Mr Crunchy

They will need Burnett to pitch like this if they expect to win it all. Doesnt that frighten you ball tugging, Avon wearing yankee fans just a little bit?

Top 10 of what, MLB prospects?? Ok thats a bonus and hes only 23? or so, theres room for improvement I would hope. We did need him this year and he failed us miserably. He didnt even belong on the field with the rest of the team and he was scared shitless. My mother lit a candle and cried for him when he got beaten like an Englishmen at the South Boston St Patricks Day parade against the Yankees. He did pitch well in AA ball and had a decent ERA in Pawtucket but his pro outings have been humiliating for all of us, him included.. He'll have a shot at earning a job next spring and I hope he has success, Im willing to put up with bumps and bruises along the way but not the humiliating efforts hes put forth so far. Of course I have no idea why Francona would put him in against the best lineup assembled since the 89 A's either. Cla Meredith had mental hangups due to shell shock, you'd think we'd learn a bit about being delicate with these young mens psyches but we throw them right into the blazing inferno none the less. His whip is what 1.25-1.30?? era under 3.5 and a k/bb ration thats not all that good and needs improvement before he gains full time employment with the big boys. Im rooting for him, We know John Henry is rooting for him, he'll save the company 10m a year if he can develop into a 3rd or 4th man.

I dont think Bowden has the tools that Bucholz has, he'll be in the rotation if we're 10 games out in August but otherwise I think he'll be in Rhode Island for another summer... unless we deal him to the National League where he will win 15 games in 22 starts and a rookie of the year award.

Id argue that Nick Swisher carried this team early on when they were having a hard time getting out of the gate, I cant justify his splits, nobody sane can but I do hope he sucks in October.

I used to get cluster headaches when i was younger, maybe between 14-23?? nothing cures them and all you can do is lay in the dark with a facecloth over your head. I had them all the time at 14, Id routinely get them after a football game, never practice but just about after every game Id get them, Id get them in school and just roll into the nurses office and sleep for a couple hours and Id be ok but then they just went away when I turned 16. After a car accident just before my 17th birthday I had some head trauma and they returned and I would get them periodically, for whatever reason the fall and spring would be the worst. Its like having the worst wine hangover ever with nothing available to cure it, picture a little monkey in your head beating your brain like a bass drum, picture your eyes having so much pressure on them you think they'll pop out of your head and if you could you'd assist this scenario but the worst thing is any sound at all is like listening to a Moby/George Michael duet singing for your pleasure only. Suicides have been linked to cluster headaches and the only thing I know that works is to dope yourself up on some calm pills and eat some painkillers and try and sleep them away. the good news is they do go away, the bad news is the sox losing in a typical I CANT FUKIN BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED fashion will bring them on,stay away from booze,smoking, anything that restricts your capalaries will intensify the misery

Leyland gets a lot of ink but his 1 title came in 97 with Miami and that team was stocked with the best available free agents money could buy and they were all in contract years. In Pittsburgh in the early 90s he almost won the pennant. he had the best player in the game with Bonds and lacked a closer big time. anyone who questions how good bonds was should look at the money Andy Van Slyke and Bobby Bonilla made when they left Pitt and how they performed without BB in the lineup afterwards. Now in Detroit in 2006 they had the best team in the land but somehow someway their pitchers made such critical eras in such critical situations it almost appeared the series was fixed. When David Epstein hit a 275 foot triple over Curtis Grandersons head I knew the Tigers were cooked. They let down in that series and since then theyve spent a ton to improve yet I dont see them being a factor in the playoffs unless Verlander is absolutely lights out.

Sec battles are usually fun, last nights effort was worse than watching flies f***. How in Gods name did Ole Miss make it to #5 in the nation with an offense thats just offensive. I agree that the best football is played between Florida and Louisiana but Mississippi doesnt belong in the elite conversation based on what I saw last year and so far this year. They did beat Florida putting them on the map but Id like to see them compete against LSU or Georgia before they get annointed as the 2nd best team in the sec.

Here we go, the annual pinstriped masturbation festival with MJ and his cant miss, 5 tool,hi 90s 12-6 prospects that will be beating down bostons door in the next 10 years.. Kei Igawa and Ian Kennedy best hold on tight as they will have some competetion in the next 18 months for the 4th and 5th slot in the Columbus rotation. 44th rounder out of highschool who hit 90 on the gun eh??... Jeff Spinelli says hello from the Chelsea fruit market.

I dont think we'll see tazawa in a meaningful game next year unless we get bit bad by the injury bug. Wakefields health is all f***ed up,I would be surprised if he were to come back next year based on his back injury leading to extreme discomfort in his legs. Bucholz has been a stud, he wont see Rhode Island again unless he flies over it. Beckett,Bucholz,DiceK,Lester are 4 of the 5 starters we'll see. All in their 20s too, what a f***ing bonus that is. I expect them to pick up a veteran or 2 in the offseason to fill the other slot with Bowden given a chance to see what he can do in Florida. the bullpen will be looked at again. BWagner will not be brought back as he isnt interested in signing here next year unless he can close. Bard Paps Ramirez Okijima and MDC will be here, another arm will be bought or brought up, this maybe the place for Bowden to get a longer look. Tazawa just isnt good enuff to pitch in the Majors at this stage of his development inspite of the white washing he gave NY when we needed it most...The sox outfield looked like the Jamaican relay team that afternoon as they were running down 1 screaming liner after...The Yanks left 16? men on base in his outing and the following start he got smacked around very hard too..He came out of the Japanese minors and hes still young but without k/o velocity and a deceptive motion to the plate he didnt fool anyone, you really cant teach fastballs and he will have to make a living like Okijima, a limited role in middle relief is the best I can see for him....Or he can go to the National League and compete for the cy young

Ya gotta like the local boy and hope he can get it together but hope doesnt have a spot in the post season, either he can or he cant and he cant right now.

Mental? I think they found his twin brother in Iowa yesterday. http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090924jailed_iowa_red_sox_fan_gets_royal_treatment/srvc=home&position=5

Hes struggling and its not as if we can f*** around with his mechanics in the post season. Theres next week and then theres the playoffs.Unless something unusual happens and theyre in the hunt for the division next week then he'll have that time to get it together. Hes been steady and somewhat consistant his entire career, never dominant but rarely looking like a fool.

Joba needs to sit, hes been rather useless in the 2nd half. Another starter is needed, Phil Hughes shouldve been stretched out already. why they havent done this is fascinating, are they intending to go with Joba inspite of his glaring decline as a starter when they have Mr Wonderful sitting in the bullpen?

This is why guys like Rickey Henderson were so valuable and tortured pitchers all day

Phil Hughes has quietly saved their asses since his return

Hes pitching himself off the October roster, we wont see him for the rest of the year unless its garbage time or deep in an extra inning affair, hes become the Curtis Leskanic of 2009.

Good to see Jeremy Jacobs shake off all that winning they did last year and dump this kid with balls of stone and huge upside....Maybe they can deal these 1st round picks for a dozen 3rd and 4th rounders in 2016...f***tard move...again... If they had any recent success I can understand this but they havent had any recent success, they got beaten by a carolina team that was annilihated by the Penguins. Infuriating, amazing and it has the Jakes fingerprints all over it.

The older and more feeble these guys get the more you see them getting beaten up early in the game. See Brett Saberhagen, Dave Cone, Ramon Martinez and...Andy Petitte for examples. Clemens and Pedro both had hard times getting out of the 1st innings later in their careers but lets face facts for a moment...NY is 5-18 against the Angels in their last 23 outings, this isnt an accident but rather a continued ""owning"' of NY since the 02 season.

Based on the way Theo handled shortstops since Nomar I predict Orlando Cabrerra will be here next April playing for 12m a year....Omar Visquel will be 1st on the list but Minaya will sign him for the Mets for 60M over 4 years.Its no coincidence that Agons glove has given this team a better short of winning and hes hitting an amazing 290 with a little bit of power, hes better than Jed Lowrie and until another guy comes along thats better I say they stick with this guy.

Detroit is a pitchers paradise,even more so than in Seattle and the loss of Washburn really hurts them. Sox blew an easy chance to pick up a game on NY last night by blowing 2 6 run leads, awful is a word thrown around far too often, their pitching was awful, a 6 run lead and tossing 7 bb's will get you DFA'd rather quickly in this league and Wake was toast after the rain. The vaunted bullpen has some serious questions these days. Delcarmen isnt getting anyone out and Dan Bard has hit the proverbial wall, he too is struggling as is Ramirez, the Wagner deal has been a lifesaver.Wake is hurting, the guy took 10 seconds to get to home plate on that wild pitch and he runs as if hes carrying Cecil Fielder on his back, too bad cause NY continues to fail against the Angels and are now 5-18 in their last 23 against the Halo's....

I doubt we catch NY and I dont want to go all out to get it done either. Ny is in a psuedo funk now and they see the Angels while we're playing Kc, we can gain a game here. In 04 we played NY in the last weekend of the season, they beat us and locked up the division that Saturday when D Lowe pitched his way out of the playoff rotation and got annilihated that day. We know how D Lowe pitched in the playoffs that year and the rest is history. Of all major sports home field means less in Bball than it does in the other sports so if we have to go balls out on the last weekend to win it may not be the way to handle things but of course Id rather see Detroit or Minneappolis than Anaheim all day.

Joba is awful at this point, they intend to use him as a #4 in the playoffs? Hopefully game 4 dont mean anything to them because they dont want him with the ball when it matters. They're still the team to beat, from soup to nuts the best team in the league....on paper. But they look very human all of a sudden and with Petitte being old and tired,Joba sucking hind tit and AJ Burnett being a mental case that leaves Sabby, the man who resembles Arod in October to be the man. Their bats will bail out a sucky start or 2 from their staff but theyre going to need either Burnett or Petitte to step up and pitch well or they will struggle win anything and if Sabby throws his typical batting practice garbage in October they are finished. Quite frankly Id be shocked to see anyone other than NY playing for the pennant, theyre the best team in the league......on paper.

You wonder if the team did peak too early? Me too. Then I think back to the 90 Reds the 05 Chisox and the 06 Tigers, teams that essentially won their divisions by Memorial Day but then played mediocre ball down the stretch and looked soft. Then you had the A's teams of the early 00s that started slow but then caught fire down the stretch,some of those A's teams played .675 ball after the break yet all of them failed to win the pennant. The Yanks starters have been iffy as of late with the exception of Mr May, Sabbathia. The Yanks are the best team in the league and have earned home field advantage but I dont recall a lot of teams winning 7 game sets without a couple of hot pitchers and a good bullpen. Phil Hughes has saved their pen and I think should be starting while Chamberlain gets sent to the bullpen to set up Rivera, i think thats their best strategy but they wont tinker with what got them here and consequently their best young arm will be used in relief which is fine with me. f***in Detroit eats it, without Verlander pitching they can be beat every day, KC just swept them and did it easily yesterday with Grienke sticking it up Jacksons ass. Anaheim and Boston are both hot, the Yanks have cooled a little and Detroit is floundering. I dont think the Tigers will give NY any trouble but anaheim has a 4 headed starting rotation that is better than ours and NYs...We will have our hands full getting by them as will NY. This is going to be an interesting October to say the least.

I'm still trying to get into heaven Mark. Frankly doing the Lords work is a pleasure and a gift I can give myself daily. All I ever do is give,sometimes I find myself hurting inside because I give so much but I endeavor to perservere. The baby cousin is getting married Saturday. His hippie friends called me at 8 last night to tell me his stag party was off and running,theyre in stoneham, im in Milford. I call Peter D last night, ""who's on the door at the squire lounge on Wednesday"" Mike the printer Can he arrange a table of 12 for us and is Governor Volpes neice still working for your Grandfather? Game On. I woke up this morning with money in all 4 pockets,bleeding from the eye sockets,whatever I was drinking had a lot of limes in it because I had citric acid burns on my tongue and I was 300.00 short of what I thought I went to sleep with. I never ever drink and drive but my car was in its usual parking place this morning even though my entire body was sticky and I couldnt believe I was alive.This is usually when someone calls me and asks ""is that you wearing that feather boa wearing assless chaps on you tube""?...Christ almighty. I dont know what possesses a grown man with diabetes to get festive on Wednesday evening with a bunch of 20sumthin goatee wearing humps but as you know all I do is give and today I hurt inside from giving too much... At this time I want to thank the good people at Dupont for making today possible.

He still remains a legend in Omaha. Him and Calvin Schiraldi... Sorry I cant help myself, normally i wouldnt comment but this is the morning after a wild game in which they won with Paul Byrd going. Byrd did his job, he didnt give the game away before the 1st beer was finished and Saito saved his ass. 20/59/268 going into the 17th of September for Drew but he seems to be delivering a bit more since the around the middle of August, Ortiz seems to be eyeing the ball better and even going the other way from time to time plus the sox played some small ball on Tuesday, I love the speed game and the pressure it puts on pitchers, Lackey lost his composure after he threw the ball into left field on Pedroias bunt the other night.they should do more of it against the stud pitchers they face.. Manufacturing runs isnt their game but it may have to be in October against the better arms they'll see, its as if theyre too macho to bunt, 2nd last in AL sacrifices next to Baltimore. Meanwhile Texas mailed it in, theyre 6 out and fading fast, the wild card is ours so now all we need to do is rest up some tired guys and get prepared for the Angels in October.