jung

Worth a shot for sure. Here are some of my concerns: - Morales still does struggle with righties - He is not stretched out and may not be able to give us even five innings reliably - He won't get away with that change if he is up in the zone like that. Guys won't crush it but good hitters should find it is an easy pitch to hit for base hits even if they are fooled by the pitch

Well this may be totally meaningless.....maybe not. I had mentioned this before his start almost as an aside but Frank has been really very good in relief when he comes in to start clean innings. He has had at least two outings before this start where he came in and shut down the opposition for 2-3 innings in a row and did it with ease, much like tonight. Morales seems very comfortable if he is given the ball and told to go out there and pitch some innings. If he has to come in and bail water right away he does not do as well. So he seemed pretty comfortable out there to me. Now when he comes into a game in relief with guys on base already he does struggle with that. Remember that outing when he looked really bad? He hit a couple of guys....was all over the place....had no idea where the ball was going and was almost as scary as Bard was. Not sure what that means long term. Seems to me that guys that can throw like he can from the left side don't grow on trees and the Sox are going to have to explore what it is they really have in Morales.

Punto makes the big turn "Oh s***...these kids can run....I better show em' that I can run too......Oh No.....I can't run!"

Actually at times this game has looked more like bowling with the baseball as the bowling ball and the players as the pins.

I am sure that our druthers would be for the Sox not to be out by 20 by the end of June but if my choice is watching the Boston Barnacles lurch and sputter out the rest of season or watching our younger more enthusiastic players playing better baseball, give me the latter. Heck the way things are going the younger guys may be more fun to watch AND give us a better chance to win. Wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth.

In part what we are seeing tonight is why we have been calling for the younger guys to play. Sure they are more athletic and play with more enthusiasm but they can also execute better on the base paths and at the plate. They will make rookie mistakes but they will not be asleep into the 3rd inning either.

Oh my God.....this is pretty ugly. I made the mistake of watching other baseball games today. Watching these guys is pretty painful after watching "normal" baseball. I would like to say this is unusual for the Sox of late but its not.

Pretty funny Chin Music

I certainly did not expect Morales to have such a terrific outing. I hope I did not give folks the impression that I was coming off like I expect it. I am tickled that he has done such a good job but I can't say that I had expectations one way or the other.

I would not allow Morales to get into any kind of a jam but he deserved the chance to pitch that inning. Besides I hate seeing guys pulled when they are actually pitching well anyway. It was not a sure bet that the pitcher coming in would have pitched better than Morales. So if Morales was struggling, all things being equal even though I would have wanted him to have the chance, I would likely have been forced to pull him. But Morales was not struggling, had gotten the Sox to the point where they were up a run and looked like he was as good a bet if not a better bet to give the Sox what they needed that inning.

Yea there is no reason to not give Morales the chance to go out there and get through this inning. He has earned the chance. Sox will not want him to get into a serious jam cause they need this game but he deserves the chance to get a win.

Morales has done a heck of a job here. Didn't panic at all....even after giving up the hit early. Did not look lost out there. Does not mean he is a starter but funny when you think about how lost Bard has looked out there on occasion.

I love it when pitchers keep hitting that spot. Ortiz just pounds that pitch all day long even if it does not catch so much of the middle of the plate. All that would have changed if that pitch was a little inside or outside of that spot would have been where the ball would have landed in the stands.

Ya' I agree it did look like there was a play on but Youk was off by so much that I wondered if he missed a sign or something. It almost looked like Youk was not prepared to swing which makes no sense at all.

Boy it was not so long ago for Soriano....young talented player on the way up.....now he is a guy with a bloated contract thats hard to move. Man it happens fast when it happens.

Geez Pedey was not close there. Something looked really wrong with that.....I mean besides the fact that he was out.

Pedey may be on his way back. That looks like his swing again.

Wow, they couldn't start this game at a different time so that the players would not have to deal with the sun cutting between the upper and lower decks like that?

Morales has been pretty good when coming into fresh clean innings. He has struggled when he has been brought into innings with men on base. In this case the clean inning he is coming into happens to be the first. Maybe this will work out.

I think the key is where the Sox are at the END of this month relative to the teams that they have to get past. I think tonight's game is a really big game but only relative to the original mark I set for myself....the end of the month. It is a conundrum. I don't think their SP is good enough as is to get the job done but I would be reluctant to give up good prospects to get more SP this year as competitive as the league is. But as I have stated several times, at least in my case, I am reserving judgement till I see where they are relative to the competition at the end of the month, both in games back and the quality of their play. I can understand the arguments on either side of me as they are all opinions that have some merit.....they are at least to me, no better or worse than my own.

It is true that the Cubs are only interested in prospects. That is it. They really don't want to talk about anybody else...maybe a guy like Bard qualifies based on his "youth" but I could also believe, the Cubs really do just want prospects. I could believe they are willing to go deeper into a farm system than one might suspect because they are not going from the basement to the penthouse in one year and they know it. Might be the only saving grace for the Sox if they are really interested. They might need a Dempster just to survive this season. We really don't know Beckett's status. Point is they are no longer an odds on bet even for the second WC. They have a shot at it but not more than that. How much do they want to bargain away their future on a chance to play a single game to move on at the end of September.

It was pretty obvious that are fate was tied to this month before the month even started. While I can easily believe why others would not think so, to me tonight's game is the biggest June game I can remember. Every one of the AL teams that matter has won today. If we don't win tonight I think we end up over 5 back in the second WC and not at all looking like we are playing in the same league with the teams we have to pass. We will be 8.5 behind the yanks for the division. The teams we have to get by are pitching lights out. Yanks won 4-1. Rays won 3-0. O's won 2-0. Even Toronto with its depleted pitching won 6-2. Does not look like the year to spend prospects unless you are going to get a pitching asset or assets that will be yours past this year with reliable health expectations. Funny game baseball. It is early all the way up until it is late. Maybe tonight's game will be the turnaround for the month. At least for me, I have believed and still believe that where we are by month end June is a very big deal.

It might boil down to which teams decide to be sellers. There are some surprises down at the bottom of these divisions. They are surprises because you would have expected better performances. Philly is a mess. Detroit may not end up going anywhere after all. While Cubs have announced their status earlier than most, the guys they have to offer will be measured against the other guys that are available. It is surely possible that Garza and Dempster are the best guys out there but it is not cast in stone, not yet anyway. If they are the best of the pitchers available and especially if by a wide margin the cubs will get serious stuff back in return especially for Garza. Dempster may end up being the deal of the season. Will have to see who else there is out there.

Youk in WMB out. Agons getting the night off.

I won't post the lineup cause other folks do that here but Kalish is batting 8th and playing CF tonight.....Yea....Go Ryan.