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Trisha - thank you for your comments from the perspective of fans re: booing Jon Lester. I go to several games each year and still get angry with bonehead losses; to have that happen with my first game or only game of the year would keep me going to Pawtucket.

I don't think the boos belong to Lester alone, and was actually glad to hear some boos when the owners were introduced at the ceremony honoring Jason Varitek. Much of the responsibility for this year's implosion falls on the owners, manager, and coaches, who have not addressed the performance problems of the pitchers but just keep throwing them back out on the mound for more of the same. And much of the responsibility falls on management decisions regarding pitchers. With such a good bullpen, why isn't Buchholz pulled earlier, when he'd done such a great job, rather than leaving him in to make mistakes. How NOT to build his confidence! Putting Morales back in the bullpen because he's a lefty is a total waste of his talent, which is badly needed in the rotation right now. Why isn't Bard in Fort Myers working on his delivery out of the daily spotlight? Maybe it's time to bring Tek back to start calling pitches from the dugout, so the pitchers can concentrate on their delivery without having to worry if they're throwing the right pitch for the situation. Something needs to happen or Beckett and Lester will keep racking up failures and completely destroy their confidence, as happened with Bard.

Robin * Concord NH

I do not get how Jon Lester can do an interview after that depressing Red Sox game on Sunday. Stating " I am not concerned " well maybe that is the huge problem. Maybe Jon Lester Should be concerned ! He needs to be Sent Down and start all over again and Get concerned ! Fed up with the pampering of these Red Sox pitchers, " who are not concerned " and there is more then One of them. Here we go Again, same as last year's season " Their Attitudes ! "

P. Titus * MA

Kudos to our gal in Virginia. I could not have said it better Trish. I have been hopping on the fact for months that the owners are not spending their $$$$ in a manner that goes with a winning team and that Ben is a pawn for Lucchinos bidding,he brought in Valentine. The deadline for trades is near and I suspect that we are going to see some real serious trades and some that will make RSN angry, but baseball is a business these days, and a very expensive one. I go back to the great line in Field of Dreams when Ray Liotta tells Ray Kinsella "I would have played for food money". And the ticket prices are ridiculous,the vendors in the park charge too much for food and drink making 200 percent on many items, and most of the apparel is all made in Pakistan and China. Nuff said. You rock Trish.

Dave from RI

Thank you, Trish. You said it perfectly. The only thing that brightened the day for us Sunday was running into Johnny Peskey outside the park. If he were sitting in the dugout (where he rightfully should be), he'd turn this team around! What a wonderful man he is. I am still walking on air!

Nikki

A note to Sylvia in Deerfield: God Bless America is not an anthem - it's a song written by Irving Berlin in 1931. There is nothing stating that you have to put your hand over your heart. With the words "as we raise our voices, in a solemn prayer" in the first verse it make more sense to kneel.

Louise * North Attleborough, MA

After this weekend's miserable performance by the Sox I am totally disgusted. The boos are something I hate to hear, but not a surprise. Our "Best" pitchers are so erratic this year something is seriously in need of change. I wont lay the blame at any single pair of feet, there are plenty available and need to share in the blame from the very top down. Very pricey long term contracts, management favorites, questionable conditioning, warmup, prima donna athletes, daily management--tale your pick. What can be done to turn this season around and start preparing for next year, your guess is as good as mine. Thanks Trish for sounding off, you put up with all of our "brilliance" every day, and you need to join in sometimes.

Marty S

Well put Trish!!!

Laura * Denver

Trish - Well Said!

Sylvia, please keep your evangelical patriotism out of my face.

I am a veteran and every much an American patriot as anyone else. It is my choice to honor this country in the manner of my choice. Isn't that what this country is all about - choice? As I have written previously, in all realism, players have their mind on the game. That's why they are there. So please find a more appropriate venue for your sermon.

Merrimack Valley Fredd

To all those that are protecting Lester: Give me a break!!! You feel bad because Lester was booed off the field on Sunday!? The fans had every right to boo this guy, he sucked. Both he and his buddy Beckett deserve all the boos they get at this point. These guys have been an embarrassment to the team and themselves since late last season. Beckett, the Texas tough guy, doesn't give a damn what we think and although Lester seems to care a bit more he has linked himself to Beckett so the animosity of the fans for Beckett bleeds off to him. The fans pay good money to watch major league quality baseball. That pitching performance didn't even achieve little league quality. Had he actually been a little leaguer I would agree that booing would have been in bad taste. Lester is an adult athlete that has heard the cheers of the crowd, would you suggest that we don't cheer when he does great? When he sucks he gets boos, take the good with the bad stop whining and figure out what you're doing wrong and fix it or get ready to be booed again.

Robert W. Tremaine

Trish, I couldn't agree with you more. It also seemed that Lester was being punished by Bobby V. for having a bad performance by leaving him in so long. Becket on the other hand leaves something to be desired. It looks like he just dosen't give a rats a** anymore. He's got his big bucks so why try...

Ed * Morro Bay, CA

Well said Trish! To Cathy, Slyvia and Linda - I can understand why you don't like the booing but these players are supposed to be professional athletes. Cheering and booing come with the territory. If they don't want to be booed, they should play better. We know Jon is certainly capable of pitching better. I say ship him down to Pawtucket now and let him get his groove back so he can help down the stretch. Put Morales back in as the fifth pitcher. Then maybe we will have a chance at the wild card.

Nellie * Belmont

As for the "BOO'ing" issue: I agree to boo a player who is not trying, who trots down to first base, who is lazy going after a fly ball in the outfield, but to belittle a player who in his off-time is studying videos, working with coaches, and appears to really be trying to better himself, to me, is counterproductive. He feels shame, embarrassment, not confidence. IMHO - agree to disagree, right?

Linda * Cheshire, CT

I have to add my two cents in regarding the booing of Jon Lester on Sunday. I don't think it's EVER ok to boo - anyone - it's immature and rude, IMO. Trish you made a good point about the money folks spent to come see the Sox, but honestly, at this point in this season they had to know what they were probably getting into. And to spend that kind of money and boo your OWN TEAM is just not wasteful. Save the seats for folks who enjoy the experience, even when it doesn't go the way they hoped it would.

I think everyone at this point - from the owners to the players to the folks selling the outrageously overpriced water (on that we agree) understand the fans' frustrations and outrage at the poor performance of this extremely well paid bunch of guys. But guys they are, not superheroes, and there will be ups and downs. These days there are more downs than ups, but once in a while we get a Ross walk-off or a complete game shutout and those are the things we have to be happy about right now, so let's focus on them, shall we? I hope to see big moves by Mr. Cherington in the next couple of weeks and let's hope that adds a spark, a la 2004

Jeneen * Beverly, MA

Ok ... seems like most (not all) of us agree that it was OK to "boo" the players/team/mgmt. To those who do not think it is OK I ask you this: If you pay for a product or service and you do not get what you paid for, do you complain or just suck it up and keep quiet? What if that product or service was bad to an entire group of people? A very large group of people who, without their (your)  financial support, this product or service would likely not exist. If this were an actual product, you would perhaps see a class action law suit. There likely would be negative media coverage and petitions signed by the consumer to ban or change this product or service. Maybe you would even be able to get your money back and this company would go out of business.

Now think of this same scenario, but it is the Red Sox. What avenue do we as fans have to show them we are NOT happy with this product? We can't sue them, and what good would a petition do? They are used to negative media coverage, even when they are playing well - so scratch that off the list!  Again I ask ... what power do we have because after all, WE are what PAYS them money that WE could NEVER EVEN DREAM OF! We have but a few things that just may work - being vocal at a game and hopefully letting the player/team/mgmt know that we are NOT happy. We can stop going to games. That is about it.

I will never feel bad for Jon Lester, or any other player that gets booed off the field. I will reserve my sympathy for about a million other things I see happen in this world - but never for an entertainer, sports player, or any other priveliged group of people who are not doing their job and are where they are at in life because of all of us.

Trish * Remy Report * VA

Trish, not only should you post more often, you should write your own column. Absolutely agree. The very least they should do if they are going to insist on performing like a AA team every game, is charge AA prices for everything in the ball park. $4.75 for a soda is disgraceful. The season ticket holders are taking it on the nose. The money for the whole season had to be paid up front. We're not a corporation, we can't claim it as a business expense. We already had to give up two seats and go down to 2. People sitting next to us can buy great seats for $15. Mine still cost $94 per seat, per game. Now you want me to buy a brick? I'm going to have to use it to break a window to rob a bank!

Al * Holliston

Sylvia from Deerfield, I don't know about you but I was raised in a time when we were all required to place our hand on our heart while saying the plead at school everyday. The generations to come were not taught to be thankful to our country and yes, the military has allowed Americans to live in this great country. It makes me mad watching people not show pride for our country.

Lester being booed? He deserved it and Valentine should have been booed for leaving him in for so long and the two of them lost that game for us. They make millions to help the team win and we as fans deserve better than that. It was a poor performance and a very poor decision for keeping him in so long and putting the game out of reach. Sorry ladies but that is sports. It's not nice to see Lester be disrespected but his performance was very bad. As you ladies have said, he was upset with himself but when I played ball (and I was a pitcher) as a youth, I pitched so bad once, I requested the coach take me out. Maybe Lester should have done that?

Greg * Henderson, NV

I wrote this morning before I received todays Remy Report but I had to write again and say AMEN TRISH!!! I was happy I only bought a $30 ticket but still had to come down from Maine to see the game, water $4.00 a bottle, lobster roll and Coke $18 and you can't get a regular tee shirt for under $30 ... I was just glad I didn't pay the big bucks to sit in the good seats for the way the team played! I do appreciate the effort of the offense though. Trish you have to post your thoughts more often!!!

Sharon * ME

I was at Fenway on Sunday as well and was very upset at the booing when John Lester left the field. He is obviously struggling and trying to work his way through whatever his problem is. Maybe the pitching coach is an issue and not having Jason Varitek...and more importantly Terry Francona not being there are some of the things he is dealing with. I say give him the support of Red Sox Nation.....if you can't cheer, don't boo! Just stand quietly and hope that he can turn it around soon.

It was a beautiful day at Fenway made even better by the singing of the National Anthem of Canada and our own beloved country and it never gets old having the opportunity to cheer some of our military heros as they wave to the crowd. We have a lot to be proud of!

Sue Fleming * Saugus, MA

It is absolutely disgusting the way people were booing Lester!!! The blame belongs on the pitching coach!! He needs to get off his arse and coach!!!! I felt SO bad for Lester - he wears his hear on his sleeve and emotions on his face....he was UPSET!! The fans should be ashamed of themselves!!!!!! We should be SUPPORTING the team, not treating them like that!

Terri B * Franklin, MA

Well I have been watching a the Sox for the last few games and I am sticking with my preseason prediction of 62 and 100. Bobby Valentine needs to go,the pitching coach needs to go,heck the whole damn coaching staff needs to go. Larry Lucchino is in the process of destroying his third team of course he will leak to the press that it was someone else's fault. Ben "the Puppet" Charrington needs to take the initiative and take control of the team or go to Chicago with Theo. John Henry and Tom Warner need to forget about the soccer team,the race car team and concentrate on the Red Sox.

Will it happen? I don't think so,they don't don't care what the fans think nor do they care about putting a good team on the field. Too bad though, I used to enjoy watching the Red Sox,now I just check the score occasionally.

Kevin M.Cunningham * North Swanzey NH

Hey folks, long time Sox fan, relatively new to Remy Report. I've been reading the exchanges and find that I have to chime in. First of all, I find the level of play from the Sox completely pathetic. I've seen better games at local softball events. As a wise man (my father) has said many a time, these athletes are being paid millions of dollars to play a game. As Trish so rightfully pointed out, the fans in the stadiums shelled out a lot of hard earned dough to watch their team play. Lester deserved to be booed, as well as the rest of the team! Lester doesn't need our support, he needs to start pitching accurately. As hard as it sounds, it doesn't matter what he did in the past. What matters is now. I don't know about you, but I don't want to wait 86 years between each championship. Do you? The Sox owners should take a long, hard look at the Patriots organization. Somehow, some way, they always manage to be on the top of the list, making it to multiple Superbowls.

Phil Jr. in Idaho

Welcome Phil Jr.!  I was very happy to see your contribution and hope the "regulars" here give you a warm welcome.   Trish