Quote:
Originally Posted by a700hitter
You and Spud are bringing me down. Yes, I am concerned about things, but I think the Sox beat the Angels again, unless the Angels steal 5 bases each game. "A year of development"? Huh? We lost to Tamp last year. That was enough development. We've only got one young guy in a critical spot and he might not pitch until game 4. Everyone else is fairly well-seasoned.
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I think we just see this team as being in different places. I'm usually the optimist, but this year I'm not. It was bound to happen at some point. Perhaps I'm preparing for the fall, perhaps I'm just not seeing something I should be... I don't know.
They are a great
team overall, and Bay and Youkilis have been the best offensive pieces this year. To me, they both feel like accessory pieces rather than centerpieces. When Ortiz is on he's a center piece. I don't expect that from him anymore. Drew has never been the centerpiece, Martinez has shown flashes of it in his career but isn't really. Pedroia and Ellsbury are both very nice accessories too.
Their saving grace this season might end up being the Yankees weak pitching staff and relative lack of contributing depth. The Yankees have a great offensive team but if CC loses the first game they could be in trouble quickly as their #2 and #3 spots are suspect.
Honestly, if the Yankees were not in the way I would be much more optimistic--still cautious about LAA, but optimistic. If they are able to beat LAA and the Yankees then I will be very, very impressed and more than happy to eat dirty, feathery, shit-infested crow. Again it feels like the 2008 club to me. Good, not great at any particular spot. Key players playing tired, Lester and Beckett having questionable issues going on when it matters most, questions about Dice-K's abililty. The most reassuring part about this team is the experience coming out of the bullpen. That's invaluable in the playoffs, and it seems unique to this Boston squad this year. Let's hope at least.
EDIT: Let me clarify: there is ONE player on this team who can carry a team in the playoffs. It's Josh Beckett. He's certainly done it before. If he shows up as playoff Josh Beckett then the rest of the team can stand behind him and go pretty far. I wanted to clarify that. His playoff success should not be underestimated.