Somehow I think

That I'm not the first to submit Johnny Damon as Jesus of the Week. But I did, Just for the hell, oops, heck of it.....

Sox Pitching

Are they coming on?

Yes, Schilling (5-7, 9 saves) gave up 4 runs over 6.1, but he looked better...AND it wasn't against KC or Tampa Bay...Again, he won't be the ace, but he showed signs of improvement.

Foulke (5-5, 15 saves) went 1.2 the other night, and has looked good since his return. I might even like to see him in a save situation...

Clement(13-3) seems to have found his form again...

Wells(12-6)...complete game.
Wake (15-10)...complete game.

The pen should be well rested now. Hopefully, Arroyo (11-9)can turn in some innings tonight. There are some decent left-handed bats in this Angel lineup in Anderson, Erstad, etc...He had a good outing last time...will it continue?

If the season ended today...what would the post-season rotation be? I think more than any other team I can recently remember, the Sox rotation will be based on their opponent and whether or not they have home field advantage...

My guess is that it looks something like this:
Wells
Clement
Wake
Schill

Roger Clemens says:

Lance Armstrong has nothing on me. Clemens was quoted: "six weeks of retirement. What a lazy self serving wuss."

Mike Tyson, now going on 12 weeks since his "retirement" was unavailable for comment

Changing subject pronto

Okay, enough about Murray. As I was laying in bed sleeplessly last night, I was thinking about the great pitching performance of King Felix and then my thoughts drifted to the playoff races and what the success factors are for teams that are in the race. Specifically, what has a greater effect on a team's chances - injuries or performance (good or bad) outlier seasons (i.e., who would have thought Jon Garland would put up the numbers he has).

Sure in the case of the Sox and Yanks, where both are expected to make the playoffs, there are other teams that don't have the depth and accordingly need things to "fall into place."

Like the White Sox - Sure Beurhle was on his way to being a top pitcher, but they got excellent performances from some less heralded pitchers.

The Twins were expected to win the Central but had a slow start from Johan and a disappointing season from Morneau and (less so) Mauer, as well as some of their other bats. And then Hunter got injured.

Or the A's - they are struggling a bit with Crosby's latest injury - but what if Chavez and Zito did not suck for two months? Or Dotel did not go down for the season. which of these has had a greater impact? Maybe the A's could be 5 up by now. Or 10 down if Finely hit like Finley.

I know this is a bit disjointed (sorry), but it really did make me wonder, which is more important.

Poor Murray

It really is sad.

Sure a lot of Sox fans are obsessed with that other team. But a grown man. Who is supposed to be a professional. What's next? An interview with Mike timlin's ex-girlfriend from high school. Saying how he wronged her terribly and that Mike is an evil man.

i Adioth !

Tomorrow (Thunday) I leave for vacation -- two weekth in the thouthern part of Thpain. Tho I won't be pothting on this thite, at all. I do hope to follow the Thox, from the box thcores in the newthpaperth, but it'll be thtrange to be gone for half of Theptember, and not get to watch any gameth.

When I get back, the thit hitth the fan, thince job applicationth are due thtarting the following week -- how'th that for timing? Bathically, I'm hothed. Needlethth to thay, I won't be pothiting much even once I get back. Not until October, anyway -- hopefully the Thox'll thtill be playing then.

Tho, have a great month, everyone. Go Thox.

[One parting thought...lisp-free. Sox are 19-44 when they score fewer than 6 runs. Remember when six runs used to be... you know, a lot? Now when they don't get that many, they win about as much as the Royals. Scary.]

I have never seen this before.

From Yahoo's game cast of the Yankees-A's game, going into the 6th, with the Yankees down by 12:

- M. Bellhorn at shortstop
- M. Lawton in left field
- B. Crosby in right field
- A. Phillips at third
- J. Flaherty at first
- T. Womack in center field
- W. Nieves catching

Torre just replaced 7 of the 8 position players. At the same time. Welcome to September.

A rarity on this site

So the pattern's pretty obvious here: GrieveRules is generally really optimistic (I'd say way too optimistic) about the Sox, while I'm generally really pessimistic (he'd say way too pessimistic) about the Sox. But I gotta say this: (not to jinx anything, but) when the Sox were down by two to the D-Rays, really, were any of us worried they weren't going to pull it off? GR keeps pointing out the incredible offense, and that's undoubtable: they're averaging over 7 runs per game in August. And when facing a team with a mediocre-to-poor bullpen, a two-run deficit feels like nothing. [Here's where the pessimist in me screams "But in the playoffs, most bullpens aren't mediocre-to-poor!"] Anyway, after the Yanks lost, and D-Rays scored two off Arroyo, the following comments were posted over at Bronx Banter (a really phenomenal Yankees site, btw):

random commenter: Go, Devil Rays. They're off to a good start.

Alex Belth (one of the BB writers): The D Rays have been full of good starts against Boston this week. They just get trippd up by mediocre middles and horrible endings. Sox will win this one in the end...again.

In other news, I've been watching the Angels-A's series all week on local TV. Some phenomenal baseball. Like when Zito and Colon each pitched 9 innings...and both got no-decisions. Or when Jay Payton (grrrr) ran in and tagged out a baserunner at 2nd. Fun to watch.

September Call Ups?

Um, where are they? I haven't seen anything in any of the papers. It is September...There isn't really even any chatter about it...

Hansen shut down 5-10 days. That's all I've heard...

With Graffanino on the bench with a tender hamstring, I am asking, "Where is Ramirez?" I guess if Cora has to be pinch-hit for, then Youk would move to third and Mueller to second. Oops...It looks like we've called up Alejandro Machado...

With the pen still stretched, I am wondering where in the world is Delcarmen? Lester? Malaska (just kidding)? Chad Harville? I would think with Arroyo going today and DiNardo going tomorrow that we would have plenty of extra pitching on hand...Also, I see this name on the roster. Matt Perisho...I must have missed us picking him up.

Anyone hear of anything?

4 In A Row

These wins have been fairly impressive, no doubt about that. However, a pattern is starting to develop. We fall behind early and then battle back to win. The last two games we were down big by the second and third innings, respectively. Our pitchers then woke up and took care of business, and the offense continued with its usual onslaught.

I still contend that there are no teams with the starting pitching to hold this offense down. Except one that seems to be emerging, that is....the NY Yankees. Chacon has seemed to solidify a very shaky rotation. Out of all the teams that look playoff bound, this is the one team that I don't want to face.

With that said, if the last series of the season rolls around and we've already won the division (say we're 4 up with those last 3 to play), and the Wild Card is still up for grabs, and you were the Sox, would you play the minor leaguers just to get them experience (and rest your players), or would you play to win those games? If it meant the difference of facing, say, the Indians over the Yankees, I'd take the Indians...

Back to the 4 in a row...Millar seems to be coming around. Hopefully, with all the home games, this continues and he gets his confidence back. He could be a big part of the puzzle come post season.

Tampa Bay is a team that was playing very well. We've cleaned up so far. One more tonight and then on to a struggling Baltimore (at Fenway).

This is when I look at the schedule, and our past posts, and wonder how we thought this month was a walk! We have one against Chicago (although, now struggling..we've almost caught them for best record...), 3 against Anaheim, 3 against NY (in the Bronx), 3 in Toronto, 4 against Oakland (Fenway)...The rest of the season then lets up a little with 3 in Tampa, 3 in Baltimore, 4 against Toronto (probably with them letting AAA guys get their feet wet) in Fenway, and finally the 3 against the Yankees. That is a pretty hairy run we have over the next 17 days...By the way, the Sox don't have a day off until the 22nd!

Anyway, in my opinion, we'll know how this thing is going to play out at the end of the Oakland series...

4 in a row, and counting???