ORS

You are right, cheap shot on my part. I apologize. His IsoP is down 33% if last year's rates hold up, but that isn't likely to happen given the batted ball types he's put into play this year. Right now he's a couple of doubles away from matching his career IsoP, and he's hitting a high percentage of line-drives. XBH's come primarily from LDs. He's hit more than a few right at outfielders. When those find a gap, the rates will return. I'd agree he is done if he was just dinking the ball around the field, but he isn't, and his batted ball stats agree with me.

I'm confusedicated. You want the Latin players to support a boycott, but what boycott? It seems you are suggesting they start boycotting MLB games in order to support some cause. Please tell me that is not the case.

Last year. Kevin Millwood He was pretty phenominal last year until about mid-August, then he ran out of gas. And it wasn't only against NL competition, as his interleague ERA was under 1 (granted, it was only 2 starts). I think he'll fare well this year with a delayed start. I also think anyone in NY or BOS pining for his return is wasting their time. Houston's hot start and apparently improved offense have sealed the deal IMO. EDIT: And, on topic, the YES boards are an utter waste of your time. You literally get dumber trying to decipher what the idiots there purport as baseball knowledge. You'd have better luck trying to squeeze water out of a rock than you would finding anything remotely intelligent on that board.

Damon and Bernie covering the bigger 2/3 of the Fenway OF? Anything to the wall should be a triple. I like it.

Doug ended up where he started. It's really more like Shoppach and Meredith for Loretta. In hindsight, I like it because Pedroia was hurt for a bit, but I would have hated this in the offseason.

If I were there, he'd get light applause in his 1st AB, silence after that. I'm also not a boo-bird.

Loretta is 3rd in the AL in LD%. He's hitting the ball well, it's just not finding a hole. Give it some time.

If you think the PC world we live in now doesn't regulate unpopular speech, then I would like to know if you are interested in buying this bridge I have for sale in Brooklyn.

Man, you really don't get the point. I find it hard to believe you are actually going to be a doctor. Scary thought. With a career .100 IsoP, he never had any power to begin with. He's line-drive hitter. Some will hit the gap for doubles, but most will end up being singles. Whether he's a .060 or a .120 IsoP hitter will be determined by how many find the gap. Frankly, I'm encouraged by the way he's hit the ball. Given time, those LDs will start finding holes and he'll move runners over and get on for Papi and Manny. And that is all I want out of him at the #2 hole.

Well, since it looks like Seanez is now the mopup guy, he won't be bridging so ksushi is right to omit him from the reliever group, no?

You've already admitted, when pressed, that you don't watch that many Sox games, so your comment on Loretta's ability to drive the ball with regularity is flat out assumption based on statistics alone. He's hitting the ball hard in the majority of his ABs thus far, the ball just isn't finding a hole. Not to mention, you aren't even looking at the stats correctly. SLG alone doesn't tell you much about power because it is a function of BA. IsoP tells you about true power. I know I've mentioned this to you before, but since you fail to respond/acknowledge, I guess I need to explain what that is. IsoP is SLG minus BA, or in other words, it is extra bases divided by at-bats. Loretta's IsoP 2000-2006 Year SLG BA IsoP 2000 .406 .281 .125 2001 .352 .289 .063 2002 .410 .304 .106 2003 .441 .314 .127 2004 .495 .335 .160 2005 .347 .280 .067 2006 .297 .218 .079 - small sample His 2004 production is a clear anomaly, but the rest of the time he's fluctuated around his career IsoP of .106, which is what we are expecting now. Nobody, except maybe you, thinks he needs to hit like 2004 in order to not disappoint. I'll take his career line of .301/.365/.407, and based on what I've seen from him this year, it's really not a stretch to see that happening. EDIT: I knew I could find it. Don't believe Loretta's been stroking the ball? THT keeps some batted ball type stats. Loretta is 3rd in the AL in LD%, the percentage of his balls in play that are line-drives. He's ahead of Jeter, Tejada, Shelton, and Gomes to name a few, and those guys are all off to blistering hot starts. The ball just needs to find a hole. Link Here's their description of their stat: Loretta has put 93 balls into play with 20 falling for a hit. This excludes his HR because that is not a ball in play, and the hit total includes ground ball and fly ball hits. His LD% is 28.9, meaning he's hit 27 line-drives, which should result in 20 hits at a success rate of 75%. Thus, his LD hit total should be what his actual hit total is now and then you would add on GB and FG hits. Loretta will be fine IMO.

I wouldn't take it to the bank. With a player like AGon, where the stats match up with what your eye tells you, then yeah. But I think the jury is still out on Loretta. Oh, and BTW, Mike "No Power" Lowell is slugging .511 with a ~.200 IsoP. I'll take that any day from the hot corner.

No, it certainly isn't, but if you are willing to take a small sample and run with it, then you will have some 'splaining to do when you tell others they are being premature.

Easy, Captain Crunch. We can all get into the games without your urging. I just find it funny when you say one shouldn't jump to premature conclusions regarding the Yankees, but then do the exact opposite. Try and at least be mildly consistent.

Just like your opening salvo, eh? Ouch. Sucks when your own words bitch slap you.

This hat has been to three parks, Fenway, Camden Yards, the Trop. It works everywhere. Manny is going yard today. I'm off.

No game thread for today's game yet, so I'll post this here. My mom is coming over to help my wife with the newborn and my 2 y/o, so I'm off to the game in an hour (2 hour drive to Tampa from here). Getting a day-pass from changing diapers and trips to the playground was my wife's B-day present to me (my B-Day was yesterday). I'll have my Manny hat on (in 12 games I've been to with this Sox cap on he's hit a dinger), so Kazmir is in trouble. Go Sox!

It is broken, the Yankees lost in "holes" game thread. So, now you are doing just to do it. Pathetic.

Kudos to YH, your psuedo-negative mojo carried the day. It will be called upon when the day looks bleak in the future.

Aloha.

Cheese. Papelboner time.

Do you have a Papelboner forming too? EDIT: That pun was too good to pass up.

Sometimes it takes so long that the hole is too big to get out of. I was waiting for this to happen, here's to hoping it carries over.

Quick, chug a beer. Make the sentiment stick.