MacNut said:
4 in a row going for the sweeeep.
The Red Sox bullpen is crumbling.
The bullpen is crumbling? Are we not watching the same series? The whole ship is sinking, and I'm not one to critize my sox on the outside. Timlin for 2 baserunners, no outs, a fresh
farm hand for another baserunner, finally Pap? It's hard to blame him for losing the save with decisions like that. Either stick with Timlin and take what's going to happen, ask Schilling to empty the tank completly or let Pap take a 2 inning save. Either way, the chances of winning go up about 90%
Youk bunting,
to the pitcher none the less, with one of the slowest baserunners on second?
Now bigger picture:
Youk batting behind Manny to "protect him". Some good protection, Youk has been. I think Manny has been intentionally walked 5 times in 4 games. At this point, stop trying to protect him, it's obviously not working. Youk would be MUCH more effective as a leadoff hitter, where the sox are playing .600 baseball!
Coco as leadoff. Look, it's not working. He had an amazing start to the season, and I bet no matter where he is next year (they'll dispose of him, as much as I love watching him play) he'll get back into the groove. But for now, he needs to develope a bit, and putting him in front of the
league home run leader is not a way to score effective runs.
Short Stop by committee. Enough of this "play by commitee", it didn't work for the closer role last year, it might work for right field, if only due to injuries. Why take two players out of a routine. This isn't a place to collect players. Choose 8 positions, a backup catcher (I'll get to this), one or two utility guys for the infield, one of two backup outfielders and put the rest into the bullpen. While your at it, how about mixing up the ability of the bullpen! Maybe...say...a lefty? I hear that they can be quite effective for spot situations.
Catcher? Mirabelli is an amazing 2nd catcher. He's a mediocre first stringer, but given Varitek's injury (which is completly understandable given how much he plays) he's a great spot replacement. Why dump Mirabelli in the first place? We all know he had a great thing going with Wakefield, and the reports in the papers actually said Wake was "visibly upset" when he left. That's not how to treat a corner stone pitcher of the orginization. Lopez? Sure, I guess he's a backup to the backup, but given Mirabelli's amazing (sarcasm) hitting (at .196 off the top of my head) and the pitching staff's dissapointing performance (of whiich 30-50% can be attributed to the game called by the catcher), maybe it's time to switch things up for a week.
Arroyo. I won't even go into him, but talk about a player that was completly underappreciated.
Pena. I like him, and you can't blame the Sox for his lack of minor league experience (sorry MacNut, this lands squarly on the shoulders of the Yankee's), but I see another Bellhorn.
How about the front office. There is obviously a....dissapointement in the pitching staff. Bringing in Johnson off waivers when Mark Redmond would have been an easy trade from the Royals. He has a semi decent record at Fenway and since the beginning of the season has turned his game around quite a bit.
The mentality of "building a long lasting team". I personally am all for taking the Atlanta Braves approach to baseball, if you're going to do it full on. This method that the front office is taking right now appears to have a half assed approach to it. Either you get a couple "mentor" players and build talent in the minors or you buy a team. Doing this half and half (and expecting rookies to win pennants) approach doesn't work. The energy that was there in the beginning of the season just can't last.
I'm not calling the season yet, there are still 40 some games to play. However, I am affraid that the Sox front office is ignoring history a little bit (Dan Duqette, Lou Gorman, Grady Little). The fans of Boston can be very critical, especially when obvious mistakes are made. Remember, this is the team that fired Grady Little for leaving a pitcher in one game one inning too long.
Now for the only positive stuff I have: There was a point in this season where the Yanks couldn't beat a little league team. The baseball season is (hard to think right now) bigger than any one series. The Yanks have a trend of getting hot towards the end of the season (think right after the trade deadline). The new players, after the honeymoon always seem to cool off a little.
The same stuff is happening to the Chi Sox (and Tigers) right now, the wild card race should be QUITE exciting this year.
Ben
PS. I might delete all of this after the shock of this last week wares off, but for now this is better than taking shots of vodka.
