The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

When are the sox going to realize that Smoltz was a fucking mistake and drop him from the rotation?  Its a joke watching him pitch and the after the game him always saying I felt good.  Not that good you ass you lost!

Great!!!!  It's about fucking time the Yankees won a game against the BoSox this year.

That was horrific to watch...

He just looked so old, and so lost, and so predictable.

After seeing Perry ripped by the Rays the other night, what exactly are the Sox spending their pitching dollars on? (Apart from manure, obviously)

DL time

As a Braves fan I really hate to see Smoltz ripped but it is true.  He appears to be done.

Great idea.  Who are they going to replace him with?

Wakefield might be done for the year.  The guy can barely move.

Dice-K won't be ready for at least another three weeks (and that's being kind).

Promote Bowden?  The kid can't get out of his own way lately in AAA.  He's walking a batter for every guy he strikes out.  Really want to toss him into the fire with his control problems?

Boston REALLY screwed themselves in the V-Mart deal.  Buchholz wasn't ready (and is showing that loud and proud).  Penny can't get out of the 6th.  Smoltz is a failed experiment.  

They had a kid that could EASILY have slid into the #4 slot and performed well in Justin Masterson but they traded him away for a C/1B.  Which is great seeing that Boston already has a starting catcher and 1B.  

Boston's only hope, pitching wise, is to get something out of Smoltz and Penny for another few weeks (1), Dice-K is able to come back and give them something for the last month of the season (2) and they are able to work a waiver wire deal for a decent #5 (3).  

Otherwise what you see is what you get.

They will probably call up Junichi Tazawa for a spot start but he won't be a long range answer this year.

They're playing for the wild card at this point I think. And that's a long shot. Their pitching, which was supposed to be their strong point, is falling apart

At the risk of sounding rude...I really hate this stance.  I received a call last night around 11pm.  The morning guy at my old station is sick, they can't find anyone this last second, would I mind running the show today? 

I knew I should have said no and stayed "retired."  Because I knew the entire morning would be full of "the sky is falling" calls.  And, sure enough, this post above is exactly what the entire show was like.

Boston is 3.5 games out of 1st place with three more to go in New York this weekend.  They have two pretty damn good pitchers in Lester and Beckett going this weekend.  They'll split. 

There was NO WAY Boston was going into this series and sweeping.  None.  So why are people flipping out?  They didn't touch the bullpen last night.  Tabor and Saito is all they used.  They have two STUDS going this weekend.  The offense looks pretty darned good - they did put up six runs last night.

You give me Beckett and Lester every five days with Boston's bullpen, and then even "just okay" starts out of your #3 along the way...I'm more than fine with that.  If Dice-K can give them 5-6 starts when he comes back?  Bonus.  Patch together everything else.  Starting the last week of August into the end of the season they have a really light friendly schedule.

Stop pounding on the panic button.  This team will be fine.

The problem is while they're only 3 1/2 out, the pitching is a mess and they're not beating the teams in the East. That spells recipe for disaster. They Yanks are clicking on all cylinders right now, which is bad for Boston. I had predicted them losing 3 of 4 this weekend with the one win either Beckett's or Lester's, the other a tight loss.

^^So what?

It's August.

Remember 2004?  AFTER the trade Boston played under .500 for most of August.  They caught fire around the end of the month and played well into the playoffs.

I don't care if they are 6 games out.  It's August.  I would rather peak later than sooner.  Do you really think New York can play 9/10 baseball for another two months?  An all-star team couldn't keep this pace.

Relax.

It's August. 

If it were May I wouldn't worry. The later the month gets, the more worry there is. It's just a gut feeling this year

Saw the line last night. Smoltz wasn't too bad the first time through the lineup. The second time? Not so much.

I don't think Smoltz is done. I think he's just 42 and coming back from an injury. Imagine if, in a month, his body is back to semi-normal. He could finish out the season strong for y'all.

And Maine's right. It's only August.

The Red Sox left 15 runners stranded last night.... if they keep doing this, it dosen't matter if they bring back Cy Young to pitch! ;)

This couldn't be more true.

If you really want to be concerned about this team, be concerned about the 7, 8 and 9 hitters.  This could have (should have) been a 14-13 slug fest. 

Smoltz was DFA today by Boston. He was an amazing pitcher, and in my mind part of the "Trifecta of Clutch" with Curt Schilling and Mariano Rivera as the greatest postseason pitchers of all-time.

I agree that Buchholz is struggling, but he dominated AAA and had nothing left to prove. He just needs MLB time like Hughes and Joba do. It's a bad time for him to struggle, but is he worse than Smoltz?

I think the Yankees are better overall than Boston, but the team is hardly perfect. CC's ERA is 3.90, not to mention the same for Burnett and Joba. That's good for the AL East, but they don't have an ace like Beckett on their team. They should, but they aren't performing like it. The bullpen is still patch work despite some brilliant streaks in Hughes and Coke.

3.5 games is nice but with 10 more meetings, it's hardly insurmountable.

And this is why the baseball season is 162 games.  In April and May, I was pulling what little hair I have out seeing the Yankees perform.  Whoever would've thought they would be where they are now.

Ahh...this is all good stuff, just why I wanted to join a US Sports forum. I've been the fairweatherest of all fairweather MLB fans to date, only catching Baseball in the Post-season (due to sketchy to no TV coverage over here in the UK), so I'm not 'at ease' with all the ramifications of such a long hard slog.

I obviously missed Smoltz in his pomp, so I can only guess at the total sadness of the latest situation - seems he has a lot of support to be a 1st time HOFer, but also some support for him still having enough juice to return, given a little more rehab?

Wow.  Tonight's game was a pitcher's duel.  Tied 0-0 in the bottom of the 9th. 

And man!!!  The Yankees had runners on 2nd and third in the bottom of the 9th and failed to get someone across the plate.  Going into extra innnings.

Pitching heaven...sweeeeeet. Restoring my faith (ha)

Bottom of the 15th with the score still 0-0.  Three more innings and they've played three games in two nights. 

On a lighter note, I once went to a baseball game that lasted 27 innings.  Didn't get home until 4:30 am. 

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!   WALKOFF HOME RUN!!!!!!!!     A-ROD YOU'RE MY FUCKING HERO!!!!!!!!!!

It was a pitcher's duel for the first 7 innings. It was offensive ineptitude for the last 7.

Funny thing is, looks like walkoff HRs were the item du jour last night.  Four games were decided by a walkoff HR, including a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 9th that gave the Padres a 6-2 win over the Mets (I'm sure Stroke is happy about that one)

Garrrr...I jinxed it! Last thing I remember was 'Here we go, bottom of the 15th...', just coming up to 5.40 a.m.

Woke up at 6.30 with ESPN showing some historic classic game...

Great game anyways, congrats to the Yankees - can't be very good for Sox morale to throw everything you've got and still come up short - Tonight could pile on the pain (for me).

Very true.

I need to re-state a few things:

1:  15 inning game Papelbon was nails.  I mean...nails.  THAT is the Papelbon I miss.  Lets see if he sticks around.

2:  After today's beat down...SportsChick...feel free to get a little nervous.  That said, see where the standings are after the Detroit series before you get too nervous.

3:  Buchholz was very, very good today.  6 innings and two runs, on the road, in New York?  Kid pitches like this every night and I'll take back everything I said about Masterson being better.

^^^^^

Buchholz pitched lights out today.  Unfortunately after Red Sox fans worrying so much about their pitching situation, it's the Red Sox offense that are stinking up the joint in this series.  Six runs in three games??  You can't even write a script for that.

Buchholz was very good against the best offense in MLB. He will have his moments and I feel if he started the season in the rotation, his ERA would be about 5, but next year it would be in the 4's and then the 3's and maybe even the 2's.

It all has to start somewhere for pitchers, they develop much slower than position players. Look at Edwin Jackson and King Felix that had struggles for the first few years and are now killing it. Pitchers need time to become great and that time is not in the minors, it is on a major league mound.

No matter what Boston does from here on out, they would best be served by having Clay in the rotation. Joba has the lowest ERA on the team, he isn't their best pitcher, but it's obvious he is improving and could very well be a 16-18 game winner next season.

My sox are in trouble  :-\  I am about to send them some special home made cookies that should help them out!! Got the recipe from Jerry Remy's son.

The team is going through a funk at a bad time. I don't think anyone can say with a straight face that a lineup that has Ellsbury, Pedroia, Martinez and Youkilis in it shouldn't score a run in nearly 3 games. Not to mention Lowell and Drew. Teams go through slumps and they are going through it against their top rivals. Shitty timing indeed.

Aight Edge, SC, Denver and Rick.  Time to break these suckers out against Maine, Pats, Hoodie, Sportschick, and BoSoxGrl:

(http://www.moonwiseherbs.com/broom_pics.jpg)

Ah what the hell. I'll get in on this:

(http://www.taylorgifts.com/IMAGES/P33449B.JPG)

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEP!

Funny thing is, I remember back in 2006, the Yankees had a slim lead over the Red Sox at this point in the season, only to sweep a 5 game series at Fenway.  Maine then proceeded to post a picture of a sinking ship emblazened as the USS Red Sox 2006.  Unfortunately that post is gone due to the site crash, or I would've photoshopped it and changed the 2006 to 2009.

6.5 game lead with 50 games to play is nice, but they still have 6 head to head and Boston had 3 starters who performed excellently in this series. So, I am far from buying playoff tickets. 1) Because the division is still up for grabs and 2) I don't have $5 Million.

I love 'your' Baseball - it's like 'our' cricket in that the stats are constantly being rewritten...

The Yankees have never blown a 6-game Division lead apparently. *gulp*

Before 2004 no team had blown a 3-0 series lead in a league championship series either

If I have to point to one area that should be a major concern for the rest of the season for BoSox fans, it's their bullpen.  The bullpen gave up an average of four runs per game in this series. 

Huge difference between 2006 and now.  That 2006 team had six of nine starters on the DL by mid August and were playing with a team patched together of AAA and waiver wire guys.

This team will be fine.  I'm not worried at all.

I would just be worried about the back end of the rotation. Penny was serviceable most of the year, but now because of injuries, his 5 IP/4 ER starts aren't going to cut it anymore due to bullpen fatigue.

It's a lot of pressure on Clay to perform, but it always will be in Boston so he may as well get used to it.

Good Stuff Tommy and SC!!

IMO, Stick a fork in the Red Sox, because they are done!! ;)

I wouldnt count them out yet, but its not looking verry good! 

is this pic what you were talking about

(http://cache.boston.com/images/bostondirtdogs//Headline_Archives/BDD_sinkingsox.jpg)

BINGO!!!!!!  If Lil B would be kind enough to use his photoshop skills and change the '06 to '09, and change Jason Giambi's face to Derek Jeter's or A-Rod's, that would make it good.

Maine also had an avatar of the word "red sox" slowly draining out of a sink or basin.

I loved that.

Edit: Ahh yes, here it is.

(http://cache.boston.com/images/bostondirtdogs//Headline_Archives/drain%20color.jpg)