So, Theo either has way more vision than we give him credit for: or his usage of the term "Bridge Season" caused him to be resting on his laurels this season in terms of deals made, or this is just a coincedence?
Most people would tell you it's just a conincedence, we were plagued with bad luck and injuries (yeah, we were) and most AAA teams wouldn't of faired as well as our AAA teams the majority of the season in the AL, let alone the AL east. (and I do agree with that somewhat too). Some people would think he was out for the win like always and Theo honestly thought he is / was fielding the best team. *crickets chirping* Insert awkwardly long silence here. Don't make me laugh. I tend to believe there's a little bit of both. Here's my take.
Theo Epstein made the famous "bridge" comment this offseason, based on the lack of the right "fits" (in my opinion) that he was able to procure. Then he struck some luck, did some interesting moves (Beltre, Scutaro, Cameron, Lackey) and maybe he thought we had the horses, so he "poo poo'd" the bridge statement.
Following me so far?
Then injuries happened, Ells, Cam, V-mart, Youk, Pedey and .. and.. and... and.. . then the in season trade deadline went pretty much without any big moves. Theo is now thinking "well I made that stupid Bridge statement, let's give 'em a bridge year" . . right? why else would he be so inactive right now?
Potentially with this team and the stars, and prime components to the team that has been or is injured now: making too many moves could ruin the team for the next few seasons: I do think Theo has better foresight and future vision than that. So maybe he had to do with what he had? And honestly how many teams have the depth to do even as well as we did in the AL East?
Yes, Theo is a bit complacent in his mid season move(s). Yes, Theo might of just had to wait out the storm of injuries and Yes, maybe he does have a foolish pride about his "bridge statement" and a "I told ya so" in the back of his mind, but let's hope not!
Jon Lester was serving up singles and doubles in the first 2 innings like it was Mickey D's at lunchtime. The 1st inning looked like this: ground (beef?) out, single, single, HBP (hit by a pickle?), double, K (ketchup?), ground out. This resulted in 4 runs, after Lester had been staked to a 1 run lead courtesy of a Scutaro single and an Ortiz double. In the top of the 2nd, Nava singles and Kalish doubles him home, score- Sox 2, O's 4. The 2nd inning for the O's went as follows: fly out, K, single, BB, single, K; 1 more run, score now Sox 2 O's 5. That's 4 single cheeseburgers and 2 double cheeseburgers. That's when Lester settled down as he mowed down the next 10 Oriole batters. The Orioles came back to life with 2 singles and a walk in the bottom of the 6th, but could not capitalize on them, score now 5-3, Orioles on top. Lester ended up with 10 K's for the night. Then the Sox bats started to show a pulse. McDonald's single, a Scutaro HR, a JD Drew BB, a V-Mart double, an IBB to Ortiz, and a Beltre HR, (heavy relish? no, who puts relish on a burger?), give the Sox 6 runs in the inning and a 9-5 lead which they would not relinquish, and gave Lester his 15th win against 8 losses, with a 3.27 ERA. Bard came in to work the 7th and the 8th innings and gave up a rare run on a double and some small ball. Papelbon worked a 1-2-3 9th inning to garner his 34th save of the season. Happy Meal goes to the Sox.
It wasn't pretty though, 21 hits total between the 2 clubs, but it was a badly needed Sox win over the Orioles, Buck Showalter at the helm or not. The resurgent AL East doormats had gone 17-10 since Buck's arrival after spending most, if not all of the season in the basement with a sub-.400 winning percentage. Yet despite their low achievents this year, they still found a way to beat the Sox 7 times so far.
Technically, the Sox are still in this race for the Wild Card spot. They are 8 games behind the Yankees and 7 games behind the Rays, but still have 3 games against Tampa Bay and 6 games against New York left to go before the regular season is over. The everlasting optimist in me says it can be done.
Felix Doubront has been sent back to Boston to be checked out after experiencing neck pain. Tito explained what was going on:
“The good news is it’s not his pitching arm. In fact, it’s not his arm, it’s his neck, but it’s on the (non-throwing) side,” Francona said. “It was starting to grab at him a little bit when he was lifting his glove so we want to get him looked at. We’ll see where that leads.”
The giant fork was stuck in the Red Sox season tonight when the Orioles defeated them 5-2. Scutaro's costly error ruined a solid effort from Beckett and the offense could not get much going with runners in scoring position. The Sox lost more ground to the Yankees and could not capitalize on a Rays loss. Without Youk, Ells, or Pedey and with Scutaro and Beltre playing hurt the Sox have no real chance of reaching the playoffs.
It should be fun to see the September call-ups and look at the promising future for the franchise after spending a moment to mourn the loss of the 2010 season.
The Boston Red Sox have released Jeremy Hermida. Since the Sox are not going to play beyond the regular season they wanted to go with youngsters for the September call-ups and Hermida did not fit into those plans.
Chris Balcom-Miller has become one of the hottest pitchers in the Rockies' farm system, just in time for the Asheville Tourists' race to gain the postseason in the South Atlantic League.
Drafted in the sixth round of the June 2009 draft, Balcom-Miller has won his last five decisions and pulled his record to 6-6. With Balcom- Miller being the stopper, the Tourists are clinging to a game lead in the second half of the season in the divisional race.
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