DuffyCliff

Could this be going any better? And the Red Sox are STILL doing this without Nomar and Nixon. They need to keep dominating these fairly easy teams until they return when they can buck up and strangle anyone who gets in the way for the stretch run. Ohh yeah... Keith Foulke = Unbelievable

No. Not at all. The difference between a simple protein supplement and a gram of Testosterone is DRASTICALLY different. Steroids are illegal. Supplements you can buy at a health store. Vitamins are "supplements".

The Cubs do have a great team, and I don't have a problem with them. In fact, Kerry Wood is one of my favorite pitchers in baseball. I love Wrigley and respect it. However, there are two sides of me on the Cubs. One side is when you just bring up the Cubbies, their ballpark and fans, Harry Caray, Bricks and Ivy, etc... that kind of stuff when I'll say "Yeah, it's a great thing going on over there." - The other side is when you start talking about the Cubs beating the SOX in a World Series and just imaging how close we would come only to lose. It magnifies when I begin to think about all the guys we could lose after the season and that it might be the last chance for THIS team. That is when I get the feeling of hate for the Cubs.

RJ has a major league contract through at least 2005. He'll play through it. If Roger actually retires this year, he'll have a shot at being # 2. As for Clemens... I don't really hate him. He's undeniably one of the greatest pitchers of all-time but there are more ways of looking at the strikeout legends than just career strikeouts. Out of all the members in the 3,000 K club, just two of them actually have more strikeouts than Innings pitched. They are Ryan and Johnson. Pedro will be the 3rd when he enters the club.

Randy Johnson still has it and I personally would be surprised if he doesn't strikeout 300 batters for a SEVENTH time this season. He defies mortality. He's like.. God, really. How does he do it? He was throwing GAS, and he still has his filthy slider. Johnson has really thrown the ball great in his last three outings. After a couple of "so-so's" against the Rockies and Cards, Johnson threw a complete game shutout against the Padres. In Milwaukee, he had allowed only 1 ER through 6 2/3 while striking out 11 before he threw some wild pitches and mislocated a slider on his 125th pitch that ultimately blew the game. Then last night he comes out blazing and ends up striking out 10 through 7 shutout innings. If the D-Backs hadn't been up by 9 runs, he would've finished it. You could tell he was upset. RJ's Recent Dominance: Year - IP - SO 1997 - 213.0 - 291 1998 - 244.2 - 329 1999 - 271.2 - 364 2000 - 248.2 - 347 2001 - 249.2 - 372 2002 - 260.0 - 334 Career K's: 3,913 (4th) Career K/9 IP: 11.16 (1st) Career Double-Digit K Games: 193 (2nd) Career 15+ K Games: 27 (1st) 300+ Strikeout seasons: 6 (T-1st) Single-season best K's: 372 (3rd) Single-season K/9 IP: 13.41 (1st) Single-season Double-Digit K Games: 23 (T-1st) Single-season 15+ K Games: 6 (T-1st) Obviously the career numbers are all-time marks and single-season are for bests in just that. He is going to pass Carlton for 3rd, and I think he'll pass Clemens as well. He deserves to be heir to Ryan. He is by far, more of a strikeout legend than Clemens is. Sure, Clemens has two 20 K games. How about for a season? He's never struck out 300. For comparison, Pedro has done that twice. He's had a K/9 of over 10 just once and his carer K/9 is three fewer than Johnson. Not only that, but Johnson is within 212 K's of him despite starting 161 FEWER career games! All-Time K/9 IP Leaders 11.16 - Randy Johnson 10.50 - Pedro Martinez 9.55 - Nolan Ryan 9.27 - Sandy Koufax 8.86 - Sam McDowell 8.62 - Roger Clemens (8th) Single-season K Bests 383 - Nolan Ryan (1973) 382 - Sandy Koufax (1965) 372 - Randy Johnson (2001) 367 - Nolan Ryan (1974) 364 - Randy Johnson (1999) 292 - Roger Clemens (1997) - 27th Single-Season K/9 IP Bests 13.41 - Randy Johnson (2001) 13.20 - Pedro Martinez (1999) 12.58 - Kerry Wood (1998) 12.56 - Randy Johnson (2000) 12.35 - Randy Johnson (1995) 12.30 - Randy Johnson (1997) 12.12 - Randy Johnson (1998) 12.06 - Randy Johnson (1999) 11.78 - Pedro Martinez (2000) 11.56 - Randy Johnson (2002) 10.39 - Roger Clemens (1998) - 30th Seasons with 300 or more K's 6 - Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson 3 - Curt Schilling, Sandy Koufax 2 - Pedro Martinez, Walter Johnson, Rube Waddell, Sam McDowell, J.R. Richard 0 - Clemens (NOT ON THE LIST!!!!) Career Double-Digit Strikeout Games 215 - Nolan Ryan 193 - Randy Johnson 104 - Roger Clemens 97 - Sandy Koufax 93 - Pedro Martinez Obviously, since Clemens is indeed one to pile up the K's (even if it is not like Ryan, Johnson or Pedro), this is another stat accomplished from playing many a game. Pedro is within a dozen of him despite playing in 317 fewer games! I mean c'mon... Career 15+ Strikeout Games 27 - Randy Johnson 26 - Nolan Ryan 10 - Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens 8 - Sandy Koufax Again Roger... he's started 317 more games than Pedro has and yet Pedro has as many 15+ K games. Pedro got 60% of the number of career 15 K games Roger had over 600+ starts, in 1999 ALONE! Of course that doesn't surprise me much considering that Pedro was striking people out like it was nobody's business back then and didn't even let up at a fun filled event like the All-Star Game, throwing 98 mph out of the gate and knocking down Larkin, Walker, Sosa, McGwire and Bagwell. I'll also rank Pedro's 17 K one-hitter right up there with either of Rocket's 20 K games. Actually, Kerry Wood's performance in 1998 wipes the floor with either of them. This first started out as Randy compared to Clemens, but now you can even see cases in which the 5'11", 175 lb Pedro is a better K pitcher than Clemens. The final conclusion: Johnson, Ryan, Pedro, Koufax and eventually Kerry Wood... all > than Clemens as far as Strikeouts are concerned, because Clemens may just be the best pitcher ever next to Walter Johnson and Lefty Grove considering eras. While we are taking about Strikeouts... Anyone catch ESPN Classic last Friday afternoon? If you did, you were in for a treat as they were showing Pedro's 17 K's against the Yanks in front of 55,000+ in 1999. I'm glad I was able to record it. This Saturday ESPNC is having a special on Fireballers. They'll show Clemens 1986 20 K game followed by Wood's 20 K game (Truly a MUST-SEE if you haven't), Bob Gibson SportsCentury and finally Game 7 of the World Series (A classic Schilling/Rocket duel with Johnson coming out of the pen).

SCHUTOUT That is what it reads on the front page of BDD. That is exactly what it was. In perhaps his best start yet as a Red Sox pitcher, Schilling went 7 1/3 innings, allowing just 5 hits, no runs and 8 K's, including three in the 7th inning. His fastball was hitting as high as 97 mph on the gun and his splitter was WORKING to say the least. No doubt that Big C could've, would've and should have gone 9 tonight. The crowd was feeling it after he struck out the side in the 7th and started to really crank it up a notch. These are very good times in the RSN... I personally don't care if it is April or not. These games mean just as much as a game in September, it only gives us a head start on the race. DONT THE MFY'S WISH THEY HAD HIM... http://www.bostondirtdogs.com/2004/CS_4.28.jpg

Who is to say that the Yanks are going to get completely out of it and be the best lineup in history as they were so prematurely called at the beginning of the season? This Yankee team is not the ones of 1996-2001 that had heart and relied on great pitching and clutch hits. They have a bunch of great players, but they don't have a TEAM. They aren't hungry, the Red Sox are. I think once Nomar and Nixon return to the lineup, we can expect more than 4 hits from our bats. For now, it is enough. The Red Sox need to pounce all over this chance and rack up as many "W"s as statistically possible. The Sox are throwing Wake, Schilling and D-Lowe at Fenway against Tampa Bay while the Yanks get to face Hudson, Mulder and Zito next.

Hmmm... never thought about it as Tito teaching him a lesson. I don't think you can justify throwing a game like that, but it was a game that the Red Sox could afford to lose if that was to be the case, and to see how Curt reacted to staying in the game that long. Now Tito can pull him without any argument. All he has to do is point to the Toronto game.

You're right, Mussina does have the Ace label, so let's reword that: The Yankees best overall pitcher. Pedro, Tito is going specifically on pitch count, not innings. When Pedro throws strikes and makes the most of his pitches, he'll go 7 or more every time and win. I think as the year progresses, his arm is only going to get stronger and more conditioned. He was hitting 93 today for the first time all year. He'll eventually begin to tire towards the end but I'm talking about May, June, July... getting more conditioned. Right now he is going at a nice little pace that shouldn't be messed with. I don't think he'll be so-so too often either. Pedro has gotten to a point where he has made it look so easy that he needs a kick in the ass like the Baltimore bombing at Fenway to set a fire underneath him. I expect 6-7 IP, 0-2 ER outings from here on out. That will get him 20 wins and the ERA title with this ballclub. As for Schilling, he needs to get over the Complete Game obsession. Looking at his two starts in which he's pitched over 7 innings, he's allowed 4 and 7 ER respectively in those outings overall. That tells me he isn't much more effective than Pedro after 100 pitches today at 37 years old. Our Bullpen is incredible with Williamson/Timlin both being able to setup and then bring in "As-Good-As-Advertised" Keith Foulke to close it out.

The Sox men LOB is starting to concern me a little bit, but it was a little more comfortable today knowing that they were up against a pitcher of Vazquez's quality. 2 runs is usually enough for Pedro, and it was today. I think this should put away all the worry about P-Mart and his health. I no longer live in the New England area so I have DirecTV and was forced to deal with the YES Network broadcast today. I'm not sure if NESN had the gun or not, but I counted 4 of Pedro's pitches to be at 93 mph and more than a dozen at 91-92. It didn't really matter because for the most part, he was hitting his spots and was able to wrap his E.T. fingers around the ball to throw that sick Curve and Change for strikes. It was Pedro's best outing of the season coming off an almost equally impressive 7 IP, 1 ER start against the Jays in SkyDome. Pedro is now 3-1 with an ERA just over 3, and has had to face the opposing team's Ace in all five of his starts: 04/04: S. Ponson 04/10: R. Halladay 04/15: S. Ponson 04/20: R. Halladay 04/25: J. Vazquez Four of five starts have been those of Quality (At least 6 IP, 3 ER or better), and it is worth noting that PJ has either outlasted or pitched the same amount of innings in each of his starts against his counterpart. If he stays healthy and makes around 32 starts (something he hasn't done in quite awhile.. 1998 to be exact: 33 GS), then I think he'll win 20 games and have over 200 IPs. With his dominance, you can also probably rack up a 6th ERA title next to that as well as a 4th CYA. The K's are obviously not going to be like before and he actually may wind up throwing more Innings than he has Strikeouts for the first time since 1995.