The whole "suck" problem is back to Theo. That was a fragile staff. It's not as if they did well last year. In fact the pitching cost us the post season as well.
On Oct 7, 2011, at 12:18 PM, Steve Ouellette <[email protected]> wrote: > It doesn't make for good copy, but yes, they failed repeatedly, they > had injuries and they had bad luck. > > Lackey just plain sucks, and did the whole year. Wakefield is old, and > sucks, and over the past few years has sucked more the deeper into the > season he went. Kyle Weiland has fifth-starter potential, but he's not > ready, and he sucked. Andrew Miller was a good gamble, but he sucked > like he has for most of his major league career. Erik Bedard is a > capable starter with good stuff, but he missed a large chunk of the > season with injury, came back without rehab, hurt himself again, then > came back again down the stretch -- out of desperation, and again with > no rehab -- and sucked. > > All of those guys certainly could have pitched better than they did in > September, but they didn't. It was a confluence of suckiness. > > The loss of Buchholz was huge, taking away an above-average pitcher > and replacing him with sub-average ones. What hurt the most down the > stretch is that Lester and Beckett collapsed. That's the part that we > couldn't foresee. I don't have the energy to look up the numbers, but > I don't think that's been the history of Beckett and Lester. But I > have a hard time blaming Curt Young's not watching their beer > consumption as the problem. > > Both of those guys missed starts in September with injuries -- isn't > it entirely possible that neither one was at 100 percent, but they > rushed back due to the dire situation? > > I was actually worried about Lester most of the summer. He went on the > DL with the strained Lat in July, and when he got back, Tito > immediately insisted on riding him hard -- with big pitch counts -- > even in games where the Sox had big leads, even when the Sox had a big > lead in the standings. He didn't have good command for most of the > second half of the season. Yes, if Lester was in NFL-linebacker > physical condition, maybe he wouldn't have worn down, but he's never > been in that kind of condition. > > I think just plain bad pitching was the reason for the epic collapse. > The pressure once the collapse started certainly didn't help, but > clubhouse chemistry and beer are just scapegoats. There wasn't a > single whiff of complaint in either regard on Aug. 31. It wasn't until > after the fact that everyone started searching for a narrative to > explain things. > > Anyway, glad to see both the Rays and Yanks done. > > Steve O > > > > On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 2:32 PM, Tom Salemi <[email protected]> wrote: >> Steve, what is your reason for the epic collapse? They tried their best and >> just failed...repeatedly? Just bad luck? >> Yes, the team lost because they didn't play well. But there might be things >> that led to that. >> I'm not really buying the beer thing either, but if pitchers strayed from >> programs that made them successful in the past than that's a very real >> thing, and a problem. >> >> >> On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 2:29 PM, Steve Ouellette <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> >>> There are a lot of successful fat pitchers. Curt Schilling was hefty. >>> David Wells was enormously successful in the postseason. They're >>> baseball players, not athletes, and the whole beer thing is just a >>> convenient excuse for the epic collapse. >>> >>> Steve O >>> >>> On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 2:11 PM, Ray <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> I've come to the conclusion that I agree with Tom. The season was lost >>>> to fat pitchers who couldn't pitch. >>>> >>>> For this I blame the pitching coach who let them get fat. >>>> >>>> I blame Francona for protecting our fatsos in the media and protecting >>>> the enabling pitching coach. >>>> >>>> Finally I blame Theo for bringing us Dice-K and Lackey, and for letting >>>> the pitching staff get fat. I think that the Sox developed a culture of >>>> fame >>>> with no pressure or expectations. >>>> >>>> Pressure won't make you pitch better in a game, but it will keep the >>>> beer from your lips and get you to push back from the buffet table. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "Red Sox Citizens" group. >>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/redsoxcitizens/-/NkMuGU0mLpMJ. >>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>> [email protected]. >>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en. >>>> >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Red Sox Citizens" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Red Sox Citizens" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Red Sox Citizens" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Red Sox Citizens" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en.
