GAME #121, SUNDAY, AUGUST 11, 2019, LOS ANGELES ANGELS @ BOSTON RED SOX

[SeaBeachFred]

One can tell that Eckersley was a bit annoyed with Barnes pitch sequence  against Coughlin which eventually led to game tying home run.

Elk, I shouldn't have to tell you this but Barnes cannot and should not ever pitch in the 8th or 9th inning with a lead of less than five runs---infact, he should never pitch in those innings at all.  I've said that so many times our friends should be tired of hearing it.. He pitched the 7th inning and guess what happened as soon as he went out in the eighth????  You guessed it, he gave up a tieing home run.  Cora doesn't seem to get this.....BARNES CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT PITCH IN THOSE INNINGS--and yet Cora never seems to learn.  It is John Farrell all over again with a Latin beat this time around.

[SeaBeachFred]

Once again Sox pitching fails to hold a lead and gives up too many walks.  They continue to get behind in counts leading to the hitters knowing what's coming, enabling them to jump on pitches for a key hit or the long ball.  Steve Lyons is right to complain that Sox relievers are unable to go multiple innings.

It is a sorry state of affairs when the NESN analysts Lyons and Eckersley question Sox pitchers approach and execution.

No it's not Elk.  That may get DD to crawl  out of the hold he's been hiding in and start making plans to dispose of shitheads like Barnes, Weber, Hembree and a host of other bums who can't seem to do the job.  But might also throw a barb at the Mook, the guy who wants a humongous contract that he's not worthy of and shouldn't get.  He was put in as a pinch  runner late in the game and tried to steal.  Bad jump, low energy and reduced speed, so typical of our play this season.  Naturally he was thrown out when a better effort, the kind he hasn't really been able to give consistently all season, might have gotten him that base.  He like so many others on the team have been going half speed all season---AND IT STARTED IN st WHEN ALFRED E.  RAN THAT KIDDY CORPS CAMP, WHICH BTW, THE PLAYERS BOUGHT INTO AND PARLAYED THAT INTO A TOTALLY HORSE SHIT SEASON.

screw this 23457/4 team!!!!!!!

[elktonnick]

The decision to have Vazquez bunt was questionable.  I know Vaz successfully bunted in the past but the pitcher had just walked Moreland, I'd have preferred to let Vaz hit or at least wait and see how the at bat developed.  The pitcher eventually walked Holt.  He walked two in the inning.

[SeaBeachFred]

The decision to have Vazquez bunt was questionable.  I know Vaz successfully bunted in the past but the pitcher had just walked Moreland, I'd have preferred to let Vaz hit or at least wait and see how the at bat developed.  The pitcher eventually walked Holt.  He walked two in the inning.

You get my PM Elk?  We need to talk.  I am ion a rage!!!!!!!.

[longgame]

Fred, I get why you're upset, but not why you're in a rage.  Why get upset over things that you have no control over.

As for Owings.  I was surprised but he was hitting .325 with 11 HRs in 44 games in Pawtucket.  I don't get why he was in the starting lineup or what the roster move was though.  I thought it strange.

Lyons was right on about the one and done nature of the Sox pitching.  He pointed out that when they do come in for a second inning they stink. 

Cashner was good?  When?  He had a good run leading up to the trade but it's pretty clear he's just another one of these journeymen who collects a paycheck and doesn't care.  A terrible deal.

I hope you get some help Fred, because Cora isn't going anywhere!

[SeaBeachFred]

Fred, I get why you're upset, but not why you're in a rage.  Why get upset over things that you have no control over.

As for Owings.  I was surprised but he was hitting .325 with 11 HRs in 44 games in Pawtucket.  I don't get why he was in the starting lineup or what the roster move was though.  I thought it strange.

Lyons was right on about the one and done nature of the Sox pitching.  He pointed out that when they do come in for a second inning they stink. 

Cashner was good?  When?  He had a good run leading up to the trade but it's pretty clear he's just another one of these journeymen who collects a paycheck and doesn't care.  A terrible deal.

I hope you get some help Fred, because Cora isn't going anywhere!

In today's LA Times sports section's Angels-Red Sox farce of a game yesterday it was all there in black and white why this team of ours is shitting the bed so badly. Anthony Benboom, a catcher, arrived at Fenway Park 15 minutes before the game after a flight from Salt Lake City.  He sat the whole game until the 8th inning when he was forced into the catcher's  role when Ausmus made a change in the lineup.  Not having warmed up properly, not having thrown more than a few cursory balls back to the pitcher, he got his first test when Pukie Mookie was sent in as a PR with orders to steal.  What happened?  Benboom, a career minor league, not warmed up at al, gunned the Puke down by ten feet.  And people question me when I insist our players have gone at half speed all season.  It was a base Betts stole standing up last season and against much better throwing catchers.  Still he was gunned down.  The players think they are putting out 100% but the rot has set in  from Spring Training and Mookie was NOT giving 100% even if he thought he was----and that goes for the rest of this disgraceful bunch who are pretty much in the same boat this season.

Just watch if we have another runaway win and see what happens the next game or the game after that.  We enter totally flat and play putrid baseball loaded with missed changes and mistakes while the manager figures out some other way to mess up from the dugout.  It is Monday, 10:55 AM PST time and I am still in a rage at how our team has just made a mockery of Red Sox baseball this season.  How the hell can a defending champion fall so far so fast?

[longgame]

How the hell can a defending champion fall so far so fast?

Ask the Giants, Cubs and Royals?

I'm frustrated too, but I don't see how calling people names makes it any better.  I think Betts' problem is that he's been tentative all season for some reason.  When he got up with a chance to win it, he made a weak swing and popped it up.  I don't think he's not trying, he has too much at stake, but for some reason he hasn't been right all year.  I'm more puzzled as to why he didn't hit in that situation rather than being inserted as a pinch runner.

But I'll say it again.  Last year Cora made all sorts of odd moves and they paid off every single time.  The reason why was because the starters pitched better, they had a full rotation, they had two better arms at the back of the pen that were not replaced.  Once again yesterday they had a bad start, came back and then saw the pen give it up.  When you can't pitch, you don't win a lot.  Everyone agrees that it was a fatal error that they didn't work these guys out enough in spring training.  Everyone also agrees that the pitching coach seems to turn everything he touches to crap.  But they're in the top of all the offensive categories and in the middle on all of the pitching categories.  Their defense last year was stellar, it's average this year.

The point is that stats are your friend and that's where good baseball discussions begin.  Where some guys have dropped off (Mookie), other guys have stepped up (Devers, Bogey and Vazquez).  But when you lose almost every game in the 5th starter spot because you didn't have rotation depth and your bullpen can't throw strikes, it's kind of clear where the problems are.  I've often joked that on field executions of relievers that walk the first batter they face would be effective, but short of that Fred, what do you think Cora should do to make his pitchers pitch better?

[SeaBeachFred]

How the hell can a defending champion fall so far so fast?

Ask the Giants, Cubs and Royals?

I'm frustrated too, but I don't see how calling people names makes it any better.  I think Betts' problem is that he's been tentative all season for some reason.  When he got up with a chance to win it, he made a weak swing and popped it up.  I don't think he's not trying, he has too much at stake, but for some reason he hasn't been right all year.  I'm more puzzled as to why he didn't hit in that situation rather than being inserted as a pinch runner.

But I'll say it again.  Last year Cora made all sorts of odd moves and they paid off every single time.  The reason why was because the starters pitched better, they had a full rotation, they had two better arms at the back of the pen that were not replaced.  Once again yesterday they had a bad start, came back and then saw the pen give it up.  When you can't pitch, you don't win a lot.  Everyone agrees that it was a fatal error that they didn't work these guys out enough in spring training.  Everyone also agrees that the pitching coach seems to turn everything he touches to crap.  But they're in the top of all the offensive categories and in the middle on all of the pitching categories.  Their defense last year was stellar, it's average this year.

The point is that stats are your friend and that's where good baseball discussions begin.  Where some guys have dropped off (Mookie), other guys have stepped up (Devers, Bogey and Vazquez).  But when you lose almost every game in the 5th starter spot because you didn't have rotation depth and your bullpen can't throw strikes, it's kind of clear where the problems are.  I've often joked that on field executions of relievers that walk the first batter they face would be effective, but short of that Fred, what do you think Cora should do to make his pitchers pitch better?

What could Cora do????  One is NEVER ever pitch Barnes in the 8th or 9th inning----not ever!!!!!! Check it out.  He cannot rise to the occasion for whatever reason.  He just doesn't have the courage, guts and wherewithall to get the job done in those situations.  Two, get a new pitching coach and get rid of guys like Hembree, Weber and some of the other bullpenners who have blown 21 saves this season.  Third, a self-inflicted  wound----Cora has to read HIMSELF the riot act since Dumbo is in hiding right now.  Fourth he needs to also read the riot act to his players and tell them to get their shit together, that and also admit that his policy in ST was ill advised and from this point on we are going to work hard and finish strong as an spurt for next season. Then Dumbo has to crawl out of his cave and start revamping plans to hire that truck that ought to back up and take some of the current personnel refuse all the hell out of Boston.....and you know who I am talking about.