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That does not help the yankees one bit. Two injured starting outfielders. BW making his appearance. It's like bringing Tori Hunter in off the bench... huh huh...

He may have broken his wrist there... unfortunate. Hideki is a badass, I don't think he would leave unless absolutely necessary.

You mean a young star like sanchez and hanley? C'mon, they're not expecting a young travis hafner, they just want a nice return for their loss. I think it would take something like Lester and Elsbury or Pedroia to get him. that would be a red sox first round and second round pick, right? That's not insignificant, especially since they are players who have already been invested in by the Red Sox. The assumption that the TRADE LESTER FOR WILLIS crew (largely including myself, I think) is making is that it is incapable of being a better LHP than Willis. I don't think anyone really agrees that is true. It is POSSIBLE that Lester could be better. He could be Santana or Carlton or (except for the size) RJ. There are examples of successful LHPs who are better than Willis. Willis is a second tier starter (so far). I see him as similar to Zito or Pettitte in his prime. Potentially very good, but streaky, and not absolutely dominant. He has great stuff though. Perhaps the Sox have reason to believe that Lester will be as good, if not better than that. He is supposed to have pretty good control, right?

Plus, wouldn't D-Train look good in the sox' home red and white? A little baggy, hat slightly askew, falling all over the place while the sox fans go wild. That's a pretty picture. He would add nicely to the dynamic already formed on the team.

Screw it. Its a 5 starter. If Wakefield is himself, Beckett, Schilling and Clement are themselves, then get a guy who goes .500 and we're good. That said, I would probably give up Lester for him, I wouldn't give up Hansen, Pedroia or Ellsbury for him. Hansen has the ability to be a dominant closer. He throws 98. Lester doesn't. when I hear comparisons between lester and mulder or lester and Pettitte it makes me thing, wow, that guy could be really good. But mulder and Pettitte aren't Pedro good. They aren't Schilling good. Willis is already Pettitte and Mulder good, but he's younger. I do worry about his inconsistency, but that is up to Theo to judge, not me. Overall, I would give up one of our best prospects, but not more than one.

what a bizarre video

I didn't see any Michael Bowden video on mlb.com. If it truly exists will someone post a link to it please?

Willy mo with a nice catch in CF. He really runs akwardly, but I think anyone would if they were his size and able to go that fast. He's the definition of lumbering.

Good start for wake. Good start.

God no. Let's NOT trade the farm for Willis. Geez. And talk of a Schilling Beckett Clemens Willis Wake/Clement rotation looks really good, until you look at next year: Schilling (in the last year of his career) Beckett (if we can resign him) --------- Willis -------/Clement and in two years: -------- Willis Beckett -------- Clement I don't like that plan very much.

They won't wait long if either of those guys sucks. I say put hansen in the pen in a few weeks and keep him there forever. He has tremendous stuff and obviously is capable of throwing strikes. The sox will need to save every run they can this year, if this offense stays consistent.

Papelbon stays the closer until: a) the sox need him to start next year, perhaps when Schilling retires and Lester is ready he shits the bed and loses his confidence. My guess is that will not happen. He just attacks guys with great pitches and a deceptive fastball that OCCASIONALLY reaches the high 90's. Even when they know its coming many hitters have a hard time with his fastball. That sets everything else up. Good closers are hard to come by and the sox have one right now. That's not to say its hard to make a closer who has good numbers. That's not hard. But it is hard to find a guy with the killer mentality to be an exceptional lifelong closer. Those guys are rare. The red sox would happily keep Papelbon as a closer if he ends up having Mariano Riveria type numbers. Guys as good as Mariano end up being as/more valuable than a good starting pitcher. Put him where he thrives.

At what point do we just put Papelbon in the game? I think 2 outs in the 8th is not too early.

It sure looks like Foulke is getting his confidence back... knock on wood

Top 8th, 3 run blast after they intentionally walked Papi-Grande

you said it. you definitely said it.

Look at that opposite field power!

Hell yeah. NO RESPECT!

No respect!! Who walks someone to face Manny? I think we'll see a lot more of this this season than in years past. Papi is the more dangerous one now.

C'mon manuel aristedes ramirez (however you spell it)

Youkey Henderson? Willie McYouk? Chone Youkilis? Who was that masked man??

I know nobody is complaining that Curt Schilling just finished an outing in which he threw 130 pitches and left without any noticable pain or a loss, right??? right???? This just shows me how much confidence Curt has in his health right now, and the trust that Francona clearly has for his ace. Schilling did not get to be one of the best pitchers in baseball because his stuff was better than Pedro's, or RJ's, or Maddux's. No, he got to where he is because he is a gutsy, hard-core, bad assed, horse of a pitcher. Let the man do what he does. (that being said, if he IS injured by such a move, I would not understand it in the slightest that doesn't make sense, but being a sox fan is more about passions than it is about logic.) P.S. Great job by Foulke. It seems like he's showing the ball even MORE than he did last year, when he does that little hitch in his delivery. I always suspected that maybe he was tipping his pitches based on where his hand went in that hitch, and this motion seems different. just my 2 cents.

I'd say that's a little bit of an early prediction, don't you think? 11 K in 8 IP doesn't look bad at all, and we all know that ERA will regress to the mean, unless you also believe that K-Rod is goign to have a 6 ERA all season, or that manny is going to hit .240. Lester isn't at their level, but we know he's not an 8+ ERA guy.

Perhaps we can do something against Downs. Just start walking guys man.

It doesn't get much more boring than an 8-1 game in the sterile-dome. Yawn. I could just go back to bed (its only noon here on the left-coast)... Bad pitcher + bad lineup + bad stadium/crowd + boring opponent = why did I get up in the first place? We need to do something about this 5th starter thing. I'm saying either Roger (please, roger?) or Lester (get your s*** together Jon). Either would be more entertaining to watch (and care about) than DiNardo.