Beaneater

It really has me wondering about the questions people were posing upthread about the mound. I can't actually watch the game, but 12 walks (and counting) does seem a bit excessive.

C) Clanked off a bird for a ground-rule double D) Been caught, but then overruled on catcher's interference E) All of the above

Wikipedia tells me that the main character of the Steven King book Firestarter is named Charlie McGee. A couple more 9th inning meltdowns and that's going to be Hanrahan's nickname...

I liked the headline from si.com about the Yankees game: "Yankees destroy Guardians". Sounded like a very out-of-date and very-un-PC headline from 19th century America.

Will-da-Beast is not bad. It at least gets some consideration. Ironsides and Lone Wolf are awful. Sorry, NESN. I mean, unless they're supposed to be tongue-in-cheek or something. YotN, Napster is acceptable in my book. And as far as I'm concerned, Drew is now officially Electric Boogaloo. I was thinking about The Leather Channel for Iglesias. Except it sounds like it could be a questionable pay-per-view station, rather than a nod to Iglesias' glovework. One or two more late-inning bombs and I'm going to start calling Nava The Babyfaced Assassin.

Many of the guys who have been on the team for at least a year or so have a serviceable nickname: (Big) Papi, Laser Show, Salty, etc. Some of the returning guys and most all of the new guys could use a nickname, though. I mean, when Gomes hits a big HR (assuming that happens at some point in the season), I don't want to be jumping up and yelling, "Good job, Johnny Gomes!" So here, in no particular order, is a partial list of the guys who either don't really have a nickname or could use an upgrade. I'd be happy to hear any clever ideas that you might have on these guys or any other players. Gomes: nothing Victorino: Vic (which is pretty blah), the Flyin' Hawaiian (better) Middlebrooks: WMB (initials don't make a nickname in my book). Now if we called him WMD that would be more acceptable. Iglesias: Iggy (sort of blah) Nava: nothing Bradley Jr.: JBJ (but as stated earlier, initials are pretty lame as nicknames) Drew: nothing Dempster: nothing. Obviously on days when he pitches like garbage he'll be Dumpster, but that's not a very complimentary full-time nickname. Napoli: Nap, Naps. I suggest Napples. It's got a good ring to it that would sound suitable shouted after a walk-off hit. As a bonus it sounds just a bit off-color. Doubront: Doubs, Doubie. Considering how fat he was coming into spring training, I suggest Doubrontosaurus.

I just saw the HR now for the first time, too, Dojji. That was indeed a serious blast. He's a strong kid. I'm with you on Nava, for what it's worth. I know you're supposed to root for the name on the front of the jersey, but it's nice to be able to root for a guy both because he's on the Sox and because of who he is. Nava seems like a good kid and he's got a great backstory. The fact that he's gone from being a 5-foot-nothing guy in some independent league backwater to being a serviceable major leaguer honestly makes it more fun to root for him than it would be for, say, Barry Bonds in a Boston uni.

What I meant to say is that Bailey and Uehara will give opposing batters fits and apparently Hanrahan will give us fits...

Yeah, BornToRun, we certainly have our share of headcases and other various questionable guys in the pen, but the best guys there are going to be good. Uehara, Bailey, Hanrahan are going to give people fits in the late innings.

Even less time to make up those 3 runs now. Bailey made pretty quick work of them there.

Dude, Nava should be our clean up hitter!

Heck of an outing for Buck. More walks than you'd like to see, but the 8 Ks in 7 shutout innings we'll take anytime. If Buck and Lester are going to be this good...

That's what I thought when I read that lineup. It's basically Cano plus 8 random spectators from the crowd. And I'm OK with that. (until they put up the 7 runs that you mentioned...)

Yep, that is a good outfield. Now just imagine Reddick in RF. Drooool... assuming he would do here what he's done in Oakland. Big assumption, I know.

Or just let that happen, I guess.

Double steal!!!!1!

I love speed.

That's our specialty. On any given night, we can light up Verlander or Halliday for 6 runs. But give us an unknown scrub lefty and we're doomed.

I think we should totally trade one of the two Pawsox youngsters who have (if you will permit me a little overstatement) turned our season around. That's a great idea. We finally have a little energy and have gotten on a hot streak, so we should trade our .450 OBP leadoff hitter for some scrub AA reliever. That's brilliant! /sarc off/

On base machine.

It's a nice feeling, isn't it? Win the first two, and you're playing with house money in game 3. Just watched a highlight of the Punto HR. Dang! When Nicky Punto can stand in the batter's box and admire his shot leaving the yard, the pitcher had probably better retire.

So when does a sample size move out of the "small" category? Serious question. Nava is still killing it, and when he's not killing it he's taking ball 4. So, honestly, at what point do you get to say, "Nava is a good hitter"? I don't know enough statistics, and certainly not enough baseball statistics, to know when you can make some sort of valid judgment.

I know, I'm just kidding. It's not the worst way, though. On average, a winning performance has got to be better than a losing performance. But there's a whole lot of wiggle room for a good performance to get a loss and a bad one to get a win (see Buchholz, Clay, for examples of both situations). I just think it's funny that he pitched as bizarrely as he did and got a W out of it. Now that we're .500, I guess I should put my life's savings on the Rays for Friday, right?

4 up 4 down for the Mexecutioner. And Bard with the win!! Take that, haters!