Over the last two nights, the Sox have won their only game of the year coming back after being down in the 9th, and then lost 1-0 in 14 innings, where they left more than a dozen guys on base and squandered numerous scoring chances.

 

So what do you make of this? Do these games propel the team in any direction, or are they just single game wins and losses without any lasting effect?

 

Will the team get mad at itself and bear down to execute better after losing from lack of execution? Or will it get frustrated and fall into a losing funk, feeling that it can't get over the hump?

 

I guess we'll find out. But I just thought I'd pose the question during an off day to get some speculation on how you think the Sox will respond going forward over the next week.

I tend to think it doesn't matter. We all thought they had momentum after the perfect, and not so much.

No. Just like a ninth inning win didn't have a positive effect.

Nothing effects this team, they're a big brown lifeless turd.

sometimes.

Frankly, I think any game can have a long-term effect if it swings positive or negative...but different players are going to react differently to each circumstance. Some guys may come in and feel more focused after a disappointment like that. Some guys may spend today figuring out WTF they did wrong. Others may spend it pouting.

I don't think there is any such thing as momentum, as this team has shown over and over. The exception being when they go to the Metrodome and admit they lost before they've played the game.

We got our first ninth inning win of the season the night before, and came back and sucked it up.

 

It didn't matter.

We got our first ninth inning win of the season the night before, and came back and sucked it up.

 

It didn't matter.

'Zactly

I don't think there is any such thing as momentum, as this team has shown over and over. The exception being when they go to the Metrodome and admit they lost before they've played the game.

Its not momentum - its mindset. What happened in the previous games, or other recent ones, absolutely has an effect. You just don't necessarily know what that effect is (positive or negative). Sometimes its clear - some games get everyone on the same page all of a sudden and spark a run, or start a freefall, others don't have as much effect.

 

But I tend to be in the camp with Kyyyyyyyle on this one. I think the combined effects of the close games, getting Rios, getting Peavy soon, etc., are going to push this team into a nice little run. Which would be great, for the next week and a half, going into the nightmare 4-series abyss that awaits them after that.

 

Its not momentum - its mindset. What happened in the previous games, or other recent ones, absolutely has an effect. You just don't necessarily know what that effect is (positive or negative). Sometimes its clear - some games get everyone on the same page all of a sudden and spark a run, or start a freefall, others don't have as much effect.

 

But I tend to be in the camp with Kyyyyyyyle on this one. I think the combined effects of the close games, getting Rios, getting Peavy soon, etc., are going to push this team into a nice little run. Which would be great, for the next week and a half, going into the nightmare 4-series abyss that awaits them after that.

I think, like Balta was saying, that it affects individual players differently. For example, if Paulie goes 0-4 and the next day strikes he is like an emo kid and starts looking all depressed and trying too hard. With someone like Alexei, if they're feeling it, they're hot.

obviously does not have an effect on the team cuz they continue to suck at the plate and Pods continues to get picked off every base