jung

Buch pitching great again...Sox really need to stay out of their pen tonight as they are toast and will likely be called on tomorrow night.

With 2 strikes if you are fooled on the pitch it becomes a matter of luck whether it will drop in or not....lucky to get his bat on that so if it falls it falls....if it doesn't it doesn't

This is our big chance...Seddon might throw it into right field again

Well now can we actually get a lead against one of the worst pitching staffs in all of baseball?

Please don't give the run right back...especially with rain clouds looming.

For all that excitement, were it not for the two base error we are still losing this game 1-0. So we get a two base error after a walk and we get a base hit and we get.....1 run....wow

A hit a run......a tie....oh boy......

Well Aviles worked a walk...that is a rarety.

What like smallpox:D:D If we do get two runs it will be on two meaningless, solo HR's fourth and sixth innings.

Buch is sort of getting away with it because he is changing speeds pretty nice but he is up tonight so far.

Yup...10 pitches in the first and 11 pitches in the second. Agons had a good pitch to hit and hit it decent and Ross had a good pitch to hit and just got under it. The other four outs were recorded on pitchers pitches with the hitters frankly looking kind of foolish...what else is new.

Wow....six outs on 21 pitches....Cy Seddon....has a nice ring to it no?

Taking bets on whether Seddon can record the last out in five pitches or less.

I just wish Buch had been a little conscience of the situation the team is in and the importance of having a clean 1st inning. On the one hand you can say, they don't deserve it....they went down on ten pitches in their half of the 1st. On the other hand, the usual start has got to be tough for this team to take. If they go down on ten pitches again in the 2nd, I would not give them much of a chance tonight even with Buch.

Nothing should be a surprise if a pitch is up and flat like that....easy pitch to handle. Not sure where that pitch came from either. Ain't that easy Buch...these are still major league hitters buddy.

Boy Buch's motion has looked so good of late...three pitches....three strikes....beautiful job of setting up that hitter.

10 pitches...3 outs....off to our usual start It will be interesting to see the Guardians approach tonight. They have to know our pen is toast. Wonder if they will try to wear Buch out.

You know V is praying to God that Buch has a good outing tonight so he can rest the pen. I am willing to bet that even if Buch gets into some trouble, V will stick with him hoping to rest the pen. What was that...two pitches and one out. Man we do not learn.

We are nothing if not stubborn. Game threads are still fun. The games have not been much fun. Felix finally hit the wall last night......part of the problem with relying on young arms in the rotation.

Maybe LL won't let BC acknowledge a fat lady sighting.

Easy way to avoid the issue isn't it...claim that a step or two off the bottom of the worst starting pitching in all of baseball is just fine.

Actually this is where we disagree. This is something like the "September was an anomaly" argument. I say something like because I don't have the right to try to do a vulcan mind meld and know for sure where this argument is coming from. However, they are absolutely not 110% of what they need to be to go all the way primarily because they do not have the starting pitching to do that. This is going to be two years running that they will have buried the pen. The pen already has the white flag of surrender up as we speak in early August for heavens sake. We need a legitimate Ace, a true 1 which may also help us bring back Lester along with a new pitching coach. A legit 1 with Buch, Felix, Frank and possibly a rejuvenated Lester and Lackey (God help me) might be enough starting pitching to get you there. Any combination of the guys they have now simply won't get it done nor will dumping another guy in the 3 hole. As for Ortiz, I only give Ortiz his two year deal if he is fully committed to being the kind of leader that he says he is and that I need him to be. If not...he gets a one year deal and thats that. I might even be willing to go two years and a team option for a third if that gets me the guy I want Ortiz to be. That way I control a third year that I could give him if he is a good boy. But there is no way that I can conceive of using Ortiz to get me a legit pitcher and I need his bat, the former being more of an issue than the latter. I can with Pedey and I just can't with anybody else other than buckets of guys like Bradley, Bradley being an excellent example for why I can't do that either.

Nope....already covered that in an earlier post. For a real shot at a legitimate 1 any team would rape the farm system of guys that are soon to be starting and staring for this team. This is exactly why we end up with guys past their prime preventing guys that should be here from coming up, ultimately trading away the guys that should be coming up BECAUSE they are blocked. It is a huge death spiral. Bradley is a great example. We need Bradley because we will not be able to keep Ells and we can't move Crawford, at least not now. Bradley will be cost controlled just as Ells salary is going off the deep end into territory that forces me to pay upwards of $35M for two outfielders for crying out loud! I make Ells an offer but I am pretty sure he will not take it but I am damned if I am going to allow Ells to paint me into another corner. Bradley gives me the freedom to make Ells an extension offer that is acceptable to me and if he does not take it FINE....See ya. Crawford was a huge mistake and will always be a huge mistake unless he turns into the second coming of Willy Mays. But I am stuck with him at least for now and he probably costs me Ells. The only reason that is fine or at least acceptable is because I have Bradley to mitigate losing Ells. Maybe Bradley is a bridge that gets me to a point in time when I can actually move Crawford. Without Bradley I am truly sunk.

That is right...I absolutely posted that. I am willing to use any thing at my disposal to help me with the players that are left once I trade Pedey. If the players want to think my main motivation for trading him is because of what he said at the start of the season....I am fine with that. If they want to think I traded him to get pitching....I am fine with that. I don't owe them an answer. If however I simply wanted him off the team for what he said at the start of the season, then I would trade him regardless of what I got back. I only trade Pedey if as part of a multiplayer package he brings me pitching. You can selectively read the posts all you want. You are either not getting it or don't want to.

You are not reading the posts....that is all I am going to say about it...you are not reading the posts. I will add one thing that should help. If I am trading Pedey off the team, why would I then consider Pedey as it relates to the culture of the team? I only have to worry about the players that are left. Trading Pedey gets me pitching and very likely does help me with the players that are left, at least those that think they own the damned team. If I am unable to get pitching for trading Pedey then I don't trade him. However trading him does in my view help me with the players that are left in a way that Beckett does not. Getting rid of Beckett only helps me in that I no longer have him f***ing up my rotation. As for Ortiz, I trade a two year contract in his case for his commitment to actually be a team leader and talk the talk as opposed to just walk the walk. Shut up and play David. However the real reason I keep Ortiz is because I can't mitigate losing Ortiz. I need his bat for one thing and I cannot conceive of a means of trading Ortiz as the centerpiece of a trade that brings me pitching. I can do that with Pedey. I can't do it with anybody else.