Jim Fainter

We are a 24 man roster as long as he is with us. I saw a replay of his home run pitch on Baseball Tonight; The pitch had absolutely nothing on it.

I know he lost a liner in the lights that made a bad inning worse, and I heard he made a misplay later that I did not see. The lost line drive could probably happen to anyone. But I will say one thing; that is, more than anyone else, Carlos came to play Monday night. He was hustling, and running hard, aggressive on the bases, two hits, two walks. This is his fifth year with the Sox. I believe he is eligible for arbitration next year. I wonder what he'll want to do. HE might want to take his act elsewhere.

Wind must have been blowing out.

Come on, you guys, tell me how talented the Sox are.

Your manager doesn't get it. He will keep throwing White. You know his excuse..... "the bullpen is tired."

I missed the last two innings, but I get the idea of what happened. Once again, I was the ONLY person on this board who was against Rick White from Day 1. I still don't know the details, but I saw him in action a year ago, and all I saw was line drives.

Why did the Cubs let him go? Don't know his story.

Yes, he is. Rex makes an occasional post on this net and hails from Birmingham.

I was just reminded of another ex-Sox while watching the end of the Yankee/Red Sox game. Alan Embree finished up for Boston. Another smooth move by KW. In 2001 Embree was with the Giants and was getting lit up regularly -- ERA of 11.25. Naturally they want to get rid of him in mid-season, but his salary was over $ 1 Million, so they don't want to just cut him. So what do the Giants do? You guessed it, they call Fast Kenny and trade Embree to us AND we picked up his salary. Embree continued to get lit up with us, with an ERA of 5.03, 1-2. Sometimes I just shake my head. Kenny must get Christmas cards from every other GM in baseball.

Both those kids should be in Birmingham under the tutelage of Rex Hudler.

Can Frank throw from first to third on the fly?

I go for the Big Unit. Clemens achieved stardom more quickly, but Randy could always finish what he started. Randy played on some s***ty teams early in his career and suffered from many blown saves. This is your basic toss up.

I find it odd that other teams can promote their best prospect from A ball to the majors, but we can't promote our best prospects (Reed, Yan) from A to AA without "rushing" them.

Hey, when you are in the top sixteen, you have to make your presence felt.

On occasion some board member will take a swipe at Greg Norton, and his defensive misplays of the past. Let me tell you, he has improved. I get to see him play with the Rockies, and they start him every now and then. Yesterday was one of those days. He made three count 'em three tremendous plays AND a long 2 run double off the centerfield wall. He has made himself into a solid third baseman, and he credits Sandy Alomar, Sr. for the transformation. Of course, he is hitting about .180, but that is another story. I always liked Norton, and I pull for him to do well. The Rockettes have a young thirdbaseman who is hitting over .350 in AAA, so Norton's days might be numbered in Denver, but he is twice the defensive player he was when he was with the Sox.

Uh, it seems that just one day ago I was reading a thread about a firesale of our players, and now after one win others are talking about dealing for Carlos Beltran. If we ever start talking about acquiring a player like Beltran, rest assured that the other team will have scouted Jeremy Reed.

The bullpen did a pretty good job, except for Kelly W. But they also got used up, so JM might have to go to Rick White with the game on the line, although Dave Sanders should be ready to go.

I'm tickled to death for the win and Crede's big hit, but I saw a replay of it on Baseball Tonight, and it sure looked like a knuckle ball that didn't do anything and was just sitting there on the inside part of the plate ready to be hit. It's kind of like winning a war against France. I'll take it and be happy about it, but I won't brag about it.

Welcome to the Mendoza Line, Royce.

The main man on Baseball Tonight just said Crede's homer might have saved JM's job. Not that he know what he's talking about.

Because we are always hopeful that something is on the way to the Sox. One of my favorite things about this board is that it provides just this type of info.

Right. Bags had another today vs the Cubbs.

An aggressive manager would have run with a knuckleballer on the mound. Somebody should email Wally and ask what he would have done in that situation.

I think Bagwell has him beat so far.

Kelly Wunsch is always very dangerous when the game is on the line.