Comments on: I will repent

by: maineiac

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 01:48:56 +0000

Well we are 2 games up….or really one game. What am I talking about, well because the Skanks won the regular season series they win the division in a tie. So we really only have one game to give. Please Sox win the division!

by: modonnel

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 14:47:18 +0000

The Red Sox were up 7 games — in the wild card race. Mo matter what Gagne did in that game, the Sox were going to be playing in October.

by: tinisoli

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 00:06:41 +0000

I don’t think the Gagné scene the other night was an example of Francona feeling his way through when to use the hook. He sat there, hoping that Gagné would not give up another walk or another hit. He had Farrell pay Gagné a visit, and then he watched some more. Anyone else watching the game could see that Gagné didn’t have his shit together. Waiting for him to gather himself and suddenly relocate the strike zone with something other than a straight fastball was an exercise in wishful thinking and strangely ignorant of Gagné’s recent history as a Sox reliever. If you see Papelbon load the bases with two outs, maybe you let him try to get that 3rd out——because he’s earned that kind of trust. But Gagné had been terrible, so it was just a dumb gamble to see if he could get that 3rd out. If the Sox had been 7 games up, then fine, the manager should take some of that breathing room and use it to find out about the enigmas on the roster. But they weren’t 7 games up, and that breathing room is all but gone.

by: Gee

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:20:19 +0000

Tinisoli, I think you can make plausible cases for pulling either pitcher, and your point is taken. But I think there were was reason to leave them in, too–Schill especially. His pitch count was downright low, IIRC he started the 8th below 70. I don’t think he was out of gas. I think he just threw a mistake to Jeter. (He had him at 1-2.) Anyone in the ‘pen could have done the same. Gagné is a tougher call, but again he had gotten the first two out, and a visit to the mound was a plausible way to get him back on track.

Anyway, my point is not to refute your arguments for pulling either guy, which are, as I say, reasonable. I just think the Grady comparison is waaaaaaay over the top. Grady’s failure to pull people at critical moments really was unfathomable and unsupportable. I’d rather have Tito feeling his way through when to use the hook, than either a soporific zombie like Grady or a Torre-type furiously grinding his bullpen to horsemeat.

by: tinisoli

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:32:28 +0000

“And even judging Francona in the harshest light and 20/20 hindsight, I can’t account most of the recent losses to anything he did, didn’t do, or could have done.”

How about leaving Gagné out there on the mound even though it was clear that he was unraveling, overthrowing, and utterly devoid of confidence? Francona enabled Gagné to lose the game. It’s hard for a manager to do anything dumber than leaving a pitcher in way too long. That’s certainly a loss that Francona helped along. It was Grady Little Part II, and I really thought he’d outgrown that sort of thinking. I think at times that he’s too much of a nice guy to go out there and take the ball from these guys when they’re struggling. He’s too enamored of letting guys work out of their own messes. It’s dumb.

Also, it was stupid to leave Schilling in after Doug and Giambi had reached on hits. (Remember that Giambi’s single was about two feet shy of clearing the green monster. Not a good sign.) Yes, Curt had pitched a great game up until that point, and his pitch count was fine, but it was obvious after those two hits that he was out of gas, and Derek Jeter kills guys whose fastballs or splitters have suddenly lost their movement. Francona has always been hesitant, perhaps even fearful, of taking the ball from Curt in the middle of an inning. Again, very Grady-like.

by: Gee

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:23:05 +0000

That’s just a fact.

Well, it’s also a fact that they had a shitty June and rebounded after the All-Star break. In fact their post-ABS record is still .561 post-meltdown and was around .600 until less than two weeks ago. And even judging Francona in the harshest light and 20/20 hindsight, I can’t account most of the recent losses to anything he did, didn’t do, or could have done. Certainly none of the things cited above–e.g., Paps giving up the slam came when we were down a run already. Dumb move to bring him in? Maybe. But it didn’t lose the game.

If that makes me a Kool-Aid drinker, so be it.

by: rln2433

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 13:33:40 +0000

Too many people are still talking about the team that went 36-16 to start the year. Since that great start they have gone 54-47 and the Yankees have owned them to the tune of 9-3. That’s just a fact. Too many easy outs, bad situational hitting, a refusal by Francona to adapt his team to its current situation, etc.

I refuse to be a Kool Aid drinker here. This is not the same team that started the year, guys are hurt, tired and not willing to adapt their game to current realities. Francona looks lost right now (Papelbon can’t bail out Gag-Me but he’s gonna come in with tha bases loaded and the team trailing the next day????, Tek hitting 6th or 7th???, Ellsbury not running at will???) as well.

This was the year for them to go deep in the playoffs and for various reasons they have come up short. Doesn’t make anyone a bad guy but you have to watch this team with a sense of detachment otherwise they will eat you alive.