jung

There has always been more fights than you would expect pre-season NHL, especially since the league has been handing out suspensions and the like. I think guys are trying to establish their relative positions as the leagues bullies before the regular season gets going and the games really count for something. I think the funniest thing I have seen is the almost gentle manner guys are using to remove each others helmets before a fight. Guys who used to rip their helmets off their own heads are gently removing the helmet off the head of a guy that they are about to try to blow up in a matter of seconds. It is almost like the players are trying to make sure an injury does not occur while they are working their way around the new NHL rule about removing your own helmet. "Pardon me while I unbuckle your strap". "Excuse me while I get the helmet over your ears". It is almost like the players do not want to give the league more excuses than it already has to try to close this loophole in its new rule. Truth is, the can't legislate fighting out of hockey and hockey is all the better for it. Without fighting we would have more of these stick slashing incidents where a guy can really get hurt. The league really should pay attention to the cheap shots and try to rid hockey of those. Never mind trying to stop two equal size guys from squaring off one on one. Nothing wrong with that.

I don't think it is an issue of one or two games either. Still, I would wait to see where Vic and Ells were at the point when I absolutely had to make a decision and then decide on Barry vs JBJ if in fact it gets down to a decision between having one or the other. The Sox have no need of making this decision until they absolutely have to make it.

If somebody can assure me that Vic and Ells will be able to play every game, then JBJ might be extraneous. But unfortunately, Vic and Ells are dinged up and it is unclear what either will be for the post season. If it becomes clear that both can play and play the way they have played out the later stages of the season, then Berry might be worth having around. If that is not the case, I don't see how you could keep JBJ off. So today, looking at Vic and Ells, I would pick JBJ.

If the choice is Bradley or Barry it has to be Bradley...no question about it.

I would be more worried about Detroit if Scherzer were not one of the guys that appears to be finding his way to the training table lately and Verlander is not the Verlander he was once. I always think that the elephant in the room, especially in a short series is the big 1 in the rotation. But it does look like something is going on with Scherzer. If he has come back a rung on the ladder, either injury or innings...whatever...then Detroit really does not have an advantage over the Sox in the rotation. I honestly don't think it is at all a happenstance that the Giants beat the s*** out of Detroit in that WS. They didn't just beat them...they beat them to a pulp. They took a typically put together AL team of hippos and elephants and stats oriented power hitters and used a much more organized offensive process combined with pitching and defense which simply ran over the idea of just waiting for one of the hippos to hit a homer. Leyland even said it at the end. "When you get beat like this, there is nothing to be said...you lost to the better team". Post season play brings to bear everything that scouts and pitching staffs have learned about every hitter in your lineup. Any weakness is exploited to the max during every AB. That simply does not happen in the regular season. Teams often don't have the pitching to do it and they certainly do not have the wealth of info on every hitter that they have at the end, nor the ability to focus all of their attention on one team of hitters. Most of these contests end up low scoring grinders. This year may well come down to bullpens and in the case of the Sox, what Dempster can really give us and when or maybe even how often and for how long. Getting the ball to Ueh was the biggest problem the Sox had all year. Likely still to be the case in the post season. Did not often get exposed because the starting pitching top to bottom was so good but it is the biggest problem the Sox have.

This is what bothers me most about the reliance on stats. SF was in fact the best TEAM in baseball. They were so much the better team than Detroit that they blew Detroit right off the playing field. It was not even close. If the Sox go all the way this year, it will be for exactly the same reason. They will be the better team. Oakland is in fact a very good team. They would not scare me as much as Detroit if the Tigers had all their weapons. Cabrera is not hitting because he is hurt....may even be too hurt to play at all. Now Iggy is hurt....Detroit may just be doomed this season. If all of the possible opponents could deploy all of their weapons I would be more concerned with Detroit than Oakland. If Detroit continues to roll on toward the hospital I think it likely that they will roll right past the hospital to the morgue. I would be more concerned with Oakland then. However if we have both Ells and Vic playing as they can play, then that big ballpark in Oakland does not scare me at all. We may even be a better team in OCC than the A's. As long as we have Ells and Vic with our pitching, we can likely play anywhere with anybody. Without those two guys, the Sox are a completely different team. The way Lester is pitching now he may well be able to put up a performance that can stand up to anything an opponent pitcher can put up. It really more depends on what is going on between Lester's ears the day he takes the mound. That does scare me a bit because LH pitchers don't just get f***ed when they are not right in Fenway...they get gang raped. Wish we had the Buch we had but I said all along that I thought it was unlikely and it looks more unlikely now. As for Lackey in the 2 hole, there is no question but that he does pitch better in Fenway. As it stands now, I like Lackey in the 2 hole.

This is in part why considering all of the outfield positions as one makes no sense. Give me a CF that can go and get it any day. If he can go and get it the way Ells can, I can live with his lack of arm strength. Sure, Ells would be better if had an arm but the number of times he saves you out there with his legs more than makes up for it.....in CF. However RF is a different story. Range is not quite as valuable in RF as it is in CF. However a bad arm simply will not do in RF if you are seriously trying to fill the position on an everyday basis. I want an arm in RF. Put a pop gun like Ells in RF and you are asking for trouble. I don't understand comparisons between Pedey and Ells at all. Why would you try to compare apples to oranges. The differences are so much greater than the similarities that there is no basis for the comparison. The relevant argument regarding Ells is his dependence on his legs as a part of his total package as a player. Ells is a very natural athlete and he depends a great deal on his natural ability. He is not a terribly well schooled player. He makes fundamental baseball mistakes almost every day he takes the field. So I would have to think seriously about his athletic tool set and how long he can maintain it in any considerations about a long term, big money contract. The play at 2nd that caused him injury was a sloppy play on his part. If Ells had not made yet another fundamental baseball mistake sliding into second, he would not have put himself in position to be injured. So luck had little to do with it. So what is Ells? To me is has not proven that he can hit reliably for power such that you would ever find him deeper in the order than #2. He is a terrific CF because he can go and get it but he does not have the arm for RF. So, as his speed declines, you have to consider what his value is if he continues to play CF, suggesting he will have to move to LF at some point. His legs allow us to forgive his arm in CF. But if you have a CF that can no longer go and get it AND has a weak arm, what do you have.......a LFer. That he is not that fundamentally sound as a player is another consideration as it ties with his almost complete reliance on his natural athletic ability. I actually might consider putting a $2 at the start of his annual salary for something like three years. But for anything longer than three years, I would not pay him anything outside of a number than ended in a "$-teen".

There is some hope in WMB's case. The fact remains that he still simply cannot see the low, outer third of the plate slider for what it is...a pitch that is likely heading off the plate and a pitch that he can't really do anything with even if he could hit it because of his swing. Worse, pitchers have started feeding him that pitch AGAIN. I just don't know how much more incentive the kid has to have to stop swinging at that stupid thing and he still won't stop. IMO, he won't stop because he just cannot see the damned thing. His pitch recognition is just terrible for someone at the ML level. Once pitchers have him swinging at that, he even becomes vulnerable inside, his true strength at the plate. At best he should swing at that thing when he has two strikes and has to protect the plate. Other than that he should never, ever swing at anything that leaves the pitchers hand aimed below his belt line, on the outer half, spinning like a breaking pitch. Once we get to the post season if pitchers have any sense what-so-ever, they will show him inside off the plate and chew him up with low outside sliders, also off the plate. I hate to say it but he will likely wear a path back to the dugout from the batters box once we get to post season play where everything everybody has learned about you as a hitter all year long comes into play every time you step to the plate. Once you are post season, any and every weakness you have as a hitter is exposed and exploited. Nobody gives a damn if that means you are left at home plate with your pants around your ankles. Once he finds a way to lay off that pitch, he is a real deal, ML hitter with a legit chance at being something like a Joey Bats. Until then, he is meat on a platter waiting for the barbecue.

Koji hardly ever throws balls. That is probably what really separates him from other guys with swing and miss stuff. His pitch stays in the zone for the most part. The hitter is just left in no mans land. He is screwed whether he swings or not and the whole inning is over before you know it. Hitters must loath the idea of letting a pitch from Koji go by as it is mostly like just giving away a strike. Usually if they do let one go by it is with an 0-1 count. So, letting one go by usually puts them at 0-2 against a guy that just does not walk anybody. That alone probably makes taking such a painful experience. Now the hitter is down 0-2 and probably just feels like heading back to the bat rack.

Funny how we have two guys pitching from the left side that are kinda' the same guy. Thornton and Frankie both sort of lose it all of a sudden more times than not...and once they do lose it there seems to be no getting it back. Its like you are hoping to survive them more than anything else.

Davis is such a pain in the neck. Glad this team went nowhere. I could see where Reyes and Davis could make life miserable for pitchers if they were constantly getting on in front of big boppers.

This game is probably a good example of why paying to bring a knuckleballer to the AL generally and the AL East specifically does not make much sense. Rare for a knuckleballer to not at least leave one or two up and doing nothing. But in the NL you could get away with it. Not as often likely to see a dinger go screaming past your ears. But here, Dickey has not made more than a couple mistakes with the knuckleball today. But still and all he has given up 5 runs through seven innings. If anything his ERA is on the way up today. You can have a knuckler without paying big money for him and have that work out these days. Wake certainly was a worthwhile contributor at reasonable money. But giving up guys and paying big money to bring one to the AL East just makes no sense at all.

Jays made a bunch of those "this one guy will put us over the hump" deals this year. Those are the deals that rarely work out and are deadly, especially if you make a few of them. Cabrera was one of those as was Dickey, IMO. Combine those with Johnson turning into a pumpkin and ya' got trouble.

Dickie knew it as soon as he threw it!

Watching David get down the first base line: Personally, I don't want David running hard down the first base line. i don;t even like it when Butterfield tries to force David to run hard to get home. Unless that 1 run is the most critical run in a most critical game, I just don't want to risk it with David. But I don't even think about there being a close play at first when an opposing infielder has to go way in the hole to field a ball. For awhile, when the camera would go back to David getting down the line as the infielder's throw made its way to first, I would perk up thinking "Hey David has got a chance here". But in truth even those last few feet take David so long to cover that he really did not have a chance. Now I no longer perk up thinking there is a chance David will get there before the ball. But like I said, I really don't want David running hard on the base paths anyway.

Its that break after the regular season ends that bothers me. Not only does it allow the WC winner to do a few things to set up his rotation but after playing almost every day for six months, four days off in a row is a bit much.....too much cool down time. Thanks again Uncle Bud.

This was predictable

This isn't Pawtucket kid

I think it was 700 that said he thought he saw you hopping around down there. Had to have been a total gas.

Not only did the closer thing fall right for BC, but he now has experienced what happens when you try to buy a closer and what happens when you sift one out of the pen.....Hopefully we have seen the last of a Red Sox GM trying to buy a closer, at least for awhile. As for where the credit goes for what is happening on the field.....baseball has turned into a very individualistic, self centered game. In truth, Managers and GM's have very little control over what these guys do with the exception of the guys that are waiting for FA to come around. That the everyday players decided to rally around an offensive process that required tremendous discipline especially over the long haul of the season is amazing to me in this day and age. To be honest, I think the players deserve the bulk of the credit for that. There is nothing but the other players in the clubhouse and each individual's perspective that would prevent a player or players from going off the rails. We have seen what happens when even a few guys go off the rails. It becomes very difficult to keep the rest from also going off the rails. As for Farrell, we are conveniently forgetting the golden rule for managers in contemporary baseball...."first do no harm". Do not make enemies of your ballplayers. Do not foster controversy and angst. Be a fatherly presence and a confidant to the players and set a tone of resisting the temptation to just stick your hands into the locker room mix and shake it up just for the sake of doing it...something V could not resist. Beyond that, it is fill out the lineup card and in-game decisions. Frankly I have not been real thrilled with Farrell's line up decisions and there are parts of his in-game management that were really questionable and cost this team games this year. He is loyal to players but to a fault. First it was Bailey who cost us several games in a row early in the season and more recently it has been Drew favored entirely over XB even in situations where XB should clearly play. But I still contend that the Sox had no idea they were going to be where they are right now and they believed Farrell would grow into the job. I believe he has grown into the job and makes fewer mistakes now than he made at the start of the year. Still don't like some of the running game decisions and the freedom Butterfield has out there and HATE how much they shift. That leaves BC. What I do credit him for is not ignoring the "other side" of these ballplayers. Even when James was not around we seemed to completely ignore who the ballplayer was in favor of what his "numbers" said he might produce on the field and we ended up with a hacked up, f***ed up team for it. In fact it was not a team at all. The result of BC's perspective was a team that would sacrifice for each other, that would to a man stay disciplined for an entire year. Also and finally, he brought us Jake Peavy. It does not matter that Peavy may likely fall to the bottom of a four man post season rotation. The fact of the matter is that Peavy's bulldog, take no prisoners attitude fostered a competitive spirit amongst the rotation guys to the point where I suspect that they now have breakfast together and compete over who can eat the most nails. There is no question as the difference in the rotation guys is palatable since Peavy came aboard. Peavy not only came on board just as it became clear Buch would be gone for awhile but he fostered the kind of rotation and pitching staff attitude that is the pitching equivalent of what the everyday player have. Peavy was IMO a tremendous move. BC should be exec of the year...not even close. Not as sure about Farrell for manager of the year.

Actually I would think you would want Cleveland to get in. I don't think much of their chances of doing any post season damage and would much prefer the Guardians to either the Rays or Rangers who can throw a top dog serious ace at you in game one of a short series and put you behind the 8 ball just that fast. Then again, if you think the A's are going to catch the Sox for best record overall, you would likely want the A's to face a tougher team than Cleveland in their division round. I just don't think the A's will catch the Sox. Hence I would prefer to see Cleveland catch the WC teams and make it in.

The only thing that could really have been or could be an issue for the Sox is sweeps against. There just is not enought season left for the A's unless the Sox are swept. Lackey came out and just dusted that possibility right off the table. Incredible big game performance by John....best of his Red Sox career without question.

O's completely undone by the goo that gathered around their ankles, stuck down there in that hole....helpless against the crushing oblivion that is S-E-W-E-R H-O-R-S-E

That is what was funny about it though. I don't think anybody kept silent because of some unwritten web site rule but instead because of the unwritten baseball rule that each of us adhered to independently of each other.

Funny how nobody was saying anything here either while no hitter was possible. Usually I cannot help myself when a pitcher is pitching the way Lackey has been pithing tonight.