Jayhawk Bill

I credit you for accepting reality.

Hmmmm... Intelligent Red Sox: Theo Epstein, Jed Lowrie, Chris Carter None of these individuals are making rash statements regarding the rivalry with the Rays. Also, none of these individuals stare down opposing clean-up batters with the tying runner on second base and the go-ahead runner on first with two out in the ninth inning before blowing strike three over the outside corner at 98 miles per hour. Meh. I'll take Papelbon. Maybe a big mouth goes with the job. After all, didn't he spend a lot of time in late 2005 trying to learn as much as he could from Curt Schilling?

In the three days since his two-hit game, I've come to agree with you. Pedroia is hitting a frightening number of pop-ups and weak ground balls, mixed with a handful of well-hit fly balls. He's doing something wrong--I think that he's trying for home runs, not line drives. I checked: Pedroia was added to the MLB 40-man roster when he was called up in 2006. That shouldn't have burned an option year. It looks to me (and to SoxProspects.com) that Pedroia has THREE option years remaining. Let's burn one, send him back to Pawtucket, and give him a chance to regroup while Jed Lowrie gets a few MLB plate appearances as a regular. Pedroia's June stats: .097/.256/.129 Pedroia's stats since May 24, where he entered the game batting .300: .117/.229/.200 Jed Lowrie could use some trade value, or even a chance to supplant Lugo, Pedroia or Cora. Let's give him a better look.

I would've expected San Francisco to be the first MLB team to have a pitcher that goes both ways, but I'm not surprised that the Yankees are trying to develop one, either.

There's no room for growth. Ian Kennedy's swift decline coincided with his having to face MLB batters in games where umpires knew that the Pitch f/x logs were being watched. Kennedy can be effective if the umpire awards him called strikes located over six inches off the outside corner. If he can't get that, he's trash.

The prediction of Red Sox decline...the last refuge of Yankees fans these days. BTW, did you know that Robinson Cano is the next-to-worst hitting qualifying regular player in the AL?

And he's first among AL players who can actually play defense! 1. Milton Bradley DH 2. JD Drew RF 3. Jason Giambi 1B/DH 4. Josh Hamilton CF Josh Hamilton can play some good defense, too...although I caution that he's next-to-last among qualifying AL CF in RZR thus far in 2008, with more errors than assists (an old-fashioned way to pick out bad-fielding outfielders from stats).

Cool! I've never been called a goombah before! Mr Crunchy, I had always thought that, if you were to offer me a unique lifetime experience, that it would have been more like a Hunter S. Thompson novel. This is way easier, plus a whole lot more fun tomorrow morning! :thumbsup:

9-2 Boston. Pleasant, but somehow boring.

You know, this has been a pleasantly boring game. ORS, you have pleasantly boring mojo.

America became a stronger nation today.

Or, more specifically, twice in three consecutive games he yielded a home run in his single inning pitched that gave the hapless Royals the lead in the ninth inning.

Pardon--I cut and pasted game time from MLB.com last night. My error in believing the league's official website. Dustin Pedroia was 2-3...Manny hit a home run...Drew remains red-hot. Too bad Josh Beckett only went six innings and the bullpen wasn't stellar and Terry Francona feels compelled to let relief pitchers give up crooked numbers of runs.

Thanks! I don't think that JD Drew is a pansy, FWIW--I was just trying to clarify what you were saying.

Effete - decadent: marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay Nah. JD Drew might be self-centered, but so are most superstar athletes, and he's neither indulgent nor decadent. Pansy - sissy: a timid man or boy considered childish or unassertive I don't have any stats to back me up or anything*, but I think that this is what you're getting at. *

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080608&content_id=2869192&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos I couldn't agree more. That said, Terry Francona's injury-riddled Red Sox are atop the AL East. Tuesday evening they face the surprising 31-31 Baltimore Orioles, with their ace pitcher Daniel Cabrera on the mound. Facing Cabrera will be Josh Beckett. The Red Sox surrendered perhaps the best young player in baseball, Hanley Ramirez, three other talented minor league prospects, and accepted the then-overpriced contract of Mike Lowell to acquire Josh Beckett. They did this not because Josh Beckett is a crafty warrior; Josh Beckett is dumber than a crafty warrior's warhorse. They did this because Josh Beckett can throw. In 2006 Beckett threw largely gopher balls. In 2007 Beckett threw victories. Thus far in 2008, Josh Beckett has been somewhere in between. He botched his first start, failing to go five innings and posting a 9.64 ERA. He worked that down below 4.00 for the first (and only) time on May 8, allowing just one run in seven innings pitched. His next outing he surrendered 11 hits and five runs; his next outing was worse; his ERA is still over 4.00. But Red Sox Nation believes in Josh Beckett, and Terry Francona believes in Josh Beckett, and somewhere in the chamber of echos between the hulking man's ears, Josh Beckett believes in Josh Beckett. And even his critics believe that Josh Beckett can throw. Look for a pitcher's duel tomorrow, tempered perhaps by heat and lightning. The forecast for Fenway Park: TUESDAY SUNNY. HUMID WITH HIGHS IN THE MID 90S. SOUTHWEST WINDS AROUND 5 MPH...BECOMING SOUTH 10 TO 15 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. HEAT INDEX VALUES UP TO 101. TUESDAY NIGHT PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. HUMID WITH LOWS IN THE UPPER 60S. SOUTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH...BECOMING WEST AFTER MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF RAIN 40 PERCENT. EARLY IN THE EVENING. That wind will be blowing out to left field...Boston will need Manny at his best, and it will be a great chance for Dustin Pedroia to get back on track. But most of all, the decision will ride upon what Josh Beckett can do with his mighty arm...with the brilliance of Jason Varitek guiding him...thank goodness. Game time: 7:05 pm EDT Fenway Park Baltimore: Daniel Cabrera RHP (5-2) 3.98 ERA Boston: Josh Beckett RHP (6-4) 4.07 ERA

Well, 2.6%. Who cares? If his BABIP is .300, and he loses 2.6% of AB from BIP to Ks, he'll lose eight points off his batting average. We're not worried about eight batting average points, we're worried about a couple hundred OPS points. I suggest that it's luck; YMMV.

After two wins this weekend, including the tight win yesterday, Tito is up to -1.1 D3. Edit: Well, ten days and several wins later, Tito is down to -2.2 D3.

Unofficial Update through June 8, 2008: [table]Name | W | L Thumper | 10 | 3 JHB | 9 | 2 VA Sox Fan | 8 | 3 TheKilo | 5 | 2 ksushi | 2 | 1 MANNYHOF 24 | 2 | 1 Coco's Disciples | 2 | 3 schillingouttheks | 2 | 3 BoSox21 | 0 | 1 bosoxnation07 | 0 | 1 One Red Seat | 0 | 1 redsoxrules | 0 | 1 riverside sluggers | 0 | 2 yeszir | 0 | 2[/table]

Well, now that it's 6-3 final, OK.

Red Sox win. DFWMM.