jung

Well I think Theo said it himself. It appeared to me that he was putting the Lackey signing in the category of things done because you "end up feeling like you have to do something". Clearly he is referring to the feeling that you have to sign somebody, get somebody, add to the roster in some way and how that ends up driving the decision making process. I did not think Lackey would earn his keep in the AL East for one thing. Second they found out late in the process that his elbow was a problem and still went through with that deal. So I don't think you need look farther than the comments from the guy that was intimately involved in that deal to determine whether it was right at the time or not. From what I can see, Theo is telling us that if he had it to do over again, he would not have done the Lackey deal. I also did not like the CC deal from the very start. That does not make me prescient or a genius or anything like that. I did not like the CC deal because I did not see how he was a complimentary player to what we had on this team and because concerns over how he would fair in a big market environment were already all over the place and while my view was from afar, I thought I could see in him a player that would struggle in a big market. In addition that deal seemed to come to the Sox way late in the game as opposed to something that they thought through completely. Finally the price tag was outrageous, way beyond what any other GM was thinking of paying CC and the deal was over such an extended period of time for a player that makes money in part because of his legs. I don't believe you can just anoint a player as someone who will supplement his declining speed with power. You hire a power guy for power and a speed guy for speed and an all around ball player for his all around skills but the idea that a guy automatically will pick up power with age was born out of the steroid era when guys did pick up power but not as a natural consequence of growing older. However I still think the Sox GM job is one of the toughest in baseball in large part because you have to work for LL and I believe that the pressure to make these "sizzle" signings comes directly from LL. I also believe it to be the straw that breaks the camel's back, making the kind of team profile we have today almost inevitable. As such I have a hard time blaming either Theo or BC entirely for their performance as GM's.

It is a management problem. I was interested in Theo's comments about the push and pull between business management and baseball operations as it indicates what I always felt was true....baseball operations losses those arguments down at Fenway and we end up with a bunch high priced "sizzle" signings that don't make for a very well constructed team.

Cubs suck....could work out pretty good through Chicago.

Oz must be pissed at Bell for some reason.

Padilla was pretty funny though. Obviously gesturing to somebody about V taking him out like that. I am sure Vicente did not know the camera was on him.

Holy s***.....NESN announce team bickering like a bunch of old hens! Using up all their big lead material I guess.

Wonder what surprises V has for us in the 9th

I would not have brought Padilla in to pitch to one guy with an eight run lead either. It really does not make any sense. It takes an effort to get warm, get ready and come in. They would have done better just resting Padilla for the night and pitching Miller. Getting guys up night after night is what tires out bullpens. They are better off going for a bit in a game and then resting a bit.

Oh No Mr Padilla....Smile buddy....your on candid camera!

Really thought the Sox had a chance to chase Nolasco. If he had controlled us for 5-7 innings I would have gone into the back yard, dug a hole, thrown myself in and covered myself with the dirt.

All well and good but he can't pitch this season and I would rather he keep his mouth and his ideas about how pitchers interact with their manager and players to himself since he can't go out there and get us one out, one inning or one win this year. Remember this is Mr. Glare at everybody and his brother, apologize for it the next and do exactly the same thing one day later. Rather catch his act again when he can actually throw a baseball.

NESN has to mess with my buzz. That shot of Lackey and Beckett was the only depressing shot of night so far....only because I really don't need to see Mr. Getting nothin' outta' him this year Lackey's mug.

Do you mean Buch or Felix? I am thinkin' Felix can make up to a 3 for the Sox and Buch can make it up to a 2 and maybe even a 1.

Felx has a good enough pitcher to advance out of the 4 hole. The post I made originally said that all he needed to do was go deeper into games to advance from the 4 hole. So that is why I would like to see him get more ground ball outs. He could easily be the Sox 3 of the future. If Buch keeps going like this he could be a 2 at least.

See what I mean?

Point is Felix won't be able to pull this off every time out. Sure 7 innings every time out would be fine but the Mariners are not exactly murderers row and Felix will likely not get past 7 against them.

All the K's are what drives Felix pitch counts. He really does need to find a way to get more ground ball outs so that he can go deeper into these games. He is that one step away from making it into 1-3 in the rotation.

Oh my God...back to back to back base hits....used to get excited over back to back to back HR.

Pods has had some really nice at bats lately. That was a terrific job of taking what the pitcher gave him and doing something with it...vital for lead off hitter.

Way ta' go David. He loves loves loves pitches on that plane. He can take you out anywhere depending on whether the ball is inside or outside. If he can just lay off that high heat he could end up right back where he was about a month ago.

There AGons line drive for the week.

Way to manufacture a run Sox...love seeing that as you really have to be able to do that to have any shot when you are being stifled by pitching.

AGons has not been a mystery for anybody except Matusz for over a month now. Ortiz has really had it tough since he has been pressing and is once more unable to lay off high inside heat. Pitchers have caught on to Salty swinging 11/10's on every swing and have had his number the last ten says or so. Aviles still trying to hard to pull for the most part. It is like they are all puppets on the end of a string lately.

Wow have the pitchers got Salty's number the last 10 days or so.

Ortiz still swinging at that pitch...he has got to stop!!!!