jung

Correct...the hit and run was on...just that Kalish saw the pitch out and did not go. Punto did not know Kalish was going to hang on first though and was still obliged to try to do something to protect him.

That's it....its only the 4th inning and we have seen most things....by 9 I am sure we will have seen it all.

And still know outs....A game for the ages....ages 3, 4, 5......

What a totally screwy game. Didn't Alvarez try to kick one tonight and failed...now Felix kicks one over to Agons at first. Not sure what we are going to see tonight. So far looks like anything is possible.

This has got to be one of the funniest games we have seen since....well actually only since that whacky Miami game last week.

I don't think V can afford to go much farther with Felix tonight if he really wants to win this game. I suppose if he gets lucky enough to get outs he can stay with him a bit longer. If one guy gets on though I think he will have to pull him. A 7-2 game is right around the corner if somebody gets on.

V may have to pull him pretty quickly tonight. When a guy's pitches have nothing to the degree that Felix's pitches have nothing tonight it is usually not an issue of settling down. He just does not appear to have it tonight.

Felix ball is doing absolutely nothing!

I don't like the new kid...his ears are to big!

I would agree with that. The Sox are not built to win close, low scoring games.

That one was right at about the top of Papi's "effective" strike zone. Crushed it. Just needs to lay off the high ones like Strike 1.

Well I have kept the same shovel handy that I was going to bury myself with if we did not take care of Nolasco. We can and should score four runs and then some tonight. Hopefully Felix settles and gives the Sox some time to generate some offense.

That is actually the second ball this year that WMB has let play him. Interesting cause you could sort of see the same thing happen both times. It looks like WMB is worried the ball will short hop him if he charges. That is surely possible but is also a ball he should be able to handle if he is short hopped. Maybe he has not been successful fielding balls that have short hopped him in the past.

Felix has the "Rondo Syndrome". We are going to find out that Youk was Felix best friend on the team. Felix is in a funk about Youk's departure and can no longer pitch under these trying circumstances.

Geez the wall saved us there. That thing was crushed.

Yea but Paul is always going to be down farther in the "get the runners home spots right. We would not see Kenerko up there around 2nd in the order I don't think. Maybe the place setters have not been getting it done. Maybe you are right about the build the confidence thing. Seems to me that Youk has been aiming to be more of a plate the runners guy as opposed to one of the set the table guys. Of course that was not workin' out to good for him here.

Wow they have Youk batting second over there. Is nobody hitting for the CWS at all? More appropriately maybe nobody is getting on base over there by any means.

Paid all of his salary AND got nothing back, absolutely....People would have gone nuts.

So, Pumps are you thinking that we have not actually got an accurate description of what Buch has got since V is describing it as "not serious"?

That late in the game, if A base runner gets on that could certainly be enough trouble unless he gets on with two outs. Even with two outs, if the game was close, I would likely pull the SP.

Turns out is is Temozefin in Byrd's case.

I wonder which PED we are talking about in Byrd's case. Has that been reported anywhere as yet?

A1 111 if the guy is still going good I think he stays in. More importantly at least from what was posted here the Manual simply stated that Bastardo was brought in because "Bastardo is our 8th inning guy" implying that Hamel's pitch count was not as important as the process Manual had arrived at...Bastardo for the 8 and I guess Paps for the 9th and if that is what Manual is really saying then that is what I find kinda' ridiculous. I tend to want the Manager to make a decision based on how the starter is pitching at that point. Hard to imagine a guy having pitched a good game if his pitch count is around 125 for 7 innings cause that would imply some walks tossed in there and probably a bunch of 3 ball counts as well but clearly you can be pitching a good game and end up at 111 for 7 innings. If the SP was still controlling the opposition offense to the same degree I would have thought it more likely to have brought the SP back out for the 8th but with a very short leash. The way the piece is being presented it sounds more like Manual brings out Bastardo cause Bastardo pitches his 8th innings and that is that.

I tend to look at what the player himself is doing or trying to do and put some stock in that when trying to determine where he might be going. It has looked to me like Youk as a player has been trying to become less of a BA kind of hitter and more of a SLG kind of guy. Then looking at what he has been doing at the plate, it appears that either he is having some difficulty reading pitches as well as he once did or knows his quickness with the bat is in decline forcing him to commit to swing earlier than he has in the past. The latter would mean that his eye at the plate is as good as it has ever been but he is unable to get the bat going like he used to. The former would mean that he just cannot process pitch information as well as he used to. The latter is more likely than the former and really a combination of the two is just as likely as anything. At any rate, I think it unlikely that his recent performance is an aberration and am more inclined to see it as a trend that might be interrupted by occasional signs of his past glories but not more than that. Then you add that one of his injury issues is his back and you really do have a player that is going to go through a good deal just to stay in the ML, let alone play at a big salary level. An 800 OPS could be in range for him though at least in stretches.

Given their propensity to ride broken down horses until they are lying on their backs with their four hoofs sticking up into the air, it is likely lucky that the Sox got out of the Youk situation as good as they have. Here we have WMB coming on strong just when we need him to do just that. Sure it would have been more convenient if either: a) WMB showed more earlier (which would have really been optimal) or; the Sox were not as risk averse on guys on their system as they are and figured WMB to be close enough to have handed him 3rd base earlier Remember though...the Sox were the odds on favorites to blast their way out of the AL East in 2011 and go all the way. So if you think you are set up for that, it is hard to take a piece of that puzzle off the plate. Then as has already been pointed out, Youk got hurt at the end. For once I think it is hard to kick the Sox to hard for how they have handled this particular situation.