4-4

4-4 and in three of their losses, the sox have been shut out twice and scored one in another. The pitching has been everything hoped for. Soon I will be giving some stats on former Redsox versus current Red Sox. Luckily J.D. Drew has started out hot or else the loss of American league leading average hitter Trot Nixon would be all the harder to take. CoCo vs Johnny there isn't even a comparision. We could go on and on on former players. There has to be enough offense to support these great starting pitching performances. Beckett is the only one has gotten support. Now Hernandez was amazing Wednesday night. It will be interesting to see who else they make look like Cy Young. Tonight the series starts with the Angels. Lackey is tonight, and he has good stuff also. Wakefield is going to have to be on his game.

3-3 on the first road trip

Without any help from the offense 3-3 on the first road trip wasn't horrible. There were 4 well pitched starts. Papelbon was amazing especially last night.
I am not suprised that the starting pitching was the strength. If the offense begins to come around this could be a good home stand. I am impressed with J.D. Drew, Ortiz carried the team to victory last night.
I was watching the game last night and I really liked Francona's move with bringing in Piniero in the 8th. No he didn't pitch well 2 walks and a bunt hit but there has to be a point where they see what they have in the bullpen. If Piniero, Romero, Donelly, and Timlin pitch well this pitching staff is by far the best in the AL. The yanks starting pitching is a joke. I think that it will get better but while it is down the Sox had better put some distance between them and the yanks. Millar helped out the sox with a hr sunday for the orioles against the yanks.
Tampa also looked good this week, they look like they are going to run their way into wins.
I think the hot sox's this week will be Drew,and Crisp. We should see alot more good starting pitching this week.

Opening Day Troubles

Are you kidding me, 4 straight losses in KC? They were swept last year during the swoon of 06. This Red Sox team is beginning to look over the hill, and I am not talking about the pitching staff. Schilling had a bad outing but I don’t think the problem over the course of the season is going to be the starting pitching. I don’t think the problem is going to be the bullpen. The problem that there was the last two months of last season, spring training, and now opening day is the hitting. This is not a well built team, there are very players that I think are on their upside of becoming a superstar. Dustin is young but really what is his upside? I am thinking his ceiling is a Jeff Cirillo, or Mark Loretta player. Youk what is his upside? Is he going to be any better than a worn out Millar? His average might be higher but is he going to be a superstar? Absolutely not. J.D. Drew? He is the second coming of Trot. BTW Trot had a great opening day in Chicago. CoCo? I think he has the most upside of any of the current players. He seemed to be hitting well in spring training, but we will see. Lowell and Varitek are both on the steep decline. Both of them look overwhelmed at times at the plate. Are they even going to hit .260 by the end of the season? Lugo? Why was he coveted for so long? Cabrera better overall player than Lugo, Gonzalez better defender than Lugo. But Lugo was the player the Sox wanted. Papi and Manny? How many more years can they carry the team? In a couple of years they are going to be where Varitek and Lowell are now. Unfortunately I don’t see the offense getting much better than what we saw on opening day.

Who is a true red sox?

It has been written about over the past couple of seasons of who is a true yankee. I think Jeter is the one attributed to coining the phrase. Last week while at spring training I was thinking about the true Red Sox. Of course with the history it has to be more than the winning tradition because the world series titles are slim and Curtis Leskanic can not be more of a red sox than many of the other greats who have donned the sox uni.
As I think of the true redsox player there is one similiar characteristic that comes to mind. That is injured. When I think of the great redsox there seems to be this thread that runs through of being injured and playing through it. Many of these red sox greats have played through injuries that may have ruined there careers. I think of Schilling and Foulke. They both sacrficed quite a bit for their 04 run. Foulke it cost him his career and Schilling I think is still recouping from that injury. Pedro is another who comes to mind. I don't think he has ever been the same pitcher since the playoff series in 98 when he was injured and came back and pitched out of the bullpen.
Lonborg's carreer was also never the same after his fight with the Yankees. Conigliaro, Barrett, and Remy also were red sox greats who gritted it out after injuries.
Well this may not be the only criteria that makes a great Sox player in my mind these are some of the true Sox. The yankees may have their history of winning but the red sox have their history of players who gave everything for the organization.