GAME #15, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2019, ORIOLES @ BOSTON RED SOX

[Murph]

Coming off the WS win I figured repeating with be a longshot as there very few repeats. The scribes were saying 95 -97 wins.
That is a pipe dream IMO. Hoping for a big turnaround but unfortunately, I see that as a longshot. I can`t see the Rays running away with the ALE but with their pitching, they should stay near the top. Cora gets the blame for the pitching but the bats are all on the players. Mookie not playing even close to a 30mill plus player to be.

[Bill-806]

Todays lineup should continue OUR SURGE.....  Pedey back in ++++   thumb_u iono iono iono

Please Bill, Never say that with this team.  Have you seen the game today so far.  We look like crap and just now with the Orioles pi tcher throwing Moreland outside pitches he insists on trying to pull another one and ground into a  DP while the whole frigging left side is open, while butt announcer Dave O'Brien calmly says nothing of importance about it but drones on about things that bore the shit out of me.  This team is right now very hard to watch.  We get our first two batters on base via double and single and get only one damn run from it?  I'll tell you this....this dumb ass idea of trying to hit through a shift when the other team is giving you half the field is criminal as well as stupid.  And did you see Bogaerts stupidly wait to tag a runner who stopped midway between first and second to kill a DP attempt instead of throwing to first quickly and then get the runner in a run down for a dp.  Hell he has already conceded the run to the runner at third base.  Bogey is a stupid ballplayer; we all know that but how can he be that dumb to bot ch a play like that.  This team of ours is playing with their heads up their collective asses.

CONCUR …… What a MESS this TEAM is in ……. Crappy pitching, shaky infield & soft hitting !!! Not good !!!! iono iono iono iono iono iono rofl rofl

[SeaBeachFred]

This club is sloppy. They look like a Class A club on defense.

Now the O's announcers a commenting on how listless the Red Sox are playing.  I've noticed that many announcers over the last several ball games are saying the same.  Again as Fred says this is because the Red Sox have Alfred E Mewman for a manager.

I don't think Cora playing like Cool Hand Luke is going to make it because as I said he is acting to me more like Alfred E. Newman---WHAT, ME WORRY????  Well hell, he should start showing some pulse.  The players are playing off him believing, very incorrectly if you want my opinion, that all will work well in the end.  Earth to Cora and Co, no team has repeated since 2000.  That's almost two decades ago, and if Alex knows anything about the most recent Red Sox history the last time we won a WS we would up dead last the next season.  The only way to rectify this brutal performance today is not only to win tomorrow, which is a necessity but to win on Monday as well so we w in this series 3-1.  If announcers and commentators for other teams notice how our guys are going through the mo tions that should be a red flag of the brightest colors and it starts with Cora.  He doesn't have to berate the team in public or in the papers but he should get them in the clubhouse and read them a riot act and tell them to get their shit together-----perhaps make up for his own malfeasance for the rotten program he ran in Spring  training this past March.

[longgame]

I just find the performance on the field being so poor that it's hard to get excited to watch a game.  Why waste my time if they're not going to put in the effort?  I really don't get this, but we've seen it before.  Part of the problem if you will is Cora has substituted his leadership for player leadership.  Pedroia has been out forever and has to worry about himself.  Betts just isn't a leader type.  All of the pitchers are struggling so there's nobody to look to there.  I think Martinez has a leadership role as a hitter, but not necessarily overall.

Regardless of where it comes from though, guys need to step it up across the board, in the field and at the plate and of course the starters on the mound.  I've seen way too many plays that were made 99% of the time last year being blown.  Pitchers can't locate.  Batters can't square up mistakes and drive them.  Every single person on this board sees the same thing.  The only people that appear not to are NESN and Red Sox employees. 

One interesting thing is that as more and more media sources retreat behind paywalls, the media drives less of the narrative than before and that cuts both ways.  Let's face it, the Boston sports media is hack-ridden, but Dan Shaughnessy used to get read across the country every day, now you need to pay for it.  At least the Herald has their content available last time I checked but they seem to have less depth than they used to. 

[elktonnick]

Excellent analysis, you are especially correct with the Globe and NESN sports reporters.  I sweat Rob Bradford is on the Sox pr staff. 

What is beginning to become very annoying is Cora's increasingly smug attitude.  Admittedly he won it all last year in record fashion but face it every gamble he took paid off.  Now the law of averages is starting to catch up with him.

[SeaBeachFred]

I just find the performance on the field being so poor that it's hard to get excited to watch a game.  Why waste my time if they're not going to put in the effort?  I really don't get this, but we've seen it before.  Part of the problem if you will is Cora has substituted his leadership for player leadership.  Pedroia has been out forever and has to worry about himself.  Betts just isn't a leader type.  All of the pitchers are struggling so there's nobody to look to there.  I think Martinez has a leadership role as a hitter, but not necessarily overall.

Regardless of where it comes from though, guys need to step it up across the board, in the field and at the plate and of course the starters on the mound.  I've seen way too many plays that were made 99% of the time last year being blown.  Pitchers can't locate.  Batters can't square up mistakes and drive them.  Every single person on this board sees the same thing.  The only people that appear not to are NESN and Red Sox employees. 

One interesting thing is that as more and more media sources retreat behind paywalls, the media drives less of the narrative than before and that cuts both ways.  Let's face it, the Boston sports media is hack-ridden, but Dan Shaughnessy used to get read across the country every day, now you need to pay for it.  At least the Herald has their content available last time I checked but they seem to have less depth than they used to.

You know, I caught hell early last season when I harped on the fact that Mookie Betts was not a leader and kpt harping on it well into the summer.  I do think, though, that since the team ran and hid from the rest of the crowd the confidence was so high on the team each and every players leaned on each other for support and the relation system played itself out very well.  With our slow start it seems now no one wants to take charge on the field with so many players slumping and the team struggling.  And face it, Cora does not look like the the manager he was last year.  He seems smug and full of himself that things will right itself with the team.  I sure as hell hope he is right on that because right now we look more than the team from 2014 and 2015 than the one we had last season.  We'll see where this goes.  Maybe David's gem to day might stir us up a little.  We need to start getting more a sense of urgency than we seem to have now.