Dojji

There may only be one lefty in the lineup, but give or take Izturis there's as many as 3 switch hitters. (Izturis, Morales, Figgins). At Yankee Stadium, with its short porch to right, turning those Switchies around, especially Morales, is something you want to be able to do.

Actually Broxton and Sherrill are fairly experienced, especially for their ages. Broxton has 4 full years in the league, Sherrill has 5 (or rather, four and two halves). Behind them, Kuo and Troncoso compare favorably with Aceves and Robertson respectively. The kicker for me is depth. The Yankees have Rivera, Hughes, Robertson and Aceves, and had Joba in the pen for the ALDS. The Dodgers have Broxton, Sherrill, Kuo, Belisario, Troncoso, and in a pinch, have gotten decent results from Weaver as the long man as well. Among the pitchers the Yankees have on their roster that I don't know how much they can actually count on against good hitters is both of their bullpen lefties, Damaso Marte and Phil coke. That's a big disadvantage over a team that has Sherrill, and Kuo to trot out and shut lefties down with.

I think so, yes. Aceves and Robertson are young and experienced, and prone to making rookie mistakes. I think Yankee offense is going to be covering for at least a few slipups by the pen. And I wouldn't count on Mariano to go unscathed either -- you're going up against one of the best teams in the AL after all.

Gonna take this to the other thread.

Even if the Rays are willing to contemplate trading Crawford, which is doubtful in its own right, they will NOT trade him to Boston (or for that matter, to NYY)

Because y228 asked me why I thought the Dogers' pen was going to be the best of the postseason.

Dodgers in 4. I think their bullpen is the only one in the playoffs that won't fatally suck at some point.

Nice reflexes there.

There's the Troy Tulowitzki we know and love. It's over, folks. Go home.

Be funny wouldn't it?

I'm kinda hoping it gets to Helton with the game on the line and he does something big. EDIT: There we go. The season is in the hands of Mr. Rockies himself. EDIT2: And he singles. He's obviously not a true cleanup hitter.

Honestly I'm a baseball fan first, Red Sox fan second. I love the story quality of games, especially dramatic games. And I always followed the Sox as well as opportunity allowed. But I'm good with any team, any day (except for the Yankees of course!) I learned to love the Sox back in the early 90's when they had some good teams but all we could get out where I grew up is over-air broadcasts, and there was a hill in the way of the tower that carried the Sox games. So I listened to the Sox on the radio, and when I wanted to watch baseball on TV, there was a signal from New Brunswick that would carry Expos games. Yes, that's right, I was at one point in my life a hybrid Sox/Expos fan. It was in the days of good Expos players like Dennis Martinez, Andres Galarraga and Tim Raines, so I guess there was some justification. I always thought the uniforms were a bit strange of course, but this was the late 80's and early 90's, so theirs wasn't the only odd uniform out there. I'm over it now, but, it about killed me when they left Montreal. There's a small, vindictive part of me that is glad the Nationals suck.

Bruins need to start playing when the game starts, not 40 minutes later. You could get a bowling ball past Tuuka on the top shelf.

I agree with "none of the above." Sure they could force something but the natural fit just is not there.

The Yankees are a place he can play without a lot of pressure? Or did I read that wrong?

Makes sense. Kid had a good game, reward him with another start, and "push" Thomas a bit. It's a tactic that works when Timmy is your #1.

You just yesterday called Delgado one of the "true #4 hitters" in the other thread.

He's right though. Reynolds is still ridiculously cheap and he's not going anywhere. I wonder if you could squeeze one more great year out of Carlos Delgado.

No one is getting Weiters from Baltimore. I smell a fluke with Reynolds. Not that he's not a great power hitter, but I don't know that he's really 40 HR good. Saltalamacchia is unlikely to be available from Texas because Teagarden isn't looking like a player they can count on. If that changes, and it could, maybe you could get him but I think he's established in Texas and the Rangers brass seem to like him. If the Rox make a catcher available, it'll be Torrealba, not Ianetta.

I wonder what it would take to bring in Jason Kendall. He isn't what he was, but he still has a pretty strong arm behind the dish.

Well, yeah. Realistically we'd probably be better off trading Lowell anyway, since IMHO he has some value in a trade, especially if we eat some salary. The Twins, Mariners, Phillies and Angels are going to be going into the offseason with a potential hole at 3B and might be interested.

Somehow I don't think the Twins would go for that.