Patriot’s Day Special: Rays-Sox Gamer IV

Worst start since 1996! W00t!
It’ll be tough to beat ’96 though. We’re already assured of being better through 14 games (2-12). So we’ll have to aim for the record through 25 games, 6-19. On the other hand, that team was the best team in baseball in the second half and finished just two games out of the Wild Card. There’s hope yet!
Meanwhile, the only team further out of the lead in all of baseball is the Orioles, and the only teams with worse records than the Sox are the O’s, White Sox and Astros. Sigh…

Diarrhea during a marathon…that is just a perfect analogy. And completely disgusting.

He’s supposed to be back by the middle of the week, so I guess they figure they won’t use up all 15 days he otherwise would be out. I’d have rathered seen what Reddick can do, given the spring he had. Couldn’t possibly have been worse than what Hall did out there.

According to Gameday, Pedroia has a 3.125 OPS on eight pitches in the high-inside part of the strike zone with four home runs. That’s crazy.

Now Drew is trying to bunt with a man on first. What the hell is going on?

Even the umpires are taking pity on the Red Sox…there were 5 balls in that at bat against Zobrist. The only reason I care is because Zobrist is on my fantasy team.

the price on agon just went a lot higher than that paul…
in the meantime, i actually feel bad for my sox fan friends…yes, i’m enjoying the sox bad streak, but i know it sucks, and in some perverse way, it’s more fun when they’re neck and neck with us…but, i’ll say it again, it’s way too early to stick a fork in these guys…

WAY too early for any kind of panic…

“Defense should be a constant”
That’s the problem with the defensive stats – they don’t agree with that basic, common sense, sentiment. According to UZR, defense is more variable than hitting or pitching. That’s why depending on it could be a bigger folly than the bullpen by committee. It’s like Theo et al looked at individual defensive stats (i.e., raw numbers) without looking at the context of their reliability. That’s Statistics 101. It’s also why closed organizations are prone to drowning in their own Kool-Aid. No one steps up and says “We’re going to put the whole season in the hands of the least predictable statistics?”

UZR may be variable from year to year, but evens out over time. Who knows about injuries and all that. I wasn’t referencing UZR – just watching the balls clang off Cameron’s glove, his tentative routes going back on balls, the balls that have gone off Scutaro’s glove – the ole’ play on a grounder by Beltre (in his defense, the runner was coming right at him, so understand that one a little). They’re not making the routine plays. I did look, they’re 11th on defensive efficiency, which is better than I thought (13th on park-effect DE)

Wow – rough start SFs. Less surprised about the record (streaks happen to everyone after all) then about the general level of play.
So have any of you ever been to one of these 11am Patriot’s Day games? Must be a blast to take in a game and then have a whole afternoon to kill. On a Monday no less.

The pitching WILL come around, barring injuries. The problem was sacrificing the most predictable element of the game – offense – for the least predictable – defense. I understand why they did it and exactly for why Theo has already said….because it’s a “bridge” year. But I can’t believe how many folks boldly claimed the Sox had improved all by relying on very unreliable numbers year-to-year.
Still I have a sneaking suspicion the Sox will find a way to win 90 games, given their home park and their righty-heavy lineup. That will keep them on the cusp of a playoff berth all season long. They’re not THIS bad.

“…The thing is it isn’t pitching. It isn’t defense. It isn’t offense. It’s f*cking EVERYTHING….”
yep…when it rains…
i don’t think theo saw this coming when he made his bridge year comment…the sox never really sacrificed offense for pitching and defense…in fact, i thought most agreed that the offense would be as good or better than last season, which was good…the pitching got better with the addition of lackey and the defense got better [ignoring the obvious problem at catcher] with the addition of beltre and cameron, with scutaro in there somewhere…nobody could have predicted how things have actually turned out, and yet, i’ll say it again, it’s way too early…stats are good, even suspect defensive ones, because they are a good indicator of what could probably happen over the course of a season…but, they aren’t a guarantee…i’m gonna give it more than a month before i decide if theo blew it or not with his pitching/defense strategy…either way he thinks he already set us up with the bridge bs…but, the 800 lb. gorilla for me is the catching issue…the sox should have addressed that vulnerability long ago, just as the yankees should have…luckily posada is still doing ok for now, and cervelli seems to be a capable backup…replacing tek with a better hitter knowing full well that he can’t throw anyone out is a calculated risk that theo will be kicking himself for long after the other current issues start to work themselves out…catching used to be a position where offense was sacrificed in favor of defense and game management…that’s why guys like bench, yogi, and fisk were so amazing…they did it all…in any event, like i said earlier, i’m not exactly rooting for the sox to straighten out [being careful what i wish for], but it will be more fun, especially here, when you guys are back in it…

Cameron to the DL with a sports hernia. I’ll give him a bit of a pass on his defense since he probably couldn’t run to well.