this, but he's one of the best starters in the game and he's getting paid at the going rate.

Since 2001, when he broke into the majors, Beckett is one of 10 pitchers with at least 280 starts and an ERA under 4.00. One of 10.

In return for this durability and production, the Red Sox have stayed out of his way. Beckett gets to pick his catcher. Beckett gets to prepare for games the way he wants. Beckett gets to drink beer in the clubhouse during games. Beckett gets to throw too many cutters. Beckett gets to do what he wants, basically.

[Kid T]

And they called Pedro a diva

[The Ghost of Ned Martin]

Kid T, on 13 May 2012 - 03:16 PM, said:

And they called Pedro a diva

Yeah and Pedro actually produced.

[rominer]

The Ghost of Ned Martin, on 13 May 2012 - 05:13 PM, said:

Yeah and Pedro actually produced.

F**k you and your negativity.

Stop with the understatement already.

[The Ghost of Ned Martin]

rominer, on 13 May 2012 - 11:41 PM, said:

F**k you and your negativity.

Stop with the understatement already.

Ok.

At least Pedro was the greatest pitcher of his or perhaps any generation. The numbers he put up in an ERA that is known for juiced hitters and pitchers are astounding.

Josh Beckett, on the other hand, is hot, smoldering garbabge.

**** John Henry,

[Mike LansWho]

I have some problems with Will Middlebrooks. So far he has shown some great promise hitting at the Major League level. However, in his short stint I have noticed a few things that point to either poor baseball instincts or a lack of awareness.

1.) The single that should have been a double. I'll cut him a little bit of slack since it is a tricky foul ball area. However, you're a rookie trying to make an impression. Put your head down and run.

2.) In a game the other night there were two men on with less than two outs and he chased a foul ball towards the stands. He made what looked to be a clean catch, but the ball popped out as he fell to the ground. I don't have a problem with the fact that the ball popped out. I do have a problem with how he was laying on the ground there while two men were on base. A player with good instincts and awareness would have popped back up and ran the ball back to the center of the diamond.

3.) This is just nitpicking by me, but he had a walk the other night where ball four was a passed ball and the runner from third scored. Now, it's the job of the on-deck man to help the runner (slide or no slide), not the batter. The on-deck man did his job, but there was something about how Middlebrooks just nonchalantly took off his shin guard and trotted down towards first, almost oblivious to the fact that his team just scored a run.

There was at least one more, but I forgot what it was. He has 3 errors in 10 games. I'm not going to beat him up too much about that yet. He also has 3 walks and 11 K's in those 10 games. Not a big deal as long as he gets the XBH's at the current rate.

[BigSlick]

Mike LansWho, on 14 May 2012 - 07:57 AM, said:

2.) In a game the other night there were two men on with less than two outs and he chased a foul ball towards the stands. He made what looked to be a clean catch, but the ball popped out as he fell to the ground. I don't have a problem with the fact that the ball popped out. I do have a problem with how he was laying on the ground there while two men were on base. A player with good instincts and awareness would have popped back up and ran the ball back to the center of the diamond.

I didn’t see the play, but as you describe it his actions were irrelevant. Runners can’t advance on a foul ball.

Edit: Unless the ball is caught, then they can tag up and try to advance.

This post has been edited by BigSlick: 14 May 2012 - 08:08 AM

[Mike LansWho]

BigSlick, on 14 May 2012 - 08:07 AM, said:

I didn’t see the play, but as you describe it his actions were irrelevant. Runners can’t advance on a foul ball.

Edit: Unless the ball is caught, then they can tag up and try to advance.

That was my point. He had caught the ball and it didn't pop out until he was lying on the ground trying to show the ump that he caught it. They showed the replay a handful of times and it actually looked like he had it long enough to be an out, even if he eventually dropped it. The bottom line is that he thought he had caught it, which means that he had to know that the ball was still live.

[Cudahy]

At 23, Middlebrooks is still learning defense & baserunning. He's made a coupld of great defensive plays so he clearly has the skills. As a baserunner i think he's going to be pretty much like Gonzalez. We can live with that if he continues hitting.

I don't personally like Beckett but I'm confident that he'll finish the season with a solid ERA as one of our quality starters. His ERA is so high right now because his 2 bad starts(out of 6)were very bad.

[Mike LansWho]

Cudahy, on 14 May 2012 - 02:18 PM, said:

At 23, Middlebrooks is still learning defense & baserunning. He's made a coupld of great defensive plays so he clearly has the skills. As a baserunner i think he's going to be pretty much like Gonzalez. We can live with that if he continues hitting.

I don't have a huge problem with his defense or the fact that he's not a tremendous base runner. I have a problem with his basic baseball awareness which you usually develop in little league. I don't know if he's actually that aloof or if it's just a look he's trying to put across now that he's on the big stage. Example, "hey look at this great catch I made. I'm going to lay down on the ground for a few seconds for dramatic effect."

[Hail Cesar]

Mike LansWho, on 14 May 2012 - 02:26 PM, said:

Example, "hey look at this great catch I made. I'm going to lay down on the ground for a few seconds for dramatic effect."

a/k/a A-Roditis. If Middlebrooks has a case of that, he needs to purge it from his system. Quick.

[Mike LansWho]

Hail Cesar, on 14 May 2012 - 03:56 PM, said:

a/k/a A-Roditis. If Middlebrooks has a case of that, he needs to purge it from his system. Quick.

I'll make an exception if he has as many 100+ RBI seasons.

[Hail Cesar]

Mike LansWho, on 14 May 2012 - 04:00 PM, said:

I'll make an exception if he has as many 100+ RBI seasons.

I won't make an exception, but I will enjoy watching the 100+ RBI seasons if comes to that. Even NYers don't like A-Rod.