TheKilo

Oh, I thought you were talking about the World Series in 2003, when it was in fact Gonzalez, not Cabrera, who hit a walkoff homerun. Carry on.

Huh?

This is where Alex Gonzalez becomes a true Red Sock.

There's your sac bunt.

Not really a wild pitch, Mirabelli made absolutely no effort to block the ball.

Tavarez was already warm, he was loosening up with Papelbon in the 8th. Varitek is available, no? PHing him in the 7th is far different from the tenth.

0-4 day and Cormier is left handed. Kapler 5-7 against Cormier in his career. Right, TERRIBLE managing.

I blame Paps for making a bad pitch to Utley. However, he throws it 96 when healthy and it was 92. So don't tell me fatigue didn't play some part in this. Seanez should have been able to limit some of the damage, Francona needed to do a better job of managing his pen. That's neither here or there, the Sox are winning this game in the 9th.

Why not? Paps made a bad pitch, but he shouldn't even be anywhere near this game. Not with a 6 run lead in the 7th. If he does his job and holds the line, then Paps isn't anywhere near this game, 48 hours after throwing 2.1 innings. So yea, I blame a lot of what is happening now on Seanez's inability to get outs.

Doesn't do any good if it's not tied.

It had to happen sometime...blame that squarely on Seanez.

He's got a higer batting average than Tek.

Papelbon in...

Nice throw...

Wheels.

Timlin has huge balls.

So, this inning pretty much sucks right now. edit - Big K by Lopez. When he throws strikes he's solid.

There's no real correlation to the loss of Pedro and the acquisition of Beckett, but I'll give you that much that the Sox needed to make a bigger effort to try and resign Pedro. At the time the Beckett deal went down, I'm fairly sure Renteria was still on the team and still had 3 years left on his deal, meaning Hanley was just going to be held back here anyway. So he was moved to bring in the 2003 World Series MVP and a Gold Glove third baseman who's hitting .310 this year. I also think that with the arms the Sox had in their farm system, Sanchez would have been blocked just like Ramirez. So that trade was, and still is, OK in my book. Damon's situation was a little bit different, because it seemed like the FO handled it the wrong way. They lowballed him and then let the Yankees snatch him up. So they had to make a trade that filled a pretty big hole. I'm not saying Crisp is going to be anywhere near as potent as Damon offensively, but he's faster and better with the glove. In all honesty, with the improvements made in the offseason to the pitching staff (namely the Beckett signing, and the fact that Schilling and Foulke were once again going to be healthy, I think the FO didn't feel like they needed Damon's bat as much. And keep in mind, he left town for a lousy $3 million more a year, to a team he said he'd never go to. I don't think they handled it as well as they could, but I do think they got one player entering his prime as another was leaving his.

Gotta tip your cap, hell of a play. Sanchez did a pretty good job.

I think what the point is is that you shouldn't draw these conclusions when you don't have the inside information the Marlins and Sox are working with. I don't personally think the Sox will get Willis, but you can never be sure. Just let the things unfold where they will. I think it's possible, but not probable, that a Willis trade goes down.

Cabrera with a bomb. Kid's a stud.

Hermida RBI single, 1-0 Fish. It looked like Chacon was gonna breeze through the first, nearing 30 pitches now.

Hopefully Anibal pitches a gem.

I would trade any prospect not named Lester. Hansen is tough, like 60/40 in favor of trade, but if it nets Willis you'd have to do it.

Why? I keep hearing that starters are more valuable than closers, that a guy who can give you 200+ quality innigns is more important than a guy who gives you 70. If Liriano keeps this up all year, then I say he's definitely big competition for ROY. I'm not underestimating what Paps has done. I just don't think it's as "slam dunk" as all of you seem to.