If only the Red Sox had a player who had like the record for most successful performances under pressure without failure on their team :/

i think ramirez' lack of power is more concerning going forward than gagne as well. i'm waiting for him to go on one of his sick streaks, but it doesnt look like he's even going to hit 25 hr's this year.

I think Manny is finally getting old. still a good hitter, but we should be glad is contract is up next year.

Yes, Ramirez lack of power is definitely a concern but the whole team in general is power weak. We have a bunch of obp guys but not enough power to drive them in. Seems like we need 4 hits to score a run these days.

you are so right. what are we like 13th in the AL in SLG% ?

To be fair, Manny has had a lot of near-miss homers (I know everybody has those, but he's had way more than his share this season). He could easily have 25+ right now. But, I do agree he is in decline.

- It looks like he's guessing a lot more than usual, even with two strikes. How many times have we seen him flip his bat and walk towards the dugout on a 3rd strike before the ump has even made the call.

- He's swinging through and fouling off a lot of the pitches he used to hammer.

- He seems to be too in love with his inside out swing. Shades of Jim Rice, post-86.

But we knew the time would come. I'm still hoping he goes on a streak to keep his 30/100 streak alive, but I wouldn't mind if he's saving himself for the playoffs, either.

not sure if you're leveling or not to pwn Toro.. sox are 3rd in SLG% in the AL, as well as OPS.

well, a lot of their slugging is tied up in the high batting average, i'm pretty sure they're middle of the pack in IsoP. they're also 9th in ab/hr, which isn't very good. its no secret the team is missing some pop.

As Mark Twain once said: There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

When I made my post I was sure someone would chime in and mis-use a stat to discredit my point. Thanks for not disappointing NT.

IsoP is a misleading stat?

I think he meant SLG%. zer0's post supports Toro's claim, mine and NT's posts about SLG% go against it.

i think that is what toro was referring to, you can't just say "well they're 3rd in slg% so power isnt a problem", when his point was it takes 4 singles to get a run (obv an exaggeration, but has some merit). toronto's slg% is lower than boston's, but have a higher IsoP. same with texas. cleveland and tampa bay are basically tied w/ boston. NY and DET are a clear level ahead.

how can you honestly watch the red sox everyday and say you're not concerned with the lack of power? going into the year, everyone figured outside of ramirez/ortiz hr production would be an issue, and they're not even going to combine to match the expected hr total they should each produce.

Good Lord, Cash looks bad behind the plate.

i feel bad for him. looks like he's getting better as the game goes on at least. hell of a job, he hasn't made any really brutal mistakes yet.

wake is really, really dealing tonight too

Yeah, I agree. He reacted well to the 3rd strike that got well away from him. But he did look better in the last inning.

Nice work pitching... On a side not, Wily Mo with his 2nd bomb in three nights for the Nationals.

NL hasnt realized that he will never get a hit if they don't throw him cheese. Give them a week.

feels nice to pick up a game on a day the sox faced kazmir and the yanks had a mosley/hughes matchup

now the red sox face that sonnanstine fellow and edwin jackson, while the yanks get lackey and escobar (and they'll draw bonderman + verlander in detroit). hopefully the lead will be at least 6 heading into next week's series.

Except it's the NL.


DUCY?

2 bits of trivia Tom Verducci wrote about today, neither of which I knew:

"In addition to Saturday's grand slam, in the first inning of Friday's series opener, an 8-4 Boston victory, David Ortiz ripped a home run with a runner at second -- his first Fenway homer ever with first base open and at least one runner on."

"The Red Sox have held first place on May 30 or later in each of the past eight seasons and lost the division every time to the Yankees"

Red Sox get prospect Chris Carter from Arizona system for WMP deal.

his top comp is 98 todd helton

his off numbers are aided by PCL parks which iirc are like Colorado. still not a bad haul considering WMP's relative value on the market.

That one surprises the hell out of me. Anybody know how many times he's been in that situation (and what his numbers are).

This one I've lived. I have a friend who calls up every year and shouts "who's in first place now, bitch?" (a tradition he actually began nine years ago, when the Sox gave up the lead in early May).

Papelbon save #30 tonight... First Red Sox pitcher to have back-to-back 30 save seasons.