RedSoxRooter

I'd agree with you except I keep going back to all the bad calls in the 1999 ALCS. That really killed the Red Sox that series.

Yeah, I read that. I don't know... when I first read it I was like "NO WAY, it will make the games too long" but then I thought, well, home viewers get to see instant replay all game long so why not the umps? Besides, what really makes the games long are all the commercials. And I'd rather see a perfectly called 4hr game than a terribly called 3 hour one. Then I thought, I need a beer to think this over.

Ever wonder how they lay irrigation at a ballpark?

DAMMIT. I even set a reminder in my Outlook but woke up too late.

It's cool it's half pitchers for once. RLRLR too.

Yankees can suck it. Anyway, this is an interesting tid bit from Projo. "The question is whether Varitek, who'll turn 33 in April, will be able to get such an offer from any team on the free-agent market. Boras, naturally, thinks he will. "He merely wants the quid pro quo of where his standing is among catchers in the game," Boras told WEEI. "Certainly I don't think anyone's going to argue that Jason Varitek tops that list." Some within the Red Sox front office might. One of their senior advisors, Bill James, has devised a system of measurement called Win Shares that determines a player's value each season. According to Win Shares, Varitek was the fifth-best catcher in the American League in 2004 (behind the Tigers' Ivan Rodriguez , the Yankees' Jorge Posada , the Guardians' Victor Martinez and the Orioles' Javy Lopez ) and the seventh-best in baseball (with the Pirates' Jason Kendall and the Braves' Johnny Estrada also rating ahead of him)." .... and that is where he stands at his "peak".... Not knowing what Win Shares are, I'll say the ranking of the catchers is right on. That's how I'd rate them as far as impact and quality on the field. Can somebody explain to me Win Shares in simple terms?

Boras: Varitek seeking five years, no trade By Boston.com Staff | November 9, 2004 Jason Varitek's agent told WEEI Sports Radio this morning that the free agent Red Sox catcher wants a five-year contract with a no-trade clause -- terms the Sox are unlikely to offer. The Boston Globe’s Gordon Edes reported on Oct. 30 that Varitek was seeking a five-year deal in the vicinity of $50 million and that the Red Sox's offer was believed to be for $24 million over three years. Boras confirmed today that the catcher is also seeking a no-trade provision. Varitek recently finished a three-year, $14.9 million contract he signed with Boston in 2001. "He actually gave Boston one of his free agent years, signed a contract there that was, I think, very club oriented, and he's been very loyal to the Red Sox,” Boras said. “When he became a free agent, this is the time in his career when he has to concern himself with his family." Any no-trade the Sox agree upon with any player automatically triggers one for Manny Ramirez under terms laid out in his eight-year, $160 million deal. That is an unlikely scenario, considering the Sox are still on the hook for four more years of the Ramirez contract (plus two option years) at an average of $19.25 million per year. Varitek is widely considered the leader of the 2004 World Series champions, and the anchor of the team’s pitching staff. He hit .296 with 18 home runs and 73 RBIs this past season. In the postseason, he hit three home runs and drove in 11. "He merely wants the quid pro quo of where his standing is among catchers in the game,” Boras said. “Certainly I don't think anyone's going to argue that Jason Varitek tops that list.” Tek's out if you ask me. Theo wont buy a No-Trade, or a 5 year deal. If you're gonna invest your money, do it in pitching (Pedro...).

Ok, cool. Do you want us all to send you pictures of ourselves? I'd like to be in the upper right hand corner, please.

Lots here. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds...tras/wallpaper/

"Unlike the Yankees, the Red Sox WILL NOT allow their payroll to get out of control. In fact, I think I read somewhere that they wanted to REDUCE their payroll from last year...." 120 Million is the number I've been hearing - though the Luxury Tax will be up to 130 Million by then (probably saving that extra 10 million for a mid-season acquisition...) Anyway, what's wrong with Mirrabelli? Why not have him replace Tek if we can't resign him and have Sandy Martinez and Shoppach as backups?

Pitching is more important than any catcher. If you have to choose, you choose Pedro. Nobody can argue that Tek is worth a lot of money and years, but the Sox don't need him for 5 more years, or even 4, if Shoppach is as good as people say.

It's not like his endorsement changed my vote. And if it changed anyone's personal vote, that's really sad. That's exactly why I rented Fahrenhieght 9/11 last weekend. I wanted to see it, but didn't want it to influence my vote. In the end, it wouldn't have anyway.

HOLY s***. That would have gone out of Fenway. It would have gone out over the new Budweiser seats .

Theo signed him on the cheap too. 04: $ 4.61 M 05: $ 5.25 M 06: $ 6.50 M 07: $ 0.75 M buyout or $7.75m option That's pretty damn good.

Ortiz rocks Tokyo with Godzilla-sized homer By Gordon Edes, Boston Globe | November 6, 2004 TOKYO -- A great story line in Boston has now become a global phenomenon. There are no limits, apparently, to the legend of David Ortiz, half-Dominican, half-Godzilla, one monster Big Papi. While New England slept last night, Ortiz hit a shot that won't be heard 'round the world only because it came in the Tokyo Dome, a bubble-roofed edifice known as the Big Egg that nearly cracked from the force of the blow struck by the Red Sox first baseman. Ortiz in the second game of an eight-game tour of major-league all-stars and their Japanese counterparts, hit a home run that struck above a bank of lights where the inflatable roof meets the concrete just inside the right-field foul pole. Estimated distance, according to a press release distributed to the media here: 157 meters. Grab the calculator, multiply by 3.28, and you arrive at 514 feet, an outrageous number. That's a dozen feet farther than the red seat in the Fenway Park bleachers marking Ted Williams' longest-ever home run. And it may be dubious, given that it's just 328 feet down the line in the Egg. But forget the number, and listen to those who witnessed it, including the unfortunate Japanese pitcher, a submarining mushballer named Shunsuke Watanabe, who threw a 3-and-0 fastball that Ortiz sent on a course traversed very few times before it. "It felt like he hit the ball almost twice the length of the stadium,'' said Watanabe, who had kept the major-leaguers off balance with an assortment of slow and slower changeups thrown from an arm angle that requires him to practically scrape his right knuckles across the mound. "Since the count was 3-and-0, I knew I could not walk him, so I threw a fastball knowing he might hit it. I saw one of the greatest home runs in the world.'' While the pitcher recoiled in shock, Watanabe's teammates tumbled out of the dugout to get a better view of the flight path taken by Ortiz's home run, which came in the fourth inning of a game won by the major-leaguers, 5-4, giving them back-to-back wins in the first two games of this series. Ortiz was named Most Important Player in the first game for his game-tying, two-run single, for which he won a 300,000-yen prize, worth roughly $2,900. For most incredible player last night, there were no prizes, just words of wonderment. "In one way, I'm glad it was a dome, so you could see where it hit, but in another way you wish it wasn't a dome so you could see where it would have landed,'' said Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson. "I talked to David, He said it landed right after the game, it landed in the Dominican. So the ball's waiting for him when he gets home. Have I ever seen a ball hit farther? No, I play in Pittsburgh, and if he hits that in Pittsburgh, it's halfway across the river. I would have loved to have seen that in Boston.'' Bruce Bochy, the manager of the major league stars, was in San Diego managing the Padres the night that Barry Bonds hit a ball off the center-field scoreboard in Qualcomm Stadium, a home run that until last night he considered the longest he'd ever seen. No more. "This was definitely up there with the ball Bonds hit,'' Bochy said. "The thing is, it looked like it was still going when it hit (above the lights). I think it was farther than the ball Bonds hit. It's hard to judge when you hit a ball in a dome, but that was right there with Bonds. "He's awesome. Manny (Ramirez), both of them have been great. To come here and be as enthusiastic as they have, says a lot about them.'' Ortiz chose to pass on expounding on his home run. Through PR man Tim Hevly, he issued a short statement. "I'm a big guy. I got a fastball out front with full extension. That's what happens. It was a 3-and-0 fastball right down the middle.'' Ramirez had the night off. Vernon Wells, the Toronto Blue Jays' center-fielder, was on deck when Ortiz connected. "I was thinking 3-and-0, man, he might swing here and if he does it could be damage,'' Wells said. "When he hit it, you could do nothing but just laugh. "I'd like to see where that goes in Fenway Park. I couldn't say anything to him. I laughed. I went to give him a knuckle after he hit it and he said, 'That's how we do it right there, Papi.' Just funny. "He’s a strong man. He's one of the best hitters in the game. I think he showed it in the playoffs and he's showing it here.''

Game 2 Box score MLB ALL STARS 5 at NPB ALL STARS 3 November 6, 2004 Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan NPB All-Stars AB R H RBI Norihiro Akahoshi, CF 4 1 2 2 Makoto Imaoka, 2B 3 0 0 0 Hirokazu Ibata, PH/2B 1 0 0 0 Akinori Iwamura, 3B 4 0 2 1 Kenji Jojima, C 3 0 0 0 Kazuhiro Wada, LF 4 0 1 0 Kazuya Fukuura, 1B 4 1 1 0 Atsuya Furuta, DH 2 0 0 0 Michihiro Ogasawara, PH 1 0 0 0 Takahiro Saeki, RF 2 0 0 0 Hitoshi Tamura, RF 1 0 0 0 Hiroyuki Nakajima SS 3 1 1 0 Shigenobu Shima, PH 1 0 0 0 TOTALS 33 3 7 3 MLB All Stars AB R H RBI Carl Crawford, LF 4 1 3 1 Hank Blalock, 3B 4 0 1 0 Miguel Cabrera, RF 4 0 0 0 Moises Alou, RF 0 0 0 0 David Ortiz, DH 4 1 2 1 Marcus Giles, PR 0 1 0 0 Vernon Wells, CF 4 2 2 0 Victor Martinez, C 4 0 1 1 Brad Wilkerson, 1B 4 0 2 1 Jack Wilson, SS 4 0 0 1 Alex Cora, 2B 3 0 0 0 TOTALS 35 5 11 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E NPB 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 7 0 MLB 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 5 11 2 E - Willis, Martinez DP - NPB-2, MLB-1 LOB - NPB - 7, MLB-6 2B - Wilkerson, 2 3B - Akahoshi HR - Crawford (1), Ortiz (1 - yeah, 1 monster motherf***er) SB - Akahoshi, Iwamura, Crawford GIDP - Jojima, Blalock NPB IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Shunsuke Watanabe 5.0 6 3 3 0 3 2 20 Hiroyuki Kobayashi 1.1 1 0 0 0 2 0 6 Hirotoshi Ishii L 0-1 1.1 1 1 1 0 2 0 5 Yukiya Yokoyama 0.1 3 1 1 0 0 0 4 MLB IP H R ER BB SO HR BF Kyle Lohse 4.2 6 3 3 0 3 0 21 Scot Shields 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Dontrelle Willis 1.2 0 0 0 3 3 0 8 Kiko Calero 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Chris Reitsma W 1-0 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 F. Rodriguez SV 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 HBP - Lohse WP - Lohse, Kobayashi T - 2:54 A - 52,000 U - Jim Reynolds (HP), Mori (1B), Ted Barrett (2B), Yanada (3B) Records: MLB 2-0 NPB 0-2

YOU ARE THE MAN. But the link is dead for me. Can you tell me how to get to it on Yahoo?

Nice. I can't believe it's only been little more than a week since they became World Champs. This has been the longest (and greatest) week + of my life.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. The Pedro I saw in 1999 and 2000 was the best pitcher I ever saw, but we are not talking about the past. Or talking about compensating him for past glories (maybe 17.5 this year wasn't enough?). I don't care what he did 8 years ago. All I care about is how he's pitched since 2001 and how he's declined since the shoulder injury. Why the Yankees can kill his fastball, really. This is about what he'll be like next year and 3 years from now. I know Grady gets the fault (and rightfully so) for 2003, but the fact that Pedro wasn't the "old Pedro" is why we didn't go to the World Series last year. Plain and simple. He does not deserve to be paid like he still is.

You know what's funny??? I don't care anymore who the Yankees sign now that we won the World Series. It all just seems like an act of despiration by George to piss off Red Sox fans. This goes for Nomar too, if he or Pedro sign with the Yankees, so what? We'll find our own guys to sign. I hope Pedro returns to the Sox, but come on. If he turns down this offer, he's incredibly stupid and greedy. As Sox fans we should agree that this is an exceptionally good offer for Pedro. It's not like we are low-balling him or anything. This is a huge offer by management. It Pedro walks, it will hardly be Clemens part 2.

Game 2 MLB 5, Japan 3 http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb...s_mlb&fext=.jsp Great info: "But Ortiz, continuing a postseason of amazing performances, may have done Crawford one better. The Boston Red Sox star drilled a lead off homer in the bottom of the fourth about as far one can hit a ball in the Tokyo Dome. It caromed off a strip of lights that separates a cinder block wall from the Teflon roof high above the right field bleachers. Estimated distance: 514 feet. "I thought for a second it would land in the Dominican," said Ortiz, after MLB defeated Japan, 5-3, to take a 2-0 lead in the series. " ... 514 feet

Not a bad offer for a 6 inning pitcher who had a 3.90 ERA in his walk year, who prays to God that he stays healthy before and after each start. He's not even "worth" 10 million anymore. But I guess it's all about how much he can get in the market. That's nice respect there Petey.

What's this "globe" you speak of? I obviously read the Blobe.

Not sure how they choose the roster, but according to the Boston Blobe, they usually don't use FA players for fear of injury. Here's the box score. Box score MLB ALL STARS 7 at NPB ALL STARS 2 November 15, 2004 Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan MLB All Stars AB R H RBI Carl Crawford, LF 3 2 1 0 Hank Blalock, 3B 5 2 3 0 Manny Ramirez, DH 3 0 0 0 -Miguel Cabrera, PH/DH 2 1 2 1 David Ortiz, 1B 2 0 1 2 -Brad Wilkerson, PR/1B 2 1 0 0 Moises Alou, RF 5 0 3 1 Vernon Wells, CF 3 0 1 2 Johnny Estrada, C 4 0 0 0 Marcus Giles, 2B 4 1 2 0 Michael Young, SS 4 0 0 0 TOTALS 37 7 13 6 NPB All-Stars AB R H RBI Norihiro Akahoshi 4 0 2 0 Toshihisa Nishi, 2B 4 0 0 1 Kazuya Fukuura, PH 1 0 0 0 Michihiro Ogasawara, 1B 3 0 0 0 Kenji Jojima, DH 4 0 2 0 Kazuhiro Wada, LF 2 0 0 0 Makoto Imaoka, PH 1 0 0 0 Akinori Awamura, 3B 2 0 0 0 Takahiro Saeki, PH 0 0 0 0 Shigenobu Shima, RF 3 0 0 0 Hitoshi Tamura, PR/RF 1 0 0 0 Hirokazu Ibata, SS 3 1 1 0 Hiroyuki Nakajima, PH/SS 1 0 0 0 Shinnosuke Abe, C 1 1 0 0 Kazuya Fukuura, PH 1 0 0 0 TOTALS 31 2 5 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E MLB 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 7 13 1 NPB 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 5 2 E - Ibata, Nishi, Giles DP - MLB-0, NPB-3 LOB - MLB - 7, NPB - 9 2B - Blalock, Jojima SB - Giles (1), Ibata (1), Nishi (1) CS - Giles SAC - SF - Wells GIDP - Estrada, Alou MLB IP H R ER BBSO HR BF Roger Clemens 4.2 4 2 1 4 4 0 21 Kiko Calero W 1-0 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Mark Redman 2.0 1 0 0 2 0 0 9 Scott Linebrink 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 0 4 Akinori Otsuka 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 NPB IP H R ERBBSO HR BF Koji Uehara, L (0-1) 6.0 6 3 3 2 6 0 25 Kazuo Yamaguchi 0.2 4 4 4 1 1 0 7 Takeharu Kato 1.1 2 0 0 0 2 0 6 Koji Mise 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 WP - Yamaguchi T - 3:09 A - 30,000 U - Shikata (HP), Jim Reynolds (1B), Kawaguchi (2B), Ted Barrett (3B) Records: MLB 1-0 NPB 0-1 Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story

6-2!