jacksonianmarch

that OF can track the ball

Nick Green actually looks like a major league caliber SS. Hell, with the way he's playing, Lowrie AND Lugo need to win their jobs back

Anyone who knows anything about baseball knows that the sox will be a playoff contender

Lowell looks like a new man, Vtek's bat, albeit still slow, looks a bit faster and Ellsbury is actually hitting the ball. Thus far, the only ? that hasnt panned out is Papi. And he looks completely lost at the dish

who is calling pitches tonight? 0-2 cockshot Inge hit out of the park foul. So, what do they do, they go fastball outside corner and he hits it up the middle. Inge is a dead red fastball guy. Throw one out of the f***ing zone or drop a deuce on him

Verlander looks unhittable tonight. Cano might be the only guy who can hit him

when do they push Papi down in the order?

so, 1-0 tigers. CC got a pitch up to Polanco and Cabrera hit a good pitch. But Jeter not getting to that ball was damn near inexcuseable. It wasnt hit hard and it wasnt up the middle.

Jeter's range is SOOOOO bad. Wow.

CC is missing the corner again. It might be another long game

the sox are a good team. For the first 8 games, they were a terrible team, for the next 10 games, they were perfect. Lets see which team they settle out as.

Yep. Saito was the closer for the day and he had the chance at a save. If you are willing to designate a guy as the closer for that game, then its hard to rationalize not using him in that situation

he didnt even look like he was trying in that AB

are you on crack?

they'd suspend him for 6 games like they did with Beckett. It would work rather well actually, we could skip his start and try to keep his innings low

at 27? Nah. His velocity has been fine. The breaking ball has been there at times. His biggest issue is that he's not locating. Makes me think he's just a bit rusty. And his stats prove it. He just is a bit off. For a guy who walked under 60 in 240IP, he's walked what, 15+ already in 4 starts? He's rusty, talk to me about it at the end of May

I'd love it if we took a shot at someone. Maybe a brawl. Go head high to Youks or Pedroia with a true Joba speed fastball. Except this time, aim for the ear hole.

not what I am saying at all. I am saying that we have a pretty big flaw right now, but we have the personell to right the ship in that department. We just need to see if it is just a bad timing issue, with 3 dependable pen arms going in the tank at once, or is this an issue of those guys being done, figured out, or washed up. We'll see. Regardless, I think we can win the wild card even if our pen continues to s*** the bed, because I expect that 3 to 4 slots in our rotation should shorten the bridge on a consistent basis to Mo so much so that we shouldnt have to worry about too many middle innings. The question is, can we get the right mix of players in that pen before the playoffs, or really, before the pennant races heat up.

cmon Crunchy, you are better than that. He was the Cy Young winner 2 yrs ago in the AL. And he had a pretty good pre-ASB in the AL last yr. Think before you post Crunch, you know better than that. Just for emphasis March/April- 2006-2008 4-4 5.66ERA .296BAA 1.55WHIP The rest 2006-2008 44-24 2.73ERA 1.09WHIP He's a slow starter. It isnt even close how poorly he starts seasons. But just because he's now a yankee, the ceiling is collapsing and he's done. Solid, sound, extraordinarily insightful logic

so we can evaulate the entire season after a 9-9 start. I see. Yeah, smooth logic. CC always starts slow. At the very least, he's giving us innings. Burnett had been money until his last start. I can live with that Pettitte has been our best pitcher thus far. Joba has held his own, albeit he is a lot more wild than I thought he'd be And Wang didnt recover enough from his injury. There's our top 5. In a month, lets revisit the issue. I have a feeling you'll be singing a different tune about the fat bastard and the rest.

we will be. Our offense and starting rotation will crush the mediocre to bad teams and our closer will get his share of saves. The question is going to be, how will the pen guys who did so well last yr react this season after getting off to incredibly slow starts? If Veras, Ramirez, and Marte get back to their last season performances, this pen will be solid. If they continue to walk the park then give up homers, they wont be in pinstripes for long. We have reinforcements on the way. Thats one thing we do have, a plethora of rookies with live arms who can pitch out of the pen. I would rather not use them all right away, but you gotta start somewhere, right? We will be fine. Its a 3 game deficit and the sox are riding a 10 game winning streak in April. Am I supposed to be impressed? Its April.

you are never as good as you are when you are playing well and you are never as bad as you are when you are slumping. Its April. There is a ton of talent on both sides and a lot of talent on the DL. Whomever is the healthiest will win this division, and right now it is way too early to decipher that.

How does Mussina look like a gigantic loss? The rotation didnt do well in the sox series, that much is true, but where is the "tremendous loss"? Were we to keep Joba in the pen and try to get Mike to come back? We came into this yr with a solid plan for the rotation. We have backups in place to ensure that we can put quality out there on a nightly basis. And with Hughes coming up, that will start the process. The only thing you can "get on" the front office for was not monitoring CMW's rehab. Its pretty obvious that he rehabbed the foot but didnt keep the rest of himself in peak condition. That being said, the biggest culprit thus far this season is the bullpen. Thats where the money is. Rivera has been solid sans one pitch to Bay. Bruney also started out well. Coke started out poorly but has really turned a corner. Albaladejo pitched well until Girardi overextended him and he left a sinker up to Lowell. So it isnt all terrible in our pen. The problem lies in the guys we thought were going to be setting up. Veras, Edwar and Marte have given up a combined 22ER in 22.2IP. That aint gonna get it done. Getting back to the bullpen, I have three points to make about the kids... 1. Robertson: he looks BAD. Last yr, he was sitting 88-92 with occasional 94mph heaters, the changeup looked sharp at times and the curve looked tough to hit. He was inconsistent with the location, which was to be expected. But now, the heat in Fenway was 86-88 and the curveball looks much slower. If this is who he is to become, then he went from possible setup guy to barely 11th/12th pen guy. This is distressing. Hopefully it was just a bad day. 2. Melancon has a good fastball. 2 seamer, low to mid 90s, as advertised. But his moxie is what really impressed me. bases loaded, no outs and he gets out of it in Fenway in a close game. He is gonna be a big part of this bullpen this yr. 3. Another name to remember, Michael Dunn. He's a former 2004 draft pick who was taken as an OFer. He was converted to a pitcher in 2006 after failing as an OFer. He's a lefty who was inserted into the Charleston rotation in 2007 and pitched well. He featured a low 90s heater with a plus slider, but lacked command. Last yr, he had a mediocre season as a starter until he was converted to the pen for the last 9 appearances. And boy, he looks good. He's now sitting 94-96 from the left with a killer slider. And he has become untouchable. Thus far in trenton, he's been downright filthy 9.2IP 8H 1ER 17K 2BB for a K/9IP ratio of over 15. He was added to the 40 man this past offseason, so I would expect that he's on the fast track. If Veras, Ramirez, or Robertson are unable to get the job done, we might see Dunn up in a hurry

meh, they didnt show any life tonight. Good to see some moxie out of Melancon. But this team couldnt hit the side of a barn tonight