greg775

Great series after the Minnesota disaster. Q is a master. Good relief work, too.

QUOTE (Tmar @ Jun 29, 2014 -> 08:34 PM) Cheering is fine, but standing ovations are a whole other thing, they are for special or memorable events. Mariano Rivera after a HoF career? Standing O. Cal Ripken playing in 2131 straight games? Standing O. But coming back from a boo boo of your hamstring? Go ahead and cheer but no way a standing ovation. That's like a standing o for hitting a home run in the third inning, nothing special about that. I think it's a class act. They can stand and cheer all they want for their players. I'm sure the little kids there were enjoying it. If I wanted to be negative about it, I'd say fans pay their 70 bucks a ticket and 25 for parking. They can do whatever the f*** they want as long as it's legal.

I don't know how players hit into these shifts all the time. You have to change your approach.

At least Tyler gets a hit every once in a while. Career backup? Earning a check for many years or DFAed before long?

QUOTE (Tmar @ Jun 29, 2014 -> 08:25 PM) No sir I'm not, the guy missed 6 games with a muscle strain, pretty common injury. I'd get it if he was hit in the head and missed weeks or underwent treatment for a disease or something, but a muscle strain? But it's OK to boo a player at any time, not cheer one. Cheering one is lame or corny? I guess negativity sells nowadays.

Damn. They are closing the roof.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jun 29, 2014 -> 08:17 PM) Toronto loves their baseball players I guess I hope they let Mark face one batter so they can give him the ovation he deserves today. I guess they can cheer after the half inning but we won't see it on TV.

QUOTE (Tmar @ Jun 29, 2014 -> 07:58 PM) seriously? wow that's pretty damn lame imo Hope you are kidding. It's a class act by the crowd.

My first game winner thread to prove I'm not just a hater. I thought it was against baseball's rules for the Sox to win in Toronto. 2 out of 3? Not bad. Sale four hits in seven innings? 7-1 record? He probably is your all-star game starter, or should be. Viciedo hits his eighth homer. That's not many, but when he does connect ... bam. He hits the ball hard and deep. If he'd get a clue at the plate, he might be something special. Today he deserves praise. Two hits, three RBI. He's hitting .247 which is ... OK? Nah, but I praise him today. Dunn with two hits and two walks. Good job by the big lumberjack. I'm gonna miss him. Not really, but he has had some good games as a Sox player. I don't know the percentage of good games vs. total games. I'd imagine he's had good games in about 20 percent of his Sox outings. Just a guess. And the closer, Putnam comes through after giving up a run. He didn't walk anybody so I love him. Give him the ball again, Robin. Might as well ride the Putnam train til he fails. Then it's Petricka time. GO SOX!

Putnam gave up a run but got the save. I'd give him the ball in the ninth again the next time we need a save. Why not? If and when Putnam can't handle the role, I'd go next to Petricka probably. Bella deserved to get the job pulled from under him. Hope Bella can be an efficient set up guy or a guy who can get an out or two.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 09:50 PM) L Garcia can play 2b, SS, 3b and outfield. He has speed. He's the kind of guy you want as your roster's last man (more useful than several we've had), although it would really help if he could hit at least some. we should have gotten more for Rios, but we really wanted Rios off the team. He's 13 for 64 with four walks. Eight stolen bases is good. I guess if you want a designated runner, keep him. I know the sample size is small, but geez, don't your eyes tell you L. Garcia is not a big leaguer?

Just saw replay of Tank's bomb. He's gonna tear somebody's arm off with his celebratory handshakes/slaps. Good to see him excited. When he gets hold of one on rare occasions he really tears into a baseball. I wonder if his struggles are all mental. What you see appears to be what you get. He tries to hit every pitch out of the park. Eight or nine times he's been successful.

Nice job Putnam. When you don't walk anybody it's attainable.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 07:57 PM) Garcia is fine as the 25th man on the roster. He's beyond awful.

Tyler is awful, but how any GM could acquire L. Garcia is beyond me. He is horrible. Keep Tyler the rest of the season but dump Leury now. Sox have done the right thing by dumping Kepp and Downs. Time to dump L. Garcia or send him to the minors where we can forget about him.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 03:46 PM) We're on our fourth closer of the season already, essentially. Jones, Lindstrom, Belisario and now ??? (Guerra/Petricka). If you go with the "hot hand," how many blown saves do they get to prove they're not the hot hand? There's just no way that this strategy, with the talent we have remaining in our pen (or lack thereof), is going to yield anything close to an 80-85% save conversion rate. Who would even be the "hot hand" now? Petricka? Putnam? Guerra? They each have their own unique set of pro's and con's. The ONLY time the pen was working well was when Putnam knew he was the 7th inning guy, Belisario 8th and Lindstrom 9th. If you keep changing their roles every night, it just won't work very effectively. Bullpens need to have consistency and established roles...defined expectations. You have to go with the hot hand when the current closer is as bad as Bella has been. I don't know how many games you allow the current hot hand to blow. It's kind of an eye test thing. It'd be criminal to put Bella out there again. It's kind of a deal where you just "know" if you are the manager.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 01:36 AM) I don't know if 2015 is a make or break season. It probably isn't and shouldn't be considered as such. That being said, it's not unrealistic to expect continued improvement. Let's face it. He's gonna be around as our manager as long as jerry is alive and owns the team. He's the polar opposite of Oz's personality and that's what everybody on the Sox front office wants.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ May 22, 2014 -> 02:49 AM) I was at spring training in 2013. Keppinger was a grade a dick to the sox fans then, especially the kids. I see he went to the University of Georgia. Any other Bulldogs who were/are dicks? Any pattern?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 04:24 AM) All of those pitches that Belisario gave up hits on were right down the middle of the plate...he probably also said you might want to try a different pitch than a fastball in the killing zone. Flowers and Danks were also having troubles coming to agreement on pitch selection earlier in the game. Surkamp seemed rattled early but did his job to get the DP ball that Conor whiffed on. That's at least 2-3 times Gillaspie has made late-game errors that were pretty critical. It's pretty apparent by now Conor is not a good fielding third baseman. He either has to move to the outfield or first or second base if he's going to play in the major leagues. I guess he could be a DH once Dunn leaves for good.

It's Petricka's turn IMO. Give him a shot before Guerra.

Dunn is hitting .230 with 12 homers and 33 rbis. To me that's blah. My guess is he's some sort of modern day hero according to his advanced stats.

On a positive note, Petricka looked good on the road. He attacked the situation with confidence at least.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 02:28 AM) Bella got a hold Not trying to flame, just a question. If Robin left him in, do we lose that game?

Welcome to the closer role, Petricka. You are obviously the latest who will be giving it a try. Bella is done for that role.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 01:56 AM) Sox will win, but this is ugly. QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 02:15 AM) Wow, you're terrible. Haters? Bella? Stop. Just stop. What are you talking about? I'm not nearly as critical as many on the board. I was trying to praise Robin. Good call by flavum on the win.