I have a new goal and that is to blog twice a year. I'm starting a spin-off called Semi-Annual Bloging. I think it will really take off. It's wild.
So a lot has gone on and I can't let my busy schedule serve as an excuse to hide my innermost feelings. However, to be honest, go and have yourself a kid and you'll realize that just surviving the day trumps any emotions I may have tied to a local sports team. With that in mind I've been able to put some thoughts together that I'm sure my 3 fans will enjoy.Language Lessons.
Gagne is French for "disasterous start" or "BK Kim".
Okajima is Japanese for "I guess that sub 1.00 ERA means the little guy loses his job".
Ramirez is Spanish for "I'm the 1986 version of Jim Rice with all the double plays I hit into".
Red Sox is Latin for "The clutch hit well has dried up".
You look at some of these stats and you say to yourself "How are these guys losing so many games?" It amazes me that when we need a big late inning hit I'm praying that either Pedroia or Lowell are up. We have $40 million in our 3,4,5 hitters and I think the last time one of them drove in a winning run was in May. MAY???????? That's 3 months of nothing. Pitching wins championships, but man when you waste some big efforts from these starters it kills me.
People aren't going to like this, but I believe that the signal calling from Varitek (or the bench as they call some) has contributed to at least 10 losses this year. Yesterday was a perfect example. Kevin Millar can't hit anything offspeed with less than two strikes. He can't hit a high and tight fastball with two strikes. 1-1 count and Tek calls the high and tight fastball, which Millar lays off of. Next pitch is a brilliant curveball that absolutely embarasses Millar. 2-2 and you go back to the high and tight fastball but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO another curveball and game over. Same can be aplied to A-Rod winning the game off of Papelbon. A-Rod crushes one pitch this season and it is down and away. Guess where the pitch was when he hit 500? Down and away. When you have two strikes on the guy throw the damn splitter, slider, change-up or anything not called a fastball down and away.
The Gagne situation. I thought it would be great. Oki has been pitching a lot so I envisioned Gagne going one day and Oki the next. A perfect balance and you still have Delcarmen who has been incredibly consistent this season. Oki who has been A.) on fire and B.) capable of getting anyone out is now incapable of doing what he's done all season. To hell with Gagne's confidence I'm more worried about Oki.
Lastly, Tito has been awful. Look, I know we need to keep Paps healthy, but when he hasn't pitched a lot for a few days why don't you just bring him in top keep a tie game tied? Torre has done it throughout Mariano's entire career and I'm convinced they have probably one 75 games based on that move alone. Why waste one of the top pitchers in baseball until you get the lead? Yesterday was by far the worst managed game of the year. Gagne had no business being in there. Timlin > Oki > Papelbon is how it should read this morning. That way I wouldn't need to question not pinch running of Hinske, even with Coco and Cora on the bench or not walking the bases loaded after Markakis stole second and eliminated the double play.
I honestly don't see them recovering from this. It's as if the whole team collectively gave up yesterday.
Dolly.