Posts Tagged ‘Anaheim Angels’
Sure, you THINK he doesn't look intimidating...but he will kick your ass. Courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.
Another successful game! Took a while and gave us some angst while it was happening but it ended well and, right now, that’s all we can ask for, right?
Great time in the live chat (and we’re now 3 for 3 so I might have to think about scheduling maybe 2 a week instead of 1 to help the Sox out of their funk!) – thanks to everyone who participated (whether by actually chatting or just visiting us to follow along).
Once again, Dustin Pedroia goes into the post-game questioning period with a message for folks…:
“David’s fine,” Pedroia said. “He’s one of our teammates. It could’ve been me that hit into a double play. It happens to everybody, man. He’s had 60 at-bats. A couple of years ago, I was hitting .170 and everyone was ready to kill me too. What happened? Laser show so relax. I’m tired of looking at the NESN poll, ‘Why is David struggling?’ David’s fine. He’s one of our teammates. We believe in him. He came out of it last year, he’s going to come out of it this year.
“It’s 25 guys, man. We met the other day. We need everybody to win. This isn’t two or three guys who are going to carry a team. We need everybody to help us win games. We have each other’s backs and we’re ready for the long haul. We started out [crappy] but we’re going to come out of it. We believe that.”
Now, regardless of whether you all think Papi is “fine” or you want him run out on a rail, you have to admit that being so forceful and forthcoming with public support is a sign of one hell of a teammate. Ever since John Tomase’s story about how the chemistry in the clubhouse is terrible (using no named sources – my favorite way to try and disparage people. Oh wait, it isn’t MY favorite way, it’s Tomase’s) there has been an active show of support from all over the team whether it’s the way the act in the dugout or the things they say to the press. Maybe Tomase’s piece had some merit to it? OR maybe they were so disgusted by it they decided (at the team meeting?) to make sure folks new it was full of holes? In any event, I’m enjoying the public shows of solidarity – even if it’s only for our benefit.
And, fools who boo Papi, really, give up your tickets. You absolutely don’t deserve to sit in those seats. I’ve gone over and over about how I feel about booing so there is no need to rehash it all but I’ll say this: If you sit at Fenway Park (or ANY park) and call yourself a Red Sox fan AND boo David Ortiz, you are an asshole. Plain and simple.
Oh, and Jeremy Hermida has something to say to those worried that Papi will be a problem in the clubhouse (talking about when he scored on Mike Lowell’s double in the 8th):
“He was one of the first guys to come up to me and said, ‘Way to pick me up,’” Hermida said. “That shows what kind of teammate he is and what kind of guy he is. He realizes there’s only so much he can do out there. He squared up a ball but unfortunately it was right at somebody. Fortunately, we were able to come through and get the knock when we needed it.”
He isn’t sitting and sulking. He’s still a part of the damn team and people need to remember that. I will absolutely not disagree that it’s painful to watch him struggle with his at-bats but that doesn’t mean he deserves the anger and disrespect that so many are throwing around right now. I don’t envy Tito his job; the decision to sit a legend doesn’t come easy. I believe Tito will do what’s right for this team and his players and I’m not going to second guess him – especially not on May 5th. Seriously, people, criticizing Papi on your blogs or on message boards, fine, I get it, it’s frustrating. Booing him at Fenway? You folks can go sit on a tack.
Tonight at Fenway the Red Sox will honor Nomar Garciaparra with a retirement ceremony of some sort. I won’t be there but I’ll be watching. Congratulations, again, Nomar!
John Lackey will, for the first time in his career, pitch against the Angels tonight with old friend Joel Pineiro on the mound. So the quest for a sweep begins at 7:10pm. Come on, John. You don’t want Clay to be the only one on the team with 3 wins, right?
LIVE CHAT TONIGHT! Maybe there won’t be as much cursing as usual? 
Adrian Beltre: Cool as the other side of the pillow with his two hits, scoring three runs, hitting three RBI and knocking his first home run in a Sox uniform. (Let's forget about the error for today, shall we?) Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.
It’s nice to wake up on the morning after a sports night like last night.
Before anything else I have to own up to my Bruins bandwagonism. I consider myself a genuine Red Sox and Celtics fan but my fandom for the Bruins has definitely waned over the years. Don’t get me wrong, as a Boston sports fan I always want the Bruins to win even if I don’t follow them closely. (Heck, I want the Revolution to win and I think I’ve ever watched all of one game they’ve played.) Back in the day (’the day’ being, for me, the Cam Neely era and earlier) I was a big fan and paid much more attention. Nowadays, I hope they do well and if they don’t I don’t lose any sleep over it. But last night, last night I really wanted them to win.
Pouring some lemon juice in the paper cut: Since being DFA'd by the Sox and picked up off waivers by the Angels, Kevin Frandsen has gone 7 for 15 with Triple A Salt Lake. He was sacrificed to keep on Alan Embree (who was DFA'd soon after). Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.
The Sox have an 11-14 record on May 3rd. It isn’t time to set the team on fire because there have been a lot of bright spots over the last week, but it’s fair to say we could be looking at a team that struggles for the season. I had a few interesting interactions with Sox fans last night online – the fact that it seems most people are down but not out is encouraging.
People have legitimate worries with the team but the underlying attitude around the Nation (or at least the part of the Nation that I interact with) seems to be frustration that they can’t beat a team like the Orioles tinged with an acknowledgment that it’s still a little early to be lining up on the Zakim Bridge.
So what do we do? We take comfort in the fact that the starting pitching is improving. We realize that this is probably (hopefully) the lowest they can hit and look forward to the team moving on and up. We have a good team and the idea that they will continue to plummet is just not fathomable to me right now. “Billy R Ford”, a contributor over at SoSH, had my favorite post thus far on this skid:
Some fun month-by-month records for everyone:
July 2008: 11-13, finished 95-67
June 2007: 13-14, finished 96-68
June 2004: 11-14, finished 98-64One month is not a large sample size. Just because it happened at the beginning of the year is no reason to panic.
I wish I had written this. Now I’m not ready to say “Woo, the Sox are going to the playoffs!!!” and pretend that they aren’t in a really ugly position right now but, as painful as this weekend was for Sox fans, I still hold out a lot of optimism for this season. At the very least, I expect this summer (hey it’s only May) to be fun and exciting.
Being me, I have to put a positive spin on the awfulness of what we’ve witnessed so far. Just think about how exciting the comeback will be. When the mad winning streak actually begins we’re going to have one hell of a time.
Clay Buchholz takes on Joe Saunders and the Angels tonight at 7:10. An Angels/Yankees homestand isn’t the ideal way to break out of a bad skid but you have to start somewhere, right?
