COUGH! COUGH!
*brushes away cobwebs, sweeps away dust, muses over something decomposing in the corner....*
I cannot believe how neglected this site has been. It is not that I don't care-I do, I do. But how many ways, in how many different languages, can one say "this sucks?" How many times can one describe the bile of disgust that wells up in your throat every time Mr. Drew (.136 for the month of July, average tanking under .240) or Mr. Bay (.203 for the month of July with ONE home run, less than .260 for the year) whiffs or hits a weak ground ball to short? I am not as sold on Jason Bay long term as the rest of RSN is, folks. He is only a so-so fielder, and a lifetime .280 hitter who will be 31 in September. What is the upside of signing him to a monster contract for four years, unless he develops a watermelon head? I personally think he was stupid to walk away from the Sox' "very aggressive" offer, because frankly the way he's produced the last couple of months-really since mid-May-he'll be lucky to be worth a tenth of that. For all the hype of last year-he's no Manny. Never has been, never will be. But never mind, he'll still end up in pinstripes. Mark my word.
In the meantime, Terry Francona is singing the patience song about the 2,000-year-old John Smoltz (I am three years older than he is, so i can say that), who gave it up again today to a pathetic Orioles team. Brad Penny has performed well enough that I briefly questioned my extreme bias against old and/or injured players-what I like to call reclamation projects-but Smoltz has confirmed it with a vengeance. It is sad, but 1996-or even 2002-was a long time ago, and we are reminded everytime Smoltz takes the mound. Even worse, for Smoltz it is only an 80 game season, considering he didn't start until the end of June. He doesn't have that much more time to turn it around, and even if he does, it will he hard to make up for the horrible way he has pitched up until now (having beaten only the KC Royals, and about to ring up his 5th ugly loss). Admit your mistakes, say sorry but it didn't work out, and move on. Oh, and Theo? Stop looking for needles in haystacks, would you? All you are gonna get that way is bloody fingers.
Of course, it would have helped tremendously to get some production out of the 2-5 guys today, and lately, every day.
Bah. I have to believe, of course, they are not going to play this poorly for the rest of the season, but there are some glaring holes that need to be addressed. Beckett and Lester and, with Timmy out, pray for rain. A starter who doesn't have an orthopod on speed dial would be a good start. A shortstop would be helpful, too-Nick Green has shown a flair for the dramatic but over the rest of the season .230 just isn't going to cut it. Too early to crap on Lowrie, but, as Papi proved, a wrist injury can be death to a season.
One thing I'm just really glad about? We proved to those Skanks that we didn't need no stinkin' Mark Teixiera!
Call it a series and move on. The A's are in town starting tomorrow, a team the Sox should sweep but at this point will be lucky to win the series. Grrrr! Thank God football camp opens soon!!!!
John Smoltz remembers when the pyramids were "that new thing up the street."
Posted by: Douglas Watts | July 27, 2009 at 06:35 AM
He and Tim Wakefield.
Posted by: Lisa K. | July 27, 2009 at 01:30 PM