jung

Man what was that?

Wow that 2-0 looked like a strike to Pedey

two innings....2 DP's

Wow what an enthusiastic crowd....zzzzzzzzz

Salty goes yard. Salty likes it there. This guy may be tailor made for Salty.

This guy is unreal. That pitch to Youk was a strike in the first inning. I guess I am glad he is starting to work to a more "normal" zone but ump inconsistency drives hitters nuts.

Ortiz seems to be able to hit the ball wherever he wants. That one was unbelievable

Why was that not strike 3?

Needed that...would be great to get out of this first inning with the lead

We have had inconsistent umps all year. More disparity on balls and strikes this year than I am used to seeing.

Hey at least we got em for a run in the first. If Lester comes out and puts them away in the first that will be just fine.

Good hitting Pedey!

Man this guy has to keep the ball down and he seems determined to do so.

Lead off hitter on....jumped on that pitch

Did not appear to me that the Sox had any plans for Bowden even needing pitching. Works pretty good for them since the Cubs are even paying Byrd's salary.

All the Boston outlets picked up the story and ran with it as well. Who the hell knows! Could be anything from true down to a complete fabrication.

The way they have stacked Pedey and Agons may finally be a response to Agons swinging at just about every first pitch he sees in an at bat. Pedey is generally more patient and more selective and that difference may well have him third and Agons 4th.

That should be an interesting "Hello how are ya" between the two of them.

Money solves most problems in baseball. That said I don't see a good reason not to bring him here by May 1st if they are going to bring him here. The timing may not be perfect and for the right money if they wanted 2 weeks or something like that out of him, I would be surprised if he did not give it to them.

They have to either bring Cook up before May 1st or they have to sign something like an extended contract with him or maybe even a different contract. The point being if they don't want to bring him up by the 1st but want to keep him if he is agreeable, they can do it via a contract.

Ya' in fact he is going to be in the Sox outfield tonight. So they are wasting no time getting him on the field. and Yes, Cubs are covering 100% of his salary.

Cubs are paying ALL of Byrd's salary. So all the Sox gave up was a pitcher that they decided simply did not fit into their plans even with all their pitching problems. Theo just loves to off players and continue to pay their salaries. At least now he is doing it for somebody else.

It is clear that the worst part of the team is the bullpen. I am not real happy with 1,2,3 in the rotation or at least not with 3 and 1 is simply unproven as a 1. Tonight could change that. However Lester had opportunities last year to step up like a 1 and it did not happen. Really Buch worries me. He has not had healthy years. His weight is up and down. His weight is down this year but it is so far down he looks like a rail...thinner than I have ever seen him. At the end of the day, lets say they end up with a mediocre pen. Lets say the rotation stands pat, no better or worse than we have seen. The pen is so bad that moving Bard there is a move that begins to take them toward mediocre but it robs the rotation of one of the two effective starters they have had as Bard looks very competitive with other 5's. There is little to no chance that Cook will be better. However he could be adequate. So I can buy status quo for the rotation. Lets say the defense is no better and no worse than we have seen. OK now we are down to the offense. Last year that was arguably if not in fact the best offense in the league. They have at least marginally gone in the wrong direction in that Youk has got some real issues. Ortiz is red hot but Ortiz makes his living hitting. So you had to figure on him hitting or you don't have a shot. You had to figure on Youk hitting for that matter. The real difference is the improvements other teams have made while the Sox maybe only marginally have gone the wrong way. The point being even with Ells and CC this is not going to be the best offense in the league this year. It would be fortunate to end up 3rd with 4th more likely. How does that translate into 92-95 wins and a post season appearance? We should remind ourselves that at his best, CC is not Ells. So lets not be thinkin' that if CC comes back strong, we have Ells x 2. While we are on Ells, he will very likely come back slowly this year. Granted other teams should likely have their injury issues as well. However when I look at what the Sox bring to the table, it is hard to find a rational for them doing any better than the 2nd WC birth and frankly I think it will be a struggle to make that. Ortiz is carrying this team just to look at one issue. What are they gonna' do when they are playing the interleague games in NL parks? That should work out great! We keep saying it is early, it is early but the winning percentage we need just to win 92 games keeps climbing as the losses pile up. So since this is a team built around its offense and I cannot find a way to define them better than 3rd in the league and more likely 4th, I worry at the end of the day about the offense because even if we get the pen to mediocre and everything else stays the same, that does not look like 92 wins to me in this year's AL.

Ain't that the truth Doj

I don't think this is about a lack of heart or effort on Youk's part. I think he has aged prematurely....has suffered from being forced to play 3rd instead if 1st and I don't think he has helped himself with this off season weight lifting program which is something he has not done before. 3rd is not the best position for Youk and as he has slowed, his range has diminished. Of the things you can see, you can see that his bat is noticeably slower. That could be a direct result of the weight lifting program in the off season. The other thing you can see clearly is that the former king of walks no longer draws walks. Don't think that has anything to do with the off season weight lifting but clearly he is not drawing walks. As a team, they are playing piss poor baseball in all aspects of the game. In some cases better play was not expected. In other cases, better play should have been expected. Their offense has sucked, their defense has sucked and their pitching defies description. Pitching, the acknowledged most important element of the game defies description.