SinceYaz

Good to know we are heading in the right direction! I am sure you recall the seasons we played well against top competition just to lose to the lesser teams. We did what we should with the Braves and 'Stros ... hopefully Porcello pitches well tonight and we give him good support so that we can send the A's back with poor memories of this trip.

Agree, Dojii. I was thinking he had "earned" the next start. The thought of Eduardo just jumped in, even though from what I've read he seems to need more work in Pawtucket. I am personally just as happy as can be to have him work up to whatever his need is without undo pressure. Heal well and heal properly. I had no idea his injury was this complex but sobeit.

True, true, Max, We did pretty well with the different team's TOTRs or #2s ... but not sure we can say what we will do with those Cubbies' No. 1 and No. 2. I am always leery of the end of the hitting. For instance, Clay's last start ... we are down 4-0 and my night at work got a little less pleasant. I peak at my tablet while working and went, "Oh well, can't win them all." Things got busy and then I checked back in and BAM ... back in the game, then BAM out front ... Even though I'm working with my broken leg, I got a lighter step as I went through the night. I have to start placing more faith in the comeback ability of this team! Enjoy, Max, enjoy! I know you are!

Not raining at all, S5. I know it is all a matter of ebb and flow. Those of us with - uh - cooler heads on the former forum often tried to encourage our sour friends to relax a bit (if not a lot) when things were not going well. We know it's a loooong season. But my goodness, it sure is - as you are implying - a lot more fun right now. Consider this possibility, though ... just what if this is the real Sox? Not double digit games, but the deep line up we have been enjoying. Remember this time last year? Not scoring .... Remember this time two seasons ago? Not scoring... I know I am stating the obvious but this is much more fun. Heck ... if you look at the Yanquis, they couldn't buy a run in May ... all of a sudden they are scoring in touchdowns.... And the first two weeks of the season the O's looked like giants playing with children. Heh. Enjoy, bro, while we can!

'Stros will find out soon, Slash!

Hi Roy! I think the homers are coming but the fact that there is a loooong, deep lineup with only one or two "weak" spots (Vaz and Hannigan - but they can still hit). Once on base, they run ... leading the AL in SBs ... or close. First to third ... score from first on singles....

27 runs in two games ... 270 MPH in the Venom!

http://www.venomgt.com/for-sale/ I know this thread will be assimilated somewhere, but enjoy the link first. Especially the video. Amazing season, things are zoomin'

Totally agree. If JF had pulled him a few batters early, his outing would have looked even better. He had a shut out through 5. ... I guess he earned the opportunity to work through the 6th. Not bad for a "journeyman" ... Does he take Owens spot next time around or does Eduardo make it back by then?

Zowie, Youk! Another touchdown and two field goals ... I am loving this! ) I cannot post while at work, but I can keep my tablet on as I toil around. Volume low. But the bats are incredible!

Hey Flapjack, I had not remembered such a heresy, but I can only agree. When the national news took up Papi and his stand after the bombing, everything he had been to us became more than just a BB player. To his credit, he already had established a great foundation and he has only built on it since. I said it many times in our old forum, especially when he was being attacked by his haters, we are going to miss this giant of a fellow. We will most likely enjoy his presence afterward, because both Teddy and Yaz made themselves absent from the scene. I cannot see Papi doing that. He won't be playing, but I cannot see him retreating to a fishing boat like my favorite Yaz. I can see him continuing as a hitting coach ... Teddy of course was keen at that (I know he managed as well). I held on to his Sports Illustrated hitting article for years. But Teddy and Yaz seemed soured toward the Boston media (duh) ... Papi has burned his naysayers to the ground. The CHB is no longer a relevant voice of criticism, IMO. Papi has impaled him upon the joyous upswing of his bat!

The Headline said "Ortiz Passes Yaz" Couldn't help myself picking up on the Z .... I'm a Big Papi homer. Back on my old forum, especially back when Ortiz hurt his wrist and the season after, I battled with the Papi haters tooth and nail. For the first thing, I have no idea why there are any, ANY, Papi haters among Red Sox fans. Even those who say. "I appreciate what he did for us, but now it's time for him to go." Lunacy. I am also a big Yaz homer. Can ya figure that one out? Really, is it hard to? Two different eras. Two great eras. Both have Z in it ... so I was wondering who the next Z would be. I realized almost immediately, and you probably already have, that the baseball gods have smiled on us. Again. Not do dismiss anyone, because I am thrilled with Mookie, JBJ and others, but Xander is already filling in the next era of Z. Looks like he's gonna have great mates and I will be more than happy to have MORE than one or two superstar teammates. There really isn't a finish to this odd thoughts. Just typing in a thought, whether it has merit or not. Z's ...past, present and future!!! Loved Yaz, love Ortiz, lovin' Xander!

Maybe the boo birds were being goofy ... It was a laugher after all. A beer or two too many, feeling goofy because they knew we scored enough runs that even Clay couldn't mess it up. Ironic boos because it was JBJ and it wouldn't matter .... I know I'm reaching ...

I do agree that we had many multiple and superfluous threads, as well as many just plain trolling threads at BDC. I learned what the ignore button was all about I hope Bilge comes around. I know I won't post as I used to because quite often my threads had that rare number of replies. In many ways I was being an apologist (Apologia majora .... Master Apologist - completely made up latineese there). I tended to go after Sox fans that had poor things to say about the Sox. My mantra is essentially if it's your team, be FOR it. And a team means us. "They" are who we attack ... starting with the Yanquis of course, and then any other team. Cheerleader, to some. Homer, to others. Sobeit. It just means we will have to tailor our habits. If we have another forum where we were more gunlsinger-ish than here, we can always spout off there. Youk, you might mention that if we are wanting to follow our own posts, there is a mechanism here to do that. It may help us newcomers feel less like we are just drifting into the miasma if we know where our thoughts are.... Ownership of our thoughts was a freedom at BDC that is less obvious here. It just takes some adjusting. Off to work, just another place to raise sand, since most are silly Yanqui fans!

I think, even though all I want to say is "crap" because of the loss, that there is more to these guys than a single trip up. Tomorrow is gonna see a better result. I know that this win was much more important to the Yanquis than a loss was to us. My friends who are Yanqui followers at work are nearly despondent over this season ... were almost acting like this was a playoff win.

Couldn't have said it better! Agree with both of you, Kingface & you ... and several others here. Bogie is something to watch. He seems to do things with so little effort. Mookie has whiffed a lot early. seems to me, but I think he'll be fine. His plate appearance statistics rose in the 2nd half last season. With .300 (or near) hitters running the next 5 batters behind him ... he doesn't have to worry about things yet.

Never was there for a rain delay so missed the shenanigans. Those were the days, though, when I did get to Fenway a few times each summer. Pop would pay a buck a head and we'd sit in the RF bleachers. The best days were always the ones when he'd walk in the door and say, "Who wants to go to Fenway?" Sometimes he would have just finished driving in from Bridgeport and we lived in Rochester, NH. I'd hurry and call a few friends, Mom would make a big sack of PBNJ's and we'd head right back out the door. Usually missed the first inning, but those were terrific days. These aren't too shabby...

It is a great situation, a lot of good stuff in the pen right now! DD has certainly changed that environment. If he had a pen like this one with those Detroit teams he would have likely had several WS rings. They had the bats and the front line starters.... I guess he learned his lesson. Good for us.

Sonny Seibert not Jim Lonborg, maybe ....

It's a little like watching Dice-K ... Clay was the same the night before but he did settle down. I have to give JF a nod, he didn't wait until the game was out of hand before he replaced Owens. Another nod to RRJr for the last 2 innings.

And they looked competent doing it, for the most part. This isn't a time when one can spit out the line that all we are doing is beating other crappy teams. Clay stumbled and settled down, Owens wasn't effective but somehow the damage was limited ... Wright pitched well, but the offense wasn't cooking that night. It did the next two. Hanley and JBJ are finding their power swings. Holt has come out of his slump. Pedey had SIX three hit games already ... (at least 6) .... and Papi has been outstanding.

The Boss is spinning in his grave. I saw Cashman on tv the other day and this season has aged him in a big way. He usually has a cool, controlled manner about him. None of that this time ... for all those times I secretly wanted to throw rotten tomatoes at Cashman, I almost felt bad for him. He is watching Theo build a monster, the Red Sox trimming into a juggernaut (with weak points, of course)...we just beat the best team in the AL in a series. Fairly handily. The Blue Jays and O's seem like they have plenty of promise and power and the Yanquis seem like Uncle Joe at the nursing home, gumming his burnt toast and dreaming of the days he was grilling delmonicos on his back yard deck....

Totally agreed!

I agree. It seemed like nuclear winter to me sometimes back in the pre-WS era. I would hear about Baltimore's farm (60's & 70's), then Yanquis and this and that. Our first round choices seemed to fade to black ... not to open another scene, just an end. I am lumping way too many years of memory in these three lines to be fair and accurate, but now that we have gotten used to the farm being full it seems like we can get more and more excited. The willingness to develop, invest in, talent out side of the country has made a huge impact. You are right, we are still holding on prospects like Castillo...but since the big club is populated with the young talent you mentioned, we can feel better that we may actually have more of a good thing going here!

I'll add this little tidbit. I am stammered by every part ... Starting with Moncada - "The 20-year-old native of Cuba is batting .348 with a .478 on-base percentage, .506 slugging percentage, .983 OPS, seven doubles, three triples, one homer, 14 RBIs and 20 walks in 24 games (89 at-bats). And so he's reaching base almost half the time he steps to the plate. " "Andrew Benintendi, the No. 2 prospect in Boston's system, went 3-for-4 with one triple, two RBIs and one run in Salem's win. The 21-year-old extended his hitting streak to 21 games. He has hits in 23 of 25 games. Benintendi, the seventh-overall pick in the 2015 draft, is slashing .376/.435/.653/1.088 with 11 doubles, seven triples, one homer, 25 RBIs and 10 walks in 25 games (101 at-bats). Mauricio Dubon, an impressive 21-year-old shortstop prospect at Salem, went 3-for-4 with a walk, RBI and two runs. He's slashing .347/.411/.378/.788 in 24 games (98 at-bats)." http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2016/05/yoan_moncada_boston_red_sox_to_1.html SEVEN TRIPLES? In 25 games? He has struck out only seven times. In 25 games. I shudder to think.... In the very best of ways