YankeesRedSox.com: Lester

No game this early in a season is a do or die but tonight's game is a big one to be sure. Jon Lester takes the ball, but the current concern is a complete collapse of the offense. Clay Buchholz wasn't great Saturday, but he could have pitched a 1 \-run complete came and it wouldn't have mattered. No one is hitting.

No one is hitting!

Adding to the trouble is the fact that when I checked into yesterday's game via my cell phone, I saw a Red Sox pitcher I'd never heard of pitching. Honestly, just who the hell is Enrique Gonzalez? I'm sure he's a nice guy, but where did he come from? Why is he even on the team?

Oh yeah, and why is Kevin Youkilis playing left field? Why is Nick Green playing the outfield? Why are the Red Sox putting claims in on Christian Guzman?

Why? Because of injuries and because the Red Sox did a terrible job in getting ready for the 2009 season. I'm not suggesting it was a deliberate ploy or laziness, but whatever it was, they made a series of disasterous decisions. Hind sight being what it is, I'm not saying I saw any of this coming and in fact endorsed many of the moves, but man, what a craptacular off-season it was.

Examples: John Smoltz - gone, Brad Penny - 5.20 ERA, Tim Wakefield - hurt, Daisuke Matsuzaka - terrible and hurt, Clay Buchholz - ineffective, Nick Green - to quote coach Green, "he is who we thought he was," Jed Lowrie - hurt in 2008 and in 2009 and remains so, Jason Bay - disappearing act, JD Drew - see coach Green, Mike Lowell - hurt and slow, David Ortiz - bad.

Of course no one could have predicted all of this to happen, but relying on Julio Lugo (bad player) and Jed Lowrie (coming of an injury) to be the ones to man the SS position was a mistake. Mike Lowell was coming off hip surgery and at no time did the Red Sox do anything to create depth except rely on Kevin Youkilis's versitility. JD is a colossal waste of money and he, along with Lugo, should go down as 2 of the biggest blunders Theo Epstein has made.

Bay's drop-off, Matsuzaka's disaster of a season and Ortiz being this bad have all be surprises to me and the fact that neither Penny nor Smoltz have been even ok, is a surprise too.

So here we are, Sunday evening and the Red Sox looking to avoid a sweep. Things aren't all that bad, the Red Sox do hold a 1 game lead on the wild-card and eventually things change and teams turn it back on. But certainly this isn't fun and I'm not sure what kind of toll it will take on this team.

Oh, and I'm back from slow motion world (island off of Maine) and yes blmeanie, the lobster was great.

Comments

now we're talkin'

welcome back...next time please check the schedule before taking off with the family during a critical 4 game set in August, eh?

I'd say Bay/Dice/Papi are indeed surprises. If Bay and Dice do normal things this season and even if Papi declines the way he has this is a different team in a different place. Buchholz would be coming up to be the #5 while Smoltz/Penny get figured out/released. Instead he is the #3 right now, right?

I'm not sure they can turn the titanic around right now. The radar showed clear sailing not so long ago, now there is something looming in front of us (Yankee shadow). We cannot slow down and turn course quick enough and will be engulfed in it's massively obnoxiousness.

Bay would need to be healthy and hitting from the moment he returns and Dice K would have to rejoin his teammates in a week or two ready to contribute. That is the only way this ship doesn't go down.

Lobsters...Titanic, very nautical theme we have going on here.

Posted by: blmeanie | August 9, 2009 07:01 PM |