Tyler Seguin Saved from Foul Ball

So if Tuukka Rask can't cut it, maybe this Lowell Spinners VP can play in goal.

Clay Saves the Day

I don't know whether to be grateful to Clay Buchholz, or resent him. He's by far the best pitcher on this team right now. He's only allowed 8 earned runs in his last 6 starts. He's 3-1 in that stretch and the Sox are 5-1. He's helping to keep the Sox from falling out of the Wild Card race. And that's why part of me resents him. He's giving us hope. A hope that I know other members of this team (especially in the rotation, from Texas, named Josh), will not reward.

In this six game stretch, Buchholz has pitched 7 or more innings in all six starts. He's thrown 47 innings total, and has a 1.53 ERA. He had a rough start to the season, but he's currently pulling his weight (and then some). Maybe there's long-term hope for Buchholz on this team.

Last night the offense did what they used to do. They wore out the starter, got a few walks, and eventually broke through. Chris Tillman needed 110 pitches and he didn't even get out of the 5th inning.

The Sox are 7 games into a 10 game road-trip. They're 3-4, and that's not good enough. Splitting a 4 game series with a bad Indians team is inexcusable. And this stop in Baltimore was a chance to gain ground on the Orioles, not lose it. And now the Sox are in New York for 3 games.

This is going to be a tough series, so the Red Sox are going to have to be tough. This trip can still be positive. I'm not expecting it, but a 3 game sweep in New York could be a serious momentum builder. Even a 2-1 series win and the road-trip was a 5-5 excursion. Which isn't good enough.

The Sox need to win series. They've played 10 series since the All-Star Break and are 4-5-1 in those series. It's time to stop treading water and make some progress.

Franklin Morales is on the mound tonight. He faces Phil Hughes, who is 11-10 with a 4.44 ERA. I don't foresee a pitcher's duel.

Photo Credit:
Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Oh and Daniel Bard's Struggles Continue

With the death of Johnny Pesky, and the off-field drama surrounding the Red Sox, we all forgot about Daniel Bard. He's still toiling in AAA, still trying to figure out how to pitch again.

It's not going well. On Tuesday he had an atrocious outing. He faced 5 batters, and walked 4 of them. He threw 27 pitches, only 10 were strikes. He walked the last 2 batters he faced on 8 straight pitches.

August has been bad for Bard. In 4.2 innings this month, he's walked 10 and allowed 8 earned runs. He had shown signs of improvement in July, but now is back to struggling just to throw strikes.

The problem is mechanical. The problem is mental. And those two problems are likely interrelated. He has no confidence.

It's time to shut him down. His issues won't be solved on the mound in 2012. Maybe send him to Florida to pitch simulated games. Maybe give him a few months off and let him play winter ball in Mexico. Let him get away from this problem and just be Daniel Bard. Not Daniel Bard: struggling pitcher.

His career might not be over, but his 2012 season should be.

And want to get pissed off? Bard and Josh Beckett are tied with the same number of wins this season. 5 wins.

Red Sox Mouthpieces Try to Dismiss Meeting

I was listening to WEEI's broadcast of the game last night. Dave O'Brien and Joe Castiglione couldn't figure out why the July 26th meeting of players and Ownership was a big story. The two repeated the "nothing to see here" statements John Henry and Dustin Pedroia gave about the meeting: that such meetings are held throughout the season, and that nobody was lobbying for Valentine to be fired. O'Brien then remarked that "several facts" from Jeff Passan's article were "in dispute."

I switched to NESN. The Red Sox own most of NESN, by the way. Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy expressed a similarly dismissive attitudes toward the story. "I'm past it" Remy remarked. Neither felt that the story was noteworthy. And both agreed that the Red Sox' problems are all on the field, and that the buzz around this meeting was just noise about nothing.

These are the voices of the Red Sox Propaganda Machine. These are the dupes, the suckers, the inner circle of Boston Sports Media that is under the influence of John Henry and Larry Lucchino. These are the yes-men, the suck-ups, the naive, the blind, the fools.

Listening to them, I was reminded of Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf, a.k.a. Baghdad Bob.

Team meetings do happen. And these kinds of meetings between Ownership and players don't seem to be a new thing for the Sox. But here is why this most recent meeting is a significant story:

1. What caused the meeting to be held
A text message from Adrian Gonzalez complaining about Bobby Valentine leaving Jon Lester in a game too long. That's apparently what provoked this meeting. Why are players texting Owners about gameday decisions at all? And why are Owners responding to them by giving them a forum to bitch and moan?

I wonder what that text looked like:

"OMFG we h8 BobbyV. He left J-les in the game 2 long. He needz 2 go. Yolo."

2. The divisive nature of the meetings
The Owners met with players, then met with coaches, then met with Valentine. All separate meetings. Why? Player-only meetings are commonplace, but don't typically involve Owners. And why isolate Valentine so much that even his assistant coaches have a different meeting?

How does dividing the team foster unity? And how does letting players go over their manager (and General Manager, let's not forget that the relative lack of Cherington in this story is interesting in and of itself), support the leadership hierarchy of the organization? The players ignored the chain-of-command, went over Valentine's head, to the side of Cherington's, and right into Larry Lucchino's text message inbox.

3. The leaks about the meeting
If this truly were a normal meeting, then why did Passan get leaked information about it? Why did he get multiple sources telling him about problems in the clubhouse and a tense meeting in which players ripped Bobby Valentine?

Maybe Passan was given faulty information. But that'd be a story too. If players and coaches are feeding lies to the media, then that implies the same thing that the original story about the meeting implies:

That something stinks with this team.

That's the story here. Something is rotten and it's stinks to high heaven.

Sox Have More Woes with O's

I'll never forget that it was in Baltimore that the 2011 Red Sox ended their season. And even though it's mid-August, the Sox seem to be trying to end their 2012 campaign in Charm City as well. This season the Sox are now 3-8 against the O's, who seem to have hired the right ESPN analyst to manage their team.

Aaron Cook had a weird start. He cruised at the outset, retiring the first 9 Orioles he faced, not allowing a hit until the 6th. But it was in the 6th that it all unraveled. He was inducing groundballs in the first 5 innings, then the Orioles figured out how to get under the ball and lift it into the air.

The Red Sox lineup threatened, but never struck a knockout blow. Even the 2 runs in the 5th could have been more with the heart of the order up and runners on.

Then Adrian "text message" Gonzalez got ejected in the 8th. He seemed to be upset that Oriole reliever Pedro Strop pitched to him very quickly after Gonzalez had just stepped into the box. Gonzalez appeared to say "I wasn't ready," and home-plat umpire Mike Everitt effectively said "That's not my problem."

Moments later, Gonzalez continued to argue from the dugout and Everitt tossed him. Bobby Valentine then came out to argue, and was soon ejected.

I wonder how many texts John Henry and Larry Lucchino got from Gonzalez, begging them to hold a meeting with the umpiring crew.

It's a team of whiners. They're spoiled children that throw temper tantrums.

And now they're 7 behind the Rays and 8 behind the Orioles in the loss column. They're in danger of being ejected from the Wild Card race.

Clay Buchholz pitches tonight against Chris Tillman. The tall 24 year old righty has been solid most of the season, with a few ugly starts mixed in. However, the Sox have a good history against him. Carl Crawford is 7 for 14 off Tillman, with a double and 2 triples. Hopefully Buchholz pitches well, the Sox get 4+ runs off Tillman, and they can salvage a win.

Photo Credit:
Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Mutiny on the Red Sox

You've probably already read or at least heard a summary of Jeff Passan's article about Red Sox players being upset at Bobby Valentine, complaining to Ownership, and a meeting being held in a New York hotel. Here's the sequence of key events:

July 22nd: Jon Lester is left in a game against the Blue Jays, despite struggling mightily. He allowed 9 runs in the first 2 innings but remained in the game, pitching into the 5th. He allowed 11 runs total.

Adrian Gonzalez, on behalf of himself and others, texted Red Sox Ownership (John Henry and Larry Lucchino). They complained that Valentine embarrassed Lester by leaving him in the game too long.

July 26th: In New York's Palace Hotel (on an off day before a series with the Yankees), the owners call a meeting of players. The players expressed their grievances. Some did not want to play for Bobby Valentine. Others felt that Valentine had become a scapegoat. Some players did not attend the meeting.

Since this meeting, the Red Sox Front Office and Ownership have all publicly declared that they "stand behind" Bobby Valentine. The Red Sox are 8-10 since the meeting.

I hate everyone involved in this story. I hate Bobby Valentine for being an egomaniacal jerk. I hate the players for whining and moaning. I hate the owners for catering to the players whining and moaning. Everyone stinks.

Lots of people are defending Bobby Valentine, or at least not blaming him for these problems. But he is partially responsible. He's a polarizing guy. He's talkative. He doesn't have a censor. He rubs some people the wrong way. None of this is new. This is who he has always been.

Adding Valentine to the Sox clubhouse was like adding hot sauce to a dish in an effort to make it less spicy. It doesn't make sense. He and his relentless personality only complicates the problem.

The owners have declared their support for Valentine through public statements. It's just words, though. Empty words. If Ownership supported Valentine, they wouldn't give the players an audience for their complaints.

Anyone watch The Office? Remember when Dwight goes to Jan (his boss's boss) in an attempt to oust Michael (his boss). What does Jan do? She tells Michael, and lets Michael handle the discontent. That's what the Sox Owners should have let Valentine do. Instead, the Owners meddled, and didn't let Valentine do his job.

You can't stand behind someone, then step in front of them and interfere in their job. Either let Valentine manage or fire him.

The players on this team should be ashamed of themselves. I was indifferent toward Adrian Gonzalez before today. Now he seems like he's a leader of complaints.

Part of Passan's piece mentioned a cell phone picture circulating among Sox players. Dustin Pedroia is smiling and giving a thumbs up. In the background lies a sleeping Bobby Valentine (or at least a facedown person that is allegedly Bobby Valentine). The caption reads "Our manager contemplating his lineup at 3:30 p.m."

Dustin Pedroia needs to move on and realize that Francona is gone. I know Valentine is a joke, but he's still the manager.

Then again, Pedroia challenged Valentine on Kevin Youkilis at the start of the season. And Valentine backed down. How can you respect Valentine after that?

Bobby V is a bad manager. That's why no MLB team gave him a job since 2002. He tries too hard to do too much. He tries to be a psychologist and keep pitchers in games so they build confidence. He thought he was a physician when he concocted a rehab plan for Crawford that involved playing a maximum 4 games in a row at a time. He thinks he's an inventor, a preacher, a motivational speaker, a philosopher, a dietitian, and a publicist.

At the same time, the Ownership aren't letting Bobby Valentine do his job. The heirchy of power in a baseball organization should be simple:

Manager: decides who on the roster plays and when they play
GM: decides who is on the roster (draft, trades, signings, releases, promotions)
Front Office: authorizes funds for payroll, decides general direction of the team, interacts with other parts of organization (promotions, ticket sales, customer service, et cetera)

With the Red Sox, everything is confused:

Manager: decides who plays
GM: usually decides who is on the roster
Front Office: fields complaints from players, decides how much GM spends (not just how much they're allowed to spend), dictates how manager and GM should act, manipulates the media to give a favorable impression of the team, tells ticket office to lie about number of tickets sold

Larry Lucchino needs to stay in his office. Part of being a boss is delegating. When you delegate responsibility, you can't do it halfway and only give someone partial responsibility. When you appoint a GM, you have to let the GM do his job. Otherwise dysfunction follows.

Then we get to the players. They're whiny, spoiled, disgruntled, and they don't seem to care much about winning.

A baseball team doesn't have to be 25 best buddies. But the prime goal of all 25 players should be the same: win.

Pedroia's prime goal is to get Valentine fired. Gonzalez's is to make sure Jon Lester's feelings aren't hurt. Beckett's is to drink. Lackey's is to drink more than Beckett. Ortiz's is to get a big contract for 2013. Matsuzaka's was to win the World Baseball Classic. Ellsbury's goal is probably to get out of here.

What's the solution:
Limit Lucchino to desk activity. Fire Valentine and hire a low-key, no-nonsense manager who'll do no more than fill out a lineup card and decide when to take pitchers out of a game. Release Beckett. Release Lackey. Don't re-sign Ortiz for anything more than $8 million. Trade at least 1/3 of the remaining babies. Give younger players a chance to make this team.

Everyone is at fault here. Everyone sucks. They need to either be removed, or have their roles significantly adjusted. And if you pay money to see this team play, you're a sap.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Beckett Makes Me Want to Drink Like My Name Were Josh Beckett

In my opinion, I think it's a better investment for the Red Sox to pay Josh Beckett to not pitch for them than it is for them to pay him to pitch. He just sucks. There's nothing redeemable about him as a pitcher or as a person. This off-season, the Red Sox should try to trade him for nothing, even pay most of his salary. And if there are no takers, just release him and eat the contract.

What is his positive contribution to this team? I can't see any.

With this team, it's gotten to the sad state that you just have to admit "Baltimore is better."

The Red Sox were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. Beckett allowed a pair of homeruns. Mike Aviles struck out 3 times and has become a useless part of the lineup. Alex "text message" Gonzalez was 0 for 3 with RISP.

This was a big series. I know Wei-Yin Chen vs. Josh Beckett is a bit of a mismatch in favor of Baltimore, but I'm disappointed the Sox couldn't pull it out last night.

They're now 7 games behind the Orioles in the loss column. And 7 games behind the A's. And 5 behind the Tigers, and 4 behind the Angels.

The good news is that the Red Sox' worst pitcher has already pitched in this series, so it can only get better from here. Aaron Cook faces Miguel Gonzalez. Gonzalez is coming off back-to-back starts that were very good, and the Red Sox don't have much history against him. That's usually bad for the Sox.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

R.I.P. Johnny Pesky

Johnny Pesky described himself once: "I wasn’t a great player. I was a decent player. I knew the game, I’d like to think. I know I had a lot of fun."

He wasn't an earth-shatteringly great player. He only managed to stay in the Majors for 10 seasons (although he missed 3 due to military service in World War II). He was a career .307 hitter with an impressive .394 career OBP, but most of his success came early in his Major League tenure.

He didn't have much power (his career high in HR was 3, and he had 17 career homeruns). He only made one All-Star Game. And it's likely that his good numbers were due significantly to hitting in front of Ted Williams.

And that doesn't matter. Pesky was much more than a player.

Johnny Pesky was a 92 year old baseball lifer who spent over 6 decades working for the Red Sox. He was a player, a manager, a coach, an instructor, an executive, and a living symbol; a personification of this team's history.

He passed away at the age of 92 yesterday. The Red Sox will wear black armbands for the remainder of the season to honor him.

I'm glad he was able to participate in Fenway Park's 100th Anniversary celebration.

Baseball was Pesky's life and livelihood. I wish more players on this current edition of the Red Sox cared about the game as much as players like he did.

And hopefully the soulless marketing mavens on Yawkey Way won't turn Mr. Pesky's death into an opportunity to cash in.