DarrylStingley

1. Sox better make a move for another OF in a waiver deal. With Lowrie and Hall on the team, and Pedroia coming back, they don't need Patterson for 2b insurance and he is awful as an OFer. That he is starting in Ells' absence is a bad joke.

2. Beckett and Lackey...your 4th and 5th starters...for the next four years. Ummmmmm.

3. Please make this Wake's last year.

4. Can a team lose two totally winnable games in a row and still make up 4 on a good Tampa team? I think not.

5. Monday is the deadline to sign drafted players or they go back into the pool. The Sox have a bunch of high profile guys, with the biggest one being Anthony Ranaudo. Their future will be heavily impacted by what happens between now and Monday and I don't mean today's Dice K start.

6. At this point, I view Lester and Buck starts as must wins, Dice starts as toss ups and Lackey and Beckett starts as probable losses (unless the opponent is one of the truly lousy offenses in the AL). Not good.

7. The bigger problem? The incredibly thin pen. Who didn't puke a little when Lester came out of the game last night? He probably really needed to come out but when a journey man like Atchison trots in to a save situation, Theo can't view that as a crowing moment.

8. Too bad Lowrie is so fragile. The guy looks great when he plays.

9. Billy Hall has given the Sox so much more than most of us expected. I wish he was starting in LF and Lowrie as at 2B today.

10. With Dmat going and Monday being a day off, we're going to see a lot of the Sox pen today....

captain insano

stick a fork in them. they have been cooked for awhile now.

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ausbacker

The story of the 2010 Red Sox is missed opportunities.

Run DMC

"This is a "bridge" year". Har-har.

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DarrylStingley

Huge night for the Sox last night...Anthony Ranaudo has a lot of promise. And the Sox signed most of their other picks.

This will probably end up being a quiet October but the Sox at least have some very good young players headed our way.

ausbacker

Geez Lackey is average. He's a lucky Lackey that the bats fired up.

Nikolai

Agreed. This isn't like 2008 or 2009 when the Rays and Yankees respectively were playing consistently good ball throughout the year. Both teams have struggled, but the Sox haven't been able to make up the ground.

The problem for all three teams next year is that Toronto might be good enough to throw a real wrench into the works.

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We get what we deserve.

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“On a day when they could have had impact players David Terrell or Koren Robinson..they took Georgia defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who had 1 sacks last season in the pass-happy SEC and is too tall to play tackle at 6-6 and too slow to play defensive end. This genius move was followed by trading out of a spot where they could have gotten the last decent receiver in Robert Ferguson and settled for tackle Matt Light, who will not help any time soon.”

DarrylStingley

The story of this season is three-fold.

1. Injuries. They've been epic. Name any other team in recent memory that has lost it's 1, 2, 3 and 4 hitters for huge parts of the same season, if you can.

2. Terrible pen. The Sox have blown an extraordinary amount of winnable games.

3. Missed opportunities. When all is said and done, things like losing the game last Thursday (up 5-2 in the 9th) and the game last Friday (up 8-2 with their supposed ace on the mound) will be a lot of the reason why the Sox are watching the playoffs from their living rooms.

I think there's a 4th item, too....not going out and getting some external help in early July, when the MFYs and Rays separated themselves from the Sox. But that's easier said than done so I'll not list it with the big 3 I noted above.

MWPatsFan

This.

I get killed at work for saying this. But I don't think the Sox have any shot. Besides all the injuries, the two teams ahead of them could win 100 games. THAT is alot to overcome, even for a healthy team.

And I wish Lackey would stop getting a free pass. (Or does it just seem that way?)

bigcountry75

Agreed....But this is all the more reason to be amazed at them only being 5.5 games back with 41 left to play.....They could reasonably win 95 games this season.....I know that won't get them into the playoffs but to win 95 games is a great season and the adversity they have overcome to have that chance is insane.....