Dan Gould

We've been talking about one of the more interesting articles for the last two weeks.

I wish I were as confident as you - we may have put the Rays out of it, but I can hardly count out the Rangers, particularly factoring in remaining schedule (I believe they play more games against below .500 teams) and the fact that the Red Sox are relying on Paul Byrd, Junichi Tazawa and Beckett, who is in the worst stretch since the 2006 nightmare. They are so desperate for starters that I fully expect that only a few days after a cortisone shot in his back, they are going to announce that Wakefield will start in Tazawa's place. And win or lose, then they'll announce that Wakefield will have surgery and is out for the year. I think you should have just offered condolences to Berigan and Paps and held off on the congratulations.

Yeah that Bard isn't nearly ready - over a strikeout an inning, and he just made Longoria look stupid with three straight doses of his weakest pitch.

It sounds to me like Mosaic is in substantial trouble, like the contractor we had for our hurricane damage a few years ago, they couldn't pay the manufacturer for the doors they needed to complete the job and get the final payment of 1/3 when the job was concluded. Then they disappeared.

I quite enjoy the breakfast menu and the country store is a great way to kill time when the wait list is 45 minutes long.

I am surprised that you are repeating this falsehood. It was established at the beginning of the year that while they made the marker points the same, the dimensions are not identical. The old stadium had a bend in the rightfield wall. With the lengthy scoreboard now embedded, the wall has to be straight. The bottom line is that for a substantial distance in right field, the fence is an average of five feet closer. In one section, its nine feet closer! On top of that, the fence is what, two feet lower? Put it all together and its a joke to say that the dimensions are the same. Sorry, that wasn't directed at you, it was directed at SS1, my favorite pain in my ass outside of Goodie.

Well, smooth jazz has pretty clear roots in soul jazz - some of Stanley's late 60s albums have music that prefigures smooth. Yeah but is that formally reflected in Pandora's methods of choosing music? Does a Roy Eldredge station play some Dizzy, because one was a significant influence on the other? Whenever I listen to Pandora and I click on the "why was this played" link (or whatever its called) I get something about "saxophone solo" or "medium tempo" or some such shit, nothing about influences from the distant past. If anything, late 60s Stanley Turrentine might be played on a smooth jazz station. If that's the way Pandora works.

Where did I fucking say the Red Sox are superior to the Yankees? The Yankees clearly have the better and more consistent offense, and somehow or another the better and more consistent starting pitching. The Red Sox have the superior bullpen, and anyone with a brain would agree with that. And that's all that I asserted. Try reading next time. They've dropped tons of money before and it hasn't brought them rings. They dropped the right ton of money on the right players. That is, the right players for 2009 - I can't wait until Sabathia is falling apart and earning 20 million a year, around 2 million per win, and when Burnett doesn't have a 97 MPH fastball but doesn't have a clue in his Nuke Laloosh head about how to pitch without one. I figure this will coincide with the dramatic declines in-everything-but-salary of the aging but still signed for many more years Jeter and A-Rod (does anyone think Jeter will accept anything less than the years/dollars A-Rod has coming?). That will also coincide with the first 300 or 350 million dollar payroll as there will be so much wasted in sunk costs to those four alone, plus a declining Mr. Leigh Texeira, that they will have to go hogwild on a whole nother generation of overpriced free agents to make up for it. Better hope the Steinbrenners hang on to the team for that, because any corporate ownership would never foot the bill to ease the pain of those disastrous contracts. Sorry but not quite. Your little league dimensions and jet stream to right field go over an 8 foot wall, not a 37 foot wall. :rolleyes: OH, and IMO, candle boy wouldn't know punctuation if it bit him in the ass.

Forget the derivation of the song title, how the hell did Pandora pull that out of its hat for the "Stanley Turrentine" station?

And I'll repeat that "chemistry" is grossly overrated. You may find greater pleasure in watching a group of people having fun as they go about their work, but it has no relationship to winning seasons, or winning playoff spots, or winning championships. In fact, dropping nearly a half a trillion dollars on not one, not two but all three top free agents has far more to do with winning than any perceived change in "chemistry".

No team that isn't winning gets talk about great "chemistry". So which comes first? Yeah - winning. Furthermore, "chemistry" or lack thereof didn't keep all of those post-2000 Yankee teams from reaching the playoffs, or sometimes winning 100 games, and a lack of "chemistry" didn't result in their subsequent dismissals from the playoffs. In fact, in 2006, it might be said that if one of the ultimate negative-clubhouse-forces, Randy Johnson, had a healthier back, it might have trumped that so-called "lack of chemistry" they suffered from. It surely had more to do with that post-season disaster. The Reggie-Munson Yankees didn't have anything remotely resembling "chemistry" and they won it all, back-to-back. What's the value of "chemistry" again?

I rest my case. Up over and out. You're being ridiculous. A two-man bullpen is better than one that has excellent options (and better options than everyone else on the Yankee staff) up and down the bench? And don't misinterpret that statement you quoted: Saito, Bard, Delcarmen and Ramirez are equal to if not better relievers than Hughes. I'll enjoy watching the Yankee bullpen blow up in October because Hughes' luck runs out or he's not available after pitching two straight games. There are zero good choices for Girardi after Hughes or before Hughes or when Hughes can't go. And you think that's a better bullpen? WTF is wrong with you? I can't believe this "chemistry" shit. Winning creates good chemistry. The rest is bullshit, and the cart is way before the horse.

Absolutely 100% no fucking doubt about it, the Red Sox pen is far superior, top to bottom, to the Skankees. And the statistics prove it - Girardi has one shitty lefty who has given up ten or eleven home runs this year. There's no comparison to Okajima and Wagner. Ramirez, Saito, Bard, Delcarmen give more options, day in and day out, to Francona than Girardi can dream of. There's Hughes ... and who? A lot of crap. Robertson and Melancon HOPE to achieve the performance that Delcarmen has posted in his three year career, some happy day in the future. In the meantime, they look a lot like Delcarmen did at the start of his career: the very picture of mediocrity crossed with the occasional flash of brilliance. Ramirez was lights out for KC last year, and nearly as good this year. A single blow up, as Delcarmen and Ramirez had last night, does not take away from the entire season of excellent work they've done. And I haven't even gotten to Saito. Put it this way: Head to head, every single Red Sox bullpen member would be selected ahead of every single Yankee bullpen member not named Hughes or Rivera.

You're really turning into an arrogant front-runner, aren't you? Who exactly do the Skankees have who have come close to performing with any consistency in their set up corps other than former "number one prospect" Hughes? NEWSFLASH: Saito, Ramirez, Delcarmen and EVEN BARD have lower season ERAs than any SKANKEE set-up man.

Jesus Fucking Christ Beckett has turned into a worthless piece of fucking shit. Two more home runs, in the space of three outs. Five runs overall, and none of these hits are cheap. Why the fuck do I let them pull me back in with dreams of a lucky playoff streak when this is our "number one"??? God this is motherfucking aggravating.

Soulstation1 + candles + S. Williams = One person who understands punctuation?

No. Its playing in a little league field that's made all the difference. A little league field with the added benefit of a jet stream to right field.

Howard Reich obit: More here.

I think you might see Wagner pitching the eighth eventually but remember he's returned early from TJ surgery and its only his fourth appearance in 13 months. Tito wants to ease him into higher leverage innings. I'm really hoping that not only does he have no setbacks, but as he begins to throw with some regularity (who said he couldn't throw every other day, he just did) he'll throw a little caution to the wind and tell Tito that he wants the ball in the eighth or that he'll take it on back-to-back days, if he gets a little pennant fever going. There's a risk he hurts himself and jeapordizes next season but on the other hand, with a chance to maybe reach the Series or win a ring, why not go for it? Even with his uneven post-season record, I say he could be an extraordinary weapon down the stretch and in October. Especially when you think that next time, it won't be Bard facing the middle of the Yankee lineup in a 2-1 game. Replay that and I bet Wagner and Paps closes the door and Wagner makes Teixeira and Matsui look stupid doing it.

Well for the moment thank God that Papelbon got it done without allowing anything disastrous to happen. 18 pitches, with a three run lead do you use Papelbon and burn him for tomorrow, or let Bard/Ramirez/Delcarmen handle the ninth? Modern bullpen theory says use your best reliever for the biggest outs - three run lead, bases loaded and nobody out certainly qualifies, even though it was the eighth. Theoretically there's about a 95% success rate in any given game for any closer with a three run lead starting a clean inning. Of course, if Bard blows it in the ninth, Boston media will erupt with questions of why Papelbon didn't pitch the ninth. In short, using Papelbon in the eighth is modern, intelligent thinking about bullpen management. But I don't think Francona will take that extra leap and have someone else close it out to save Papelbon for tomorrow.

And our young lefty stud (who hasn't had the extremely mixed result young Cole has in his year after his breakthrough) pitched almost as well. Unfortunately they went to Wagner one inning too soon and Okajima is doing his best to fuck away a 7-2 lead. 7-4 now with the bases loaded, nobody out and Francona is turning to Papelbon*. Holy Fucking Christ! That park has been a house of horrors and its happening again. *For a SIX OUT save. Four bloops and if Papelbon gives up a blast, they lose.

That's one advantage to being unemployed. Far less daily contact with the general population.

Major bummer of a way to start the day. I'll never forget how gracious Eddie was when he sat for an interview with me (an amateur in every way) and he indulged me with every question I had even as he gave subtle hints that it was time to wrap things up and I'd ask yet another question. RIP Mr. Higgins.

Well I don't mind taking credit for jinxing the Rangers. I don't know how this compares to the 9-0 Baltimore game that turned into 10-9. Down 11-0 at home, three innings to make it 11-10, then lose 18-10? I don't think "we were supposed to lose anyway" covers it. But I'll take a four game WC lead, five over Tampa. And we do have Lester, Beckett and Buchholz slated to face the Rays starting Tuesday, which is better than Tazawa or Byrd going.

Now I get it, and your calculation is correct. I just can't believe the Red Sox magic number is almost certainly not falling to 29 after the Jays had an 11-0 lead.