La mujer bonita

"We the fans chose to ignore the obvious even when the press was in McGuires locker we didnt want to see the light, we only wanted to see history...Well thats on us as far as im concerned." One thing I do firmly believe is that everybody associated with baseball in any way-the players who used and the union who defended the practice, the league officials and owners who turned a blind eye for the sake of the money train, and the fans who refused to believe what was happening in their own ballparks as records fell and players grew to the size of sequoias-is at fault for this. It's just like the housing crisis-the money was really easy and people on the street were getting what they wanted. Who cared that it was all built on a house of cards, until that house of cards came crashing down and very abruptly and rudely ended the party for all? There is always a heavy price to be paid for excess, folks-it's fun while it lasts but afterwards you're ashamed of yourself. And if the truth be known, the biggest drivers behind all this? The Yankees and Red Sox, setting the bar for exorbitant player salaries. Hell, for $160 million, I might just shoot up myself. I really can't blame anyone for wanting to cash in. f*** you, Bud Selig. f*** you, Don Fehr. And f*** all of us who knew in 1998 that Mark McGwire was more juiced than an East German swimmer and cheered him on anyway.

Agreed. While I will always love David Ortiz, we cannot expect to see the '05 version ever again. Couple that with the loss of Manny Ramirez, and the failure to secure Mark Teixeira...well, let's just say I think they expected waaaay too much of Jason Bay myself.

If Papelbon does his job in the top of the inning and gets Cust out when he had him 1-2, Nick Green doesn't matter. Jonathan Papelbon is just not as good as he thinks he is IMO-and neither Nick Green nor Jed Lowrie have what it takes to be the every day shortstop. At least not this season.

Jason Bay is a solid ballplayer, but also one that will be very easy to overpay for. The fact is that he is a lifetime .280 hitter and strikeout machine who will turn 31 in September, and unless he starts roiding he will probably not significantly improve in that area. He is below average defensively. What is the upside of signing him to a monster contract for four or five years? I don't get it.

You're missing the point, and being unnecessarily snarky in the process. I'm not saying don't throw strikes. But the biggest issue with him is not that he can't get guys out, it's that he expends a lot of energy doing it. He's clearly not comfortable going at guys aggressively, likes living on the corners. Why not find an approach that complements his strengths instead of his weaknesses?

He was nibbling last night because anytime he tried to throw a strike it got crushed. Same thing in Texas, when he didn't walk anybody. I just think the approach is wrong. It seems like they're trying to make him into a Pedro, which he clearly is not. I think they'd be better off refining what he is instead of trying to make him into something completely different.

If he were capable of doing that at this point, I am sure he would. Somehow, I doubt he sucks out of spite.

During the 12 game win streak, the Red Sox beat a lot of teams who weren't that good who had terrible pitching. The Yanks and Red Sox are considered two of the best teams in the league, and the Sox have owned the series thus far. So, looking at it that way, it is more impressive to beat a good team eight straight times than it is to beat mediocre teams twelve times (really, nine times, as the Yanks were part of that twelve game run).

I am actually of the opinion that Varitek probably won't keep his HR pace up season long as well, and it's kind of scary to think that a big reason the Sox are doing as well as they are is because of his power. Lowell still looks like a 2,000-year-old man when he's running. I can't imagine he won't need some time off as the summer really starts to heat up.

I agree with that sentiment in principle-that they crossed their fingers and hoped for the best in terms of the lineup, which was not very proactive IMO-I think it's also true that they planned to unload Lowell if they signed Teixiera. Certainly Lowell seemed to think so. In any event, that would not have solved the Ortiz problem, just made it easier to cover up. To be fair, they are halfway through a ten-game road trip, and this team has some problems scoring runs on the road. Drew hasn't (yet) performed any better than Ortiz in the three spot, and I don't remember the last solid two-out RBI I saw.

He needs to take a chill pill, really. You shouldn't get that worked up because an ump tosses you.

As a visitor, maybe. But then again, Gary Carter's election made anything possible.

Yes, he does have to come back up eventually, and at that point, and not before, we will know whether or not he can hit and and a decision can be made then. Just letting him go simply is not an option at this time whether your brain likes it or not, so for the time being it's play him, sit him or DL him. Since he certainly won't improve riding the bench, the only realistic options are to play him or DL him and ship him to rehab.

I'm not sure what the point of that would be. He is under contract for $12.5 million for this season and next, which you have to pay him whether you play him or shoot him. It makes more sense to me to find some phantom injury and send him off to rehab, like the Yanks did with Wang. You may be able to salvage the last half of the season at least. In any event, if anyone in this town has earned the right to the club's support while he tries to figure it out, it's David Ortiz. Maybe not from the third spot and maybe not even on the active roster, but he deserves a lot better than a "here's your hat, what's your hurry" attitude from the Red Sox.

That's ok. I can hold my own, believe me.

Hi, nice to meet you.

Hi, nice to meet you.

Well, I don't think that's actually true. We all recognize that David Ortiz has become a strikeout-groundout machine, but a) there is no reason to think that's the New Ortiz for now and ever, and it's a pretty easy fix if anyone can make themselves do it-give him an MRI, say there's something maybe still wrong with the wrist, DH him and let him work it out in Pawtucket. (Who knows, he and ARod are friends, maybe he can gett ahold of some of whatever designer roids Rodriguez is using now, or even hook up with Andy Pettitte's dad. Kidding, Sox fans, kidding! Yankee fans, not so much.) Whereas Lugo has a track record of suck in this town, and Nick Green is simply playing out of position. They may not be the biggest concern, but any time you have a poorly performing SS it's still a big concern.

He hasn't been throwing strikes consistently, which, of course, means you aren't going to get outs as efficiently. All hard throwers give up their share of home runs, but it was the walk to Gary Sheffield that really killed him. Without that, it's a tie game.