jung

I think that is a good move by V at this point to put Pods on the base paths for AGons

Sox need to get some runs bottom of this inning. Don't need to spoil a good pitching performance.

I don't believe in the elite set up man either. I think the "elite set up" man is similar to the "dedicated DH" the latter of which is in sharp decline. The elite set up man is a consequence of some teams ending up with an abundance of 1 inning pitching talent just like the dedicated DH is now the consequence of a few teams having a good enough hitter no longer really capable of filling a role in the field to justify having him always fill the DH spot. Once players fitting the role of "elite set up man" were given that catchy moniker, they became something for some folks to admire and in some cases desire. However once you go down the road of defining it as such you are one or two steps away from paying for it as well. Seeking an elite set up man is about one step more foolish than paying a closer mid-8 figures over four years to pitch 60 odd innings a year. I have come to believe that there is a back office at the MLB Player's Association headquarters totally dedicated to the task of cranking out these catchy monikers for player types that at other times would have been called things like "failed starting pitcher" as a means of cranking up salaries even more than they are today. Pretty soon we will have things like "elite middle reliever" and "super pinch hitter" and before you know it we will see postings from folks telling us that we are doomed to second tier status if we don't have an elite middle reliever or a super pinch hitter. The whole thing is ridiculous. As far as pitching goes I think baseball organizations are catching on to the Nolan Ryan thing. It appears to me that across baseball, starting pitchers in general have begun this season with higher pitch count numbers than they have started with in recent seasons. It looks like starting pitchers for the most part has started their seasons this year with 100 pitch, pitch count numbers which would suggest that they will be above that number maybe by 15 or so pitches later in the season. Seems to me that 85-90 pitches was more the norm for early season starts in the past. Who knows....maybe if it is real and sustainable that will translate into a 0.25 or 0.50 increase in innings pitched per start for starting pitchers just this year which would go a long way to nipping this elite set up man stuff in the bud. In fact I think higher pitch counts for starting pitchers should be a natural consequence of lower power numbers as we continue through the post steroid era. I don't see any 70 HR hitters looming out there on the immediate horizon. Josh Hamilton has 21 HR's through a 3rd of the season but accomplished that by hitting 2, 3 and 4 HR's on successive days against the Orioles in May. Next highest in the AL is 18. High in the NL is Beltran with 15 so far. Does make me wonder how much the steroid era truly did screw up baseball not only as far as season and career stats go but even as far as defining roles for players like relief pitchers and starting pitchers. Obviously I am of the school of steroids having helped hitters much more than it did pitchers.

I think WMB needs to be playing and considering how they are going at this point I might consider platooning Agons and Youk at 1st for a little while depending on when we are going to get more offense back in the form of Ells and CC or even Ross for that matter. Boston fans will absolutely go wild at the thought of such high visibility stars being platooned so WMB can play but I really don't know how to justify having them play and WMB sit other than their salaries.

Well nuts! Would have loved taking the first game of this series from the O's. I am worried about this month for sure.

Hopefully the pen does not fall to a complete opposite end of the poles deal cause I think they were pitching as good as they could pitch for a period there. Hate to see what it looks like if they pitch as poorly as they can pitch.

kaps is right though....pen has been unreal for about a month now. They were bound to come off that peak at some point.

Wow...hope the pen is getting all of this out of their system in one night....

From about one month ago, Salty has been swinging to go yard every at bat...every swing....but in fact that is exactly what I think Salty should do. However I think you want to realize that before naming him a likely DH. Maybe it would be OK but when he climbs off this peak he has been on, he is likely to K a good deal as a consequence of swinging like that every swing. Enjoy it while it lasts though...happy for Salty especially since I have given him so much s***.

Well like I said...baserunner and a dinger. I thought the guy's hat was on the home run side of the wall myself. Hope I am right.

Ya the bull pen did give up runs but I don't think you will win many games in this park scoring four runs.

No question 700...frustrating to have the plate setters setting and nothing after that.

I had kinda' given Pedey a pass tonight. Not sure he was going to do much first game back.

Somebody just yelled "Mrs Jones" at Adam.

Hopefully Ells gets back and can do something. As much as we worried about batting from the right side before the season started, with Agons slumping, and without Ells, seems more like we suffer from the left side unless Ortiz is having one of his ballistic nights and Nava chips in. The other guys get a RH pitcher going and we get pretty wimpy looking at times. Our pen seems now to always excel at innings that they start but still have some trouble getting out of jams if they come in with runners part way through an inning...seems like anyway.

Well the way this game is going I would feel like it is over if the O's score one more run. If we can tie with a base hit and a dinger then we might have a shot. We just don't seem to be doing enough with the bats tonight so if the O's get up by three........

Geez Sweeney how can you take that with two strikes???? Holy Cow.

Damn that was a great green light pitch to the LH hitter to do something with.....not that Sweeney would put it out but who knows

All we need is a baserunner and a dinger and we are back to square 1 with last bats....can't be all bad. And there is the baserunner!

Slipped over to Heat Celts for a minute. Bosh has definitely been a factor off the bench for the Heat. Sucks.

Wonder if Sweeney got a bad jump. Seemed like he should have had more of a shot at that bloop to RF but that is about the hardest thing to tell watching on TV.

"Thanks for the memories"....Bog Hope's theme song I think....geez I am embarrassed to know that.

I don't know why Lester seems so distracted. I know that is an earned run that goes to him but geez, his team is still in the game....He won't get the win now but I don't think there are any other runners on that belong to him. The Sox could easily win this game. The way V reacted to Lester after Mike's error really has me wondering if V has seen something that makes this "attitude" thing Lester has going lately a real concern. Lester claims to know about these issues but knowing has not apparently moved to solving.

C'mon Atch...this would be a bad spot for a yuk stint.

I think what torques people off is that AGons seems totally stubborn about this early swings thing now...almost like he is reading his press clippings (even the media has caught on) and telling the world to f*** off....but career numbers or no it is just a stupid way to play baseball. I know that is what torques me off, not the slump. I was a no talent bum that had to be smart at the plate or I was just a total FAIL. So it is pretty tough for me to watch a guy with all that talent just do this s*** cause in reality even if you have talent up the ying yang it is just bad baseball.