What Can We Do?

Have you ever watched a friend or family member make a big mistake (or a bunch of smaller ones), and you can’t do anything to help? It doesn’t matter how much talking, strategizing, listening, encouragement, or ice cream (I am a woman after all, ice cream solves a lot surprisingly) we give to that person, nothing seems to work. That person is the one who has to make the decisions about his/her life.

Well, that’s about how it feels with the Red Sox these days. It doesn’t matter what we, the fans, do. It’s ultimately up to the Red Sox players to win games. We can’t play the games for them.

Sure, it’s easy to yell at the television/computer screen every time we see one of the players, or a combination of players, make a mistake. It doesn’t matter how many times you say “Please get a hit. Please strike out this player. Please get a double play,” it doesn’t work.

I’m hoping the Red Sox players get something going. It’s kind of sad that individual players (most notably Adrian Gonzalez and Darnell McDonald lately) seem to be taking the blame. Yes, those two players need to own up to some of the blame (A-Gon striking out to end a game, McDonald going 1-4 yesterday then giving up a 3-run blast to end the game- the latter should not be his fault though), but two players do not make a team.

Collectively, as a team, the Red Sox are starting to look like an old group of players stuck in the glory days. The seem to have a mentality that the fans will keep coming because they have been good in the past. While this might be true for some, it’s really sad that there are front-running fans, and they seem to be flocking away from the Sox.

Now, I don’t encourage fans being front-runners, but the sad truth is these are the fans that really spend the money. They’re the fans that keep buying shirts, hats, and other memorabilia. Ultimately, they’re the ones who keep buying so the Red Sox can afford those hefty salaries.

Other fans, like me, have bought their apparel and such. Yes, we still buy the occasional item, but it’s not a big rush. We wear our old hats and shirts proudly because we have watched this organization for so long.

But, getting back to the topic, the Red Sox players need to start playing more. If they don’t, management is going to kick in to get something going themselves, whether that be through releases, trades, or sending players back to the minors. A shake-up might happen, like in 2004 when Nomar was traded. No one ever thought they would’ve seen Nomar traded, but it happened.

There’s really nothing we, the fans, can do besides sit back and watch the Red Sox. As much as we feel like a part of the game, we’re not the ones playing it. They are. They are the ones that decide their fate.

Hitting Rock Bottom Again?

I was at the grocery store semi-early this morning, around nine o'clock.  I was wearing my Nike, Red Sox dri-fit shorts and a Majestic Red Sox shirt (both had very minimal logos and representation on them).  I wasn't thinking too much about my appearance because Sundays are truly my day of rest... meaning, I usually throw on shorts and a t-shirt and piddle-paddle around the house all day.

Anyway, I was in the produce section when a guy approached me.  He looked at me and simply said "The Red Sox are killing me this year."  He was with another guy who was wearing a Patriots jersey (I'm 99% sure there are less Pats fans in Iowa than Red Sox fans).  I shook my head sadly at these two guys and agreed.  We said a few choice things about the Red Sox and the game yesterday (notably losing Cook to the DL) and went on our ways. 

When the Red Sox lost to the Yankees two weeks ago, 15-9, blowing a 9-run lead, Bobby Valentine said the team had hit rock bottom.  They then went on to win 6 games in a row on the road.  However, the troubles seem to be haunting the Red Sox again.  In the 6-game homestand, they lost 5 to the A's and O's.  In fact, they have now lost 5 in a row... and this was supposed to be the easy part of the schedule.

As my brother put it today, the Red Sox need to be shaken up.  Something needs to happen to get the team cracking.  Of course, his proposal wouldn't fly.  He suggested that the Red Sox get beer after the games when they win.  If they win three in a row, they get fried chicken. 

Something needs to happen though.  It's gotten to the point where it's almost painful to watch the games anymore.  Today's game started out painful (Buchholz... again), had some great moments (Middlebrooks game-tying grand slam, some great defensive plays by Pedroia in extras), but it never looked like the team was having fun or enjoying themselves.  They seem to get exciting about good things happening, but they need more.

I don't know if they're still in the adjustment periods with Valentine (who is on my list, let me tell you- he should've kept Miller and Aceves in longer today), they're carrying over from last year's problems, if there's a problem in the clubhouse, or what.  Something needs to happen.  I know I keep repeating that, but the Red Sox need to get going.  We're more than a month into the season.  They need to get going and play like the team everyone knows they can play.

I understand that there's many of the starters on the DL (Crawford, Ellsbury, Youkilis, Bailey), but the Red Sox had a much worse time in 2010 with injuries (Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis, Varitek, Drew).  The 2010 team still played much better than the 2012 team.  They had a sort of intensity and excitement to them.  Even though they came in 3rd in the division, they still made it competitive and won 89 games.  They were second only to the Yankees in runs scored, RBIs, and home runs.

Again, something needs to happen.

Twitter-Mania Friday!

So, as you might have guessed, I’ve decided to have every Friday (or the Fridays I’m able to post, since there will be a few this summer that I won’t have access to a computer because of Vacation) be Twitter-Mania. Like last week’s Twitter-Mania post, I will post my favorite tweets from Red Sox players and tweets about the Red Sox. So, without further delay, here are this week’s “Twitter-Mania!”

David Ortiz @davidortiz
Come play poker with me Wake & Tek go to Pitchinginforkidgs.org

Mike Aviles @Themikeaviles
Family days are always fun!!! Whish my oldest was with me too!!! #lovemywifeandkis

Jose Iglesias @JoseIglesias_SS
Got the call to the Majors! Thanks to all for your well wishes. Looking forward to help the #redsox put up more W’s.

Will Middlebrooks @16WMBrooks
Thanks for the support everyone! Today was a dream come true. #RedSoxNation #redsox

Kelly Shoppach @ShopHouse10
May have bit off more than I can chew. Aquarium then Check E Cheese. Whew! Some off day, but when you’re a dad there are no off days. #TRUTH

Jacoby Ellsbury @JacobyEllsbury
Pitchers duel tonight, both pitched great! Nice to come away with the W! #RedSoxNation

Kevin Millar @KMillar15
Mamma just got this snake on our patio! #redneckwoman

Ryan Kalish @Ryan-_Kalish
Growing up is some wild stuff

Adrian Gonzalez @adriangon28
Great to be back in Beantown! Great road trip. Time to carry it to the homestand!!!

Darnell McDonald @MacDime54
Congrats to my boy @16WMBrooks 2 hits in @MLB debut! 2,998 more to go!

Peter Gammons @pgammo
Four of the five AL East closers are disabled—Rivera, Bailey, Farnsworth, Santos

And my favorite tweet of the week:

Chris Carpener (aka the guy the Sox got from the Cubs for Theo) @CCarpo66
Scouting out the next Hungergames site aka 6 mile cypress with @AndrewBailey40 and @Ryan_Kalish…

Could This Be an End to an Era in New York?

While shagging balls during batting practice yesterday, Mariano Rivera tore his ACL in his right knee. He is done for the season and possibly his career. As a Red Sox fan, I was conditioned from an early age to dislike the Yankees with a passion. While I can dislike a team, there are still players on that team I respect. Mariano River is on the top of that list.

Rivera was reportedly going to announce whether or not he would retire at the end of the season around the All-Star break this year. He said that he wanted to give the fans their last chance at seeing him pitch. At the time, I took this as both admirable and cocky; but now, I wish this would’ve happened. I wanted to see Rivera throw his last pitch, go out in glory (even as a Yankee), not end his career with a freak injury.

I know it’s not official that Rivera’s career is over, but it sure appears that way. He’s 42 years old, and there has been speculation in the past that he was going to retire. It seems inevitable that this is the end. On the bright side, in five years, we should be seeing him being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Mariano Rivera truly is a class act. He’s had a long career (this was his 18th season) and all with the same team, a true rarity these days. His career ERA is 2.21, which is the highest among active pitchers, and he has a record 608 career saves. He was an All-Star 12 times and finished among the top-five for Cy Young five times. He had 10 seasons where his ERA was below 2.00 and his WHIP was below 1.00; his career WHIP is .998.

I know this is a Red Sox blog, and Red Sox fans are supposed to “hate” the Yankees. But, I think we all can respect Mariano Rivera (even while remembering game 4 of the 2004 ALCS). If he has it in him, I would love to see Rivera make a comeback next year.

UPDATE:  Rivera is vowing to come back.  He tweeted: Thank you fans, friends and family for your prayers, well wishes and support.  I will be ok.  I will be back.
If not, he truly was one of the best pitchers I will ever see in my life.

A Peak into the Future

Will Middlebrooks made his Major League debut last night, filling in for DL-bound Kevin Youkilis. While his debut may not have been the most exciting for a Red Sox rookie in recent memory (Daniel Nava’s grand slam, anyone?), it was a boost for the Red Sox as a whole. Middlebrooks went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a steal. Not to shabby.

There’s been a lot of talk about the Red Sox bringing up Middlebrooks this season, especially with Youkilis struggling so much. In 24 games with Pawtucket this season, Middlebrooks hit .333 with a .380 OBP and .677 SLG. He had 9 home runs, 1 Triple, 3 Doubles, drove in 27 runs, and walked 7 times. He was successively in 3 out of 4 stolen base attempts. With numbers like those, it’s a wonder why the Red Sox called up Jose Iglesias a game before Middlebrooks (Middlebrooks reportedly had a “minor” thumb injury).

With the arrival of Middlebrooks, there’s been some speculation that Youkilis will be traded this season. The Red Sox hold a $13 million team option or a $1 million buyout on Youkilis’ contract for 2013. I’ve heard most predictions, if Youkilis is traded, is for Youk to be traded to the Reds (for Arroyo, is what my brother predicted).

Personally, I don’t think Youkilis will be traded. Besides the fact that Youk is Boston Royalty (he recently married Tom Brady’s sister), I don’t think an agreement could be made for Youkilis. He’s had a few injury-ridden seasons in a row, and he started off slow this year. He hasn’t played more than 136 games since 2008. And before that, the most games Youkilis played in a season is 147, in 2006.

I like Youkilis; I honestly do. I think he’s got a fight in him that the Red Sox need, but I also think that it may be time to pass the reigns on to someone younger, like Middlebrooks. Granted, Middlebrooks has a lot to prove, and he’s not going to do that in one game (though some comments I’ve read on The Boston Globe’s website seem to think that he’s already done that). If anything, I think Middlebrooks should remain on the Major League roster this year, play when he can, watch Youkilis, and next year, if he proves himself, third base belongs to Middlebrooks.

It’ll be interesting to see how much time Valentine allows Middlebrooks to play third base while Youkilis is on the DL since Nick Punto is also on the roster and is being paid more. A player’s salary really shouldn’t determine the amount of playing time a player gets; but unfortunately, I think it does (see Ryan Sweeney). So, we’ll have to wait and see how much time Middlebrooks plays while he’s up and how well he does.

A few other tidbits:

* Speaking of Ryan Sweeney, he leads the Majors in Doubles with 12. Ortiz is second with 11. Last year, Sweeney’s season total for Doubles was 11.

* The Red Sox signed Mark Prior to a minor-league deal. Living in the Midwest in “Cubs Territory,” I’ve heard a lot about Prior over the years. He hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2006, and he’s been with the Rangers and Yankees organizations since then.

* Josh Beckett will be missing his next scheduled start, which is Saturday. The Red Sox are bringing up Aaron Cook to start this game.

* If you watch the NESN broadcast of the games, you may notice that Jerry Remy’s been gone. He is recovering from a sinus infection and will be out for at least the next week. Dennis Eckersley and Peter Gammons are filling in for those games.

* I’m already tired of the Bryce Harper hype. I watched an interview he did with Harold Reynolds, and Harper actually said that baseball players need to be cocky (or something to that effect). I’m sorry, but I can name plenty of players who don’t appear cocky on the field. There’s a difference between cockiness and confidence.

No Love For Reddick?

The Boston Globe has an article today about Josh Reddick feeling he’s getting ragged on by the Red Sox fans at the games. In the article, Reddick said that he felt like he would get a better reception from the fans, since he has played with the Sox for parts of three seasons. However, the fans were giving him the same ragging that they give most every visitor player.

Reddick was traded to the A’s in a package for Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney this offseason. I think it worked out for all (major) parties involved, Reddick, Bailey, and Sweeney. Reddick is now the everyday right-fielder for the A’s and is batting third in the line-up. Sweeney’s been playing great (when he actually plays) baseball in this first month. While Bailey’s been injured this season, I believe the Red Sox still have him under contract for next year as well (will have to double-check that).

Reddick’s stated in the article:

I didn’t get a whole lot of love from the fans. I mean, they’ve been on me pretty good the last two days. I thought I was liked a little bit more than that. But they’ve been ragging me pretty good out there.

I may be a little biased because I’ve always like Reddick. When he would get hot at the plate, he was able to carry the Red Sox, even for just a short time. Granted, in his three years with the Red Sox, Reddick batted .247. I’m not saying that deserved a standing ovation or a great round of applause (which I think Beltre still gets with Red Sox fans, even if he was only on the team for a year). But, a nice gesture would’ve been to applaud him like they would… Nick Punto, maybe.

I follow Reddick on Twitter, and I happened to look at recent Tweets this morning at 4:30 as I waited for the “Severe Thunderstorm” that we had a warning for to roll in (it never did). I noticed that Reddick was re-tweeting a lot of tweets about what people thought of him, all positive. I notice this every once in awhile and usually just pass over them, but there were quite a bit in a row from Reddick(there was even one comment about Reddick’s dad being a baker and him having nice buns. Really, who says that?).

On the other hand, I read some of the comments to this article. A few comments stated that at Reddick’s first at-bat, he did get a nice applause. Is it possible that Reddick feels he should be loved like Pedro Martinez, Nomar, Masterson (he still gets applause, right?)? Or even players like Beltre?

Reddick isn’t even on the same level of “Red Sox hate” as Johnny Damon. Damon does get booed at Fenway Park, and while I’m not sure he deserves all of it, there is a reason. Damon, afterall, went to the Yankees on his own and refused to be traded to the Red Sox from the Tigers because he had been “booed.” I’m sorry, Damon, but you signed with the enemy. Red Sox fans are not going to be happy about that.

Essentially, Reddick was a stop-gap. He filled in for the oft-injured JD Drew, was a holdover for Ryan Kalish, and had a Darnell McDonald-type of role. The right-field outfielder role was never handed to him, nor did he ever “earn” it. I never thought Reddick was in the long-term plans, but I do think he was well-liked. He may have been a bit eccentric (he does own an official WWE belt, after all), but he wasn’t a great player, by any means.

So, I guess I don’t really know where I stand on this issue. If it’s true Reddick was getting the same ragging from the fans as any other player on the A’s, then that’s because he’s on the opposing team. He never played a significant role with the Red Sox, but he was well-liked. If I was at the game, I would applauded for him the first time he was up.
I would not have booed him or told him he sucked or whatever else fans say to get on the opposing team (I’m a fan of baseball), but I probably would not have applauded for him every time he came to the plate. I am a Red Sox fan after all.

Goodbye, April

April is now behind us. The Red Sox finished the month at .500, going 11-11, which I think is pretty respectable considering how the month started. However, the Red Sox are still in last place in the division, a half-game back from the Blue Jays and 3 ½ back from the division leading Rays.

Everyone who knows baseball knows that the AL East is considered one of the best, if not the best, divisions in baseball (the top division is typically the NL East). Even just looking at the standings as of today, if the Red Sox were in any other division in the American League, they would not be in last place. In fact, they would be tied for second place in the Central with the White Sox and Tigers (behind the Indians) and in second place in the West, behind only the Rangers.

With that said, I’m glad to see April gone (though I flipped my Red Sox calendar today to be greeted by John Lackey’s picture. Not what I wanted to see). It seems like the Red Sox are starting to hit their stride, much like they did last year. By comparison, the Red Sox went 11-15 in April last year.

There are definitely some things the Red Sox need to work on: like Buchholz pitching (though you can argue that 5 of his earned runs from last night may have been do to Valentine keeping him in too long), Youkilis needs to start hitting more (he has done better lately), the bullpen needs to work out a few more issues (Aceves’ ERA is still over 10, but has come down drastically), among other things.

Hopefully today, we should hear what the Red Sox decided to do with Aaron Cook. He has a May 1st opt-out clause and will surely be swiped up by another team (Yankees?). Ellsbury has been reportedly slowly getting better, but there still is no timeline when he should return. The same can be said with Crawford and Bailey, though Bailey’s looking like around the All-Star Break.

What will this team accomplish with the pieces it has now? What will the team accomplish with the pieces that will hopefully be coming back (Matsuzaka, Crawford, Ellsbury, Bailey)? Let’s hope things just keep getting better for the Red Sox this year.