BudLight

Guess I look at it differently. If Manny wanted to make a prolonged statement, he would not have produced in the following games, instead he would have requested to take some time off, or feign an injury. Besides as quirky as Manny is I really do not believe he would jeopardize his value in an option year, then again maybe Manny is just being Manny:dunno:

Is Manny's AB against Rivera a lingering issue. No - since that AB Manny has gone 10 for 22 with 7 RBI and 2 HR's. He may have been sending the FO a message, he may have not wanted to PH in that game, who knows.

It's been a very entertaining first half of the season. There are many candidates out there for MLB jerk of the year, and with another half season to go, many more should be joining the list. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8355922/#2

f*** it, we'll take the bum in NY. He's obviously not MLB ready and we could use some more patch work in our starting rotation. Would Mr. Pohlad consider another AAA pitcher for him, say a guy named Ian Kennedy.

blasphemy, blasphemy I say

I believe he can be signed for the league minimum of $390,000, prorated for the remainder of the season. Seattle is on the hook for the remainder of his $15M salary for 08, something along the lines of $6M I think.

Who

Kilo Hindsight is 20/20 as far as how the game played out. I'm not getting on Papelbon for wanting to close the game, just his flawed logic that because Francona was the manager he should be the closer. There are many considerations the manager has to make in deterimining who the closer will be, not just what a player did the previous post-season. Again, a much better answer would have been to state that Tito is the manager and will make that decision. Having said that, we are about to embark on the second half of the season with only 6 games separating first and third in the AL East. LET'S GET IT GOING and may the best team win!!

Really ??? -- Torre was 4-0 in the AS game as manager, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001. 1997 - Rivera got the save - the other closer on the AL roster was Randy Myers 1999 - Rivera didn't pitch in the AS game 2000 - Rivera pitched in a non-save situation. Other closer was Isringhausen who also pitched - edge to Rivera 2001 - Rivera did not pitch in the AS game. Sasaki got the save.

Nobody here has said that Francona did not show class last night, the manner in which he replaced A-Rod and Jeter was very classy and acknowledged as such by both ARod and Jeter. Does Francona need his ego stroked by a public acknowledgement on a Red Sox forum, I don't think so. As for Papelbon's flawed logic, see Bosox21's comments above. He believed he would be the closer because his manager was the manager of the AL squad. That's not flawed? What does his performance in the 07 WS have to do with the 08 AS game?

The Pads need a lot of help and will not contend in the NL West with their current roster. They have Tony Clark who could backfill a departure of Gonzalez. Okay, granted it would take more than Betemit and a prospect, but doesn't hurt to dream a little. Seeing as how Gonzalez is making less than $1M this season, the Pads probably would not want to take on a great deal of salary.

The only problem I have with his comments are the fact that he somehow believed the Sox championship of 07 ordained him the closer for the 08 AS game. If that were the case then you could arguably say the entire Sox roster for 07 should start the 08 AS game. He did retract his statement and then praise Rivera, but it doesn't negate the fact that he initially made an argument for being the AS closer based on extremely flawed logic.

Losing Matsui for the remainder of the year would hurt. Would like to see the Yanks make an inquiry for a long term solution at first base, Adrian Gonzalez, IMO would fit the bill nicely. Using Betemit and a prospect may get the job done with San Diego. That would allow the Yanks to use Giambi as the DH the rest of the season and give them another good LH bat (would prefer a RH bat, but you have to look at what you can get now) and a very good defensive 1B without having to break the bank.

I try to attend as many of the Cubs/Cardinals games that I can each year and always buy bleacher tickets for Busch (or InBev). It is a great time, while the rivalry is strong and the trash talk is plentiful, it never becomes personal and you would be amazed by the comraderie. You know you are having a good time when you can boo/insult a player on the opposing team and the next minute your being handed a fresh beer by the guy in the Cubs shirt sitting in front of you that you have been jawing back and forth with the whole game.

Sean I don't deny any of what you said, but keep in mind there's *******s in every park (except Busch Stadium of course). Drew deserved the MVP last night and if the jerk offs who were booing him understood anything about the game, they should have been cheering him for helping ensure the Yanks would have home field advantage throughout the WS in 2008.

Bottom line - Papelbon needs to learn the art of being tactful. When asked if he should be the closer a better answer would have been, "that's up to Tito, he's the manager". In less than 12 months Papelbon has been at the center of at least three questionable discussions with newspaper writers. He doesn't need to be the center of attention in order to be looked upon as one of the best closers in the game today. He just has to do his job and keep his mouth shut. Learn when to know you're being baited by the press and be smart enough to stray away from it. He's not stupid, quit acting like he is.

I never said I condoned the insults thrown at Mrs Papelbon. You are right it is pretty low to insult a pregnant woman, about as low as it is to make fun of deceased ballplayers and their deceased relatives who died in tragic accidents. I still say there is a difference between hurling insults at someone and threatening their life ("you're a fat, ugly bitch" as opposed to "you're a fat, ugly bitch and I'm going to shoot you"). Papelbon stating he would like to close the game is fine, he is a closer, where the issue arises is him saying he deserves to close the game because the Sox won the championship last year or if he were the coach he would be the closer. It's insulting not only to Mo in his house, but to the other closers who are as good as or better than Papelbon. The fact that he made those comments seems to keep getting lost in this discussion.

Some here see nothing wrong with Papelbon's comments regarding Rivera or his recent comments regarding the Rays-Sox fued. Why does Papelbon feel the need to spout off to the press ala Curt Schilling? He's young, extremely talented and still has a lot to accomplish on the field. Stick to that, he should not tarnish his reputation with such stupid comments.

Is it just me or is Reggie Jackson becoming more and more annoying as time goes on. His recent comments taking shots at Alex Rodriguez are in poor taste. Seems Reggie has forgotten about his dark days in New York when Fran Healy was kept around in the announce booth just to help Reggie make it through the day.

RB It was a combination of factors - his shoulder injury last year forcing him to miss 7 weeks, Dr Altchek's diagnosis of some type of rotator cuff injury and Dr Morgan's assessment in January that surgery was needed. Couple all of this with his age and the probability of his return in 2008 was very slim, either by rehab or surgery, so why not let him have the surgery and see where it goes from there. Schilling has thrown his last pitch in a Red Sox uniform and possibly his last pitch in the major leagues. The important issue here, IMO, was his long term health and quality of life post his baseball career.

JHB Good spirited discussion on this topic, we probably won't agree on the core issue here, rehab versus surgery. I just believe Schilling deserved the benefit of the doubt here. What is most perplexing to me is that Dr Altchek identified some sort of rotator cuff injury, not specific on if it was a tear or what. At Schilling's age I can't understand the course of treatment being rehab. The probability of a successful return through rehab, in my mind, had to be slim.

What you did say, and then conveniently left out of your response, was: Quote: I have a problem with a front office not taking the overall health of a person into consideration when making those decisions. No intentional ommision - what I'm saying is, Schilling missed 7 weeks in 2007 due to shoulder problems, although he passed his physical and MRI in November 2008 the club only offered him a base $8M salary with $5M in incentives, couple this with his age and the expectation that 2008 would have been his last year in active baseball as a pitcher, the club could have done more to ensure his long term health (surgery) as opposed to his short term health (rehab). The decision to forgo surgery was made by an independent third party expert in accordance with Article XIII and Attachment 35 of the Basic Agreement. The decision was made by Dr. Altchek. The FO agreed, prior to Dr. Altchek rendering an opinion, that they would agree with his decision. Dr. Altchek is as liable as any other doctor when rendering a professional opinion--he would not jeopardize his career to recommend rehab were it not a reasonable best course of action. Your allegation that the FO didn't take Schilling's overall health into consideration is groundless. They deferred to Dr. Altman. Call Dr. Altman incompetent or corrupt, or give it up...but don't blame the FO. Not incompetent or corrupt just a bit inconsistent. Altchek was the first of the three doctors (Gill, Morgan, Altchek) to stated in addition to the tendon injury there was also a rotator cuff injury. The article I provided earlier regarding the need for surgery for rotator cuff injuries, according to Dr Altchek, is inconsistent with his recommendation for rehabilitation.