April 10, 2012

Valentine Takes Some Blame For Bullpen Meltdowns

Bobby Valentine said he has to do a better job of managing his bullpen, getting the right guys in their roles.
I've just got to manage it better, that's all I think. I think we've got the arms out there to do what we have to do. Just get the guys in the right position to do it. Just manage better. I will. I don't think the deck has to be totally shuffled. ... I talked to Alfredo [Sunday] night. Everything happened to quickly. He thinks he's making pretty good pitches. I do, too. Mark was pretty close to finishing that out. [The pitch to Avila] wasn't that bad a pitch. Got to have a little better results and I think we'll have that.

I just have to get the right guys matched up. Give me a little more time and I think I'll be able to do that. There's a lot of information. Trying to get all the information in there. These guys are good players and I think we have good arms out there that will do the job and I think we have good starters who are going to last longer in the game, too. This has been three days of something other than what it's going to be like for this season. I believe.
Example
The Elias Sports Bureau said that Sunday's game was the first time the Red Sox had ever blown multiple-run leads in the ninth inning or later twice in the same game.

Last night's comeback and 4-2 win allowed the team to collectively exhale. The Red Sox had never started consecutive seasons 0-4.

Adrian Gonzalez:
We needed a win, let's be honest. We didn't want to start 0-6 like we did last year and start heading down that road. It was huge.
Valentine:
[Alfredo Aceves] came in, he threw pretty much the same pitches. They were all quality -- up in the zone, away in the zone. His breaking ball was really good. His fastball was crisp. Before the game, he wrote me a little note and talked about trust. I told him I trusted him. He knew he was going to have the ball.
Aceves:
All it said was "trust". Trust. We've got to trust. It's been three games and everything was negative. We stick together. I need to keep that in mind that I have to trust my stuff. For me, for you, you've got to trust what you have.
Bobby the Fifth has been impressed with Dustin Pedroia:
I came here at 12 o'clock and figured nobody would be here, he was already here pacing and he said we had to get the monkey off our back and let's go. He gets a high slider and puts it in the seats. He gets a high fastball and starts a winning rally off of the double. He's a great player.
Pedroia:
I don't know, hopefully it sparked us. I'm just trying to put good at-bats together. This early in the season, everyone's got nerves going and everything. It's hard to settle down and find your rhythm and everything.
Example
Down in Miami, Mark Buehrle cut his pitching hand opening a jar of mayonnaise.
I came in to make a sandwich and they said "You know we have people who can make sandwiches for you." [I said] "I'm a grown man, I can make my own sandwich."
Buehrle said he would make his next start. He had no comment about making any future lunches.

25 comments:

9casey said...

Does anyone think Ozzie Guillen should be fired...?

allan said...

No. He shouldn't be disciplined at all. Guy's just saying some words.

Maxwell Horse said...

It might be easier to agree with people saying Ozzie should be fired if there weren't already a public outcry that Tim Thomas should be fired or traded for having the anti-American, freedom-hating gall to insinuate that both political parties were screwing the American people.

It seems to me that when one goes down the checklist of crimes that Castro has committed, it bears an odd resemblance to the behavior of the U.S.

allan said...

Looks like he was suspended for five games - for having an opinion.

You have freedom of speech - just watch what you say.

FenFan said...

You have freedom of speech - just watch what you say.

Except freedom of speech, as I've understood it, means freedom from government persecution for saying something like, "The king is a fink."

If I publicly call my boss a jerk or insult the customer base, then my company may choose to discipline me in response, whether by loss of salary or employment.

The Marlins have chosen to suspend him simply appease its fan base, otherwise known as its revenue source. It's purely a business decision.

That being said, I don't agree that Guillen should be suspended. I haven't read in full detail what he said, since I don't have access to the time article, but I'm guessing that it's been blown way out of proportion.

allan said...

FF: You are right. MLB can make its own rules, though I doubt "Thou shalt not say anything nice about Castro" is one of them. They enforce the "rules" on an ad hoc basis.

allan said...

Cafardo tweet: "A five-game suspension for Ozzie Guillen doesn't seem to be enough"

allan said...

Old Hoss Radbourn

If only O. Guillen had committed a minor managerial infraction like Driving Under the Influence this could have been swept beneath the rug.

Rumor had it that the owner of the Beaneaters castrated "Kid" Nichols for his unwise comments on Plessy v. Ferguson.


I am glad we are finally holding important people, like men who tell other men in pajamas how to play sports, accountable for their words.

***

allan said...

Dave Zirin, who writes about the intersection of sports and politics for The Nation, offers his take here.

Maxwell Horse said...

I just want to add one more thing that I think is funny when sports fans get outraged about politics. (And when I say "funny," I mean it makes me want to stab someone.) I like how all these sports writers and sports fans become so outraged and indignant when someone says something political they don't agree with. The outrage! To not shake Obama's hand! To compliment Castro! I am outraged!

And yet where are they when politicians actually act like monsters? When they get into bed with Monsanto, or kill over a million Iraqis who have never harmed us, or sign the National Defense Authorization Act? Where is their outrage then?

One could say that they care passionately about those issues too, but they only investigate them and protest them in their spare time, away from sports.

But let's get real here. That's fantasyland. Most people can't find Iraq on a map and think Monsanto is a Pixar character. The reason these people don't get outraged over *real* political actions that are killing others and their own futures, but they someone muster the will to get outraged over political matters that don't mean a damn thing is because they are not told by the media that they are *supposed* to be mad about those important things.

This Ozzie story will go away soon enough. The media will just jingle some shiny keys in the air and all will be forgotten.

allan said...

This is great. I don't have to write anything. I can just say "What Horse said"!!

9casey said...

Well horse I believe we still live in a society where if somone has microphone or is interviewed, sports fans or sports media still have the right to feel the way they want. If the person who says something has the right to do that other people have the right to comment on it..

Ozzie just has a tendency of sticking his foot in his mouth some may say that is way, his personality, well some people are just stupid and ignorant..
These comments aside Ozzie, in my opnion, is a ignorant loudmouth..

If sports media and fans shouldn't comment on sports figures political beliefs , why is it allright for sports figures to comment?

Why would anyone even ask Ozzie about Castro?

laura k said...

"What Horse said." x2

I heard that statement that the Marlins released, Castro as a "brutal dictator". Yeah, a dictator who has kept his country at peace for decades, with one of the world's greatest education and health care systems, despite the richest country in the world boycotting it.

Imagine how many in the world describe the brutal policies of the Land of the Free.

Such bullshit.

laura k said...

It is absolutely beyond my comprehension that a manager could be suspended from baseball for expressing a political opinion. What a crazy, crazy country.

9casey said...

Laura , are you saying life is good for those who live there?

laura k said...

9C, Americans don't know anything about Cuba, since they're not allowed to know!

There is no hunger in Cuba. No one lacks for health care. No one lacks for education. Also, no one is rich or has excess material goods. Whether that makes life good or bad is a matter of opinion.

laura k said...

Also no one dies or is maimed or driven crazy in foreign wars.

laura k said...

I would also ask, is life good for those who live in the US?

Amy said...

To me, it doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with Guillen or Castro. Where do we draw the line? Is it okay to endorse a political candidate? One would think so, even if that candidate is unpopular with some constituency for some reason. No one stopped Schilling from endorsing Bush back in 2004. So what opinions are not acceptable? I assume that here it was the fact that this was in Miami. Had he said this in Boston, most people probably would have shrugged it off.

laura k said...

Amy, I agree that it's not a question of what we think about Castro. But I find the US's irrational hatred of Cuba and Castro bizarre and ridiculous. In addition to finding the suspension bizarre and ridiculous!

Amy said...

Like most Americans, I know very little about what life is like in Cuba. My brother in law has been there, however, on various missions to visit the Jewish population there, and my sense is that he has been surprised that it is (1) a beautiful country and (2) not a third world country.

I think most Americans think about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile crisis and associate only evil with Cuba as a result.

laura k said...

Cuba is very poor, but that's because of the US-led embargo against them.

I've learned a lot about Cuba since being in Canada. Canadians travel there a lot, there are many cultural exchanges (music, literature, theatre), so I've heard a lot about it.

laura k said...

I should also say I agree with 9C that Ozzie is an ignorant loudmouth. But rights of free speech belong to everyone, including ignorant loudmouths.

9casey said...

laura k said...
I should also say I agree with 9C that Ozzie is an ignorant loudmouth. But rights of free speech belong to everyone, including ignorant loudmouths.


Thanks,

That is why my comments are still alllowed....:)

laura k said...

Ha ha! Not quite.

Actually, ignorant loudmouths *are* banned from JoS, but they can go post everywhere else.