Antipathy:Sox-Rays Gamer XI

I like the word "antipathy." It's one of those that means exactly like it sounds. Along with having the prefix of "anti-," the second syllable almost requires one to spit to say it -- an appropriate reaction, perhaps, when one runs across a person for whom one has antipathy, or a "strong or deep-seated dislike."

It accurately captures my sentiments toward the Tampa Bay Rays (we've discussed this before), as well as the Boston Red Sox right now. I'm not impressed by this team, losers of three straight, all by one run. The bullpen is crap. The offense seems unable to produce a timely hit. The starters haven't been bad, but they haven't exactly been good either. If you go down to Tampa and score four runs in a game started by James Shields, you must find a way to win. Instead, the Red Sox found a way to lose.

So I'm frustrated. A little angry. I'm not really enjoying this team very much at the moment. A synonym for "antipathy" is "aversion," a good word for how I feel when I think about watching tonight's game, with Tim Wakefield against Matt Garza. Yes, the Sox could win this series and be in first place. But it just doesn't feel like that's going to happen. The only feeling I have is one of antipathy toward a team that should be doing far better than it is (11-9 over its last 20).

Maybe this stream-of-consciousness flow of negativity has some reverse jinx power to it. To find out, comment away...

Comments

[Lar]

Err, is my math wrong, or even if the Sox win this game, they'll be half a game behind?

[soxgirl]

Yes but if they win the series, they'll be in first.

[SF]

I understand the theory about one run losses being bad luck, but having watched many of them I don't necessarily always buy it.

[rootbeerfloat]

Anybody else having trouble with mlbRadio? No way I'm going to make it through the last few hours at the office if it's not working...

[rootbeerfloat]

Last night's loss did NOT seem like bad luck. If anything, the fact that it was a one-run game seemed like exceptional luck for the Sox.

[Atheose]

Hey, I just remembered that Wakefield is the God of the Trop! I feel a lot better now.

[SF]

Jacoby Ellsbury's OPS thanks the Lord that June is over.

Or maybe it doesn't, there's still room to go down.

[Lar]

Ah, sorry for the misread.. =)

[Atheose]

Yeah, Drew/Pedroia/Lowell have been holding the team afloat for the last month. Ellsbury needs to step up and help us on the basepaths the way he did in April/May.

[SF]

Annoying thing about Mosaic:

If you watch a single game with the box score, it updates the box score ahead of the action. In other words, Jacoby is 0-1 in the box but still batting in the video window. Meaning that there is no reason to watch. Full screen takes care of that, but the box score is nice to have. They need to work on this.

Ells' OPS is now .000 for the month.

[SF]

Pedroia launches one about four feet shy of the wall in left. That's bad luck, he killed the ball.

[SF]

Sox down quickly. Shaping up to be another fun night!

[attackgerbil]

> one run losses being bad luck

You have to believe in luck to have bad luck

[SF]

Hey, our offensive-minded catcher is playing tonight, I forgot!

[SF]

Wake got away with a 2-1 meatball, Crawford fouls it off. Now the count is full.

Wake deals, and Crawford watches an eye-high something or other go past. Nothing like a pitch that has no speed, no movement, and no chance of passing the batter anywhere near the strike zone. That's a real challenge for a major league hitter, Tim.

[SF]

Wake can't throw a strike right now. And it's not because the knuckler is dancing, he is missing with pitches that don't have much movement.

Phew, a grounder to short, 2 down. Crawford at second. Avoiding an early deficit would be nice for once.

[rootbeerfloat]

Cora has been sitting too close to Lugo over there in the dugout.

[SF]

Leads off Pena with another eye-high no-movement knuckler. This is going to get ugly.

And now Cora boots a routing grounder.

I am sick of Jed Lowrie festering in Pawtucket while Cora and LFRS get trotted out there every night at some point to help f*ck this team over. Now a passed ball on our specialist and the Sox are down a run. How utterly predictable.

Back later, I can't watch this game at the moment and risk a $1300 piece of computer equipment's health.

[LocklandSF]

Cora, after the bobble, mouthed to Dustin something like, "that was your ball, that wasn't my ball."

I have watched it a few times over and I'm fairly certain about it.

That's bad sauce.

[SF]

Manny swings right over a meatball. Can he hit a fastball anymore?

[deb]

i watch the games these last few nights and it makes me go - BLECH! these are NOT my red sox...

[SF]

How often do teams go into the third and fourth innings hitless? It might be my mood, but it seems like this has happened quite a bit to the Sox over the last month. I wonder what the numbers actually are. I am too lazy to look right now.

[Paul SF]

*sigh*

Antipathy, I tell you.

Agree totally on Lowrie. I think I might actually like Cora LESS than Lugo, if nothing else because everyone thinks he's God's gift to backup infielders while forgetting he's a backup infielder.

[LocklandSF]

Paul, again, how can you say that about the smartest guy in baseball? ;-)

[SF]

Not having Papi is no excuse right now, not that it hasn't hurt. The Sox have won very few games over the last month that they might have. They have won one game that I can think of, the 5-4 comeback against the Cardinals, that smacked of improbability. But they've lost a few like that. They could easily be in first by a couple games, ahead of the Yankees by seven in the LC. But they've coughed up a handful of games through poor managing and poor pitching. I know they are better with Papi, but they don't have that excuse in my book up through today. The results right now are all due to decent, proven players (and their manager) not doing their jobs.

[SF]

Headline on the NY Times website right now is that Leona Helmsley left 5-8 BILLION to her dogs, or to be used to help dogs. Seriously, what the f*ck is wrong with people?

They should throw her corpse in jail for that.

[SF]

Seriously, Paul, can you use your insane BR skillz to find out how many games the Sox have gone the first three innings without a hit this year? And their record in those games?

[SF]

If Cora actually makes contact with that swing he'll be lucky to get it past the pitcher.

[SF]

Hey, I was wrong! Cora fists one about 63 feet to the third baseman for a ball that was neither a liner or a popup, in foul ground.

Cut that POS, Theo. How is this team better with Lugo and Cora and not Lowrie, exactly?

[SF]

Ok, this team is playing like it did last year later in the season, like dead men.

I may be back later in the evening, but the blood pressure is too high and completely the inverse of my sense of being entertained. When those are at opposite ends of the scale it is time to do something else.

[Atheose]

Okay I'm back in front of a computer for good now.

Sorry your BP is too high SF! Don't worry, Wake seems to have settled down.

[Atheose]

NO-HITTER NO-HITTER NO-HITTER

[Atheose]

LMAO just as I say that Ellsbury gets an infield hit that turns into a triple thanks to a crappy throw. Go me.

[Atheose]

Wow, announcers getting overly excited on a pop-up by Pedroia.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Excellent. This team has been very phlegmatic lately. nothing like a two-base error to get things fixed. ...
And the Pedro pops out.

[Atheose]

Drew hits it deep enough to score Ellsbury, 1-1 now. Drew's amazing.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Yet somehow I have mixed feelings. We get a run to tie it but face just seven pitches in the inning.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

All right boys. Hold down the fort while I'm gone. I'm off the Sam's with the family to load up for the July 4 party. You're all invited, by the way.

[LocklandSF]

What the hell was that?

[SF]

To what are you referring, Lock?

[Atheose]

Sigh, they take the lead again.

[Atheose]

Youk crushes a fastball to right field, about 3 feet short of a homerun. The Rays announcer then immediately says "Garza's fastball has been fantastic so far"

[Atheose]

HAHA Ellsbury's speed caused the Rays to make another error. Two infield singles for him so far tonight.

[Atheose]

Announcer: "Pedroia is a real pesky, fiesty player"

PLEASE don't compare him to Eckstein. Please please please don't do it.

[Sam-YF]

Ath-
Pedroia is a pesky fiesty player. Nothing wrong with that....

[Atheose]

Indeed he is pesky and fiesty. But usually whenever announcers go down that road to describe him they immediately compare him to Eckstein. Aside from being small and white they are nothing alike.

[SF]

Hey, nothing's changed! I check back in to see how the game is going and the Sox continue to suck. Glad I haven't wasted any time on it.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Me, too, SF.

[Atheose]

Ellsbury bunts for a single! Three infield singles this game for him. Let's see how quickly he steals 2nd.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Can we really only have one run despite three errors? ... And a stolen base!

[Atheose]

Ellsbury finally steals and is safe, despite waiting a LONG time to go. The ball was practically out of the pitcher's hand before he turned to run.

Come on Pedroia, bring him in.

[SF]

Wow, Tito, idiot. Pinch hits Casey for Cash, the Rays bring in a lefty, Tito pinches Tek for Casey. Casey is 7 for 19 against lefthanders this year. We don't need to remind anyone how close to the scrap heap Tek is right now.

Awful managing.

[SF]

Bingo. Come on, JD.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

And a walk to Pedro.
JD, we need you.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Agreed, SF. I think Tito outthought himself there.

[Atheose]

Pedroia walks, the announcers complaining about the strikezone. This time last year I would be moaning to see Drew up in this situation. This year? Optimistic.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

JD quickly down, 0-2; and looks at freakin' strike three.

[Atheose]

Just kidding--Drew watches three pitches all pretty much right down the middle.

Manny, GET OUT OF YOUR SLUMP RIGHT THIS INSTANT.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

(*&%%$^%*&^&%$$%#%%&^%&^(&(* Drew.

[SF]

Wow, three straight strikes stared at by Drew. Not good.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Pitching change. Making Manny wait longer to strike out.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Balfour's ERA is 1.17, compared to a career ERA of 4.83. Wheeler is 2 runs below his career average. Tampa lucked out big time with its pen this year.

[SF]

fastball fastball fastball fastball fastball.

Think they have any respect for Manny's ability to hit the fastball?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Manny walks. Lowell is 3-5 w/HR career vs. Balfour, Joe says.

[SF]

Manny walks on a sixth fastball that Gameday made look really good. Manny maybe a little lucky there?

And when was the last time Manny got six straight fastballs? The scouts must see something, maybe the same thing we all see: Manny can't catch up right now.

[Atheose]

Aaaaaand we leave the bases loaded without scoring. Haven't we done that like 20 times this week?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

NY ties Tex, 2-2.

[Atheose]

Yeah, Manny hasn't been able to catch up to fastballs lately. It's scary.

[SF]

Three left on. Nice game guys, what with the Truro Girls Softball team coming up in the ninth this one is over.

Hideous team we root for at the moment. Just hideous.

All I ask is for Theo to make a move with some of the dead weight - lose Cora or Lugo and bring up Lowrie. Let someone with some energy take a few shots at it. Show some initiative, Theo, ok?

[Atheose]

And once again our bullpen makes a close game tougher to win. We'll undoubtedly score a run in the 9th, to keep the streak of 1-run losses going.

[Atheose]

Cora doubles!

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Cora offfers a tease with a double, just setting up Tek with the imminent disappointment.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Varitek had two ABs, sees six pitches strikes out twice.
Ouch.

[Atheose]

Varitek down on 3 pitches. It's been a while since I liked this team. 6 hits and 3 TB errors and we only plate 1 f*cking run? Pathetic.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

This offense is absolutely anemic right now.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Sadly, we're wasting a lot of good starts.

[Atheose]

Silver lining: Mo blows the game in the 9th inning, Texas wins.

[Paul SF]

I went out and had an enjoyable two hours watching WALL-E. Much more enjoyable than the three-hour root canal that is Boston baseball these days.

[Atheose]

So WALL-E was good? It look great, and Pixar never disappoints.

[Paul SF]

It's much more an adult movie than a kids movie, I think. Basically a romantic comedy -- but animated. With robots. And very little talking. It takes genius to make you care that much about the happiness of make-believe non-living objects.

[Devine]

I think the term "clutch hitting" is overused, but this team has been SO anti-clutch at the plate the last week or so. Just always, always, ALWAYS leaving guys on. When they load the bases, I pretty much flip the dial because I know nothing good will come of it.