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June 16, 2007

1-0 Win

Sweet 1-0 win today by the Red Sox. It was nice to see a strong performance by the pitching staff, but the bats again went silent.

I got my wish with Alex Cora replacing Julio Lugo today, but Cora went 0-3. The man I want in the line-up, Dustin Pedroia, went 0-4 (granted he did go 5-5 Friday night). I'm willing to give this team some time to figure out their offensive woes, but Lugo, Crisp and a to a lesser extent Drew had better figure it out. Theo Epstein can fix one of those problems, but not all 3 with a trade.

Drew - Here to stay and will stay in the line-up no matter what because of his contract and because he is getting on base at an ok clip.
Lugo - Probably here to stay as his salary is too big. Whether he stays in the line-up or not remains to be seen.
Crisp - Because his contract is moveable and because Jacoby Ellsbury (a/k/a Johnny Damon Jr) is already holding his own at AAA(.296/.377/.373), Crisp could be sent packing and thus is the most likely to be shipped out of town before the trading deadline. Does anyone think if Ellsbury were promoted today and started in CF the rest of the way in 2007 he'd hit worse than .230? By the way, Crisp is hitting .230 with an OBP far below .300.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 06:03 PM | | Comments (0)

June 13, 2007

Terry, What Gives?

Ok, I have been a pretty big supporter of Terry Francona this year but he is driving me nuts with one particular thing.

Benching Pedroia instead of Lugo in favor of Cora. Seriously, while it is only the 5th inning (Wednesday night), Cora has made an error to lead off the game, which lead to an unearned run, and left 2 men on in only 2 at bats thus far.

Wow. Lugo has become, shall we say, the worst shortstop in all of baseball. I realize he might just be in a slump, but he has stunk for about 1 straight year now.

More later...

BTW, sorry if you received a ton of notifications about my posts. Our notification system was hoarding them and then within the past 2 days decided to send them out all at once. Again, sorry.

In the meantime, while the Red Sox get blown out, check out this video I stumbled upon. I don't know, but for some reason, it struck a non-baseball chord.

Update: Well, the Red Sox got pounded by the Rockies. This is a big disappointment for me as the Red Sox are a better team than the Rockies and they are better than the way they've played this month.

BTW The Yankees won again tonight and the Red Sox lead has shrunk to 8.5 games.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 10:21 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 10, 2007

West Coast Round-Up (Part I)

Well the Red Sox just finished a craptastic west coast swing going 3-4. It isn't necessarily time to call for support, but it is worthy noting the Yankees have won 6 in a row. That's a 3.5 game swing over 1 week. Don't get snippy with me for mentioning it, it is part of this website after all.

Some things Terry Francona has been doing that have annoyed me:

1.) Using Alex Cora to spell Dustin Pedroia as much as Julio Lugo. Let's check the stats here, Lugo is playing horribly while Pedroia has been good. Pedroia has been sitting more frequently than Lugo in favor of Cora. This isn't something against Cora, but instead it is a complaint that Francona is not sitting Lugo more often in an effort to get playing time for Cora.

2.) Letting Wakefield get himself into and out of and then back into trouble over his past few starts. I was having this discussion this weekend about Wakefield. When he is good, he is great, but when he struggles, he makes it seem like he's never registered an out in the majors. Wakefield just doesn't have the touch some nights and I wish Francona would have the stones to yank him earlier than he generally does.

That's really all I have to complain about at present. Francona has done a pretty good job this year (just check the record), so finding reason to complain is difficult.

Colorado mid-week and San Francisco over the weekend at Fenway.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 10:23 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 08, 2007

Draft Picks Day 1

55 - Nick Hagadone - LHP
62 - Ryan Dent - 2b/ss
84 - Hunter Morris - 1b/of
114 - Brock Huntzinger - RHP
144 - Chris Province - RHP
174 - Will Middlebrooks - RHP

 

Here is MLB's draft page that gives the picks and for upper talent, commentary too.

 

Soxprospects has hyperlinks to the picks so far.

 

Baseball America, of course, has complete draft coverage. Much of their site requires a subscription, but you can still gleen interesting bits of info, etc.

The Boston Herald devoted some ink (or memory) to the draft.

 

The Boston Globe did the same, but they also included some video of the top 2 picks.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 10:25 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 07, 2007

As Close As One Can Get

Curt Schilling pitched a 1-hitter today losing his no-hit bid with 2 outs in the 9th. Shannon Stewart broke up the no-no.

The no-hitter would have been nice, but the win was better. The Red Sox bats have gone flat, so Schilling took it upon himself to prove the axiom that good pitching beats good hitting. Schilling stepped up today putting an end to a 4 game skid, like any good stopper.

I'm not sure Schilling will be in Boston next season, but he really stepped up to the plate today. He was hitting 93 mph on his fastball, about as hard as he's thrown all season (I think he hit 94 once 1 or 2 starts ago).

Over the past 5 games, Boston has been outscored:

12-16.

That means they've averaged 2.4 runs and allowed an average of 3.2. That tells me it isn't the pitching, it's the offense. Over that 5 game stretch, Boston has 11, 10, 3, 8 and 4 hits while drawing 4, 1, 7, 3 and 3 walks. Boston has had men on base, but they haven't brough them home. They've hit into a ton of double plays over this rough patch.

Like I said yesterday, Boston is allowed a losing streak, but it would be nice to see the offense wake up a bit. They are 3rd overall in runs score, so I don't know how much more we can expect.

Boston heads to Arizona for 3 starting Friday night.

These west coast trips are tough. The games are either on far too late to be practical or too early to be seen by anyone that has to work.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 10:26 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 06, 2007

Red Sox Draft Day - 2007

The 2007 MLB Entry Draft happens this Thursday in Orlando, FL. What makes this draft different than years past is that it will be televised on ESPN2. Stop the presses!

 

The bad news for Red Sox fans is that the Sox don't have a 1st round pick. The Red Sox lost the 20th overall pick by signing free agent Julio Lugo (given his current performance, this hurts a bit). The Red Sox don't actually pick until the 55th overall (a supplemental pick for losing Alex Gonzalez).

 

Here are their picks rounds 1-5:

 

55
62
84
114
144
174

 

MLB.com has coverage of this event online.

 

SoxProspects.com has Red Sox coverage.

 

While it isn't likely we'll see any of the players selected Thursday in a Boston uniform anytime soon, don't forget that in a short few years, we might be talking about the replacements for JD Drew, Julio Lugo, Kevin Youkilis (free agent in 3 years), Josh Beckett, etc.

 

Also don't forget that it was just 2005 when the Red Sox picked:

 

Jacoby Ellsbury 1 (23 overall)
Clay Buchholz 1s (45 overall)
Michael Bowden 1s (47 overall)

 

These 3 are at Pawtucket, Portland and Portland respectively and all might be helping the big club before the season is out.

 

In the meantime, the Red Sox (of Boston) have really stunk since arriving in Oakland. Their offense is not delivering in the clutch. Old friend Lenny DiNardo walked 6 Tuesday night and still got the win.

 

Players like Lugo, Crisp and Drew are entering an important phase. If they cannot fix whatever ails them, changes need to be made. That old idea that management spends the first 1/3 of the season evaluating the roster, the next 1/3 figuring out how to make adjustments and changes and the final 1/3 playing it out and making a playoff push, well for Boston, they have played the first 1/3 and now Theo Epstein must be snooping around looking for ways to make this team better. Is it a bad team? No, at least the record suggests it isn't, but there are a few weak spots and Epstein and Co. hopefully have a few ideas as to how and fix them.

 

Boston has lost 3 in a row and while they are entitled to an occassional slump, it'd be nice to see this team click offensively.

 

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 10:28 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 01, 2007

A Productive Loss

The Red Sox might have lost Friday night's game, but they forced the Yankees to empty out their bullpen. I say they forced them, but what it was more like an overreaction.

 

Joe Torre, managing from the clubhouse walkway after being thrown out of the game earlier, had acting manager Don Mattingly use 6 relievers!

 

Myers - 0.1 IP
Bruney - 1.0 IP
Farnsworth - 1.0 IP
Proctor - 0.1 IP
Villone - 0.0 IP (2 pitches)
Rivera - 0.2 IP

 

What's going on? Don't the Yankees have a long reliever? Wang left with a 6 run lead in the 6th. The Red Sox got 2 more runs before eventually losing 9-5. So Torre thought he needed 6 relievers to hold the Red Sox for 2 runs.

 

When you get a 6 run lead, you bring in your long reliever/mop-up guy. For the Red Sox it is Kyle Snyder. Prior to tonight, Snyder had only pitched in 16 games. Because he had pitched 1.1 IP two nights prior, he only went 1 IP Friday. But he and only 3 other relievers covered 5.1 IP. The Yankees 6 relievers covered 3.1 IP.

 

My point is, Torre overreacted and used 6 relievers from a bullpen that is already on life support. That's good news for Boston I would think.

 

Let's hope for a better effort Saturday from the Red Sox.

 

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 10:29 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)