Red Sox ...

[meaiken]

With all that said, i looked at the standings this morning and the Red Sox still have the 3rd BEST record in MLB behind Detroit & NYY. It's funny how i can be so down along with others up here.We still have a pretty solid team i guess!

They are tied with the Mets

[meaiken]

They are tied with the Mets

My bad Mets lost last night

[TMAC951]

I think this thread needs a little cheese with its whine.. Seems funny to me that when Wells,Wakefield and everyone else on the Red Sox injury list other than Varitek and the Sox were in 1st place Wayne seemed to never say anything about it.. But as soon as the Red Sox fell out of 1st place what does he do?? COMPLAIN AND COMPLAIN EVEN MORE.. Remember when the Yanks had the injury bug hit them?? (Still do with Matsui,Sheffield) what did you say?? Quit making excuses and let the players play the game.. Well guess what?? ITS MY TURN!! QUIT MAKING EXCUSES AND LET THE PLAYERS PLAY THE GAME!!

[MtrCtyPimp]

I have openly admitted recently that i just get the feeling they are DONE!

The Pitching leaves me with NO CONFIDENCE right now. Earlier when we had Wells, Clement & Wakefield on the DL, i had confidence in the bats picking them up a little. Now, with Nixon, Lowell, Varitek & Mirabelli hurt, i have alot of doubts.

Injuries are unfortunate but none of those players are KEY.

IMO Youk, Manny, Ortiz, Schilling and Papelbon are the core.......if any of those go down then you are fucked.....until then the rest is window dressing. With those 5 you can score many runs, stop losing streaks and close games. Red Sox are just fine.

PEACE

[Three Jack]

My two cents is that who cares about the Yankees...every single team has injuries. If you want to win, get over it and move on.

As much as I like the Sox, I personally think that Sox fans completely over estimated this team. Pitching...you have 2 of the best in the biz in Beckett and Schill. After that, they come into the season relying on Wakefield (who has one more than 12 games ONCE in the last 7 years, with some very good baseball teams behind him, not to mention 40 y/o), Wells (why are we so surprised this 43 y/o who doesn't keep himself in shape is breaking down) and Clement (who just flat out has not lived up to expectations). Thier lineup after Manny doesn't scare anyone, Trot being hurt was a matter of time as well. If it wasn't for Lowell, Loretta and Youklis flying out of the gate the first half of the season, this team would be in much deeper trouble. What if Lowell hit like he has the last 2 yrs? What if Youk hit .285 like most people thought he would? I admit, I got caught up in the Coco excitement...everyone in Boston thinking he would equal and replace Damon, and that hasn't happened. No one scares you in this lineup from #5 - #9. I was more surprised with how well they played the first half than I am since the 12 game streak ended.

Regardless, they are THE MOST fun team in baseball to watch. If they win, it will be because people play above their heads and because of their heart. I still think they have enough to win the Wild Card....at least I hope so.

[Three Jack]

Injuries are unfortunate but none of those players are KEY.

IMO Youk, Manny, Ortiz, Schilling and Papelbon are the core.......if any of those go down then you are fucked.....until then the rest is window dressing. With those 5 you can score many runs, stop losing streaks and close games. Red Sox are just fine.

PEACE

MCP, you are about as wrong as you can be about Varitek...the Captain, heart and soul....it isn't always about hitting.....

[TMAC951]

Injuries are unfortunate but none of those players are KEY.

IMO Youk, Manny, Ortiz, Schilling and Papelbon are the core.......if any of those go down then you are fucked.....until then the rest is window dressing. With those 5 you can score many runs, stop losing streaks and close games. Red Sox are just fine.

PEACE

I agree with that.. you take Bostons injuries vs yanks injuries and tell me just what team you think lost the most important Role players on their team and i promise you most of them would say that they would take losing what players boston did anyday rather than losing matsui or sheffield.. But IMHO losing JV really really hurt this team because of the way he is the general of this team on the field.. That IMO is the only SERIOUS loss that Boston has had to this point!

[savage1]

Lets look at this issue differently:
Lets say none of the players for Sox were injured, BUT that either Ortiz or Ramirez(not both) was injured for the amount of time at the same time that Sheffield and Matsui were injured and had not returned.
The question is where would the Sox be now and what would be their prospects? Obviously, this is kind of difficult to answer because it is difficult to say what Theo would have done if anything to plug the hole.
Assuming, they just basically went with what they had, I say Sox would not be where they are(would have fewer wins), and that I would be less optimistic than now if Ortiz or Ramirez was not expected back until sometime in Sept. or not at all.
Turning to the present reality, I would say that the loss of Varitek is more important than anyone else(not that they all are not important).
The overall point is that the loss of either Ortiz or Ramirez for more than a few days would be huge, as the entire cohesion of the lineup would be destroyed.
I am not sure if I am agreeing with Wayne or Tony or perhaps I am somewhere in the middle;I am just stating the way I see it.
ps Obviously I should mention Papelbon also, without whose presence the Sox would not be where they are even if no one had been injured.

[TwoTonTony]

it is really pointless to argue injuries and there importance.....Nobody knows what you would have lost......JV is a big loss from a leadership side.....but it is not like losing Tom Brady in football....nowehere even close....You have replaced his bat......and lost a little of the control he had on the staff....But lets face it guys...these men are professionals and JV's calls, although important is not going to amount to many games over a 30 game period....I mean we are playing the devil rays, Kc and blatimore to name a few.....

I think waynes issue is the unfairness of the salary cap and mine is that, yes, although it is unfair it is in place and we have to live with it....It also does not look good to use it as a crutch when we have injuries...That is my only point...We could go round and round how important a catcher of JV's caliber means.....I think it is a hit for sure....just not insurmountable.....Would rather lose him than Manny

Remember what tom hanks said, "there is no crying in baseball"....so sox fans lets cheer our guys on...We still are in it

[detroitdavid]

i guess you didn't read what i put on this site 10 days ago or so. i said the biggest problem with boston, yanks, & chisox was pitching, twins outside of santana & liriano isn't all that great either. now as teams get injuries, all depends on thier minor league system. as a die hard yankee hater i really wished that the bosox would win that division & the chisox the wild card. well best of luck the rest of the season, & maybe javy lopez can start hitting again. papi, ramirz, & lopez in the middle can be a lot of home runs.

[BrezzeEaze]

Let the season play out, this is what make baseball so great...forget payroll, injuries and any other excuses...Let them play the game and watch how everything unfolds..

[Tomorrows Paper]

A guy that was 7-8 and played every 5th day over someone who was the Captain and QB on the field??? I guess we disagree on just about everything when it comes to this team.

No reason to shit on Wakefield, his ERA was better than Beckett's (who is 13-5 or so), he just got no run support.
But yeah, Varitek's loss is definitely the biggest, and I think it's fair to say that it is even bigger than Matsui or Sheffield, even though he isn't as good as them on paper.

[savage1]

I think it is almost imperative that beginning last night Sox take at least 6 of 9 from TB, KC and Baltimore considering the Tigers and Yankees are next.
Anything less than 5 of 9 would say to me that Sox were not able to withstand the loss of the players, and I think it would only get worse with the Tigers and Yankees as the next opponents and probably drastically reduce if not for all intensive purposes eliminate Sox's chances of making the playoffs.
On a brighter and more optimistic note, Sox did win last night, and hopefully it will carry over to today.

[wayne1218]

I still say there is a reason why the NFL is so GREAT! It's the Salary cap and the fact remains that a team from G.B. Wisconsin has just as much spending power as a Team from NY, CAL, or anywhere else. Every team has a chance every year if they have good solid management.

The NBA is close to the same although teams can keep players but bumping the salary up. Overall though they are pretty equal and it is virtually impossible to put a dream team on the court with the cap.

The NHL finally figured it out last year when they put in the Cap. Detroit had some great teams but they were HIGHLY PRICED. Sorta like the NHL's version of the Yanks with star power. They were brought down to everyone's level this year and a team NOBODY predicted to WIN did and they were from Raleigh, N.C. The NHL will give every team a chance to win now and in the future.

Wild Card or not, why do you think 1/4 - 1/2 of mlb stadiums are naked, empty, bare or hollow in July and August with more empty seats than fans??? You can name 10-15 MLB teams that simply have zero chance of winning a WS over the next 10 years. Obviously certain ones like Minny and Oakland have the right guys in place to make right decisions and feed the farm system but not all of them do.

You are right. People with a 30 million payroll can bitch about Boston's 110 million too. No doubt but the seperation is MUCH TIGHTER with them and the rest of the league compared to N.Y. A few teams are over 100 million and several teams are in the 75-100 million range. All competitive and comparable with Boston. The teams on the bottom will always be there and it won't matter what the other teams do. I would love a salary cap for ALL including Boston!

I know, i can't change it tony and i'm seriously not trying to make excuses. I've been saying this literally for years and not just for Boston's sake but for the LEAGUE AS A WHOLE.

It kind of got taken into this years standings by me but in general i meant it as a "Baseball" thing more than a Boston/NY thing.


As pimp would say ...

PEACE

[hacker197]

As a long time Sox fan, I pretty much agree.
Its going to be tough for the next month or so with so many players out.
Obviously the next week or so is VERY important with games against TB, KC and Baltimore before a tough stretch with Tigers and Yankees.
Right now, if someone asked me who will make it to playoffs, I would say Yanks, Detroit and White Sox as wildcard;I have feeling Minn.'s great run will peter out a bit in next month or so. West is too close to call.
Sure hope I (and you) are wrong about the Sox.

red sox probly will take the wildcard, white sox pitching is a mess too