bobryansson

Not scientific, not a single stat in support.... Don't like Damon. Don't like Boras even more. Don't want anything to do with Boras and don't want Damon in a Sox uniform.

Wow. The Twins escaped.

Adds nothing to the discussion, I know, but I REALLY hate the Yankees. Just had to put that out there.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 11:25 AM) I think we're going to miss Dotel quite a bit when he's gone. Teams always seem to take one or two guys for granted and then the next year, when they've got only two decent bullpen arms, they realize just how valuable those other two "mediocre" arms they let go were. Bullpens are certainly volatile from season to season, but a bullpen is a cumulative creature. A good bullpen lives and breathes by having many solid working parts. You start taking one or two away, and the others start suffering drastically. You lose Dotel, and you start having to pitch others even more, which in turn, fatigues them and affects their performance. I think we have been toeing the line between using Thornton just enough and too much the last few years. You start leaning on him any more, and his performance starts declining. Suddenly you find yourself with no one who can perform. I seem to recall this happening with just about everyone in our pen with the exception of Bobby in 07', and that's because the closer usually gets shielded by this phenomenon because the damage is already done by the time you get to the 8th or 9th. Very, very insightful. Still, he needs to make less $$$

Ozzie needs to ignore the fan, no question. That's low class. I don't believe that caused him to not pull Freddy. I think his understandable fear of the bullpen was the reason. Seems the fear was proven to be correct. In my previous post, when I said I'd have been mad & turned off the TV, it wasn't just because of a loss. It was THAT loss. 5-0 ------> 5-12. And I agree that the TV was just the thing that Ozzie chose to use for venting on not caring. Assuming it was AJ, which we don't know, it seems inarguable to me that AJ doesn't care during a game. He'll do anything to get an edge to win. That being said, he can be a jerk and has been known, only at times to not much care about the fans. My guess is that, as he sat on the bench and watched innings 5-8, he was furious. By the time he got to the locker room after the 9th, he'd gotten past it. And Ozzie, as another poster noted, knows and lves AJ's competitiveness. It will blow over, at least as far as AJ goes. Others,.....?

My wife and son and 2 friends were 4 of the 35k fans. They said the place was rocking with support, at least until it was out of hand. Stone said on TV that the fan support was great. Don't blame the fans. They paid good, hard earned $$$ to see the Sox play a kid's game that many of us play for fun and for which the athletes are paid extremely well. Players are pretty full of themselves when they forget the debt they owe to the people who ultimately pay their outrageous salaries. I can get a clue even on TV whether a player cares or is just going through the motions. I am sure that Ozzie was able to tell about who cared and who didn't, and that those who didn't care were watching TV. TV's were "already on." Highly paid prima donnas feel it is below them to turn them off? Hard to know, because it is really unlikely I'll ever play in MLB, but I think I would be so pissed about going from 5-0 up to lose 12-5 that I'd say something to the effect of, "I don't want to hear that football "stuff,"" and turn it off myself. They owe it to the game, the fans, the coaches and owners, and even themselves to work their hardest and care about winning every game. I, personally, believe that Ozzie does. I may not agree with all his managing decisions, but I never doubt his love of, and respect for, the game.

Is this the shortest game thread of the year?

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Sep 20, 2009 -> 02:32 PM) I hope, after the year, that we find out Jermaine had some kind of terrible injury. Otherwise, I'll have to conclude that he was just a big fat baby. Scuffling before Rios? Sure. Completely went into the tank afterwards? Oh, yeah. Bye. I don't remember if I thought of posting that exact thought or if I actually did. Anyway, that's exactly right.

I think we make the changes today and see. I'm grasping (as I always do), but MAYBE the young kids see the opportunity and play well and we win some games.... Like an Irish drummer walking past a bar, it could happen.

These boards will be less funny without him. Threads concerning him are consistently the funniest. For that, and only that, reason, I'll miss him.

C'mon Bobby. Make it not matter.

That was nasty.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 10:56 PM) In video games you can make unbalanced trades. Oh. Thank you. Rios is smooth out there.

Hook in the dirt.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 10:52 PM) Turn off your XBOX. I don't get the XBOX reference. Sorry.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 10:45 PM) There are worse claps to get. That's funny.

I'm grasping here, but it was nice to see Alex Rios smile and laugh with a teamate.

Stone, "There's a big run." Yep.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 10:31 PM) Wow. What a heater from Matt. If you could guarantee me he had that stuff every night, I'd say bye bye Bobby. Nobody has it every time. For example, Thornton & Jenks gave up Danks' 3-run lead on Saturday. Discouraging, that was.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 10:27 PM) Lots. Thanks. LOL

Anybody know how many wins the staters have had lost for them?

Sheesh.

I love the commercial with the radio replaying Walter Payton's record breaking run. Walter is my favorite athlete ever. As great of an athlete as he was, he was an even better person. Taken too soon. Just had to throw that in.

A beautiful at bat. As much as many dislike AJ, that's how much I like him. (It was partcularly fun cheearing loudly for him while wearing Sox stuff in Anaheim Saturday.)

10 pitches, at least.