jung

WMB was not happy with himself there. Naps is surely not the first ML hitter that just cannot lay off the high heat.

this ump has called quite a number of pitches low in the zone balls.

Heck I am surprised this ump gave Lester that first strike to Uribe

Sit down...take a rest AGonz. Ya' never know when a plane flight might be coming up.

But an ump with a high strike zone probably hurts Jon more than almost any other pitcher. Jon has a hard enough time getting umps to call that cutter a strike. Maybe it will work out for him. Don't see this ump calling that thing a strike even once.

How was that not a strike?

Boy does Gomes have Ryu's number. Tells Naps what is coming and then takes Ryu outta' the park himself.

I actually think both SFF and 700 are right in this case although I think SFF is more right if that is possible. I really do think that the Sox brain trust really did not think this is where they would be in August 2013. I really think that they figured that Farrell would have a year or two of additional seasoning before being thrust into a pennant race. He was no great shakes as a manager in Toronto and at least as far as his game to game, day to day decision making he has been no great shakes here. However the more I think about it the more I think the Sox wanted Farrell for all the qualities that I think we would all acknowledge. He is a square jawed, respected figure, about as far away from V as it gets and probably closer to Tito than we were thinking when he was hired. But I think he has a long way to go in his in game and day of game managing. A number of us have commented about what looks like a tendency to develop a plan for a game and then not deviate from it regardless of the game circumstances. Well that sort of sounds like a guy that really does not think on his feet as well as we might like, at least not yet as a manager. But the more I see, the more I am thinking that the Sox simply thought Farrell was going to have more time before being thrust into a pennant race situation. Maybe we should have expected this to some degree. He actually has started looking and sounding a little tweaked the last few days. So I do think it is getting to Farrell and I wonder if that tension or pressure that seems to be wearing on Farrell a little now is having an impact on the team as well.

Drew in lineup again today instead of XB. I just don't get that.

I do think they are playing kind of tense, anxious baseball right now. Sure it is crunch time but they gotta' be able to play. Farrell should lighten up for one thing. He looks like his head is going to explode and he has been more terse with his media stuff than he has been all year. I would think that if he lightened up a bit, the rest of the team would follow suit. Lester on the other hand is such a contrarian. He seems to be less rigid and happier than I have seen him all year. Go figure! I am not liking their chances to win two straight from LA unless they do lighten up. Thank God we don't have to face the top of their rotation. At this point I would even take winning one and getting the heck outta' here.

Boy I did not think they had that many good swings at all. Swung at too much of Nolasco's breaking stuff and they were not going to hit that with a boat oar. Many of those pitches did not even finish as strikes and they were hackin' away at them with less than two strikes.

Don't understand why they were so swing happy tonight...although....as a group they do seem to be a bit less patient than we have seen them....anxiety I think...they are just to anxious up there...trying to do too much.

Another really good game by Lackey just wasted.

Of course...Karoda would pick tonight to fall apart and let the Rays abuse him

I don't know why the Sox have swung at so much of Nolasco's breaking s***. They have just been swinging at air...mirages....

Relying on Papi for too much offense. What have we hit....maybe four balls good tonight so far...maybe five?

If Lackey can go one more inning without giving up any more runs that will be a good outing. Just too many mediocre pitchers having career days against us lately.

Ortiz would do just as well to play behind the runner if Lackey is not even going to look over. As for throwing over, that does not do much either if Lackey just goes back to not even looking over after he throws over.

I hate it when announcers say the pitcher has only made "one mistake". Only one hitter has taken a mistake pitch out of the park but that does not mean Lackey has only made one mistake...although hearing the way Eck talks about pitching you know darned will that if he was on the mound, that is how he would think about it..."I only made one mistake".

One f***ing hit...is that what we have...one f***ing hit against f***ing Nolasco.

Another $14M victim....hummmm....that is a familiar sounding number attached to a familiar sounding story. There are very few truly likable baseball players left in the ML's. There's Pedey....and then there's Pedey and well Pedey and.......

This mess is probably still more of an issue for our guys than for the skanks. Knew it would work out that way. More distraction, more media questions, more ******** like the Ortiz comments.

Probably best case in all of these series where competitors are playing head to head would be splits because nobody would gain any ground on the Sox. We probably do need to get a sweep somewhere in here as it has gotten really too close with the Rays.

There are a whole boatload of things this team does that are terrific especially when they are within the bounds of what they do to generate offense and then a whole boatload of things I would prefer to see stop like: - Vic's throw to 1st base from RF....he has now dropped two balls trying to rush to make a throw that by his own admission has never worked once in an entire career. - Pedey swinging to go yard - Nava running "relentlessly" (...reminds of what a turtle running relentlessly must look like) - Butterfield encouraging Nava to run relentlessly - Farrell managing for some circumstance that is way off the radar screen as opposed to managing the game that is right in front of him - Farrell using his best and sometimes only relievers in meaningless outings - Salty throwing to 1st or 3rd (absolutely cannot find those two bases from behind the plate) - Lester nipping at corners - Buch extending long toss to the point where he is out in the parking lot throwing to a guy standing in RF (get on the mound!) - Villareal pitching in any circumstance where the 7 run rule has not been employed Obviously I am having a little fun with this but in truth I would be happy if I did not see any of the above

If anybody is interested ESPN2 has the O's/Rays game at least where I am. Right now it is 4-2 O's in the bottom of the 5th.