a700hitter

SOS from Lester. We'll need at least 5.

Thanks for the laugh. I needed it.

I really thought that they would make some bold player moves after the collapse. It was my belief that they needed to turn things around in a big way to snap the fans and the clubhouse out of the shell shocked state they were in at the end of 2011. They needed to play well out of the gate to keep the press from dredging up last season. I was very surprised that they did not. After 2006, they went on a shopping spree, and turned things around. After 2003, they added Schill and Foulkes. Yet this past off season they did nothing. I guess it was because of the reckless disregard for payroll that Theo had. People said that the collapse couldn't happen again and that we added by subtracting Wakefield and Lackey. I warned that it could happen again. It happened two years in a row to the Mets (2007 and 2008), because they made no changes. I would not have been surprised if the 2012 Sox spiraled in September again. In a way, I prefer this horrible season to that gut-wrenching ending. I had a sickening headache every day in September starting a 5 O'Clock that got worse as the night went on. They didn't make any changes and the results have been as bad as they could be. Who could envision fighting for last place? They were in denial about what had to be done after 2011, and I firmly believe that this 2012 on the heels of the collapse has damaged their franchise. They will see revenue drop next season. Anyone buying or selling tickets on Stub hub can tell you that demand for their tickets has evaporated. They will be hit in the pocket books next season unless they make some bold personnel moves to generate enough excitement to get people to pay inflated prices in this bad economy. If they look at their ticket sales for this season and expect it to continue, they are making a serious mistake. Demand dried up after April. By that point they had sold most of the tickets, especially the high priced tickets. If they remain clueless like they did last season, they will really feel the financial hit.

^ Incredible whining. Games turn on a few plays. That's what usually separates the Champion from the also rans. What was the excuse for losing to the Giants in the regular season?

Maybe we will get to see him ride a horse at Yankee Stadium.

This team continues to embarrass itself. Lester will probably s*** himself tomorrow because it is a must win game.

If the Jays hadn't lost three of their starting pitchers to season ending surgery and lost Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie to the DL, we would be in the cellar.

Ah hem, at the risk of being annoyingly repetitive, we should know going into any game that the Sox have to score at least 5 runs to have a chance at winning.

And they are beating us without Kipnis.

Nevermind going against the book that you never make the first or third out at third base, if the throw had been online he'd have been out by a full stride and a half.

We should be killing these pukes.

So we took this puke Lillibridge for Youk and we traded him to the Guardians and he hurts us.

I hate the Guardians caps. Bring back the Indian logo.

His k rate has fallen by a full strike out per 9 innings in each of the last 2 seasons. Another consideration in moving Lester is that he would have a lot more trade value than Beckett. There is no certainty that his performance will far exceed Beckett's performance.

Also, it should be pointed out that lester's 2011, while stellar compared to his 2012 performance, was also an off year. This is 2 off years in a row with this one being far worse.

My remarks were premised on Lester not turning things around by the end of the season. If he doesn't, whether or not they move him, the Red Sox should not plan on handing him the ball in 2013 in the top of the rotation.

Some people have said that TJ recovery would be much shorter for a position player than a pitcher. Maybe the off season is enough time. He could get the surgery October 1st. There will be no play offs to worry about.

One of the big questions in the off season will be what to do with Beckett and Lester. It will be hard to move them both. Realistically, they will be only able to move one of them. The other IMO should be moved to the bottom of the rotation. WHich should be moved? Beckett is older and his velocity is lower than Lester's. He's also the more unlikeable of the two-- an irrelevant factor. His affect on the clubhouse is not irrelelvant, but we really can't judge that. Everyone thinks Lackey is a cancer, but the players in the clubhouse apparently love the guy. Here is the case in favor of Beckett. He has better control than Lester and IMO, that gives him an edge in adapting to diminished velocity. He has demonstrated his ability to win big games on a big stage. As recently as last year, he dominated the Yankees. The unknown factor that may tip the scales in favor of keeping Beckett is whether he has been pitching injured. It seems like years ago, but at the beginning of the season there was the disclosure that he had a thumb ligament issue. He said that he though he could get through the season with it without getting surgery. If this has been hampering his performance and it can be fixed with off season surgery, he is probably the one they should keep. Lester has been injury free. Whatever is wrong with him might be a lot harder to fix. If he returns to form by the end of the season, I keep Lester. If he does not rebound strongly in 2012, I'd consider moving him and keeping Beckett.

Twins pitcher De Vries who recently looked like an ace against the Sox got battered by the Rays tonight lasting only 1 1/3 innings giving up 7 runs.

^ This about covers it.

Any Xray results on the injury?

That is one more than the number of games that the Sox have won when scoring less than 5 runs in a pretty long time. That's sad but true.

I don't think we need to see more consistency. I think we need to see durability. An ace needs to put up 200 innings in a season. He is yet to do that, and he will not do it this season. Until he does it, he's not an ace.