TedWilliams101

At least he throws a cool pitch and is a cool dude, not some prima dona Panda sushi bust like MatsuSUCKA. O/U on Dice-K throwing more balls than strikes?

I hate Dice-K. We need TIMMAY!

Two walks straight out of the gate. The usual.

It's Vu-Ja-De, dice-K walked the leadoff batter.

I think you are overstating his K/BB ratio. Rivera's career K/BB ratio is 3.93. He had 3 seasons with a K/BB ratio under 3 (surprisingly it was his 2,3, and 4th seasons as a closer similar to Paps right now). Guess what, he still was lights out in all 3 of those years and his K/BB ratio got better again. I think it's way to early for this conversation. If at the end of the year Paps has a K/BB ratio under 3 and his ERA and blown saves skyrocket, then I'd say it's time to be worried.

2006: 0.92 ERA, 35 saves in 41 opportunities (85% success) 2007: 1.85 ERA, 37 saves in 40 opportunities (93% success) 2008: 2.34 ERA, 41 saves in 46 opportunities (89% success) 2009: 1.85 ERA, 38 saves in 41 opportunities (93% success) 2010: 1.80 ERA, 8 saves in 8 opportunities (100% success) You can post all the Whip and K/BB patterns you want, but the bottom line is he delivers. He hasn't gotten worse the last few season. He was stellar in '09 and has been great so far this season. So his walks have gone up, but it isn't causing him to blow saves or give up more runs. I think the fact that people have to use his increased WHIP and walks as his only flaw says a lot about how good he is. Yeah, he might not be as dominant as he was in 06/07, but you're talking semantics. He went from absolutely unhittable to extremely hard to hit. The point is, he is still the one of the top 3 closers in baseball, probably 2nd behind Rivera. ORS: To answer your question, yes, I'm as confident as ever in Papelbon. I don't expect him to strike out the side every time he goes to the mound, but I am just as confident in him shutting the door. He may get in jams every now and then, but he almost always manages to get out of them. So he blows a few a season, no one is untouchable, not even Rivera.

Exactly. The whole reason you give him time right now is to see if he can regain his form. If the Sox FO didn't think his line last year was any good, he wouldn't be on this team right now. The fact is, .800+ OPS, 30 HR, and 100 RBI isn't easy to come by. We just want to see him get hot quicker than he did last year.

WIN! 3 in a row. Go for the sweep tomorrow!

Beltre is getting hot both offensively and defensively, Papi has 3 HR in 4 games, and the pitching has come around. Good signs.

Maybe our future Closer, but I do hope to hang on to Papelbon for a while longer.

Bard is NASTY. They had NO chance to hit him. 99 on the corners and then with that slider, no chance.

Who is our 3B coach? He's terrible and needs to be fired. He's made WAY too many bad calls and they are COSTLY. Fire his ass.

Beltre got his first HR! Nice. But I'm sure you guys still think he sucks...

OFFENSE! MIKEY!!!! 5 runs so far in 3 innings. I like.

Human emotion is a very VERY complicated thing. As for sports fans in general, enduring the painful runs/seasons can make the rewarding games/seasons even better. Some people also simple enjoy pain and misery. I don't quite understand it, but it's just one of the many complexities of human emotion. Think of it this way, have you ever been extremely frustrated by a hobby of yours (music, sports, etc) but realized that in the end, the hard work will pay off? It's no different.

You can't infer really anything about someone just by what they post on an internet forum like this. Especially given the fact that is a sports forum, a lot of the post tend to be emotional, reactionary, etc. That's to be expected, being a "fan" means being emotionally invested. You don't have to act rationally or reasonable all the time, sports for 99.9% of people are an escape from the everyday world. This is as casual a forum as it gets.

ORS, this is a baseball forum 99.99% of the world has never visited and never will. Who cares. Is it really that hard to understand?

HALL BABY!

Well, throughout his career he's been more of a first half hitter. Career SLG By month: March/April - 0.461, May - 0.487, June - 0.413, July - 0.463, Aug - 0.419, Sept/Oct - 0.371. Even more important, this is the EXACT same thing that happened last year. 2009 April: 0.533 SLG, May: 0.513, June: 0.391, July: 0.369, Aug: .250, Sept: 0.178. That's as drastic a drop off as it gets. 2008 was pretty much the same, 0.432 SLG in April, 0.506 SLG in May and then just .358 SLG in the 2nd half including a terrible June under .200 SLG. 2007 and 2006 weren't as drastic, but he did drop off as the season progress. So no, I don't think there is ANY reason to believe Tek will be able to sustain this. I do believe he might have a better 2nd half as he isn't going to be catching as many games, but I don't think he will be anywhere near this good.