GAME #51, FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2019, BOSTON RED SOX @ HOUSTON ASTROS

[elktonnick]

I think you are on to something.  Chavis's presence certainly upsets the applecart for a number of position players.  From the outside looking in management hasn't done anything to ameliorate this situation.

Moreover Sox manager Alfred E Neuman continues to make some very strange lineup moves.  Rather than admit his mistake by removing Betts from leadoff he puts added pressure on Chavis who is already playing a position he is not familiar with by having leadoff against the Astros.  To my suspicious mind, I believe Manager "What me worry" is setting the kid up for failure. 

[Bill-806]

Pete Abraham reports JD batting clean up. So much for the IL.

I do like tonight's LINEUP !!! thumb_u iono iono iono

UPON FURTHER REVIEW,  I take that BACK.....  Just a lousy game , no  life, no bump, just plain lousy !!! …….  Time to make some changes in the roster D D ????? thumb_d iono iono

[Bill-806]

There's a disconnect here somewhere. Last year they clicked well together. This year they're looking like a bunch of guys who don't know each other. The talent is there. They're just not melding as a team. If I had the answers, I wouldn't be running a two-bit board. I'd be making millions as an MLB manager.

B I N G O dat !!!  SHAKE up that ROSTER, NOW GRASSHOPPER !!!! iono iono iono sigh sigh sigh sigh

[Bill-806]

WADE  MILEY ? WADE MILEY ???  My GOSH, he looked like SANDY KOOFAX himself ???? iono iono iono sigh sigh sigh sigh rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl

[SeaBeachFred]

I think you are on to something.  Chavis's presence certainly upsets the applecart for a number of position players.  From the outside looking in management hasn't done anything to ameliorate this situation.

Moreover Sox manager Alfred E Neuman continues to make some very strange lineup moves.  Rather than admit his mistake by removing Betts from leadoff he puts added pressure on Chavis who is already playing a position he is not familiar with by having leadoff against the Astros.  To my suspicious mind, I believe Manager "What me worry" is setting the kid up for failure.

Maybe  this team simply doesn't want to pay the price for success and feels that extra effort it takes to win another WS is just too much to endure.d  Then there is the contract situation some of you brought up.d  Too, for the players to read so much about Cora's abject stupidity in his botched ST regimen perhaps the players feel they have now a buikt ub excyse like IT ISN'T OUR FAULT; WE WEREN'T PROPERLY PREPARED.  It all adds up to a team that is going nowhere.

Today, I asked my wife for a towel and after she gave it to me I threw it down.  She started to ask why but quickly understood what it meant.  She gave it back to me and wait a couple more weeks.  Right now the team sucks and I wonder if it will even worse by Juned 8th when we will be in Boston.

[longgame]

I think you are on to something.  Chavis's presence certainly upsets the applecart for a number of position players.  From the outside looking in management hasn't done anything to ameliorate this situation.

Moreover Sox manager Alfred E Neuman continues to make some very strange lineup moves.  Rather than admit his mistake by removing Betts from leadoff he puts added pressure on Chavis who is already playing a position he is not familiar with by having leadoff against the Astros.  To my suspicious mind, I believe Manager "What me worry" is setting the kid up for failure.

Maybe  this team simply doesn't want to pay the price for success and feels that extra effort it takes to win another WS is just too much to endure.d  Then there is the contract situation some of you brought up.d  Too, for the players to read so much about Cora's abject stupidity in his botched ST regimen perhaps the players feel they have now a buikt ub excyse like IT ISN'T OUR FAULT; WE WEREN'T PROPERLY PREPARED.  It all adds up to a team that is going nowhere.

Today, I asked my wife for a towel and after she gave it to me I threw it down.  She started to ask why but quickly understood what it meant.  She gave it back to me and wait a couple more weeks.  Right now the team sucks and I wonder if it will even worse by Juned 8th when we will be in Boston.

Right now, even after that bad start they are in the second wild card spot, aka the 5th best record in the AL.

Last year they were 13-8 in May to this point.  This year 13-7.  That big start made all the difference last year. 

[elktonnick]

The won loss record is very misleading.  Right now they aren't playing well.  They are beating mediocre and just plain lousy teams.  They are losing to the better teams.  Even playing as poorly as they have been they may well make the second wild card team.  But that isn't the issue.  They aren't playing up to their capability and Cora isn't helping the situation but is making things worse IMHO 

All I can do is give my opinion on what I see happening on the field.  But if this team with this talent doesn't make the playoffs given the number of truly terrible teams in the AL, I'd fire Cora thirty seconds after they are eliminated from a wild card spot whenever that happens.  I wouldn't wait until the season ends.