Palodios

Reports say that Mike Cameron will be activated for the game tonite. Darnell McDonald, we will miss you!

Losing any game that is started by Buchholz/Lester will hurt the team. But The Sox are only 2.5 back on the WC, so sweeping isn't mandatory.

Buchholz did pretty well against Tampa last time, and I don't see him giving him up a ton of runs. That being said, let's hope the Sox offense stays hot.

Personally, I get incredibly skeptical of his one day injuries, and sometimes it seems like he just likes taking days off. I also wonder why it is that he bats so far down in the order with such a good OPS, if he's as good a hitter as TalkSox says he is, he shouldn't bat in the bottom third in the playoffs. That being said, he's a fairly reliably fielder, he's been relatively healthy and he hits pretty well. With the kinds of contracts the Red Sox have been giving out lately, when a player does what he's supposed to for the money, he's fine with me.

I'd prefer Wakefield to a guy who still needs about 12 months to recover from Tommy John.

That's not quite right-- two starts ago, the time he dominated, he was using mostly fastballs, and mixed in his other pitches, and it worked him just fine.

The last two years, Lester has been the first guy who arrives at Spring Training, so I seriously doubt it has anything to do with his conditioning.

Well, Dice-K pitched great. That's good enough for me, and well, I'd rather that than him hurting himself-- and we know he very easily could.

I would like to revisit this.

Is Dice-K going to have one of those seasons where he dominates some games and blows up on others?

Even if they drop in performance and play .600 for the rest of the year, we'll have to play .680 just to catch up with them, against harder teams and more frequently away from fenway.

Good to see Scutaro back in today.

If you check the link again, the update will tell you. Too much.

Its not completely impossible, but considering the discrepancy in the team's schedules, it is unrealistic.. Do you really see the Sox playing nine games better than the Rays, if the Sox have to play 30 games against New York/Philadelphia/Tampa(only 11 of which at home)? Throw in a mix of the Rangers/Tigers/Angels/Dodgers, and realize that the Sox have played 8 more home games than away games. I haven't looked at the numbers, but I have noticed the Sox hitting against lefties much better than righties, and well, the only Tampa Bay lefty starting is looking like a Cy Young candidate. So expecting a few big sweeps of Tampa probably won't happen either. I like this team, I believe in the philosophy the management took at the beginning of the year, and the only thing it actually needs is a new bullpen arm, a new pitching coach and some luck. However, I do not see them getting past the Rays with this schedule, and so many players under performing. After a good start by Lackey, he's starting to look vulnerable, and Dice-k and Beckett switch back and forth between brilliant and looking like they should be playing double A. If just one of Lester/ Buchholz/ Pedroia/ Drew/Papelbon/Bard gets hurt what do you think will happen to this team? The yankees are so injury-ridden right now that they can be beaten. The Rays are just too good, too young, too healthy with that big hole the team is in already.

As much as I'd like to agree with you, the team's starting pitching is mind numbing to me right now. Between their starting rotation, the average amount of major league playing time is less than two full years, but somehow they're still cruising right along, and well under 3 era. Their schedule has been incredibly easy, and it will stay easy all year, outside of the East. While we play the .625 Phillies, they play the .325 Astros. Its going to be about staying relevant on that wild card, beating out the Yankees and staying alive till the playoffs. Considering how badly the Sox have been playing, and are still only 3.5 games back from the wc, they can do it, but the Rays are completely out of reach.

At this rate, Ellsbury will be back when Boras wants him to come back. Although, I'd take Cameron over Van Avery/ Hall any day. And since I'd take Hall over Angel, the lineup is going to be significantly better when they get back.

Well, fortunately the game was already won.

He'll likely be #2 in strikeouts by the end of the night.

Well, a complete game is a complete game. Its funny-- a few years ago I used to always hear he didn't throw enough strikes to pitch late into games.

The other day, for some reason the mlb.tv feed started a little early, and it showed them doing mic tests and fussing with their hair.

Oh, that was a walk. Nevermind, haha.

Wait, didn't he get a single earlier?