Just Make The Playoffs?

The Sox have the unfortunate injuries to Ramirez and Youkilis happen late in the season. The Yankees had their injuries all early on...Obviously, the Yankees are playing extremely well. They've won 11 of their last 13, and if they keep up that pace, the division is theirs...

So, looking at the injuries above, do you rush back Ramirez and Youk to try to maintain the division championship, or do you try to get healthy for the post-season? All Sox fans have been frustrated by the recent slumping, and the inability to put away the Yankees. But, with the magic number of "4" sitting in front of the Sox and the post-season (any combo of Detroit losses and Sox wins), do you push for the division title? Yes, it means gloating by the Yankees fans. But, does it matter?

Well, let's remember a few things. The Sox went in to the '05 post-season with their rotation all out of order. I won't remind anyone of how that went. Last year, they don't even make the playoffs. And, the most important one of all...They went in to the '04 playoffs as a Wild Card and healthy...

Look, the Sox will win 4 more games before the season is over. Heck, if the Sox go 6-4 the rest of the way, the Yankees must go 9-2 to win the division (they win the tiebreaker). If that happens, the Yankees deserve the division.

I'd like to have rested and healthy Manny and Youkilis, and a lined up starting rotation heading into the post-season. It would be nice to celebrate the division crown. I will feel the pain of not holding on to a huge lead, if they don't follow through. No doubt about it. But, I would rather see a shot at a World Series. And resting the injured guys, as opposed to rushing them back to just win the division doesn't seem like the right thing to do at this point.

And, just sit Gagne and you win the division (the last part was a joke, sort of...)

I hope some lessons have been learned

By Francona. It seems like about 5 times in the last month, he has left one of his vet pitchers in a game far too long. In a tie game or with the Sox only one or two behind, he has a tendency to leave Schill, Beckett, even dice K, in the game. And the results have not been good. Sure Schilling was pitching well last night. But by the time Jeter hit the HR, Schill was struggling. The most pitches of any inning. Plus he had left a few balls up. I hope in the playoffs, Terry now knows to go get the guy out of the game. I'm sure he has less confidence in the pen than he did a month ago, but I still would rather see Delcarmen's first pitch against Jeter than Schilling's 90th.

middle of the 1st

Oof, this is going to be a loooooonnnngggg game. Three outs, 1 error and 1 hit batsman.

...Nope, make that 2 errors.

...Anyone online?

NO HEART

This team sickens me. Where are the come-from-behind victories? Really, does anyone really think this team is any good? Sheesh.

Seriously, am I the only one who feels that, if they can fix their god-awful bullpen, the Devil Rays could actually be sort of...you know, good? Their offense has a ton of potential - if these guys stay healthy, and stick around for a couple years, the lineup would actually be sort of scary. That's a weird thing to say, given they're the Devil Rays.

Meanwhile, this whole Patriots thing really confuses me. They're arguable the best team in football, and so the whole thing makes no sense. One upside: one of the people complaining about the Pats cheating is Shawn Merriman, which is awesome.

Hey, Dino...

ROBOT UMPIRES!!!!

Wow, revisited

Okay, so this sort of...sucks. So much for happy baseball stories. I'd like to think the story's not true, but it's pretty big on specifics; and maybe it doesn't matter in the big picture, but it still seriously detracts from the utter awesomeness of it all.

Oh well.

On the upside, I think a 9th inning infield single, steal, and RBI single to win the game counts as "heart". Next complaint: the Red Sox have no "stomach". Who's with me? Eric? Dan?

Two Questions

One - without looking up the internet... what mlb pitcher has allowed the most HRs this year.

Two - Matt, please respond to this.

Have you ever...

...not wanted to post anything, for fear of jinxing things? I just feel if I were to say anything positive, the season would come crashing down instantly...

Clay should thank me

For going nowhere near my computer.

Nice job. He looked great. Excellent command of the curve and change.

We should learn something today

The sox dugout should be full today, with the additions of Bucholz and Corey to the pitching staff and Moss, Elsbury, and Clayton.

We'll see what Bucholz learned from his brief time in the bigs (hopefully to trust his stuff).

We'll see what the lineup is, with the new injuries now coming daily.

we'll also see how the Sox respond knowing that the Yanks have already won.

So lots to learn in the next 5-6 hours.