Midwest Manners

Shiite town is in Iraq

I just want to say I thought that was a really good try by Middlebrooks to trip Craig, had Joyce not seen it would have been a great play. Keep up the good work Red Sox you're doing great, this is a fantastic series.

that was a really good try by salty there to make throw to third to throw out jay he almost threw the ball to the 3rd baseman. Brezlow made a good effort too, I would have clapped him trying.

I want everyone in Boston to know that we in the Midwest do not hold any ill will to Jon Lester having green goop in his glove. As a member of the best fans in baseball we are used to boston players cheating during a championship game against st louis teams. I would like to know how you were able to drug pete kozma before the game started however.

The lord works in mysterious ways, clearly it was God's plan for the Red Sox to score 9 runs all of which could have been prevented by not making horrendous errors. But luckily for us God is a member of the best fans in baseball, so the prayers will keep coming. Have a Terrific Day and God Bless, Midwest Manners

Tough loss for God's team tonight, but you really have to applaud their effort. Wainwright was very close to catching that ball a couple more inches in and it would have fallen in his glove. Really have to appreciate these guys playing their hearts out on the big stage. As a member of the greatest fans in baseball, we are not daunted by the loss tonight as we cheer win or lose. Good Luck tomorrow and God Bless, Midwest Manners

Sir I think you might have missed the part where I mentioned that his last name is Buck.

You Red Sox fans are in for a treat tonight because you get to hear the greatest play by play man in baseball, Joe Buck. Joe Buck brings a lot of play by play skills to the booth in particular having the last name Buck, and well that's all I can think of right now.

you're probably right about buying into the narratives to much in the 2004 case but in my 30 years of cardinals fandom I've never seen such a dominant team as the 2004 team. 4 games is a small sample size but it just felt over after Julian Taveras blew the game in Game 1.

Make no mistake that 105 win 2004 team was the best Cardinals team I've ever seen, they ran out of gas in the world series and were hurt by the loss of Chris Carpenter, but that was a very good team. No team was going to beat the 2004 Red Sox after they won 4 in a row against the Yankees. As far as your points about Busch, Busch isn't really that much of a pitcher's park it's pretty fair. Cards are 25th in homeruns on the road and 27th in home runs at home. They just don't hit home runs because besides for Carlos Beltran they don't try to pull the ball, they just take what the pitcher gives them.

No of course not why would we do that?

The numbers on Yadi's thrown out percentage are misleading, because anymore so few runners actually run on him. The steals that happen against Yadi are almost always solely the fault of the pitcher. Yadi does a good job at shutting down the running game by way more than just just having a strong arm. So you'll probably see the Red Sox picking their spots more and much fewer attempts than normal. Berry might be another matter though, the Reds in September would pinch run Billy Hamilton and it didn't seem it mattered what Yadi did Hamilton was going to steal and did a couple of times.

Craig has been taking taking at bats for the last week or two from pitchers who didn't make the Cardinals roster to freshen up. One thing that will work to Craigs advantage is that he has a very short compact swing which will make it easier to get in sync than it might for a traditional pull hitter. The thing going against him is that they haven't come out and said Craig is healed or that he's definitely going to be on the roster with Matheny saying he'l make that evaluation tomorrow. It would be a real shock if Craig isn't on the roster but he's probably not close to 100 percent right now. One thing I will tell you about the cardinals is not be fooled by the low power numbers, this does not mean that the team does not have power potential rather it is a decision made by the players to focus more on hitting the ball the other way and up the middle than to pull the ball. This along with luck is why the Cardinals have such a high average with runners in scoring position, the cards are completely happy to pass the baton to the next guy rather than go for the 3 run blast.

The situation I described is not obvious if it's in the 5th inning and you have a bullpen like Detroit had this year