The 2009 Boston Red Sox Thread

Roughly 10 days have passed since Red Sox pitchers and catchers reported to spring training, and there are continuing signs that interest in the team is waning. Just last week, Sox administrators John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner acknowledged that nine home games in April and May have yet to be sold out, a once unimaginable occurrence during the franchise's golden age under the reign of King Henry I.

Could it be that the Red Sox are getting -- dare we say it -- relatively boring?

http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/massarotti/2009/02/some_things_are_hard_to_talk_a.html

I will cop to not being too excited about my favorite baseball team. They will finish 1, 2, or 3 in the AL East depending on luck and injuries. If they finish 1 or 2 they will have a 1 in 8 chance of winning the world series.

What's to be exicted about? Well, some micro-level things. A bullpen that could be fantastic. Continued dominance by Lester? Hope that the offense won't be as soft as it has the potential to be? Buccholz figuring things out?

My baseball existential crisis begins now.

Twice in your lifetime. You must chill.

BOSTON SUX

JtM, i'm not even concerned about championships. this team just isn't particularly compelling. above and beyond the comeback, what really spoiled us in 2004 was the incredible assemblage of personalities on that team.

kinda lost it for this team after they ditched manny, was even voting for the UPTON during the alcs last year

the ony legit breakout candidates are ellsbury and buchholz and i don't have particularly high hopes for either.

agree j0rdan, the manny trade was really where my crisis began.

"this team just isn't particularly compelling"

Fuck you Red Sox nation. Seriously most fans would give their left eye teeth to have the assemblage of talent you do w/ the organization and moolah behind it. Become a fucking Pirates and you have a right to bitch, otherwise shut the fuck up.

^^^this

Fuck you, outsiders looking in. I've been following this team for my entire life, I'm expressing some honest thoughts about being a Sox fan in 2009, I would certainly never go to the threads of your shitty teams and mock them for being shitty and lame. I'm even gonna not be a dick on the Yanks thread tho I could spend all day doing so.

i will always not hate the sox because of the manny/ortiz era, but i was very close to hating them around the time when it got leaked that they were trying to trade ellsbury and bucholz for hanley. besides this trade being personally insulting and physically revolting on a baseball level, it also proved once and for all that the sox are really the yanks and not like THEO IS EXTRA CREATIVE AND ALSO MONEYBALL TACTICS like the media likes to paint it. i remember it was after the struck out on texiera and the storyline was like "the sox are getting creative after the yankees stole texiera! they are trying to trade for hanley ramirez!", because yes, trading for one of the best players in baseball who you already traded away is so creative. you know what i hate them

^^^^ haha

sorry im protective of hanley, i don't really hate them because of big papi

tbf that report was pretty quickly outed as the standard "hey we want to trade for awesome player X" phone call that every team makes in the offseason. it was only a story because it was the sox, and something about the sox makes media people act as if they've just injected lsd directly into their skulls.

it was a sucka move trading manny to l.a. imo

alex in sf otm

not that i don't understand cad's point - the 04 team was way more niggerish and thus more entertaining, but good beisbol is good beisbol u fucken shitbags. they'll probably be the best team in the bigs this year, quit moping lest u sound like a shitty pats fan

"I'm expressing some honest thoughts about being a Sox fan in 2009"

And I'm expressing my honest thoughts that I think you and all people like you are worthless pieces of shit. Why is that so hard to understand?!?

lol Honestly though I never understood that level of fandom. Like, it's fine to be disappointed and wary of a team's future success, but to call a team boring is kind of like shitting on the game as a whole. There are 29 other teams out there that would love your time and attention.

i think that's a littler harsh alex!

B-b-but I was just being honest!

HAY GUYS Anyway J.D. Drew's back hurts from a long offseason resting lets get ready for BASEBALL.

anyway i get alex's point but when rich ppl get rich they don't go "well i've got 25 million dollars this is fun" they go "i want 50 million dollars by this time next year" so it should be no surprised that sawx fans are a little down on their team even if they are gonna win 95 games

welcome to yankeeville, motherfuckers, population

a) Yankees
b) Red Sox

btw the inability of Red Sox fans to see the similarities between the Sox and the Yankees is v v funny and one of the only reasons I harbor any type of positive emotion towards the Red Sox

"when rich ppl get rich they don't go "well i've got 25 million dollars this is fun" they go "i want 50 million dollars by this time next year" so it should be no surprised that sawx fans are a little down on their team even if they are gonna win 95 games"

Oh you're right. I should start pitying rich motherfuckers next! So sad. Fuck Jordan I think you may be even more contemptible than cad.

the yankees are that charming team from ny that's always in the tabloids, the red sox are that charming team from boston that has a butthurt blogger as one of their starting pitchers

hahahahaha perfect

uh alex im just saying that i agree with you in principle but i think it's dumb for ppl to expect fans of successful teams to be okay with less than what they used to be

like, i'd agree with you if the sox missed the playoffs and ppl started a firefrancona.com site or something but if you've ever been a diehard fan of a very successful team you'd understand when destroyer is coming from

"but i think it's dumb for ppl to expect fans of successful teams to be okay with less than what they used to be"

I think it's dumb to expect everyone else not to hate your guts.

fair enough

I thought Sox fans were supposed to be able to die in peace now.

No no you don't understand, polyphonic, the team just isn't as dynamic anymore. In the old days, Manny used to smear his dick on Trot Nixon's french toast when Trot wasn't looking. Now it's like they are just playing baseball or something. Just not the same.

"good beisbol is good beisbol u fucken shitbags"

^^new ilbb tag

yeah true

It must suck to root for a team with so many boring players like David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jonathan Papelbon, etc.

this is very reminiscent of NYY fans who think that Yanks "just don't have that Series-winning character" since 2000.

yeah i think we are all in agreement that if sox fans don't realize that they are the same as the yanks theyre tripping

Send yr entire bullpen and 3/5ths of yr starting rotation to Detroit, plz.

Your second baseman, too.

You can definitely keep your impactful "Throw the stats away!" (-- H. Reynolds, 2009) captain.

JtM, i'm not even concerned about championships. this team just isn't particularly compelling. above and beyond the comeback, what really spoiled us in 2004 was the incredible assemblage of personalities on that team.

― devin harris with an appletini (call all destroyer), Monday, February 23, 2009 4:05 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the way u can tell this is completely otm this is by how intensely alex is disagreeing w/it - rooting for a team full of interchangeable expressionless guys w/goatees just isnt as fun as rooting for a bunch of lunatics who also sometimes have goatees - tho i hav a feeling that those remaining spring training ticket have more to do w/our current economic realities than flagging passions

So do you like baseball or do you just follow whatever team's been in your market?

yeah i think we are all in agreement that if sox fans don't realize that they are the same as the yanks theyre tripping

― suggban stevens (J0rdan S.), Monday, February 23, 2009 5:12 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

eh it depends on what u mean my the same - obv they both throw around tons of money and hav 0 player loyalty - but the sox dont quite hav the yankee touch for signing guys on the downside of their careers to 8 year deals - by which i mean the sox organization is less comedy - which depending on yr pov is either a good or bad thing - id say the sox organization is more "corporate" while the yankees is more "personality driven" - for comparison the mets hav a "o rly" style culture

basically i mean the soulless tons of money w/ zero loyalty part, altho if the smoltz signing is any indication yall on your way to singing guys on the downside of their careers

i used to be pretty into baseball - id watch games that didnt even have my team playing in them and id read stats on the internet - then like 2 years ago i pretty much suddenly lost like 70% of my enthusiasm for baseball - not sure why

"the way u can tell this is completely otm this is by how intensely alex is disagreeing w/it"

See if cad and ice cr?m were in their secret treehouse together and whispering these sweet nothings to one another it might be completely otm (probably not, but I wouldn't care either way) but unfortunately in the real world where they have to meet other human beings who don't root for the same laundry they do it is most def. not otm and instead it makes them look like total whiny fuckwits which given that they are fans of Boston teams is totally unsurprising.

my call for a pti-style show featuring alex in sf and joshea still stands

Sox fans: if you could convince Epstein to re-acquire one guy from the 2004 Sox team (not including Manny) to play for the current team, which guy would it be?

I look at that roster and see a lot of dudes who are washed up, overpaid, etc. Would you trade Jon Lester for Derek Lowe? Clay Buccholz for Bronson Arroyo? Julio Lugo for Mark Bellhorn or Pokey Reese? Lowell for Bill Mueller?

U want damon back?

alex r u telling me the giants were just as compelling w/o bonds - when teams have players w/identities it makes them more fun is all - its a completely relative statement yr taking as absolute

I really can't hate the Sox as much as the Stanks as long as Epstein and Bill James are involved (and I even kinda like Francona), but tis pity either BOS or NYY is nearly guaranteed to make October.

I am going to my first and only game this season next week - excited!

SB - D Jeter 2 (30, 2nd base off J Lester/J Varitek, 2nd base off M Delcarmen/J Varitek), J Damon (11, 2nd base off M Bowden/J Varitek), A Rodriguez 3 (14, 2nd base off J Lester/J Varitek, 3rd base off J Lester/J Varitek, 2nd base off H Jones/J Varitek), R Cano (5, 2nd base off J Lester/J Varitek).

varitek also 0 for 3 so far with 2 k's and a gidp

maybe his worst game ever?

easily--yankees wisely challenged him and he's probably the worst defensive catch in the majors right now.

Bones (Boston):

When Brad Penny went to SF, he said he liked Molina calling more breaking balls early in counts. Obviously, many Boston writers either fainted on the spot and/or were outraged. Is it possible the Captain DOESN'T know everything?

Keith Law:

Varitek is a lousy game-caller and has been for years. I'm pretty sure he lost his thumb, middle, ring, and pinky fingers on his right hand, since he calls for so many fastballs.

lol yeah that was definitely brad penny's problem.

jason varitek is my least favorite athlete on the planet - anyone who i've ever talked shit about on any sports thread on ilx doesn't really compare to how i feel about varitek

lol did he do something to you? not that i'm much of a fan myself.

mostly i hate him for demanding in his contract to be named the captain of the team - basically i find that inexcusable + the sox would've be better if they could just dump his awful ass. & you know he has a huge ego about being like the longest tenured red sox player despite being stooped to demanding some meaningless title

schilling > varitek was basically the worst battery in the history of baseball at least those days are behind us

yeowch

clay :(

So these SBs are all Varitek aren't they?

emphatically.

nice! (Hill)

NEW YORK -- The New York Daily News is reporting that Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams' severed head was mistreated at an Arizona cryonics facility, according to details from a new book.

In "Frozen," Larry Johnson, a former executive at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz., writes that Williams' head, which had been severed and frozen for storage, was abused at the facility. Johnson claims a technician took baseball-like swings at Williams' frozen head with a monkey wrench.

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=4524957

uhh

lmao

sorry ted williams, not sure science will ever find a cure for getting your head pounded with a wrench

The technician, no .406 hitter like the baseball legend, missed the can with several swings of the wrench and smacked Williams' head directly, spraying 'tiny pieces of frozen head' around the room.

O_____________________________________________________________________O

this is utterly insane

all the forced comparisons 2 a baseball swing are amazing

surprised none say the pieces of head [splendidly] splintered around the room

really just a new chapter in one of the saddest, weirdest stories i know of

lol johnny

I was hoping they tossed it around the parking lot

dude. you need to settle down.

Head Williams

http://deadspin.com/5388660/coming-soon-jonathan-papelbons-dubious-taste-in-cinema

yeah saw that, can't stand papelbon

a lot weirder things than that happen in major league clubhouses

I hope I hope I hope Wake wins 18 more in the next 2 years.

holy shit...

http://nuggetpalooza.weei.com/sports/boston/general/2010/02/02/red-sox-reviews-jason-varitek-c/

yeah he sucks and has for a while tbrr

well i know -- i'm pretty sure i've been outspoken on this matter on the board -- but there are some staggering stats in there

yeah--it's kind of amazing he's been awful for so long

btw i'd just like to point out that i was 100% otm not being excited about the 2009 boston red sox

now you must be excited enough to create a '10 thread

i'll do it during spring training! too soon now imo

I think we should force pitchers and catchers to march into ST complexes 2 minutes after Big Football Game ends.

cad, you aren't just salivating over the idea of a whole summer of PITCHING AND DEFENSE

and adrian beltre hitting 275 ft homers

NO!

lol

at least it will be different? i don't know. 2nd year in a row i'm not planning on attending any games.

i always forget that it costs money to go baseball games cuz marlins games you can get tickets for $12 and then sit 7 rows up from first base dugout

My brother-in-law is a Sox fan and prob hasn't been to Fenway in 10 years (that's Connecticut-level devotion)

The 2010 Boston Red Sox Call All Destroyer Tells Us What He Thinks Thread

so jealous of that--baseball cannot be an "event" ticket imo--there are too many games and it's too likely you'll get a bad one. like the time i spent 110 bucks so me and my girl could sit in the centerfield bleachers and watch the sox get shut down by jon fuckin' garland.

lolll thanx jtm

"runners on 2nd and 3rd, two out. here comes the pitch from chamberlain. ortiz takes a BIG cut and dribbles the ball down the first base line. papi is slow coming out of the box. chamberlain trips coming off the mound, ortiz is barreling down the line, he's almost halfway there now! teixeira goes over to help up chamberlain. here comes the yankees trainer out to have a look at joba, who is trying to get up. jeter, a-rod, and cano are headed towards the mound. posada is motioning for a stretcher. girardi jogs out to the mound. teixeira heads over to the ball, which is still in play, and runs down ortiz, tagging him out a few feet short of the bag."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTQpX--WRz0