Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Ugly
Sox are 6-2 in August. I honestly don't know how. Those were 8 of the ugliest games imaginable. While the team seems to have a good shot at making the playoffs, they have no chance of getting anywhere if they can't turn the relief pitching and the defense around. While I shouldn't be complaining -- I mean, they just won 11 of 13, and are now a season-high 18 above .500 -- they're just painful to watch. No lead is safe. Our closer needs to come out every freakin' game.
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I could not agree more - it has been ugly with a capital U. I guess there is always a chance that they put all the pieces together in the last two months. Last year the pieces were all there and healthy and they just jelled at the end. This year is a way different story.
ReplyDeleteOf course in a short series anything can happen.
One thing to note is that there is not much help in the upcoming FA class. AJ Burnett and Brad Penny are the biggest names available - as starters. And Wagner as a closer. And for position players, there is not any big bat available. But I guess that is getting ahead of things.
Would that Brad Penny were an FA... I'd be all over that. But as it is, he's locked up in LA for quite a while. The only interesting position player FA is Konerko, as far as I can see. Unless Dunn is, which I'm still unclear on. If Dunn is available, expect the Sox to do whatever it takes to land him.
ReplyDeleteRemlinger will follow Cruz, I believe, in the quickly "designated for assignment" category. I have no idea why the Sox wanted him. Apparently, he had tape down in the locker room to tell reporters where they could and could not stand (in Chicago). He also criticized the Chicago press as being too negative...Oh, he'll fit right in here in Boston...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, as for the rest of the pen. Two nights ago we used Timlin...Why? We had a lead, a nice lead...Rest the guy. Those are the Francona moves I don't understand.
Gonzales is pretty good as the long guy.
Remlinger? Terrible.
Bradford? Still too soon to tell. But I think that it must be remembered the he is a "specialist". He shouldn't be out there for full innings at a time.
(That bring me to this aside...Last night, in NY, Embree came in and pitched a full inning bailing the Yankees out of a tough situation. Third out, inning over...done...But NO!!! Torre sends him out to start the next inning and he gives up a bomb to Konerko (a rightie)...It's not just Francona that uses relievers wrong!")
Ok...let's refocus.
If Foulke comes back, do you leave Schilling in the pen even if Foulke is effective? Now that Miller has hit the DL (I wrote a little while ago that I noticed he'd started throwing across his body again), I doubt it, but it is nice to think that you have three guys at the end in Schilling, Timlin and Foulke. I think that we shall see Papelbon again, and probably in the pen. At this point, he's a two-pitch guy with an overpowering fastball. That's a good relief guy at this point.
Apparently Embree has some hypnotic powers he uses on the managers. You'll get no complaints from me.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Steinbrenner, however, had some choice words for Torre...
Over at yanksfansoxfan Sox fans have started calling him Agent Embree. I like it.
ReplyDeleteGod...The Yankees fans aren't even original in their thinking...
ReplyDeleteWe were calling Mendoza a spy for a long time...
It also shows that they don't follow anything except their own team. They would have known that he struggles when left in too long...