Red Sox - 000 001 001 - 2 5 0So ... race you to the Tobin.
Rangers - 200 000 11x - 4 7 0
Texas jumped on Beckett for two quick runs in the first -- Kinsler double, Jones two-out walk, double steal (Varitek did not even get out of his crouch, grrr), Blalock two-run single.
Beckett then set down the next 14 batters, but the Red Sox could do little with Hunter during that time. Hunter was also helped out by some great catches from Kinsler in foul territory and Byrd in right field.
Boston cut the lead to 2-1 when Pedroia singled with two outs in the sixth and Youkilis followed with a double to the gap in right-center. but Beckett allowed single runs in the seventh and eighth.
The closest the Red Sox came to tying the game was in the seventh. Down 2-1, two walks had put runners at first and second with one out. but Varitek struck out (yes, the last pitch was high in the zone) and Lowrie popped to short. Varitek was also the potential tying run with two outs in the ninth, but he grounded harmlessly to third.
No Red Sock had more than one hit. Jason Bay walked three times.
David Ortiz committed an astonishing stupid base-running gaffe leading off the second. He singled to right, and even with the play in front of him, tried to "run" for a double. He was thrown out by 15 feet. And NESN's Dave Roberts actually defended Flo's foolery, saying it was good move because he was "trying to create a spark". As though hitting a leadoff single wasn't any good.
The Yankees beat the Orioles 6-4, to push the Red Sox -- currently on a season-high four-game losing streak -- out of first for the first time since June 7 and are 1 GB.
Josh Beckett (3.35, 139 ERA+) / Tommy Hunter (2.35, 189 ERA+)Beckett closed out the first half of the season on July 12 with a complete game, three-hit shutout of Kansas City. He will be pitching with nine days of rest. Even with two bad outings in his last ten starts, his ERA over that period is 1.72. ER allowed: 0, 1, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0, 5, 2, 0.
A rookie in both 2008 (three starts, 11 innings) and 2009, Hunter will be making his eighth major league start tonight.
The Boston bats remain quiet. The Red Sox hit .188/.255/.302 in the Toronto series, losing two of three. Last night's game brought their post-ASB line to .202/.257/.302.
Since June 24, Jason Bay is batting .149 and slugging .243 (21 games). ... J.D. Drew is 1-for-his-last-26. ... After a hot June, David Ortiz's hitting has gone back into hibernation: .218/.279/.509 in July (he has four doubles and four home runs among his 12 hits to boost his SLG).
Amalie Benjamin notes:
Friday night against the Blue Jays, Daniel Bard became the first Sox reliever to strike out at least three batters in three consecutive appearances since Alan Embree from Aug. 7-17 in 2002. The last Sox rookie reliever to do it was Craig Skok, in four straight games from July 17-Aug. 7 in 1973.
W L PCT GBIn New York, Sergio Mitre gets the ball against the Orioles. It will be his first major league appearance since September 15, 2007. 7 PM.
Red Sox 55 37 .598 ---
Yankees 55 37 .598 ---
Rays 51 42 .548 4.5
Blue Jays 46 47 .495 9.5
Orioles 41 51 .446 14.0
262 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 262 of 262You could live in Port Angeles while they live in Los Angeles.
Nah, Beckett's gonna get the W.
Ish, the job is outside Sacramento. I think he has to live there. :)
Does Varitek ever throw anyone out?
Why does it feel like forever since we won a game? I know that that's not true---we won on Friday--but it feels like forever.
Port Angeles!? My grandfather owned and operated Brickie's tavern in PA :-)
It feels like forever because it was!
Tek used to be quite good at throwing out runners, but lately, not so good.
A rundown, but not a graceful one.
Mini losing streaks will do that.
I am having a huge craving for chips.
Non sequitir.
Well I'm here (had company) with an around-the-horn of fucks for this game.
1. Where the FUCK is our offense?
2. Fuck, this potential longest losing streak of the season.
3. Fuck Michael Young.
4. FUCK JOSH HAMILTON!!!!!
4a. I see MFY are also winning. Fuck.
Oh, fuck. I don't think Josh will get a W. Not to be negative, just preparing for the loss.
When was Tek good at throwing out runners? Seriously, was it in this century?
i am getting annoyed.
Four games in a row. WTF?
Burp.
IT'S THE CURSE OF JULIO!!!!!!!!
That last run was big, this late in the game.
Please everyone, try to remember, it's not the whole season going down the tubes.
And if you can't remember it, hopefully you'll SHUT UP.
John Henry stating the obvious in a tweet a minute ago: "Frustrating games."
Yes they are.
The obvious, but also good perspective.
Even with us losing this game I find it hard to believe that the MFY will be over 3 ahead of us the next time we play them. 11-0 Anyone?
/Francoma, get your ass out of the dugout when you should.
WOW, everyone's getting pissed. LOSING is annoying.
But tonight's thread is gonna have me dreaming of backpacking in the high Sierras and fishing for salmon near Port Angeles... thanks for that folks and good night. Gotta pump up my tire and go home.
it's not the end of the world (/manny)
a loss tomorrow, however .....
11-0 sounds good to me!!!
bye fm! come back soon
Being frustrated and annoyed by a four game losing streak does not mean anyone has given up on the season.
still, we don't not believe.
The MFY have a juicer that has one 3 of these last games for them, FUCK THAT SHIT
ya gotta swing, werd
Being frustrated and annoyed by a four game losing streak does not mean anyone has given up on the season.
At least one person in this thread announced we were DONE.
And another came close.
This will probably be loss 38 of a projected 68 by me in the W-L contest.
Ohhhh, we're half-way there-err.....
My point being: So what? Another 30 of these beauties to go. Just like the shitshow in Baltimore, just like the shit beginning of the year, it's a long hard road (in case anyone hasn't figured it out yet)
So we now are only two runs down. One never knows...
whew, i was worried about the 9-3 groundout.
go tek. shock the world.
Why no Rocco ??
Castig is pissed. He hates drinking clean water.
and tek does not shock us.
we are in 2nd. for now.
ah well.
Ach, Tek, you let us down.
Well, I am figuring that the bad streak will soon be followed by a good one that we will share next week at Fenway!
oh yes, almost forgot:
sparkling clean water
I wonder what the wild card situation looks like now..
Another sad loss.
Dirty water, it is not.
Fuck Texas and Bush.
meuniermr, I think perhaps you will become a fan of some CAL team once you move out there. Perhaps this is your way of preparing for that move.
Yeh, mini losing streak. Nothing to worry about. 7 runs in four games. But we sure did hit against those Royals.
Yeah I will, the Stockton Thunder.
Yeh, mini losing streak. Nothing to worry about. 7 runs in four games. But we sure did hit against those Royals.
You must be waiting around for the Sox to do badly so you can go around saying I Was Right. Because what really matters, other than Barth being right?
When we win 5 in a row and are in 1st place again, you'll be nowhere to be seen.
Last we heard from you, Mr 1978, you were taking your sarcasm somewhere where it might be appreciated.
We didn't miss you.
For me, the WORST thing about losing - the absolute worst - are fans like Barth.
NYY fans who come around, I easily ignore. But these doomsayers make me sick.
Remember folks, when last we heard from Barth, the 2009 Red Sox had yet to lose more than 2 consecutive games. We had the best record in the AL, 2nd best record in baseball, and he was predicting 1978 all over again.
So now that the team has hit a losing streak, well, he was right all along.
Fuck Texas and Fuck the Doomsayers. I've got my huge red I TOLD YOU SO all ready for October.
God I get SO excited when L gets all fired up. Makes me feel all squishy inside ;>
This is most certainly a frustrating week so far, but shit, I'm in the middle of a very frustrating season with my LL team and I'll tell you right now - a frustrating week beats the HELL out of a frustrating season.
I haven't written off the season with my kids, even though we'd have to go 6-1 to finish at .500. I'm not about to write off even this week with the Sox, much less the season. 3 quick wins and we're in the black.
RE: West coast - my son is in Sacramento as we speak. Been in CA since May, 1st in Fresno, then LA, now Sac. It's his second assignment there in the last 3 years. He says he could easily move to CA and be happy as a clam. Of course he loves snowboarding. So that increases the draw. But he also loves the general demeanor of the place. As was mentioned, there are good people and serious assholes everywhere you go. Seek out the good. Too many people I know look for the assholes so they have something to complain about or someone to blame. A useless waste of time IMO.
Still, at one point tonight, this thread had 78 comments. 78! Seems like an omen, if you ask me.
Still, at one point tonight, this thread had 78 comments. 78! Seems like an omen, if you ask me.
ROFL
God, it's a good thing it didn't also have 86 comments, cause that would just be way too coincidental. it would have to mean that it would be another 86 ye..... oh wait.
It DID have 86 at one point!
OMG, Im shivering now.
I'll be happy about the Yanks when we finally beat you guys.....and when we actually win a series in October...yeah, I'm happy about my team, but in 4 days we could be down 3 games...it's gonna be Boston vs. NY all the way till October...just like it should be...Tampa Bay can't keep up
You neer listen L-girl, You just say what you want to say. I hope you are right and everything works out. I have my concerns. They are legitimate. I am not a "doomsayer" but when I see what I see: the rightfielder hitting in the .230s, the lf in a three to four week nosedive, for instance, there is reason for concern. That I am worried does not make me an asshole. In fact, that I am worried puts me with most thinking Red Sox fans.
I am a "In Theo we trust" person, and expect that he will find a way to right this ship. I did not cause our slump, nor, by any means, do I rejoice in it. And, contrary to what you keep saying, I did not say that this season reminds me of any prior one. All I said was that the lesson of that year, and the lesson we all know, is that holding your breath and saying everything will be all right is rarely the right solution.
One more thing: I don't play the games. I just root.
I root, as many fans do, as much with my head as with my heart.
Posts about what you hope for are fine, but we all hope for the same thing.
Maybe your big red sign will prove to be a harbinger of things to come. I hope so.
But that really doesn't contribute to my enjoyment of the game, knowing that you, L-Girl, or anyone else, thinks we will win the pennant and championship unless you can explain why beyond your hope.
We have hit about .220 as a team in July. You can hold your breath until you turn blue, you can wish that Barth never appears on your beloved blog again, and you can just practice saying I told you so a hundred times, and none of that will win anything if we don't start hitting.
Sorry to upset you.
You neer listen L-girl, You just say what you want to say.
You're half right. I read every word you say. Then I say what I want to say.
That I am worried does not make me an asshole.
Absolutely not.
What made you an asshole was your constant references to past seasons that ended badly, your insinuation that people here weren't old enough or experienced enough to understand the lessons of those seasons [which also applauds your own special wisdom by virtue of having been born earlier], and your sarcastic claims that the optimistic crowd here lives in a fantasy world, refusing to hear the warning alarm rung by your special powers.
If you go back and read your earlier comments, you'll find exactly why people (plural) felt you were being an asshole.
But you're right, being worried - that alone - doesn't make you an asshole.
All I said was that the lesson of that year, and the lesson we all know, is that holding your breath and saying everything will be all right is rarely the right solution.
Not the right solution for the FO and the players - but there's no evidence that that's what they're doing.
Nor is there evidence that there's cause for widespread panic and wholesale remaking - if you look at the performance of the entire season so far, not just at this current slump.
However, none of us fans have any control over the makeup or the performance of the team. So holding our collective and believing that everything will be all right - that Theo will make good moves, that good but slumping players will not slump forever, and this is a dip but not a permanent dive - is all we can do.
The owner of this blog finds it easier and less annoying to just ignore you. But I assure you I'm not alone in finding your recent sarcasm --
Yeh, mini losing streak. Nothing to worry about. 7 runs in four games. But we sure did hit against those Royals.
-- both self-serving and self-congratulating. You came here to tell us I Was Right. There. Now you've said it.
When the Red Sox win the division, I won't come over to your blog to say I Was Right. So if you want your face rubbed in it, you'll have to visit Joy of Sox at least one more time. See you then, eh?
God I get SO excited when L gets all fired up. Makes me feel all squishy inside ;>
:>)
Posts about what you hope for are fine, but we all hope for the same thing.
I don't think so. I think you and doomsayers like you often actually prefer the team to lose so they can be proved correct.
Maybe your big red sign will prove to be a harbinger of things to come. I hope so.
But that really doesn't contribute to my enjoyment of the game, knowing that you, L-Girl, or anyone else, thinks we will win the pennant and championship unless you can explain why beyond your hope.
It is often explained on this blog. I don't try to recreate Allan's posts in comments. That wouldn't contribute to my enjoyment of the game.
My hope and excitement about this team and this season is not for YOUR enjoyment of the game - it's for MINE.
YOUR particular brand of so-called cheering [I can't even call it that] detracts from my enjoyment, and thus I reply to you.
We have hit about .220 as a team in July. You can hold your breath until you turn blue, you can wish that Barth never appears on your beloved blog again, and you can just practice saying I told you so a hundred times, and none of that will win anything if we don't start hitting.
And you can walk around gritting your teeth, wringing your hands, blathering about 1978 then saying you never did so, attempting to correct everyone's attitude, and none of that will ever have any effect on anything, ever.
Your attitude contributes nothing to the team.
My attitude contributes nothing to the team.
Because as fans, we cannot affect the outcome. Period.
However, your attitude has a very negative effect on my enjoyment of the game, thus my replies.
[It's not my beloved blog, btw. I'm just a helpful admin.]
I do not---I repeat--do not prefer that the team loses. I have never, ever, ever, been happy with a Red Sox loss. It is presumptuous in the extreme for you to tell me what I "prefer" don't you think?
The comment that has you so riled up, and which you contend that I am denying, is that "It is not "negativity" to not get too high on a one game lead in July or to worry about the team's progress. The season is, as the players tell us, a grind and when you hit rough patches we recognize them. This rah, rah, our team is great works for some people, I guess. Maybe you had to be there in 1978 to watch the bottom fall out of a team that was 100 times better than the one which beat them."
I claim no expertise from age, other than the effect of living through bad times has had on me. The generation before me always worried that a Depression was just around the corner. Whether it is or not, it would be foolish to discount their experience and I don't. That experience does not necessarily predict the future, of course, but it is something to keep in mind.
I cheer when things happen that are good. Who doesn't? I find the game so mush more interesting than that, though. I am not "negative" either. It would be idiotic to spend the money I do to watch these games so as to get annoyed. I am as much a fan as anyone. But the Red Sox are a passion to me, more important than they should be I suppose, and reading comments about how our shellacking the Royals contradicts the idea that we are weak offensively just drives me batty.
Sorry.
The generation before me always worried that a Depression was just around the corner. Whether it is or not, it would be foolish to discount their experience and I don't.
But it would be foolish to live in fear and worry of something over which you have no control. The past is useful if we can learn from mistakes and correct them. The past is not useful if it keeps us from living in the present and enjoying it.
Worrying about impending economic depression doesn't prevent one. Worrying about the team collapsing doesn't help either.
The point, to me, is that your attitude changes nothing but detracts from my enjoyment. Likewise, the optimistic, long-term view of many people on this blog changes nothing but seems to irritates you.
As Allan said in an earlier discussion, coming around banging your 1978 drum while the team was 2 GA with the best record in the AL and the 2nd best record in baseball - because that's when you started this discussion! - isn't going to win you many friends around here.
So when the team skids, which is inevitable in every season, your stopping by to make a sarcastic comment, mocking those of who aren't sufficiently upset, or who weren't upset early enough for your tastes, reeks of I Told You So.
You say that you aren't in this discussion just to say "I am right," but your quick-on-the-draw sarcastic comment at the end of last night's gamethread undercuts that claim.
Thus my suspicion that on some level you enjoy the team's failure.
If I'm wrong, then so be it, only you know that.
No one here with a more long-term view (for example, Tim's comment in the more recent thread) will change your view, and your Woe Is Us attitude will find few takers here.
This rah, rah, our team is great works for some people, I guess.
I'll say it yet again:
No one here -- not me and not any commenter -- has EVER posted anything even remotely close to this. To claim that attitude exists here is 110% horseshit.
Please find even one shred of evidence that someone here has offered a form of "rah, rah, our team is great".
(P.fuckin'S.: Stating that even though the 2009 team is good it will still go into slumps doesn't cut it. That is not "rah rah" -- that is common sense.)
***
It seems Theo is forgetting a very important lesson from 1978: "Do not allow your opponent to get insanely hot and win a lot of games." He's got to work a bit more on that one.
I am not alone in my views, as I am sure you know. I said when we were up 2 or 3 that the standings meant less than how we were playing against mediocre teams in Fenway. Likewise, down 1 in July does not bother me as much as how poorly we are playing now.
I subscribe to Theo's view, expressed today that "we’re a good offensive club having a horrific month. When you go through slumps like this, one, it’s important to assess any areas where you can improve without overreacting, and two, to put in perspective."
So, no, I do not want him to trade away our future to deal with this problem, but I do hope he can do something to help. LaRoche was an excellent deal, and he really stole Duncan (though Duncan might have little left in the tank---we'll see; LaRussa can be tough on a guy and maybe freed from that regime he can make a bit of a comeback) but I hope he can do a bit more. I know he is trying:
Sayeth the Globe:
"I think we plan to be very active in discussions in talking to just about every club out there and persuing every player that can make us better now and in the future," Epstein said. "Certainly, there are no guarantees. Certainly, we hope to make another move between now and the deadline."
Epstein has no precise profile in mind for the kind of player he might want to add, although he stuck to wanting to further upgrade the Sox' position player depth and performance against righthanded pitching.
"Then there's a second category of player that we're certainly going to pursue where we can find significant impact on the roster," Epstein said. "Those trades are hard to make and hard to make without surrendering your entire foundation for the future. Which doesn't mean you don't still pursue them."
I envy you your happiness, I suppose. Victory, to me, is sweeter if I have suffered with my team and my fellow fans.
Maybe you had to be there in 1978 to watch the bottom fall out of a team that was 100 times better than the one which beat them.
Again with 1978! Many of us were there, but you're the only one who continually brings it up.
I am not alone in my views, as I am sure you know.
Indeed. And I'm not alone in mine. What of it? Nothing.
None of us are happy with this losing streak, now well past the "mini" stage, my earlier word that you recently mocked.
But you were in this state when we were 2 or 3 games up.
I would say nothing would please you but a 10-game lead, but then you would probably bring up 1978 again.
Alas, it took me several go-rounds to realize what you are, Barth. You're a troll. You're a Red Sox fan, and "B.R." is a Yankees fan, but of the two, you're the only troll. Call it a Home Team Troll. They're a special breed, the Red Sox fan who's only happy when he's miserable, and expects others to be the same.
You say that's presumption in the extreme. I say it's just reading what you've written.
If I could make one request, Barth: could you please stop apologizing? You are not upsetting anyone. There is nothing to apologize for. Thanking you in advance.
The "again" is referring to a comment I reprinted from an earlier post to make clear my view then and now was not about a repeat of 1978, but of its teaching that problems need to be identified early and dealt with.
On the score, it was not me "in this state when we were 2 or 3 games up" it was the Red Sox. It was not hard to see and ignoring the issue because we have a 2 game lead would be silly.
Fortunately, I am sure Theo was no so blinded ans is out there beating the bushes. I share the view that we will not hit .220 for the rest of the season and this will pass, but there are issues which need to be resolved no matter what.
I am not keen on stripping the farm bare for, say, Halladay, but we may have to face facts. I dunno. Maybe the Jays will be reasonable.
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