A media savvy guy like Valentine knows exactly what he's doing, to whom, and why. I look forward to watching the hijinks. What's more, I look forward to watching Sox fans cringe. It makes the sober style of Girardi a relief. Who needs the drama? Although, it makes for good entertainment, on their side of the street.
Hey, we've been there; the Bronx Zoo, years of Steinbrenners sound bites and impulsive actions.
[2] Exactly right about Valentine. This was no mistake.
I can think of two possibilities. One is that Cherington wants to trade Youk, knows they can't get much, and so the idea is to soften up the fan base to prepare them for a trade. The other is that Bobby V. is playing Bad Cop, fully expecting a couple of the players to step up and be Good Cops. The latter would be more selfless than I'd expect from Valentine, but who knows?
i just hope the entire season is a shitshow with bobby v. him doing these petty things. the players hating him. the fans wanting his head. keep up the good work!
[3] perhaps the former. i still don't get why they thought he could handle 3rd for an entire season at this point in his career.
i could also see bobby v trying to play bad cop, but probably not for selfless reasons. more likely he would like an enforcer in the clubhouse but is having a hard time cultivating one. i know there has been talk in the past that youk is not very popular in the clubhouse so maybe he thought poking him a bit would get him an ally.
[5] Yeah, maybe. If so it was a really bad miscalculation, and for now I'm sticking with the theory that BV is more of a manipulative genius :-)
A good auxiliary hypothesis is that Valentine thinks of his current job as a highly temporary one. So some of his moves are preparing the road ahead. (This is why he has a weekly gig with Michael Kay, for instance.)
Sox and Rays scoreless in the fifth. Bard is dealing.
Bard gets two outs in the seventh, then walks Sean Rodriguez and gives up a single to Desmond Jennings. He's over 100 pitches, so probably he gets one more batter (Pena).
Wow, I was wrong, Bard gets to pitch to Longoria! Surprising.
Let's see how it goes...
He's emptying the tank, starting off with two four-seams at 95 mph. But he misses with both outside.
Now he misses with another inside.
Bard's in big trouble, nowhere to put Longoria at 3-0...
High ball four!
Valentine will take a real beating for this one. Bard should have come out two batters ago. Instead he throws eight straight balls and hands the Rays a run.
yeah, it's easy to hate luke scott. howevah, in that situation, it woulda been nice to see him pahk one ovah the monstah onto on landsdowne street or whatevah that block is called.
I kinda like Youk, who had to over achieve for every chance he got. Just from observation of their public personalities, how can Valentine and Youkilis coexist? Pedroia, arguably the most popular player for RSN, taking shots at his manager 10 games in?
It's only April, Valentine will be gone before the end of the season.
Hah! Youkilis took the high road. Pedroia, not so much.
"I don't know what Bobby's trying to do, but that's not the way we do things here," said Pedroia. "Maybe that stuff works in Japan."
- reported by Ian Browne/MLB.com
I would have substituted "at ESPN" for "in Japan" but it's still fun to Red Sox players taking open shots at their manager in April.
A media savvy guy like Valentine knows exactly what he's doing, to whom, and why. I look forward to watching the hijinks. What's more, I look forward to watching Sox fans cringe. It makes the sober style of Girardi a relief. Who needs the drama? Although, it makes for good entertainment, on their side of the street.
Hey, we've been there; the Bronx Zoo, years of Steinbrenners sound bites and impulsive actions.
[2] Exactly right about Valentine. This was no mistake.
I can think of two possibilities. One is that Cherington wants to trade Youk, knows they can't get much, and so the idea is to soften up the fan base to prepare them for a trade. The other is that Bobby V. is playing Bad Cop, fully expecting a couple of the players to step up and be Good Cops. The latter would be more selfless than I'd expect from Valentine, but who knows?
i just hope the entire season is a shitshow with bobby v. him doing these petty things. the players hating him. the fans wanting his head. keep up the good work!
[3] perhaps the former. i still don't get why they thought he could handle 3rd for an entire season at this point in his career.
i could also see bobby v trying to play bad cop, but probably not for selfless reasons. more likely he would like an enforcer in the clubhouse but is having a hard time cultivating one. i know there has been talk in the past that youk is not very popular in the clubhouse so maybe he thought poking him a bit would get him an ally.
[5] Yeah, maybe. If so it was a really bad miscalculation, and for now I'm sticking with the theory that BV is more of a manipulative genius :-)
A good auxiliary hypothesis is that Valentine thinks of his current job as a highly temporary one. So some of his moves are preparing the road ahead. (This is why he has a weekly gig with Michael Kay, for instance.)
Sox and Rays scoreless in the fifth. Bard is dealing.
On the one hand, I hate that buffoon Bobby Valentine.
On the other, I hate Big Ugly.
So they both must be wrong.
3) Agreed. I think this is his motivating technique. Doesn't matter if the players hate him so long as they produce for him.
Bobby is a lot of things, but he's not stupid.
Remember WhartonGate?? Think that was an accident?
Daniel Bard throws a 91 mph change-up.
Pony single with one out in the sixth -- man on for A-Gon. Shields still looks fine though.
Oh, it was with two out. A-Gon grounds out harmlessly. Big Game James has only thrown 75 pitches through six.
Bard gets two outs in the seventh, then walks Sean Rodriguez and gives up a single to Desmond Jennings. He's over 100 pitches, so probably he gets one more batter (Pena).
3-0 to Pena with two on and two out... green light?
Walked him. Bases loaded.
Wow, I was wrong, Bard gets to pitch to Longoria! Surprising.
Let's see how it goes...
He's emptying the tank, starting off with two four-seams at 95 mph. But he misses with both outside.
Now he misses with another inside.
Bard's in big trouble, nowhere to put Longoria at 3-0...
High ball four!
Valentine will take a real beating for this one. Bard should have come out two batters ago. Instead he throws eight straight balls and hands the Rays a run.
Justin Thomas to pitch to Zobrist for what is likely to be the game. Justin Thomas. Yeah, I see why maybe you'd be reluctant to pull Bard.
bahd with 7 walks (and 7 k's)...
some dude named justin thomas into pitch...
Oops, no, Luke Scott. (Who I hate.)
Slider over the inside edge, strike one. Slider way outside, 1-1. Not a hard slider but good movement, fouled off, 1-2.
[17] You and me, like Paulie and Coney. (I won't insult either of us by mentioning Kay.)
A couple of pretty wild sliders, full count.
great scott works the count full.
Oh, too bad! Well, I would have liked to see a somewhat deeper fly ball to right, but on the other hand I despise Luke Scott.
Thomas got the job done.
fuck. can you say "fuck" on the air?
1-0 devil fishes
Yeah, on the Banter Network you can say 'fuck' on the air.
yeah, it's easy to hate luke scott. howevah, in that situation, it woulda been nice to see him pahk one ovah the monstah onto on landsdowne street or whatevah that block is called.
[24] fuck yeah!
Yeah, "Lansdowne". Or even just a slightly longer drive off the RF wall.
Oh well, now I can root for James Shields (who I like),
Big Popup.
I kinda like Youk, who had to over achieve for every chance he got. Just from observation of their public personalities, how can Valentine and Youkilis coexist? Pedroia, arguably the most popular player for RSN, taking shots at his manager 10 games in?
It's only April, Valentine will be gone before the end of the season.
Shields would look really good in pinstripes. But there's like a thousand years of club options on him.
Wow, great AB for Cody Ross.
strike 'em out, throw 'em out.
love it!
Oh, yeah.
Backward K/CS DP.
Another tactical error by Bobby V!
Touche, Maddon...
Maddon repays the favor.
Rodney is going to blow this game.
[35] No respect for Rockin' Rodney?
i hate the shit sox in the 9th at the fens...
Ah, mighty happy to be wrong once again!
Cody Ross was robbed.
happy patriots day! : )
[40]Yeah, and if the Bruins lose, even better.
But...i fear the Rays more than the Sox this year.
[41] Yeah, me too.
Still. :-)
Ouch: http://bit.ly/I0NTKn
[43] Yeah. And look at what Allan posted at Joy of Sox:
http://tinyurl.com/6rt93fy
(The Pitch f/X data and a nice NESN screen shot.)
Worse than bad, that is inexcusable.