Gom

Oh my goodness. You can't be serious can you? In the AL East? Let me point out something for all of you delusional fans. Last year, for pitchers who qualified for the ERA title, in the American league, guess how many pitchers had an ERA at 4.00 or below? Thirteen. Now, I'm going to include Lester with his low IP total, and I am going to put the Red Sox into the list as you have predicted as they would have done last year. Current predictions are noted by *. Santana 2.77 Halladay 3.19 Sabathia 3.22 Mussina 3.51 Lackey 3.56 Escobar 3.61 Wang 3.63 Verlander 3.63 Beckett 3.65 *** Bedard 3.76 Zito 3.76 Lester 3.78 *** Robertson 3.84 Rogers 3.84 Papelbon 3.87*** Schilling 3.94 *** Schilling 3.97 Matsuzaka 4.00 *** So what you are saying is that four of your five starting pitchers are going to place in the top 17 in the AL. While pitching in Fenway. While playing in the AL East. According to this, Beckett and Wang will be a wash, Lester will be as effective as Ztio, Papelbon will be as good a pitcher as Robertson and Rogers last year, and Matsuzaka will be as good as Bonderman [4.08 ERA, which I believe he should do easily]. Glad you aren't too optimistic about your team's chances. Do you see how foolish that sounds now?

You guys are crazy. No one states that the Yankees staff is better than the Sox's staff. It's the only spot on the team the Sox have an edge in. However, the Sox as the number one staff? Are you guys drinking too much Sam Adams? Detroit has the best rotation in baseball. Period. To put this thing to bed, the Sox need the following to happen to be the best staff in baseball: 1) Matsuzaka to be the real deal. 2) Beckett to rebound from a 5+ ERA and pitch dominantly like he did in Florida. 3) Schilling to continue to perform at a high level considering his age and injury concerns. 4) Papelbon to make a smooth transition from bullpen to rotation. That's a lot of things that have to break right. The Tigers? Just repeat what they did last year. Enough already.

For once, ORS and I agree. The world is ending. Buy lots of SPAM.

Was waiting for you to respond to that, ORS, glad you didn't disappoint. With a background in medicine myself, and with a brother who is a surgery resident, and we have discussed this in depth, we are both at odds to what we hear. Not only that, but every physician and anatomist I have ever spoke to laughs at this notion. Now, we are not as polished as Dr. James Andrews, but the logic behind putting Papelbon in the rotation is pure folly. Pitchers with arm injuries should limit their innings without fail. Every once in a while, you get that pitcher who is an aberration, rather than the rule. You come across as intelligent, ORS. Does it make sense to you? To anyone at all? Think about this...as a whole, starting pitchers have more shoulder issues, have more incidences of Tommy John surgery. Look it up. I hope you guys aren't the types that believe everything you read from "medical experts" who don't have degrees in medicine. Look at all the one inning wonders we have had in the last 15-20 years. Eckersley, Lee Smith, Hoffman, etc. Their effectiveness was bullied by their steady, but minimized work. Back to the issues at hand, Mientkiewicz will play 75% of the time due to late inning replacement and the fact that the majority of pitchers in baseball are right handed. Defensively, there is no comparison. Even giving a wash to 2B and C, the Yankees are more solid defensively. The only huge difference is CF with Crisp over Damon, but ORS can play a better left field than Manny. I would take Farnsworth and Proctor over Timlin, Delcarmen, or anyone else. Timlin in his day would smoke this guy, but he is 206 years old last I checked. Anyways, should be a great AL East. Time to take back the mantle of the best division in baseball. I hope.

The Sox have the potential, and the Yankees are not far behind. How anyone can take them over the Tigers is beyond me. Lots of if's...if Papelbon comes back, if Beckett regains his form, if Matsuzaka adjusts, if Schilling is healthy...even more with the Yankees. There are no real ifs with the Tigers. No one has to get better, regain form, stay injury free. Kurkjian is lost.

So basically, what you are saying is that you expect this guy to be as good as Halladay. Damn...as fans of the other side, were we this bad every time we signed a free agent? I'm afraid of the answer.

17-9, 4.10 E.R.A. Loses first game of ALCS as Boston gets swept by the Twins. Commits ritual sepaku on himself, but first decapitates Schilling who had lost game two for not changing his lucky sock, which gave him gangrene on his foot, and he couldn't land properly. Surprisingly, the Red Sox announce they will no longer sign Japanese players.

2B and 1B. I played outfield too, wasn't too instinctive towards the ball, but was fast. Made Kenny Lofton look like he took routes like Dimaggio. Made Lofton arm look like Clemente as well. Was much better at first base and 2nd base. Batted leadoff, rarely walked, but bunted a lot for hits. Those were the days... The only bunt i can succeed at now is bunt cake.

I would seriously contemplate shooting myself if this came to pass.

I can't see Helton moving without bona fide prospects going the other way, and probably with Youkilis. If you guys can get him, he would be awesome for your lineup.

You guys know nothing about game, it is obvious. Soccer is much more demanding physically than basketball. You think brawls don't happen in soccer? You have one referee and two linesman as all the eyes covering a 100 yard field. I can't tell you how many elbows, jabs, punches, and spikes I got playing the game. There's no break in soccer. You are constantly moving. You don't have unlimited subs, or three timeouts a half, etc. I dare anyone to go and play 90 minutes of soccer with a 10 minute break between halves, and then go play basketball for48 minutes. If you come back and tell me basketball was more tiring and demanding, I'll concede. You'll also be an idiot, but I'll concede.

Without a shadow of a doubt. That is no different than a scrum for the ball in the corner. When was the last time you saw a player's feet taken out in basketball while the player with the ball is running full tilt? Or getting spiked? I've played both, there is absolutely no comparison between the two. In basketball, you can get away with being tall. Can't do that in soccer. You guys think Shawn Bradley can play organized soccer? They'd kill him.

I played basketball, but quit after freshman season. Didn't have the time or the love for it. I grew up in a family that stressed sports, with both of my parents being athletes, father professionally. I'm just taking your words, where you listed soccer as equally stressful physically as basketball. As usual, you're wrong. Soccer is more stressful both in conditioning and contact. Like I said, try again. In fact, outside of Aussie football, soccer should be second on the list. I'm not sure where to put hockey [my disclaimer], since I never played.

How you can compare basketball player's fitness to soccer player's fitness is beyond me, but falls within the same lack of understanding I am used to from you. There is much more contact in soccer, it moves at much faster pace on the field [basketball may look faster, but the court is miniscule compared to soccer]. When you can start slide tackling in basketball and wear metal cleats in which you can spike the opposition, then basketball may be included in the same conversation. Now BMI isn't the most accurate statistic, since it only takes weight and height into effect, and athletes traditionally have more muscle mass, and then a greater weight, than their "civilian" counterparts. However, you could never get a player with Shaq's build or Jerome James to excel in soccer. If you really played any of these sports, you would stop with your American centrism and not bash the sport. I was best at soccer than any of the other sports, but baseball was my favorite to play. I was rarely tired after a baseball game [i didn't pitch], hurting after a football game, and exhausted after a soccer game. Anyone who says anything that deviates much from what I'm saying didn't play. Try again.

This has to be one of the best intro threads I have ever read.

Exactly. How about trying to have on opinion on a sport you actually played for once? Did you ever play any of the sports you mentioned? Put it to you this way. You can have people like Manute Bol play basketball, whose only athletic quality was height, or nearly half of the NBA is considered overweight using body mass index. Get a clue. P.S. I never said I didn't hit. I was just better at cover. I listed that because cornerbacks are some of the most fit athletes on football teams. At 5-11 and 185 pounds [back then] I wouldn't exactly call myself small for high school. At least I played football. Who's the person with the Napoleonic complex now?

I've played soccer, and I've played football. Neither one is a joke. Soccer is more demanding from a fitness standpoint. Football is more demanding from a contact standpoint. Soccer injuries are no joke though. You are minimally shielded, running at top speed, and get your legs taken out from you. Football, you expecting to get hit and are shielded. As a former defensive back who was definitely more coverage than hard hitting, I didn't get into too many trench wars. Trust me, I was more tired at the end of a soccer game, but I hurt more the day after a football game. I've played basketball as well....and as usual ORS is clueless [what else is new]. There is no way basketball is as demanding as soccer. In soccer, you get three subs. Once you go out, you're out. There's no breather, no break, etc. That's it. That means you play non-stop, 45 minutes a side.

I haven't seen anything yet to state that Zambrano is signed to an extension.

A reliever is not worth a power hitting outfielder with a decent batting average. Very few exceptions to this rule.

New England education at it's finest.

Nixon was a class act and if not for injuries, he would have been RSN's answer to Paul O'Neill. It was players like Nixon who donned the white and red that helped keep this rivalry red hot. Good luck to Trot in his new home, and hope he hits as well against you as he did against us.

Jacks, don't believe everything you read. The guy is an average prospect at best.

However, considering they are a near lock to trade Jones, I'm shocked. The guy was 7th in the NL in slugging...for a reliever?