against his ranch malice long time
sportswriter and columnist for the republican
glad to have you with us sir as always thanks for coming in great to be back
I i shudder almost to say it 20-14 Red Sox
the why are they looking like playing like the 2013
World Series champions i think im I think the more we watch tomorrow's are a
blessing last year was everything
not everything went right but everything had a solution to it
guy get injured another guy comes in and does the job this year
I I think a lot of people who had kinda career years last year coming down earth
and I they're paying the price they lost some key guys and that they're just
trying to find those pieces to fit in that they have internet here
used agree we're in a column while he said they're maddening
they are they are and I hate to feel that way because I like to enjoy the
game and I want to expect too much and you can expect
last year to happen every I think most Red Sox fans understand that
but they're so close they lost a lot of games ago 12 14 innings it with the big
hit here the big defensive play there might turn it around last year those
plays were being made in this year the
the Karma as they say isn't there the chemistry the team i think is there
but the magic on the field has been missing you mention key guys and let me
just heard
a plague of some the names Jacoby Ellsbury gonna cry I didn't think those
can be because he was on the DL so often
but your old self Makia Ryan Dempster Stephen Drew
was there he was in there it is there now and I i wonder how you know you got
a contract and I can a country once we don't delighted that seems to play in
here Ellsbury's a big loss because I think what are the most underrated
things in baseball's a good leadoff hitter
the Red Sox have been fumbling for one all year they might have one in bra
called now
is not Ellsbury but he's been pretty good I drew is back I
the many came back people that maybe we don't need 'em I he can help the team
but he's not gonna solve all the issues that this team has
no one player well there was a lot more change in the offseason
then I think we realized and they are readjusting to that
when you use the word Manning I was such as somebody recently about the socks
of the you know the kind of conversation have about sports it's alright the word
I used was not only where this came from
uneven amina at they've a 10-game law Street
seven-game win streak three-game loss streak in and just unpacking for it
it's like you watching different teams every time you see how it works like the
stock market was a few years ago five in points out seven points down at
it's for it's not easy on the stomach sometimes that way and with the Red Sox
I their his stark just about in the way they've gone in these wild swings that
seven-game winning streak that they had last a last week
I think that law a lot of people into thinking that they are right back where
they were last year
and they're not I also don't think they're as bad as their long losing
streaks a
but there have been a lot of close losses this year that would have been
close went last year
you made a great point to late May column title come sports glory hangs by
the thinnest of threads
there is often such a really fine
margin between great success in a championship
and total failure in sports and I think we forget that especially the highest
levels
everybody on every team is a top white athlete we look at some guys as heroes
on some guys as bombs and
they're not I hate that there's a difference in talent level but
not it doesn't take much to tip the scale one way or the other and as I say
a lot of things at the Red Sox did last year that they were able to catch
capture the moment when the moment was there and I think it's easy to see that
that's not easy to do on a regular basis
when you're up against top competition these other teams a lot of them have
very promising young players
are they have some veterans 20 and so the best team
an army OCR team are not that far apart the Red Sox this year been a mediocre
team so far
and were things that amazes me fascinates me but based on that this is
the conversation everybody said at some point the hardest thing to do in sports
he said baseball right with the bat you fail at the plate
seventy percent of the time or a little more and you're still considered
a great hitter if if you're hittin 270 300 early stuff pretty good hitter
here what other things you don't want Manning that frustrates me about the Red
Sox I'm a little all school but the idea getting your bat on the ball two strikes
the Red Sox and a lot a modern players don't look at it that way
and they'll try to guess for their pitch in if there's two strikes in the guess
wrong it's called strike three
they strike out a lot the Red Sox do even when they win
and that's a lot outs to me that did accomplish nothing I think that getting
in the way this year even more than it did last year
you wrote in that same column how when a star like
you point to David Ortiz or Dustin Pedroia who everybody loves
but both of them I guess when a strikeout we immediately Kenneth Roberts
how could they do that how how did that happen we don't take into effect
your new account everything else that's going on including there's another team
and we're very tunnel vision about that but we're not a real %uh
David Ortiz attempt bear a saucy island next week
but I know the point a but again we we
we don't factor in that there's a competitive entity on the other side of
the field
adjusting readjusting every at bat is a concert set up a judgment
and i wanna make baseball sound too scientific but there is assigned to us
an it doesn't take much for the 320 headed to become the 275 better
and that makes a big difference that's what's happening I think with the Reds
access here
you mention a minute ago every major league player these guys are all
great baseball player even the guy we think it is as the journeymen
last you know yeah star has high school account actually I mean they were they
were all heroes are heroes
in their hometowns and then suddenly there in the situation there any it
that's gonna mess with their heads to so well I think
different people handles adversity differently you know what examples will
Middlebrooks he's a
extremely counted player still only 25 ani: still could blossom into a real
fine major league player but he has struggled with for the first time in his
life he's up against guys as good or better than he is penny said injuries to
but he's example Jackie Bradley junior comes to mind these guys have never
really
faced adversity and failure until now how they handle that will determine how
they do from now on
you made a point that when the teams winning
sit back and bask in it really savored the good times
because it may never come again well Red Sox fans are better expert on that I go
for the Cubs fan I can speak to that as well
I think Red Sox fans understand that now I remember the Prix 2004 Red Sox fan
there was a resentment in a bit earners and when's it gonna happen
we've seen it happen three times so we don't can and we know it can again
even if it doesn't happen this year and it's early I think Red Sox fans are a
little bit more mature maybe about
understanding you can have it all the time see better appreciate it will you
do
but let's actually shift gears here other sports you are still raining
sports are you reading about what you want to write about to some extent now
great job have you can find it here columns been moved to the opinion page
Anoka somebody was concerned from the minus eight years ago on what happened
you just a little difference but most times in the paper now your rating in a
in a broader sense
a broader portfolio honey what I love it I i wonder if I should push to do a
10-15 years earlier but then maybe I would not cover those three World Series
A
I've always said nutrition sports with some other interests as well
the papers redesigned itself as as people now
and one of the emphasis has been on more opinion and more engagement with topical
issues and here I was sitting there and they said well maybe you can do some at
this
I am very excited a I i'm reenergized as a writer because it's a new challenge
and a new opportunity to be creative well-run chalice always great to have
you no matter what we're talking about thanks for comments I appreciate that
thank you