jung

I could not see how he was pitching at that point....(had the duty with the kids). By the time I came back he was out. He did look OK the last time I actually saw him in this game...although one thing I have noticed about Cook is that it goes away real fast. Not like he slowly declines over something like the last ten or twelve pitches of his stint. He seems to shrivel up in about five to seven pitches. Before you know it here comes those upper knee cap pitches and the ball is flying out of the park.

Soxsport I actually think V has been burned more taking the starter out too soon than he has leaving him in too long this year. Most of his instances leaving them in too long have come when his hands were kinda' tied by a starter that has been bombing out since the 2nd or 3rd inning and a pen full of ragged out arms. At least in those instances ya' sorta' fell like V is stuck. However the times when he has taken the starter out to soon have been a real mystery......almost every time the only thing you can think (admittedly with limited information) is that V is playing a hunch.....which we know he likes to do. Not sure I would too often join V at the race track.

Won't you just laugh your ass totally off if we see a press release out of LA media stating that a text was sent from AGons phone to Dodger management asking for a meeting? Won't you just fall over?

I would be willing to be that Angels game had something to do with it though. Ace was clearly all done before the first HR was hit, never mind the other hits and the 2nd HR. That is the one situation where the guy on the mound has got to come out......as eventually even recording outs becomes close to impossible unless you get him outta' there. Then I think the Bailey announcement was the very next day. Clearly Ace should have seen the handwriting on the wall through. You would think he should have figured that asking for a meeting the BC was not going to work out for him at this point. Although Management is totally to blame for having enabled the players here, as a player you would have to think that they were already stepping on managements very last nerve. Gotta' rein this stuff in sooner or later. I just hope to dear God that we don't hear another "we don't do things that way around here" comment.

V should have avoided bringing in Melancon at all costs tonight just to give the fan base one decent night. Melancon is just an instant buzz kill. Should not be allowed to pitch in any game where the run differential is less than 10 either way.

One nice thing about Ciriaco is that he does not seem to miss many mistake pitches. If you do make a mistake to him he does seem to hit it hard somewhere. The more exposure he gets to ML pitching the less likely pitchers will make mistakes to him but he does not miss many.

NESN showed video of the arrival of Agons, Punto, Beckett in LA. Beckett looks like he is dressed for a quick ride out to the links....."Hey its my day off....what I do on my day off is my business". Could you just see the LA writers with their jaws down around their ankles? Actually even though this is a huge deal, it could work out to be an everybody wins....pressure will not be as great to succeed and the environment and situation is likely better suited to where those players are at this point in their careers. LA makes a big PR splash. Boston clearly headed in the right direction as long as they use the assets the right way.

Jerry Lane...Mr always in the right place...why would he be so close to home plate at that point in the play. I am not even sure how he was supposed to make a call had it been a close play as the play would have been right at his feet.

Hung a tailor made pitch to Aviles and he did not miss it.

Oh Pods I know you want that first one back

If Ross were up he would have put that into orbit.

Tailor made for Aviles....another hanger and bye-bye

Salty with a plate appearance that actually requires him to hang out on the base paths for awhile.

Really I think in Cooks case you just have to say he is what he is. It was always going to be a matter of whether a guy that is ALL secondary pitches can make a go in the AL East. Sometimes you just don't have a handle on what that really means until the guy is actually pitching out there. I think the part of his game that did become obvious after awhile is that he can't pitch above the middle of the knee without getting hurt. So the upper knee cap is "up in the zone" for him. Pretty tough to think a guy can be that fine that he can keep the ball below middle of the knee all the time.

This is not anything more than wondering out loud but you would have to think that all of these moves will result in a Sox youth movement even if only temporary. I wonder if that is a sign that the Sox may go with V as manager next year. Not at all sure what the manager market is going to look like in the near term. Doubt they want to go to the trouble of getting a short term guy in here.

Cook apparently feels like he has to have a Beckett-like first inning. Doesn't want us to get lonely for that sort of thing.

It is interesting to wonder if Ells will actually get all the money if he does not snap out of it and at least look like he could be the player he was in 2011. Who knows, maybe with all this cash to play with, they get to keep Ells after all. Chances are Ells ends up being sort of an upper level payroll guy instead of a top of the market payroll guy. I think what we will see the Sox do (except for power pitchers , especially elite power pitchers) is go to the very top of the market for FA. That has been their downfall.

Does anybody know if Ortiz injured the Achilles again or was it something else this time?

Well if it is a question of just being a stronger team, the Sox "probably" are a better team with Agons and Crawford. However they are a weaker baseball organization with them as they simply cost way to much money for the contributions that they make. Crawford was going to end up basically with two wasted years out of a seven year contract and was never going to be a player that the Sox could utilize fully. He stands a much better chance of flourishing with the Dodgers. Agons had produced much more in the way of numbers since coming out of his slump and has somewhat better power numbers of late. However he still seemed lacking in power with no guarantees of that improving and had really been a disappointment in big moments. Now he has not only been failing in big moments but has looked completely lost in big moments, having terrible at bats, even now, on the other side of his slump. Frankly, I could almost be satisfied with his power numbers at least with what he has shown in the last five weeks or so. However I can't take these power numbers and the complete mess he is in big moments, late in games when the Sox really need a contribution from him. That combination is deadly when you bang it up against $21M per.

There are a good many reasons to suspect this to be true. It is after all a waiver deal.

I would rather that this be BC's deal cause nobody but nobody wants LL's hands to get the hell outta' baseball operations more than me. I am just finding it hard to believe that the Sox would move from the organizational mishmash that they have had to something else particularly since they have still not really filled Theo's former position. You would have to think that by rights, a deal of this magnitude would fall to somebody at least at Theo's pay grade and without somebody in place, you would expect somebody above to move down into the slot for purposes of a deal like this.

So here are the clutch hitting stats for Agons and Ross. Mind you Ross is a very limited player in many ways. Yet when the chips are down, he bests Agons. I think if these two players do play similar stretches in Sox uniforms, Ross will get more meaningful hits than AGons...will have more meaningful at bats, will be more effective and will win more games for us while Agons is holding his nuts and grabbing his ass. I picked Ross for this comparison because by rights these two players should not be on the same planet with regard to clutch hitting. While I have OPS and HR listed below the other stats line up much the same way for tie game, within 1 run and 2 run situations. Clearly these are situations where more hits and more runs very likely have meaning relative to the outcome of the game. Some of the stats get scrunched but the HR's for Ross are 5, 9 and 13, For AGons, 3,6 and9. OPS for Ross: 816, 872, 869. OPS for Agons: 731, 736, 777 Ross clutch batting stats this year: OPS HR tie game 816 5 w/1 run 872 9 w/2 run 869 13 Agons clutch batting stats this year OPS HR tie game 731 3 w/1 run 736 6 w/2 runs 777 9

Are you kidding me? Did you just hear the NESN promo? "With one month left to go, the Sox begin their final push for the post-season" They must think we are completely blind or totally ignorant. Fine...promo TV games...don't talk to us about a final push for the post-season. That baby is being pushed out still-born.

Man I hear ya' 13. I am not a V guy but these guys almost defy managing...even for a guy they want managing...never mind a guy they are trying to kick down the road like a tin can. He has a relief pitcher he can't use against the Yanks or any team the Yanks trade Tex to. He has a guy on the mend that MUST bat 2nd or I don't know, I guess the top of his head blows off. He has two guys at the top including the aforementioned must bat 2nd guy that are almost carbon copies of each other and a total waste of speed assets He has a SS that can't play SS, a catcher that can't catch and up until a few days ago a pitching coach that would not talk to him under any circumstances He has no starters and a gassed pen that he can't keep alive no matter what he does His best ballplayer hates his guts since V replaced his buddy although I would take my worst enemy in the foxhole with me before any one of these nitwits, any time, any day. He has bosses that cut the knees out from under him the very first chance they had He has guys that defy cooperating to form a cohesive offensive effort preferring to play it their way, each and every one of them....they literally field nine offensive strategies every night....a unique approach if I ever saw one I could go on and on

I repeat and realize I am leaving myself wide open on this one...but given equal length of time as Red Sox players, Ross will get more meaningful hits than Agons.....by a country mile. Give Agons an opportunity to pad his stats and he is all in...give him an opportunity to win a game and he has one hand covering his balls and one holding his ass....got no more hands left for the bat.