Here at BloodySox, we all planned on writing in the Boston Red Sox as the 2011 World Series Champions at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, that just won’t be happening.
Either way, these are our writer’s predictions. You know you are Red Sox Blog when no one picks the Yankees to win the World Series.
It's a sad day indeed
Wow, now this is a bombshell. According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com Terry Francona is expected to meet with Red Sox management Friday morning in Boston to discuss his future with the Red Sox and the likely resolution of this meeting is him leaving the Red Sox for good.
Now this is far from concrete, we won’t know until tomorrow morning (or this morning depending on where you live). It is likely he move on because he has asked for a resolution on the situation which is perfectly fair because he should know whether the Red Sox plan to move on with or without him. The Red Sox have a team option for 2012 and 2013 so they’ll have to make that decision.
I’m not sure where Francona would go but the two most likely destinations would be the Cubs or the White Sox, two great destinations for him as he is skilled at handling a rabid and treacherous media. (a must have skill for anybody who wants to manage in New York, Philly, Boston, or Chicago)
Judging from the painful to watch press conference with Tito and Theo earlier in the day it was clear that Tito was very unhappy with his situation and wanted out or at least wanted to know what his future holds with the team. It seems as if now he has a good idea of what his future holds, not being the manager of the Boston Red Sox anymore.
It’s a sad day for Red Sox Nation. You can say what you want about Tito and his sometimes interesting managerial decisions, but it’s hard to argue with his results. 2 World Series titles, 5 playoff appearances, and 8 seasons above .500 in his 8 year tenure with the Sox. He was a great player manager and handled the Boston media with great skill and didn’t seem to have any problems with the organization until the media suggested that he be fired (a suggestion I find ridiculous)
Is firing him really a good idea? He didn’t cause the September tank, the Red Sox players did. Managers can only do so much, and while I’m still pissed Aceves wasn’t made into a starter, that’s hardly on Tito. I just don’t see many other good options, unless the Red Sox front office think they could lure Maddon from the Rays. My question for people saying there are better options out there is are there better options for the Red Sox? The answer is probably not. After years of horrible managers like Grady Little, is it really a good idea to fire (or as the Red Sox will call it, decline his team options) one of the best managers in Red Sox history? That’s for you to decide, but my answer is an unequivocal no. Unless Tito really wants out of Boston (I don’t blame him, I was mortified when I heard calls from Boston beat writers to fire him) this pending move makes no sense to me. More to come as we find out more about this situation.
Update 10:38 AM
It’s official, Tito is out as the manger of the Boston Red Sox. It is being reported by Jon Heyman and multiple reputable sources. It’s a sad day indeed for Red Sox Nation.
Kind of unbelievable that the Red Sox went from AL World Series favorites to being out of the playoffs, but it happened. In a September that shouldn’t be spoken of ever again, the Red Sox blew it from a combo of bad managing, bad hitting, bad pitching, and bad training and conditioning. Everything went wrong. The Rays had everything go right for them, and they’re in the playoffs and the Red Sox aren’t. The “best team ever” is finished. This isn’t intended to be a long post, I don’t want to prolong the agony. But I want to provide some sanity. We all have to realize things could be worse. We could live in a third world country where freedom is non existent. We could not have a roof over our heads. We could be one of the 800 million people in the world that suffer from severe hunger and malnutrition. We could live in a region ravaged by war. But we aren’t. We live in a free country where we can care about the successes and failures of millionaires (and Darnell McDonald). So while the epic collapse of the Red Sox will hurt for a while, we must remember that things could be much worse. Pitchers and catchers report in 165 days. Go Sox!
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Gonzalez 1B
Lavarnway C
Drew RF
Scutaro SS
Crawford LF
Aviles 3B
Buchholz activated for tonight’s game. Could come out of the bullpen.
10:44 PM Phew. Ballgame over, Red Sox win. 10:37 PM 1. more. strike. 10:34 PM Here we f***ing go. 10:26 PM I didn’t know that Papelbon had a Rivera strike zone. 10:18 PM What an amazingly consistant strike zone. 10:08 PM I thought for sure that was gone. Wow. 10:05 PM This is not good. 10:00 PM Lavarnway looks way better behind the plate than Salty. 9:45 PM JD Drew showing emotion! 9:44 PM Ryan Lavarnway is god. 9:29 PM Fan on the field! And the Rays take the lead. 9:28 PM Iglesias/Scutaro 2012. That’s my slogan. 9:22 PM And it’s an seven to THREE ballgame. No lead feels safe with this team. 9:10 PM I got a shortstop on my mind, Scu Scu Scutaro! 9:08 PM Crawful! 8:56 PM Amazing catch by Nick Mark robs Lavarnway of the RBI. This has the makings of a very interesting game. 8:34 PM Thanks for the great start Bedard… 8:27 PM Just wow. Way to let them get back in it Bedard. 8:19 PM I think we need some of this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-S-eeInJVk 8:15 PM Ryan Lavarnway. Not much more needs to be said. 8:13 PM Get bent ump. 8:04 PM Attaway Bedard. Now, if only the Red Sox score 10 more runs I can feel comfortable. 7:45 PM Wow. Just wow. Ellsbury slams a homer to right to give the Sox the lead. MVP? Yes. 7:39 PM Whoever said that Lavarnway needs work behind the plate looks very wrong. Perfect throw to 3rd to nail Jones and throw to 1st to end the inning. This guy looks pretty good. 7:34 PM P. Diddy just posted this on Facebook. Words of wisdom for Sox fans. 7:29 PM Easy 1-2-3 inning for Britton. I’m coming close to putting my face in a lawn mower. 7:24 PM Orioles strike first as always. Lavarnway didn’t look bad behind the plate at all, in fact a lot better than Salty. 7:18 PM There’s that 142 million dollar defense. 7:12 PM Wonderful double play by Ortiz to end the Red Sox half of the 1st. Typical… 7:00 PM Almost gametime. It’s hard to express how nervous I am right now. 6:42 PM Not a bad lineup at all tonight, good to see Lavarnway in the lineup finally. It’s do or die time, let’s go.
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Lowrie 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Lavarnway C
McDonald RF
Crawford LF
Scutaro SS
Back in mid-April, after the Sox started 2-10, there were plenty of optimistic fans who were declaring that by the end of the season, the rough start wouldn’t even be a blip on the radar. They were right, unfortunately not for the better of the team. If you’re one of the many Red Sox fans reading this blog, I don’t have to rehash what’s happened in the past month, you’ve seen it with your own eyes, been flooded by media coverage, and if you’re unlucky enough like me to know Yankee fans, you’ve heard more than enough of it from them. And it’s true; the Sox are playing a terrible brand of baseball right now. Aside from an extra-innings win against the Yankees B squad last night, what began as a tough September has done little to get better.
One of the scapegoats offered up by the media and fans alike has been Kyle Weiland. The universal punchline is that there’s no way a playoff-bound team starts someone like Weiland during crucial games down the stretch, and this is probably true; I don’t think anyone (myself included) will argue that Weiland would’ve been the team’s first choice to make the 3rd, 4th and 5th starts of his major league career late into September. However, to throw him up as the poster boy for what’s been wrong for the team is so far wrong it borders on delusion.
Ellsbury CF
Crawford LF
Pedroia 3B
Ortiz DH
Gonzalez 1B
Lowrie 3B
Drew RF
Scutaro SS
Varitek C
Ellsbury CF
Crawford LF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Gonzalez 1B
Jackson RF
Scutaro SS
Saltalamacchia C
Aviles 3B
It’s do or die time now. If the Red Sox win both games today it’s all but over. Everybody say their prayers and perform some kind of ritual because the Sox need it right now.
Ellsbury CF
Crawford LF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Gonzalez 1B
Aviles 3B
Scutaro SS
Reddick RF
Saltalamacchia C