Jacoby!!

2014 - Jacoby will look good in pinstripes - Yuck!! 

Jacoby and his buddies were officially eliminated last night

with a Yankee win  and a Sox loss. Typically, the Sox had the lead

and lost it in the 8th and 9th innings.

The night before they had the lead and Papelbon coughed it up.

So goes the season. Loads of things went into it and

there's not enough space here to go into it -

it's well documented elsewhere.

Jacoby has had his replacements and Kalish

seems like a keeper.  2 Grand Slams - not too bad.

Nava Is hanging in there and doesn't look too bad 

with the bat. Josh Reddick who has had every chance

looks loads more confident at the plate. Just the way he

looked the other night - I knew he was going to get a 

hit. But, the season is winding down and I'm afraid we are

out of it. Pitching just now is coming around. Beckett, Buchholtz

and Lester had 3 good outings. We just couldn't fit

all the pieces together fast enough or long enough.

Jacaby has taken a beating this year in more ways than one

The first question was - why move him from 

CF  for an over the hill player like Mike Cameron?  

That should never have happened. LF at Fenway 

is a confined space! You don't want Ellsbury in a confined space!

Then he gets his ribs crushed by colliding with Beltre, then he gets

misdiagnosed, then he comes back too soon and he takes more

time off and gets a second opinion and takes more time off,

takes rehab assignments, starts in again slowly and gets hurt again.

The fans are not exactly on his side questioning his mental and physical toughness.

His popularity index has taken a huge hit. Plus he's a Boras guy which

definitely doesn't help. I have no idea how many CFers the Sox ran out there this 

year - 8-10? Somewhere in there -  that's for sure. His season was a complete

washout. And coincides with the success of the Red Sox. Wild Card this year? I don't think so.

Way too many holes to fill. Petey's just coming back, Youkilis is gone for the year.Papi is not

bankable. Drew? C'mon. Lowell is a shadow of what he was, Varitek is hurt. Martinez and Beltre

is where it's at - and that's just not enough. The list of injuries is well documented. It was just so hard to keep filling the roster with the Nava's of the world.

Jacoby Ellsbury should be the Red Sox MVP thus year.

There are so many things to like about him. I guess his

signature moment  this year came against the Yankees

when he stole home. He caught everyone by surprise

even Francona in the dugout where Ellsbury may

never have had to return if he was thrown out. His

Batting Ave. hovered around .300 all year

and he led the league in steals as well as breaking

Tommy Harper's season stolen base record for Boston.

His defense was superb and plays like this were almost

routine.

If he had only made that catch the other night! Mays like!

We may have had a different ending. 2011 was not good

teamwise! Had to go to 162 games to decide Wild Card!

Pap blew save! However, Jacoby had a terrific season and he is in

consideration for a ton of awards. MVP for one! Competition is

tough with Verlander and Granderson and not making postseason

doesn't help!

Now what are we going to do? Tito was let go and he said he

could not reach the players as he used to. What players? Who

reached Ells? Who reached Petey? The only regular player

who really fell off in September was Ortiz! Couldn't reach David?

Hmmm.  Youkilis? He kind of disappeared with numerous injuries

and really wasn't around for the September Collaspe. Aviles played.

Lourie played. Scutoro was very consistent and had a really good year.

At least 5 players had outstanding years. Ortiz, until the final month

was the best DH in the AL - Pitching was one huge problem.

No one could go 5 innings minimum on a consistent basis.

Lackey, Lester, Beckett. Wakefield? Ok, Timmy, by the way,

see you - we love you now go away. 

Jim Rice, Red Sox

Jim Ed finally got in!! What a travesty making him wait so long. Final Ballot. The guy was great and the writers did not acknowledge it. You cannot tell me some sort of prejudice did not play a part. I'm not flipping the race card here. There's always extenuating circumstances. His demeanor might have been a factor. Whatever it was - forget the numbers - defense was there as well and I love the 3 left fielders in 50 years scenario. Great player. Great to watch. And he's from South Carolina!!!! What's not to like there??

Gold Glove, MVP, Petey, Pedroia

Pedroia. Tremendous season for the little guy. I lost track of the number of categories he led in both

offensive and defensive stats (you could look it up). I think he made 6 errors. Batted clean up for several games and made people forget about Manny (Well, not really) No one could fill that hole.

Rated as high as a second baseman can get and was really at the top of his game for the stretch run in September and October. When everyone was falling apart around him, his consistency was what carried the team for any number of games. When you talk indispensible, it starts here. Lowell was gone, Ortiz was gone, Manny, Drew, Varitek - It all started chipping away while Pedroia took his normal slot at 2b. I doubt he'll get the AL MVP because of the ridiculous bias of the voters - however - you absolutely cannot deny his accomplishments.

So where do we go from here? 2011 10-4 - No Tito - his famous cribbage partner. Does Pedroia assume

a different role? Does he really get a chance to step up? Grizzled veteran. Is there no one in the clubhouse that can shake this team up? C'mon Petey - deck someone! Get them on the same page.

Ortiz cannot do it! He's a cheerleader with his name always out front. That's what he wants. 

Smiling face or glum face - that's Ortiz. He is not a leader - he could be - but it's not happening.

If he's the face of the franchise, then we have problems. There were no clutch hits this year.

That's in the past. If the last game was a microcosm of the season well, Ortiz' last at bat with a 

roller 6 inches in front of the plate is all that. David - a fly ball is all we needed. Ells on 3rd,

GET HIM IN!!! Ball game over!

Mike Lowell

Vtek

Papelbon

Was Jonathan the culprit? 2 Outs, 2 Strikes - couple of different times. Walk Hunter. Pitch to Guerrero. Truthfully, in the ninth, I thought JP was easy money. Should Varitek have been catching? Did Martinez have the right pitch? Way too many questions and they even go beyond this. As much as I would have liked to see them advance, they were a flawed team. This guy had problems all season. He was not a lights out closer. His numbers were similar to the past, however, he just did not dominate. It wasn't pretty. It was ghastly. The whole game was orchestrated to get to the big guy and we had Okie getting the last out, how bizarre was that? Jonathan, Jonathan - it wasn't suppose to be this way was it?11-11-11 Big Jon has opted out of The Nation  and moved to the Phillies. The new regime just did not want to pay him - 50 Million for 4 years? Something like that. He could not get the Baltimore Orioles out on the last day of the season when we really needed it to reach the playoffs. That was not a good sign. Who will take his place will be the next question - Bard? He did have some good years here and there is no doubt, Sox would not have been as successful without him.

Dice K

Manny, Red Sox, Anaheim

Manny 

Conig

Fisk

Schilling