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Don't blow this out of proportion jacksonian. He was uncharastically wild with 2 walks in 4 innings, including (I believe) a BB with the bases loaded. He also struck out 5, which is pretty encouraging. He wasn't getting above 92 on the gun. Carlos Zambrano had a worse line than Schilling, but I'm willing to call it a bad start too.

No big deal folks, the Royals sold out their stadium and had a pretty good game. Meche had to come out and prove that he was "worth" all the money they paid him and the Sox bats haven't clicked yet. Personally I think this team can survive if 'Tek isn't what he used to be, as long as someone else steps up like Crisp or Pedroia. I think it is fair to say that Youkilis is in for a career year. He has looked phenomenal at the plate, even without a whole lot of power. Pedroia used this game to get the monkey (i.e., many of the fans here and those complaining on EEI) off his back a bit. That should make him relax a little bit. Schilling looked bad, but not as bad as a lot of people here are saying. I think we're going to see a fair amount of adjusting on his part this season and he will eventually figure it out. Whereas Josh Beckett is learning to be a power pitcher Schilling is learning to be a finesse guy. I thought the worst part of this game was the announcing by Joe Morgan. Not only can I not stand his discussions about 'stats' and how he doesn't put weight on them (WTF DO you put weight on Joe?) but also the broadcast teams complete inability to call a changeup when they see one. I'm pretty sure that when Tek was putting down "4" he was calling for a changeup. They mis-identified it as a splitter a number of times and never mentioned that its a new pitch that he's working on. They kept saying things like "I think he'll throw a fastball here, he's afraid to throw the splitter in the dirt with runners on base and his curveball isn't very good." Was anyone else worried that a splitter in the dirt would somehow allude Varitek's mighty chest? I sure wasn't. Meanwhile all of us have been reading Schilling say that his changeup will be a strikeout pitch. It's not quite there yet but you could see him trying it today. I just hope people can remember what a LONG season it is. This team will play differently two weeks from now, two months from now and 100 games from now. They'll hit their stride eventually. The disappointing part is that I imagine a number of people left work early (like I did) or recorded the game or some such thing for this performance. Now I wish I had saved it for Dice-K's start on Thursday. Oh well.

s*** luck single.

Okay folks, settle down. 161 games and 1 inning to go in the season. I think we'll get this one back.

El Heffe with some trouble with the changeup. I know I didn't rush out of work early to watch the sox lose 6-1, did I?

Not a good time to strike out.

Meche was reminescent of Rodrigo Lopez or someone like that. Throwing his pitches for strikes, Sox ran into two outs at 2nd base. Stupid baserunning by guys whose enthusiasm I appreciate.

Nice, that's all for Meche. Let's feast on some Royal relief!!

2 hits for Pedroia today. Let's send him back to the minors!!

Alright Dusty, let's get a few runs on the board here.

Meche for Cy Young!!!

I agree with you everywhere here, although an optimist would add "there isn't a complete team in baseball right now." I'm not as concerned about the bullpen as you are. I think that we will be happy to have three lefties in the pen against the Yankees (Lopez, Okijima and Romero) and other left-strong teams. I think Papelbon will be a huge asset and when Timlin is back he will be adequate. Last year there were times when we had two pitchers who could be semi-reliable: Timlin and Papelbon. This year we have added other semi-reliable pitchers like Donnelly to the mix to add some depth. Depth seemed to be one of the biggest problems last year. As for the lineup, I too am happy with the top 2/3 or the lineup. I am most concerned offensively about Varitek--but can explain it away with his defense and leadership skills. I think Crisp will have a good season as will Pedroia, eventually. I'm also concerned about Wakefield and Tavarez, but every team is concerned about its 4 and 5 starters. Otherwise, this is a solid team. Enjoy the games tomorrow. I wish I could have the day off!

Or they will change the personel who comprise the team. I think they have done the later. I don't think Theo will need to look over his shoulder until Tito is looking over his. Nah, too tired. I just had the impression that you weren't appreciating the fact that this team made the playoffs 3 of 4 seasons and close to 4 of 4. Then you read the John Henry quote and suddenly the main goal was to make the playoffs (which means 3 of four seasons were successful, a far cry from the what have you done for me lately approach criticizing them for not winning 2 in a row). Minor point, I think. I just think the constant criticism starts to lose its effectiveness. Why should anybody listen when you're just venting? I would think that a criticism from someone who is always critical needs to be taken with a grain of salt, vs. a criticism from someone who seems a bit more balanced and is able to weigh both the positive and the negative equally. You come here to vent about a poorly run club, I come here to discuss a good club with other fans. We both get our needs met. No need to change, I suppose. :thumbsup: Where did I say criticizing the Damon move is irrational? My point is that its been done. You're not doing anything new here by criticizing it, yet it comes up in every single discussion about the Red Sox. Meanwhile he hasn't won a WS on a loaded Yankees team, so its not like he took his talents elsewhere and made them into the team we want the Sox to be. The sox should have made the playoffs last year, even without Damon. If Crisp were healthy and put up a traditionally Crisp season then this discussion wouldn't be happening in the first place, in my opinion. I will man. I apologize if I've put words in your mouth.

Well, neither would the sox have done that. They were suspicious about his rotator cuff for years, offering him 3 years because they knew he had a little time left in the arm and that it would appear to be a PR disaster for one of Boston's most beloved players among the fans. They knew that people like you and others here would be criticizing them for not re-signing him even IF he blew out his arm. Which he did. When pitchers go from 97 mph to 91 (on a good day) there is something wrong. It didn't take a genius to see that and the Mets got the contract knowing this was likely. For them it made sense, for the Sox it didn't. Yeah, the mets established the market by giving Pedro what he wanted. Including that coveted 4th year, which at this point looks like a good PR move but a bad baseball one. some teams are in positions to go for the good PR move over the good baseball ones, other teams are at different stages. I'm sure you get that. Have you read Feeding the Monster? Did you read the parts about the entire FO sitting around agonizing about the painful discrepency between overpaying for guys to put a competitive but injury prone and non-winning team on the field for the next few years (05 and 06 specifically), vs. building a solid core to be competitive for the next decade? Theo and the FO have explained multiple times that there would be some down times--particularly knowing that Schilling was going to be out for much of the 05 campaign and that Pedro's rotator cuff was not far from tearing--fortunately for us those included a playoff appearance and a team that had a monumental collapse after looking like a WS caliber team through July. Yeah, having pedro for another season would have been nice but I see no reason to expect that he'll come back completely healthy and put up Cy Young quality numbers. Willie Randolph just used the words "wishful thinking" when talking about Pedro coming back around the All-Star break. That's a far cry from "we'll get near- Cy Young quality stuff when he returns". He's saying "he may return by the all-star break, that's wishful thinking of course, and it would be great". For the Mets he's a PR guy as much as a pitcher. He signified the idea of bringing people to the park and adding some excitement to the ballpark. That is part of the cost-benefit analysis that teams make when deciding whether or not to sign a player. With Ortiz, Manny, Schilling and now Matsuzaka, Beckett and Papelbon the Sox aren't short on guys who will attract attention. At the time the Mets were. That's a big difference. I guess the Tigers lost because of inexperience. I consider an error on a play that could be made 98 times out of 100 to be essentially luck, you consider it to be inexperience. In neither case is it something you could control for or predict when constructing your team. Should the Tigers have kept Zumaya and Verlander off their roster in favor of, say Mike Maroth and Fernando Rodney? Or are those the guys who got them there? The Tigers FO isn't to blame for those mistakes. They had the players to win and they got to the situations necessary to win, the ball just didn't do what it usually does and they lost, inexplicably, on numerous errors in a number of days. Simple, unpredictable and tragic for them. If by much better you mean go from 95 wins to 97 then I guess I agree. When johnny joined the Yankees last year he said essentially "they had a tremendous lineup before I got here, now put me on top of it and we'll be unstoppable". Was he right, or did they get stopped last year? You know the answer to that one. You also don't poo poo a bunch of new investments in fledgling companies (by analogy). John Henry said (as you read above) that reinventing the farm system is his second goal, but you consistently say not only that you don't pay attention to it, but that those players and acquired draft picks pale in comparison to the players who were lost, no matter how injured (Pedro) or greedy (Damon) those players may be. and from the same post... Uhhh yeah. You can't be so compartmentalized in your thinking to think that these are separate issues. In order for the Sox to remain competitive they have to be one of the most public teams--that means national (and international) exposure, it means being smart economically (because a sold out stadium is nice, but it is a FINITE income which requires decisions about finite amounts of money) and not spending money just so the fans will feel comfortable that one of their favorites is leaving. (Most) fans get over losing a beloved player. (Most) Fans are over Damon leaving, as his #18 has been replaced by possibly one of the 5 or 10 best pitchers in the world who is (as you love to point out about Pedro and Damon) ENTERING his prime years and signed for a VERY reasonable price. Why do I care if you're critical of the FO? I don't. What I care about is this Boston sports mentality where everything is critical. Timlin can't take a s*** with some green in it without people wondering about his diet, and Theo can't hold onto some top pitching prospects without being compared (negatively) to Cashman--who added Abreu's bat for some draft picks, and then semi-quietly turned around and sold some of their top veterans for young arms. Fortunately, the FO doesn't care what people say. In that sense they are different from past front offices, particularly in Boston. It is an impossible city to work in in this respect and I think that criticisms like yours only add to that stereotype/truth. Also, I think there are times when it feels good to come here and hear someone patting the team on the back, rather than bitching about every little move. yeah, it would get boring to talk about Ortiz, Schilling, foulke, matsuzaka, etc., signings all the time. It also gets boring to hear irrational criticism of the FO based on them having made a mistake with Damon or "only" making the playoffs for 3 out of the last 4 seasons and having injuries last year. This is particularly so when the FO themselves have said that the fans needed to be prepared for a year or two of "retooling". Few people around here seem to have rememberd that caveat. This should be a very successful year and if they blow it perhaps I'll join you in the heavy criticism camp. Until then I'll remain optimistic given the players this team has, their current health and their farm system.

Also just to clarify: If this were your boss, and you had made the playoffs for 3 out of 4 seasons, could have made a 4th except for injuries, had secured some very important pieces for reasonable prices for an extended period (including Ortiz, Beckett and Matsuzaka) and introduced the Red Sox to all of Asian baseball, would you be worried about your job? I wouldn't. Excerpt from Q & A with John Henry Q. Generally, what's your overall hope for this team? A. Each year we set a goal of making the playoffs while at the same time building our farm system and seeking to ensure that what we do during any particular year is not going to substantially hurt our chances to make the playoffs in the future. It isn't easy to do any of these three and very difficult to do all three each year. But those are our goals. Those are our goals because we know the fans have the same goals. a) make playoffs, 3 out of 4, check. build farm system (have acquired Ellsbury, Bard, Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson, Place, Anderson, etc., etc., last few years with 1st and 2nd rated drafts in last 2 years) Check c) not do anything to jeopardize ability to compete now and in the future (retained Jon Lester, got Matsuzaka, kept Ellsbury and B's... not giving away future for current team). Check. Theo aint losing his job unless this team finishes in last or second to last in AL East.

I guess. I didn't know that a repeat got them carte blanche for a decade, but a single victory only gets 2 years. Where does it say that's the rule? Where does it say that 2 championships in 5 years is considerably less valuable than a repeat? I think its an arbitrary argument, not because a repeat is insignificant--it's not--but because a single championship is still enough for me to rest my hat on for a few years. Two would have been nice, but even the first was a product of luck as much as it was great players and management. No dave roberts, no ground rule double, no world series. All teams win that way. Like Billy Beane says, you can construct a team to get to the playoffs, from there its luck. Who would have predicted that the Tigers would lose on PFP issues? And would you have been willing to throw away a full season (which he will have missed when he comes back around the ASB) plus the next year and a half since we don't know if he's coming back for a chance to be competitive in the playoffs in 05? We were in the playoffs in 05. Graffanino let a ball roll between his legs that cemented the victory for the white sox. Couldn't the same thing have happened then? As far as I remember, Pedro turned down a reasonable 3 year offer from the Sox. Are you saying the Sox should have given Pedro whatever he wanted? If you ask me whether I would rather have Matsuzaka or Pedro at this point I will say Matsuzaka time and time again. The point is that if the entire FO is in agreement about things like Drew and Matsuzaka and the rest, and if they see how hard Theo works and how dedicated he and his team are to winning, then they will likely realize that the organization's philosophy has been carried out as they wished. If your boss agreed with you about what you did, had active discussions with you about what to do, and ultimately gave you the okay for your decisions, do you think you would get canned if thing went wrong? I think it is people's propensity to harp on things like 'should theo lose his job' that makes Boston such a crappy place to work. I get no sense that John Henry or Tom Warner are disappointed with what Theo has done. He has put a team on the field that has sold out games for years and years. They are maxamizing revenue while putting out a competitive team. What more could an owner want? Yes, a WS would be nice but Henry and Warner understand how much luck is involved getting over that last hurdle. If they were putting out a New York Knicks-esque product then i would understand the question about Theo getting fired, but they aren't. They made the playoffs--an extremely difficult task--for three straight years and, again, should have made it last year without the injuries. Agreed. Bullpens haven't been his strength. Good thing its not bullpens that cause people to buy tickets, when the sox sell out half a stadium in Seattle or Kansas City or Philadelphia. I"m not blaming them. I'm saying that running a team is a tricky business and it often involves things like investing in players who may break down, and letting others go for the same reason. It was a calculated decision to sign Foulke (who likely had the same mental issues before being on the Sox) at a time when he could help put them over the top. ONce he did it became a different decision whether or not to resign Pedro or to give Damon 5 yeras when this team was trying to move in a different direction. Of course, if this team uses its numerous 1st round picks in the next 4 or 5 years to win a championship or two I expect that 'moving in a new direction' will look pretty good. We'll have to see. No. I think it was the right move. I think front offices have to make calculated decisions about which players they are willing to pay to break down and which ones they will let someone else break down. Having foulke at 6m a year (or whatever) is very different from signing Pedro for 4 yeras at 12 m per. Which moves do you like of theirs? (notice I'm asking, not assuming). I have a pretty good idea about your views a700 (this isn't the first discussion we've had about this) and I'm sorry if I am putting words in your mouth. I haven't heard you praise the FO in quite awhile, and usually your criticism (about guys the FO likes, such as Pedroia and Youkilis) makes me think you believe they don't know what they're doing and that their philosophy is wrong. When you link everything back to their ineptitude then, yes, I take it as a blanket statement rather than as a statement along the lines of "you win some, you lose some". When you're calling for Theo's head after one more season then I take that as a blanket condemnation rather than a recognition of the success they've had the last few years or the types of teams they build. There have been mistakes. Everyone acknowledges it. There have also been great acquisitions. We still care about the Sox. They are still selling out every game and have the most devoted fanbase in the world. How is that not a success? YOu always talk about the past... don't you remember the mid-90's when these weren't the case? So are your comments merely to get people to debate and discuss rather than your real convictions? If you truly believe that the Sox have a better franchise than most, and if you believe they have a competitive team made up of some of the games greatest superstars, then perhaps that should outweigh the minor mistakes they have made in your rhetoric. Varitek has played in 10 times the number of games that Pedro has over the past few years. The choice to resign a catcher--who is also a consumate team leader, a great role-model for younger players, the first CAPTAIN in a number of years--is different from resigning a pitcher who throws occasionally. The correct move could have been to resign Damon and Varitek, but I certainly don't have a problem with giving Varitek 10m a season to be the rock behind the plate that he has been. Would you rather have George Kottaras, Doug Mirabelli, Kelley Schoppach or Josh Bard charged with the task of catching Schilling, Beckett, and Matsuzaka? Didn't Varitek give them a little more security when making a risky choice to sign a guy like Matsuzaka to a huge deal? I assume he did.

The Sox very well could finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. All of the top 3 teams are solid, depending on injuries and pitching. I think that without huge injuries (say, Ortiz, Manny, Schilling, Beckett, Matsuzaka, Papelbon, etc.,) this team should win 90-95 games--leaning toward 95. If there is any slippage from any of the three then there wil be another team to take over. Predictions at this point only go that far.

Why don't you wait for a season of Drew playing in a good hitters park with a good lineup in games that you watch before making such claims. Career #'s: Damon: .289/.353/.436 Drew: .286/.393/.512 They don't have the same amounts of power. Drew clearly has more power and is better at getting on base; This is a large enough sample for us to be pretty confident with that determination.

And they got Buchholz for Pedro, another move that was madly unpopular. A year ago you could have poo-poo'd that one as well but it would be folly to do so now. We'll see how Damon's compensation picks work out (Daniel Bard and Kris Johnson, for those interested). I'm not saying that Pedro and Damon are comparable (given Damon's mostly healthy record), only that 'compensation pick' can sometimes lead to actual compensation. Multiple scouting reports and publications have stated that if Buchholz has another season like last year he could be a top 10 or 20 prospect next year at this time. Mostly, I think its time to get over losing Damon to the Yankees. He's a Yankee now. Get over it. Not every move is going to be a good one, but do you like this team more or less than the 02 team entering the season under Dan Duquette? Damon====vs======== Lugo Offerman============ Youkilis Nomar==============Ortiz Manny==============Manny (some things just don't need to change) Tony Clark============Drew Nixon===============Lowell Hillenbrand===========Varitek Varitek==============Crisp Sanchez=============Pedroia P: Pedro Schilling Lowe Beckett Burkett Matsuzaka Hermanson Wakefield Castillo Tavarez CP: Urgie (14 Years) Urbina ==== Papelbon I personally feel that this is a much better team, heading in a much better direction and I think a lot of that has to do with the FO, including ownership and the baseball ops guys. We'll see how Damon does after this year, and next year, and the year after that. He's affordable enough, but I think that we will see that JD Drew is a much better player and if Coco has a decent season we won't be missing Damon as much. You're just scarred from last year a700 but it will be better this year. I'm confident at least.

Does anyone know how hard (possible) it is to hook a computer up to a television screen as an AUX or some such thing?

So what's the point of a farm system if its not to take high upside guys and give them time to develop? It seems to me that the Sox have the LUXARY to let these guys develop and that they should use that. They also have had the luxary of having extra draft picks when not overpaying for aging stars and were smart enough to exploit that loophole.