jung

Agons has fallen victim to more sliders from LH pitchers than I am used to seeing and more splitters from RH pitchers than I am used to seeing. He was so fouled up by that splitter for strike 2 that he could do nothing with that s*** and out of the strike zone FB for strike 3.

I am beginning to wonder....if they are gong to keep playing Agons every night if maybe they need to move him back down in the order again. RH pitcher tonight so I guess the 3 hole is justified.

This might be a good one for you to catch Taz. We should be able to do something with this pitcher tonight. Some of these games have required some intestinal fortitude just to hang in and watch. This one should provide some fun....I hope.

No....and why would the Sox trade him within the division to their division rivals. The only way the Sox would consider that would be if the Yanks were going to give them so much back that it was a slam dunk, lopsided, Boston wins deal and the Yanks are not going to do that. So I really do not even think it is something anybody has to worry about or think about.

Youk apparently may have a broken rib from that hit he took last night.

Almost wish I had taken a couple days off, at least before last night. Some tough games to watch.

Well as far as chances of winning are concerned....I think it is pretty clear that WMB does give us a better chance to win than Youk. Of the outfielders we have at our disposal today, if Nava can play today, Nava gives us a better chance to win, particularly if we are talking about Nava vs d-mac in LF. If the choice is Kalish vs Sweeney in RF while I like Sweeney, the Sox might need more pop in the lineup than they have right now. They are not exactly the same type of players at least to me. Given the way things have gone, I think Kalish would be worth a shot. Looks to me that at least at this point, Pods should play Center. I think the next two options are really iffy at this point. Iggy and Aviles are clearly not the same kind of player. If the Sox see this stretch of tough, well pitched low scoring games continuing for some period (which could be true this month) then Iggy would likely help this team have a better chance to win than Aviles. It is in these low scoring games where a missed play or an error or a great defensive play for that matter can really make a big difference that might make it worth a shot....particularly since we are tossing so many guys into the outfield. Mike might be just fine in the outfield if you want his bat and Iggy's glove in the lineup. Mike is not really tearing the cover off the ball right now but I could still maybe see him play a few games in the outfield particularly while still waiting for Ells and CC to come back. So maybe....MAYBE there is a chance for Iggy to contribute. Lavarnway vs Salty....I would say at this point, even with all of the grief that I have given Salty, I think Salty deserves to play out his current approach to plate appearances a little farther before deciding to pull the plug and do something like bring up Lavs. In the first place, everybody has been saying that at least today, Lavs is not a defensive upgrade over Salty. I don't know if he is or not. If he was then that would make for a completely different story for me. In truth, since that disaster of a game for Salty where Cook was injured and Salty looked about as terrible as could be, Salty has been better in the field. There are still things he does very poorly and I have to think some additional really ugly defensive plays are always right around the corner with Salty. But again, nobody is saying that Lavs is better at this point. As for handling pitchers, well I guess Salty is not everybody's favorite catcher. However can we really say with any surety that a young kid that would be a new guy behind the plate would really instill confidence in the pitchers at this point? Now the last week to ten days it has looked like pitchers are starting to adjust to Salty's new approach toward plate appearances and Salty has not been making contact as much. If they have Salty's number at this point and this is what we are going to have for the remainder of the year, then I would say yes to bringing up and playing Lavs. I would be willing to give this a couple weeks before giving up, not because of anything Salty did or did not do last year. I would do it because Salty has opened the door to the possibility that he could become a real HR threat. That is a classic offensive approach for a catcher. You really don't want them on the base paths. A catcher with a low BA but serious power numbers is an asset. My God I cannot believe I am talking about Salty in terms of being an asset but again without any evidence that Lavs would be a defensive upgrade or a preference for the pitchers, I would continue to go with Salty for now and spot Shop against the LH pitchers. As I said in a different post, to me there is an element to this that also makes getting more fresh blood in the lineup worth a try. We do seem to get a more cohesive baseball effort with fewer of the "old guard" vets that have guaranteed contracts and tend to play the game the way they want to play it individually when they are in the lineup. That is likely worth something in these close, well pitched games. Clearly we would not be talking about any of this if we were not struggling to win games.

Abraham petitioning this morning for a complete housecleaning down at Fenway. He asks the question "If the Sox lineup included WMB, Lavarnway, Iggy and Kalish would we as fans care more about this team. As part of the question, Abraham suggests that some degree of apathy is setting in amongst fans that are beginning to lose hope. For my part, I am not sure I would be more interested because it is hard for me not to be interested. However I do think I would enjoy the baseball I would be seeing more. I think it would be a better brand of baseball and presuming the Sox will continue to meet teams with good pitching, it would be more of a team designed to compete and push across runs, something it does not do well currently.

It is so painfully obvious that the young guys provide a much more cohesive, athletic effort. While baseball is not the most athletic of team sports, maybe that is why younger athletes provide such a spark. They are also more schooled as players in the sense that they have not grown to be somewhat insistent on playing to their own tendencies and their own preferences. Their coaches in AAA kick their asses for playing that way. So the result is also a more cohesive effort than you get when up and down the lineup you have these crusty veterans that may individually be talented but really do not give you a cohesive effort game in and game out. I think in part this is why the Sox subs have done such a good job of replacing the numbers you would expect from the injured regulars. They are not as talented by and large with the exception of guys like WMB but you get a more cohesive team effort. In these games dominated by pitching you have to find ways to push runs across. You are not going to be able to wait for some big gun to come up and hit you a three run bomb. You have to be able to push runners along and push runs across. The Sox do not do a good job of playing ball that way. But when they do, generally it is because guys like Nava or WMB or even Pods who is a veteran but has been spending most of his time of late at the AAA level are filling the holes between the regulars and providing just enough of a cohesive baseball effort.

I did not mean to imply that Buch is as yet our "stopper" for the year. But he did stop this particular slide and to be honest, nobody else in the rotation has really done that that this year before this game. Will that be Buch's legacy for the season? Might be. Nobody else is taking the bull by the horns...nobody else seems to even want the job.

This team just plays better with WMB in the game. He did not light it up but he did go 1/4 and scored 1 of the 2 Red Sox runs on the night...was a big part of the only rally the Sox had tonight. I am to the point now were I am going to have a hard time understanding why the Sox don't just throw in the towel on trying to increase Youk's trade value. I just don't see that picture changing all that much and it keeps WMB out of the lineup. Either that or maybe it is time for a more realistic attitude toward what AGons can actually do at present to help this team win games. Maybe they should start rotating Youk and AGons so both guys get to play but not so often playing in the same game. It would only be temporary anyway as it would last as long as it takes to finally move Youk somewhere for something.

Who would have thunk it...Buch becomes our stopper. Almost afraid to call him that. The way this team goes I might have just doomed him to the power of the mighty diseased thumb. Every team gets injuries which is why combined with the performances of the subs I refuse to use the injury excuse. But I have never seen so many thumbs go bad on one team in one season before.

Not that V necessarily managed a gem tonight but you could make the case that V out-managed Ozzie tonight. Marlins should have gotten their runner to 2nd couple times tonight and Ozzie had them planted on 1st. Then Reyes ran into that out at home. Not sure if the 3rd base coach waved him around or if Reyes just went on his own. A win...the baseball gods have mercy

Manny...ya right jung....I meant Ozzie

Your ahead ace...make him chase

Nice pitch Ace. Manny should have been playing for a tie at home and had him bunting with no outs. Thanks again Manny

They actually should be able to mandate the umps position behind the catcher. Should not be an issue.

As a first order of business I want the umps to station themselves in the same place one home plate ump to the next and my preference would be such that outside pitches are not such a complete guess. However even if baseball decided to make that over the inside shoulder location mandatory at least they would then have a shot at training umps specifically for the strike zone they want.

An insurance run might be devastating here. Miami does not have that kind of offense.

Ramirez did make that closer than I thought he would

Thank you Padilla...thank you God.....thank you Manny for not having had that guy steal 2nd ahead of that bloop hit

Oh God I did not like the looks of that

Not real anxious to see Ramirez here but at least it is righty righty

By Dobbs

Well Miami has been pretty good at manufacturing runs so far. So it would seem to me they definitely have a shot at tying this thing. Go Vicente!