FredLynn

I would imagine that its pretty demoralizing to the batters to see their SP go out and surrender four runs after just 28 pitches, throwing meatballs up there for all 28, while they know that they will have a huge battle on their hands against a quality SP. Gotta get rid of DiceK. Lose any more ground to the Yankees and we should just clean house by the deadline.

Enjoy the game. I am going to switch venues.....gotta win the next two now.

DiceK must go. Thats the most important thing right now.

All I can say is this: winning the next two games is mandatory now. Tough position to be in.

Where do you see this team finishing this year? I am thinking third place again.

I thought I was pretty clear about my opinion on yesterday's game thread. Here it is, for what its worth: given the number of remaining games, I think we still have a chance to overtake the Yankees, though its slim. If we get further behind by (pick your number of games-I chose 9 right now and as more games are played I will reduce that number) then its time to throw in the towel for this year and clean house.

For all practical purposes, the Moss HR ended this game. The A's pitching staff is too good for us to expect five runs in four innings. Parker's ERA is under 3. Here is a prediction: if DiceK stays in the rotation past the trade deadline we will not win the ALE. Therefore, if we make the playoffs at all, it will be for a single game and then we will be eliminated. The sooner he is DFA'd the better chance we have for the ALE, our only real chance at a ring this year, slim as it is now.

DiceK is about to put this game out of reach. There is no time left this season for him to do this any more. Game over. Thanks Matsusucker.

More sloppy baseball. Happens every single game. Its characteristic of bad teams. Mistakes. Its getting old.

That is not going to happen. If we win tonite our offense is going to have to score a lot of runs-at least five. DiceK stinks. Stinky pitchers surrender lots of runs. His ERA is about 5 now. Correcting for the fact that the A's cannot hit much, they will score four runs against him. In five or fewer innings.

Thats what happens when a bad pitcher grooves one to a ML hitter. DiceK should be DFA'd. We do not need him in the rotation or anywhere else.

Yankmees lose.

Playing from ahead. This is the key

They can do that retroactively if it becomes obvious that he cannot play in a few days.

Horseface Teixeira blew an ground ball over first base allowing the lead run to score. He deserved that.

I haven't heard anything more about the injury other than that he has a hamstring injury. Anyone got an update? Until then, no need to make any moves at all.

Hardly. They also decide when a pitcher will be removed and who will replace him, when to get someone ready in the pen, when to bunt and when not to bunt, when to pinch hit, when to issue an intentional pass, and when to ask a player to try to steal a base or use a hit and run. They also manage clubhouse politics and they have to deal with the press-no easy task in a voracious city like Boston. I believe that managers can lose games for the team by making stupid moves during the game, but its much harder for them to win a game for the club. Its their job to put their club in the best possible position to win a game, then its up to the players to execute. If the manager hobbles the players, as Francona often did, it makes it that much tougher to win a game.

Valetine made some mistakes early, but for the last couple of months he has made very few errors. He has fashioned a pretty good bullpen out of second rate has been pitchers by carefully choosing appropriate roles for them after losing his closer. He has been quick to remove struggling pitchers instead of sticking with a pitcher until we were hopelessly far behind, a favorite trick of Francona. He has had that relief pitcher ready to go. Valentine has been much better than Francona at utilizing all of the offensive weapons at his disposal, including bunts and suicide squeezes. Not sure what Francona even knows what the word means, even now. Valentine has utilized the pinch hitter much more effectively than Francona ever did. He has emphasized hustle and although the player execution has not been 100% accurate, at least he made them practice it more than the previous manager. Finally (for now), he is up there cheering for the players in the dugout whereas Francona hung out near the spitoon all game long, barely paying attention to the game, seemingly. Where Valentine could improve nowadays is by not allowing players to run the show as much (he should be disciplining insubordinate players, no matter how much money they make) and he should not be penciling into the lineup stiffs like Lillibridge-EVER. They should ride the pine until the FO realizes that the man who makes out the lineup card is not going to play incompetent ballplayers. Overall, Valentine has not been perfect, but he is a refreshing improvement over Terry Francona.

DiceK is going to have to show up in the first inning instead of tossing batting practice then. We cannot afford to fall behind against the A's because they have the best pitching in the league. Coming back against them is tough, so playing ahead is mandatory. On the other hand, if we manage to get 3-4 runs ahead they have the worst OPS in the league; they do not play catchup well. Key to the game: getting the first few runs.

Trading Youkilis was still the right thing to do. Middlebrooks is ready and Youk was blocking him. There was no way to predict injury to him. Furthermore, I haven't even heard how long he will be out yet. Could be just a brief period. He didn't look like he was in a lot of pain at 2B yesterday.