jung

I don't think Lester is going anywhere either Bell and I don't think they should try to move Lester. The rotation is such a failure, who knows what they will do past trying to unload Beckett. I don't think there will be any concerted effort to move Lester. However if a deal for a legit 1 requires that Lester be part of a package, then for the right guy, I would not be opposed to that. I would prefer they do it another way but you just don't know.

Once again it appears that decisions about trading players and their value are made based on a flawed original analysis that nobody is willing to admit to. Aviles is a good utility player that can come in and play a few positions for you and might even sting the opposition with his bat on occasion. That is it. He is not an everyday SS anywhere but in goofy Boston where the FO would not know a SS from a hole in the wall. Apparently though his resume suggests it, he can't even play third as the Sox have had several opportunities to put him there for a game or two and have opted to have the mighty Punto in the lineup instead. Aviles not only erodes my hope for the Sox at SS but erodes my hope that this organization will ever move past some of these boneheaded moves.

There is a significant difference in the actual performance on the mound if you look. Buch tends to give up early runs (if at all) because he leaves A pitch in a bad spot or gives up A walk because he looses it for A batter and that guy works his way around the bases. Even when he is up he is rarely up and right down main street. Virtually every other starter on the Sox staff throws meatball after meatball up there once they start going down that road and gives up runs in bunches as a result. It is a no win situation for all of them. V can't remove guys that are throwing early meatballs in the game because he can't afford the wear on the pen. Yet, you get the feeling at times that they will be lucky to not be down by double digits by the 5th inning. So of the guys that started the season in the rotation and the guys there now, I would say that what Buch enjoys from the players is a level of confidence that they WILL still be in the game by the 5th and 6th innings as opposed to MIGHT still be in the game by then. That is certainly true for Beckett and Lester as it takes them whole innings at least to come around once they start throwing meatballs. Once Cook starts to get the ball up in the zone there appears no returning and he is on such a fine line that the upper half of the knee is up in the zone for him. Felix just finally ran out of gas as he approached his innings limit for the year and once he started to give up runs, there was really no turning back the tide. Morales is just to young at this point though he shows great promise and Bard has had an entire career as a project if you want to be honest about it. Other than Buch the entire starting rotation has been a fail this year, not just Lester and Beckett, mainly because they started the season with a rotation full of question marks and pitchers with a known time line that would run out before the season would run out. Their answers to those questions were dice and Cook and I guess Morales. That was not a plan that had a chance. Even if they get a solid 1 for this rotation, in the near term they will be hoping that Felix and Frank continue to progress, that Lester comes back (if he is still here) and will be hoping Lackey has something post TJ. Getting a solid one is the best thing for this staff especially with the young arms but even that is not a guarantee. However, a solid 1 and 2 and taking a chance on the rest is still a better bet than a bunch of maybe 2's that pitch like 3, 4 and 5.

Based on his last start against NY, this is a real test for Morales. At least the pen is probably as rested as it has been in the last ten days or so. I expect they will get some work in these next three games.

Not sure there is much to angst over here. Shop gets a chance to catch on with another team. The Sox were not going to bring Shop back. They may move Salty in the off season as well and end up bringing in somebody else to be the backup to Lavs for next year.

At least by pitching him in this last game in Baltimore, they got to rest the pen which V has to handle very carefully at this point.

No need for much out of the pen tonight...wish Buch was getting a start against NY but probably more important that the pen got to rest tonight.

Wish Buch was getting one of these starts against NY. There are so many games left with them he is bound to get one eventually and at this point it does not matter when it comes...I just want to see him pitch against NY.

I suspect we have let far to much go to the point of making excuses and rationalizing away what has become a cellar dweller of a baseball team.

Fine forgetting the count is wonderful...perfect....I hope they all forget the count at least once a season...cause that should now be the benchmark for $21M player.

The reason I mentioned that Agons had become overly focused on going the other way is because that is how and why he started swinging at so many first pitches that he should have stayed away from. Pitchers realized his intent and just kept starting him on the outer edge or even off the outer edge. He was swinging at outer edge pitches and pitches off the outer edge that were first pitches even of his first at bat in games....regularly, producing a steady diet of ground balls to SS or pop ups. Eventually he got so frustrated with his own dilemma that by the end of some games he was swinging at ungodly bad pitches.

The only reason to swing at a first pitch is if it is absolutely a perfect pitch to hit. Agons was swinging at first pitches all over creation...some of them not even in the strike zone. 0-0 is the worst count in baseball from the hitters perspective which is why you only swing if it is a really good pitch to swing at ....like middle middle. I don't criticize every hitter for swinging at the first pitch because you can't just let middle middle pitches go by. And while you are at it you would do well to remember that AGons worked himself into that monster slump earlier this year insisting on trying to go the other way regardless of the situation, the pitch the count or anything else. He made himself easy meat and ended up in a monster slump that took forever for him to come out of. While he is hitting to all fields again and no longer as vulnerable on the inner third of the plate as he was during that self induced slump, he still has not really come back to being the same kind of power hitter he once was and we still don't know if he will ever come back to being that kind of power hitter.

Timely hitting....heck only took 110 or so games. They might even be able to hold onto a three run lead this late. I would bet V is going to try to hang with Buch as long as he can especially at 68 pitches. I don't blame him.

I criticize players when and if they deserve it. Not knowing the count is inexcusable or at least it should be.

No Bren they clearly have had no plan this season. Not knowing the count is so telling about this team...really inexcusable from the 25th guy on the roster let alone Mr $21M. Not even sure how many people noticed. I was expecting the usual chorus of...."get off his back"...."we got the run in didn't we" ********. We should be appalled by that kind of play at any time of year in any situation. Maybe nothing surprises anybody anymore.

Agons forgot what the count was and then dinked that thing out to CF. Do you mind telling me how you can know what the f*** you are doing at the plate when you don't know the count?

That was one of the more encouraging Crawford at bats. He has had a hard time with anything on the outer edge and down even from RH pitchers. Did pretty well with that one.

Any runner on now can end this game as it will only take a dinger with a runner on for the O's to finish the Sox off and get the sweep.

They have not had any fight for weeks now. My biggest fear for this team is not another season out of the post season next year. My biggest fear for this team is that the FO and Management will convince themselves that they can still get fannies in seats next year with a few minor tweaks. Even some of the posts here are kinda' scary I think. They are getting close to setting this team up for a decade of failure from 2008 on by the time they are done if they are not careful. This is a bad bad baseball team. It should be a good example for us that a few talented individuals does not necessarily make for a good baseball team. That first inning today and the comparison between the O's and the Sox should be required watching for anybody that thinks this was ever a baseball team this year.....and then Oh my God that is without discussing the biggest problem it has....the starting pitching.

Crawford misjudges another ball in left...what a shock.

That run was a complete gift from the blind as a bat umpire at home.

Maybe the ump will realize that Tillman is throwing strikes as more Sox hitters swing at that pitch on the outside corner. Low point of his season has to be walking Punto.

Don't know why the media and/or anybody else keeps focusing on whether V will be here for the rest of the season. There is no reason to replace him at this point in this season and ownership has already commented that V would be here till the season has ended. I don't think V has a snowball's chance in hell of making it to the second season of his contract.

Interesting watching an actual baseball team play actual baseball.....Sox look like a joke in comparison. Nice play Salty you clown

And we start the ball rolling again.....0-2 with a runner in scoring position so far tonight.