BOBBY V

The expected has happened, Bobby Valentine is under siege! It didn’t take long for things to go south. Boston Red Sox players have banded together and blasted manager Bobby Valentine to owners John Henry and Larry Lucchino.  During a heated meeting called after a text message was sent by a group of frustrated Red Sox players to the team and ownership in late July.

John Henry and Larry Lucchino called the meeting on Boston's off-day in New York on July 26 after first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, texting on behalf of himself and some teammates, aired dissatisfaction with Valentine for embarrassing starting pitcher Jon Lester by leaving him in on July 22 thereby allowing 11 runs. This was another serious incident between the Red Sox manager and the team.

Some Red Sox players stated flatly they no longer want to play for Bobby Valentine, Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia being the most vocal in the meeting. It was reported as an ugly heated encounter, and suggesting that the meeting was not a full team meeting but one of players who are using Valentine for a scapegoat because they are not performing at the level they should.

"The intent of the meeting was to provide a forum for people to express whatever frustration needed to be expressed at a time during the season when things were not going exactly the way we wanted to on the field in hopes that we could put whatever issues were there aside and focus on playing games the rest of the season. That was the intent of the meeting. That was the focus of ownership. It was a productive meeting.

"Since then, we have not gone on the run we were supposed to." Said Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington.

Ownership continues in its support of Valentine since the meeting, and  players have accepted the fact the fact that Valentine will remain manager for the rest of the season. The Red Sox with an opening day payroll of $173.2 million, are 57-59 and are 11 games behind the first-place Yankees and 5½ behind the second wild card. The Red Sox's last sub-.500 season was in 1997.

Red Sox general manager Cherington told reporters: "Bobby is our manager, and we're not considering anyone else. He's as committed to managing the team as he ever has been, and we're committed to him and trying to do everything we can to support him and make this work."

Henry said in support of Cherington: "To blame Bobby Valentine for the Red Sox being .500 at this point in the season," he wrote, "is simply wrong."

There have been a few issues referred to tby the players about Lester’s bad game and even the Will Middlebrooks after he made a defensive blunder – an admission by which Valentine admitted to on WEEI radio, telling the kid, “nice inning kid.”

Valentine has not helped his case either. He does not or rarely speaks to his coaches, some of whom are left over from the Terry Francona era, the trade of Kevin Youkilis the World Series member who exposed some of the issues in the clubhouse with Valentine and the players, and Valentines remarks about Youklis having his heart and soul in it all fueled the debate.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Valentine is gone by the end of the season, if not sooner..

That’s all I wrote, folks!