jung

The system of FA especially at the top is really based on the notion that these great ballplayers are just going to move to their new teams and pick right up where they left off. There is no question that Albert is a great ballplayer. I would hate to find out that he is a paper tiger caught up in the steroid thing. I don't think that is the issue just like it is not the issue for CC. But the assumption that they are just going to move to their new teams, new leagues, new stadiums and just be fine appears to be the fly in the ointment. Maybe they will and maybe they won't. If things don't work out with a player on one of these monster deals boy the team is on the hook for a ton of money.

What did Punto end up losing his bat. C'mon he can't hit with it. He has to bean somebody with it. Christ package his ass up with Salty and d-mac and send the three of them somewhere....anywhere!

I wonder how much of a parallel there is between what CC went through last year and what Albert is going through this year. You may well be right Wyo. Teams just throw money at these guys expecting they are going to play as they are paid and they might be way better served letting these monster deals just go by. What the hell are the Angels really going to do at this point. Does anybody here think they are going to turn it around to such a degree that they can compete with the Rangers? I don't think so.

Don and Gammons are just having an MLB sports center show. The game has become background noise for them. Don said "we will continue our discussion after this commercial break". Never mind there is a game going on. Unbelievable.

Remember couple weeks ago...V was talking about hitting bottom. Well I think he was wrong....that was not the bottom. This is the bottom. How much you want to be there will be another owners/managers meeting tonight?

Get him the f*** out of here....have him take the God damn catching gear off and put him on a bus.

I know I am just venting but I almost wonder if it would do these guys some good to have somebody sent right down that was on the opening day roster. It is not at all uncommon in the NFL, particularly with the Patriots that if the team is stinking up the joint this badly, somebody just gets tossed on the practice squad or is just cut. They have injuries, there is a lot going wrong but they have to cobble together a way to at least compete in games and I think they are looking like they are an eyelash away from not competing in games. The O's smell blood in the water and they have played like it for two days now.

I so want Salty out of here. I just cannot take him anymore. Package him up with d-mac and see if Waste Management has a baseball team that wants them.

Up and in no less...why not put it on a tee? He looked shocked. What did he expect to luck out and have the guy miss that pitch?

We don't even get to learn anything from this. Doubt this is he real Cook because he is trying to pitch around having half his leg hanging by a thread (literally).

I am just so sick right now...I really mean it...I am truly sick watching this s***. I don't even think I can watch sober anymore.

That hanging pitch for the HR looked like it slipped out of Cook's hand.

I am beginning to think the Sox won't have a choice..Salty is actually regressing as unlikely as that sounds.

Salty is like a cat coming out of that crouch....unfortunately its Garfield.

For once...I'm with Josh

Thanks. I think Cook has worked to hard to get here..probably have to near kill him to get him out of this game...then again Salty does have seven more innings.

Did anybody here is WMB is a hamstring pull or something like that? Does he just need a day or two of healing...anybody know?

When are they just going to give up on Salty...great...run scores....Cook is hurt....I am having a hard time keeping from just going off on Salty right now.

At least AGons is getting his left field thing going as opposed to missing those pitches on the outer third of the plate.

I have got to admit that I got pretty close to not even thinkin' about this idea any longer because it seemed to me that V or the Sox in general have been reluctant to try Aviles out there even though he put in extra time in the offseason getting more outfield seasoning. Figured if the Sox were not going to even give Mike a shot out there, that was that. But d-mac is so terrible and if we had not sent Iggy down a couple of days ago, the Sox had everything in place to give this a try, including Cook starting today. So it is not at all something like giving up on the season nor is it a panic move. Injuries have created an opportunity to make enough changes to end up playing a different brand of baseball with those guys on the field and that has got to be worth a shot I would think. It does not end up requiring that the Sox take Aviles and his bat off the field to end up with a really great defensive infield, more speed and hopefully the ability to play a somewhat different brand of baseball. The Sox would likely end up with an upgrade defensively in the outfield as well because of Aviles arm. I would bet that the Sox would be already trying this but they must be really reluctant to give Aviles a try in the outfield. I sure don't know why under the circumstances but that is probably the fly in the ointment.

I think Ortiz will keep it up, maybe not at this torrid pace because who can keep up such a pace. However he knows he cannot hit that high inside pitch. If pitchers throw it for a strike with two strikes he has not choice but to swing at it but I do think he will stop swinging at it with less than two strikes. He just started getting snookered by that pitch again but like I said he is absolutely convinced that swinging at that pitch was a huge contributor to his problems last year and watching him swing at again the last day or two brings back memories for me also. I am totally convinced he will get that under control.

Time for reinforcements...not because the season is shot but because the Sox are playing stupid, uninspired baseball and they are just going to throw away baseball games playing like this. They can't wait for CC and Ells to get back because it will be to late by then. While the pitching has been an easy target I for one don't understand why people expected so much from these starters. Lester has choked on the responsibilities of a #1 for two years running now. Never mind the "its early ********". He was supposed to step up to the task last year and things are no better this year...may even be worse. NESN homer Gammons somehow came out of tonight's game declaring that Lester looks like he is ready to go on a run...based on what? Beckett is a solid 2. Buch is in my view not going to return to the lofty position he had a couple years ago. Our highlights are at 4 and 5 but when your highlights are at 4 and 5 that tells you how bad things are. Anyway I don't see it and didn't before the season started. They are not disappointing me yet because I did not expect that much of them. For me the issue is the offense. This team was designed to win with offense and the offense is simply not good enough. They are good hitters but they are not smart hitters and good hitters will not get you that far. d-mac is a joke. Salty is d-mac with power (if and when he connects). Ross is starting to come down to earth as is Aviles. Ortiz is beginning to swing at high inside pitches again. That is not his pitch and is the pitch that by his own admission was his downfall. AGons is finding his Fenway stroke again which is a good sign. Frankly none of this is enough. It is time to bring up Iggy and move Aviles to the outfield which allows us to get rid of d-mac. Aviles immediately becomes the best and in fact only arm they would have in the outfield. We knew that they had no arms in the outfield to begin and they still won't when CC and Ells return. Notice how far home plate seems from anywhere a Sox outfielder throws the ball? This keeps Aviles bat in the lineup and gives us Iggy at SS. Iggy for d-mac is a wash offensively. Then lets bring up Lavarnway. Salty is done. He can't hit and can't field. It is time. We end up with WMB, Iggy, Pedey and Agons around the horn. Aviles, Byrd and Sweeney or Ross would man the outfield. Shoppach or Lavarnway behind the plate. Ross is beginning to come down to earth and the ball is finding him wherever he is in the outfield. His defense has been putrid and Sweeney's is not much better. It is time to get some young aggressive guys playing for these Red Sox. These slumbering, lumbering vets are not getting it done. Agons is coming around a little at the plate but shows no signs of any power and now has started to make dumb plays in the field. At least with WMB, Iggy and Pedey minding the left side and middle infield we will have an exciting defense that will inspire our pitchers and will make life way easier for our newest guy, Cook. At least with Aviles out there we will have one good outfield arm. That is one more than we have now. Time for this team to start to play baseball a different way because the way they are playing now isn't workin'. As far as the offense is concerned we should be just about the same as far as power is concerned but with much better speed and more ability to move runners. Our defense would be much improved and we can look forward to stopping some of the utter nonsense going on particularly in the outfield. This may have the added advantage of saving Pedey's life as he is about to have a coronary. I don't know how many people got a chance to see Pedey leaving the dugout after tonight's loss. I just got a lucky glimpse of him. I would be totally shocked if he did not lose it when he finally got into the clubhouse tonight. I have never seen him that frustrated and angry leaving the dugout. V caught it and tried to give Pedey a little pat on the behind but Pedey was having none of it.

I think we might have said the same thing two different ways. I think his BB/SO ratio was a direct result of his cluelessness at the plate. His BB/SO was outrageously bad. It would be hard for anybody to match that but Iggy may never be a much better hitter if you look at OBP and OPS. To be fair to Iggy he might better that OBP and OPS because it was terrible, but probably not by much at the rate he is going and I don't think Iggy can get his BA up to something like .280's. That would be a hell of an increase.

You can't look at the play Hardy made and call it luck. In the first place you have no f***ing idea if that is the only play he has ever made like that. Have you seen every ball ever hit to Hardy in his entire career?....I doubt it. He made a great play. It does not matter one iota how many times he has made that play before or how many times he has not. That time he made a great play. Sure there are dribbler here and bouncers there but you seem to look at every play that does not go the Sox way and call it bad luck and then use the "logic" that the player has never made that play before to justify your position. In the first place you don't know if the player has never made a great play before and in the second place is just doesn't matter. He made one then and that is all there is.

Oh for Christ sake it is just silly I am sorry. You don't win and lose games because the other guys have a better genie in their lamp. So what...that was a great play by Albers bending down and s*** f***in luck by Hardy? A play is a play. All this bad luck horse s*** is just honestly silly. It is not like Hardy was just standing there and the ball found his glove. At the rate you are going you are just going to convince yourself that the Sox got f***ed out of every game they lose this season. My favorite Bill Parcells line (different sport) is "you are what you are". Ya' win what you win and you lose what you lose and that is all there is.