To All The Naysayers--we Need Some Changes-now

[RedSox24]

Today's game, although we won was embarassing.

The naysayers are right this team has a lot of problems and if they arent fixed we arent going to make the playoffs, and if we do I have some earthshattering news-not all the playoffs will be at fenway.

Our bullpen is an absolute disaster. they suck. We almost blew a seven run lead against one of the worst team,s in baseball, and I am not even going mention yesterday.

The naysayers of the nation know that fans delude themselves and keep waiting for seomthing good to happen--and before you know it you're sitting at home in your boxers and your wife beater sipping beer saying the yankees suck while you watch them in the world series.

We need to overhaul the bullpen....to begin with send francona, wallace,embree, nelson, and leskanic, to play in Fallujah.
Optmism is one thing but bliknd hope is another.

I have suffered for too long here not to see that this team aint goinbg to make it as is.

[sarasoxfan]

the real problem here is our bullpen is awful, and our manager is really awful.

Every series we keep saying this is the series we have to win, well, we have to seep the O's.....or else.

[trot4mvp]

Wow...I'm so surprised!! More complaining on a Red Sox message board!!! Let's see...Red Sox are still in first place in the Wild Card standings, 7 games out on the Yankees. We've won 6 of our last 10 games, have the one of the hottest hitters in baseball (Ortiz), we split on the road (pretty decent for most teams), and we're about to start a home series (where we're 30-15) with arguably our best pitcher taking the mound...and we still have the nerve to trash our team?

RedSox24...you're absolutely right. There's a huge difference between optimism and blind hope, but we really don't have a reason not to be optimistic right now. You wrote at length about what is wrong with the Red Sox' bullpen. By comparison, our bullpen is not as bad as you make them out to be. We are "middle of the road" in terms of blown saves (9, with a Sv% of 64%), and we still have the best ERA in the AL.

By pointing out our flaws, are you implying that the rest of our competitors are flawless? The Yankees are not where they are because of their SPs...neither are the Angels or the Rangers. Oakland's offense is inconsistent at best and their bullpen is weaker than ours (17 BS). I can go on and on about how we are on equal or better playing ground than all of our closest competitors. And for these reasons, I will remain optimistic about this team. Blind hope would be like rooting for the Pirates this late in the season, and the Red Sox are just not in that position.

We need to recognize that we're not going to win the rest of our games this season. We're also not going to win all of our games in convincing fashion (i.e. last night). Given these facts, the Nation should ease up next time the Sox lose and stop beating up on a team that hasn't done much wrong this season.

[elsrbueno]

Trot/Sara/Redsox24,
I have to say that I'm not as confident as Trot, but not as desperate as Sara/Redsox24.

What separates playoff/championship caliber teams from those who are playing golf in October are (in my opinion) the following things:

Killer instinct: Kicking teams while they're down.

Protecting leads: This means don't do what Keith Foulke up did Monday.

Desire to win

Right now it's hard to believe our Red Sox have any of these qualities. These guys have gone back to the Little League "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" mentality, which makes a lot of Sox fans sick to their stomachs (including me some days).

I don't think the Red Sox strike fear into ANYONE. Think about how Mariano Rivera/Tom Gordon change the whole game. It's a 7 inning game when playing the Yankees, because you KNOW (with very few exceptions) that if you're losing to the Yankees after 7, its over. Nobody fears the Red Sox like that. Foulke is far from automatic, and the bullpen getting us to Foulke is struggling. Championship teams shouldn't be putting guys like Leskanic, Joe Nelson, etc in tight spots. And it pisses me off that Francona puts in Embree to face lefties even though lefties hit better (statistically) against him. What the hell!

I can certainly understand the concern that fans have about this team. While talent-wise, I believe they are as good as most of the other teams, we all know the most talented team doesn't necessarily win.

[Sizzlin22]

Crucial things that we need (in order)

1. A SP
2. A 1b
3. A A RP

[Old Hoss]

Some years it's just not in the cards, no matter what you do.

I hate to think that the starting of Abe Alvarez on Thursday afternoon was the Red Sox waving the white flag.......especially when they're still in the Wild Card race. I don't blame Alvarez but don't comprehend why management would pull a pitcher out of Double A to start against a team that they've had trouble with all year.

[elsrbueno]

Hoss.....What was their alternative? Frank Castillo? There's no guarantee he does much better...

[Sizzlin22]

Originally posted by Old Hoss@Jul 23 2004, 12:11 AM
Some years it's just not in the cards, no matter what you do.

I hate to think that the starting of Abe Alvarez on Thursday afternoon was the Red Sox waving the white flag.......especially when they're still in the Wild Card race. I don't blame Alvarez but don't comprehend why management would pull a pitcher out of Double A to start against a team that they've had trouble with all year.
I was fine with that, can't screw up our rotation before the Yankee series he pitched fine for a guy who has only seen AA hitters.

[schillingouttheks]

i agree with u, he gave up 5 runs i think in 5 innings, thats better than lowe already. maybe he can take over lowes spot...

[Old Hoss]

Originally posted by elsrbueno@Jul 23 2004, 09:11 AM
Hoss.....What was their alternative? Frank Castillo? There's no guarantee he does much better...
There are never any guarantees. He's a Double A pitcher for Christ's sake. He gave up three runs in the first ininng.......the game was over before it got started. Keep agreeing with everything the Sox do but don't complain about them being 9-1/2 freaking games out of first place.

[Sizzlin22]

I'm fine jsut so long as we hold the WC right now we're not playing well but people are acting like we are the D-Backs COME ON we have first in the WC I gave up on catching the Yanks a LONG time ago.