FredLynn

McDime watches a fastball right down the middle for strike 3.

Zimmermann pitches around Punto to get to McDime. Smart move.

And yet we are still in last place and little progress is being made to climb the ladder. When you look at the overall statistics we are second in runs scored and OPS, fifth in fielding, but THIRTEENTH in pitching in the AL. What facet of the game do YOU think is preventing us from climbing up the ALE ladder?

Thank you Zimmerman for impersonating some of our hitters. Are the Nats the first team ever with two Zimmermans in the same lineup?

No, the season is not over. But if we go to six out its slipping away. Too many good teams to leapfrog over and no real progress in doing it.

Lose this game and the Red Sox will fall to SIX GAMES behind the Rays, who are up 4-0 already.

It would sure help if our "hitters" restricted their swings to balls that are actually in the strike zone.

Good to see Aviles get a day off. He has been slumping for about a month now. Wish Gonzalez and Youkilis could sit too. Can Beckett play 1B?

Just got here Jung..thanks for asking. Already behind. What else is new. Oh-got to see the ball Gonzo crushed into a DP.

You are. Of note today, Rich Hill is on the DL again with left elbow soreness, and Mark Melancon is up: By Alex Prewitt, Globe Correspondent Shelled in the majors yet utterly dominant in AAA, Mark Melancon has made his return to the Red Sox clubhouse. Demoted in April following a dismal Boston debut in which, in four outings, he gave up 11 runs on 10 hits in 2.0 innings, Melancon was called up from Pawtucket for today's series finale with Washington. "After five or six times of doing it, you realize it doesn't help to go down there and get pissed off," Melancon said. "It's tough to go down there after you've had a couple bad outings, but you've got to make the best of it. That's what I was trying to do." Melancon certainly made the best of his stint in the International League, compiling a 0.83 ERA in 21 innings. He allowed just 15 hits and 2 earned runs, and sported a 9.00 (27:3) strikeout-to-walk ratio. "A lot of people ask me, was it confidence? No it wasn't confidence," Melancon said of his initial struggles in Boston. "I really didn't think it was, and I still don't think that's what it was. Simply aggressiveness and approach." Melancon, who said he hasn't been told what his role with the Sox would be, didn't feel that mechanical issues contributed to his struggles in his first season with Boston after coming over from Houston. Boston's bullpen has been quite effective thus far this season, which Melancon said alleviated the frustration of remaining in AAA. "It was easier when our guys up here were doing well," he said. "Obviously you don't wish for an injury. When they set the bar as high as they were, it was obvious why I was down there kind of hanging out." As far as the welcome he received in the Red Sox clubhouse upon arriving this morning? Melancon went academic for that answer. "I guess it's like if you go to a different school and you come back, you see all your old friends," he said. "Just a good feeling. "It's nice to know that when these guys have your back, it's a good feeling. That's what you want, that sometimes you don't know." To make room for Melancon, Rich Hill was put on the DL with reported left elbow/forearm soreness. He last pitched on Friday against the Nationals, throwing a scoreless inning with two hits and one strikeout. Hill had a 2.63 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP in 17 games. Hill, for his part, told reporters that he had no answers, but said he planned to see Dr. James Andrews, the famed Tommy John specialist who performed the surgery on Hill last year, in Pensecola, Fla., tomorrow morning.

Well, I guess they are just going to have to get creative in terms of who they keep in the rotation and who is jettisoned. We should have the money to sign one, maybe even two, of the primo SP FAs that will be available after this season is over. I really don't know HOW they could accomplish that but I think its essential to future success. Maybe they could eat some of Lackey's salary and trade him to an NL team where he might have more success. Maybe Epstein wants him on the Cubs; he sure wanted him on the Red Sox roster. It would be a real shame not to upgrade our rotation with all those very good SP becoming avaiable.

Go Thunder. I hate the Miami Heat and in particular, LeBron James. Great effort by the Celtics. They failed to get to their goal, but they got further than nearly everyone except them thought they would. They left it all on the court. Nothing to be ashamed of at all. Now its time to rebuild and get younger.

On that note, I am going to watch the rest of the Celtics game. Great game so far; 19 lead changes; one point game. Win or lose, I am proud of this Celtics team, taking a favored younger and more talented Miami team to the limit and maybe over it.

All I can say, my friend, is that I hope you are right. And you might well be right. Besides, your tagline suggestion of me being old fashioned or something like that, is true.

In the end we are going to have to give up someone good to get great pitching. No one is going to hand us Gio or Felix. The trick is in recognizing who is going to be good. Thats where Epstein fell down.

We are, aren't we? Most of us are just having discussions and sometimes our opinions differ. Intelligent people can have differing opinions, eh?

This team IS mediocre-right now. Do you know how they will do in the future? Do you know what trades might be made to improve the team? I watch and observe what is present now and try not to get into what might be too much, at least not months in the future. I do that with baseball; I do it with the rest of my life too. One day at a time. Just the here and now, as much as possible. Very zen. You should try it.

All it says is that I deal with the present more than you do.

What is it with you guys? We can add all those great offensive players and instead of getting four runs we will get five. Or six. What difference does that make if the other guys get 7? Or if we are up against great pitching. Aren't you all paying attention to this Nats series? Their pitching is shutting us down. We must be able to do the same to the other guys and right now we can't.

The team IS mediocre right now. Can you predict the future? I can't, not well at least. If the FO goes out and makes some trades for good pitching we will no longer be mediocre. No bet. Not yet. Maybe after the trade deadline.

All of that isn't going to help their 13th ranked pitching staff. Good pitching will shut us down. We don't have the pitchers to shut the other guys down. Thats the essence of the problem.

Truth be told Nick, I am not sure it really matters if Pedrioa plays or doesn't play. This team is doomed to mediocrity either way this year. Not good, thats for sure, but not really bad either. Sort of in limbo. I am not sure, short of major major midseason changes, that anything can be done to stem the tide. Getting close to the ASB now, and still in last place, where we belong.