After giving Milk a hard time about not posting, he has done the same to me. Can I help it? The Sox have taken a nose dive since starting this blog... but I don't believe in curses and still hold out hope that the Sox can make some noise!
It's funny, the Cubs are 7 games back of the Cards right now and anytime I speak with a Cub's fan their jumping ship. The season is over for them. Grant it they are 7.5 games back in the Wild Card, but the season is still far from over.
I say this as I look at the Sox 7 game deficit to the Spankees in the American League East. We do, however, have a 1.5 lead on the Wild Card. So hope still remains.
In an interesting move, the Sox claimed Mets closer Billy Wagner off of waivers. He's coming off of tommy-jon and pitched a shut-out inning for them before being traded. His trade doesn't come without controversy of course. Current Sox closer, Jonathan Papelbon put up a fuss about disrupting the flow of the bullpen, although he claims not to doubt the obvious talent Wagner is.
In my opinion this is a great trade. Yeah, Wagner could turn out to be another Smoltz, or worse another Gagne(or Gag-Me as we Sox fans like to call him), but he could turn out to be just what we need. After losing to the Spankees 20-11 and 8-4 in a weekend series, it is clear we need more pitching.
Now, what kind of pitching is the real question. Yeah, we got Wagner, but Paps has a point. Our bullpen isn't that bad... it's been our starters. Brad Penny has just been banished to the bullpen momentarily to try out "rookie" Japaneese pitcher Tazawa in the starting role. Tazawa has had a few scoreless innings against the dreaded Yankees and this has prompted his promotion.
So we'll see. Wake returns from the DL tomorrow night, Tazawa may bring new life to the rotation, and Wagner may shut things down in order to get to Paps.
Either way, the Sox are still in the playoffs and never say never when it comes to the division.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Aaaaaaahhhhh!!! Part 2
The Red Sox just dropped their fifth game in a row! 3 now to the dreaded Yankees.
But let's not talk about that. What I want to talk about is reliever Ramon Ramirez coming into the game and hitting A-Rod on the arm. Without any warnings he is tossed! The Sox were down 2-0 and still in the game at this point. Why would he purposefully hit a guy? Why throw him out without a warning? Stranger still, the next inning, and with every Yankee pitcher after, the ump would walk out to the mound and speak with CC or whoever was out there... giving them a warning.
Unbelievable.
There was a strange exchange between the homeplate ump and Sox Catcher Victor Martinez right before Ramon hit A-Rod... I still haven't heard what was said.
All I know is the Sox need to turn things around. I don't watch games often... and the last few I have watched we've lost! Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!
But let's not talk about that. What I want to talk about is reliever Ramon Ramirez coming into the game and hitting A-Rod on the arm. Without any warnings he is tossed! The Sox were down 2-0 and still in the game at this point. Why would he purposefully hit a guy? Why throw him out without a warning? Stranger still, the next inning, and with every Yankee pitcher after, the ump would walk out to the mound and speak with CC or whoever was out there... giving them a warning.
Unbelievable.
There was a strange exchange between the homeplate ump and Sox Catcher Victor Martinez right before Ramon hit A-Rod... I still haven't heard what was said.
All I know is the Sox need to turn things around. I don't watch games often... and the last few I have watched we've lost! Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!
Aaaaahhhh!
That's how I feel inside after dropping two to the Yankees and falling 4.5 games back to them! In a gut wrenching loss, the Red Sox fell to the Yankees 2-0 in 15 innings last night. It was the first time since 1976 that the two teams went to extra innings tied at 0. In the fifteenth, with two outs and Jeter on base, A-Rod stepped up and hit a home run off of a young Japaneese pitcher we just called up from AAA after designating future hall-of-famer John Smoltz for assignment.
Its a tough week in general for the Sox. Beside designating Smoltz, a guy who was an automatic win for the Braves for so many years but couldn't find his groove in Boston, the Sox (who are 8-2 this season against the Yankees overall) have lost two series in a row, first to rival Tampa Bay, and now to nemisis NY. Boston falls 4.5 back from the Yankees, but are only 2.5 up on the Rays now.
Life after the All-Star break hasn't been easy. Josh Beckett has really been the only bright spot. First time All-Star Tim Wakefield (after being snubbed of an appearance in the All-Star game) was placed on the DL with a sore back that continues to nag him. Dice-K continues to work out, but last week there was some drama has he was misinturpruted and thought to have been complaining about the Sox's rehab program.
Then there is the trade deadline. Theo (the Sox's GM) is known for making blockbuster moves at the deadline, and sometimes you get the feeling that he's just going through the motions to keep that reputation up. The one year we didn't make a move was in 06 and we fell flat on our faces. So this year he was up to it again. I am really confused about the whole Adam LaRoche thing. Only a week or so after recieving him and taughted as a big bat off the bench, and a team player willing to be a role player rather than a starter, he was shipped off to Atlanta for yet another first basemen, Casey Kotchman, a lesser bat, and more of a life time bench warmer. Couldn't LaRoche have sat on the bench for a season? Or if we were going to trade him all along, couldn't we have found a better back-up for an outfielder or shortstop? Come on Theo!
Our big move was landing Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez. While its great to have him, he plays three positions where we have solid guys already playing, Catcher (Varitek), firstbase (Youk) and DH (Big Papi). So the merry-go-round continues.
The one thing that was glearingly apparent is how we didn't pick up one solid arm. No new starters, no reinforcements for the pen. If we're going to win we need another healthy arm in the rotation. The Sox have sought to fix this problem from within, promoting phenom Clay Bucholtz. While this is a start, I don't believe its the answer. With Wake out, and Smoltz gone the Sox need to search the waiver wire and pick up a second or third Ace. I still hold out hope that Lester will turn things up. He hasn't played horribly, but he hasn't played to his potential either.
Aaaagh!!! That's how I feel about the Sox right now. So much potential seems to be going down the drain. The season's not over yet. I still hold out hope... but I'm getting worried. Come on Sox. Let's do it again!
Go Sox!
Its a tough week in general for the Sox. Beside designating Smoltz, a guy who was an automatic win for the Braves for so many years but couldn't find his groove in Boston, the Sox (who are 8-2 this season against the Yankees overall) have lost two series in a row, first to rival Tampa Bay, and now to nemisis NY. Boston falls 4.5 back from the Yankees, but are only 2.5 up on the Rays now.
Life after the All-Star break hasn't been easy. Josh Beckett has really been the only bright spot. First time All-Star Tim Wakefield (after being snubbed of an appearance in the All-Star game) was placed on the DL with a sore back that continues to nag him. Dice-K continues to work out, but last week there was some drama has he was misinturpruted and thought to have been complaining about the Sox's rehab program.
Then there is the trade deadline. Theo (the Sox's GM) is known for making blockbuster moves at the deadline, and sometimes you get the feeling that he's just going through the motions to keep that reputation up. The one year we didn't make a move was in 06 and we fell flat on our faces. So this year he was up to it again. I am really confused about the whole Adam LaRoche thing. Only a week or so after recieving him and taughted as a big bat off the bench, and a team player willing to be a role player rather than a starter, he was shipped off to Atlanta for yet another first basemen, Casey Kotchman, a lesser bat, and more of a life time bench warmer. Couldn't LaRoche have sat on the bench for a season? Or if we were going to trade him all along, couldn't we have found a better back-up for an outfielder or shortstop? Come on Theo!
Our big move was landing Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez. While its great to have him, he plays three positions where we have solid guys already playing, Catcher (Varitek), firstbase (Youk) and DH (Big Papi). So the merry-go-round continues.
The one thing that was glearingly apparent is how we didn't pick up one solid arm. No new starters, no reinforcements for the pen. If we're going to win we need another healthy arm in the rotation. The Sox have sought to fix this problem from within, promoting phenom Clay Bucholtz. While this is a start, I don't believe its the answer. With Wake out, and Smoltz gone the Sox need to search the waiver wire and pick up a second or third Ace. I still hold out hope that Lester will turn things up. He hasn't played horribly, but he hasn't played to his potential either.
Aaaagh!!! That's how I feel about the Sox right now. So much potential seems to be going down the drain. The season's not over yet. I still hold out hope... but I'm getting worried. Come on Sox. Let's do it again!
Go Sox!
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