On the offensive

I am very concerned about the lack of offensive production. I was at the trop for the last game of the series and it was Ortiz, Pedroia and not much else. Its tough to throw a lineup out there with Varitek/Cash, Crisp/Kotsay, Casey/Cora and Lowrie and expect to win a world series. The return of Drew and Lowell could go a long way to providing the necessary punch.

If Lowell or Drew are out for the ALDS I would like to see Chris Carter get a chance to play frirst base to add a power bat to the line-up!! I like Kotsay but he's in a bad slump similiar too Tek's and if there is one thing you don't need in a playoff game is another automatic out !! I'm not sure whether Terry has taken this into consideration,I believe he can fill the void for either one of our lost power hitters.

What, Pedroia, Youkilis and Bay are chopped liver? Stop looking at the week. Look at the whole year in batting. Mike Lowell is my favorite player on the team, but since when is he the hitting catylst?

Adam...if the Sox have a letdown offensively, it will be due to Angel and/or Rays' pitching. This team is good enough to win. Will be difficult with both Drew and Lowell out, but they still may have enough. Just can't let LA get to that beast in the pen too often. Sox can beat Angels as long as SP is strong.

I can't speak for anyone else but I am not that concerned with the offensive output of late. Obviously, Lowell and Drew are two important parts of the offense but the Red Sox have shown us this year that they are able to win games without certain people in the lineup. What would reall offset this injury come playoff time is if Ellsbury can continue his hot hitting. As with Johnny Damon in the past, he can be a table setter: get on base, terrorize the pitcher and start something for the offense but in order to do that, he needs to make smart decisions at the plate.

And like you mentioned above, the Red Sox have encountered some strong pitching of late and that is only going to continue from here on out. I personally believe that the Sox's biggest weakness is not the offensive (which I think is second in the AL in runs scored, even with all the injuries and absences) but its relief pitching. Delcarmen's incredibly streaky, Papelbon has looked shaky of late and while Okajima has pitched well of late, I keep wondering when he'll blow it next. On the bright side, Masterson has been largely a solid addition to the bullpen but even can carry it alone. If the Sox fail in the post season, it's going to be because of that and not the offense.

Sounds like a broken record but true. Unless they get Lowell and Drew back and productive, I can't see them getting past the Angels. LA has too much power and pitching, and well, the sox just can seem to win on the road. The Sox need to score 4-5 runs per game against any of the teams in the playoffs to even hope to win. If they score only three runs a game, they will not beat the Rays, Angels, or White Sox. If our line up stays as is and we face the Angels in the ALDS, we're done. We might win a game or two but I don't see us getting past them. Unless LA completely implodes.

The Sox need production form Lowell and Drew. The question is their health. They also need production from Ortiz, and the question there again is health.

Nothing much the Sox can do about those three, except rest them and hope.

But most of all they need their leadoff man to (1) GET ON BASE and (2) STEAL. The question with Ellsbury is God knows what.

An intervention is required. Ellsbury needs Rickey Henderson to stop by and whack him upside the head. "Run, fool!"

The Sox could advance in the playoffs with Lowell, Drew and Ortiz not firing on all cylinders, as long as the pitching comes up big. But pitching or no, they will go nowhere if Ellsbury is not in gear.

Point well taken.... I have sensed a slight regression in production form the offense. However, come playoffs the conventional wisdom is pitching and defense. And the Sox excel in both, especially in a short series. That said, (Gasp) we WILL miss the Manny factor. The only saving grace is Ellsbury the igniter, Pedroia and Youk, throwing fuel on the flames, and the projected comeback of power from Big Papi. Add Lowell/Drew/Bay and we may not even miss the slugging Manny. We will miss the trips to the Scoreboard, though.

Quite concerned about the absence of Lowell and Drew: I doubt either will be available for the playoffs. If either returns, he'll be rusty.

It'll be a great test, not of Ortiz, Pedroia, Youk, and Ellsbury, but of guys like Lowrie, Crisp, and Bay. If they continue to contribute, and Casey and Cora do well off the bench, we might luck into some hitting in bunches, but otherwise the power has to come from Ortiz, Youk, and Bay.

It's a fine team, but it has to rise to the occasion: there are no easy pitchers to knock about from here on in. Bob Clawson, Nantucket

Bob C

It's funny, it seems like the roles between the Red Sox and Angels have reversed over the past year. They will most likely face the Halos again in the first round and this time it seems as if they might be the ones leaning heavily on defense and pitching to get it done, it doesn't look like the offense is going to bail them out this time. Meanwhile the Angels are now loaded offensively and pose threats up and down the lineup. We all know how it turned out last October when the angels couldn't score a run to save there lives. If the Sox find themselves in that position it may be an early winter for the old town team.

Let's draw conclusions after a sampling of three consecutive home games. By the conclusion of the game on Wed. Sept. 24th, we will have encountered one top-rank pitcher, one above average pitcher, and one average pitcher... if Cleveland's rotation remains as advertised.

I think JD Drew should take off the skirt and start playing baseball

It's fine that the Sox can score at home, but, they will most likely start the post season on the road. The Sox will have to play small ball, and, catch the ball to win. They will need at least one win on the road. It would be good if they got that win with a split of the first two. If by some chance they win the east, then the pressure to win one on the road is not so great. It will take pitching and defense no matter who the Sox face.

Thanks for including Madawaska in your article (I think). Perhaps we can get to the January thaw when it gets up to 10 or so huh?

Madawaska Me

Since when did J.D. Drew become an offensive machine? Does 6 weeks out of an otherwise barely above average 2 seasons really qualify you as a bona fide threat? No wonder he's making 15 a year!

I think everybody is missing out on who the real catalyst on this team is,Pedroia......When he was on his hot streak, he was carrying this team and we were scoring runs in droves.....Since he has cooled off in the last couple weeks, we have gone to much more modest scoring.....If everybody, such as Ellsbury, ortiz, youklis, Bay and Crisp, keep hitting like they are and pedey picks it back up it could mean as much as 1.5-2.0 more runs a game......If everybody will remember at the last World Series, it was Ellsbury and Pedey who drove this team when Manny and Big Papi cooled off. Course, Mikey Lowell wasn't too shabby, either......Thinkin if Kotsay doesn't pick it up offensively, he should be the odd man out in the outfield. He should be anyway......Sox still rule until someone takes the title away

well what about kotsay and varitek at mendoza line. franconia stays with ineffective vets way to long. drew and lugo have turned out to be bad risks that cost top dollar and colon was a low risk failure.

I was really surprised when Fran-coma stated he "wasn't going to play Pawtucket " down the stretch. Seems to me last year he played two guys from Pawtucket and they saved his butt. He's known for a couple of months that his right fielder was doubtful (back injuries don't normally heal themselves) but he has yet to audition Van Every or even Carter to see if he can get lucky again. Instead he plays the Millar syndrome again with Kotsay. Get ready for another disappointment.

ANOTHER 1 point loss for the Sox tonight! WHY???

ANOTHER 1 point loss for the Sox tonight! WHY???

A lot of good those so called major leaguers such as Kotsay are doing for the team. No bat, no speed, don't understand why he is starting instead of Coco. Cost a run for not being able to cover outfield and had to have Ellsbury came over to almost catch the ball.

Tonight they had got 12 hits and five walks and could get only three runs out of it. That's pitiful and now they have to face Cliff Lee Tuesday night. Lowrie striking out twice with a total of five men on in the late innings tonight stunk.

Yeah, they have clinched a tie, but I can STILL see a few embers lit up in that ash pile everyone has been saying are the dead Yanks---that's the kind of team, still, that if you give them the slightest crack, they will once again man up and step through it. Thin about it---next thing you know, Yankees are returning to Fenway and unless this team starts really hitting---they won't against Lee--they could be choking going into the weekend.

Best hope for a lot of runs scored is that the Blue Jays can score enough to beat NY at least once in the next three days.

Does no one see a bigger problem here? This team is a mess mentally. No one is hot right now. Not the SPs, not Pap., not the bats. Yes, play Pawtucket, and for god's sake, put some fire in those beantown beasts. At least 'Tek isn't looking downright scared at bat anymore. But Pap doesn't look scary on the mound. As Berra said: Ninety percent of this game is mental, and the other half is physical. Time to get their heads on right.

The geniuses let Manny walk...the geniuses, et. al. failed to manage their boy prodigy. (and I still don't know who the six were who asked Terry to get rid of him)...wouldn't YOU like .400+ since Aug 1 in YOUR lineup going into October...? There were many of us who predicted he'd have a monster second half on the way out the door....we were scoffed at...The geniuses will reap what they've sown...

Is Coco hurt? Why is Kotsay getting more playing time, given that Coco's bat was coming around?

I think Terry Francona needs to take it easy on the gum and right the ship we are going nowhere against the angels or whoever we face, he needs to sit kotsay he just isn't getting it done and put coco back in it seems like everytime a player gets hot he sits them for a game or two and cools them off I just don't understand what he is thinking when he does this and it has happened several times this season! And I wish someone would tell Varitek he is no longer a switch hitter he just can't get it done left handed anymore why doesn't he just try to hit just right handed for a while and see what happens he is hitting about 285 rt. handed and 200 left!

last night's loss had'nt anything to do with offense.Three hit batsmen.......and what the hell was going on in the rundown with two out.Kotsay chasing Bay to home,who decides to return to third.......they lost to mental errors last night.Can't imagine what Franconia was thinking watching the absurdness............they played well enough to win that game......the mental errors killed them.They'll be fine.But they have to regroup.......and Jed,you have to protect the plate with the bases full...........lots of opportunity with bad results