Zenny

What did he do? Was it the thumb, shoulder or otherwise?

This is absolutely a game we should win. The way we've been playing, we will.

Shopp went 1-2 with a couple of walks tonight. Season Line: .224/.315/.443/.758; .36 (46/129) BB/K ratio; 21 2B, 20 HR, 60 RBI August Line: .234/.347/.547/.894; .44 (11/25) BB/K

The Mo one looks pretty good if I scroll the page up so I can't see his arms. The arms give me a headache.

Great win. 3 pitchers for the ninth for the save, but it was effective.

I would like to see him muscle up (he's 6-5, but thin as a rail) and maybe get a little more consistency to combat lefties. He's been one of the best pitchers in the game against righties, but the lefties have been somewhat problematic, but he's really improving.

Bronson = The f***ing Man.

I love Bronson Arroyo; this kid is going to be a pretty good pitcher for a while.

Sorry, dude, Earl isn't a prospect at all. He's 28 years old (4-5 years too old for AAA) and would get destroyed by big league pitching with the way he can't handle curveballs.

I have to go with Bronson. There were lots of times where we had just come off of a crappy pitching performance by Lowe or Wake or Pedro and Bronson would go out there and give a quality start and keep the team in the game, especially on the road, and receive zero run support, take a tough loss and yet give the Sox every opportunity to win the ballgame. All of this while some people were calling for Kim in the rotation. I remember Jeff Brantley assaulting Arroyo every chance he could in a game against the Yankees in April saying, "He's pitching his way out of the rotation," all while giving a quality start against a great offensive team.

A lot of the Tigers' bats are right-handed, which gives Bronson an advantage with that terrific slider of his. The one who could really hurt us this game is Carlos Guillen; Bronson's going to have to drop some changeups underneath his hands to get him out.

That seems to be the case. He can carry a team for two weeks and be an automatic out for the next month. Sounds like the catcher we already have.

0-4 with 2 K's for Shoppach. Here we go again. Season Line: .223/.311/.443/.754; .34 (44/129) BB/K ratio; 21 2B, 20 HR, 60 RBI

Oh, he'll be making the majors. The question is how long or how productive his career will be.

Shopp went 0-3 with a BB, K and R two nights ago. I forgot to update. Season Line: .225/.314/.448/.762; .35 (44/127) BB/K ratio; 21 2B, 20 HR, 60 RBI

Wow, what is this, Sell Oakland Short For Another Year Day? The Angels rotation is pitiful while the A's rotation is among the top three in the game. Advantage A's. The A's have the edge in team OBP, SLG and OPS. The Angels have only scored a handful more runs, but with Chavez consistently in the lineup, they're a completely different (and better) team. Not to mention that Glaus is out of the year and those runs he produced early now have no bearing. Advantage A's. The A's are the best fielding team in the American League. Advantage A's. The Angels have the better bullpen, but Dotel has been far less shaky of late. Advantage Angels. So in three out of the four categories, the A's are better than the Angels, especially where it counts: the starting rotation, by a wide margin. The A's are winning this division this year. They are, no question, the Rodney Dangerfield of MLB. While everyone gets caught up in the Vlad's and Blalock's and the "exciting" teams, the A's continue to do the job. No one is catching them in the West.

I don't agree with that they have no hitting. Eric Chavez, in his somewhat limited time, has been just as good as Scott Rolen this year, not to mention that he's three years younger, is better at getting on base and is developing more power than Rolen. The AB/HR and BB/K say it all, Chavez is better in both of them. Give them full healthy seasons at 27 and 30 respectively next year and Eric Chavez will outproduce Scott Rolen, that's a guarantee. At the top of the order, Kotsay and Byrnes have been very good at getting on base. While behind Chavez; Dye, Hatteberg, Durazo, Crosby and even Damian Miller have been very solid. All of them (except Dye) are on base at a minimum of a .350 clip and three of them (Dye, Durazo, Crosby) should finish the year with 25 homeruns. I think their offensive attack is more consistent than the Angels. Once you get past Vlad and Guillen, nothing is really scary. Injuries have hampered Anderson (who's overrated anyway) and Darin Erstad is playing over his head right now. Other than that, none of their hitters are really any good. I'd take the A's offense over the Angels offense, no matter how many of you call me crazy.

Last game of the season with Toronto. It's the first of our AL East opponents that we will not see again this year. Hopefully, we can make it 14-5 against them with a win tonight. After that, we need to take at least 3 of 4 in the home series with the Tigers. Then after that, it's Anaheim for three and Texas for three at the Fens. Then we're off to Oakland and Seattle for three and four games respectively. This is a big stretch of games right here in our Wild Card chase. Let's reassess where we are after we return from Seattle to play Tampa at home before we look up at the Yankees.

Maybe they'll shut the f*** up and focus on playing this year. God, I wish Trot was back.

Sometimes we kill Batista, sometimes we can't touch him. Story of the Sox season. Interesting to note: Kevin Millar, Gabe Kapler and Mark Bellhorn are tonight's backup catchers until Tek returns. Yikes. Unless they call up Dominique, we are screwed.

He'll probably hit between .250-.275, but he'll have an OBP about .100 points higher than his batting average and he'll slug around .500 with 25-30 homeruns. I still do think he needs the beginning of next season in Pawtucket, though.

He's still really young, so it's tough to predict at this point, but he honestly could be anywhere from Trot Nixon to Jim Edmonds. That also hinges on whether he moves to CF and develops there or not.

0-3 with 2 K's for Shopp tonight. Season Line: .227/.315/.452/.767; .34 (43/126) BB/K ratio; 21 2B, 20 HR, 60 RBI

A 1978 role-reversal in the making? Not likely, but it would be great.

He hit .270 in June, had a bad July (was run down, but really picked it up at the end of the month) and is hitting just about .270 again this month (but with a .378 OBP and .654 SLG%). I think with a half season at Pawtucket next year, he should show vast improvement and be all set, I believe.