JMDurron

Nomar - 2-for-3 Nixon - 2-for-3 Lowe - 6IP, 0 ER on 83 pitches. Good signs.

64 pitches in 5 innings for Lowe?

I fear for Lowe because he relies on a breaking pitch, and breaking pitches don't break as well at Coors as they do elsewhere. At least his confidence should be up going into this game, and Pokey should be behind him to help with that as well.

The self-esteem of RSN is in the hands of Derek Lowe. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

And yet, if Ortiz knocks him in after Bellhorn walked to load the bases for him, nobody's whining. Bellhorn continues to get screwed in that the magnitude of his contribution is more dependent on the ability of other people to knock him in than others, and nobody's driving in runs lately. But yes, that strikeout was painful. Painful. Of course, so was Ortiz's to lead off the inning against a RHP who can't pitch. And so was Varitek's on a 88 MPH fastball down the middle of the plate with the bases loaded earlier in the game. But hey, Pokey fast! Pokey jump! Bellhorn BAAAAAAD!

I think some lineup tweaking may be in order here, along with some serious video sessions with Papa Jack. The talent is clearly there. The problem almost has to be a mental one. Although batting Nomar 5th while he's basically in Spring Training doesn't seem like a terribly bright idea, it can't account for this across-the-board suckage in key situations.

Don't worry, if Pedro leaves, it will be solely because of money. Nomar isn't the best player on this team, nor was he last year BEFORE the slump. That said, let me make a few things clear about Nomar. 1) I bear him no ill will for tanking in September and October last year - if Millar and Mueller didn't do it at the same time, we win the ALCS definately, and maybe the WS. It's not like he wasn't abnormally hot at the plate in April and May, as people like to forget. 2) I am not in love with A-Rod, and am perfectly ok that the trade didn't happen 3) I have not forgotten the years when Nomar was the best SS in baseball 4) I think anyone who has been claiming that Nomar was slacking off on his rehab should be dragged out into the street and shot for the benefit of maintaining a quality gene pool. Now, here's my main beef with Nomar. He turned down a 4 year, 60 million dollar offer that was WAY above market value for him, given his performance the year before. He then complained about being "disrespected" by management when he didn't get the same offer at the end of that season...when he hadn't shown any signs of 1999-2000 still being in him. He then complained even louder about the A-Rod trade, when Nomar himself seemed to be making it fairly clear through his agent that he intends to leave town. Was the team supposed to just wait for him to leave and deal with Random Guy (Pokey as of now) at SS for the future? I don't question Nomar's desire on the field, and I think he is clearly a key player. However, 1999-2000 is gone after the wrist injury, and Nomar needs to stop overestimating his value, then whining when the team doesn't cave in. I think this fuels a fair amount of the fan criticism, and I think Nomar's complaining about the symptons right now, as opposed to the actual illness - his previous negotiations with the team.

I would take Pedro as well. This is largely due to the fact that Pedro as put up better numbers in a more offensive era than Clemens did, and the fact that Clemens tanked for the better part of his last 4 years in Boston. Pedro has struggled for....um....5 starts? Also, it's not like Roger was never injured, I don't see why he gets such a blank check on that account, relative to Pedro. Although we should be thanking Roger right now for straightening out Schilling's work ethic at their fateful meeting in Texas way back when. How's that for irony?

Or you can chalk that up to having several key players in the clubhouse (Nixon, for example) out for most of the year. Francona seems to be just as popular with most of the players as Little was, with the added benefit of not being stupid.

He seemed to return at the end of last night's game. Too bad it was too late.

Foulke has made statements to the effect that he likes to get some semi-regular pitching appearances in. I have no problem with that, and I thought bringing him in against the MFY with a 4-run lead was a good way to get him into a groove against them, and avoid any BK-esque pressure meltdowns. As for Embree, I don't see how you can blame Francona for going to him. He's holding opposing hitters to an average of about .210. I really think he's just having bad luck with those few hitters who DO make contact hitting the ball a really, really long way.

So...many...LOB...

It blows again. That non-breaking breaking ball seemed to be a "Coors Lite Special."

I hate that Pokey is hurt tonight, given his career avg at Coors. Since Francona was apparently going to give Ortiz the day off (makes sense, you PH him against a RHP later in the game), we could have seen Bellhorn at 1B to test him out today. Instead we get Millar.

Agreed. Besides, in Coors, even Pokey's a slugger! We can win it for him whether he brings his A game or not.

Pokey has tremendous upside.

We need Nixon over Kapler/Millar for playing with a DH. This is the best possible time we could get him back...aside from a month earlier, of course.

Pokey with a catch that justifies his salary by itself.

We didn't need Schilling to win last year. We needed ANY ONE of the following in October: 1) A manager who wasn't an idiot 2) Mueller hitting 3) Millar hitting 4) Nomar hitting 5) Pedro on his A game at Fenway against the MFY Grady Little made the greatest mistake possible, but let's not forget that our record-setting lineup failed to show up for all of October. Trot and Manny (mostly) got us to the ALCS with hitting, with Wakefield, Pedro, and the bullpen (including Lowe) keeping the scores low enough for them to do it themselves. EDIT - Forgot about Walker and Ortiz against NY. But they couldn't do it themselves.

Maybe for next year, but while recovering from an elbow injury, I don't want to see him getting "stretched out" for a starting role. Particularly when we're already overusing Timlin and Embree to try to get to Foulke. We need Williamson right where he is.

I'm getting tired of these 3-2 counts by Pedro. He'll be gone in the 6th at this rate, and we used the pen a bit yesterday.

93 in the first inning! Halelujah!

It already has come to that, due to Schilling's ankle. That's the scary part. If Lowe falters, we'll have to pray for BK Kim. After Kim, it's Frank Castillo. Getting the shakes yet?

Fan favoritism isn't really something that should be taken into account though. If the masses wind up being right from time to time, that's excellent. But you also have to keep in mind the times that a better player has been booed because the more popular guy wasn't playing the same position. I really think the crowd just likes having a fun name like "Youk" or "Pokey" to chant.