Can Red Sox fans co opt all of the Jeremy Lin puns?

All of that "Lin-sanity" stuff didn't get the Knicks very far.
But Che-Hsuan Lin may have just saved the game for the Red Sox with his great catch in the 8th inning today.

And frankly with each day a young Red Sox player shows some heart and guts, the more I am liking this team. Each catch by Lin, hit by Will Middlebrooks or solid start from Felix Doubront make me excited.

No not for 2012. I still don't think this team is a contender. We're past the 1/4 mark and the Red Sox still haven't spent one day above .500 yet. Wake me when they get 5 games above .500 before you start having images of playoffs dancing in your head.

But the more holes they can fill from within with young, inexpensive and eager to succeed players, the less likely they will be an expensive bloated team in 2013.

What if Lin can be a speedy outfielder to combine with a healthy Ellsbury to give the team solid defense and speed?

What if Middlebrooks and Jose Iglesias give the Red Sox a left side of the infield for years to come to go along with Pedroia and Gonzalez on the right side?

What if Bard and Doubront can be back end of the rotation pitchers while Mark Melancon and Junichi Tazawa can provide some bullpen depth?

Then the off season turns into fill in a couple of gaps in the rotation, pen and maybe one bat and all of a sudden the team can be an exciting one.

Just be careful with the Asian puns.


   

A healthy way for Red Sox fans to view the 2012 season

OK, it is early in the season. But there is something so pure about how the Red Sox lost the first three games of the season that it actually is helpful and refreshing.

Remember last year? They had sky high expectations and started 0-6 and 2-10.
It was confusing.
It was perplexing.
It was unexpected.
And it haunted the Sox in September as they missed the post season by 2 swings.

This bad start?
Please, it is helpful.

How?
First of all it clear illustrates what is wrong with the Red Sox.
What happens when you go to see the doctor?
The doctor asks "What's the problem?"
You explain the problem and the doctor tries to help fix the problem.

That is EXACTLY what is happening with the Red Sox.
What seems to be the problem?
No starting pitcher is reliable other than Jon Lester, and even if the offense comes through, the bullpen stinks.

OK, then what is the solution?

I think for all Red Sox fans, we need to take a deep breath and remind ourselves 5 things.

1) There are 159 games left in the season.
2) The Tigers are actually one of the elite teams in the game.
3) The Red Sox are probably not going to make the playoffs.
4) That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
5) We ALL told everyone on the planet Earth that we just needed one World Series title before we died. We've had 2.

It is indeed a long season and who knows? The Red Sox could go on a nice winning streak. They could be getting the bad feelings out of the way early.

But guess what?
There might not be a quick fix.
Doctor's can't always prescribe a pill and sometimes surgery is needed.
Sometimes a natural healing process needs to happen.

And sometimes it is a good thing to have some pain in the body.
Pain tells us where the problem is.

And here is the Dr. Sully Diagnosis:

I've been saying this since Spring Training. The Red Sox are 8 players short of a pennant contender.
At least 2 starting pitchers... At least 2 Relief Pitchers... A Catcher... a Shortstop... A Rightfielder... And a Third Baseman for 2013 (Youkilis should become the full time DH after Ortiz's contract expires.)

There is no way that they will fill 8 this year.
But 4 isn't out of the question.

Imagine if the Red Sox develop 4 players this year.
Let's say that the Jose Iglesias becomes the starting shortstop and fields his position well.
And Ryan Lavarnway shows he can be a decent big league catcher.

And someone like third baseman Will Middlebrooks or reliever Alex Wilson or Junichi Tazawa (who is only 26 years old) can fill holes in the team.

If that happens (which isn't as unreasonable as asking a team to climb back from an 0-3 hole with Rivera on the mound), then the Red Sox will go into the 2013 season with Youkilis, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Lester, Ellsbury, depth up the middle and a slightly deeper pitching staff. Take Ortiz and Dice-K off the books and you fill the final 4 holes and BAM!

I see the 2013 Red Sox as legit pennant contenders.

That's a healthy way to look at the season!

Not as a rebuilding season... but as a healing process.

And don't give me the nonsense that "We can not accept anything less than a Championship team!"
Since when?
When did "Now I can die in peace" become "I need a miracle daily."

The sooner we accept that we aren't a playoff team the better. It will make this year a lot more fun to watch. It will be a recovery season where we see the new great Sox team rise from the ashes.

If they DO win it all, then great!
If they DO make the playoffs, then wow! It's a bonus.

But if they have their third straight third place finish, at least we can say "At least we are heading in the right direction."

Relax Sox fans.
Enjoy the season.

You are going to feel a little pinch.

 

Of course

Of course I spent the weekend celebrating my brother's wedding.

I didn't watch much baseball this weekend but nothing that happened surprised me.

OF COURSE the Red Sox and Yankees each scored 29 runs in 3 games, but the Red Sox won only one game.

And OF COURSE with Beckett and Penny pitching, Tazawa would be the only starter who did a good job.

And oh yeah... OF COURSE John Smoltz would find his stuff in his debut with the Cardinals.

The Red Sox starting rotation has more holes than the plot of the last Indiana Jones movie, and the one pitcher they totally gave up is throwing like a Hall of Famer.

Granted, there is a BIIIIIG difference between facing the Yankees line up in the wind tunnel and facing the 2009 Padres in Petco, but STILL!

Can we make a trade for Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan???

Oh yeah, OF COURSE in a game where the Mets get an inside the park homer and show some guts coming back from a big deficit, they have a game END on an unassisted triple play.

It's bad enough to line into one... but seriously, when your game ends with an unassisted triple play, just acknowledge the baseball Gods have it in for you and call up your triple A team.

And OF COURSE the Giants would score 11 runs in one game...

And have Lincecum pitch into the 8th inning in another game...

AND LOSE BOTH!

11 runs in a loss?

Did the Giants score 11 runs in July?

And finally of course the first place Tigers would lose a series to the lowly A's... and the second place White Sox couldn't take advantage as THEY lost 2 games to the pathetic Orioles.

Just another predictable late season weekend in baseball.

Vincentives

The Texas Rangers have a one game lead for the American League wild card... so you would think they would need all the help they could get.

Vincente Padilla led the team in wins in 2008. He has the third highest win total on the team this year. He has a winning record (8-6) and while his ERA is ugly, it IS under 5.00 which in an achievement in Texas.

So naturally they cut him.

And the Rangers clubhouse is acting the same as the orphanage in Problem Child when John Ritter took the kid home.

He must have been a MISERABLE teammate.

Awful.

Disgraceful.

He's a free agent.

I want the Red Sox to sign him!

What? You ask! Sully, if he was such a bad teammate in Texas, how will he be better in Boston?

I have no clue what kind of teammate he was in Texas.
I wasn't there.

Do you know what makes a BAD teammate in my eyes?

Brad Penny getting bombed every 5 days.
Junichi Tazawa letting up homer after homer every 5 days.

Call me crazy and you've called me worse... but there's only 7 weeks left in the season.

Couldn't Padilla sign on and want to show the Rangers they were wrong?
Couldn't he be motivated for a month and a half to play well and be nice... and put himself in position to become a millionaire again?

How can he be worse than Penny?

Which goes to show you how bad things are with Penny.

I'd rather have a guy who had swine flu pitching than Penny!

Red Sox show some fight!

I called my dad last night during the Giants - Dodgers game last night and my dad couldn't resist giving my Red Sox a little dig.

"You root for thugs! Hooligans! The Giants are role models!"

He might be right. But I can tell you one thing... this is NOT a repeat of 2006.

The Red Sox got smacked around in a 5 game sweep by the Yankees in '06 and suddenly the team went limp. Either everyone got hurt or they quit.

This team got swept by the Yankees and are coming out swinging, in EVERY way!

The team is showing some fire, some guts and can even survive and ejection or two.

Youk gets tossed?

Fine, Lowell will come off the bench and hit a pair of bombs.

Seeing Lowell and Bay hit homers was more than heartening.

And the kid Junichi Tazawa let up 3 runs but guess what? It wasn't a do or die inning like the bottom of the 15th in New York!

Just keep winning games, Red Sox.

The Magic Number to make the playoffs is 50.

Glub... Glub... Glub...

Hey Junichi Tazawa! Welcome to the big leagues!

The Red Sox cut a Hall of Famer to make room for you.
No pressure.

And oh yeah, your first game will be in extra innings at Yankee Stadium in a game the Red Sox need desperately to win.

And each pitch you throw could end the game.

Good luck.

All things considered, he didn't do that badly. He gave the Red Sox 1 2/3 of shutout ball... until of course letting up a walk off shot to A-Rod.

In the 15th f---ing inning!

I guess scoring a single run in the first 14 innings was too much to ask for.

2 of the Sox last 4 games were lost deep into extra innings.

2 of the Sox last 4 games had their bullpen wriggle out of trouble with the game on the line only to see an All Star third baseman launch a 2 out walk off shot.

If the Red Sox lose tomorrow, they will have matched their longest losing streak of the year.

On August 2nd the Red Sox were 1/2 a game out of first. When August 8 ends they could be 5 1/2 games out. 

They could drop 5 games in the standings in less than a week! Is that even mathematically possible? They went from being on the verge of over taking the Yankees to possibly having Texas and Tampa catch them.

Let's hope this is the low point.

Let's hope this is the wake up call.

All I know is I can't watch tomorrow. I'm sorry boys. I love you and you know I always root for you... but tonight took too much out of me. 

And Tazawa... next time hopefully you will pitch in a less stressful enviornment!

Let's update the board.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 14

April 17 - 10-8 win against Orioles. (Overcame 7-0 deficit.)

April 24 - 5-4 win against Yankees. (Bay homers off of Rivera in 9th to tie it.)

April 25 - 16-11 win against Yankees. (Overcame 6-0 deficit.)

April 29 - 6-5 win at Cleveland. (Overcame 5-0 deficit.)

May 12 - 4-3 win at Anaheim. (Down 3-1 in the 8th.)
June 11 - 4-3 win against Yankees. (Down 3-1 in the 8th. Rallied against Sabathia.)

June 12 - 5-2 win at Philadelphia. (Overcame Ryan Howard's 9th inning shot to win in 13)

June 21 - 6-5 win against Atlanta. (The wind turns Nick Green's fly ball into a walk off shot)

June 27 - 1-0 win at Atlanta. (Masterson and Papelbon wiggle out of late jams.)
July 1 - 6-5 win at Baltimore. (Sox score 4 in the 9th and Lugo wins in in the 11th)

July 8 - 5-4 win against Oakland. (Wind keeps Hairston's 9th inning go ahead homer in the ballpark)

July 10 - 1-0 win against Kansas City. (Pedroia drives in the only run with 2 outs in the 8th.)

July 30 - 8-5 win against Oakland. (Ortiz tests postive then hits a 2 out 3 run go ahead homer.)

July 31 - 6-5 win at Baltimore. (Youk's 2 run homer saves Smoltz from another bad start.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 19

April 14 - 6-5 loss at Oakland. (Sox blow early 3-0 lead. Lose in 12)

April 28 - 9-8 loss at Cleveland. (Sox blow early 5-1 lead. Lopez drops 3rd out.)
May 14 - 5-4 loss at Anaheim. (Ortiz goes 0-7 stranding 12 runners.)
May 15 - 5-4 loss at Seattle. (Red Sox blow their second 4-0 lead in three days.)

May 17 - 3-2 loss at Seattle. (Red Sox strand two in the 9th. Lose in the bottom of the 9th.)

May 23 - 3-2 loss to the Mets. (Papelbon lets up a 2 out 2 run homer in the 9th to Omir Santos)

June 18 - 2-1 loss to the Marlins. (Rain washes out a tight game after 5+ innings.)

June 28 - 2-1 loss to the Braves. (Tying run on base in the 9th. Solid Penny outing wasted)
June 30 - 11-10 loss at Baltimore. (The Red Sox blow a late 10-1 to the lowly Orioles.)
July 3 - 7-6 loss to Seattle. (Red Sox comeback in the 8th only to lose in the 11th.)

July 4 - 3-2 loss to Seattle. (Saito walks three in the 9th as the Mariners rally to win)

July 9 - 8-6 loss to the Royals. (Bullpen blows early 4-0 lead.)

July 21 - 4-2 loss at Texas. (Beckett loses a complete game and the Yankees take over first.)

July 22 - 3-1 loss at Texas. (Sox are swept for the first time all season.)

July 28 - 9-8 loss to Oakland. (Sox blow 3 run lead in 9th. A's rally with 2 outs in 9th and 11th.)

July 29 - 8-6 loss to Oakland. (Down 5-0 in the first, Sox comeback falls short)

August 4 - 4-2 loss in Tampa Bay. (Longoria hits 13th inning walk off with first base open.)

August 5 - 6-4 loss in Tampa Bay. (Sox gets swept in a 2 game series with the tying run at the plate).

August 7 - 2-0 loss in New York. (A-Rod's walk off with 2 outs in the 15 ends a teeth grinding marathon.)

Down to -5

At this point all I want is ONE game in the Bronx!!!!