Lots to think about

With the grave news about Schilling combined with last night's episode of Lost, well …

Bill:
Ugh. My head hurts.

 

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Tara:
Don't over analyze things, just relax and realize that tomorrow is Truck Day.

 

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Bill:
I'm just not liking the early 2008 forshadowing …

 

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Bill:
What with the Patriots inexplicable sudden mortality, the potential season ending injury of Schill …

 

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Bill:
I half expect to look up tomorrow and see the truck pulling out of Fenway driven by Matthew Abaddon.

 

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Tara:
Life is fluid and never quite what it seems.

 

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Bill:
Seriously. One day you're the good guys fighting the good fight against "the Othahs," and the next day you've become the Othahs.

 

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Comments

[louclinton]

Right.
Good thing I taped Lost last night, so I can watch it again. Or not.
Were they back-flashbacks or forward flashbacks. And a Jackie Chan ghostbuster dude? And the NicoleKidman looking dude? I mean lady. And scraggly beard nervous Massachussetts guy? And drunk pilot guy?

And that fucker Ben knows everything. Or doesn't.

In other words, it was a fine show.

lc

[h.b]

LC,

They are going to repeat last night's episode next week and they'll be adding those "popup bubbles."

I didn't see the repeat of last season's finale when they did that last week, but everyone who did said it was pretty cool.

Agree. Fine show last night.

Someone should ask Ben the truth about Clemens. He'd know for sure.

[Go Sox. Go Heels. Yankees Suck. Dook Sucks.]

So, what does the rotation look like for pre-ASB?

Beckett
Matsuzaka
Wakefield (???)
Lester
Buchholz

I'm okay with that. And we still have the Papel-jima show at the end. And don't forget Lopez, who gets lefties out at least half the time...

[h.b]

If they were planning to leave Buchholz in Pawtucket before Schilling's injury, I doubt they would bring him up because of the injury.

That is, I think he's in Pawtucket not because they have too many starters but because they don't feel he is ready yet.

[Billy Mahty]

..not to mention the departure of homeboy Mitt. Is that crotchety old guy McCain supposed to stop us from the surrendering Dems?

[pawsoxpop]

This is a perfect opportunity for Buchholz to have a great spring training and pitch his way into the rotation. And don't forget Tavarez. He was clutch last year when they needed him, for the most part. They also could deal Coco for a starting pitcher, although I don't think they'd get much. It's hard to get a good pitcher via a trade. And don't forget Hansen; he might have developed over the winter too. If Schilling is able to come back after the break, I think we'll be fine.

[Bob]

Didn't get to see "Lost" because I was at work until very late.

I wish work was optional.

Anyway, the whole Schilling brou-ha-ha is screwed-up. Someone on EEI asked a funny/interesting question this morning: Do the Sox have to pay him that giant bonus if he comes to spring training at the right weight?

[vermonter]

Tavarez is like a booty call chick. He's good to have around when you need him, and that isn't really all that often, but somehow he manages to perform good enough that you keep him around.

I'm surprised his IS still around. He seemed all but gone a couple years ago.

[mikeya2k1]

we love curts gutty ways. we even love his candor. but lets face it all we have really lost is an average #4 starter at this point. 10 to 12 wins which i believe could be made up by a combo of batshit, bucholz and or snyder with relative ease

[meredith]

This news about Schilling elicits just a shrug from me. I'd fully expected him to retire after last year, and I wouldn't be surprised if he hangs it up without pitching at all this year. I wasn't really counting on him doing much for us in '08. Time to let the young 'uns show us their stuff.

(And re Lost, thank the gods for TiVo. I need to watch that one again 5 or 6 times.)

[birthofasoxfan97]

//Tavarez is like a booty call chick. He's good to have around when you need him//

Vermonter - that is a priceless comparo! I love Tavarez precisely for the reason you outline. Well, that and the Papi shoes and his potential for unpredictable, extraneous entertainment.

[Sonoma Sox]

I'm a little surprised of Bill's pre-2004 stance. Screw that doom and gloom - buck up BC.

Schill was a 500 guy last year and that's all I expected this year. Hell, throw in Snyder as a #5...I'm alright w/ that. Unless we're 10 games back at ASB then I'm jumping off the nearest bridge.

[h.b]

Bill is just having one of those days.

[Steve in MD]

/and his potential for unpredictable, extraneous entertainment/

Nothing like a pitcher who occasionally rolls the ball over to keep a first baseman on his toes... Plus someone needs to remind the infielders to throw the ball to first on a grounder.

[steve in MD]

Has anybody else noticed that the official Sox website hasn't been giving any winter ball updates like they did last year? Is it because we don't have any near-major league guys playing winter ball, or because they aren't doing well (which I guess is the same thing)?

[Mike E!]

I'm a little bit shocked that people consider a dude who put up a 122 ERA+ in the AL East an average #4 starter at best. Yeah, I know, he put up 151 innings, but they certainly weren't scrub innings like some people are trying to paint them out to be. Also, please, it's not 1910 anymore, wins don't count for or against pitchers.

Finally, remember when John Burkett was our #3?

[pawsoxpop]

I'm a little bit shocked that people consider a dude who put up a 122 ERA+ in the AL East an average #4 starter at best

Yeah but he's over 40, he finished the season with a bad wing, and he came to camp out of shape last year because of extracurricular activities involving sitting around and typing on a keyboard and eating. If that got you in shape for the season, I could be the number 4 starter. So of course we shouldn't have expected too much of him this year. I was prepared to be pleasantly surprised of course, and maybe we still will be if he comes back in shape in July...

[Mike E!]

I agree that he's old now, and that's always cause for concern, but hadn't reports for this offseason been saying he'd been keeping up w/ conditioning? Also, at the end of the season, if I recall correctly, he was throwing his best of the season, once he FINALLY got it through his big stubborn skull that he can't blow it past people anymore?

Of course, my argument is purely hypothetical, now that he's on the shelf, but still... dude did more for the team last year than a cursory glance at the numbers would have one think, and it bugged me that people would say that anything better than average would be a #4 pitcher. We're spoiled right now with a pretty effing deep (if young) rotation, and I think people are forgetting the old days of awful, awful, awful pitching. Like I alluded to before, I'd have loved Schill's '07 year back in '01/'02.

[Devine]

Yeah, his post-injury time was his best stretch of the year, and he had only one bad October start (two were great and one was good but too short). That's where I think they might miss him the most, if they get to October at all. I think this is unequivocally a bad thing, though not as desperately bad as it might have been in some years.

[Jason O.]

How will Nerese and the ministers react to Deputy Chief Daniels driving the RS equipment truck? Does that mean he's getting close to Menino? What will Carcetti have to offer to keep him in Baltimore?

The Wire and Lost combine for the most complicated plot line in the history of television.

[pawsoxpop]

Believe me, Mike E!, I'm not disparaging what Curt Schilling did last year. All I'm saying is you're crazy if you COUNT on a guy that old and with arm problems to do the same thing the following year. That kind of thinking is what could brings you back to the bad old days of Burkett and Ramon Martinez, not to mention Ray Culp and Gary Peters...

[COD]

What if it comes out some day that Pedro's arm troubles come from launching poor defense cocks into the death ring?
http://tinyurl.com/2gbc6s

The PETA circus at Shea for his first start should be entertaining.

[mikeya2k1]

mike e. im not trying to disrespect the man when i say he is a #4 starter. but at best thats what he is this season if he played. beccket,dice k,wakefield or lester (take your pick)would be ahead of him in my estimation. no one can dispute the mans heroics wearing the boston uniform however you cant dispute his age or his loss on his fastball. remember last year he was reinventing himself.

[h.b]

//The PETA circus at Shea for his first start should be entertaining.//

Hopefully, they'll bring out the naked PETA chicks for it.

[louclinton]

//The Wire and Lost combine for the most complicated plot line in the history of television.//

And they share an actor, that guy who played the fake lawyer who visited Hurley in the nut house.

[h.b]

//And they share an actor, that guy who played the fake lawyer who visited Hurley in the nut house.//

Same guy Bill said would be driving the equipment truck and same guy Jason alludes to in the Wire, Deputy Chief Daniels.

[vermonter]

105 minutes to Beer Cart, Bob.

Me? Gotta a gig tonight. Gonna go play some Ray Wylie Hubbard tunes to some good-ole-boys.

And drink for free.

Have a nice weekend all.

[birthofasoxfan97]

Aww...Ray Wylie Hubbard - that makes me miss the armadillo - for about 5 seconds. That's some good drinkin' music, though.

[Mike E!]

Agreed, pawsoxpop, as his shoulder proved to anyone naive enough to think he had enough in the tank for a full season's worth of competition.

Is this sort of like RoHGH's half-year schedule, do you think? Maybe Schill's making it all up, so he can feel like he's being paid 16mil instead of 8... hahaha. ;)

Also, I hope you were at least partially doubtful when you said you'd take Lester over a healthy Schilling. Kid's a great story, but at best, a decent pitcher. Schill, post-reinvention, was putting up fantastic numbers (although, truthfully, I don't have any idea how he did it striking out so few for a while there) where Lester's never been able to have the kind of command to put him in front of Curt.*

On a final note, Lostaholix is what originally brought me to this site (thanks google!) and so I'm pumped that the characters are starting to discuss the show again, even if it's just a little bit. Am I the only one who still sometimes calls Ben 'Henry Gale?'

*Unless, of course, you think WS Game 4 is when he put it all together,

[Devine]

If Lester could consistently throw strikes, he could be an above-average pitcher, but so many games, he's all over the place.

[pawsoxpop]

Lester is going to surprise a lot of people this year.

Remember, last winter he underwent chemo. That ordeal takes a lot out of a person with a normal job. For a professional athlete it's a brutal double-whammy because not only does it deplete your strength and energy, it also prevents you from doing the workouts that you would normally do to get yourself into shape. A winter of no chemo/yes workouts will have JL sharper than a lot of people expect.

[Monty in CA]

Is the scraggly beard nervous Massachussetts guy the same guy who played Elliot in E.T. or is he the guy who looks like that guy?

[Bob]

"Sweet Caroline!

Cold beer never seemed so good

(So good! So good!)

I've been inclined

To believe they never would (especially after yesterday's late night and today's 5 hour meeting)..."

Have a great weekend everyone.

[louclinton]

The actor who plays scraggly beard guy is Jeremy Davies. He played Chuck Manson in the TV Movie helter Skelter and was in Saving Private Ryan, which is where you proabaly remeber him from.

At the risk of sucking every remaining moment out of you lives, I offer the following Link

[Kaz]

News reports say that McNamee testified to congressional lawyers today to also injecting Debbie Clemens prior to that husband-wife photo of the Clemens' in the SI swimsuit issue.

I wonder if she juiced enough to have a clenis. I wonder if Rogah likes it.

[Bob]

LC, I think the first TV version of Helter Skelter was much better than the more recent version with Davies. That was Steve Railsback at Charlie, I believe.

[yazbread]

Steve Railsback - yes - outstanding in 'The Stuntman' as well.

[soxdownunder]

愉快的脊椎新年大家!

[IkeG]

New Year jolly spine-landlord?

[soxdownunder]

Exactly.