a700hitter

two runners on and no one out. How can Pena own Lester like this. He doesn't own anyone else.

Nice comeback by Lester to get the groundball. Bad error by Scoots

Don't walk Bartlett again!!

What kind of doctors do we have. They reported that there was a lot of healing and it is not a weight bearing bone. It was my understanding that when a bone does heal it is stronger at the point of the break than it had been previously. How could they make such a miscalculation?

That franchise must be in shock. When they scratched him from an earlier start, I thought it was due to shoulder stiffness, not an elbow issue. Am I remembering incorrectly?

He could've gotten hurt in a bar room brawl, or in an altercation with a cop, or at a funeral. All have ended promising careers.

Whose angry now? As you point out, you were not insulting me, so I have no dog in this fight, and I'm not looking to fight with you. We've both been here a long time, and I'm always interested to read what you have to say. Your points and opinions stand fine on their own. The other stuff just detracts. That's all I'm saying. I should've done it in a PM. I apologize to you and everyone else for cluttering the thread.

Just stop. I do ask the others to stop when they engage in the same type of behavior. Just make your point and stop with the put downs. Honestly, you make great points, and your points are interesting. You don't need the other stuff.

But he was the real deal can't miss prospect? This is what can happen when a guy moves to the next level. I've seen lots of can't miss guys in 40 years, and many of them miss for one reason or another. Sometimes the guy has no heart. Sometimes the guys body can't take the rigors of a major league season. Sometimes it's something else. Major league talent alone is not enough. There's no such thing as a "can't miss" prospect except in hindsight.

Stop with the condescending "angry types" and "back patting" talk. Make a point for once without including an insult. Stop characterizing the posters and just make your points.

I disagree with this completely. In my opinion, if you are in a close race that gets decided by a handful of games, a single move can be enough to put you over the top, and it doesn't have to be a move that gets you a star player that costs you the farm. In many of these close games, a key hit can change the outcome. A good inning from a bullpen guy can win you a game. Will the acquired guy be directly responsible for the additional victories? No, he might not even get one game winning hit, but the team will be improved. If we had plugged the black hole that is Kevin Cash when Varitek first got injured, maybe the guy in front or in back of him gets pitched to differently. With Cash in the lineup, you could essentially pitch around the two guys in front of him, because he can't get the ball out of the infield. I'm just using Cash as an example, but I firmly believe that a single acquisition could make the difference. One player can change the whole dynamic of a game and a team. Do you remember 2006? Yes we had a ton of injuries and the team fell apart, but the Yankees were not in any better shape in late July 2006. They got Abreu, and that guy dismantled us in the 5 game series at Fenway in the middle of August knocking the Sox from 1 1/2 games back to 6 1/2 games back in a single series. He was a big difference maker, and he did not cost the Yanks their farm system.

He's been taking shots and stirring up things since he got here.

First Cafardo, now this from Peter Abraham: Pedroia is taking some shots in the press.

A funny line from Nick Cafardo's column today: Are the wusses like Ellsbury and Drew turning the little fire plug into a hypochondriac?

Pena is not that good.

The problem is beyond getting the calls right. The way these umps comport themselves is completely inappropriate and not in the best interests of the game. They need to get some code of conduct enforced. I hate when an ump takes off the mask and approaches a player or manager to get in his face. It should not be tolerated.

The good hitters will yap at an ump early in a game about a borderline pitch that they know is a strike call to get a call later in the game. He really didn't do anything over the top. Yaz used to step out of the box point to where the ball was and tell the ump "you don't call that a strike on me." He did that a lot. He got tossed only once or twice in 23 years for arguing over a called strike. The only time that I remember he covered the plate with dirt and threw his helmet on top of it after he was finished screaming at the ump. The ump didn't toss him until he covered the plate.

I agreed with you then and I agree now. I have been asking your bridge question all season long. A bridge to who and when? Do we have a group of players in our system that will take the majors by storm in 2011 like Pedroia and Lester, etc.? I am not seeing them. I am unaware of them. How much of this bridge plan depended on Westmoreland? That part of the bridge is gone. Was it a bridge to retooling through fre agency, because so much money is coming off the books after this season? I've seen the FA list and other than Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford (probably Yankees) I don't see much other than Werth. I suspect the bridge was meant to be to our young players, because I read or heard that Theo said that they should be able to field a good young team by 2012. Who are they, and does this mean 2011 is going to suck too?

Apparently some of us were too hard on Beltre last night. He never said anytihing to the Ump. He had been talking smack to Kiing Felix and the Ump thought he was talking to him. I thought the ump was wrong for tossing him and last night I posted that unless Beltre had accused him of betting on Seattle, the ump should have looked the other way. This story confirms that not only didn't the ump try to avoid a confrontation, he precipitated it. This type of behavior by umps is too prevalent today. They are not the game. People don't pay to see them. The league offices need to start cracking down on this behavior. This was a huge game for the Sox. He should have exercised some restraint. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2010/08/beltre_ejection.html

God, I hate when you get all "glass half full" when the team's season is getting flushed down the toilet. I can't be so philosophical about it, because I live in NY, and if they go back to back, I will have a miserable Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. You live safely in ally territory, don't you?