jung

Felix has been very good of late. I look forward to seeing him pitch these days. There are surely not as many "100 pitches by the 5th inning" games and there are times now when his breaking ball has turned into a real weapon. Hope this is one of those days.

If Buch did not trust the medical staff then he should have gotten a second medical opinion long before he did. Once he first felt that "pain" or "discomfort" from throwing, that period of continuing to feel pain/discomfort after throwing went on for two and a half weeks. That is the time element in all of this that is really turning out to be time consuming now. He has just about no choice but to take a day to recover for every day away from serious throwing in order to regain his arm strength. So there is no "choosing" to be done at this point, no decisions to be made. However, he could have saved himself four to five weeks in total had he sought a second opinion and acted upon it back when he suffered the first setback. That setback and Buch's past experience with his back injury is the genesis for his distrust of the opinion offered by the medical staff. There is really no discussion to have at this point. It is a mute point...no choice but to wait it out.

I honestly don't think the Sox thought Dempster ever had the potential to be Peavy. However I also think the Sox had Dempster slated to pitch better than he has lately.

Salty has had himself a heck of a game. Gomes has really been better defensively the entire season than I expected. He has not made any monster blunders that I remember and he has made some really good plays that you would not have expected of him. Would hate to see him in a spot where he had to cover a lotta' ground. But LF at Fenway is pretty darned perfect for him.

Well you can sit down now Bres. Officially past by Briton and Briton has not even done anything tonight.

Jeez Bres, can you waste a pitch without screwing it up.

So far, game going to plan. What a solid peformance by Peavy.

Well that is sort of the book on Peavy....his mistakes usually end up being HR's with nobody on base. So we might see more of that from him.

Come on David. Corbin looks like the kind of guy Ortiz might struggle with a bit.

Come on Ells...that thing isn't even starting on the plate.

Taking notes Jon Lester?

Isn't Dell doing the Pan Mass Challenge?

Out of the first safely. I know Peavy works fast but he might have been a little nervous in that first inning. He was racing though it.

Peavy must be over the moon right now this close to his first start as a member of the Red Sox in a pennant race. I am sure the fans are going to give him the usual new pitcher greeting walking in from the bullpen after his warm ups. That itself must be a thrill for a guy starting his first game for the Sox.

I wish the heck the discussion on Buch would start turning back to "when" he comes back and not "if". The discussion has been if now the last couple weeks. Just heard it again on the pre-game show.

A's up 3-0 on Garza and the Rangers in the 1st inning. Cespedas HR.

Well I surely don't know if Lester is washed up at this point. But, if I was giving him advice I would tell him that if he is goin' out, he is going out with a whimper when he should at least go out with a bang. He is better than this. He is a better pitcher than he is showing at this point. Every time he goes out and attacks the zone, attacks hitters, at least as much as he seems willing to these days, he has a pretty good outing. Every time he goes out and dicks around, he is just terrible. Today he did nothing to earn hitters respect. There was no place in the strike zone and no pitch that he could throw in the strike zone with impunity. D-back hitters owned the plate against him today. Any starting pitcher will tell you that you can't pitch successfully that way. Pretty tough to pitch bent over a table with your pants down around your ankles. If this less than aggressive posture was working for him I would say go for it Jon. But it doesn't work. The D-backs got something like eleven hits off of him. They were able to reach all the way across the plate with impunity and even pull the ball if they wanted to. They were as comfortable as if they were taking BP. I don't know what he is afraid of cause it can't be worse for him than when he pitches like this. He has his worst outings pitching this way. One thing for certain, Peavy will not pitch like that. He may not win but he sure as hell won't be walking off the mound pulling his pants back up along the way.

That game totally sucked.

Actually 15-16 hits is ridiculous to begin with. Some one of these Red Sox pitchers has got to be willing to push these guys back off the plate. They are so comfy up there, they could be hitting from the rocking chairs on their front porches. Probably too late for that tonight. But, you just cannot let hitters stand in their as relaxed as can be. Have you seen a D-backs hitter even have to budge, once tonight? I haven't.

Ross....pitches inside, particularly FB's inside he hammers. Curves on the outer third...no way. He even looks like he knows what is coming standing at the plate. He is just striding right into the pitch like it is BP.

I swear Ross is picking something up. That is another pitch Ross has no business hitting, especially for a HR. Salty needs to do whatever he is doing to call for the curve but instead buzz Ross right under the chin.

Not making excuses for Lester cause he has been terrible tonight. But the Sox would do wise to figure Ross either is picking something up from Salty or from Lester. That was a curve ball low and on the outer third that Ross hit off Lester that last at bat. Ross does not hit that pitch with a boat oar unless he is waiting on it. Lester curve balls are as rare as hens teeth to begin with and Ross simply does not hit that pitch well off anybody. Hopefully if true it is something Ross is picking up off Lester and not Salty. If it is Salty, or possibly the way the Red Sox fielders are moving before the pitch, Ross could have a field day all three games. Usually a team will change up its signs with a guy coming back like Ross. But if he is picking something up from Salty, Lester or the way the fielders are moving, the Sox could change their signs till hell freezes over.

Wow middle of the plate again....can't even get the LH hitter out now.

That last cutter to Ross is probably why Lester falls in love with the cutter. RH hitter simply cannot hit that pitch in that location. However Jon has to hit that location....and if the hitter does not swing more often than not the ump is going to call it a ball.

Unfortunately for Jon, his own home ballpark is probably the toughest park he is ever going to be in when struggling. Fenway very unforgiving to LH pitchers. Every mistake ends up banging off or going over the Monster.