Running 2011 Baseball Thread, Vol. I: Dedicated to spnited

Holy Shit.

The Rays just turned a triple play.

 

Scutaro with a 2-run shot. Not looking good for Tampa.

 

You're right, it is a team effort. But who put the team together? Who puffs his chest out about the player development machine and had to resort to starting Tim Wakefield, Kyle Weiland and Andrew Miller 40 times--ONE QUARTER of the schedule? Add John Lackey and Erik Bedard into the equation and that's 74 starts by people who have no business starting pivotal games for a pennant contender.

Who used to preach about the perils of signing free agent pitchers yet thought it was a good idea to sign Lackey, who was 31 with diminishing stuff and absolutely ZERO indication he could handle Fenway (Sox destroyed him there when he was with the Angels) and pitching in a big market?

A guy who prides himself on player development should never have to sign John Lackey to anything more than a one-year, incentive-laden deal, never mind a five-year deal. ANYONE in the system could have provided better results than Lackey and at 1/200th of the cost, never mind the headaches that asshole has provided with his off-the-field stuff.

How does Kevin Millwood not get a look when he's in the system? Moreover how do the Sox just release him b/c they can't use him, then watch him perform passably well for the Rockies? Maybe in Boston he sucks too but at least he didn't cost the Sox anything. He could not have been any worse than the guys they sent out there 74 times. I know it's not quite accurate to see how a guy fare well in the NL West and assume he'd do just as well in the AL East, especially at 36, but Millwood has pennant race experience (something Miller, Bedard and Weiland don't have) and guts (something Bedard will never have) and maybe he would have bullshit his way to 10 "quality starts." Maybe the Sox win two of those and they're playing out the string with Lowrie batting cleanup and Lavarnway batting sixth for fun instead out of necessity.

Not every prospect will turn out to be Lester or Buchholz, but where is the bottom-of-the-rotation guy who can provide 180 serviceable innings at minimal cost? There's no excuse for a team with the Red Sox' resources to fail to find a guy like that instead of wasting half a season on the dregs they ran out there this season.

Good return on Daisuke Matsuzaka too. Crawford was another signing that was questionable from the start--speed-based guy signed to a seven-year deal just before his 30th birthday--though it's not a complete bust yet.

And how many years in a row is this that a bunch of Sox players have missed time with weird nagging injuries that went undiagnosed? Buchholz and Youkilis this year. Ellsbury last year. Meanwhile Jason Bay's shoulder is just fine (his head is another story but that's the Mets' fault). Whose responsibility is it to hire doctors and trainers to ensure the Sox' players are healthy and on the field?

Nobody's hands are bloodier in this mess than Theo, who would be really good if he was half as good as he thinks he is. But it's good to see there's talk of a "disconnect" between him and Francona. Gosh I wonder who fed Gammons that tidbit.

 

I don't buy any of this because it was not in the form of a Doc Gooden tweet.

 

Who's got a bigger pile of poop in their bed right now, Braves or Cardinals?
Braves getting crushed by a 100-win team, at the end of a September faceplant.
Cards, with the road to the playoffs wide open, struggling to beat a 100-loss team.
Doesn't ANYBODY want to play in the postseason? Anybody? Hello?

 

Don't worry. I'll post it again in a few hours!

 

I think Braves fans know the pain of being a Cubs fan right about now

 

Great post, BYH. You covered all of it.

 

I wish I could give this post the response it deserves without getting in trouble.

 

Thank about all the disappointment. It's probably more so for the Braves because they haven't won since 1995 even with mostly good teams. And this month has been a bigger disappointment than the Bartman play was for the Cubs

 

Rafael Soriano doing his best to put the Rays in the playoffs for a second straight year. Matt Joyce three-run homer gives the Rays a 5-3 lead.

 

Shut the fuck up.