Only the palm is rosy these days

Bill:
Well, you know what they say: "If back the first week of April a fortune tellah had told you the Sox would have a 4 game lead ovah the Yankees on the morning of August 13th, you'd have claimed she was a fraud and asked for your money back."

 

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Doug:
True. But if the same turban-wearing gypsy had gone on to predict, "But the 4-game lead will be as tenuous as a Lindsey Lohan sobriety because the hottest team in baseball NY Yankees are seemingly unstoppable and gaining ground …" I'd have been all "O Great Soothsayer you really can foresee the future!"

 

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Doug:
And I'd then be giving her my palm and asking her to check out my lifeline.

 

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Bill:
And she, of course, would then have to break the bad news: "I'm sorry, sir, I can't read your palm, what with all the hair and all."

 

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Doug:
Heh. Well, unlike the Red Sox at least the Cult of Onan, , rarely if evah disappoints.

 

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Comments

[Youk Rules]

Painful...I've had it.

I'll be back either if the Sox make the playoffs, or if they somehow go on a tear, the Yanks blow up, and the Sox get back to 10 games by the end of this week.

It's been real.

[ParkerStPete]

Gagme.

[Scott]

WTF was Theo thinking? This guy is terrible. I even had some doubts about the trade and I'm not a "baseball" guy. Does Theo actually work for the evil empire on the side? Not one but two friggin games this weekend. Can we still return him since it has been less than 30-days?

[COD]

Gag

[louclinton]

I know there aren't many Jim Rome fans here, but back in the day, Jim used to refer to Eric Gagne in the following way:

"The Worthless Piece of Crap. My Apologies To Crap Everywhere"

That's what we have here. It's a fucking horse race, kids. Isn't that what you want?

lc

[vermonter]

Well, it's gonna be exciting, anyway. I'd rather have this than be four back.

[pudge]

The Red Sox have lost three games all season when winning after 7 innings.

Two of those losses came this weekend, when Gagne gave up the tying run in both cases.

[yazbread]

The end...is just a little harder, when brought about by friends.

All through the years, when this team collapses, it feels like the ultimate betrayal. But I guess I'll hang around another month and read the final chapter.

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

Why, exactly, did Gagne go into the game yesterday? Why take Okajima out? Just because you have a new toy doesn't mean the old toys aren't still cool.

[jamesfrmmaine]

Quit your whining. We are 4 games up and you guys are all but throwing in the towel. Wheres the swagger? Are you so afraid of the big bad skankees that you think this team is just done? Are you even Red Sox fans? Welcome to reality. Our team plays in the AL East, one of the best divisions in baseball. We share a divisional home with one of the most freakishly overpaid teams in baseball. You had to think the Yanks would at least come back and get some of the wildcard? Have a little pride.

I say let the yankees keep gaining. It will make victory that much sweeter come the 28th-30th.

[Bob]

Three against Tampa Bay.

That's all I have to say.

Oh, and I'll be at the game against the LAAOA on Saturday if anybody wants to meet up.

(Nice Onan reference, H.B. Kind of appropriate considering the Baltimore series. After all, once you get up, bringing in an ugly hairy guy is only going to make you go down.)

[Jason O.]

Off topic:

On Sat. I saw an excellent movie if you like intelligent sci fi with doses of allegory and good ensemble casts.

"Sunshine," at the Embassy cinema Waltham or @ Kendall Square.

[Bob]

I'd find it very difficult to attend anything called "Sunshine" right now, J.O.

(I've already seen it BTW, It is quite good. Another funky suggestion: "Paprika.")

[Jason O.]

Bob, liked how Pinbacker's appearance was never fully revealed, very scary.

Also, Johnny Storm surprised me with his portrayal of the pilot, very strong.

[buckner was framed]

Ryan said it perfectly- WHY? I almose would have been OK with having him pitch the 9th, if you're so concerned with his ego and 'running him right back out there'. But, sweet Jesus, let Oki finish the 8th. He's been doing it ALL YEAR. It ain't broke.
Other random thoughts:
Timlin and Delcarmen looked good, Nancy's finally getting some hits, and Melvin Mora's a player- always liked him. He can play on my team any day. And why (!) can Lugo bunt for base hits, but can't sacrifice for shit? It's almost as though he's trying too hard

[Merloni]

WHere was Paplebon in the 10th huh?

[Natalie]

All I can say is...thank God I have leftover percocets from recent surgery. Two of those bad boys and it's Gagne who?

[NolaSox]

Back from west coast vacation. We went to both Sox wins in Seattle. Now I get to tell my kids one day that they were at the game where the Moose tried to run over Coco Crisp. Gagne gave me fits in the Saturday game. DaKine, the shirts were a hit - I gave the web address to several admirers. If anyone would like to sponsor trips to all the other Sox games for my little good luck charm kids, let me know. Perhaps, Tessie's grandson could join them.

[Kaz]

"Et tu, Gagne? -- Then fall Cleveland."

It's almost like he's playing for the Yankees at this point. Oh, and a big thanks to Cleveland for rolling up like a paper doily in a 24-hour Russian sauna.

We still hold a commanding lead in the postseason odds, but I don't like the trendline. I guess it wouldn't be called fan-dimonium if we won it handily.

[Wes]

C'mon folks.. I know it seems tough right now but let's not abandon ship yet. The Yanks are playing about as well as the Sox were to start the season. Things are evening out and we have a tight, exciting race coming up in late August and september.

This is what baseball is all about!

[Sean O]

When do the Pats start? It'll be exciting to watch a team that cares, and a front office that actually evaluates talent before acquiring them.

Football!

[Kaz]

I was with you on the "team that cares", Sean O. It does seem like they are a little too lackadaisical some days...tossing random lineups out there or throwing a pitcher with known issues at the mound like tossing lit Zippos at gasoline puddles.

You lost me at the "...actually evaluates talent...". I mean look at all the blunders avoided like Clemens and look at what we've kept like Delcarmen. I think the front office does no better or worse than any other MLB team in picking talent and paying close to fair market for it (JD Drew being the biggest exception to the latter).

[Sean O]

Kaz, here's a short list of players we wanted but chose other teams:
Clemens
Pavano
Contreras
Millwood

I'd say Theo is in the bottom 5 of talent evaluation. Look at Renteria, Lugo, Drew, and everybody sans 1 we've trotted out in the bullpen the last 3 years: Halama, Gonzalez, Stanton, Seanez, Mantei, Romero, Pineiro, etc. Also, remember we gave away Cla Meredith and Josh Bard for Mendoza Mirabelli, and try not to die a little inside.

All imho, of course, but I can't possibly laud Theo here. Imagine what Beane could've done with this amount of cash.

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

Sean, I'm sure you meant to include Okajima and Foulke when talking about the bullpen but you just forgot. Happy to help out.

Also, you forgot to mention the signing of Matsuzaka. And Ortiz. And the Orlando Cabrera trade. And the Schilling signing.

Beane is good. And in alterna-world, I'd love to see what he could do with Red Sox-type money. But, he makes mistakes, too.

[pinstripe thunder]

Sean O -- speaking from painful experience in many cases, wouldn't Clemens, Pavano, Contreras and Millwood be a perfect list of pitchers you should be grateful you DIDN'T get? Maybe your front office should be applauded for not flashing bigger billfolds at them. If only you could add Private Gag to that list, you'd be all set. He may well have signed secretly with us.

PT aka General Obvious

[buckner was framed]

to echo that, Sean- ever think why the above mentioned didn't sign with the Sox? Because Theo, et al, assigned a VALUE to them and didn't overspend. Just like some guy named Damon. Sure, Theo has screwed up in some cases, but on balance he is way ahead. The team, and we as fans, have one more WS championship thanks to his talent evaluation skills

[Jackie]

Am I going to be the only person to admit she was psyched about the Gagne trade when it happened? His ERA+ was higher than Papelbon's at that point... he hasn't done much to endear himself to me since then, obviously, but I'm not sure I can blame Theo for Gagne's craptacular performance in the last couple games. If anything, I was concerned about him being injury prone, but I don't know anyone in RSN who was expecting this.

[soxdownunder]

Oka-jima san:
One point two six E R A
Gagne GAG GAG.

When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?

[soxdownunder]

A B C D E F G
Eric the half a Bee!

[pinstripe thunder]

Not saying this season is irrelevant... far from it... we have the "big mo," as GHWB would say, and this will be a fight to the finish. But I have seen a transcendently brilliant vision of the next decade, and it is Joba Chamberlain and Philip Hughes.

HB is right about Torre having a penchant for ruining relievers, but once every 10 years or so somebody comes along who is too good to be abused into oblivion, like Rivera. Now the Aztec Warrior can begin passing the torch to his heir apparent. Think DiMaggio `36, Mantle `51, Jeter `96. Tonight the bad sleep well.

[Genghis Ortiz]

At least Wake has stopped the bleeding but the recent turmoils are painful to watch, and exactly the opposite of what we need to have, ie, us winning on the last at-bat, not them.

The worser part is that even the wild card is in 'in play'.

Shit. Gotta open up the emergency larder of single malt scotches to weather the storm.