Yeah not to use any excuses but if it doesn't rain Smoltz throws at least 2 more innings and gets to the 7th. It just seemed like Baltimore treated it like a different game after the delay, kudos to them. Again I think Francona was really pushing it with using Masterson for a 3rd inning, I don't understand why, it's the 7th up by 8 runs isn't that usually Daniel Bard or Delcarmen's inning? He waited way too long pulling Masterson and Okajima last night and I think he was really quick to pull Delcarmen and Saito. The team might as well trade Delcarmen or Saito to Washington for Nick Johnson. They obviously have zero faith in them. Also I didn't watch the post game but Kottaras getting thrown out at home in the 7th on Ellsbury's hit was huge. It kind of looked like once he touched third he started to jog because he didn't expect a throw home so I don't know if this is the case or not. Either way tip your cap to the O's, they deserved this win fighting back like that, worst Sox loss in 20 years. Hopefully Beckett pitches well and the team gets a W this afternoon.
By the way maybe it's just me but last night's game felt like the game video MLB The Show, you're crushing the computer and its the 7th inning and all of the sudden the computer says to itself, I know I'm down 8 runs to a much better team but you know what there's no way I'm losing and it flips on the switch and no matter what you do you just can't get anyone out.
Tough loss indeed...those are never any fun as a fan! (now as a non-fan...then all bets are off on the amount of fun that was to watch )
Good come back today after a sad day yesterday. Poor Smoltz had it going too. He actually must feel really good as he was the only pitcher who could get anyone out! Glad to see big papi back. His bat speed is way better which is weird. Maybe it was just his eyes.
Very close game and it would have been great to win off of King Felx but we will have to settle with a GG.
I didn't see any of the 2 Seattle games so far but I heard we lost on a pop up that went 2 feet behind the 1st base bag with the infield in? If true that's pretty annoying. The hitters need to start to step it up. We might need to make a deal for a bat.
I expect us to make a deal for a bat if Mike Lowell can't stay healthy. I think we would be better off getting another bat no matter what. Nick Johnson may be available, But he may cost us too much. Maybe we deal Brad Penny for a bat when Dice K comes back. I don't blame the Red Sox for not hitting well in the first game v.s. King Felix. He is the 2nd best young pitcher in the league.
The Sox won't trade Penny now unless they get back a big time prospect. There's no telling that Matsuzaka comes back this year and if he does it will probably be sometime in late August/early September if at all. I think the Sox might need another bat but I don't want Nick Johnson, he's a big OBP guy but we need someone with a little more pop in the bat and doesn't get hurt all the time (since we already have Drew, Baldelli and Kotsay on the team).
I think we can deal penny for some prospects if Dice K comes back soon. Penny will be gone after this yr anyway. Maybe we deal for R. Branyan. He is having a career year and is cheap. For the Mariners to even think about it they would have to be out of there division race. I dont see it happening.
Why would the Sox want Branyan though? Is he really an upgrade over the guys they have now? He's having a gpod year but I don't know. I mean I wouldn't trade anyone good for him that's for sure.
Branyan hitting almost 300 and has arround 20 hrs. He could help this team alot. Having him and Youk on the corners would nice. I dont expect any of this to happen just throwing out names.
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/thebuzz/ Rumor mill working overtime on Halladay - Sox have the Chips to deal
No way the Sox give the Blue Jays what they want for him. Besides he will be a free agent sson enough. No sense in trading our future for now when we already have enough starting pitching.
Halladay isnt just any starting pitcher though. He is a guy that could REALLY put you over the edge for this season and pretty much guarantee a world series berth. Obviously though you dont want to give up on your future for one season.
In the playoffs u really only need three starting pitchers and the rest are relief. I am perfectly happy with Lester Beckett and either Penny or Wakefield as the other starter. Halladay is much better before the break rather than after. I just dont like the deal unless he is cheap. The Red Sox have a great team now and i dont wanna risk our future for him. Just IMO
Wakefield never starts in the playoffs though. If the Sox had Beckett, Lester and Halladay thats pretty much ballgame. If you wanted, you could use Penny/Smoltz as one of the the #4 guys.
The point is we dont need him. Yeah it would be nice to have the guy but they are not giving him up for peanuts. They will want alot than there is no gurantees he signs long term. I like our core
Again I think it's time we see what Bard can do in a close ball game. I'm tired of seeing Delcarmen come in and suck, ditto for Saito too. If I had to guess I'd say at least one and possibly both Delcarmen and Saito are traded at the deadline. The All Star break can't come fast enough, the Sox clearly need a break right now, just not playing good baseball, especially the pen.
This team is in serious trouble right now. Theo needs to go out and make a move for another corner infielder, as expecting both Lowell and Lowrie to come back healthy and productive in the 2nd half is a terrible, terrible decision. Also, I couldn't agree more with you about Saito and Delcarmen. You do have to wonder, though, what kind of trade value a 39 year-old RP who is a year removed from serious arm trouble and will likely walk at the end of the year actually has? As far as Delcarmen, I'm just sick of him. He's proven time and again that he cannot be trusted in high-leverage situations. From this point on (hopefully until the trade deadline, after which he hopefully won't be wearing a Red Sox uniform), Bard needs to take Delcarmen's innings. Its pretty discouraging to go 8-0 against the Yankees thus far and find yourself tied with them for the division lead. Credit to them though, they've been taking care of business against weaker teams, something the Red Sox have failed to do. They really slapped around Minnesota like a cheap french hooker.
Gitchie, gitchie, ya ya da da (yeah-ey) Gitchie, gitchie, ya ya here (here) Mocha Chocolata ya ya (ooh yeah) Creole Lady Marmalarde Wow, its crazy....I agree. Drop 8 be all square. The remaining 10 will be interesting, and the real question is...how big a lead will the Yanks have heading into those final 10 and how many can we win, if any, and take the Division. It seems WC is 2nd place....3rd place steak knives. 4th place???
Tough to be very confident in the Red Sox based upon what we've seen recently. The bullpen was not as good as the numbers indicated earlier in the season and I think we all expected a natural regression from guys like Ramirez and Delcarmen. You knew that eventually the absurd amount of baserunners that Papelbon had been allowing would catch up with him too. Saito has been nothing but a disappointment since arriving in Boston. He's either not as good as we all thought (pitching in the AAAA, also known as the NL West his whole career) or he's completely lost it. The real problem though, in my opinion, is the lineup. There's way too much dead weight top to bottom. Lugo is useless and I expect him to be DFA'ed when Lowrie returns, and speaking of Lowrie -- no one even knows what we have in him, other than being steady defensively at SS. Green is a backup, Lowell is terrible defensively (-8 UZR on the year) and has a .320 OBP, Varitek has been done for a year and a half now and Ellsbury isn't really a good offensive player. All year our pitching has had to be perfect to win, because there's just not enough pop in the lineup (especially when guys like Ortiz, Pedroia, Youkilis and Bay are slumping). Basically, I'm sick of hearing about how much young pitching we have in Pawtucket when we continually run out lineups consisting of Kotsay, Baldelli, Bates, Green, Lugo, etc.
Any team could benefit and need Halladay. He is clearly a top arm and if avaialble you discuss what it takes to get him. Clearly, if he was FA, it would be a Sox vs. Yanks battle to haggle and handle...but since its a trade.....I just cant see TOR making the move within the Division in essence to help a rival improve. If TOR does move him, it has to be NL or my quess is West Coast or Central Team (LAA or CHW). Halladay has no-trade clause control, so not sure if CHW excites him...but LAA?? I can see that.
Well, I'll start by saying that I think Doc is probably the best pitcher in baseball. If BOS, NYY or TB were able to land him, it would be a game changer and they would immediately become AL East favorites. I don't think Riccardi cares where he trades Halladay, so long as he gets alot of quality in return. I think the Red Sox easily have enough in the farm to bring him to Boston, but the question becomes does Theo want to part with the likes of a group including: Buchholz, Bowden, Anderson, Masterson, etc? There's just no way I would trade Buchholz and Lars + another prospect. One or the other, fine.. but both plus would rival the package that Cleveland got for Colon (Phillips, Lee and Sizemore) which should go down as one of the worst trades in baseball history.
The latest rumor is that anyone interested in Halladay has to take on Wells contract too. (similar to the Beckett & Lowell situation with Marlins).
Word is Saito for Atkins is on the table if the Sox take on all of Atkin's salary which is in the 7 million range. I agree that Theo shouldn't expect much out of Lowell for the rest of the year who knows if he'll be good or not. We definitely need another 1B/3B just in case because Kotsay doesn't cut it. But I do think Lowrie will help and just getting Lugo off the team will help as well, as I do expect them to dump him. I do think the break will help the team, a lot of guys are struggling at the moment (Youkilis, Bay, Drew) the only ones that seem to be hitting each night is Ellsbury, Ortiz and Pedroia. The pen clearly needs rest too, the starting pitching was bad in April and in May and I think it taxed the pen and it's catching up to them now. I do think Bard and Masterson will need to step up and have bigger roles. And possibly promoting Buchholz and/or Bowden to fill in for Delcarmen/Saito if and when they get traded. But let's be honest as many holes this team has it's still probably going to make the playoffs. We have a better team than the Yankees and Rays, each team has even more holes than the Sox but they're not exposed right now because they've been playing very good ball for the past month or so. We also have advantages with the depth of our minor leagues, especially pitching (the Rays have some depth too though) whether it's for a trade or to replace someone if they get hurt. Bottom line is the Sox are just cold right now while the Yankees and Rays are on fire, still a very long season left. A lot can and will happen. But I'm not worried or in a panic yet on July 10th.
We could always use Mike Gonzalez. Not sure if the Braves would ever trade him if they fell out of the race and also don't know what his contract status is but a Delcarmen + prospect(s) for Gonzalez if the Braves are officially out of the race might not be a totally crazy idea. I know scouts seem to think Delcarmen could turn into a closer if he moves out of Boston away from the pressures of pitching every night in front of his family etc.
I hope everyone is off the ledge now. It's funny how quickly things change over a weekend. While I still think the Yankees will be in the playoffs it would be nice if they can start beating good teams. I believe the stat I had is they're 5-12 against the Red Sox, Angels, Philles and Tigers this year.
How ironic that Buchholz gets his first start of 2009 in Toronto. Is there anything to this, or just coincidence? Yeah, I know I'm probably reading into this way too much... but the Sox don't play again till Friday and, in the meantime, I need some real baseball talk (none of this ASG/Homerun Derby garbage) to occupy my mind.
Oh I was waiting for this to be brought up. I think it's not really a coincidence. I think that the Sox not only want to showcase Buchholz (in case a big time player falls into their lap) but also to see what this guy has and if he could be a factor this year or ever, and also to see if they could possibly trade Penny and put Buchholz in the rotation. Most likely I doubt it's to showcase him for the Jays, last I heard there's no way Halladay gets moved, especially to an AL East team. I mean the Sox excuse to use him is kind of weak, they're saying he's going to pitch because Beckett and Wakefield are in the ASG but there's no way Beckett throws in the game due to him pitching on Sunday (the Sox would go nuts) and the only way I see Wakefield pitching is in extra innings and even then it would be an inning or so. Hopefully the kid does well.
By the way it should be an interesting few days after the break. With Buchholz pitching Friday as well as both Lowell and Lowrie being put on the roster on Saturday and Sunday, the team needs to clear 3 spots. Most likely the Sox send down Bates for Buchholz, then send Buchholz down for Lowell on Saturday and then call up Lowrie and release Lugo on Sunday.
I can't see them sending down Bates before Lowell is activated. Lugo gets DFA'ed to clear room for Buchholz on Friday, then on Saturday Buchholz and Bates go down for Lowell and Lowrie.
Yeah either way it looks like Lugo is gone and he should be. Isn't it scary how we won the 2007 WS with him as our SS and outside of 1 play in the ALCS the guy was actually solid in the field that post season from what I can remember.
The huge comeback was the most disappointing part of the seaoson until Tim Wakefield did not get into the game. His first ever time and probably last and he did not even play. I realize it would be hard for catchers to catch him but I am very sad that he did not get in
