SB Nation Boston Editor's Pick
It's Not Over Yet, But....
by bestbostonsports on Aug 29, 2010 12:20 PM EDT
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PrintAfter the Toronto and Texas games, a lot of people jumped off ship. I didn't, beacuse I knew that over the course of a season those games happen sometimes. They happen to the Red Sox, the Rays, the Yankees, and everyone else.
But it's time for me to say they don't happen this much. These kind of losses should not happen this much unless one of two things; 1. You are the Kansas City Royals. 2. Your manager is Terry Francona and he doesn't bring in Daniel Bard in the biggest game of the year.
Last night's loss really stung. At this point, they all do. But this game was in the Red Sox's hands to take. Sure, the error by Buchholz and bonehead play by Drew did not help. But they still had a chance to win the game.
Victor Martinez continued his 7-9 hitting barrage of the Tampa Bay Rays with his solo homer to give the Red Sox the lead. I had thought, well, maybe we can sweep this series.
But then Francona made one of the dumbest managing moves since Grady Little in 2003. He left in Clay Buchholz. I understand Buchholz was pitching a helluva game. But he had 107 pitches, and BJ Upton, who came into the game hitting .429 career vs him, hit a solo home run that sunk the Red Sox.
The Rays kept their momentum going by putting in their best reliver, Rafael Soriano. What do the Red Sox counter with? Scott Atchison.
The difference in the game was not the players, but the manager. That should never be the case. The Red Sox hade the momentum after Martinez's home run. They should have taken advantage of it by brining in their best relif pitcher, Daniel Bard. The Rays did. They kept their momentum. And they won the game.
Another issue with this whole thing is that Jonathan Papelbon did not see this game, your biggest game of he year. They allowed the Rays to take the game brining in Atchison. Not using Papelbon in this game is likelosing a close football game and having a timeout left.
This game is not season ending, I do think that. But it is season altering. And if the Red Sox are on the outside looking in, I will be remembering this loss. Not Texas. Not Toronto.
Tampa Bay. This will be the game we look back at.
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Well Said
I love Francona but his managing of pitchers/ the bullpen is frustrating sometimes. I still am holding out some hope and I like that this team isn’t falling apart the way past teams have at the end of the season.
by spartanhockey89 on Aug 29, 2010 12:34 PM EDT reply actions
I still have hope
And will until they are mathamaticaly out. But this has to stop, now.
2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
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by bestbostonsports on Aug 29, 2010 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree with you
100%. This has to stop tonight
2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
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by bestbostonsports on Aug 29, 2010 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions
The role of the closer in extra innings is very different between home and away team
I guess the argument was that Atchison shouldn’t have been in, that Papelbon should have. But, that assumes that Pap can go 2 innings, really. Soriano can come in and handle an inning, he won’t be needed to “save” anything.
Pap must be saved for as long as possible to finish that bottom of inning after a score.
Now< should Bard have pitched the 8th? Dunno, didnt see the game live to see how Buck was executing or to judge the quality of swings BJ had against Buck. Buck was at a reasonable pitch count and seemed to be executing well per the box score.
Why? To pump up his save total
Why not pitch your best bullpen pitcher when there’s no room for error.
The blame is everywhere last night
The bench for calling the pick off play
Buch for a bad pick off throw
Lowell for not being able to better handle the bad pick off throw
Drew for catching that ball
Tito for leaving Buchholz in, not bringing in Bard
Bard should have started the 8th, Doubront the 9th if it were a non save situation, Papelbon if it were.
The certified ambassador of all things good and great, here at OTM.
I highly doubt the bench called the pickoff play
"If I was being paid $30,000 dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400."- Ted Williams
Bill Hall's defense on the 20-80 scale: 15.
Twitter: @BoldandBrash
by BoldandBrash on Aug 29, 2010 1:43 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I agree, but that's what everyone on the club who was asked said after the game.
The certified ambassador of all things good and great, here at OTM.
Yeah
I heard that as well.
A telling coment for me was Martinez when asked about the decison to keep Buchholz in.
2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
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by bestbostonsports on Aug 29, 2010 2:15 PM EDT up reply actions
He said
“It’s not my decision” and he looked disgusted
2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
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by bestbostonsports on Aug 29, 2010 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes
But the fact bard did not start the 8th frustrated me.
I agree on Doubront as well.
And Drew catching that ball….
2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
Join the Lacrosse community The Lacrosse Blog
by bestbostonsports on Aug 29, 2010 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Wow, I'm glad I didn't try my hand at a boxscore recap.
I, uh, would have missed a lot of stuff it seems.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Aug 29, 2010 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions
yeah....
2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
Join the Lacrosse community The Lacrosse Blog
by bestbostonsports on Aug 29, 2010 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions
If we lose tonight it's over for this year
Tito has been pulling this crap with his pitching staff for at least the last three seasons. It’s to the point where I can’t even get mad anymore. I expect it to happen. Who in their right mind would have sent Clay back out there for the 8th? His pitch count was past 100 and he was flustered from giving up that run. My question is where was John Farrell’s dumbass in all of this? He definitely needs to be let go at the end of this season. You saw what Dubront and Bard did; 5 straight outs!!!!!! Just when you think they are going to right the ship they blow it out their asses. I believe this was the 11th walk off loss of the year. It’s scary to see where we’d be with a better a bull pen and a manager who knew when to pull his starter. Once again, tonight is do or die. 4 1/2 back is way different than 6 1/2.
Ah, Bandwagon
I agree on the bullpen, Francona does this all the time.
I think it would not be over if they lost, but it would be closer to it
2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
Join the Lacrosse community The Lacrosse Blog
by bestbostonsports on Aug 29, 2010 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions
I'd say this loss is season ending
I realize there is another month left in the season, and I realize that we have a good staff, but we had to sweep this series, and we had to win these types of games.
I realize that we aren’t out of it mathematically, but come on. Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury, Cameron are all out, Scutaro’s playing hurt, the bullpen consists of 3 servicable pitchers. I want to say the Sox have a chance, but the Rays and the Yankees aren’t going to have the type of losing streak we need to catch up, and we just don’t have our guys that will get us the type of winning streak that can catch us up.
Eh
This game doesn’t make or break a season, the season’s been broken for a while, along with a lot of feet and ribs. I’m not going to pin this on Tito. I’m not going to let him take the fall for a bad season that isn’t his fault, frustration just happens to be falling on him at the moment. But really, the guy who replaced Buch did well, then Bard came in and then we STILL didn’t have a lead. It was a risk. You put Papelbon in and what if you don’t score any runs? Are you going to pitch him for two innings, essentially taking him out of tonights game? You go with your next best reliever and hope that the offense can put a run up. They couldn’t. If we had scored, Paps would have gone in. Instead he went to the long guy and he put one where Johnson could hit it. Fact is, every option that isn’t named Bard in the bullpen is an iffy option. If Paps had gone in and given up a run as he’s prone to do everyone would still want Tito’s head because he should have known that Papelbon would suck. Point is, in extra innings with our bullpen it is impossible to make the “right” decision after Bard was used up.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
You need the best man for the job in that situation
Every game here on is do or die. If you manage to get in to the post season with a tired pitching staff (like we had in 2008), so be it. You’ve got the off season to rest tired arms. And what was Hall doing out there last night after striking out 30 times the night before?
Well said.
I didn’t watch the game, but there’s not a whole lot you can do with this bullpen of ours. You can say “it’s not the players, it’s the manager”….but, well, it’s the players. Our ’pen is frightening. I would have had no issue with Atchison going in there if I had been watching.
Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.
@#$%ing Twit: @blogtard
I didn't mind Atchinson coming in,
but if Paps was available (he was supposedly warming up), then Bard should have been in to start the 8th.
"If I was being paid $30,000 dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400."- Ted Williams
Bill Hall's defense on the 20-80 scale: 15.
Twitter: @BoldandBrash
by BoldandBrash on Aug 29, 2010 4:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Great points
I agree with most of what you said there.
2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
Join the Lacrosse community The Lacrosse Blog
by bestbostonsports on Aug 29, 2010 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I just firmly believe that there really isn't such a thing as a bad manager
Just bad teams. IMO 99.9% of all managerial decisions are piece of cake choices if that’s your career path is, you’re brought up in baseball, you live baseball, you know baseball. Last night was an example of a bad team playing. We had what 11 hits that translated to 2 runs? That isn’t good hitting especially with the pitchers pitching as well as they had for us. If Atchinson had just been able to do his job Tito might have been applauded for finding a way to save the closer from potentially having to close out three straight games after having already worked Bard for two straight. But alas he couldn’t so he won’t be. My point is that there is only so much a manager can do to make his team win games, it largely comes down to the players, the blame rests more on them since they were out there for 10 innings and couldn’t get it done.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
BIG GAME SATURDAY!
Well… not really… but it’ll be fun!
"Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next." -George Michael Steinbrenner III
by Chris McKeown on Sep 3, 2010 1:52 AM EDT up reply actions
Yes!
I’m driving up after work today. No ticket but I’m just going to hang and tailgate. All is going well so far?
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
All is AWESOME!
Can’t wait for the pep rally and game
"Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next." -George Michael Steinbrenner III
by Chris McKeown on Sep 3, 2010 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m going to be driving some speeds my parents would frown at to try and get there for Football Eve. It’s a thing of beauty. Glad to hear you’re having fun so far.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
I know this is way off topic from BoSox baseball
But if you haven’t watched this video yet… you need to right now. It’s amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of2L57HChd4
"Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next." -George Michael Steinbrenner III
by Chris McKeown on Sep 3, 2010 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Eh, Ben may ban us
But that’s just Wisconsin sour grapes ;- P (Ben I don’t hate Wisconsin anywhere near as much as I let on)
But yeah, that video is one of the best ones we’ve had in years. Bolden being the starter is perfect.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
+1
Let’s get this season off to a good start baby!
"Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next." -George Michael Steinbrenner III
by Chris McKeown on Sep 4, 2010 3:08 AM EDT up reply actions
Nice job BBS
Glad to see you get an Editor’s Pick
"Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next." -George Michael Steinbrenner III
Yay!
I love geting these. I do at the Bruins blog sometimes, I think this is my first time at OTM.
This was really made for my website but I decided to post it here too.
2010 Red Sox Playoffs.... We Can Do It!
"That place was for diehard sports fans. I only follow my team when they're in the playoffs" - Homer Simpson
Join the Lacrosse community The Lacrosse Blog
by bestbostonsports on Sep 3, 2010 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions
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