Hold tight wait 'til the party's over

Doug:
Christ am I evah glad I self-mandated that I wouldn't panic unti the lead was cut to 3 …

 

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Doug:
Now instead of worrying about the Red Sox, I can go about my day recalling the pleasing melody of a rusty trombone.

 

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Mike:
Hey, why panic in any case?  As Francona says, "We didn't win the game, but we didn't go through our bullpen."

 

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Doug:
Ah, yes, the Francona Doctrine: Why win today, when you can win tomorrow, or the day aftah that?

 

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Doug:
Imagine if Terry Francona was a fiahman … "Jeez, folks, I'm sorry as all hell we got here too late to save your family home and all, but look at it this way: we didn't waste any water trying to put it out."

 

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Comments

[Youk Rules]

Nah, the boys have it wrong.

They didn't win the game, but they didn't need to go through their bullpen to lose it. That's the consolation.

[Bob]

Should be an interesting game tonight. Wake, who's never lost in the Shopping Mall, against Cashmere Sweater, who gives us fits.

[buckner was framed]

Or, as JD Drew might say, "Hey guys, sorry I took 6 straight pitches with the tying run on and all, but at least I didn't pull an oblique by swinging"

[h.b.]

I'd suggest that Doug and Mike see very little consolation in the bullpen being saved.

Instead, they see a team that at least half the time just seems to lack any sort of fight (as both Amalie Benjamin in the Globe and Joe McDonald in ProJo put forth in their game stories this morning).

[buckner was framed]

absolutely. Although Bobby Kielty sure looks promising in the Fiah department

[Harwich Rich]

Look on the bright side,we could still have Wily Mo :)

[Youk Rules]

No fight, HB?

I saw fight on Tuesday (a win), Wednesday (a loss), Friday night (a loss), and Saturday (a win).

All of these were games they "should" have lost.

What makes a "fighting" team? The looks on their faces? Rally caps? Or is the only mark of a fighter his ability to come from behind? Fighting teams still lose, and some of them lose often and badly (see: Orioles, Baltimore).

I don't believe that a spectator can presume to know either that a player is a fighter or that he's not trying hard enough to win.

After his blown save and loss last week, Mariano Rivera said that he is not a robot. I wish more people would see that even good players will have bad days.

[Scott]

The lead should still be more than 4 games. Thank you Mr. Gagne. Those 3-games will be a factor come September. And yes he does suck. His ERA as a Red Sox is something like 15! I am not grading him on his career ERA like others have done.

He can get on the bus to Washington with WMP. And Theo can drive it for them.

Thanks for ruining my Friday.

[h.b.]

Youk,

Remember the caveat: The characters represent at any given time the view of some segment of the fans. Doesn't mean it's accurate, valid, nice, rational, etc.

Just is...

[Scott]

I almost forgot.

Go Walpole!

(LLWS for those who are not following it)

[Youk Rules]

Fair enough.

[Kaz]

Yep, today's strip is a prime example of the non-rationality. Thursday they browbeat Torre for using up his bullpen's stamina...and then today they browbeat Francona for conserving his.

Besides in yesterday's game, unless Francona was going to put Big Papi in the field to forfeit the DH halfway through the game, it was our *1* run that doomed us, not the fact that we gave up a mild 3 runs to the Angels. Our hitting has been like watching Old Faithful...nothing nothing nothing, thar she blows!, nothing nothing...

Our pitching has given up only 25 more runs than the Padres who have an ungodly 475 runs allowed to our 500...the two best in all of MLB. Toronto is next closest at 521. It's not Francona's use, misuse, or lack of use of our bullpen that's losing any games. It's our hitting just not coming through at the right times. We have frequently chopped up our hottest hitters in the lineup. Instead of having them hit back-to-back-to-back, we throw them around so that you never know who's going to hit leadoff, fifth, sixth. And lineup changes are usually a sign of the coach not knowing who's going to finally catch fire given a different sequence at the plate. Then, to make matters worse, we seem to always give our biggest and hottest hitters a break on the same day we pitch Wakefield (taking Varitek out of the lineup), or whenever we bring up a rookie to handle outfield, etc. Our lineup needs a core and then we need to build around that until we have at least 5-6 of the 9 guys hitting well and one after another in the lineup. Otherwise, we have to pray too hard on 2-out, more luck than skill, runs or strand guys on third while the next 3 batters whiff.

Some regularity at the plate would go a long way to matching the kind of performance NY is having and asking that of any team is pretty unrealistic anyways. Of course, they were supposed to play the competitive and tough AL Central leader this weekend and instead they got the Detroit Milquetoast instead. They've played easy teams who suck and good teams who suck even more right now lately and then they go on to win a few tough contests and voila, the best post-break record in the Bigs. We still put up a 0.550-0.650 record the past few weeks and the best we can do is fend them off for only a 4-game loss in our lead. I say the lead's half-full still...they just made up to the halfway point in their climb in the AL East and had to play out of their minds to do so. Let's see if they can do it for the next month as well. We'll just have to keep winning at a pretty good pace as we have all season and see if they can overtake us.

[Youk Rules]

Do I wish that Gagne hadn't choked? Of course -- I was on the verge of tears Friday.

But I still don't buy that a division lead "should" be any more than what it is.

This assumes, that our team wins every game it should and loses none that it shouldn't...but it also assumes that this cannot hold for other teams, as well.

Bottom line: losses suck, get over it.

[h.b.]

It's not supposed to be rational. It's a comic strip.

But I also don't think being a sports fan is supposed to be rational. That's kinda sorta been entire premise of the strip the past 3.5 years...

Maybe it's time to rethink that one, I guess.

[Bob]

Heh. H.B., maybe you need a Spock-like character; the only "rational" Red Sox fan in the world. A voice of reason that will, of course, seem completely unreasonable to the rets of us during the heat of a pennant race. Because as Charlie Manson famously said, "no sense makes sense."

[Bob]

Hate to play creative director (especially since H.B. is 10x more creative than me) but maybe you could do up that thought we had last year: a Rashomon-style strip that explores a game from three different points-of view.

[Scott]

Hey I'm over it. Took me to Saturday night though. My point is that the trade didn't have to be made. Why mess with the bullpen since it was doing so well.

[h.b.]

I can barely do one point of view, let alone 3.

Actually, more and more it feels like I can't do much at all with the strip.

It's probably time to start asking some serious questions about the future, but I'll think about that once this season is in the books.

[Kaz]

I was agreeing with you up there, h.b. The characters shouldn't be rational and this was a good example strip comparing Thursday's to today's message.

I know everyone has their self-doubts, but I wouldn't keep coming back if you weren't doing anything with the strips. You use the format just fine and present the intermingle of concepts that don't necessarily immediately come to mind when you think "Red Sox" or about the last night's performance/decisions. If I find myself agreeing with one of the characters, then wouldn't you say that you've encapsulated the Sox fan experience? If I find myself disagreeing with them, I'd say you also encapsulated part of the Sox fan experience too. It's when I'm indifferent to what you write that would signal a red flag for me.

It's your baby, h.b. You can put it down, Old Yeller-style, whenever you like of course. All I'd ask is that if or when you do make that decision, we should have a big party somewhere to drink over it and you'll have to make an appearance. You'd still be perfectly able to stay anonymous by name, but I think you'd have to accept a few rounds on the rest of us and handshakes and back-slaps all around.

[PJ]

Bobby Kielty is the Heat Miser! I can't figure out why he currently has the Kevin Millar "Cowboy Up!" shorn head thing happening but for me, any look that resembles the Heat Miser is a keeper!

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~konczal/images/heatmiser.jpg

[Sonoma Sox]

Ditto what Kaz said.

I think anyone who comes here regularly - a professional lurker or constant poster - SHOULD realize the brilliant irrationality that is the characters and the mirror image of most of us. That's why some get all riled up over a characters pt of view - it's tough medicine.

Go HB, go.

[h.b.]

All true.

I'm just especially frustrated and whiny right now.

[buckner was framed]

well, shit- welcome to the Red Sox, h.b.

[da kine]

hb, if you stop doing the strip, I am going to get emotional. That only happens once per decade, so I'll videotape it and put it on youtube to remind you of what you have done for eternity.

[Billy Mahty]

Here are some crazy stats from the past 30 days that point to how tight it's going to get over the next few weeks:

Only team hitting over .300: Yanks .333
Only team slugging % over .490: Yanks .558
Only team averaging more than 5 runs per day: Yanks 8
Only team with more than 300 hits: Yanks 349
Only team with more than 40 home runs: Yanks 53

I'm going to be at the Thursday 8/30 game.. can't wait.

[Bob]

Only team with a blue-lipped a-hole at third: Yanks

[Bob]

(Sorry, I couldn't resist. You threw up a meatball.)

[Bob]

Vick's taken the plea deal:

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2007/08/20/falcons_vick_to_plead_guilty_to_charges/

[Kaz]

He would have been a fool not to take the deal. All of his "friends" were ratting him out. If the cops had been able to tie Al Cowling around OJ's ankle for aiding and abetting a wanted fugitive, there probably wouldn't have been a trial there either. Vick and Ray Lewis could probably start a support group for stupid and rich NFL players who don't have the ability to determine who their law-abiding good friends are and who is there to use them as a piggy bank for illegal operations.

Listen to Nancy Reagan, fellas, when your friends ask you for a couple grand to buy the latest in pit-bull "rape stands", Just Say No.

[Natalie]

Between being stung 7 times by a swarm of yellow jackets while hiking with the dog, running over a fishing spear (!) someone had left on the road near the beach thus puncturing the sidewall of (and rendering unfixable) my tire, and then having the dog heave her breakfast all over the backseat while driving 65 on the highway home, the Sox loss on Sunday was just icing on the cake of a crummy weekend. But it has to get better from here, right?

[soxdownunder]

Angels! [+5/(33)]

[soxdownunder]

Timmy!*

* Please reverse order of last two posts.

[Professor Murder]

Wow, is the rusty trombone still that obscure that no one has noticed it until now?

[soxdownunder]

//He would have been a fool not to take the deal. All of his "friends" were ratting him out.//
Your man could have hired a really expensive trial lawyers, say from Australia, shifted the venue to the Suffolk County Court House and listed the trial for September/October.

But no, he pleads out instead. Wanker.

[Genghis Ortiz]

h.b.

Don't quit - but just a suggetion - if you really get close to the end...try the Laphroaig 18 y.o. single malt to get the creative juices running. Or a bottle of Jameson's and a concert at the Channel (if it still exists...).

Even if you do decide to 'put this down', the strip you did the day the Sox beat the Yanks in game 7, 2004 will forever make me beam with glee. Classic.

[Genghis Ortiz]

It's getting difficult to believe that Gagne doesn't suck or isn't Torrecula's life-sucking long-separated Quebecois progeny from a post-strip club & 'special massage' romp in Montreal while he was with the Mets.

Five game lead, long road trip, ailing sluggers...this is fun! Let's drink!