a700hitter

How many wins do you think it will take to win the ALE?

You are 100 percent right. There is a convincing other side of the argument. I have always been predisposed to make these deals under the old format. That has always been my inclination, and I was willing to pay the price in prospects/cash. This new format makes me less inclined unless the player will help us compete for the division. There's no science involved here from me-- just a personal preference.

We have been so desperate for starting help that many of us were looking to him as a reinforcement. That really shows the lousy state of our rotation. Dice K has done nothing for this team since 2008.

The offense has been good prior to this last road trip. It is not a Fenway effect. Our record at home has not been great. What has happened on this last trip is that Nava has finally cooled off. Aviles has been slumping and WMB cooled off and got injured forcing Punto into the lineup. Until recently WMB had been productive and Nava, Podsednik and others have made up for the absence of Crawford and Ellsbury and we have scored plenty. With those guys cooling off and Gonzo turning into a singles hitter, it is very obvious that opponents are not going to let Papi hurt them. He is not getting challenged, because he is the only deep threat in the lineup. They will continue to pitch around him until Ellsbury and Crawford come back and produce offensively. The biggest problem for our offense is the continued ineffectiveness of Gonzo. He's just a big slow singles hitter. He's what's wrong with the offense. He should be anchoring our lineup, but he is sinking it. Pitchers have no fear of him. They actually intentionally walked Cody Ross recently to face Gonzo. What is wrong with this offense is not the Fenway effect, but rather the AGon effect.

Youk was under contract until the end of the season. We are still paying him. If he was on our bench, he would have been a nice insurance policy. Right now, he'd be playing, because the kid is injured. It would be much better than Punto. Today, we have some minor leaguer playing 3rd, and I think he is a first baseman. Youkilis was not going to burn down the clubhouse if he was on our bench. There simply was no rush to get rid of him.

^Give it up. You are on ignore.

An oversimplification, but the still the team's main deficiency. If our starters had been in the top half of the league, we would be right at the top with the Yanks despite the OF injuries. Nava and Pods have hit better than Crawford would have hit. We were very lucky to have them fill in. Our biggest offensive problem has been AGon. That has nothing to do with injury. He is a main cog and he has been all but absent. I am sick of whiny fans whining about injuries. Our starting pitching has sucked-- the Bard experiment was a complete abortion. Dice K stinks. Lester and Beckett have underperformed. Our best hitter AGon has been terrible. We are where we are because of execution not injuries.

Paul Blair may have been the best CF that I ever saw. I didn't see Mays in his prime. I can't remember Blair having a bad collision in the Outfield. That being said, the collision with Beltre was Beltre's fault. He was out way too far for that ball. He should have expected Ellsbury to be there, and had it not been for Beltre, Ells would have been able to catch that ball without going into a slide.

I didn't say that I thought we would drop 3 of 4, but we have had trouble with crappy pitching lately, and their lineup is going to be tough for our pitchers. I don't see us doing better than a split. If we lose 3 of 4, and I have to acknowledge that as a possibility we are 8 games out-- that makes the division an afterthought. I don't think we land a big rental pitcher to chase a wild card game.

The Yankees have a power laden line up. We have one legit power hitter right now, and they would be fools to pitch to him.

The injuries have been to our outfield and Youk, yet the offense has been fine. The Red Sox offense is second in the league in runs scored. The starting pitching has been the problem (11th out of 14 in ERA) and they haven't had any injuries beyond what other teams have suffered. The problem is the starting pitching, which by and large has been healthy. If you can't see that, then you can't see the cold hard numbers that tell the opposite story. Back to ignore. I have no tolerance for a fool like you.

Do we go out and land a big starter as a rental if it will only get us to a 1 game elimination crap shoot? I don't think so, and after this weekend, the division could start slipping out of reach.

Thank you. I just wanted to use the ban smilie.

I agree. We haven't had any injuries of any duration or note to our starting pitchers. We are where we are, because our pitching sucks. Injuries are not the reason for this teams performance--- not even in the equation.

Pineda was supposed to be their #3 starter. He's out for the year. Joba almost amputated his foot on a trampoline. They don't count? We need to stop whining about injuries. Every team gets them, and even when the Yankees have more injuries than the Red Sox, they find a way to beat us.

Will the White Sox take him too? I doubt it.

Every team has injuries. The Yankees have them this season and most other seasons, but yet they keep accumulating division titles. We were spoiled by 2007? I don't know how you can get spoiled by one division title in 17 years.

Speaking of blabber, what were those predictions of mine? You don't know, do you, because you have always been about taking shots and blabbering. Please don't quote this guy when he has responded to me. Every once in a while I get the urge to respond to is blabber.