Welcome to the Wild Card race

Doug:
Jeez, you know you're in a slump when even with Josh Beckett on the mound you manage to lose.

 

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Bill:
And now Wakefield's on the DL. What a pissah.

 

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Doug:
At least Buchholz is happy.

 

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Bill:
Guess we'll see if the kid's head is really screwed back on straight now for reals. The "stoppah" role is now his for the taking.

 

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Doug:
Yeah, otherwise, as Pinto puts it, we "may actually be stuck with both Penny and Smoltz until Matsuzaka comes back."

 

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Bill:
Pinto's being sarcastic about Matsuzaka, right? I mean is anyone looking forward to his return?

 

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Doug:
Seriously. It's like thinking, "Yeah, I may be stuck with a migraine and erectile dysfunction until the IRS audits my taxes, but then I'm sure everything's going to be all fine and shit."

 

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Comments

[Harwich Rich]

A veritable plethora of riches (too early!) Funny how all of a sudden certain trolls start showing up out of their mother's basement.

[LarryE]

Not that anyone is batting particularly well right now, but is anyone else getting completely fed up with watching J.D. Drew ground out to second base (or occassionally, for a slight change of pace, first base)and striking out with his alleged "beautiful swing"? With another 0fer last night, he's now batting .236.

I hope Theo's planning something for the end of the month because this team needs a jolt.

[louclinton]

tapping out..

[Bob]

Nose coffee from the last frame.

If it makes anyone feel better (including myself), every team goes through this kind of reverse-streak.

The Sox will be back. Just hope it's not when we're 10 games back.

[Billy Mahty]

Keep in mind that the Yanks have had a much easier schedule than the Sox thus far. The Sox only one game back shows they are going to end the season well in front. Plus the Rangers are playing out of their heads -- losing to them doesn't mean much.

[Bob]

Oh Billy, Billy, Billy.

Your attempts at a reverse gooch are so very obvious.

Let's face it: the Yankees are winning the World Series.

[Jeff in NC]

Welcome to the wildcard race indeed. Yankee trolls will disagree of course, but the 1 game (soon to be 4-5 game lead) they are enjoying is as meaningless as our 3 game lead was 5 games ago. Both teams have shown a remarkable ability to play hot and suck for games on end so far.

and the epitome of trying to do too much is Ortiz trying for 2nd when the ball has been there for awhile smoking a cigarette waiting to meet him at the bag.. "Oh hey Papi! God to see ya! Been waiting here for ya! You know you're out, right?"

[Billy Mahty]

Haha, good one Bob.

[Jeff in NC]

oops //God to see ya// no, God has nothing to do with this bullshit. Please delete and replace with "good".

[yazbread]

Reverse gooch versus gooch?

[Jeff in NC]

Funny stuff

[Harwich Rich]

Bob,I'll see your Spankee's series win and raise you a new unbeatable 10 year dynasty :D

[buckner was framed]

and if the IRS audit lasts more than four hours, call your CPA

[Harwich Rich]

RIP Reggie Fleming-"old time hockey"

[sonomasox]

say hello to Adam LaRoche...our savior??

[Bob]

RIP Taco Bell dog.

Old-time spokes-animal.

[yazbread]

The news release says LaRoche is mired in a July slump. Well he's coming to the right place.

[Bob]

Yeah, it's the Taco Bell dog days of July.

[Bob]

.247, 12 homers and 40 RBI.

Well, wrap up the trophy, the WS is ours.

[Bob]

BTW, what does this mean for Lowell?

LaRoche at first, Youk at third...

[Kaz]

A HR-hitting lefty for chump change? It's a start.

[Devine]

Like the move. I imagine he'll start against righties, Lowell against lefties, and unlike Lowell, LaRoche will not be immobile at the corner.

[Devine]

Oh wow, they got SOMETHING for Lugo!

Who cares if he's any good (or will be)? It's JULIO LUGO!

[Kaz]

Yeah, but look at what they got, Devine!

Theo said that he was buying Lugo based on past performance and not future performance and that was his mistake. But what about the ever-sliding career stats of Chris Duncan??? He's dropping 50-100 points of OPS a YEAR!...and he's only been around 4 years!! The guy has a steel ring in his neck to replace a herniated disk that halved his 2008 season. He has over 80% of the ABs predicted by PECOTA for the whole season, but only half of the runs, a third of the HRs, and nearly 100% of the Ks!

Let's compare that to how Lugo is stacking up against his predicted value: Lugo has seen about 40% of the ABs that PECOTA predicted for 2009. His runs, doubles, RBIs, Ks, BBs, OBP, and SLG are all almost spot on, while his AVG is about 30 points HIGHER than he was predicted!

Look, Lugo was a menace on the field and I was tired of watching him defensively, but he was offensively performing at about the level expected of him (if not a little above). You can't say the same about Duncan at all. Duncan is also only under contract through the end of this season...so this is supposed to be one of those "...and then he was brought in as a mercenary and gave the team the spark it needed for the home stretch." I don't see that happening.

On top of ALL of that (and I don't buy into this line of thinking at all), there are those out there who have recently criticized the Red Sox as somehow beating the averages on % of white players on the roster. Well, trading Lugo for an Arizona white boy doesn't really speak against their lines of reasoning, does it? On the same day you pick up a white boy from Kansas from the Pirates by dealing a Venezuelan named Argenis Diaz? Man, just lob your critics softballs why don't you...

[Devine]

OMG, Kaz, f'real? That much post? Over Duncan and Lugo?

You do know that I (and everyone in the world) know Duncan is (probably) never going to contribute to this team, right? He's AAA fodder.

Also, he's not eligible for free agency for a couple of years (arb-eligible 'til 2013 says SoSH). He's a project, unlikely to work out, which is better than, you know, Lugo.

[Jason O.]

Seriously, forget about baseball...I just got in and Goldfinger is on USA network right now...pretty much the shit in my book.

The golf match between Bond and Goldfinger is on right now.

[Jason O.]

Strict rules of golf, Goldfinger. I'm afraid you lose the hole and the match.

[Jason O.]

Strict rules of golf, Goldfinger. I'm afraid you lose the hole and the match.

[Kaz]

Yah, I was on a roll, Devine.

I did forget about arbitration though. But this guy is already heading for the pasture...at least we could've tried to practice our offense with a bag of baseballs, though...I just can't believe we went from serviceable SS to shit OF'er.