Red Sox Nation responds: Part 2

More from Red Sox Nation:

"If you could send something to that classy gentleman, John Lackey, that somehow explains to him that it isn't how the runs are scored in a baseball game that matters, it is ACTUALLY scoring the runs that is the most effective way of heading back to Anaheim...with another game to play.  Oh, and also give him the heads up that it isn't anywhere else in America, that was Fenway Park... I think he has grown acquainted with it. Maybe the Angels were a better team; I mean heck, they did win 100 games in the grueling American League West Division. And yes, they did beat up on the Red Sox during the regular season, but I only wish that I could inform Mr. Lackey, and for that matter Mr. Hunter, that 'better' teams find the way to win in October.  Quite a CLASSY organization.  I venture to say it sounds like an organization that Hank Steinbrenner might operate.''

Dan Shea
Tolland, CT

"Can someone point out to Lackey, Hunter and company that the "better" team needs to look for their 'better Angels'? The devil is in the details and the 'better team' did not play good much less 'better': misplayed routine flyballs. Lackey the 'joke' is on you--running errors on the bases, closer K-Rod went K-Poof, and abysmal hitting as a team. If Pedroia hitting the Green Monster is such a 'nothing' hit, the Angels sure could of used plenty of nothing 'cause they didn't have anything.

"There is nothing worse than sore losers. I'll say this about the "Angioplatsies", they sure are the better complainers. The Red Sox own them in play off baseball. Can it get much 'better' than that?"

T. Davison, Boston

"I had a ton of respect for the way the Angels played against us the last week, but after reading this sob story, I've come to the conclusion they're nothing but a bunch of crybabies.

"Nobody told them to let that '3 run popup' fall in front like the Keystone Cops, nobody made Vlad take a brain [lapse] rounding third. Tell those whiners to start looking around the clubhouse before they start making excuses."

Gino Grossi

"The frustrations of losing can certainly move players to make some rather foolish sounding statements in the heat of the moment and as a long time Red Sox fan, I can understand John Lackey's need to lash out at something, someone, anyone after another series loss to the Boston Red Sox. But John, as well as some of the other grumpy, petulant Angels, need to figure out that gum-flapping has never won a single baseball game. There will be no asterisks in the record books denoting the fact that the "Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim in the 2008 ALDS.

"However, Angels pitcher John Lackey insists the Angels were actually the better team. No John, unfortunately games must be played and won on the field and not at post game press conferences with a spew and a splurt of pent up frustrations and foolish sound bites. I'm no sports expert, but perhaps once John Lackey and some of his  'angry' Angels catch on to this subtle, yet important detail about winning baseball games, their fortunes might actually improve."

Joe St. Laurent, New Hampshire

-- Mike DiGiovanna

Photo: The Angels' Torii Hunter responds to shouts from the crowd after his two-run single in the eighth inning of Game 4 of baseball's American League division series against the Boston Red Sox in Boston on Oct. 6, 2008. Credit: Elise Amendola/Associated Press Photo

Comments

[Antonio Negrete]

Lackey, Hunter and Kendrick shouldn't go around saying they were the better team...if that was in fact true all that means is that they're the best "chokers"

[David]

Someone tell Mr. Hunter and Mr. Lackey that "better" teams find a way to win when it counts. The Angels may have been a better team in the regular season but when the big games count, they can't get it done. They have no class and absolutely no respect for the game of baseball. The better team won last night, that is why the Red Sox have won 2 world series championships in the last 4 years, because they are the better team. Enjoy the offseason Lackey and Hunter! Maybe next year if you shut your mouth more and play a little harder you can win when it counts!

[grumpy3b]

nice to know the California Angels of the 70s are alive and well, still playing in Anahiem. "The Pop-Up" was classic 70s Angels at their best...

[Drew, Southbury CT]

Oh - somebody call the Wah-Wah-Wambulance - puhleeessse!

Your team did nothing - Lackey acted like an idiot (Ron Darling called him out on TBS for his antics like 972 times), Hunter got an opposite field single off a ROOKIE pitcher, and they're better?

Let's see - 2 WS in 4 years, 4 ALCS in 6 years - Pedroia the clear MVP (& oh, by the way, far from being a popup - his 2B was close to an HR) & Bay (whose HR off of Lackey just got finished orbiting the International Space Station) showed more heart than your entire team PUT TOGETHER (note that he was traded even-up for a certain dredlocked individual playing across town - talk about coming up big in pressure situations!).

I mean c'mon. Whatever happened to "Congratulations...Wait'll next year!"

Oh, and by the way, note to manager - Willits is the fastest guy in the stadium - anything other than back to the mound, line drive to IF & he scores. Even the couch potatoes at home in CT saw the squeeze coming - you think the Sox didn't? Over-managing pal.

[LeAnn Larson]

Hey, I'm an IOWA gal, grew up in a family of all girls and have loved the Red Sox since I was in grade school . Us, Iowa girls, all have great families... and guess what we LOVE the Red Sox and follow them with our 78 year-old-father through thick and thin. Last year was the BEST! My son lives in Denver, CO and loved seeing his BO-Sox win! This year, hope we get to play the DODGERS! We'll get there, one game at a time!
Go, SOX!... Once a Red Sox Fan, always a Red Sox Fan! Our family, now 22 strong... daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren all follow the BOSTON RED SOX! Loving every minute of it in IOWA!
By the way, I'm 50 something and learned how to spell Carl Yastrzemski in 5th grade! I still remember some of his great plays!

[Marcomarco]

Hey, John Lackey. The New England Patriots were a better team in '07, but no one on that team cried about February 2nd. Nor did anyone in America have any sympathy. Get a tissue.

101-65
18-1

[DG in CT]

AMAZING.......TO SEE SUCH LOW-CLASS RESPONSES FROM TWO OF THE BIGGEST SORE LOSERS IN BASEBALL...LACKEY AND HUNTER...UMMM..GUYS....HAD YOUR TEAM PLAYED ANYWHERE NEAR THEIR POTENTIAL..PERHAPS THE GAMES MAY HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR YOU...SO MANY LAPSES IN DEFENSE...SO MANY TIMES WITH NO BIG HITS FROM YOUR "SUPERSTARS"...STOP BEING SUCH BABIES AND MAN-UP AND ACCEPT THE FACT THAT YOU GUYS JUST DIDNT BELONG PLAYING EVEN IN THE ALDS..100 WINS??? WOWWWWWWW....AGAINST WHAT?? LITTLE LEAGUE TEAMS??? COME PLAY IN A REAL LEAGUE...THE EAST DIVISION...THEN LET ME SEE YOU WIN 100 GAMES!!! YOU ARE TRULY UNPROFESSIONAL

[Another SoxFan]

Seems to me Dustin Pedroia was no more pumped up stand on second base than Hunter was a couple of innings later standing on first base after his mere single to right field. Lackey should tell his teammate to tone it down, also. At least Pedroia hit it deep. How can the Angels not realize they came within one hit of being swept in walk-off fashion. Again. And again. Lackey feels better if we call it a 3-run error? Okay, in playoff games, teams that win don't commit 3 run errors. They don't give up 3 run bombs. The don't let a team score 14 runs with 2 outs. They score more than 2 runs in 4 games with 2 outs. They hit more than singles. They don't drop balls off their gloves because they are afraid to run into the wall and take one for the team. They don't miss bunts, or leave 43 base runners on base. They don't bobble balls when they have a chance to get the lead runner. Fundamental stuff. The Red Sox executed their hit and runs, their bunts, played far better defense, ran the bases better, pitched better, and bore down when it was time to get a clutch hit. There was no aspect in which the Angels were better than the Red Sox in that series. Maybe they were better this season, but the sox were better when it mattered. An that's all that matters. Some of the Angels should show some class. Patriots had a better season than the Angels, and to a man they said the Giants were the better team that day. That's classy. No would have, could have, should have. Point is, you didn't. There's no whining in baseball. Suck it up, tip your cap, and don't let the door hit you on the way out to a nice vacation.

[EdS]

What a bum Lackey is. Not only did he whine and moan and grimace and cry about bad plays that his teammates made, now he tries to play the "on paper we're better" card.

Listen, moron - don't know if you know how to read, but maybe someone could read this to you so that you could get a little humility and grace - your team lost because your team didn't play as well as Boston did. In other words, Boston was the better team. And TEAM is a word that means a group of people working together - not a group where one of them cries and spits and kicks and whines because he couldn't figure out how to win.

Sayonara, Loser.

[EdS]

What a bum Lackey is. Not only did he whine and moan and grimace and cry about bad plays that his teammates made, now he tries to play the "on paper we're better" card.

Listen, moron - don't know if you know how to read, but maybe someone could read this to you so that you could get a little humility and grace - your team lost because your team didn't play as well as Boston did. In other words, Boston was the better team. And TEAM is a word that means a group of people working together - not a group where one of them cries and spits and kicks and whines because he couldn't figure out how to win.

Sayonara, Loser.

[Chris from CT]

Lackey, you are right, You have the better team............

Well, see ya next year buddy. We may not be better but we WON.