YASNY

Yeah but, other than that, we are a good team.

It's time to let JB play with the big club now. I hope they keep him up.

In general, major league umpires are, in a word, excellent. I didn't see the game against Cleveland on Friday, so I can't comment on that. But, if you really stop and think about it .... what percentage of ban bang plays they get absolutely right, without hesitation, you have to give these guys their kudos.

That should be a no brainer. Let's see how JM deals with this dilemma.

I don't think anyone can really be unhappy with Jiminez production from the lead-off spot this year. But, I agree, he's much more siuted as a number 2 hitter.

For some reason, pitching coaches are never good managers. When the Red Sox fired Jimy Williams, Joe Kerrigan was hired....and the Red Sox sucked after that. He's now with Philly. I don't know why....maybe because they are too into pitching to know about all the aspects of the game. I think former catchers as a whole make great managers. All you have to do is look around and you see a whole hell of a lot of catchers that are very good managers....Tony Pena, Mike Scoscia, Joe Torre(played the most games out of any position at catcher....if you consider him a good manager...I personally do not), Bob Brenly, Bruce Bochy is a decent manager, Ned Yost was a catcher as well. Also....Gene Lamont, who led us to two first place finishes in 1993 and 1994(for the 112 games or so that we played) was a catcher. That's why I feel that as soon as Sandy retires, we need to bring him back here ASAP. Also....leaders will make good managers....which is why I feel that Jose Valentin will be a good manager some day. JMHO anyways Other ex-catchers that have had some success as manager.... Al Lopez, Jeff Torborg, even Yogi Berra. I've always liked catchers as managers. HSC and I discussed this a few weeks ago. One guy who I think would make a GREAT manager right now .... Joe Girardi. But, I wouldn't be pissed if the Sox hired another ex-catcher as their manager ... Carlton Fisk.

I don't believe this team is that far away. Some fine tuning can do the trick.

The fastball upside Sammy's noggin may be messing with his brain. He hasn't hit well since. Too early to tell, but it's something I've been watching. That beaning seem to shake him up a bit.

How can he get some speed?

Regarding Nevin, isn't there some kind of rule that says you cannot trade a player while he is on the DL? It seems I heard this when Piazza went down. By the time he comes off the DL, he'll be a 5/10 guy and have the right to nix any trade.

On any given night ........

I kind of cherish the year the Cubs came into the Series in first place, then we opened up a can of whoop-ass on them. They went right in the tank from that point on. I'm hoping the Cubs series will light a fire under these guys.

The Ray Durham trade made no sense whatsoever at the time, and it still doesn't today. When the Ritchie deal was made I literally asked, out loud, we the trade was announced.... "What? Where in the hell is Brian Giles? This has to be a mistake." I hated that deal from the get go. Even if Ritchie had performed up to expectations, the deal still sucked, IMHO.

Koch got off to a shaky start, but he seems to have straightened things out at this point. By the end of the season, he'll have solid closer numbers.

Just use it in the proper context, and we're cool.

That's a good strategy.

I almost missed this thread. Meeting all you good people was great. I enjoyed the company, the comraderie and even everyone b****ing and moaning about how the team is playing. That's part of being a Sox fan. I hope to get the chance to come back up again very soon and do this all over again. Thanks to everyone for your openness and kindness with a special thanks to HSC looking out for me this weekend.

To me, it's just a matter of being honest with someone. You don't have to lay all your cards on the table right off the bat. Learning the other person is part of the development of a relationship. As long as I am honest about my self, my fellings and my perception of any relationship I enter into, then the woman knows exactly what she is getting... and therefore can take it or leave it. Though, in a relationship that has some serious potential, I would be happy to make some subtle changes for the sake of, and to improve the quality of said relationship.

I'm going to jump back into this after an absence of several days. Though Maggs has owned Lidle, I'm going to select Joe Borchard as my PTC.

Perhaps that missing consistency is just beginning to be established. His last 3 starts (Twins, Tigers, Jays) have all been quality starts. He's allowed just 3 earned runs in 20 innings pitched. Granted, the team lost the first 2 of those starts, but that is hardly Garland's fault. He did his job.

I met Joe Torre when he was the Cardinals manager. He seemed like a very decent man. I don't know how he would do in Chicago, as his demeaner seems to be very similar to JM. He is perveived as a classy individual, and that is always a postive the Sox could use.

I just chalk up the David Wells thing as bad karma. KW tried to do something constructive, and it theory it was a good idea, but it just went sour. Typical Sox luck.

As Phil Rogers pointed out in his column.... Rogers the Sox have to play .600 ball the rest of the way to win 90 games.... and that probably won't be enough to beat the Twins. You can look at the starts by the A's and Angels last season and still maintain some degree of hope, but it doesn't look promising.

Garland had 98 pitches. He also tried to talk JM into letting him finish the game, to no avail.

Pitching, in general, has not been this team's problem. Overall, it's been decent. When things click for Garland, that he can become consistant, then he'll be a solid pitcher. He has the talent. Colon is a horse. No need to worry about him. Loaiza has been brilliant. He's been mediocre throughout his career, but maybe he just "gets it" now. I hope that's the case. As for Buehrle, he's been too good for his career for me the think that this is anything more than a rough period for him. He'll turn it around. I also believe Danny Wright is very capable of holding down a #4 or #5 slot in the rotation. Yes, we definitely need to keep these guys together. Now, if we can only hit to our perceived capabilitites......