Yankee Series

[elsrbueno]

I think the pitching matchups stack up pretty well for the Red Sox

Tuesday's game: Derek Lowe v Javier Vazquez
Advantage: New York. Even if Lowe was throwing his best baseball I'd favor Vazquez here.

Wednesday's game: Tim Wakefield v Jon Lieber
Advantage: Draw. Just can't predict Wake at all, he's either really good or really bad. Let's all hope for really good!

Thursday's game: Pedro Martinez vs Brad Hasley
Advantage: Boston. Hasley's had one really good outing, one really bad outing. I'd say overall, Pedro's been more good than bad. A couple years ago, this would be NO QUESTION.....now there is a little doubt, but Pedro has the early edge.

Overall, the Red Sox should be able to take 2 of these games. If they don't win 2 of 3, they'll be in big trouble (at least 6.5 out), obviously we'd all love a sweep.....we just don't EXPECT it.

Let's hope Lowe finished out the month well, and the Sox can get some runs off of Vazquez tomorrow night.

[YanksHater213]

we need to win this series, this is a must win series, no doubt

[JMDurron]

Wakefield vs. Lieber as a draw? I have to give us the edge in that one. Unfortunately, their lineup gets a big edge right now over ours, so it balances out to a "somebody's going to win 2 out of 3" argument.

[Pedro]

I'd say overall, Pedro's been more bad than good.

I'd say you're wrong.

Good Outings

04/04: 6.0 IP, 2 ER
04/10: 7.2 IP, 1 ER
04/20: 7.0 IP, 1 ER
04/25: 7.0 IP, 0 ER
05/06: 7.0 IP, 2 ER
05/11: 7.0 IP, 2 ER
05/16: 7.0 IP, 3 ER
05/22: 6.0 IP, 2 ER
06/08: 8.0 IP, 0 ER
06/13: 7.0 IP, 1 ER
06/25: 7.0 IP, 1 ER

Bad Outings

04/15: 5.0 IP, 7 ER
05/01: 4.0 IP, 6 ER
06/02: 5.0 IP, 7 ER

So-So Outings

05/28: 7.0 IP, 4 ER
06/19: 6.0 IP, 4 ER

Pedro has been good enough to win in 13 of his 16 outings this season. How does that make him "more bad than good" ?

What you need to do is quit comparing him to the "Old Pedro" because you obviously know nothing of that pitcher to make such a comparison. Don't feel bad though, 99% of baseball fans don't even realize that at his peak he was more dominant than any other pitcher in the last century.

All Pedro has to do is have a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st and he'll have many more of the 7 IP, 1 ER outings that we all know and love.

BTW, the old Pedro will be on ESPN Classic Wednesday afternoon outdueling Roger Clemens and throwing 97 mph on his 128th pitch of the game to complete a 2-0 shutout that took place in 2000.

[RedSoxChick19]

well, I hate to count my chicken b4 they hatch but I am 99% sure that The Sox will either take 2 of 3 or sweep.
Derek Lowe has been really good as of late ans seems to get run support. Vasquez is not unhittable and i think we'll be able to rough him up.
Wakefield- He had a great performance last time out and i think he can repeat thatn outing. Plus, he&#39;s facing Lieber. LMFAO&#33; Lieber has been really stinking as of late so we&#39;ll be able to rough him up also. and the third match is Pedro vs Halsey. Pedro has turned his season around and has had great outings. He will be able to beat the rookie. I just hpe he doesn&#39;t hit anyone in the head anymore(unless its pay-rod of course) :D :blink: :P :lol: ;) :rolleyes: <_< :)

[noonanberg]

Yeah, even if Wake is bad, we should be able to shell Lieber. Let&#39;s also remember that David Ortiz loves Yankee Stadium and loves the bleachers there as well. If our lineup can produce as they did in games 1 and 3 against the Phils, there is no reason we shouldn&#39;t win or sweep the series. We do need to win it though, and a sweep would be even better. Altho, another sweep of the Yanks is unlikely.

[elsrbueno]

Pedro, I have to admit that I made a mistake with my beginning post. I had a brief spell of dislexia, as I meant to say "more good than bad," but "more bad than good" came out.

My mistake. I&#39;ll see if I can go back and fix it.

[Pedro]

Yeah, I&#39;m sorry for being so sarcastic. I just saw that and jumped all over it.

However, I&#39;d have to say that these days when Pedro takes the mound, I&#39;m more nervous than anything. Sometimes, I&#39;m just plain SCARED.

That isn&#39;t right... and is sure a sign of the times. I used to watch a Pedro game and it looked like every pitch he threw was unhittable... Now, it looks like every pitch he throws is more than hittable. All the homeruns have shaken me up like mother... I think I&#39;ve now got a Phobia of the 1st inning in Pedro outings. It&#39;s not even like he&#39;s been nearly that bad: 8-3 with a 3.73 ERA and 97 K&#39;s is a pretty good pitcher. It&#39;s just startling how much lack of control he has at times. He has hung so many breaking balls this year it&#39;s just scary... even in the Philly game he got lucky with a couple of those. Remy even touched on it.

When it&#39;s all over, I think Pedro will succeed in getting his ERA below 3 for an 8th consecutive year and finish up with a very similar season to 1998, which would be a 2.89 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. He&#39;s 3.73 and 1.16 right now.

[Zenny]

Well, the motherfucking Yankees took game one thanks to three of our 2004 potential free agents&#33;

Nomar- 2 errors
Varitek- 0-4, 3 K&#39;s
Lowe- 5 ER&#39;s and allowing 4 unearned to score in 5 IP

God, I hope these three guys are not in Sox uniforms next season and I&#39;ve been preaching that for a loooooooooong time.

[YanksHater213]

i disagree. nomar and varitek should stay. nomar is a great offensive player, and will be for a long time. just because he makes a lot of errors doesnt mean we shouldnt resign him. i think he should be signed until at least hanley ramirez (if hes ever ready, lol) or someone else in the minors is ready to play everyday (but not cesar, he sucks balls). varitek has to stay for the same reason. hes a great, clutch offensive player. but if he is going to go at least keep him until shoppach is ready if he isnt next season

[elsrbueno]

Maybe Nomar can play second? Cuz he&#39;s literally killing us at short

[sarasoxfan]

I agree about nomar and lowe. Nomar.....you know I turned on Nomar at the end of last year. Nobody can kill a rally faster than Nomar. He doesnt get clutch hits, and he chokes in the field. He isnt worth the money any more. Last night he looked awful, and he has looked like a Zombie since he returned. I wonder what our record is since he returned...he isnt a force in the clubhouse, he hasnt been playing well, and he gets paid a lot of money. I say its time to say toodles to nomar. Lowe never wins in the clutch, he gets creamed out of fenway and is paid a lot fo money. If I&#39;m not mistaken when we took 6 out of 7 games from the Yanks, didnt the one loss got to lowe.

God, last night made me sick. It&#39;s friggin June and we heading towardrs the wild card already. We need to take the next two or else.


How come francona leaves guys in when they are giving up tons of runs.

[elsrbueno]

Sara,
I&#39;ve turned on Nomar AND Francona. His over-emphasis on statistics kills the decision-making process. Hell, a computer could pick a lineup the same way Francona does&#33; This team lacks heart&#33;


As I&#39;ve stated everywhere, the Nomar/Red Sox love affair is over. It was over in Spring Training. I&#39;m not saying he delayed his return like others to spite the team, but it&#39;s painfully obvious his passion for the Red Sox just isn&#39;t there.

[sarasoxfan]

painfully obvious. Add millar to the list.

Okay, what can they do.

My vote is oust francone, which they would never do, but I think the redsox need a guy like tony pena or a hard ass (a la Dick Williams) a fiery guy--earl weaver...

not some placid stat freak.

Our teams has stats but no heart. You need both

[elsrbueno]

A fiery guy sometimes doesn&#39;t get it right either. Look at Larry Bowa over in Philly.....

What the team needs is someone who has heart, has stats, and knows when to use both. Since Joe Torre (in my mind, one of the best all-time managers) is taken, who&#39;s left?

Current Managers (we&#39;d have to finagle)
Frank Robinson -- Rotting away in Montreal...but ALWAYS gets more out of his players than expected. Imagine what he could do with a quality team&#33;

Lou Piniella -- He was holding Seattle together. Is fiery enough to light a fire under this current team.

Long Shots (but why not?)
Dennis Eckersley -- He&#39;s got a real competitive spirit. Fiery attitude.

Carlton Fisk -- Bleads Red Sox. Has a passion for Boston and a hatred of the Yankees.

[CrespoBlows]

Wakefield dominates the Yankees though, in 2003 the yankees batted a measly .217. If you minus the Boone homerun, Wakefield held the Yankee batters to a .163 batting average in the ALCS. This year Wakefield beat the Yankees with a damn good showing at Fenway. I wouldn&#39;t call that a draw, because Lieber is a whole lot worse then Wakefield is.

[sarasoxfan]

els, you&#39;re a genius... I agree completely...I guess I am overreacting to coma types we keep getting. Though I am huge Jimy fan, maybve he was too fast on the hook, but he at least used his bullpen and got starters out of there before they ran completely out of gas.


Lou is and has always been a favorite.

Where&#39;s Hargrove? Did Manny like him?

[elsrbueno]

Who knows with Manny....

Hargrove is outta work I believe. He managed some successful Cleveland teams....

But he also managed some crappy Baltimore teams.

[derekn]

Hargrove believe it or not is back with the Indians this year. He&#39;s a special Sr. Advisor to Shapiro. He even threw out the first pitch opening game for 2004 season at Jacobs Field.

Hargrove was known as a HUGE disciplinarian. This works with young players coming up but doesn&#39;t work with veterans.

I never found anything wrong with Jimmy Williams...

[elsrbueno]

Jimy was a players manager, and I think a little too much so. He tried to make the playing time as even as possible, which at the time, really pissed off the players who thought they should play every day. I think Duquette new he was on the hot seat and panicked, canning Jimy half way through the season and replaced him with pitching coach Joe Kerrigan (who was even less successful).

Turns out Duquette and Kerrigan lost their jobs the following spring (when new ownership took over) and hired Grady Little.

I think Grady Little was able to get the most out of his players. He really brought those guys together as a team, and brought them to the 7th game of the ALCS (where he made a bad decision).

I never understood the firing of Jimy either (although he&#39;s in trouble in Houston over alleged misuse of the bullpen), and thought the Little firing was a little over the top.

I am not a fan of the way Francona manages at all.

[derekn]

The way I see it about Francona. He was brought in to bring Schilling in.
I don&#39;t think the Sox could have signed Schilling without Francona being on board.

Ok, one bad thing about Jimy Williams, he was such a player&#39;s coach that he had no discipline skills(Everett).

Grady did bring the team together and had them excel. Yup, game 7 was a bad decision in hindsight. I wish I had the URL on espn.com where Gammons picks apart stats where Pedro stayed in after 7 innings, opponents batting avg and how many games the Sox won. They were actually good stats.

The problem I had with Game 7 was Grady&#39;s inability to see what was working. in the ALCS series. The Embree to Timlin to Williamson trio was working for all the ALCS games they won. (Sorry about game 7 rant)

But then that begs the question, who is the right manager for the Red Sox? (besides Torre)

[elsrbueno]

Little didn&#39;t have a ton of disciplinary skills either. Keep in mind, he didn&#39;t have to deal with Everett. He benched Manny ONCE for skipping a series with the Yankees, but other than that it didn&#39;t seem he was too tough with the players either.

Francona is a too nice to the players (like Jimy). Millar deserves a nice fat spot on the bench, but he&#39;s too nice/afraid to bench him.

Nomar, Manny, and Pedro still do whatever they damn well please.

[Old Hoss]

Rick Burleson