rician blast

sticking with this theme, between limitations with the Sox ability as an organization to develop young pitchers, and the FO ABILITY to blow smoke up our asses, how do we know Lester, Delcarmen, Hansen aren't the next: Kevin Morton? Brian Rose? Paxton Crawford? Lenny DiNardo? all of whom did next to nothing despite being touted as the next big thing. or maybe they'll be the next: Aaron Sele? Jeff Suppan? Paul Quantrill all who were equally overblown and had mediocre careers but zero success in Boston. how's that saying go? you fool me once...etc.

Sean, good points and I share your concern regarding the mental health of these youngsters if they aren't handled correctly from here on. A couple of additional points related to the young arms: (1) In MLB sometimes the highest value of a young player is a "perceived" or projected value...for example when Lester was in the minors and was deemed "untouchable" his value was probably higher than it is now that he's been showing his immaturity. A couple of months ago, a trade involving a Lester/Delcarmen combination or Lester/Hansen would have likely netted something siginificant. Did Sox management fck up a good thing by rushing him into the #3 slot (beyond what it did to his psyche) and the once untouchable Mr. Lester is no longer viewed as a sure thing around MLB? Did management similarly do the same with Hansen....whose first stint in the bigs began right after college? I saw Wily Mo turn around a 98 mph fast ball that had no movement recently...if he can do it, then certainly the leagues best hitters will do the same with Hansen. He needs to lean how to pitch. Hanley Ramirez was part of a trade that brought Beckett and Lowell to Boston...it was a trade based on Hanley's "perceived" value (and of course, as all Markin's trades are, a dumping of salary). I wonder now, though, if the young Sox arms would command a similar return right now, since they've been exposed to some extent? (2) After Tony Cloninger left the club for medical reasons in 2003, Dave Wallace stepped in as pitching coach. I found this blurb in Dave's bio: at the time of his appointment by the Red Sox, was serving the Dodgers as Senior Vice President/Baseball Operations, overseeing the organizations minor league operations and consulting with General Manager Dan Evans on baseball operations ... So he was a front office guy, wasn't working as a pitching coach at the time? I wonder why? Wasn't such an issue when you in 2004 when you had Schilling, who probably doesn't need to listen to Davey, Pedro who wouldn't ever listen to Davey, DLowe who was too drunk to listen to Davey, Arroyo who's ears were too muffled from rock music to hear Davey and a BP that had a clue. Davey got a WS ring...but IMO was along for the ride. My point? If you're going to try and run a staff with youngsters and posers and wannabes, ya better damn well have someone who can get the most outta them. Is Wallace able to help young guys "learn to pitch?" or help veterans make the adjustments necessary to be more effective? Seems the Yankees do a lot better with no names than the Sox do.

Question to anyone watching the game on tv... how hard did Foulke throw?

right now the winning run is...gulp....a wild pitch.

and now they'll blow it open

Fenway is a doubles park, doubles mean lots of runs scored. that helps. Away from Fenway, too, this team does put up a lot of runs. what has been missing, as I've said before, is TIMELY hitting. Liek the other night...1st and second in the bottom of the 9th...no outs...and you don't score? Ya can't have it. Same clearly goes for the pitching. Take a 10-7 lead and blow it? Or up 5-3 in the eight and can't hold it? This team is flawed in numerous areas.

in 2004 we learned that pitching and timely hitting wins. Sox have had little of either in this series.

9 LOB now. wonderful. just fkn terrific.

in your eyes that may be true...but it's not your money, right? That's where the issue lies, its not about a better move by the Yanks, it comes down to either (1) ability to assume $17m or (2) willingness to assume $17m. The Sox just don't spend that way either out of financial constraints or obligation to their investors. it's just the way it is...some things will never change.

i wonder what Manny's numbers would look like if he had Ortiz, or someone like that, hitting behind him.

Well, he probably got pissed that he is: 8 for 11 with 9 walks for an OBP of .850 in the series yet he has only scored 3 times...twice on his own HRs.

ahhh, faaaaaaaaak.

please give Javy the take sign

a little off-topic here, but I believe someone mentioned trading Lester. I wonder if his trade value could actually be LOWER now than it was 3 months ago?

2 yankee fans came into my office today to talk about the series. Ya know what? NEITHER of them broke my balls, gloated or claimed their team was on its way to #27. What did they have to say? "Who's Jason Johnson?" "What's up with Beckett walking so many guys?" "Do you think the Red Sox rushed Hansen and Lester to the bigs?" and "Why did the Sox do nothing at the trading deadline when their pitching is this weak?" My answer was like it was outta Fast Times at Ridgemount High....I utterred a Spicoli-ism when I said "I don't know". And I don't. I'm not so sure that Theo and Larry didn't say "even if we added an Oswalt...or a Smoltz...we aren't going to win it...we're not good enough, not deep enough". Or maybe they really believe that the young arms will be the future of this organization? Or maybe they just chose to keep the investors happy and not commit to any additional $? Or maybe next year is the year and they'll be grabbing the best of the available FA talent? I really don't know.

exactly my point. just like B's management. In the B's case they helped define and design the post-lockout landscape of NHL hockey and then when they built a team of sh*t they said "we misjudged the market". Now this year they say they are "building a contender". While I don't mind my wife fondling my ass....I do have a problem with the FO of my favorite sports teams blowing smoke up it.

where the f*ck is this guy living? C'mon, should be loaded, yet he's got neighbors like this? Even if the conflict was the other dudes fault, baseball's "first $100m man" should be living large with celebs as neighbors and have a gardener, poolgirl, and maids. What a loser he is.

Its very valid to question management moves and motivation at this point in time, particularly given that this market "demands winning". But how does the FO define winning? To many fans "winning" may mean win a WS title...does management have a different view? i.e. success is making the playoffs? or success is fielding a competetive team that continues the string of sellouts at Fenway? Your comment on the Sox marketing abilities is dead on and makes me wonder (and Sean, perhaps you can comment): Does "building for the future" = "we misjudged the market" (the Bruins b.s. line after the lockout)?

I may be ignoring that, but I am NOT ignoring the fact that some of the guys the Sox have tried to get by with in the rotation are significantly worse than Arroyo. I'm not touting him to be Cy young. I am lloking at him realistically and liek I've said he is what he is and I'd be much more optimistic about the stretch run with Arroyo manning the end of the rotation than some of the assclowns I'm seeing there.

What is your definition of bad? His stats in the NL: ERA @3.45 2nd in innings pitched 12th in Wins in the NL 8th in Strikeouts Not sure how he can be labelled as "bad". He is what he is...a 12-15 game winner who'll eat innings and help save the bullpen, he'll compete hard, for near bargain $$. Would any sane Red Sox fan be crying to get him out of the Sox rotation if he was a #4 starter for them right now?

pujols

Susan Waldman...did I tell you all that I did her, yeah that's right a couple of nights after doing Tina Cervasio, well it was Tina Yothers who I thought was Tina Cervasio in my drunken stuper, I ran into Susan Waldman at a convention of taxidermists where she was working a booth, actually they had her affixed to a large plaque and her job was to lie there motionless and pretend she was a stuffed male African Bush Elephant, which with her impressive girth was pretty passable, and as I strode by she called me over and said do I wanna get together for a drink and I said "shut up fatty" and she said "don't you know who I am" and I replied "Dumbo?" and she said "no, I am Susan Waldman", but somehow I heard Susan Lucci and I said "damn I must be impaired again, you look fat, but if you are Susan Lucci, I'm in", so we went out after the show and she bought a few rounds of shots and got me really plastered and we went back to her hotel and had some foreplay and she said put it in, so I ran to the cupboard for the flour, and we did the nasty for a long time, like 28 minutes, and she was now kicking back smoking a Cuban and scratching her hairy ass, which shoulda told me something, but again I was hammered, and still thought she was Lucci and just figured, "hey, she's really Italian" and I was chilling and watching the Mets-Braves play then suddenly she said "That was a great pitch, 0-2, and he laid it right down the middle" and I thought "dumb comment" and then she said "Reyes has a great glove and he's also a good defender" and I suddenly realized "this must be Susan Waldman" and I had further proof when I saw the "Michael Kay is a Pagan God" tattoo on her right shoulder and I ran screaming from the hotel and I've been having nightmares ever since that I'm an extra on "All My Children" and they say I have a make-out seen with Susan Lucci and that fkn Waldman face appears before my eyes....did I mention the sex was good? (hey...no offense to my goombas)

Zito is Fenway might be bad, but he is 12-8 with a 3.73 era...not too shabby...and I wouldn't be all that surprised to see the Yankees make a run at him. Some righty FAs (in some cases don't know if they've recently signed extensions or if team has option): Schmidt 9-7, 3.15 Contreras 10-4, 3.75 Radke 11-8, 4.65 Smoltz (team option) 9-5, 3.54 Ramon Ortiz 9-6, 4.60 Gil Meche 9-6, 4.35 Some Lefties: Mulder 6-5, 6.09!! Pettitte 10-12, 4.96 Redman 7-6, 5.49 Ted Lilly 10-10, 4.01

but thank the heavens we have Wily Mo...oh, sorry, there I go beating that horse again. you are right though...we all know that pitching is the key, would be nice to land a big game pitcher this coming offseason.

Technically you are correct...your initial post wasn’t directed toward me...although I’ll say more than superficially my response was appropriate as you insulted a poster I've had the pleasure of knowing for quite some time and whom I thought did not deserve to be insulted. Remember your posts in this forum are for public consumption and as such are fair game for comment. I did read your post, and perhaps you were making some decent point(s), but when posts are laced with comments like “thoughtless post” or “I typed in drunken format so maybe you can understand it” I’d consider them inflammatory, not thoughtful. Some posters deserve such treatment. Those who put forth effort and thought into their posts, as his Crunchiness does, do not deserve that treatment. While he certainly doesn’t need me to speak on his behalf…and I’ll keep that in mind in the future…I responded nonetheless, suggesting you think who you are insulting before making the comment. As far as “getting a rise out of me” I wouldn’t characterize the situation as such. It’d more accurate to say your total misunderstanding…deliberate or not…and absolute twisting of my comments, done to try and make me look bad, wreaks of cowardice and I wasn’t going to allow you to misrepresent my post to feed your own desire to “get a rise out of someone”. Fact is you misread my post and bashed me for your misunderstanding…and that, sir, needed to be answered. As Mr. Crunchy has pointed out, this type of trivial bickering isn’t typically part of my game…but I do stand up for myself and others when unjustly ripped…and will continue to do so. At this point, though, I’m through with this silly quarrel, this inane dispute, this ridiculous tiff, this….you get the point. Time to let this go.