FredLynn

I admit that it was a roll of the dice. I would have preferred Bard in that role. Once Papelbon left they had a hole that needed filling. I didn't want Bailey in that role because I knew his injury history, but I wanted to give Papelbon his $$$$$$ contract even less.

We didn't have that kind of money to spend this offseason. Besides, committing $50M for four years for a relief pitcher is insane. That never would have happened here, under Epstein or under anyone else. Not this year.

I think its English Muffins.

Yup. I think he would have let Papelbon walk because Papelbon was after a max contract and he got one. I don't think we ever would have given him what the Phillies did, nor should we have. He is overpaid. Besides, we had a closer. Its no one's fault that he got hurt, is it?

Probably because his bullpen stinks too.

Ellsbury, you are a funny guy. Who do you think created this mess? Cherington and Valentine have been on the job less than four months. They haven't had time to screw us up that bad yet.

Maybe Mirabelli is still available.

Would be nice to see the Sox at least score a couple of runs and make this mildly interesting. They look dead out there.

Of note: if we lose this game and tomorrow's game we will be exactly where we were after 14 games last year: 4-10. Except last year we had Papelbon and Bard in the pen.

Its time, isn't it. The Yankees will win at least two games in this series. I think its time we started unloading some of our aging players, like Youkilis, and plan for the future-while they still have some trade value. I think that in a couple of year we could be a very strong team again.

There is an article in the SF Chronicle today that supports Valentine vis a vis Youk. Its written by John Shea and is titled: "Valentine shouldn't have apologized", in bold. I am going to use some selected areas to get the gist of the article across. Shea compared this situation with one that occurred with Aubrey Huff last year. The Giants manager called out Huff saying Huff "owned up to what happened this year, and he knows his struggles helped cause our struggles". The Giants GM backed up his manager. Shea says that if Huff had been pushed to do better earlier in the year (this was said towards the end of the year) maybe he would have pushed himself to do better. Shea goes on to mention that Pedroia "piled on" Valentine when he said "thats not the way we do things around here, he will figure that out" and says that "Truth is, its the players who need to figure it out. Valentine is the manager because the players treated their clubhouse like as country club last year, prompting management to replace Terry Francona, who always protected his guys, with Valentine, who's obviously as straight shooter". Shea concludes by saying that "Valentine apologized, which really wasn't necessary", "Valentine should have stood his ground", and "players should have respected his words", and finally "Thats the way its supposed to work". Can't say as I disagree with much of that any more. Very persuasive arguement, isn't it.

If we give up just six runs tonite, our team ERA will go DOWN. Everyone ready to bring on the Yankees?

This team stinks folks. 6-2 now. Time to turn the game off. The Celtics are on and could clinch the Atlantic division tonite.

Spears deserves a spot on a ML roster somewhere. Very versatile, hits a bit too. This team is just painful to watch now.

I made no pretense about "knowing" anything. How any player will finish the year is all guesswork. I was just presenting his history since last July-a fairly LARGE sample size involving nearly 200 PAs last year alone. The only indicator that gives us any framework to estimate how a player will perform is his recent history, so I looked that up. Its not a pretty sight.

Kevin Youkilis stats from July 1, 2011 to end of season: BA: .240 OPS: .764 Thats about where I expect him to finish this season. Not as bad as he has been, but nowhere near his career numbers. I think he is working as hard as he can, but he is losing his skills. Too bad...I feel sorry for the guy.

I read that already. I still have no trust in the Red Sox medical personnel after the bungling of Ellsbury's injuries two years ago and Buchholtz's injury last year. I am sure they will try rest and rehab first, as they should, but if that doesn't work surgery remains a possibility despite what they are now claiming.