THE Ozzie Guillen vs Bobby Valentine POLL!

[Balta1701]

Especially a face of the franchise guy. That stuff needs to take place in the locker room if at all possible. Maybe months down the road, after everything else has failed, then you go public, but not now.

I could see motivations that could work for going public now, if you think there's a serious problem (and that clubhouse...that might be the case)...but then you better be ready either to explain the statements or to stand by them when you get called out by the rest of the team. More likely here, his brain is still just in ESPN Analyst mode.

[southsider2k5]

I could see motivations that could work for going public now, if you think there's a serious problem (and that clubhouse...that might be the case)...but then you better be ready either to explain the statements or to stand by them when you get called out by the rest of the team. More likely here, his brain is still just in ESPN Analyst mode.

 

That sure isn't a way to gain someone's trust, nor to get the guys who are on the fence.

[iamshack]

I could see motivations that could work for going public now, if you think there's a serious problem (and that clubhouse...that might be the case)...but then you better be ready either to explain the statements or to stand by them when you get called out by the rest of the team. More likely here, his brain is still just in ESPN Analyst mode.

Agreed, or Japan mode.

[Fenway]

Bobby V..."I think we've hit rock bottom...I think we are a tough team though...Lets see."......

 

With all due respect to the Red Sox organization, in my opinion, you should wait until at least 40 games to judge any baseball team, but I also know that this year, with this particular Red Sox team is much different than other teams...only because of what happened last September.

 

My opinon, fair or unfair, Bobby Valentine is not going to make it here...Yes, I know all the scenario's, he is not responsible for bad pitching which the Red Sox have had plenty of and I get all that, but the moves he made today and combine that with several over the past 10 days, he is simply not going to make it....He seems totally lost and totally overwhelmed...The Red Sox brass have some serious soul searching to do tonight and try to find out if Bobby V can hang on to this team or if he is totally over his head right now...However, Red Sox brass and team, pray for a rainout on Sunday and see what happens in Minneapolis and Chicago next week.

 

Fans at Fenway today were chanting BRING BACK GRADY.

[caulfield12]

It all happened pretty quickly, and it's all kind of confusing right now," Valentine said.

 

Teixeira added more breathing room for the Yankees in the eighth, rapping a two-run ground-rule double down the right-field line. Russell Martin also belted a two-run double as part of the Yankees' outburst.

 

"A team like that, you can't leave pitches over the middle," Boston catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. "You can't make any mistakes, really."

mlb.com

 

Not only that, Fenway, but you have the VERY uncomfortable situation of Francona broadcasting the Sunday Night game with a national audience...after he got more cheers than anyone Friday afternoon for the anniversary ceremony.

[Fenway]

Not only that, Fenway, but you have the VERY uncomfortable situation of Francona broadcasting the Sunday Night game with a national audience...after he got more cheers than anyone Friday afternoon for the anniversary ceremony.

 

It looks like a rainout on Sunday as a monster storm is expected to hit.

 

Fans in Boston were spared some of it as FOX switched to Seattle nationally - at the time Boston was leading 9-1. When they came back it was 9-5 and then within 5 minutes it was 9-8.

 

 

I have never seen anything like this. The crowd reaction to Francona spoke volumes.

[caulfield12]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/danny-kn...s-to-hope-it-is

 

 

 

Ken Rosenthal, foxsports.com

 

To fully understand the disintegration of the Sox’s pitching staff, go back to the latter stages of the Epstein era, when the Sox awarded long-term deals to Matsuzaka and fellow right-handers John Lackey and Josh Beckett.

 

More than $250 million worth of pitchers, including Matsuzaka’s posting fee, boiled down to two Tommy John surgeries and one bucket of Popeye's Fried Chicken to go.

 

Matsuzaka’s contract ends after this season; the Beckett and Lackey deals run through 2014. Those signings, plus the $142 million addition of Crawford, left the Sox with little financial flexibility last offseason. Their payroll is the third-highest in the majors. And now the dominos are starting to fall.

 

The Sox shouldn’t be faulted for failing to match the Phillies’ excessive $50 million offer for closer Jonathan Papelbon. But they can be faulted for failing to find adequate replacements for both Papelbon and Bard, knowing they intended to make Bard a starter.

 

Cherington gambled in trading for Bailey, who frequently is injured, and right-hander Mark Melancon, who had achieved success only in the NL. By contrast, the Rangers shifted Neftali Feliz into their rotation after making three moves in 2011 — trading for Mike Adams, shifting Alexi Ogando to a setup role, signing free-agent closer Joe Nathan — to ensure that their bullpen would be sufficiently covered.

 

Teams prefer to use young, affordable pitchers as starters to maximize their long-term value. But the Red Sox, like the Rangers a year ago, might need to address short-term needs first. The Rangers wanted to make Feliz a starter last season, but kept him as their closer when they lacked better options.

 

Take a look at baseball's most epic pennant race swoons and surges.

At the moment, the Sox need two of Bard and two of Doubront. And while the team’s owners are quite smart, they have yet to invent cloning.

 

Call it a crisis. Call it, as Valentine did, “a psychological situation.” Just understand that it’s not a new condition for an organization that, after last September’s collapse, suffered a nervous breakdown.

 

Edited April 22, 2012 by caulfield12