jung

Well I may just be looking for any reason to be optimistic but it seems to me that Atch does best when he is supposed to come in and throw strikes....he seems to throw loose and easy...by that I mean is that if they bring him in with runners on, needing to cut it kinda' fine he really struggles with that. He seems to be a bring me in without much of a jam to deal with kinda' pitcher.

Boy, did not take Darvish long to get it in gear.

See that Jenny promo "Middlebrooks killing it" Wonder how much the Sox use NESN these days to pave the way?

Hey Gardenhire, how is that Doumit behind home plate thing workin' for ya'?

I wonder if that multicolor lit scoreboard thing is distracting for the fielders on plays where they turn away from home plate and run toward the warning path....looks distracting as hell on TV. I think I would want my money back if I were the Twins.

The issue is not having offense The issue is a) having enough offense to stay ahead of the pitching staff having enough offense to stay ahead of the other great offenses in this year's version of the AL. What you think these Twin pitchers would be mowing down the Rangers, the Tigers or the Yanks?

The Gardenhire fan club is beginning to be heard from. Where is his police escort.

Geez if I were the Twins I would be tempted to dynamite this new park and start over again. It does not favor Mauer and everything seems to find a way to bounce away from their fielders here or like that one, not bounce at all and stick at the bottom of the wall!

Not sure what the Twins think the are doing at the plate. Twins started a pitcher that has not done well against the Sox and has a bad shoulder....had Beckett with close to 40 pitches after the 1st inning and have been nitwits at the plate since then. Now the Twins are trotting out their bullpen guys and they appear to be providing no relief. The only shot the Twins had tonight was to find a way to go toe to toe and try to slug with the Sox and they let the best shot they had at that go by the boards. Now with any luck by the time they even get to our pen we will be into double digits.

Hey V are ya' sorry you did not have Mike bunting that time?

David Ortiz for President

Boy I don't know. I can't see Aviles taking the bat out of his own hands after strokin' that guy in the first inning.

Geez what a weird half inning. Aviles owned that guy in the first inning and he is bunting here? What are ya' lookin' at V.

Doumit really bailed Beckett out that inning. What a hideous at bat with the bases loaded with a pitcher having difficulty throwing strikes.

I actually think this is a result more than anything else. They do seem to work well together and I think the LH pitchers streak from opponents resulted in the two of them hooking up.

Yes it is. I think Shop is officially Beck's Boy now

Reminds me of the movie Alien where Sigourney Weaver in an effort to understand what this Alien is and how to deal with it asks the ships Science officer Ash "anything from Mother" "the nickname for ships computer". Ash responds "We are still collating". That did not work out well as I remember it.

I don't know for sure either but I think he has some time to go yet. Some of these relief guys are so piss poor given that Cook has had some "success" I don't think they have a choice but to at least try Cook in that role and then bounce him if it does not work out. He might be more of a change of pace from whoever starts the game than Padilla is/was/whatever. Almost wonder if that is one real issue with Padilla. His stuff seems to desert him at times, in fact much more than makes me comfortable yet he throws something like a power pitching starter. When he comes in and his stuff is nothing he is just meat...it appears anyway. He does not provide enough of a change of pace from the starter. Change of pace can be a good way to get through the lineup one time. Padilla does not have anything to use to beat ML hitters when his stuff is just not there and he is not a change of pace.

Is Miller sound at this point. I thought he had some time to go before he is sound again...No?????

If Buch is confirmed injured, putting Cook in his spot is a thought but I would not take that risk unless Buch is in fact injured. Cook will not survive the AL East in general and may not able to survive anybody pitching at Fenway. One turn through lineups in a relief role is all I can convince myself he is capable of doing without getting lit up like a Christmas tree.

The ONLY thing that recommends Cook in my mind is that the Sox have bullpen arms that are currently abysmal, not mediocre, not bad but abysmal. I suspect they will bring Cook up as opposed to just seeing him fritter away mainly because the risk that he is worse than some of the current crop of relief guys is relatively small. I think they bring him up and try him in long relief....some kind of role where he gets one turn through the lineup at most and can can come in as a change of pace. I don't even think he will survive two turns through ML lineups. To me, that is what his "success" in Pawtucket says. If he fails, then do what you want to do with him at that point. But they are fighting this time element on Cook and he has surely pitched well enough to get a shot at least in relief given the state of Red Sox relief pitching at present.

Aceves is so all over the place we don't know at the moment what to expect. His last outing against the Yanks he was panic stricken and aiming the ball for the first time I have ever seen from him. Last night he went the other way and was overthrowing it a bit. However you could clearly see which is the greater sin. Had he been throwing that crap last night that he threw against the Yanks I doubt the result would have been much better. Many of those pitches against the Yanks were as God awful as anything I have seen tossed up there by a major league pitcher. I suspect since those two performances where back to back that overthrowing a bit was a response to aiming it the time before. He needs to find his grove and find his balls as well. He talks a good game about being fearless but he was far from fearless in that outing against the Yanks.

In my case I have lumped the FO in with Upper Management because I don't think it possible to separate them at least in the Sox organization, thanks to Mr LL in the main. In my view, that group together in the way it has handled the departures of Theo and Tito, the Managerial hiring, the entire s*** storm that is V, PR in general combined with ill advised signings that have strapped this team with financial obligations preventing it from making additional moves puts them in for 35% of the blame. Had I chosen to segregate the FO I would not be able to assign that much blame to them. However in the whacky world of the Red Sox, segregating the FO is not possible. I fail to see how in fact we can select guys like Theo and BC is assign significant amounts of blame to them. They are birds of a feather neither having much organizational room beyond being allowed to select which hand they use to whip their asses.

Cook will have to come up. They are to thin in pitching to let the guy go. That said, he does not have the kind of stuff that survives the AL East. It is an odd situation. They have a full month were they will really not be challenged by the offensive metal of the league which makes it a good time to bring Cook into the picture. How they use him will remain to be seen. However they have to get him here and likely will send down one of the arms that is really not doing anything for them. Would not be surprised to see him in long relief as a possibility. This starting pitching looks like it will need long relief all season long. It looks like at least Lester will leave more innings on the table than we might have thought initially. Buch is likely to leave some innings on the table and Beckett has not gone deep into games that much in the last few years. As well as the 4 and 5 have pitched, they will leave some innings on the table. If they did not they would not be the 4 and the 5. Another possibility for later in the year might be to trade Cook to a team where he is a better fit in an effort to get back a pitcher that is a better fit here. Whatever happens, if they handle this right Cook could turn out to be a real benefit.

Ross is a very good roll player. Very tough, hard nosed player. Granted he is a bit of a defensive liability but he is another dirt dog. We like those. To be sure, AL scouts and pitching coaches are calling what friends they have in the NL to see how they should throw to him. They are making it just a bit to easy for him right now this first turn through the AL. Lets face it, if he could really hit like this all the time he would be all star team every year and on the way to the HOF. I think he will be a valuable member of this team the entire year, just not at this pace. Talksox has for the most part thought it the best off season signing the Sox made and I see nothing that argues the other way.