a700hitter

Thanks Cora for not being able to get to the DP ball. Lugo gobbles that up.

Manny's ball went further than Papi's, but to the wrong direction. Sure let's trade him or cut him and don't even think of picking up his option. He sucks.

Ortiz is officially back. He and Manny have been the wrecking crew tonight. AL pitchers beware. BTW I bet the under tonight, and now I have to worry that the Red Sox pass it on their own without anything from the Yankees.

I realize this is a little late, but IMO it is a stupid move to intentionally walk anyone when your pitcher is a bag of puss. Ellsbury and Cora already had hits against him so it was obvious that anyone in the lineup could hit him.

It's 63 degrees and Ponson looks like he is sweating gravy.

ORS, I always read your posts with great interest, but this one has me giggling a little bit. I am not disputing a word of it, but I have to ask if you were a little high when you wrote this. It's just reminds me of things I heard in the 60's, especially the unicorns.

Payroll most definitely matters, and if you are the second richest team with the second highest payroll, you should never claim that you have a competitive disadvantage. It's like the boss who complains about his compensation to his subordinates. It's just annoying. I have already heard Boston owners whining about the additional revenue that the Yankees will have with the new stadium. I think it was Werner. They should STFU and do their job to put out at least the second best team in baseball every year.

I never said that the Red Sox market was as big as the Yankees, so I don't know what you are finding to dispute. As far as the figures showing the relative TV/media market, the reason why the Red Sox make more money than those teams that are ahead of them is that Boston is a baseball obsessed town and it has been long before current ownership took over. They can't claim any credit for that. My daughter grew up in NY, but went to college in Boston. She has no use for baseball, but after 1 year in Boston, she told me that "these people are crazy with their baseball." She said there was no comparison to NY. Anyway, my point was not that the Red Sox market is as big as the Yankees market. My point is that when your franchise is worth more than a billion dollars and you make more annually than all but one other team, you've got no case to cry poverty or competitive disadvantage. If money is the reason for the Yankees beating us, then the Red Sox have no excuse for not winning at least the Wild Card every year. They have plenty of resources to be successful every year. No one wants to hear billionaires crying poverty or competitive disadvantage. Only the gullible would accept that excuse. Bill, the last thing you are is gullible. As an aside it reminds me of a TV special many years ago where Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were interviewed separately. Crosby was asked if he was the richest guy in Beverly Hills. He said that Hope was the richest guy in Beverly Hills. Hope was told that Crosby said he was the richest guy in Beverly Hills. Hope responded that Crosby had more money than him and that Fred Mac Murray probably had more money than either one of them. Mac Murray was not interviewed.

I don't know what the story is, but I will take a closer note of the posts.

Rudy Seanez is also doing well for the Phillies. We had him twice. When he came into game, I used to turn off the TV. He was IMO the equivalent of a forfeit.

We had J.C. Romero once already, and I for one was glad to see him go. There's no need to get him back.

The Red Sox are not a small market team by any stretch. They are one of the few teams that can compete with the Yankees. When they needed to flex their financial strength, they did. After a humiliating 2006 on the heels of two years when they plead poverty, they dipped into their vast reserves and shelled out almost $220 million in contracts for 3 players. It was only one year prior when they were planting stories in the local papers bemoaning the fact that they couldn't compete with the Yankees and that's why they didn't get Abreu. In light of what they spent in the off season, it was obvious that their excuses vis a vis Abreu were disingenuous. Cue the FO fans to tell me that they are glad that we have Drew and not Abreu. That's a different argument and not the point I am making. The point is that the FO is full of s***. Businesses spend money only when they have to spend. After 2006, they realized that they had to spend money to turn things around or risk damaging the franchise. We all know that Manny is a nut, but you don't think they have been jerking him around about the options? I am sure they have been giving him some BS corporate speak. I have spent my whole working life working for big corporations that specialize in that non-committal lingo. Manny has a hard enough time with English, never mind corporate double talk. Of course, ownership feels they have been above-board and honest, because they understand how to read through the lines of their corporate lingo. Manny doesn't. Ownership doesn't like the thought of carrying him at a $20 million price tag. They would have loved to run him out of town a few years ago. Annually, they have attempted to get rid of him, but even the corporate profit-types had to acknowledge his value was more than they could get in return. Every time they try to get rid of him they seize on a "Manny being Manny" moment to drum up public support through the lackeys in the print press and on talk radio. The Red Sox financial resources may not be quite what the Yankees have at their disposal, but make no mistake, the Red Sox resources are vast. Money can never be a valid excuse for not competing with the Yankees. I resent when they use that excuse. After having won a second Championship, we are hearing that the cost of bullpen help is just too high, but the Yankees got Marte for a bag of balls. I don't believe that the Pirates wanted more from the Red Sox. I think the Red Sox didn't pursue because of the cost and the option for next year is $6 million. We are already starting to hear the drumbeat about the new source of revenue that the Yankees will have with the new stadium. I have a message for the front office. I don't want to hear how the Yankees make more money. That's not my fault. You guys have done a pretty good job of turning the Red Sox into a gold mine. If the Yankees management is doing a better job of making money than you guys, that's your problem. Shut up and get to work to do better. Your fan base is vast and I would venture to guess that they have a high per capita income compared to other fan bases. You also have access to an abundance of corporate clients. If the Yankees beat the Red Sox, it will be because they put a better team on the field. Please take responsibility and stop using the Yankees financial resources as an excuse. After your spending spree in 2006, that excuse rings hollow to everyone except with the most gullible of fans. To me it is the equivalent of the politician who garners support by using class envy. It's reprehensible.

Welcome aboard!

Not using injuries as an excuse. From a prior post:

I'd rather lose any two other hitters on the Red Sox or Yankees than to lose Ortiz.

I guess they are due to turn things around.

Doctor, heal thyself. You are having a break with reality. Our injury problems started in January when we realized that Curt Schilling was probably done for the season. That is the Curt Schilling who is the best post season pitcher in history. That was a major blow. We lost our best offensive player and the heart and soul of the team for six weeks. We also lost Lowell for the first month of the season. Dice k was on the DL, and our SS is lost for 4 to 6 weeks. You think those injuries are inconsequential compared to losing a 4 ERA pitcher that chokes in the post season, losing a few days of Johnny Damonic, losing a .277 career avg. catcher that hit .300 and drove in 100 runs once, and your other assorted injuries. I don't think you have a good chance of making that case. Let me point out that I am not using our injuries as an excuse. There's no reason to make an excuse since you are not ahead of us in the standings. We are still ahead in the standings. I was just stating my opinion that they had held up better than I had expected without Ortiz. Now, he's back, and I expect the offense to pick up and be more consistent. Stop being a jerk when you were AWOL on this site for most of the season.

I think they have done very well to hold the line while Ortiz had been out for 6 weeks. Now if we getting manny's meds right and the bullpen starts to pitch like last year, the Red Sox will be okay. Okajima has been much better of late

I have criticized the Red Sox FO in past years by comparing them to the Yankees FO. However, I agree that the Yankee FO is not that good. That leaves me with two possibilities: The Red Sox FO doesn't care this season or the conspiracy theory. I am not beyond getting caught up in conspiracy theories. Heck, i am still trying to get beyond the Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy. The problem with the explanation that the Red Sox FO doesn't care this year is what is the explanation for all the other GMs? None of them care? Are they all stupid and got outwitted? None of them had a package of prospects to compare with the Yankees offer? Certainly the Mets had interest. They needed Nady more than the Yankees need him. Something definitely smells, but I am trying to avoid making that my conclusion.

It's been tame, because Yankee fans have been curiously absent from this site for a couple of months. I've been as provocative as ever. A few posters have some of my more incendiary posts in their signatures.

They need to shore up the bullpen, but I don't think they will. However, with their weak remaining schedule that has them playing more home games than either the Yankees or the Rays, they may win the division despite their deficiencies.

That is the reason that I never give them an inch. If you make the mistake of being a good sport and not rubbing their faces in our successes with the thought that your sportsmanship will be returned in kind, you are sorely mistaken. They are the worst-- vicious winners and cowardly losers.