JMDurron

I say we should be blaming the players who didn't perform, AGAIN, as opposed to roasting the manager over it. It's not like a totally gassed pitcher was left in, or that we had anyone playing who shouldn't have been on the field.

What kind of brain cramp has you blaming Francona for this? Nomar and Ortiz screwed up. He pulled Wakefield when he should have. He went with Timlin instead of Embree, which was the safe play.

We have a good defensive 1B. His name is David McCarty. We just need someone who can field AND hit. Therein lies the problem. Oh yeah, and that we have a SS who currently has the plague. Or is one. Or possibly both. But hey, he has some REALLY impressive flyouts tonight.

Could Ortiz have looked any worse on that play? He made me miss KEVIN MILLAR at 1B. Again, I miss Ellis Burks. He pinch-hits for Ortiz in the top of the inning, McCarty comes in for D in the bottom. That doesn't happen to McCarty.

I miss Ellis Burks right now. A righty pinch hitter would have been nice there.

You're in REALLY big trouble when you hit Kevin Millar and WALK a BUNTING Pokey Reese in the same inning. Time for Jesus to pass judgement.

You know you're in trouble when you hit Kevin Millar with a pitch.

I agree. We're not fighting. All Red Sox fans seem to underrate Bellhorn, IMO, so I couldn't tell you what stat makes him a fan favorite, since the fans chant "Pokey" whenever he makes a mistake. What I like about him is his ability to get on base, constantly, at the top of the order, with Ortiz and Manny behind him. I also like that he's an average defender who did a great job filling in during Nomar's absence. I also like that he has shown the ability to hit for power. I like that he's only struck out once with a runner on 3rd so far this season, in spite of his otherwise high K rate. That tells me that he knows when to try to work to count, and when to just go at the damn ball. Bellhorn is not a huge part of this team, but I think that he has been a great table-setter, and that moving him down or out of the lineup would be a very, VERY bad idea.

You're reduced to making the RBI argument? I never brought it up for Bellhorn, because it's such a crap stat.

2 big innings killed by DPs. Another note for RSR - if we didn't have Damon, I wouldn't mind seeing Youk bat 2nd. In fact, if I recall, there was a series in mid-May where Damon sat and Bellhorn-Youk batted 1st and 2nd. I recall a fair number of runs being scored in those games. Not that I'd ever advocate such a lineup regularly, when we have a speedy OBP alternative in Damon.

Bellhorn moves the runner across...Nomar pops out yet again. I really think he should move down in the lineup until he gets back into the groove. Also, Millar at RF and Nixon DHing? Wha? We're following up our miserable defensive outing with Millar IN THE OUTFIELD?!? RSR, just might want to keep in mind that your "look how many games they've played" argument kind of comes back to hurt your "Youk has higher averages" due to small sample sizes. I'm not against Youk at all, in fact I wish he was at 3B today with Pokey at SS, and Bellhorn at 2B.

The problem is, does anybody else remember how many times last year we got into strikeout-throwout double plays because Grady was willing to run a tad more on 3-2 counts? We can't have it both ways. We'll waste a whole lot of outs on the basepaths if we're serious about running more.

Yes, it would be much better for Damon to get more ABs with runners on, as opposed to DAVID ORTIZ. Excellent plan. Sounds like you're really just desperately searching for a reason to bump Bellhorn down. Millar could use a season off, although I wouldn't be opposed to him PHing for Ortiz in a late inning situation against a LHP. Then McCarty comes in for D. My "shakeup" lineup would look like this. Damon - CF Bellhorn - 2B Ortiz - 1B Manny - LF Nixon - RF Varitek - C Youkilis - 3B Nomar - DH Reese - SS Nomar may need some time lower in the order to get his swing back, and I'd rather not have him in the field while we wait for his rhythm to return. Let him find his swing (at every 1st pitch), then put him in the field again once his bat cancels out the errors. I think Nixon deserves a few more ABs, and we need to try SOMETHING with Varitek to get him hitting again. Moving him in the lineup is as good an idea as any, IMO. Moving him down would be bad, as you have to either move Youk too high, or not move Nomar down far enough. This leaves Ortiz at 1B, which isn't great, but is probably better than Millar (not bat), McCarty (ditto), or Bellhorn (he's better at 2B than 3B, and he hasn't seen 1B yet this year). Plus you get Millar off the bench to PH, and McCarty for D. They can both play a couple of positions if necessary. Just plug Mueller into Youk's slot upon his return, since he seems to like the 7/8 hole anyway.

Could someone please explain to me how it's Francona's fault that the Red Sox haven't tried to steal bases since the 1970s? If that recently? The team's built for Fenway. Fenway begs for RH power hitters. RH power hitters mean that you play for big innings and big hits, and don't squander outs. That means you don't steal. It's been a team philosophy for years, and people are trying to blame Francona for it? Can't we find a better, and less blatant, scapegoat?

Of course Nomar's being shopped. He's an unhappy guy in his walk year who isn't performing up to his previous level. Problem is, we won't be able to get anywhere close to market value for him, because he's an unhappy guy in his walk year who isn't performing up to his previous level. We need an easily fooled GM to trade with, or we'll have him for the rest of the season. I suspect that we'll have him for the rest of the season. Which is ok by me, because I think Nomar's going to pull a Jeter, suck for 3 more weeks, then tear it up in late July, August, and September. Just as Jeter has been doing now after his terrible start.

Trading anyone for a base-stealer on this team would be rather stupid. We already have Damon, Pokey, and even Nomar who are speedy enough to steal bases. The team philosophy just does not seem to include base stealing. We're not going to steal, even if we trade for another fast runner. Therefore, why bother? Trade for someone with skills that we will actually use.

A little rallying cry for Nomar POK-EY'S BET-TER

Millar showing us the good kind of strikeout, if there is such a thing. Tire that guy out! Get to the pen early in game 1!

The problem for us in this series is that the MFY are mashing the ball, and we're being inconsistent. Our rotation has the edge, our bullpens are about equal, and their lineup has the edge.

We MUST win 2 of 3. A sweep would be nice. I think tonight's game is the one that we are the most likely to lose, so Lowe having a big game could mean a sweep.

Wakefield vs. Lieber as a draw? I have to give us the edge in that one. Unfortunately, their lineup gets a big edge right now over ours, so it balances out to a "somebody's going to win 2 out of 3" argument.

I say to start him at Option 3 until he's actually fully HEALTHY, then move to Option 2. He has such potential to anchor our rotation, and Arroyo could do so much to help our long relief, I think you have to give Kim another shot in the rotation. After all, if we're going to make a trade, wouldn't it be for pitching? If Kim plays like he has shown flashes of being capable of, we won't NEED to trade for pitching. Well, except perhaps another pen lefty if Luskanic (sp?) doesn't pan out.