SchillingIsTheNatural

haha Willy Mo looked funny swinging at that curve

Jorge Cantu is so ugly....blah!!

anyone getting the feeling Clement is only good for 6 innings.

If we traded Manny in a Marlins deal we would have to get Miguel Cabrera. Lets not under value Manny Ramirez like we did last season. He had a slow start last season that went into May and beyond I believe. He will get his production like always.

Kevin Youkilis is turning into one of my favorite players. I knew going into the season he wouldn't be your typical 1B because of his lack of power but he really plays the game hard. That is the perfect type of player. He hits for average and gets on base all the time. I feel like everytime I turn on a game he is on base. The hustle play he had before the Loretta walkoff homer was absolutly huge. Bust your ass and you get results. As for the new guys....I think we already have more web gems this season on Baseball Tonight than all last year. Gonzalez and Lowell are very streaky hitters. They will be up and down most of the season but hopefully there hits come at the right times. Coco Crisp has looked strong in every aspect thus far and Mark Loretta was quite a steal huh? As for other new guys....I think the bullpen will just get stronger as the season progresses. Rudy Seanez pitched better last time (despite results) while Julian Tavarez will be a real nice middle relief guy. I think a lot of us have gotten on Willy Mo thus far but in the end he will really show something. The one guy I'm not that excited about is Josh Bard....he has one assignment (even if it is a tough one) and he hasn't done it thus far. Tim Wakefield's second loss of the season was placed on Bard's shoulders for too many passed balls. Hopefully he can figure it out. Good start for the Sox and I can see them getting better as the season progresses and they get better with each other. It was great to see them come from behind....shows what the team is made of.

I was suprised to see Papelbon and Hansen being extremely similar pitchers. Both hit the radar gun mid 90s (Hansen may have a little more strength but I'm not positive). Both have a good slider but I don't see either have much off-speed pitches. Neither throws a real good curveball (even though the scouting report says Papelbon throws one). Papelbon does have a splitter which is starting to become unhittable. Meanwhile I hear Hansen is developing a changeup. Which ever direction the Red Sox go I think both can be successful in either role. You do have to admit that Papelbon has been more successful in the bullpen rather than the rotation. It would be interesting to see how Hansen takes to that possible role. The one issue I would have with Hansen is his arm strength. He had the "dead-arm" issue so I'm not sure he can last 200 innings. Another possibilitiy is that both of them end up in the rotation along with Lester while Delcarmen becomes the closer down the road. As far as I know he is throwing shut out baseball everytime he goes into a AAA game.

yea its too late to worry about that at this point. he won't bring anyone in....he gave the game away when he made up the lineup

Manny is about as worthless a ballplayer can be right now

How long has it been since we were shut out in Fenway????

I'm placing the blame on Francona and Bard for this lose. Francona gave this game away with that lineup and Bard was the reason for those runs....pretty pathetic game...not impressed at all

We have a whole lineup of backups in this game....I'm not seeing much of a chance in this one.

I'm losing lots of patience with Josh Bard.....I think we need another option. Tim Wakefield is not going to have a good season with all these pass balls.

game over

holy crap....Ortizzle time?

So what are the chances of Loretta and Ortiz getting on with Manny hitting a three-run blast.... I didn't think so either haha

Alright so I already stated my concerns with getting Dontrelle Willis. However I had to consider a certain fact. I love the guys attitude. He is always smiling and he is a real competitor.....those are deffinitly the types of guys I like having. I think David Wells could be traded at basically any point in the season and if they do pull that trigger it could open the door wide open for Willis. I'd still be nervous trading Jon Lester but then again....Dontrelle Willis is about as close to a sure thing as there is. A lefty with a successful resume and also still very young. I guess the big difference is Jon Lester may not have a chance to help us this season where Willis can walk in right away and perform.

His changeup is back to where it was. Thats the most important pitch Keith Foulke throws. Now he needs to setup for that pitch which unfortunatly is only his fastball. The location is better than it was his first outing of the season. The velocity has gone up from 85 mph. What he needs now is a late break on his fastball and once again it will be real tough to hit. When they can't get good wood on that fastball it sets up his change. Its possible the knees come back to ruin any chance he has or his head never gets clear...I'm just saying thats what he needs to become effective again. He has made progress from last year so I can't say all hope is lost. One thing though is that we could be looking at a premier closer in the league with Jonathan Papelbon. Its an extremely important role and some people might want to get used to that. Look what having Rivera does for the Yankees. Not only that but in a tight game of extra innings we could send him in for 2-3 innings. He has a fanastic fastball and that splitter is starting to become impossible to hit. He is a major weapon coming out of the bullpen.

This thread appears to have gotten semi-rediculous. I see NO WAY the Yankees could get Dontelle Willis. Eliminate everyone with any kind of money in there contract. That limits the team to trading Robinson Cano who alone is not worth Dontrelle Willis. Eliminate the farm system cause no matter what you say...the Yankees cannot compete with other farm systems. As for the Red Sox....first thing that would need to happen is David Wells would have to move on. That would open up a spot in the rotation. However the Red Sox would need to decide if that spot would be better filled by Jonathan Papelbon which also depends on the development of Hansen and the comeback of Keith Foulke. The Red Sox have the depth to make the move by trading Jon Lester and say Jacoby Ellsbury (with another player). Then we need to determine if THAT is worth it. There are still scouts who claim Jon Lester can be better than Papelbon...if that is the case why the hell would we go through all the trouble to aquire Willis?? What if we already have the next Dontrelle Willis on our team?? ....the hell with it....this Red Sox team is solid on the major league level and the farm system.

His location wasn't that bad yesturday. The problem I see now is getting movement on his fastball. He never had a high velocity fastball but at least it had movement. The one Catalanotto hit was straight on a line middle-in. If that ball was able to cut inside of the plate he wouldn't have made good contact. For the most part a 89mph compared to a 92pmh isn't much of a difference...its all about movement on the pitch. Papelbon has a ton of movement on his fastball which is why its so effective. The changeup looks real good for Foulke he just needs his fastball to bite more. That will probably come around and his deceptive delivery makes it a more difficult pitch to hit. The fact is its not that pretty but its still APRIL!!!

I think Josh Beckett is a better pitcher than Dontrelle Willis and we got him for our #1 position player and #3 pitching prospect. The age difference between the two isn't large so I guess I could see this happening. We would have to find another place for David Wells since we would clearly not have enough room in the rotation. I don't know if any of this has a chance but I guess anything is possible. A team who should deffinitly talk to the Marlins is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. If they want to make some kind of noise they should look into a deal. They would certainly sell a lot more tickets and I know they have the depth in there system.

I smell a final strikeout

Papelbon looks incredible...I couldn't agree more about the splitter....its almost not fair ...which I'm fine with

Whats the difference if Papelbon is a set-up man or a closer? Either way he is a relief pitcher so who cares what his so called "title" is. If your a closer or not I would hope they all continue to pitch the way they have thus far. All I hope is for the best pitchers to pitch in the crucial moments. For that reason Papelbon has looked the best out of our bullpen so I would hope he comes in at some point whenever we have a lead.

There is nothing wrong with David Wells. He will be just fine...I think he has proved he can pitch in the majors. At this moment the combination of Papelbon, Timlin, and hopefully a healthy and strong Keith Foulke is better than just about every teams top three relievers (Anaheim is good too).

I remember what Foulke looked like....I have the whole 2004 playoffs set like many of you. A change that moved away from batters and a fastball with pinpoint control and movement in which nobody was able to get good wood on. At this point it looks like the changeup is back for the most part. Now what he needs is to build up the arm strength and gets his legs working again. With some time he can pick up some velocity and develop more movement. All he needs to do is get that fastball back to make the change more effective then get his head in the game. It is also possible he never recovers from the past season and is never the same pitcher again. Here's hoping that won't be the case.