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Talk about a June swoon. We can't think of two worse back-to-back losses than the ones the Red Sox suffered Tuesday and Wednesday nights, simply dreadful. Terry Francona seems to be making all the wrong decisions and players are fielding like they've got "Chico's Bail Bonds" ironed on the back of their jerseys. To make matters worse, these losses were to the Yankees, and dropped Boston 7½ games behind New York in the AL East, the largest deficit since Grady Little's crew fell that low last August. Things don't appear to be getting any better, either. The Sox were 11-14 in the month of June, and may have lost setup man Scott Williamson with an elbow injury Wednesday night. The doctor isn't in, but feel free to sit on our couch and vent your feelings on the Sox. Can they turn this around? How? What are they doing wrong? Is this Francona's fault, or does the blame lie higher up the chain with Theo and the Trio? Or are the players to blame? Trade Nomar? Acquire a first baseman? Bring back Grady? It's open season ... Response pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48
Page 23 Greetings from NYC! The New York Times last year rooted for Boston and talked down the Yankees, because apparently none of their writers have paid attention to the last 86 years of baseball. Now they're ridiculing you and making jokes about the Red Sox being bridesmaids but never the bride. I can tell you that Yankees ownership has more respect for its fans, but I'll admit that we think you're a bunch of bitches too. Cheers! John M, The city that's so great they named it twice I have been as big a Nomar fan as there is since he first came up, but right now he is killing us. I want to throw up every time he hits a first pitch popup. His defense has been atrocious and he sure looks like a guy who can't wait to get out of town. Terry Francona is a joke. He is in way over his head, and the only reason he is even here is so the Sox could sign Curt Schilling. The guy has been a loser wherever he's been, so it's unrealistic to expect him to get this disaster turned around. Millar is just a loudmouth with no game at all. He is defensively hopeless wether he's at first base or in the outfield, and an average hitter at best. His first half of last year was an abberation. They had better concentrate exclusively on the wild card at this point. There is no way that they can catch the Yankees now. Jay, Burlington, VT Terry Francona is an abonimation as manager; compare Sox non-moves, non-running to Torre's style: double steals, Sheffield's first steal of season. Torre & Yanks do what it taks to win games; they adjust to the situation. For Pete's sake, Derek Jeter (hitting .400 this month) BUNTED to move a runner along. THAT is winning baseball.. The Sox play "wall-ball", big-inning style and that's why their road record stinks, their speed stinks (Francona won't even let Damon run!!), and they are sinking fast. It starts at the top: the over-reliance on stats (tell me, what has Billy Bean won anyway?!!), and misplaced "trust" in under-performing players. Incredibly, Grady Little is starting to look like he really wasn't that bad. Marica, Needham, MA There's nothing you can do if you live in MA, I guess. But why be a Red Sox fan if you live in CT. It's only baseball: switch to the Yankees. I did. You won't regret it. Trust me. Red Sox fans are always looking in the rear view mirror. What a waste of your time. Plus, a lot of the team looks like a bunch of bum's - especially "caveman" - you know who I mean. He's a good player though. Mark D., Glastonbury, CT They lost the game when the ultra-conservative third-base coach didn't send the pinch runner Gabe (Welcome Back) Kapler on the fly ball to Matsui. There was no doubt in my mind that this lack of aggessive play would lead to a Yankee victory...or, more appropriately, a Sox loss. The coaches should have taken a close look at Nixon stretching to third on the Pokey Reese hit to strong-armed Sheffield in right. The players want to be aggressive, they want to run, they want to bunt, they want to make things happen. Nixon was probably fined for taking the chance. Bottom Line: When you play conservatively, you play not to lose; I'd rather see them know absolutely that they can come back from a deficit or that they can put a game out of reach. Say what you will about Grady Gump's decision in Game 7 (and I've criticized his decision time and again), but that old Durham Bull sure had the team playing confidently in '03. Terry needs to take a page out of Grady's (and Joe Torre's...and Tony LaRussa's) handbook(s)...the page that talks about making things happen. Good luck Sox. I'm sticking with you, but it's a tough year to do so. Pete, Jacksonville, FL when I first saw Johnny wanna be Jesus Damons Hair I knew that this wasn't going to be a good year. I feel as every game I am watching is a South Park episode. Your can cast the characters. Let's see Millar- Cartman Oriz- Chef Nomar-Butters, Damon-Jesus Veritek-Kyle Manny and Pedro-Terrance and Philips Pokey- token Mueller-Tweek, Francona-Mr.Garrison Shillings- Uncle Jimbo, Wakefield-Mephisto, Lowe-Mr. Mackey and Finally All of the RedSox Nation-Kenny cause they kill and Kill us and kill us. Please feel free to Move and change the characters as you like!!! Robert , AuSAble Forks Can I please get a witness to that awful called third strike on Ortiz last night with the bases loaded and Manny on deck? Can we catch one break? The ball was clearly 3 inches off the plate. Theo has to do something here because Francona is just sitting back and watching our hopes and dreams fade into memory. It is almost criminal the way he is handling the team that Theo has assembled. Nomar please leave town immediately. Andrew, Hoboken The best thing that we the fans can do is when the Sox come back everyone should stay at home and show them that we are fed up!!!!!! Chris, Boston Whatever they do, don't trade Nomar! He's awesome!!!! Steve G., Belmont Clearly, the only rational thing we can do at this point would be to fire the manager & GM, trade all the players, and burn down Fenway Park. After all, the season's almost 1/2 over and they haven't clinched a playoff spot yet! Jason, Melrose Response pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48
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