Dan Gould

I'm glad you did well, disappointed we couldn't hook up, but most of all, I'm ecstatic you didn't grab anything that I would have wanted.

Mangione actually did some of his best work with Blakey.. Ever listen to "Buttercorn Lady"? Yes,, and that's not my point. Put another way, how many of us would list Chuck Mangione and Wynton Marsalis in the top ten of Art Blakey sidemen?

Sad but true that the names fit to mention in a general circulation article are Chuck Mangione and Wynton.

Marty has hit it on the nose. Yankee dominance plus a sense of entitlement on the part of some fans (mostly the ones at the MLB board) makes the thought of an AL East championship very appealing, and the possibility of the Yanks missing the playoffs even more so. GA, its funny you should mention the Wild Card because right now of course the Sox are positioned to have home field advantage throughout and the Wild Card team never has home field until the World Series. Normally its such a big advantage but I have been thinking lately about the fact that our three best pitchers actually are doing significantly better on the road than at Fenway. Beckett: 7-4, 4.25 at home 9-1, 1.90 on the road Matsuzaka: 6-4, 4.76 at home 7-6, 2.99 on the road Wakefield: 9-4, 4.82 at home 7-6, 3.47 on the road What is the point of securing home field (and presumably doing it with plenty of time to set up your pitching rotation) if you don't want any of your best guys to start at home? (Or maybe I should say, you'd like your best guys to start on the road). Do you go with Schilling and Tavarez in Games 1 and 2?

Well thank heaven the White Sox are such patsies while Detroit is showing a little life against the Yanks. 7 1/2 games up with 31 to play. If the Sox go 18-13 the rest of the way (.581), they'll finish with 98 wins. The Yankees would have to go 26-6 (.813) to tie. The Sox have 26 games left against Eastern division opponents. The Yankees have 25. Red Sox record against the East: 30-17 Yankees record against the East: 22-25 So while the above scenario leaves the Yankees with zero room for error, it also assumes that the Sox will play worse than they have. Should they play a bit better, then it leaves the Yankees in the position of having to go something completely ridiculous like 28-4 the rest of the way. I'd say stick a fork in them, but the fact remains that there are six games between us left, and there remains the possibility of a sweep. So I won't make any ironclad predictions until the Sox take care of business head to head.

I wish you well ... but I'll be surprised if they turn up.

Sorry to hear of your loss, Mark. All pet lovers have been there, and I feel for you.

Yeah, Beckett has cut down so much on his walks, it was shocking to see him lose touch with the strike zone so abruptly. Watching Schilling in the nightcap, I still fear for his start in the Bronx next week, even if he looked a little better than he has. Still no life on his fastball. But the only thing better than going to sleep with a doubleheader sweep is waking up to find out the Yanks lost at 3:30 in the morning on a three run walk-off bomb. Now if Wang can continue his streak of poor starts ... Cleveland really needs to find their offensive groove now that the pitching has come around, or they'll discover there is enough time for Detroit to right itself.

It really is surprising for a contending team to DFA its closer, but I guess they decided it was time. I also find it odd for someone who, as Patrick describes it, was barely motivated to continue would be such a dickhead about how he was being used. Its not as if he wanted to get his saves to get another contract next season. And Patrick, does it feel like the Tigers are going into the tank the way the Tribe did in 2005? The only difference seems to be that they aren't waiting til the final weekend to do it. A .390 winning percentage since the break, and now without Sheffield for an indeterminate amount of time. And all this at precisely the wrong time for my team. Looks like we're going to have to take care of the Yanks ourselves ...

Hmm - obviously fake. I thought there was only one of those. C'mon, there are so many rural banks, they had to hire him as Regional Branch Manager. You may not know this, but banks in Ghana are now competing over how many ATMs they offer their customers and how convenient they are. Community wells are an especially popular and convenient location.

And he recently missed a start with a forearm "strain" and he rarely exceeded six innings in his career with the Red Sox.

It won't be long before you'll be a true-blue Seminole fan, Paul. Considering how long its been since my alma mater had a "great" season, I'll be happy if we qualify for "good". And as far as the parking situation goes, you should feel lucky. You know the parking garage across from the Union? That was just a plain old lot when I was in school. At least back then home games started at 7 pm, so the heat wasn't quite as brutal.

It's part 3 of the 3 conditions. This must have been the easiest 3 inning save in history. The rule: The official scorer shall credit a pitcher with a save when such pitcher meets all four of the following conditions: (1) He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his team; (2) He is not the winning pitcher; (3) He is credited with at least a third of an inning pitched; and (4) He satisfies one of the following conditions: (a) He enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches at least one inning; (b) He enters the game, regardless of the count, with the potential tying run either on base, or at bat or on deck (that is, the potential tying run is either already on base or is one of the first two batters he faces); or © He pitches for at least three innings. If the pitcher surrenders the lead at any point, he cannot get a save, but he may be credited as the winning pitcher if his team comes back to win. No more than one save may be credited in each game. Maybe the last condition shouldn't be the official scorer "shall credit a pitcher with a save" but "may, at his discretion, credit a pitcher with a save. Just like an official scorer makes a judgment on a wild pitch/passed ball and a hit/error, he can use his critical faculties to judge whether or not someone who came into a game with a 14-3 lead that grew to 30-3 actually deserves a save. What stands out to me is that the game was a run of the mill blow out through seven innings before Texas just kept scoring and scoring and scoring. Most of those super high scoring games start out with a huge number of runs (like the time the Sox scored ten runs in the first against the Marlins before an out had even been recorded), and they add on a few more but then everyone just wants it to be over. Interesting, too, that the 29 hits wasn't equally as rare as the 30 runs - I saw a stat that some team (the Brewers?) put up 32 hits only 15 years ago. No doubt, its one deserving of its own "Rumblings and Grumblings" Jayson Stark column so we can learn all about the minutia of this extraordinary event. And no doubt that Al is loving the fact that Gabbard pitched very well for the win and Saltalamacchia and David Murphy were a big part of the record setting offense.

John, I had no clue, probably because in my heart of hearts I am a little rattled lately. (Or maybe you haven't FUCKING noticed.) I do think the M's are playing surprisingly well, and I am kind of torn in that I'd love to see them hold off the Yankees and end their streak of playoff seasons, but at the same time that would mean we'd have to play you in the first round, and that's disconcerting because you had our number most of the season. I can't quite figure that out but a pesky, overachieving team with a strong veteran presence isn't the best playoff matchup. Maybe my best hope is for the M's to win the division and the Halos to get in as wild card. Unlike the Yanks, we seem to know how to beat them when it counts.

Final - 18-5 with 10 ribbies for Garrett Anderson alone. Brutal. Yanks playing the Angels while Boston fattens up on the Devil Rays - not an especially good recipe for closing the gap. And what's with Mussina? Horrible lately. Aside from a mini-streak during the Yankees rise against the dregs, Mussina has been horrible all year long. Too bad you got him for another year to come ... Hopefully the gap can widen a couple of more games with the Chi-sox and Red Sox meeting up for four while the Yanks have to go to Detroit for four. Detroit isn't that great at home but they've got to do better than the 1-3 they put up in the Bronx.

Is it too much to hope that the Sox might be positioned for a nice little streak that nudges the lead into a more comforting zone? They won tonight so I can sleep easy with the Yankees in Anaheim, and best of all, the Yanks get the Angels two best pitchers, Escobar tonight and Lackey tomorrow, while they counter with their crappiest, Moose, tonight (and Pettitte tomorrow). Plus by starting Tavarez on Sunday, Dice-K goes on five days rest tomorrow, and then again he opens the Yankee series on five days rest, and its been very clear that he pitches much better with more rest than the usual four. I was discussing the race with my brother the Yankee fan, we agreed that we shouldn't draw conclusions while the Yankees were fattening up on weak competition, so I asked for a prediction as to where the teams would be heading into and out of the series in the Bronx. My prediction: 9 games out before the series, 8 games afterwards. His prediction: 4 games out before the series, 1 game afterwards. Its five 1/2 now, maybe six after tonight. Without Gagne, its eight 1/2 right now. But I like our chances over the next six days. Update: Moose has already given up two in the first inning.

Try TWELVE WEEKS ago. Any team with a 220 million dollar payroll can climb back into the race with that much time to do it. And there is no comparison to '78. This team has easily the best pitching in baseball. That team had no pitching outside of Dennis Eckersley. That team got clobbered by injuries. This team hasn't. (Knock wood) That team had a manager who let personal animosities keep him from making sound decisions (taking Bill Lee out of the rotation). This team has a manager who risks a spot start by Tavarez so that he can line up his rotation the way he wants: Wakefield tonight in Tampa (77 pitches to get through seven shutout innings and earn his 15th win), Dice-K gets an extra day off (his stats are markedly improved on five days rest), and the rotation is set for the Yankee series with Beckett, Dice and Schilling going instead of Wakefield, who's magic against the Yankees has run out. Aren't you bean eaters embarrased to say "Dice-K"? What kinda of cheesy ass nick name is that? Anyway, there is a comparison. and many MANY people are making it. Oh, and I seem to remember a not-so-shabby guy named Luis Tiant on that team, no? The 78' sox had Luis Tiant, Dennis Eckersley and and Mike Torrez as their big three. They had 3.31, 2.99 and 3.96 ERA's respectively (averaging 3.42). The current sox have Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka. If we take Schilling numbers from last year (since he's been hurt all year) and the projected stats for the other two we get 3.24, 3.97 and 3.59 (averaging 3.60) - .18 higher than the 78' sox. But more than numbers, it's in the air. The yanks are climbing back into this thing in a big way. That doesn't hurt the Mariners nearly as much as it hurts the Sox. You've seen it before, many times Dan. Admit it. The Sox are shitting their pants. You can quote statistics all day long. But at the end of the day, the Yankees are going to bump the Sox right off their game, if not completely out of the playoffs. Are you that much of a dumb ass that you don't know that "Dice-K" is the phonetic pronunciation of "Daisuke"???? Where are the illustrious members of the '78 bullpen? Oh that's right- there weren't any. Where is the third baseman with bone spurs, 39 errors, and 122 strikeouts? Oh that's right, he's been replaced by a Gold Glover who leads the team in RBI. And the idea that we are "shitting our pants" - up til ten days ago, we had the second best post All Star Break record in the league. That's "choking"? We were playing .600 ball for three weeks and never gained a game on the Yankees. If anything, this is more like 2004 than anything else. The Yankees had a comfortable lead; the Red Sox made a famous trade and took off. I remember Joe Torre bitching that they were winning and winning but they couldn't stop the Red Sox from gaining. And then ... the winning slowed down, and the Yankees held on. And who got the Wild Card? That's right, the super hot team of the second half. Just like this year: The Red Sox hold on, the Yankees get the Wild Card, and a group of overachieving losers cry into their gourmet coffee.

Try TWELVE WEEKS ago. Any team with a 220 million dollar payroll can climb back into the race with that much time to do it. And there is no comparison to '78. This team has easily the best pitching in baseball. That team had no pitching outside of Dennis Eckersley. That team got clobbered by injuries. This team hasn't. (Knock wood) That team had a manager who let personal animosities keep him from making sound decisions (taking Bill Lee out of the rotation). This team has a manager who risks a spot start by Tavarez so that he can line up his rotation the way he wants: Wakefield tonight in Tampa (77 pitches to get through seven shutout innings and earn his 15th win), Dice-K gets an extra day off (his stats are markedly improved on five days rest), and the rotation is set for the Yankee series with Beckett, Dice and Schilling going instead of Wakefield, who's magic against the Yankees has run out.

And by the way, your bullpen isn't even close to the Red Sox. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the Mariners bullpen has an ERA of 3.81. The Red Sox bullpen ERA is just 3.04. The Mariners bullpen has allowed 334 hits and 164 walks in 368 2/3 innings for a WHIP of 1.35. The Red Sox bullpen has allowed 289 hits and 132 walks in 337 1/3 innings for a WHIP of 1.25.

Third best, sorry, that's what I meant. Of course "best" is subjective. But certainly they are in the top two or three -no doubt about that. And since the sox got Gagne, I'd say they Mariners pen IS better than theirs. Your last paragraph is simply a jab. It's not based on reality or facts. It's true that sexon is having an off year. But the rest of the team is picking him up. And the one thing your leaving out of the equation is the fact that the Mariners had an entire 4 game series snowed out at the beginning of the season. The M's have played 121 games, while the Yanks, Detroit and Boston have played 124 and the Angels and Indians have played 123. There's no way we'd get close to the BoSox, Detroit or the Yanks even with the extra games, but we're right in line with the Angels and Indians, two teams we're battling with (the other is Detroit, who happen to be 3rd in the AL for runs allowed - right behind Texas and Chicago). Seattle has the 3rd highest Batting Average in the majors with a .285 average. One one hundreth of a percentage point behind Detriot. You east coasters think that the entire baseball world revolves around the Yankess and BoSox. And that's fine by me. We'll see what happens come October. I think the Angels just proved that they are just as good or better a team than the BoSox. And I still believe that the Yankees will not win another World Series until they get rid of A-Rod. I can't wait to see Ichiro slap Gag-me around in the league chapionship series. If the Sox even make it to the playoffs. Smells like 78' to me. Talk about a jab, and a pathetic lame one at that. You talk about the playoffs like they are some foregone conclusion, which is an interesting belief considering that Baseball Prospectus gives them a 36% chance of making the playoffs (the Red Sox are at 99%, by the way). And those games they missed, you do understand what it means for the final six weeks of the season, right? The M's have only two days off left. The Red Sox have four, as do the Tigers, and the Yankees and Angels have three. Good luck with that. Its going to take a minor miracle for your team to hold off the Yankees.

You obviously don't watch the M's regularly, so let me tip you to some knowledge: The reason the Mariners "barely scored more runs than they've allowed" is because of Weaver (first half) and Ramirez (second half). These guys gave up like 10 runs per game. Weaver has turned things around in the second half and has been one of most consistent pitchers. Ramirez is starting tonight, and if he gives up big runs early (which has been his signature since the all start break) then expect to see him sent down. Our offense kicks ass and our billpen is the best in baseball. 17 games over .500 in the back end of August. Second best record in the AL. Not bad for a team that everyone expected would battle Texas for last place. How do you get second best record in the AL when the Red Sox are still number one, and the M's continue to trail the Angels? And if indeed your bullpen is the best (even with Gagne's failures I'm pretty sure the Red Sox lead in that department is intact), that's a helluva an accomplishment considering that the team ERA ranks 20th in the majors, right between those famously great pitching staffs in Milwaukee and St Louis. Only four teams in the AL are behind you. So I kinda doubt its only because of Weaver and Ramirez. I imagine though that your offense really would kick ass if that clown Sexson weren't hitting .209. But the really hysterical thing is that your "kick ass" offense ranks last among all of the playoff contenders, so if things continue the way they are, and you make it in, you'll trail the Sox, Indians and Angels, as well as the Tigers and Yankees, in runs scored.

It is my hope that Michael Vick A] is sentenced to a lengthy jail term, at the far end of the reported five year maximum. B] is banned from the NFL for life C] is introduced to the "rape stand" in prison Alternatively, I'd like to see his fighting spirit tested against a pack of pit bulls. There are few things this side of O.J. that an athlete can do that I find more despicable than what he is pleading guilty to. If he wants to save his "good name", there is only one way: liquidate his fortune and donate it to the Humane Society; then spend the rest of his life working with abused animals.

Every team has flaws, or at least things they don't do as well as they should to be strong favorites. the Yankees - suspect starting pitching and bullpen. Can the youngsters do the job in the pen? If they can't, its likely that Yankee fans will rue the overuse of Vizcaino, Mariano, et. al., down the stretch. The Red Sox - inconsistent clutch hitting and scoring; Papi and Manny are hitting better since the break, but can they turn it on throughout the stretch drive? Indians - surprisingly weak offense and suspect pitching after their first two or three starters. Tigers - Same problem, which is surprising considering their presumed pitching advantage. At this point the biggest disappointment in the league and considering how many people picked them to return to the Series, in position to be one of the biggest busts of the decade. Mariners - Just barely scored more runs than they've allowed. Have Jeff Weaver making regular starts (if that's not a flaw I don't know what is).

Yeah, Gagne and Tavarez must be the two biggest a-holes on any team's roster ever. Wait a minute - didn't Tavarez play with one Barry Lamar Bonds? Well, second place on that list isn't too bad.

Well, it was a great win and all, coming back from 5-0 with a Yankee-style crooked number in the fifth, and tacking on four more in the bottom of the eighth. But after Okajima took care of the Halos in the top of the eighth and the Red Sox made it a laugher, why why why was Papelbon brought in with a five run lead? Was he the only pitcher warming after Oki? Because now we're back in the same situation as the night game on Friday - Papelbon has been used two days in a row, there is no way he'll get the call on Sunday. Best case scenario is Oki plays closer, and Gag-me will be in there in the eighth. What the hell is Tito smoking???? I'd pray for a complete blowout but with Tavarez facing Joe Saunders, those odds only favor the Angels. Here's hoping that Bonderman takes care of the Yanks and Wang keeps up his atrocious pitching.