a700hitter

That was a dark movie. Daniel Day Lewis played a very dark disturbing character. At the end, he beats to death the phony preacher with a bowling ball.

. . . And Theo beat it out of town before his mismanaged budget blew up in his face.

The way the game thread read last night I thought he was throwing at a lower velocity. He'll do fine at this avg velocity if he can get his changeup to be effective again.

Ah yes, for many years after '86, I would describe closer who looked scared as having that Calvin Schiraldi look. Or he was sweating on the mound like Calvin Schiraldi in game 6. Unfortunately, no one associates his name with anything good.

Management of this type of information is not a strength of the organization.

Crawforsd did look great against the Red Sox. Maybe we made him look better than he really is.

Has this rumor been substantiated by any news outlet?

I did not pitch at a high level, but between baseball and softball, I did pitch for many years. It's hard to explain precise reasons, but from my experience, the final 3 outs are the most difficult to get. They are somehow different. The pressure is far more intense in that final inning of a close game. Focus levels are increased. Batters don't want to make the final out. Some umpires shrink their zone right at the end which is tremendously frustrating. I think that even as robotic and refined as MLB players are that pressure and added focus make that last inning different. MLB players have such a highly refined degree of muscle memory that thinking doesn't really enter into the equation very much. Yogi Berra was famous for saying that you can't hit and think at the same time. In that final inning, thinking becomes a bigger part of the game, and that is where the problems probably start. I don't like that Aceves has said that he is not comfortable in the role. To me, that is an acknowledgment that he is approaching it differently than he has approached his other roles in which he has been very successful. He has felt it necessary to dial up his velocity, but it has changed the movement and command of his pitches. He's not used to pitching at that velocity. He may start to learn how to pitch at that speed, or he may find it difficult to adjust. If he dials it back down, that may not work either. Hopefully, he can get it figured out quickly, because I don't see much possibility of another closer coming to the Sox.

This would be hysterically funny if it wasn't completely true.

If he is saying that, he is truly delusional. There is no talent in the pen.

Last year Aceves and Bard took care of the 6th, 7th and 8th and Papelbon locked down the 9th. We could win games that were low scoring. Not gonna happen this year.

The late innings will be heart attack time all year long.

If he was not a Yankee, this would be sad news.

Is he dating JH's daughter or something?

Really? I kind of like Bert.

Yes, but you need to have at least 30,000 posts to be eligible.

^ Only 1 entry so far? There is no charge to enter.

The kid is doing everything to earn a shot. Too bad he can't play the OF. At some pointYouk will go down with an injury, and WMB will get his chance to Wally Pipp him.

With regard to proposal to send down to the PawSox one of Bard, Doubront or Buch to keep getting starts, I don't think any of them have options left. As for the proposed trade, I think you would be selling very low on Youk and Dice K.