SB Nation User Blog: 75bandwagon

Not as Good as the Record Shows

75bandwagon — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:44:24 -0000

It's the small things that win games and we aren't doing them

Why would you not intentionally walk Lind after he had hit two homers off the starting pitcher? What was Riddick (a rookie) doing out there as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning? And why wasn't Ellsbury running with Pedroia at the plate? Tito had no problem sending Roberts in 2004. And Youkilis looking at a called third strike after doubling his last time at bat?

And let me go back to Sunday. What in God's name was Woodward doing in at SS in the bottom of the eighth? We all saw what he did. And bring Bard in to pitch to Texiera? What a great idea.

We are going to end up losing our way into the post season. And the only reason we're going to Anaheim is because of a weak September schedule and a complete implosion by the Rangers. And the collpase of the Jays and Rays turned it into a two team race as well. I really believe that this could be the worst post season-bound team that we've had since the inception of the wild card. We have been embarrassingly bad since we swept the Orioles.

I love this team and I've rooted for them nearly my whole life. I really want us to do well in the post season, but based on prior seasons I just don't have a warm and fuzzy going into the playoffs. Our biggest asset, our bullpen, has become an Achilles heel for us now. As far as playoff teams are concerned we are just not that good.

I'll be waiting for the usual lambasting that I know I'm going to get, but we are going into the playoffs with no kind of momentum and I just don't like that. I hope I'm wrong.

Response to ''Giving it Away'' blog

75bandwagon — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:33:34 -0000

markinjapan's words were obviously venting in nature. Lord knows I've been known to do that, but their are some valid points to his ''pithy posting''.

It's a moot point since the Yanks took 2 out of 3 from the Angels, but a 3 out of 4 series win in KC would have been great to go in to Yankee Stadium with. It would have been great to be a couple of games closer going into this weekend series. We are playing great ball right now which makes the game 1 implosion in KC leave me wondering. You need to look at the teams we've been playing in September; all bad for the most part. We were lucky to get 2 out of 3 from the Angels because we all know that Green struck out. I still have reservations about some of our guys in the pen - namely Ramirez, Delcarmen and Bard. And the 12 hits in 6 innings against Becket the other night was a bit alarming for me as well. What would have happened against a playoff team? More than 2 runs I can assure you. Does anyone have a stat on base runners allowed with 2 strikes, and runs allowed with 2 outs? It seems like alot, but that might be because I watch the games every night. And it also seems like our bats get stifled by really good pitching. I know that sounds like a ''no shit'' statement, but I've seen us get schooled by Sabathia, Burnett(before his slump), Halliday(before his slump), Verlander, Freddy Garcia, Buerhly(spelling?), Felix Hernandez, and we saw what Greinke did the other night. We wont be going up against cupcakes in the post season. Maybe I'm concerned about nothing, but I'm just posting what I see when I watch the games. Once again, my biggest concern in the post season will be the bull pen being able to hold leads. Bard and Ramirez are my biggest concern in that area. I still don't think Bard is ready to pitch at this level yet. He still has problems with control and good hitters can hit a 98 mph fast ball all day as long they are patient. Abreau was a great example of that last week at Fenway. Bard will be a tremendous pitcher in a couple more years, but I don't think I trust him to hold a lead in the post season. Once again, I hope I'm wrong. I hope you're recovery in going well, Rem Dawg.

Bad Decision

75bandwagon — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:58:31 -0000

Ramirez should never have gone out for the 8th. I'd like to see what Delcarmen would have done if he started that inning. Obviously we won't know, but it's a shame to lose a game like that when we've been playing such good baseball. Tito almost blew it last night as well. Wagner needs to be Pappelbon's set up man not Okijima. I hope he realizes that now.
And I hope this isn't the start of a slump for Pedroia. It couldn't come at a worse time.

Show of Hands

75bandwagon — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:14:54 -0000

Who thinks we're going to the post season?

It's not looking very good right now. No pitching and an inconsistent offense. If we do make it to the post season it will more than likely be as the AL wild card because catching the Yankees is doubtful at this point. That's going to mean no home field advantage except in the World Series and we haven't been playing well on the road this year. Our batters are terrible against ace pitching; look at what Halliday did to us right after the all star break, look at what Burnett and Sabathia did to us at Yankee Stadium last week, and look at what Verlander did to us the other day at Fenway. We took a big gamble by getting two washed up pitchers for cheap and they both failed miserably. I'm obviously talking about Smoltz and Penny. And as I said in a past post we don't have a true super star on our team. We have some really good players and a few that were voted into the All Star game, but I'm talking about a player that can carry a team on his shoulders when we hit a rough patch. Manny and Ortiz were able to do that. Nomar could do that in his hey day. Even pitchers like Clemmons and Pedro could do it to some degree. I'm just not seeing anyone on the roster with the ability to do that. Maybe Youk can do it when he returns from his suspension. Him charging the mound was a great spark.

Pitching is obviuously our biggest problem and I think that will be the cause if we don't make the post season. When three fifths of your starters have the chance to get chased early that is not the winning ingredient for a championship team.

At least we have 25 of our final 45 games at home with a four game series against the Indians at Fenway to end the season. That could play into our hands if it comes down to the wire.

In the end their needs to be some major changes done to the roster in the off season regardless of if or not we make the post season. I think Varitek, Lowell, and Drew need to go away as much as I like all three of them, but age and injuries have taken their toll on those guys all season long. SS needs to be addressed. Lowerie is not the answer and I was saying that last year. I think we need to find a bigger name with a better bat at shortstop.

I'm hoping for the best. Get well soon, Rem Dog.

No Chemistry

75bandwagon — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:20:05 -0000

What had happened to this team?

I'm really trying to get my arms around what has happened to this team. Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but it's fair to say that the ''two pitchers for cheap'' experiment has failed miserably. Is Theo just chalking this team up for the rest of the season? Martinez is a great fit for the clubhouse and has done some good things thus far, but we got him so that Lowell, Varitek and Ortiz could get more rest? That is definitely not a good sign. And we didn't get Halladay, Lee, or Hernandez, but we managed to sign Paul Byrd to a minor league contract? What kind of non sense is that? You have to start really wondering about the future of this team when you see Youkilis playing in left field. This team is in a lot of trouble. We had the tradable players and the payroll to beef up our pitching staff and we weren't able to do it. I know that I'm going to get hammered with emails telling me why we couldn't get any big pitchers at the trade deadline, but where there is a will there is a way. And now to compound everything, it looks like Ortiz may have been doing steroids a few years ago. Like my headline says; No Chemistry.

bad move

75bandwagon — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:34:39 -0000

Why on earth would you pitch to Longoria?

Saito is no Paps. You saw what happened when we intentionally walked him ealier. Piss poor move by Tito. The pen pitched their hearts out. It really irritates me to see us lose like this especially in August against a division rival on the road. I feel especially bad for Lester. And the offense was horrendous. These next five games could tell all. I believe the schedule had us listed for having 5 more road games then home games for the second half of the season. Get well soon, Rem Dog.

We Are Definitely In Trouble

75bandwagon — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:10:36 -0000

This team is playng with no heart and no fire

A championship caliber team does not come out of the all star break losing 5 of its first 6 games. Tonight really spelled it out for me in a lot of ways. They don't seem to be playing with any sense of urgency. I know it ended up being a moot point because we got out of the inning, but where was Tito and Tek when Kinsler clearly interfered on the call third strike and allowed the runner on first to steal second in the 6th inning? These guys are getting paid a lot of money to make baseball their number one priority for 6 months and no argument was made on a clear interference call that would have ended the inning. Tonight was simply a team that is looking old and tired. And why wasn't there a pinch runner for Tek after he led off the 7th with a single? When your offense is terrible you need to produce runs, i'e steal a base and/or hit and run. The upcoming 13 game road trip is looking really scary especially when your are traveling from the west coast and then the final 6 games are against TB and NY. This is definitely not looking good. Kudos to the bull pen though. They were the ONLY bright spot in this otherwise horrendous performance. Get well soon, Rem Dog.

Implosion?

75bandwagon — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:09:04 -0000

I'm not getting a good feeling about this team

This is the team that we have. I can't see any changes that we could make by the end of the month that would make us any better. On paper, everything looks great. Maybe a lefty in the pen, but our starting line up is going to be the one that will have to take us to the post season, and I'm not feeling good about that right now. Francona showed again what, in my opinion, is his achilles heel; he still leaves his pitchers in too long. I agreed with Smoltz going out for the 6th, but as soon he allowed the third run he should have been out of there. The pen shut them down for the last 2 1/3 innings. Our offense is non existent and it's been this way for several weeks. We should have won 8 of our final 10 (home stand) before the All Star break and who can forget the debacle in Baltimore. Maybe Bucholtz needs to come back up and Penny or Smoltz needs to go away. I really can't fully blame the pitchers if they're not going to get any run support. Anyway, I'm just venting because we've been losing embarrassingly lately. And it was starting before the break.

Tito Does It Again

75bandwagon — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:35:19 -0000

He left Wake in too long.....AGAIN!!!!!

We are losing some really stupid games right now. And all of you guys out there can quote me all kinds of stats about how much better we are than other teams and how many series we've won over the last couple of months, but that really doesn't matter when you're only up by 2 games with the Yankees gaining on us. Let's be serious.....Our offense pretty much stinks right now and we are still yet to put together a firm batting order. Once again, I'm sure their are smat guys out there can give me stats about how good we are, but it doesn't mean anything when you blow games the way we've been doing lately. Here's a stat I'd like someone to follow ( I wish I've been following it); how many base runners have we let on with 2 strikes? (base hits and full count walks) And how many runs are we giving up with 2 outs in an inning? I'm out here vetting because I'm tired of seeing us lose games that we should be winning.

WTF?

75bandwagon — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:14:54 -0000

How can we expect to do anything in the post season or even get there for that fact if we are going to do what we did tonight?

Tito blows it again with his disgusting display of handling his bull pen? Regardless of the rain delay wouldn't you send Smoltz back out there? And why would you sit in the dug out and watch Okijima load the bases with nobody out? He did the same thing in DC for Smoltz's first start. After a rocky first inning he settled down and even struck out the side to end the 5th inning. We got a run back in the top of the 6th and got some momentum back. Regardless of the pitch count they had him on Smoltz should have gone out for the bottom of the 6th. Instead they bring in Bard which is pretty much the same as giving in to defeat. I know everyone loves Bard, but I just don't think he's ready to pitch at this level. I know he throws hard, but he has no control and can't pain the corners. They put him in with either a big lead or if the game is out of reach (which that game wasn't). He ends up giving up 2 runs and our backs were broke. The same thing happened tonight. You could feel it when Masterson gave up the homer and when Okijima was left in too long. Every season has a few pivotal games that can make or break a season and this one was one of them. We blew a 9 run lead in the last two innings to the worst team in our division. And the Yankees and Rays won tonight. This is no way to go into the All Star break. We were up by 5 games over the weekend and now look what's happened.