So we’re on the loosing side of things. while i’m a die hard Red Sox fan and a proud member of Red Sox nation (or at least I was, I think the card expired, nonetheless I got the card like two weeks before my membership was up I think…) I’ve been a fan of the Sox since I was old enough to know what the **** was going on. We should be used this, why is it such a shock to everyone? Oh because we won the World Series in 2004. Helloooooo that was 2 years ago now. we’re still riding that high apparently and we need to get off the train and onto the 2006 one. The Sox have always shown how to loose with grace, through out all of this though we still have to have hope. Still cheer on our guys, cheer on the teams that beat the Tigers, Yanks, White Sox and any other team that might be a threat. Come on Red Sox nation wake up and start giving the players something cool to look forward to, I know there are those that are out there that are with the team always, no matter what, but there are a lot of band-wagon fans, they jump on whoever is *************". Yes Seanez and Tavarez ****, those guys are only good really when we’re not winning so go ahead and boo them, but guys like Youk (I know some people are saying Youk! and it sounds like Boo’s, but I wonder how many are boo’s and not Yoooooooouk?) and so forth.

Anyway, it seems like when Dave Wallace came back in the spot of Pitching coach, our pitching staff has gone downhill, now it might be a coincidence but that’s what it seems like, I personally liked Al Nipper more. I don’t know the man, but he seemed better equiped to handle guys like Beckett and Papelbon, who are similar in fashion to Roger Clemens, I said similar not clones, basically the "throw heat" guys. I miss ‘Tek, but I think Mirabelli is doing a great job covering for him, and Lopez, well the poor guy needs to really get to know the team, he was thrown into a hard role. But I am unappologetically a Doug Mirabelli fan, he is one of my favorite players.

How about Lowell and Gonzo, I know there’s a lot of talk about these two right now and why not add to it. I love Mike Lowell, a great player, he seems like a really good guy and a good leader on the field. Gonzo has really just made me forget all about Renteria, I think that’s the case for a lot of people. His bat isn’t that great, but we have other guys that can (and should, but aren’t) stepping up and covering for him, but with a defensive glove like that, you can’t go wrong. Mike Lowell should win the Gold Glove this year.

Breslow seemed to pitch well the other night, I’m looking forward to seeing more from him.

We’ll see how Boomer pitches tonight, no matter I’m not a fan of his, but if he pitches as well as he did last time then that will be good, but Verlander I think is going to win. Verlander is just crazy, so many good young pitchers this year, I hope they can keep it up.

I just saw this quote in the survivinggrady.com message board:
The pundits who have said we will lose interest in the Red Sox now
that they have won it all are wrong. We never loved baseball in this
town for the championships. No one ever became a Red Sox fan so they
could boast or brag or thump their chest. We are Red Sox fans because
it is fun, because it unites us in a common purpose and gives our whole
community, the whole of Red Sox nation, a shared experience.

~

Jose Melendez

well I don’t know if I can agree with the whole, we don’t like to brag thing, we’re still rubbing in people’s face "2004!", good for us, at this point it’s proving to be a fluke though. 2004 has become our rally cry of sorts, heck Nesn is still using "Tessie". Sigh.

That’s all the ranting I can muster up for now. Go Sox!
Day off tomorrow for them, sweet deal, then a five game series with the Yanks, I can’t wait to see how badly Damon gets boo’d this time around.

I normally use my domain, www.redsoxforum.net for my Red Sox news, but a chance to do it at the MLB site, sure why not. So this is a fresh new start, which is good because it seems to go with the Sox Management thus far.

So, the White Sox won the World Series… Old news. I know. Slight significance is that they also won for the first time in 86 years. So who’s next? The Cubs? Although The Dodgers look like they’re making a play to try to challenge everyone else this upcoming season. They’ve got at least 3 of the more influential Red Sox personel in the past 4 years. Nomar, Bill Mueller, and Grady Little. Two of the three I could care less about. Nomar hasn’t been good in a few years. I don’t see why everyone wants the man back in Boston? He hasn’t been a solid in two to three years, he hasn’t been a solid fielder in a while, not too mention he’s been "injured" more in the last two or three years than a lot of people. Maybe he should just let Mia be the bread winner in the house. Grady Little, well I don’t know much about the guy, maybe that’s what makes me care less about him.
Bill Mueller though, the guy is one of my favorite Third Basemen of all time. Have you seen the agility that this guy plays with? I don’t know how many times he probably saved Renteria’s butt last year. The only other players I know of that play with that kind of ruff and tumble attitude are Trot Nixon and Gabe Kapler. (In fact I’m still waiting for the day that Trot either cartwheel’s to first to get someone out or does somersaults to catch a ball in the air.)
Not only was Billy a good player but he just seemd like a good guy. He was quiet, didn’t play to get attention like Johnny or Manny, just went out there and did his job, I dont think the man missed many days last year. If he did I’m sure he had a good reason. I will miss you Bill Mueller and I may become a Dodger fan if you continue your playing like you have.

Next up, the Renteria deal.

I think when that deal went through, Red Sox nation as a collective played the hallelujah chorus. He seemed like a likeable guy, but he just ******. I’ve heard some people state that he had taken a while to get used to playing even in St. Louis and etc. but once he got used to it he was good. My response was, we don’t have that kind of time in Boston. Not with the kind of fans that we got up here. If you don’t do well even in the first year, you probably won’t be liked and will probably be run out of town. New England is a hometown of some of the most rabid, cruel, loving and caring fans on the face of the planet. We like anyone who can defeat the Yankees, but we hate anyone who beats us. You can be the nicest of people but if you can’t play in Boston, you’re not liked.
Edgar just wasn’t up to the standards that we have set for our players, and why shouldn’t we as baseball fans set standards for our teams, especially when the Sox have had players like Babe Ruth, Carlton Fisk, Yaz, and the list goes on, right up to Ortiz and Manny and Tek and Wake. We’ve been able to spend the money to get a high caliber of players, though sometimes our expectations and original thoughts of a player don’t hold up. Nomar was the best thing to happen to the Sox since Clemens, but after all was said and done, he was nothing more than a public face. Maybe Edgar was the Sox scapegoat this year. Overall we had a pretty ***** season, pitching was down, enthusiasm just wasn’t there, plus heads got inflated. But Edgar’s 30 errors won’t go unnoticed.

Doug Mirabelli, who is sad to see him go? No seriously, I love Dougy. He was one of the coolest guys, I mean he could’ve been a Jay Payton and whined because he didn’t play everyday, but no he was happy just to play and to catch for the just as cool and loveable Tim Wakefield. I thought both would retire together, they just made such a good team. I can’t begin to wonder who the Sox are going to get to catch for Wake now. Kelly Shoppach has a lot to live up to if he gets the job and ‘Tek just can’t catch Wake’s knuckleball and will freely admit it. Even Wake seemed miffed that Doug was traded, I personally think it was a bad move, keep Doug, keep Graffinino, ship out Edgar, move Cora over to shortstop for now, thought Cora isn’t my favorite he’d play SS better than Edgar.

Overall thoughts: Trade Manny, I like the guy and he’s a great hitter, but we already have a great DH, we don’t need another one and Manny is just slacking off way too much out in the field. Hiding in the Green Monster, running to first and keeps going even when he’s safe, so by the time he stops he’s in right field. Not running out a play at first, even if you know you’re going to be thrown out, run it out. Is it really that hard?
Jonathan Papelbon is quite possibly the next Roger Clemens, more so than my tied for first with Tim Wakefield favorite pitcher of a all time Chris Carpenter. Put Papelbon in the starting rotation, if the Clemens thing went through our starting pitching staff could look like this: Clemens, Papelbon, Schilling, Beckett and Wakefield. That would be an insane pitching staff, too bad we couldn’t like Jason Isringhausen or someone like that for our lack of a relieving pitching staff. All we have is Timlin, Bradford and Foulke at this point. Getting rid of Mike Myers was dumb, I like Mike, he was a funny guy his documentaries he did with NESN were fun, and he was a pretty good pitcher. Foulke needs to just go, trade him to the Royals or something.

Ok I think I’ve ranted enough for the day. I’m sure I’ll be back as soon as we find out what’s going on with Johnny.