Dan Gould

No it wasn't. The ray was spooked by having someone so close above it, and a camerman in front. It was reacting to a threat; it wasn't random. Read the article posted by 7/4, Kenny. the fluke part was it going through the rib cage and hitting his heart and him dying: sounds flukish to me.

dime a dozen dime a dance Delta Dawn

Well stated, Eric, particularly the last part - the reason Nixon played in 88% of the games was largely because not only did he play against lefties when WMP had surgery, but even before, Nixon was important enough that he'd pinch hit as soon as a lefty starter was out of the game. Much more than a platoon player, and the offensive struggles the team had really started right when he got injured, and only got worse when Papi and Manny went down.

Chris has nicely put it in a nutshell.

Dastardly and Muttley Yogi Bear Your Father, Who is Waited For

Mr. Big Stuff Justine Bateman Tina Yothers

Ouch! Sam Cooke "Chain Gang" Roy Orbison "Working for the Man" If we're going to include "Chain Gang" then we have to go with "Work Song" too.

I don't think he became anymore sure of himself than he was when he started out (the episode with the infant notwithstanding). It really sounds like this was a 1 in a million fluke. If he'd died from a snakebite or a croc bit him in half, then yeah, it was going to happen eventually. but not going like this.

Julie Andrews Andrew Anya the Vengeance Demon

I hate to say it, Brad, but if Howard keeps this up, it may be impossible not to give him the MVP.

Who is exactly who's bitch??? Let's Review: You call Tim Wakefield "awful" - I've demonstrated statistically that Tim Wakefield was having an excellent year. You call Nixon nothing more than a platoon outfielder - I've demonstrated statistically how solid Nixon's season was by BA and OBP and that by appearing in 88% of the team's games before his injury, Nixon was obviously much more than a mere "platoon". You claim that the injuries suffered were minor, to worthless players - I and several others agree that the injuries suffered by the Red Sox were stunning in their extent and severity. You claim that Varitek is a worthless catcher who has no positive impact on a team - I, Berigan, and professional baseball observers differ. As I post fact-based after fact-based rebuttals, you are incapable of any sort of reasoned, rational response (because there are none), and have received not the slightest hint of support from anyone on this board. In fact, you get warnings about being banned and criticism from your host (you wouldn't know his name). So I ask again, just who is who's bitch? Face facts pal. If this were a prize fight, it would have been stopped long ago. In fact, you're very much like the post-Holyfield Mike Tyson: you talk a great game about making someone your "bitch" and the next thing you know, you're stumbling around the ring wondering what the hell happened.

I just spoke with Bill and he's doing fine! I'll pass along the well wishes. Ask him to come back! Is he completely out of the collecting "game" now? I miss Bill.

The Truth Patrol Back Once Again: THE FACTS: Every baseball observer knows that Varitek is much more than his "non-existent bat". His pitch calling, his knowledge of hitters and his knowledge of his pitching staff are talents that cannot be utilized from the bench. Lopez (who has always been a crappy catcher) and Mirabelli were on their own trying to do a job they are not equipped to do on a full time basis. But don't take my word for it. Consider the experienced voice of Mike Bauman of MLB.com. He actually earns a LIVING with his knowledge of baseball: Truth Patrol Signing off For the Night. Baseball is full of mediots who "make a living" perpetuating unsubstantiated myths about baseball, and "leadership" is another one of those myths. I guess no team who never had a player-manager never got leadership from their manager, right? Because he wasn't also out on the field? Any of Varitek's bogus "leadership" is just as present when he's on the bench as when he's grounding into a double play and generally embarassing himself by attempting to hit (which pretty much defines his 2006 season). The Red Sox lost absolutely nothing offensively by Varitek going down, and they'll gain absolutely nothing on offense when he comes back. Truth Patrol Back One More Time: THE FACTS: You have NO READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS WHATSOEVER, RIGHT? The facts are that we are talking about LEADING a pitching staff. CALLING games. SETTLING DOWN and ENCOURAGING young pitchers. Furthermore, Berigan has identified that Varitek's bat was far from worthless, and on a pace to easily match his average 80 RBI season. He was actually on a pace for 100 RBIs, but I'm factoring in the usual late season slump. YOU ARE A FOOL. "A few injuries to unimportant players:" Keep saying shit like this and NO ONE on this board will have an ounce of respect for you or your opinions. Let's tally them up, in chronological order: THE STARTING CENTERFIELDER FOR 7 WEEKS. (FINGER) THE NUMBER THREE PITCHER FOR FOUR MONTHS (ASIDE FROM TWO STARTS) (KNEE) THE NUMBER FIVE PITCHER SINCE JUNE 16 (SHOULDER) THE NUMBER FOUR PITCHER SINCE JULY 20TH (BROKEN RIB) THE FOURTH OUTFIELDER FOR 6 WEEKS (WRIST) THE FOURTH OUTFIELDER AGAIN FOR 8 DAYS (WRIST) THE STARTING RIGHTFIELDER FOR FOUR WEEKS (BICEPS) THE STARTING CATCHER AND LINCHPIN OF THE STAFF (KNEE) THE REPLACEMENT NUMBER THREE PITCHER FOR THE FINAL 5 WEEKS AND PROBABLY MORE (CANCER) AND THE TEAM'S TWO MVP CANDIDATES, AND THEIR ACE CLOSER, FOR AN UNDETERMINED LENGTH OF TIME You are embarassing yourself now. And I am laughing my ass off. I love how you don't include names, because to do so would destroy your argument. Put names and numbers in, please. Nobody cares about Tim Wakefield or Clement. They are awful, ineffective pitchers who the Red Sox are better off not making starts. Nobody cares about the embarassment of a catcher that is Jason Varitek in the 2006 season. And your pathetic plea for his RBI total is nauseating: RBIs aren't a very good statistic to evaluate an offensive player, because it's not an individual stat. Anybody hitting in the Red Sox lineup after Ortiz and Ramirez who has an ounce of power will get an RBI total around 100. This means virtually nothing and is the equivalent of you flailing around mindlessely after being beaten down by the truth -- yet again. Fourth outfielders are eminently replaceable by big-spending organizations like the Red Sox who can throw money at whomever they want, and Trot Nixon is a platoon outfielder, not a starter. You really don't know when to give up, do you? Truth Patrol Coming By Again: I've already destroyed your argument about Nixon and Wakefield, so let's just repeat them one more time: Wakefield: Through the end of June (the last game before he started reporting back pain), Tim Wakefield made 17 starts and threw 105 innings, or in his average start he pitched into the seventh inning. Twelve of his seventeen starts were "quality starts". His ERA was 3.86. This would rank him in the top 15 in the league right now, and even after his injury led his ERA to jump to 4.14, his ERA still ranks in the top 20. The only thing keeping Wakefield from having a better record was appalling run support. He has losses that include a 3-0 loss in which he worked a complete game and only 2 runs were earned a 5-1 loss in which he worked 8 innings, allowed 3 runs, 2 earned a 7-1 loss in which he worked 5 2/3 innings, allowed 5 runs 3 earned a 4-3 loss in which he worked 7 innings, all four runs were earned, he got 1 run of support while he pitched a 6-2 loss in which he worked seven innings, allowed 3 runs (all earned) and got 1 run of support while he pitched a 5-3 loss in which he worked six innings, allowed 4 runs (3 earned) and got zero runs of support while he pitched TO SUMMARIZE: IN SIX LOSSES HE AVERAGED: SEVEN PLUS INNINGS PITCHED 3.6 RUNS ALLOWED - HIS ERA IN THESE GAMES WAS 3.59 A WHOPPING FOUR RUNS OF SUPPORT WHILE HE WAS IN THE GAME HIS RECORD IS 7-8, SO HE HAS HAD PRECISELY TWO BAD STARTS ALL SEASON. YOU ARE EMBARASSING YOURSELF WHEN YOU CALL WAKEFIELD AN "AWFUL, INEFFECTIVE PITCHER." YOU IMPRESS NO ONE HERE WITH YOUR BASEBALL "KNOWLEDGE" WHEN YOU MAKE SUCH STATEMENTS. YOU PROVE YOURSELF A COMPLETE AND UTTER MORON. ********************************* About Nixon: When Trot Nixon was injured, the team had played 104 games and he had appeared in 92 of them. He had also compiled a .294 BA and an OBP of .396. Anyone with any knowledge of the game knows that despite his decline in power numbers, Nixon was a critical part of the Red Sox lineup, and far more than a "platoon outfielder". Nixon had an excellent BA (over .300 for the vast majority of his season) and OBP (ranking in the top 5 most of the season, and now in the top 10) and was critical protection for Manny in the five hole. In Nixon's absence, the fifth spot in the batting order became a black hole, crippling the offense. YOU ARE EMBARASSING YOURSELF TO CALL NIXON NOTHING MORE THAN A "PLATOON OUTFIELDER". DO PLATOON OUTFIELDERS APPEAR IN 88% OF THEIR TEAM'S GAMES? NO ONE HERE HAS ANY RESPECT FOR YOUR BASEBALL KNOWLEDGE WHEN YOU SAY SUCH THINGS. ********************************* About Clement: Yeah, Clement sucked big time this year, and sucked from August on last year. But he was still a 13 game winner, still an All-Star, still had an ERA below the league average, and there can be no doubt whatsoever that a healthy Matt Clement is 100 times better than Jason Johnson or Kyle Snyder, the people forced into the rotation. ********************************** About David Wells: FOUR MONTHS he was out of the lineup - and after his first start, he posted an ERA of ONLY 2.65 in August. HE WOULDN"T HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE if he hadn't gotten hit in the knee on May 31st? You EMBARASS yourself when you make such stupid comments. ****************************** Please keep proving what a tasteless, useless asshole you are by calling Lester "Cancer Boy". But let's review: Lester was 5-0 through his first eight starts, with a 2.38 ERA. That's pretty fucking good. He went 2-2 in seven starts since, with his ERA rising to 4.76. That's not so good. Righthanded hitters, who comprise 81% of the hitters Lester has faced, have compiled an OPS of only .745, which is pretty fucking good for anyone, let alone a 22 year old rookie (its better than Schilling's .763 and Randy Johnson's .753). Considering his age and overall performance, there are a lot of teams who would be asking about Jon Lester in the off season, had he not received the cancer diagnosis.

Pretty cool.

Why aren't country music videos OK? Shaniah's "who's Bed Have Your Boots Been Under" and "Any Man of Mine" certainly hold my attention. Not to mention "Man! I Feel Like a woman" is a hysterical spoof of the Robert Palmer video.

I don't know what permit you to say such a thing. I wasn't "ROOTING" for nobody. Are you completely stupid or are you only playing to be so? Or is it so difficult to admit that you have no argument here and try (seems a great speciality of yours) to take the conversation on ANOTHER GROUND AGAIN? A bit of both, maybe? Yeah right. You BITCH about cramps and you BITCH about the fans. BOO HOO.

Oh sorry. I made a mistake. I WAS WRONG, YOU ARE RIGHT: it was AT 4/4 that the incident takes place NOT AT 5/5 Next time I 'll check better my fact, as your serious self do, obviously. That doesn't change nothing, by the way. BAGHDATIS was on his way to win, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION AS TV A SPECTATOR OF THE MATCH. Don't know why he would put a "little gamesmanship" at a moment where he was obviously the stronger player on the court. He looses the first point of the following game with a double fault because he was unable to serve correctly, a consequence of the CRAMPS he gets just before. By the way, The NY TIME seems to acknowledge the FACT THAN BAGHDATIS was suffering FROM CRAMPS. Thanks to have clear this point, at last So it seems that your parents was WRONG, aniway. And you, who didn't WITNESS THIS PART OF THE MATCH, definitively WRONG with them. Ah, we finally stumble across the heart of the matter: You, a European, were rooting for another European. You can't stand the behavior of US Open crowds simply because it hurt your European player's feelings and he just couldn't handle it. Boo fucking hoo. Cramps are a part of the game - this is a valid excuse when you're playing a 36 year old with a degenerative back condition who doesn't cramp? Boo fucking hoo.

Bonzo Bozo Ko Ko

just up here in the cheap seats, but does a triple negative put a runner in scoring position? Hey, how dare you point out stupid grammar tricks? FLMAO at the man who thinks I am his "bitch".

Thanks, Dan. Would you like a copy of the BFT? No, but thanks for offering. Too much to deal with this month.

How about posting a list of signees so we can make sure we are on it? http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=29363

Inertia Like a Rock Bob Seger

Ron, If no one has the info, you might try emailing Peter Crawford at Stateside: stateside@prodigy.net

The Truth Patrol Back Once Again: THE FACTS: Every baseball observer knows that Varitek is much more than his "non-existent bat". His pitch calling, his knowledge of hitters and his knowledge of his pitching staff are talents that cannot be utilized from the bench. Lopez (who has always been a crappy catcher) and Mirabelli were on their own trying to do a job they are not equipped to do on a full time basis. But don't take my word for it. Consider the experienced voice of Mike Bauman of MLB.com. He actually earns a LIVING with his knowledge of baseball: Truth Patrol Signing off For the Night. Baseball is full of mediots who "make a living" perpetuating unsubstantiated myths about baseball, and "leadership" is another one of those myths. I guess no team who never had a player-manager never got leadership from their manager, right? Because he wasn't also out on the field? Any of Varitek's bogus "leadership" is just as present when he's on the bench as when he's grounding into a double play and generally embarassing himself by attempting to hit (which pretty much defines his 2006 season). The Red Sox lost absolutely nothing offensively by Varitek going down, and they'll gain absolutely nothing on offense when he comes back. Truth Patrol Back One More Time:: THE FACTS: You have NO READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS WHATSOEVER, RIGHT? The facts are that we are talking about LEADING a pitching staff. CALLING games. SETTLING DOWN and ENCOURAGING young pitchers. Furthermore, Berigan has identified that Varitek's bat was far from worthless, and on a pace to easily match his average 80 RBI season. He was actually on a pace for 100 RBIs, but I'm factoring in the usual late season slump. YOU ARE A FOOL. "A few injuries to unimportant players:" Keep saying shit like this and NO ONE on this board will have an ounce of respect for you or your opinions. Let's tally them up, in chronological order: THE STARTING CENTERFIELDER FOR 7 WEEKS. (FINGER) THE NUMBER THREE PITCHER FOR FOUR MONTHS (ASIDE FROM TWO STARTS) (KNEE) THE NUMBER FIVE PITCHER SINCE JUNE 16 (SHOULDER) THE NUMBER FOUR PITCHER SINCE JULY 20TH (BROKEN RIB) THE FOURTH OUTFIELDER FOR 6 WEEKS (WRIST) THE FOURTH OUTFIELDER AGAIN FOR 8 DAYS (WRIST) THE STARTING RIGHTFIELDER FOR FOUR WEEKS (BICEPS) THE STARTING CATCHER AND LINCHPIN OF THE STAFF (KNEE) THE REPLACEMENT NUMBER THREE PITCHER FOR THE FINAL 5 WEEKS AND PROBABLY MORE (CANCER) AND THE TEAM'S TWO MVP CANDIDATES, AND THEIR ACE CLOSER, FOR AN UNDETERMINED LENGTH OF TIME You are embarassing yourself now. And I am laughing my ass off.