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you're great!

well, fill us in when you get a chance if you don't mind...

I don't think the A's ever had that great of an offense. Certainly not a great playoff offense as far as I'm concerned. When people are bragging about Frank Thomas and Jay Payton as the centerpieces of offenses I'm not too impressed. The player I like the most on the A's is Swisher, he's dangerous... but Chavez has been disappointing all year and Swisher, despite his power, hits like .250. The other thing is that the A's are supposed to have a great pitching staff too and although they have not given up tons of runs I don't trust Zito, I think Harden's arm is pretty messed up and their other starters (like Blanton or Haren) are horribly inconsistent. Of course pitching shuts down hitting, but I'm not watching the A's lineup and just amazed that they're losing. They look like a worse team. Granted, Detroit beat the yankees but the Yankees have no excuse either; they should definitely have scored more given their lineup.

I've looked but maybe you know: are there any stats anywhere, or at least reports coming in from your end about how those guys (Bard in particular) are doing?

Is lowell's justified at 3rd? Honestly, for all the nice plays Lowell made at 3B I saw Youk make just as many really nice scoops at 1B... unlike any Sox regular for a few years. He was refreshing at 1B and allowed Gonzo and Lowell to make some tremendous plays that may otherwise have bounded into the stands.

Do they play games in FLA? I'm pretty sure I read that they do, but they're not open to the public or something... is that right jsinger?

Assuming that they keep Manny that means that one of: Youkilis Wily Mo Pena Lowell Crisp won't be playing if the Sox are to pick up a #5 hitter. I'm assuming they're not replacing Manny (LF), Ortiz, Pedroia (2B), Gonzo (SS), or Varitek ©. Lowell seems like the guy with the lowest upside of that list, but his defense is difficult to judge accurately.

A's are disappointing me (again). There is no excuse for shutting down like this. None. I don't care how well Kenny Rogers has pitched he past two games, you can't tell me that he hasn't had some hitable pitches. He's good but even Kenny Rogers en fuego shouldn't be throwing 2 hit ball in the ALCS. Both of these series are disappointing actually. The A's are doing their standard choke at the end of the season and the Cardinals were barely strong enough to drag their limp corpses into the playoffs, let alone beat the lowly Padres. Tigers over Mets in 5 games.

The sox would be a great team if they could have speed at the BOTTOM of their lineup. I figure, if you have guys who don't get on-base enough at least have them be fast. Get Lugo and put him and crisp in the 9 and 8 spots respectively.

What do you mean? They signed him and gave him a 1.5 m signing bonus.

I'm assuming that Pedroia will (eventually at least) be able to far out-do Lugo's .340 career OBP. that's why I put him second. As for Lugo at SS I don't know, but I do know that if the sox can get ANOTHER good SS they could move Lugo to 3B where he played some with LA this year. Youk needs to be on one corner, Pedroia needs to be at 2B, so that leaves SS and 3B open.

If the mets get Zito then I would look at them as the perrenial favorites in the NL east for as long as he, reyes, wright and beltran are all around.

It's been nice sitting next to you in physics class the past few days ORS. :harhar: Density is mass/volume, right? So if the volume is smaller but the mass is smaller too, then they could cancel each other out leading to an equally dense baseball. All in all I think my point would be that it ultimately doesn't have that much of an effect on a thrown ball. His velocity may drop a little bit. I saw him top out in the WBC at 96 on their gun, and that was at "strikeout fastball" times, only once or twice. Usually he was hitting 94 or so. If that drops by 1 mph (which would be more than 1% loss, more than I imagine it would actually be) then he's hitting 93 regularly with 95 as his tops. That's more in the Jon Lester ball park. PRetty good, considering that his secondary pitches are considerably more developed than Lester's are.

In all likelyhood he will start as the Sox everyday 2B, I think he's done all he can at Pawtucket for the time-being. Loretta is most likely gone. They're going to need to just rely on Pedroia at 2B and give Lugo (if that's who they get) SS to keep. Lugo would be happier that way and he will probably expect to start as part of signing. He's got good speed, some pop and is solid in the field. If they decide to go with Gonzo then that's fine with me too. As for Loretta, I think to get Pedroia going you need to have him get as many ABs as possible so Mark would just be in the way. Pedroia should be a high OBP guy like Youkilis so I could see he and youk batting back to back eventually: Youkilis Pedroia Ortiz Manny (assuming no trade) Pena Lowell (assuming no trade) Varitek Crisp Lugo You end up with guys with good speed at the bottom of the order, giving the sox the ability to make some things happen when their high OBP guys get to the plate (SBs, hit and run, pitchers losing focus). If those guys (Crisp, Lugo, Youkilis, Pedroia) can work their way on then the mashers come up with ducks on the pond over and over again. In any case you would have 4 potential leadoff and #2 hitters in the lineup.

Oh I know. I have very distinct feelings about Soriano: I never liked him that much as a Yankee, Ranger or Nat. I never thought he was that good, I thought people overvalued his tools, etc., but this guy just keeps proving me wrong. He just says "F* U on-base percentage, how about 40 HR, 40 2B and 40 SB!!?? You LIKE that? You LIKE that??!!" I hope the yankees go after him, although I'm sure they won't. I would go after Cano in a heartbeat.

I'm not that into Zito at all. I mean, I'd be okay with him, but in the AL East I'm thinking he's a #3 on a winning team. I want Beckett to be the #3 on this team (if there's a pitcher above Beckett and near Schilling this team will be good). Zito seems to blow it regularly when I watch him. He loses his control, doesn't throw that hard, doesn't strike many guys out and appears to have no interest in playing in Boston.

Morgan: "I'm watching..." Fat man: "Ohhh, strike three called..." Morgan: "Yeah, I'm watching Matsuzaka and..." that's funny. Personally, the pitches he throws and his ability to change speeds and hit if not HIS spots at least good spots make me think he'll be a more than adequate pitcher. He should be at least as good as Mussina I think.

No way in hell this guy closes.