dgalehouse

Let's not kid ourselves . Our bullpen has 16 saves and 14 blown saves . A 53 % success rate . This is one of the worst in MLB. That is a cold , hard fact . No matter how you spin it or how much you may not want to believe it , it is a fact .

Maxie , I don't think anyone is suggesting that Price should have pitched a complete game . Just that it is a little odd that he would come out after only 73 pitches . And , win or lose , it is a little odd .

Except that Johnson did not get a standing ovation from his teammates when it was over.

As a rule , a manager will use his closer at home , in a tie game in the ninth inning . On the road , they may take a different approach . I recall Buck Showalter , who normally managed a bullpen about as good as anyone , holding Zack Britton back for a possible save situation in a playoff game. Regrettably for Buck , that situation never happened , as the bullpen blew the game without Britton ever getting in . Buck was roundly lambasted for it .

Who knows what happened ? I would take a guess that Price asked , or at least hinted , to be taken out . Just a guess .

Taking Price out after 73 pitches was a head scratcher for sure . Maybe there is something wrong . The offense was the reason for the loss . No question about that . Overall , the bullpen was good . However , they twice had the opportunity to close the game out , but failed to do so both times .

I prefer to think of it this way : Finally , the nerds agree with Denny .

Brewer and Cora caught a big break when the Twins had the league's leading hitter sacrifice bunt with two on and no one out . Incredibly dumb move .

Mookie is one of the best in the game today . How that translates into dollars is anybody's guess. You don't know what the market is going to be . A raggedy old Babe Ruth jersey just sold for six million. Most folks could live comfortably for the rest of their lives on that . Maybe the jabroni who bought the jersey thinks he got his money's worth. Maybe the value of it will go up and he can make a profit. Who knows ? Everything is a gamble . But Mookie is a pretty good bet to have a number of very productive years in him. He may well get 300 million.

Encarnacion is leading the league in home runs. The Yankees got him for a marginal prospect. They will be paying him less than we are paying Pearce . How any Sox fan can be happy about this is beyond me.

If you can get a closer type for dirt cheap , that would be great .

There are a number of contending teams that need bullpen help . It will not be easy to get a really good reliever without giving up more than you might like .

I would have liked to see the Sox get Encarnacion. I think most Sox fans would agree . It is kind of disingenuous to say otherwise.

When you tank , you tank . The Mariners are tanking . Just like the garbage team we are beating up this weekend. These teams are an embarrassment to baseball . And the commissioner seems helpless to do anything about it. A shame .

" The patient's fever has subsided some more today , Doctor." " Very good . Keep taking his temperature twice a day ."

You are not seeing things objectively. The Yankees needed Keuchel. Sabathia is on his last legs . Will be lucky to last the season . Happ is the definition of mediocrity. And Paxton is too fragile. Now , they will have to give up prospects to get a good starter . Meanwhile, they are losing games . Keuchel only would have cost money . Cashman missed the boat .

Should be a productive weekend . The Orioles are the worst team in MLB , and getting worse every day . Sox should sweep and pad their stats while doing it .

There are always going to be some cases where a low budget team is a winner or a big budget team flops . But those are the exceptions. There is a very clear and obvious correlation between payroll and winning.

There are no poor owners . No such a thing .

The luxury tax is something the owners wanted in lieu of a salary cap . They bargained to get it . They created it . Now , they are afraid of it . Like Dr . Frankenstein's monster . What a joke .

The goal has to be to win the A.L. East . The Sox have won it three straight years . What happened to " back to back to back to back " ? For the supposed " best Red Sox team ever assembled " , the team that was going to be " just as good maybe even better " , than last year , to hope for the second ( hokey ) wild card is an embarrassment. The best team , best manager , highest payroll. Maybe we can squeak into the second wild card ? Pathetic . Since when is eight games behind in June an insurmountable challenge ? As I stated many times , there were management blunders in the off season and in spring training, but it is still very possible to turn things around . There is too much talent here to let it be wasted .

Thanks . Have to get a good one every once in a while .

The scene is Alex Cora's office , yesterday at 1:00 PM : Alex is at his desk , making out the lineup . Ferdy Nerdwell enters , without knocking. Ferdy : " Hi Alex ." Cora : " You again ? What do you want ?" Ferdy : " Alex , my brother Harold and I think today would be a good day to rest JBJ , what with Texas starting a mediocre right hander and all . I think Mr. Werner agrees . " Cora : " Okay . Sounds kind of dumb , but I'll try it . ". Ferdy : " You can put Brock in left and move Beni to center ." Cora : " What if Beni gets hurt or ejected or something?" Ferdy : " Well , you can't use Jackie on his day off . That would spoil the plan . You could move Mookie to center , move Brock to right and put the new kid , I forget his name , in left ." Cora : " Travis ? " Ferdy : " Yeah , that's it , Travis . Put him in left ." Cora : " Ferdy , we need a win tonight." Ferdy : " Alex , always remember , don't chase wins ." Cora : " s*** . Okay . Anything else ? " Ferdy : " Well , we would like to get a look at Poyner tonight ." Alex : " That's it ?" Ferdy : " Yup . Have a nice day , Alex ."

Zeroes can mean nothing or they can mean a lot . All depends where they are placed .

. You are certainly JBJ's top hype man . Boras should give you a cut of his commission.