ORS

Millar said something similar after the Philly series, and the Sox went 5-8 afterward coming into the break. I hope the same karma goes their way.

I found one, which makes Millar 29th out of the 30 starting firstbasemen. Travis Lee of Tampa Bay, although his fielding stats are marginally better. Stats: ...............AVG......HR.......RBI......SLG.......OBP.........Feilding % Millar.......264.......4..........32.......368.......342.........991 Lee..........240.......2..........19.......337.......319.........996

I didn't create this post with a Chicken Little "The sky is falling......." attitude. However, sustained mediocre spells, like the one we just witnessed, will put this team in a place that will make a playoff run a difficult uphill battle.

There's no way Ortiz bunts. Boston is a "moneyball" team, getting people on for the 3-run dinger. Ortiz and Manny are the main source of the long ball. There is no way in hell that he's laying down a bunt unless it's a situational play. Even then, the season would most likely have to be on the line for Tito to ask Papi to lay one down.

Burnett, because I think he can be had for the least cost. I've thought all along that if we got him, he would best serve this team as a closer. He has dynamite stuff, similar to Brad Lidge.

Olerud's stats are very close to his career numbers, so I don't think they are an aberration due to a small number of at-bats. Stats are available at mlb.com, find the player, click splits.

Olerud is hitting .462 with runners in scoring position, Millar is .239. With two outs, Olerud is .529 and Millar is .205. Care to try again?

Career #'s ...........AVG..OBP..SLG Olerud .295 .399 .465 Millar....289 .364 .480 Season #'s Olerud .333 .397 .490 Millar....264 .342 .368 Hits better than Millar.

Every other day is better than every 4th or 5th day.

The Sox have about a month and a half to patch up the leaks and get the ship righted after the break. If they play around .600 ball during this stretch, then they will have a shot at making the post-season. If not, I don't think they will make it. From July 14-September 1, the Red Sox play 7 series against contenders for playoff spots (NYY, ANA, TEX, CWS twice, MIN twice). That's the bad news. The good news is that most of those series are laced between some series against weaker opponents (KC twice, DET twice, TB thrice). They really need to win each series against the teams they "should" beat. The reason I stress this patch in the schedule is because after Sept 1, if they aren't sailing smoothly, they will hit some really rough water on the way in. September 2-October 2 is a bear. Two series against the O's, who they are 5-7 against this year, and who will be getting Eric Bedard back. Two series with Toronto, who they are 3-8 against this year. Two series with the Yankees, who they are 5-4 against this year. A series with the Angels. A series with the A's, who started off rough, but are getting some fabulous pitching now. And, luckily, a series with the Rays. This team needs to take advantage of the the next month and a half, because I don't see them coming from behind in the month of September. I know anything can happen, but the cards don't look like they will be in our favor if they are chasing down the stretch.

17-21 in the division, 32-17 against everyone else......this isn't a good trend going into the 2nd half.

Manny strikes out to end the game.......and the Sox weakly limp into the break going 5-8 over the last 13 games.

JD bunts on and says, "I'm bery sneeky"

We ought to get Lopez in free-agency....not because he's that good, but he sure owns us.

single, 6-4, 1st and 2nd, 1 out

In play run-scoring-play........

runners at the corners with 1 out for Half-wit, I mean Hafner

2 straight 1-2-3 innings.......looking like 2 up on the O's, 2.5 up on the Yankees, standby for about 342,673,853 Yankee fans' gloating posts

Sierra singles, 6-3 Yanks.........s*** 2-1 O's.......when it rains, it pours

2 2-out walks by Cleveland's Westbrook, a double by Matsui, another walk, 4-3 Yanks, sacks full, Sierra up

Yesterday, the turn-around point for the O's was the great catch in center robbing Ortiz of 3-run dinger. Maybe Johnny's play can return the favor.

Olerud's done that since college ball when he was hit in the head and given a concussion by a line drive.

Tejada continues to own our pitchers.......7 for 14 in the series.

Wasted opportunity

It's highly unlikely that Toronto would trade to a division foe when they are still in the pennant race. Especially if that division foe is the one they are chasing. Hudson is magnificent in the field though, and would be asset to the team if acquired.