Dipre

If Ellsbury can't develop some sort of respectable power stroke, he'll never fulfill his potential to get on base from the lead-off spot because pitchers will keep going right after him, and he'll never be able to take an acceptable number of BB's. He needs to drive some balls.

Bonser and Brian Shouse.

The road was a nightmare for this team offensively last year, that has been addressed to a certain extent by adding three guys who are known to be solid road performers. That should help consistency.

I meant in the Bay vs Youk vs Drew discussion. If you read my earlier post, you'll notice i said i consider Bay to have been the most productive hitter. 14 and 15 games MORE than Drew and Youk respectively.

Games played.

I'd say Bay was the most productive hitter, but all of those who cry that the offense produced "Garbage runs" forget that Bay was one of the main culprits of that due to his inconsistency. Jason Bay's month-to-month OPS: April:1.124 May:.978 June:.701 July: .689 August:1.097 September:.988 Disappeared there for two whole months. Don't get me wrong, i like Bay, and i wish they'd kept him (on the right deal) but context needs to be applied to last year's "offensive struggles". What this lineup lacked last year was consistency.

So the Yanks can be great on paper and that can come to reality, since they have already won the division in the minds of a lot of people, but if the Sox have something good goin' on paper, things rarely go to plan? I'm not saying you've said that, but even though things rarely go to plan, with six pitchers healthy or near healthy, how much can realistically go wrong? There's a chance for every team in the Majors to not be so good as they are in paper, but to see what happens, you gotta wait until the season actually plays out.

As Jacko has said 9,567 times, what you really need are three solid starters and a couple people who can eat innings and be a bit better than league average. They have the best top three in the game, and three starters that can be above league average. Besides that, every pitcher ever has some inconsistency. You're complaining about Beckett's rough stretch but forget Lester had one of his own early in the year. You also forgot Bucholz. I'd like to see another team (besides maybe the Yanks) who's trotting out a number five with as much upside as Bucholz, but that's just me, i like to be optimistic, specially if what my eyes tell me and the stats (plus typical pitcher trends) portend to a good year from the rotation. After 2004 and 2007, i've discovered the beauty of not being a defeatist most of the time and being optimistic, specially if a situation (like the Sox rotation) calls for it.

Probably. Specially since Beckett's in a contract year.

Also, am i the only one concerned that jackass Papelbon will keep refusing to throw the split 'cause he's a dick?

Am i the only one who is concerned that Tito will play Varitek way more than he should?

Lol! I thought that's what chicks said when a guy was suave and was able to have his way with the ladies. Nevermind me, i live in a third world country.

Well i'm also really tall. And besides, i got game.

Well i am a pretty big guy, so....

Stop drinking bock beer. I'm off the market.

The statement was never directed to him. Dipre: Well Jacko needs to STFU. 26: Why are you attacking me, i'm only stating my opinion bla bla bla..... Catch my drift? Anyway, carry on, big boy, you can handle it.

Funny thing is i'm actually trying to defend the guy from Jacko. Go figure. Oh well, it's what i get for sticking my nose in his business. Unwarranted self-importance is a beautiful thing.

Ooooooooh. Personal attacks. When confronted with the truth, resort to them.

Just to clear things up: 26 posted this, which is a fair point. I posted this, which even if posted below his initial post, it's not directed exclusively at him, which he thought otherwise even though the use of the quote function (which i am known to take advantage of), was nowhere to be found. It's a way to tell some Yankee fans basking on the glory of their 27th title, that even though anything that paints the Yankees in even the faintest negative light gets their blood boiling to a point where they could heat their entire apartment with it, we Red Sox fans might find it interesting, even if it's not necessarily a bashing attempt (which this obviously wasn't), He responded in this post, in obvious butthurt manner, even though there was no specific indication it was directed at him other than the fact that it was below his post. For situations like this, the question was created. I assume he's pissed because he's trying to defend Jacko, since there's no indication that my prior post was specifically at him, but more geared towards Jacko. I was using logic. I need to stop doing that, since it usually doesn't work around here.

Well my mother's a lovely woman.

FAIL. What i actually meant was that Imperial didn't look some stats up to bash the Yankees, but he found the article interesting, and thought the rest of us would, Jacko responded in "Waaaaaaa" fashion, got flamed, and on came the knight in shining armor, when the initial statement wasn't a Yankee-bashing attempt in the first place. Please stop the butt-hurt .