jung

Eck is so desperate for something good to happen. I really miss Rem-dog. He is still a NESN homer cause he has to be but you get the feeling from Remy that if he was on the forum with us he would be right there with us. Really worried about Rem-dog by the way.

Wrong oh new guy....he has already given up a homer tonight. By the way, welcome to the forum.

Keep teein' them up Jon...maybe they will miss one.

Honestly I am losing my patience with Lester. He is a 1 like my grandmother is. I have had pretty easy to meet expectations for him cause I did not expect as much as some might have but he is even performing below my expectations.

Good hitting by the Sox that inning....Chen is lucky to still be alive. Hope the O's keep him in long enough for the Sox to pound the s*** out of him.

I can't believe Chen got away with that. Came in there 3 times in a row and Cody just missed it. Got a run anyway.

Ross likes it there almost like a LH hitter...unhappy he missed that

Well no sense in beating my dead horse but there is very likely a correlation between their lack of success with RISP and their approach at the plate. But hey we get a run here so I will take it. At least Popi got it to the right side of the plate on a tough pitch to handle.

Wonder if anybody said anything in the clubhouse before this game...like we need to kick these O's in the nuts.

Love the way Pedey just waits to get that ball up and inside....O's are lucky that is not in the monster seats.

There he goes....Agons takes it to left!

I agree with that. Seeing a guy go over the bull pen wall is one thing. Seeing a guy with his head stuck in one of the bottom of the 3rd spots on the score board is a bit more embarrassing:D:D

I hate these umps that will only give up high strikes. They just f*** up everything the pitcher are trying to do.

That is not a strike? That has been a strike for two weeks. What the f*** is this now.

C'mon Jon why don't you just put them up there on a tee

Well Geez I literally just sat down from doing some yard work...saw us up by one and bang.....monster shot on a ball right down main street. Maybe I should go back out and work in the dark?

It is frustrating to see the Yanks with multiple options to choose from here. They lose the god of closing and now get to pick from two guys that could really turn out quite good regardless of which one they pick......Arghhhhhhhhh

Now this I do agree with. I don't think anybody else has got this sell out watch thing goin' on. Clearly the Sox are using this as a marketing tool in an effort to highlight the value of the brand and continually reinforce the notion of the scarcity of tickets. I am sure it has an impact on advance ticket sales with folks who are planning on traveling to see Fenway and see baseball games compelled to buy their tickets early or see their whole travel plan go down the tubes. I also think that Fenway expansion has been carefully planned and the whole thing has been an integrated and carefully orchestrated marketing scheme.

Man if Youk is still carrying that one around he must have an ulcer named 3rd base eating away at his stomach lining. I have often thought that you could really make a case that the Sox would have been better off with Youk at 1st and keeping Beltre. They would be more balanced. It would likely be a more powerful lineup, especially with Ortiz still in it. They would not have Agons. Youk's decline has been much discussed here and if in fact this is the rapid decent of Youk then bringing in AGons instead of keeping Beltre seems like it was the right thing to do. The Ist base version of WMB is not really bangin' around down there in Pawtucket I don't think. I am not sure that what is happening to Youk as far as decline is concerned would have been much altered by his being at 1st instead of 3rd. I think he would have been happier over there but I would have a hard time finding a way to tie that to his problems at the plate. Then again, if the Sox had kept Beltre leaving them hunting for a 1st baseman as Youk declined, who would they have had to pick from then......Prince......Albert......Cuddyer....ouch!!!! So the lineup could have been, Ells, CC, Pedey, Prince/Albert, Ortiz, Beltre, Aviles, Sweeney/Ross, Salty/Shoppach.......Holy s***! Even if you take CC out of there, a deal I hated from day one, or insert a more classical SS, that is one hell of a line up.

As it turns out Mike Shalin is the co-author on the Oil Can book, the same guy that did the Mattingly book I think.

Damn forgot about that Gringo. That got a lotta' play at the time also and Youk was clearly not happy. I guess I lost track of that one because I figured they would have to put that one behind them....maybe not though. I was thinkin' maybe I missed something more recent than that but that could definitely have left a mark that is not healing.

I would bet that this will cease to be high on the Sox list of things to do once they pass Portland which I guess would be next year. Nobody denies that they do not use a Webster's dictionary definition of sell out but I don't think professional sports team do generally. In fact it would not surprise me in the least to find that there is a league standard definition for "sell out" since you would think teams would want a level playing field in that regard...especially teams that are in close geographic proximity. All by way of saying that I would think the Sox are using what is used in MLB with the fudge factor actually being those comp tickets that are just sitting there. I always thought that the "fudge factor" was in the tickets sold to ticket agencies and whatever number are not sold through but the guy interviewed in the article sort of shot that down. Clearly one data point is not really meaningful but I have always wondered if there isn't some inside deal between the ticket agencies and the ball clubs. However, I also think that if there was such a thing, given the amount of scrutiny this thing is getting, the media would have uncovered it by now.

Wondering if you saw something suggesting that Youk and V are not on the best of terms...not doubting you. The more I think about it the more I could find a good reason for those guys to rub each other the wrong way just by walking into the same room. But maybe you saw something specific that I missed. So I thought I would ask.

I think it is the SO and BB ratio that teams find intolerable. 2010 he went 117 SO and 31 BB. It is hard to even try to amass those numbers for a ratio not being a power hitter I think. Ya' just about gotta' insist that you are not going to draw a walk to do it. So I think teams sort of resigned themselves to Alex being a fill in, somebody they would use until they found somebody else more tolerant of just taking four balls and walkin' down to first base.

Yea, that might be an old Tri-states thing....grew up in Fairfield County, CT....enemy territory...behind the lines for to long!