Dan Gould

And Kelly has to be convinced not to go to Tennessee on a full boat scholarship. I hate using a first pick on a guy who may not sign, but then again, no one thinks this is a great draft class but next year should be deeper. Nice win for Lester, whose ERA over something like the last eight starts is around 2.5, and its extra nice to see zero walks in his line score. Now we'll see what the fallout is from Coco and Jacoby's misadventures. If we have to play June without two of our most dynamic offensive forces, we'll be in some trouble.

Here are some photos. Coco made a nice move to get out of the way of Shield's punch, which was surely thrown in extreme anger: And here's a good indication of why you think Gomes may be looking at 10 games (wasn't he the one who flew into the picture to take a shot at Duncan in the ST game?): Coco almost looks like a lightweight pro here:

Strained wrist - X-ray negative. Question remains of tendon damage and whether he will be day-to-day or if the wrist blows up overnight.

If you agree that Coco was justified in going in hard the second time last night (and I believe he was, he can't be expected to take note of who is covering the bag and act accordingly) then I don't think that Coco was unjustified in his reaction to the beanball, because throwing at him is escalating things. Tit - Tat - Tit means that you've gotten an extra shot in. Maddon certainly did not seem to acknowledge that Coco might have had reason for what he did last night. He's not concerned that he could have broken a finger or wrist because of the way the SS covered the base. he's only concerned about his second baseman being upended. I'll say this: Coco doesn't do shit like that without a reason. He's not Shelley Duncan trying to stretch a single into a double so that he can spike the guy at second. I missed the actual brawl and am looking forward to seeing the footage. What I am not looking forward to is the medical report on Jacoby, I would not be surprised if he is going to be out for a period of time, and that's a huge blow. Not least of which that Coco will likely miss 3 or 5 games on top of it. They wanted Brandon Moss to keep playing first base full time in Pawtucket but they're nuts if they don't call him up to replace Jacoby, if he is in fact DL'd. The kid can play all three positions and could definitely handle RF if Drew has to play center. They surely can't have Youk out there other than today. I can only hold my breath that they do enough offensively that Youk doesn't hurt them in RF tonight.

Well Yankee fans must be happy for about the first time all season. The rest of us want to but Yankee fans must be happy.

Had nothing to do with "big bad Red Sox" vs Rays. If that was the purpose, it would have been Beckett dusting someone like Pedro used to do. There is a history between these clubs but it has seemed to quiet down since Pedro left (if it wasn't so dangerous, the Devil Rays ongoing effort to use Brian Daubach as a pinata would have been pretty funny - every time he came up, the ball was coming in high and tight. It was funny and ridiculous at the same time). But I've never seen anyone block second base on an SB attempt. And Coco did jam his thumb on that slide, which was described as a 'sprain'. So IMO, Coco was justified except that it was unfortunate that it was Aki and not Bartlett covering on the subsequent play.

I think there's an article missing in that sentence.

Well, here's the closest I could find:

Weird slide by Coco - it will be interesting to see if he gets dusted and what happens if he is. I seriously do not believe that he was trying to hurt the second baseman.

210 Wins, 154 Saves. HOF?? Considering it was a hitters era I think he gets in. only one to reach those milestones, plus the sixteenth to 3000 Ks. He's a first ballot HoF in any era. ************* More injury news, and its bad for the Rays: Carlos Pena is on the 15 day DL with a broken finger.

That was the other thing I've noticed. Doesn't ever seem to get rattled, if he gives up a hit or a walk he just goes on to the next guy. He trusts his stuff (I haven't really noticed but I wonder if he almost always goes to the sinker when he gives up baserunners - Its almost as if he figures, OK - you got a hit but this next guy is going to bounce out so who cares?).

I'd love to know how the sound is on these ...

We ended up being unexpectedly taken out to dinner by Mom and Sister-in-Law so I missed a good portion of the game, plus I was keeping an eye on the Yankees, too, so I can't comment on the umpiring too much and I didn't see all that much of Masterson either. But I was curious how he came across to you. Two homers allowed is surprising for a guy with such a downward sink on his pitches but he did well enough and the lineup came through (thank God that Hinske was playing left - if he'd gotten any experience there when he was on the team, he might have gone back to the wall and caught Coco's hit). But I thought Masterson wasn't as good as he had been his first two starts so if you think he looks like the real deal, I'm happy! I like the way he throws so hard with seemingly little effort, and the leg kick and sidearm motion has to be tough on righties. And the way he gets groundballs is really impressive.

Its not much to hang the season on but according to the Herald, Manny has been in the lineup without Ortiz 43 times, and the team is 31-12 in those games with Manny hitting .317 with 13 home runs, 43 RBI and a .665 slugging percentage. But that will work only so long as Manny stays hot. Those 43 games didn't happen in a row, they were all 1-2 games here and 1-2 games there. If Manny goes cold, look out below.

If it is, did he require a prosthesis?

He won the criminal trial where the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt. Next up is the civil suit, where the standard is a preponderance of the evidence (i.e., "more likely than not"). The clown will almost certainly get his money.

I seriously doubt it.

It's only this week, but looking at the schedule on their site, there are some classic Taxi episodes (Latka the swinging bachelor; a couple with Jim Ignatowski) tomorrow night and Friday has the classic "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly" WKRP episode. I have a feeling though that Welcome Back Kotter will remind me that "up your nose with a rubber hose" is best appreciated at the age of 8.

I'll join you because now I am committing myself to seeing the Cubs reach the promised land. They'll have to beat the best player in the game and his team without the aid of the an ump's blown HR call first. :bwallace2: Number one, Utley has a website? He's gone down a notch in my eyes. Number two, its a team game, and as a team, the Cubs are better. Number three, they aren't even in the same division, so talk to me in October.

I'll join you because now I am committing myself to seeing the Cubs reach the promised land.

Well, I would say that the Rays have to now be officially favored to win the East. Ortiz will have his wrist immobilized for one month and if the ligament damage does not heal on its own, its season-ending surgery. Book it. He said he felt a pop, and that there is a "clicking" noise. Torn ligaments don't heal on their own. With decidedly mediocre pitching, their only chance was to keep scoring runs. Good fucking luck if Ortiz is finished.

At least the MFY lost with another less than stellar effort from Pettitte and a perfectly predictable effort from Farnsworthless.

Jesus Motherfucking CHRIST Okajima is a fucking piece of worthless shit. First he allows 11 of 14 inherited runners to score. Fine. Let him start clean innings. A one run lead to protect and he fucking gives up four hits and a walk, FOUR runs in 2/3 of an inning. So, three in the loss column, not a fucking chance in hell to get back into first place when the Rays leave town and to top it off, they have NO decent choice to get a game to Papelbon and I will lay odds that Ortiz is going on the DL with a wrist injury. Four and six on the road trip for the second time in a row, 14 and 20 on the road overall. They are motherfucking pathetic.

I don't know about all men but me and a friend have engaged in what we call the Face-off Game for many years. Its inspired by the old "Mary Anne or Ginger" debate that has raged for decades. We try to pair up people who can be related to each other in some ways, so for instance, in the category of hot tennis players, Anna Kournikova or Maria Sharapova? And they don't have to be pleasant choices either. In the category of "stars who kinda let themselves go - Sally Strothers or Marie Osmond? Now we've come up with a brand new version, in which three or more people are grouped together, and the question is who among these would you not "do"? So, Rachel, Monica or Phoebe would be one such grouping. And again, the choice is not always pleasant. Edith, Weezie or Maude? (that one works for both games). What I found interesting is that my friend went to a conference shortly after we came up with this game where he found that a couple of gay friends had come up with a similar game, only it was predicated on forcing heterosexuals to make choices between people of their own gender. My friend refused to play.

Well all i know is that at the beginning of the year they ( Remy, Eck..) Said that Beckett last year had to have a talk with Bucholz about being a big leaguer and taking it seriously ........i dunno .....who knows what goes on during days off on the road . ( remember Derek Lowe) Well, last year I didn't have MLB.tv so I wasn't hearing what Remy said and wouldn't hear Eck regardless. But I find it interesting that Beckett would talk about leadership qualities. He doesn't like to hear about being an ace or being anything other than a starter who needs to do his best every time out. He hasn't struck me as any sort of leader or anyone who embraces a leadership role. If you told me that Schill had the talk with Clay, I'd believe it. But not Beckett.