Where's the Panic Button?

The lack of offense is starting to become a worry. A big difference between successful teams and unsuccessful teams is timely hitting. The Sox just cannot seem to get the big hit when they need it. Leaving runners in scoring position especially with two outs is demoralizing. Getting a two out rbi is uplifting to a team.

Last night, Lowell leaves the bases loaded in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the inning, Navarro gets a two out single off of Delcarlman to give the Rays a two run lead. Game over!

A couple of "By The Way's";

• When did the Rays' fans become so rowdy?
• Cowbells are annoying
• Varitek had absolutely no shot last night in the ninth
• I would have ruined the plasma if Cora got thrown out last night in the ninth trying to stretch a single into a double down two runs
• Evan Longoria is really good
• The featured BTW is something I have thought about in the past -- Clubhouse unity is a little overrated so why not bring in Barry Bonds? He's an OBP machine and would be a huge presence in the middle of the line up. Some fans are calling for the Sox to trade for Griffey but he has nothing left. The answer is Bonds. I know the chances of this actually happening is little to none but from a purely baseball performance perspective it does make sense. Free agent that would cost approx. $4 million for the rest of the season.

Big seven game stretch

As we wake up this morning, say good bye to interleague play and check the standings, the Red Sox are currently in second place behind the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Sox finish up a ten game road trip with series against the Rays and Yankees. To win five out of seven over the next week would suffice. We have Masterson (v Shields), Wakefield (v Garza) and Dice K (v Kazmir) going against Tampa the next three nights.

For some odd reason the Sox are not consistently hitting versus other team's relievers. The winning formula used to be wear down the starter and then light up the bull pen. The rays pen has performed well but are not dominating.

Suggestion time -- move Pedroia to lead off, bat Youk second and move Ellsbury down.

Sean McAdams in the Providence Journal today reported that Manny shoved a Sox employee to the ground after learning that his request for 16 tickets to a game may not be met.

Let's hope the Sox are feisty this week.

Batting second playing centerfield ...

Tris Speaker (1907-1915)

AL MVP 1912

1327 hits, 267 sb, .337 (3rd best in Sox history) career batting average

1937 Hall of Fame inductee

The best true center fielder the Red Sox have ever employed. Speaker was best known for his stellar defense but has the third highest batting average in Sox history. He had 207 outfield assists in his nine year career with Boston. Most impressive is the fact that in 1937 Speaker was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of only its second class ever. Still not convinced he was that good? In the 1937 balloting he finished ahead of Cy Young! Yeah, the same guy that the award is named after.

Batting the left handed hitting Speaker second will give him the 4-3 hold to hit through with Boggs on base. Speaker's on base percentage was over .420 for his career with the Sox.

Tempted to put one of my all time favorite BoSox players in this position but Fred Lynn didn't have the numbers or career to match up with Speaker's.

Good Win

Last night's win was very much needed. Hopefully this can propel the offense to start scoring some runs consistently. Thirty runs in the last eight games is not going to get it done.

Drew has finally cooled. Tek's hit last night "broke" a 1 for 30 slump. Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lowell and Youk have all performed as we would expect. Manny has struggled driving in runs of late. He has something like one rbi in his last ten games.

Ortiz hits off a tee today to see how his wrist has progressed. The Sox have weathered the storm since his departure. How long can we stay afloat offensively without the big guy? We'll see how he does off the tee. Hard to believe I'm interested in how a 6'4" 240 lb man is feeling after hitting a baseball off a tee.

Randy Johnson vs Wakefield tonight. Vegas has an even money line on a back injury tonight from one of the starting pitchers. Game time is 7:05 but with the daily rain delay it will start about 7:45.

Batting Leadoff at 3B

Wade Boggs (1982-1992)

5 AL Batting Champ ('83,'85,'86,'87,'88)

8 time AL All Star ('85-'92)

2098 hits, 1067 runs, career bavg .338

Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame 2005

"The Chicken Man" bats lead off on the All Time team. With a .428 on base percentage this guy will get on base and set the table for the heart of the order. Along with Tony Gwynn, Boggs was the hitter of his era. He collected 200 hits in seven straight seasons.

How sweet was the swing that produced countless doubles off of the Green Monster? How about the eye that produced nine consecutive seasons with at least 87 walks? How about the underrated defensive infielder that through a tremendous work ethic went on to win two Gold Gloves? Was there anyone else on the team you would want up in a big situation?

I think this selection at third base is a no brainer. Is there anyone else worthy?

Hobson?Petrocelli?

Regardless of his off the field escapades (Margo) and his defection to the Yankees (Didn't he ride the horse for the Sox in '86 before he did it for the Yanks?), Wade Boggs was the best third baseman in team history.

Manager

Terry Francona (2004 - present)

422 wins and 304 losses (.581 winning percentage)

3 postseason appearances in 4 seasons

1 AL East title

2 World Series titles

Obvious choice. Only competition would be Bill Carrigan who won back to back World Series titles in 1915 and 1916.

These are the glory days of the Red Sox. Guiding the team to the title after 86 years of near misses ('46, '67, '75, '86), heartbreak ('78, '03), and mediocrity would be evidence enough but Francona has excelled.

He has never publicly admonished a player and in this day and age it has to be very difficult for him not to. Managing a major league team today has to be far more difficult than it was at any other time in the history of baseball. Agents, incentive based contracts, blogs, Baseball Tonight, Around the Horn, sports talk radio, "hamstring injuries", Bill James' stat analysis, language /cultural barriers, tv cameras and dozens of beat writers all make him earn his keep. Obviously, Francona has more time to add to his resume.

Terry Francona has been a perfect fit for the Red Sox and deserves to be the manager of this All Time Red Sox team.

All Time Red Sox team

Over the next week I will post what is my all time Red Sox team. The team will be comprised of 25 players (eight starting position players, a designated hitter, two reserve outfielders, two reserve infielders, two "wild cards", five starting pitchers, four relievers, closer) and manager.

My criteria will be;

• Players can come from any era but I am partial towards players I am familiar with
• Players must have played the position they would occupy on the team
• Selection is based on the player's performance while on the Red Sox

Readers of the blog are welcomed to offer their own insight and opinions concerning their personal choices.