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DiceBB is totally confounding.

No. No, wait. Josh Beckett looked like this at times last year. Except he generally was closer to the plate.

3 runs, 2 hits.... jeez man, just throw the ball over the f***ing plate.

I've never seen anyone with such fluctuating control.

All by my seeeellf... I wanna be, all by my selllf...

Another ball that Papi usually gets some loft to. C'mon Manny.

I don't know if I would keep the pitch count down tonight for Dice. He had one bad inning, but his fastball is zinging and he is looking much better. He threw about 20 more pitches than desirable in the 1st, which is like a warm up session. Let him stretch it out. The guy is used to it and built for it. Push him to 120. We need this game badly. THEO needs this game badly--to get the calls for a huge trade to subside a bit and remind folks that we have a good team.

1 hit over 77 pitches. Not bad. I hate and do not understand the walks. He seems to get ahead pretty quickly and then miss the zone badly. His strikeouts appear to be timing rather than movement related. Very very good pitcher. If he can eliminate the walks (and their tendency to score) he would be near the top of the league as his ERA would drop. My guess is that when he starts the season next year with a clean statistical slate we will get a much better statistical picture of who he is. He has many absolutely dominant innings, and then occasional high-school meltdown innings. Of late, the former have outweighed the latter.

This team needs all the speed it can get. Nice job by Crisp to keep the inning alive, nice job by Pedroia to score the run and great speed by Lugo to cross the plate. More of that stuff boys.

How the hell is papi hitting .320ish with a .420 OBP (not exact)? He and Manny have to be one of the weakest set of guys with .400ish OBP in the 3/4 spot. Traditionally they have had tons of power, but recently it just isn't there. Not much anyone can do about that, I suppose. The hope is that it will come back. Last year at this time Papi had 90 RBI.

He only gave up 1 hit and 1 run, thank god. He can do better.

Fastball looks pretty good velocity wise... at least he has that going for him.

ANOTHER GODDAMNED WALK SCORES. f***ING 2 HOURS FOR THIS s***. I am hopeful that Dice will have a Beckett-like adjustment period for next year, but it sure as hell doesn't help this team right now. Get your s*** together, throw 6 or 7 innings and hang 'em up for the night.

He looks pretty uncomfortable with the ball overall. His stuff has lacked much of the bite it had in Japan for most of the season, and his changeup has been nearly non-existant. A 30 pitch first and not out of it yet, jeez...

Dice K looking nice and wild here to start the game. Damn it, just get out of the inning.

Your best bet is mlb.com and I'm pretty sure you're right that they don't archive past 2006

I have to wonder if this kid deserves a shot. He's hitting the ball the way that we would LIKE JD Drew to be hitting the ball. Man... September 1st can't come fast enough, can it?

Excellent. On the west coast a late start doesn't hurt.

So, is this game rained out then?

On SoSH (I don't like pirating, but I do like to cite sources to utter speculation) the main speculation is about a deal with Pittsburgh. They are spinning all over the place with players like Doumit, Wilson, Marte, Xavier Nady, and Ian Snell. I would take the last two, and take on some salary. Ian Snell would be a very nice addition as a #5 pitcher. Arroyo-esque in terms of effectiveness.

Towers: throws strikes! Wow. It isn't hard to find pitchers who can be a #5 and who don't walk an inordinate number of batters. Next. I like this idea, but probably not for Ellsbury/Bowden. Willis doesn't have anywhere near the dominant presence that Beckett had when the Sox traded HanRam and AniSanch. The Sox got Beckett, Lowell and Mota for 3 minor leaguers. Ellsbury/Bowden would be too much to give for Willis. I DO like the idea of Willis though, certainly as a potential #4 or #5. His value would be high because the White Sox know what the Sox are going through and will make sure they pay. I'm uncomfortable trading any serious talent into the AL Central. Those teams all have solid bases (Detroit, Cleveland, White Sox, Twins) and make me nervous. He would be a nice acquisition too, but I think because his name is in that middle-to-upper tier of pitchers he would cost too much. Couldn't the same thing be said about Schilling (who was more dominant than Contreras even dreamt of being) and Wakefield? I would think that any pitcher who suddenly returns to dominance would be worthwhile. So... a non-issue then... Doubtful that he's available or worth the cost. So... probably a no I would be happy if the Sox picked up Arroyo again. It isn't going to happen, but I wouldn't be mad. You give a solid reason why all of these guys would be bad acquisitions, while making the argument that they are 'options' the Sox can explore. This team isn't hurting for average starting pitchers. Schilling and Wakefield are average when they are being inconsistent, above average when pitching well. Dice and Beckett are solid pitchers who can help the team win each time out. Priorities on this team should be to add some legitimate HR power either to the lineup or the bench. Pitching should be 2nd.