yawkeeway2

Well, The Red Sox added Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez as well as some quality bullpen help this off season.  The Red Sox signed Hideki Okajima (hopefully he can return to form).  No idea what to expect from Josh Beckett or John Lackey so those are huge question marks for this team.  Offense once again will not be an issue and neither will defense.  However, starting pitching is a question mark.  Fortunetly injuries look to be over for the Red Sox and Dustin Pedroia should be back to his normal self.  I have a little concern as to who spells Kevin Youkilis if he needs a day off at third?  Would they use Jed Lowrie?  Bill Hall is no longer with the team so there goes that option.

So, what are people's expectations for this team in 2011?  Play-offs?, Deep into Play-offs? World Series?

Well we are now 40+ games into the regular season and the Red Sox are 22-20 and the offense which many people thought would suck this year (myself included) has actually been decent.  It has been the bullpen and starters that have failed as well as the supposide "excellent" defense that was brought in via Theo of Mike Cameron (DL), Marco Scutaro and Adrian Beltre.

Now I have heard rumors that both Scutaro and Beltre are fielding poorly because they can't get used to Fenway's infield.  I am not sure where to take that.  I mean maybe it could be a reason since they both have so many errors or maybe it's the "pressure" of playing in Boston I'm not sure.  Have these two made nice plays?  I have seen a few but I have seen a lot of routine plays totally botched and it has hurt the Red Sox.  Am I writing these two off?  NO of course not, just hope they can turn things around.  Bad defense is contagious as well, Dustin Pedroia has made some bad plays as well as Drew and Jeremey Hermida.  Is that the end of the world?  Nope but the Red Sox defense was supposed to be "one of the best" and help the sox win.  Simply hasn't been the case.  But they are clawing their way back.

Red Sox Starters: I personally didn't think that Clay Buchholz would be one of the more "reliable/consistent" starter on this staff.  He hasn't been too bad.  Daisuke Matsuzaka although has been injured has been shaky at best.  Josh Beckett has been a hot head this year and it seems like when a batter steps out of the batter's box he goes "nuts" and losses it and starts to overthrow and gets into trouble. Jon Lester hasn't been that bad at all and appears to me like he is the "ace" this year.  John Lackey...don't even get me started!

So this is the "bridge" year as Theo put it and we as fans have to live with it and take it with a grain of salt.  I know I haven't totally done that but we have to and hope for the best.

Well the season is now over and the Red Sox are back into the Post Season and once again have face the Angels.  I am looking forward to that series, however I won't be able to watch Thursday or Friday's game due to me having to be "working" in Arizona to pick up something only to fly right back.  Not to mention the games are on so late, but that only is because its in California.

Anyway - Here are my thoughts on the 2009 season:

1. The Red Sox once again made things interesting in order to get into the post-season.  They seemed to think they were already in when they played the Royals, and Yankees.  Fortuently they showed up against the Indians.
2. Jason Bay average sucks but man you can not argue with the numbers he put up.
3. David Ortiz - I thought he would only get 10 homers this year due to how poorly he started so he has impressed me
4. Ramon Ramirez was great in the first half of the season but now when he comes in I cringed.  He has performed well but he is scary.
5. Heidi Whatney most likely will break up a lot of marriages before she dies.  She is HOT!  Sorry Erin (you are hot as well though)
6. The Red Sox need to play more small ball, especially when Jacoby Ellsbury in on base.  Which he is starting to do a lot more of now.
7. Usually it has worked out, but I don't get why Terry Francona takes out a reliver during and inning when they are doing very well and or had done very well the inning before.  Don't understand why they can't finish the inning.  But hey, Tito is the manager and you have to stick behind him/
8. Fenway Park has made some nice improvements to the stadium.  Keep it up.
9. Keep Alex Gonzalez he has been awesome since he came over from the Reds.  The revolving door at shortstop needs to end
10. The sox weren't very good on the road and that is depressing.

The red sox came together nicely as a team and it seems like team chemistry is at an all-time high.  Great bunch of guys Theo and company has put together.  J.D. Drew is still a "good player" but he still gets hurt too much.  Hence why I call him "Nancy" but I also still call him that do to superstition.  Daisuke Matsuzaka did not seem right all season and I think he is finally coming back to himself and possibly even a better self.  Clay Buchholz has amazing moments but he still at times looks completely lost out there and seems to still get rattled very quickly.

It is painfully obvious that the Red Sox don't care that they are almost dead last in throwing out runners or keeping runners on base via the pitcher throwing over or stepping off the rubber.  Jason Varitek nor Victor Martinez can throw out a runner.  50/50 on who's fault that is.  There's and the pitchers.  Slide step people.  But it seems like the coaching staff doesn't want them to do that.

One has to think that the real turning point in the season when the Red Sox got Victor Martinez.  He could possibly be the next Papi-esque player when it comes to getting clutch hits.  He has proven that he can hit when needed plus he is a switch hitter.  let's hope he can continue to produce like he has in the past.

Kevin Youkilis yet again has proven that he can cover 1st and 3rd with ease which has to make Mike Lowell and Tito very happy.  I am thinking this might be the last year we see Lowell in a Red Sox uniform though.  Either that or he will get a lot of time at DH.  Meaning David Ortiz will get more time off.  Which might not be a good thing either.

I am not sure I have seen a player swing harder at a pitch then Dustin Pedroia.  For such a small guy he swings so violently that I think he is either going to throw out his back or fall down, possibly even both!

Anything else to add?

Well, as I sit here at my computer at work, pretty much bored out of my mind I am thinking what to do with my life or what is there out there for me?

I mean, The Stock Market is in shambles, the Economy is also in ruins and people are calling this election rigged.  Makes no sense to me!

I just wonder if an individual can actually make a difference in today's world?  I mean sure they can help a child and make them feel better and help and needy family, and I want to do all of those things, but does that really work out in the long run?

Baseball is America's Past Time as everyone knows and has already posted about.  I love baseball and I wish I continued to play in college, but I did not and I regret it terribly!  I only stopped becuase my batting average was worse then Julio Lugo's, my fielding actually (not to toot my own horn or anything) was pretty darn flawlees.  I think in that 14 years I played I only made about 10 errors.  But I couldn't hit worth a dime and that depressed me more than Jason Varitek swinging the bat!  That is something that I would say is a major DOWNER in baseball.  I mean you can field exceptionally well, but if you can't hit you will get laughed at and be advised you are horrible and you should give up the game and you really let you team down, I could go on and on about that!

Baseball is a team sport and I love that becuase even if you mess up, you have 10 other guys who can pick you right back up.  I mean look at (either, can't remember who it was) Andy Pettitte Or Mike Mussina giving up 10 runs in one game and everyone thought he would get the lose, but what did the Yankees do?  They clawed right back into the game and took him off the hook!  That's the beauty of the game!

Downfall of the game: MONEY.  I won't play unless I get paid X amount of dollars or I am worth more then $20 million dollars a year.  No this is not a diss of Manny Ramirez!  Money is the root of all evil when it comes to any sport, it just seems like BASEBALL owners like Steinbrenner and Luchhino, etc spend more and more money like it's monopoly money. 

Umpiring - This year it has been a major DOWNER!  Horrible calls happening in every game for every team!  Um, hello umps you guys all got trained the same way, so why do you call a strike 30 feet off the plate and then the next ump NOT call it?

UPPER - Fans, man you guys support teams like you wouldn't believe!  Heck there are more Red Sox fans in Camden Yards when the Sox play the Orioles or when they play the Rays, Rangers, etc!  I love the fans!

What do people think?  I'm I off my "Rocker?"

Speaking of which, what ever happened to John Rocker?

I bring this up thanks to NUFF CED

Here is the link that made me think about this.

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/messa
ges/chrono/8879719/0/1/8891063#ID88
91063

He made some great points, I mean let's talk about Baseball Stadiums where people are supposed to watch the game and not make-out, get totally wasted and make a jerk out of yourself and fall down the stadium steps. We have people in the stands where bra and panties (ok not that far, but with the outfits these days it might as well be in a bra and panties).

We have people who talk on their cell phones while at the game and in a airplane when we all know we can not do it! We have people in CT running into an elderly man nearly killing him and they just drive away, meanwhile 50+ people saw BOTH cars and the accident yet no one helped the elderly gentleman while he was laying on the pavement or even helped the Polive find the two idiots who hit the guy.

Please discuss!