Redguitar985

I'm going to the game tonight, so Lester better build on the success he had last time against Toronto.

His defense isn't bad either. He only has 3 errors so far with a .978 fielding percentage. I would think at least Michael Bowden, probably more.

Man, I've been watching Big Papi a lot the last few weeks, and I just feel bad for the guy. He's a player who's lost all the skills that made him what he was. People used to equate 'David Ortiz' with 'clutch home-run' or 'most-feared hitter' and now it looks like he might never get that back. I can only imagine how it must feel when everything you were known for vanishes as quickly as it like it has for him. I hope he can at least manage 10-15 HRs this year, maybe 50-60 RBIs before it's all said and done.

Man I hate the Rays now. I despise them.

He just mispronounced Haverhill. When are you coming back Jerry Remy???

If Francona doesn't want to move Ortiz out of the #3 spot, maybe it's because he's afraid he'd have to shift the whole lineup. He's shown that he really likes the lefty-righty-lefty-righty setup. If he moved Papi but kept that setup, I guess it would have to be Drew hitting #3, Papi hitting #5? If he switched it to righty-lefty-righty-lefty, he could put Youk or Bay in the #3, but then he'd probably have Pedroia leadoff, Ellsbury second?

Goddamn Pena. I really am starting to despise the Rays now.

Yeah, that sucks for Remdog. Hope he gets better. Eck and Roberts aren't bad replacements though. At least they didn't go with Tony Massarotti.

I hope Alston gets suspended for that slap to House. Clearly out of line.

Bill Plaschke just went off on Manny on ATH. Maybe he was overreacting, but I can't say I blame him. When we've had so many big name, hall-of-fame players connected to steroids, when is it ever going to end? Today makes me really hope Albert Pujols is clean so we have at least ONE clean superstar.

I think it's fair to question what's going on with Ortiz because I remember last year at about this time, the top story on Sunday Night Baseball's Red Sox vs. Yankees game was David Ortiz hitting .071. He was a dominant offensive power in '03, '04, '05, and '06, but his home runs have gone down since, and his average dropped last year. What would be the wost-case scenario with him? I mean, he ended last year with 23 home runs, which was decent. If he ended this year with similar numbers in home runs, plus batting avg, OBP, etc. do you officially move him out of the 3-hole and bat him 5th, 6th?

Manny's from the Dominican Republic. Maybe they had something there? Yeah, I don't know.

I think it's pretty clear to any baseball fan who's followed it the last few years and seen all the prominent names busted for steroids that baseball is no different than any sport, and the players will juice if they think it will boost their performance and get them a better contract. I would not be surprised if we found out down the road Manny or another player on the Red Sox had been juicing in '04. One thing I was thinking about earlier is why people are so crazy about it in baseball, but could care less about steroids in other sports. Guys like Rodney Harrison and Shawn Merriman got busted in the NFL, but the outcry wasn't nearly as big as it has been in baseball. It has to be because baseball is the American pastime, and people want it to be a clean sport, right? When you think of baseball, you think of apple pie, summer nights, and anything else happy, right? And since most people see steroid use as cheating, that doesn't their image. Haha, I'm now thinking of that George Carlin joke about the differences between baseball and football, if anyone knows it.

Are there any other steroids or PEDs that wouldn't come up in the drug tests besides HGH? As much as I'd like to believe Manny was juicing before, it's a valid point that he hasn't failed any drug tests before, and he's been taking them for the last five years.

I was at work when I got a text about this. Wow. I, too, though will have to group myself with the ones saying they were disappointed but not surprised. I read that the drug he was taking helps restore lost testosterone, and steroid use depletes testosterone. He said he passed 15 drug tests over the last five years, but I heard HGH can't be picked up by drug tests. Is that true? If so, then maybe he was using steroids before this, maybe for a while, and he decided to stop. He wanted to restore testosterone in his body, and his doctor gave him the wrong drug. The question then would be, why did he stop. Oh well, at least he didn't do it in Boston. Good thing Epstein made the call and got rid of him last year.

Pedroia 0 for 4 now. Ugh. I hope that turns around.

Haha, the guy from MLB '09 The Show is with Donny O. Good, he's probably better than McAdam.

I forgot Bobby Abreu was with the Angels now. I wonder how he'll do this year.

So if this guy killed someone drunk driving and Donte' Stallworth might go to prison for drunk driving, has there ever been a better message to people over the last month or two NOT to drive drunk?

Very sorry to hear this. He was a young player too with a lot of promise.

Man, the Rays just know how to beat the Sox at Fenway now. There aren't many teams that can say that.

I remember people were worried about him after his first start in Japan last year. I say his HR issues today should definitely be watched but agree that you can't base a lot off of one game, so we'll just have to wait and see. What drives me crazy about Dice-K is that he pitched so well in both the '06 and '09 WBC's, had a generation named after him in Japan (I've heard that in Japan, people born in the same decade he was are called part of the "Matsuzaka Generation"), and has had so much success over there, and yet it just doesn't seem to be translating here. I figure it must be because he has to change his training and mentality somehow when he's with the Red Sox. But is there anyway around this? Are we going to have to get used to him walking everybody and struggling to get out of jams every year?

Goddamn Garza, I hate this guy. 3-1 at Fenway last year, I think?

Goddamn, Lowell, not coming through in the clutch.