Baseball 2008

All this Sox hate is terribly amusing... having lived in Boston, I know why people complain about other teams... it has to do with being upset about LOSING!

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The Yankees have been the most hated team in baseball for a 100 years. The Brooklyn Dodgers had class, something the Yankees can't even spell. Yankee fans used to say it was a badge of honor to be so hated, so I suppose the Red Sox should feel honored that the Yankees give them this title now, now matter how baseless it is. The media loves the Yanks. They still have more games broadcasted, they have the endoresements. They are the media darlings even though they havn't won anything in years, but the FANS love the Sox. The fans nationwide voted more Red sox to the all star team than any other team in baseball. And the players even voted a couple sox to the back up string. The sox fill stadiums, and they have enough depth that even when their best players are injured or in a slump they can keep in the running. It is a great time to be a Sox fan! Yankee fans are just bitter! :slywink:

What about when Pedro threw Zim to the ground. Classy move Pedro, maybe he learned it from the cock fighting.

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Pedro is long gone, isn't he a Yankee now? And "Zim" was with the Red sox for a long long time before he was with the Yankees. Another has been we gave the Yanks. Why don't they dust off Clemmons again? He can pass out roids to everyone on the team. (Or maybe his wife will pass them out). They can get Bonds too and have a real roid rage team

The Sox run is over. Time for them to focus on rebuilding. The writing is on the wall. Too MANNY issues.

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That is the most ridiculous statement you have made. I know you love trash talking Mike, and you are goating me here, but get real. The Yankees always make a last ditch effort at the last half of the season and towards the end, and for the last how many years have they always fallen short? I think the Boston curse was transfered to the Yankees! They are like the little train that couldn't. Just like their fans, all talk and no show.

The fact of the matter is the Sox are in no worse shape than the Yankees. Both teams have been plagued with injuries and slumps. This is Jeeeeeeeeeters worse season in years. The Yankee bats have been quiet, and your pitching has been nothing to brag about either. You have one star pitcher and another who likes to throw head shots. The difference is the Sox have had enough depth to stay competitive even when their best players are out, somebody else has picked up the slack. The Sox have the best team they have ever had in decades. Better than the 67 dream team, or the 75 team that brought them to the world series. They may not make it this year, but they certainly have a better chance than the Yankees do.

The reorganization of the leagues with expansion, rule changes, inter-league play, longer season, has changed the game. The Sox have been as consitent as most any other team can be. I do not think any one team will ever totally dominate the game again.

Give it a rest with your personal attacks on Red sox players. If Manny or Pap were on any other team you wouldn't give a rats patoot about them. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Manny ends up being on the Yankees one day. Its getting really old Mike.

Robert I see you are still too busy to do any research before you make statements. It's becoming a habit with you. Debating with you is too easy. You're living by the statement "Open mouth, Insert foot".

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You want to make this personal Mike? How typical. I didn't realize I was debating with you, and I certainly wasn't talking stats. Whats next? You going to start attacking Lester? You going to call him over rated too? I suppose you are going to say something like you are sick of hearing how he overcame cancer...
Is that whats coming next?

Manny hits another homer today, and goes 4-5. I was at the game when he hit his first homer, a two-run shot, for the Dodgers, and my buddy turns to me and says, "Dodgers aren't used to this kind of baseball huh?"

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Torre is quoted as saying that Manny is in the top five hitters of the year and they are thrilled to have him. Our guy Bay is doing well too. I think it was his first game as a Red sox that he hit a triple. Bay is also a lot younger than Manny.

Now Mike is the king of stats, so I am sure he will correct me, but his stats for the year are pretty close to Manny's. His average and number of hits and so forth are very close to Mannys. And he plays the same position, but actually has fielding skills! Writers are saying there is nobody better that the Red sox could have gotten. The fans at Fenway gave him a standing ovation. The drama and distraction is gone, we have a solid hitting lineup, and the Red sox can now get back to business again. Meanwhile the Yankees have started losing again. They are chocking a little early this time...

The problem is that Manny might be right, it is very likely the Sox owners are bullies and jerks to the players.

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Oh give me a break! How can you say that with a straight face! For 8 years the Red Sox coddled him, treated him like royalty and catered to his every little wim, while he spit in their face. He treated management in Cleveland the exact same way. It was the rest of the Red Sox that said he should go. Even Ortiz said he was hurting the team.

I wouldn't get to used to him being on the Dodgers. When his contract is up, its unlikely he will stay, and many people are saying the Yankees will get him.

Yeah, I guess everybody is happy, except Mike! [smilie=u:

I don't blame it on management at all. Who cares about Pedro. He is ancient history and long gone. I don't think Schilling has ever complained about management, and I don't remember any of those other people doing that either. I can barely remember who they are. Schilling is just about finnished. Schilling is a trooper. Schillling is everything Manny isn't. Remember the bloody sock? Schilling got himself in trouble because he started critising other players, Bonds, and other pill poppers. I don't remember him ever having any issues with management. I wouldn't have cared if Manny stayed, but you can not have a player that just decides when to play whenever he feels like it. Nobody has ever done that before. You know he got a million dollars just for moving expenses! Moving expenses! Can you believe that! Thats just sick.

For you Sox fans:

BOSTON -- These days, Fred Lynn doesn't make it back to Fenway Park more than three series per year. Living in San Diego, the cross-country trek isn't easy to do any more often.

Lynn spaces his trips out -- one in April, another in July and one more in September. And when he comes back, he takes pleasure in seeing old teammates such as Jim Rice and Luis Tiant. All of the memories start coming back to them.

"When I'm out on the West Coast, I don't think about it much. But when I'm with the guys, we start talking about baseball," said Lynn, whose latest trip back to Fenway was in late July, when the Red Sox hosted the Yankees. "Jimmy [Rice] and I talk about golf; we're golfers. When we hook up, we take on all comers."

Take on all comers? Sounds a lot like Rice and Lynn during the 1975 season. The rookie duo, known as the "Gold Dust Twins," bolstered the heart of the Boston lineup and helped propel the team into the World Series, a heart-breaking seven-game defeat to the Cincinnati Reds.

Lynn's arrival into the big leagues that year was unlike anyone. He won both the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in 1975, with Rice coming in closely behind him in both categories. Only Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 can claim the same honor.

"I can't remember two rookies coming on the same team and having that type of impact," Lynn said. "Obviously we helped the club, and had Jimmy not gotten hit by Vern Ruhle [by a pitch that broke a bone in his wrist] in late September, we would've had him in the World Series. We might not have had to wait until 2004."

But unfortunate happenings like that were the norm for the 1970s Red Sox, and despite having strong seasons in '75 and '78, Lynn's Sox did not win a championship. Lynn, a nine-time All Star, played his final game for the Sox in 1980 before spending the remainder of his 17-year career with California, Baltimore, Detroit and San Diego.

Since then, Lynn has spent time broadcasting games on the West Coast for ESPN and CBS, as well as the College World Series. More recently, he's worked at the corporate level with Major League Baseball and helped to raise money for charities such as Cystic Fibrosis, breast cancer and Childhaven -- a facility for neglected kids between the ages of three and 18.

His allegiance to the Red Sox organization is still a strong one, and he takes part in charity golf outings with the club during his trips back to Boston. Lynn was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2002.

Keep smiling Freddie. Be proud.

My prediction now is the Sox will take it in September and the Rays will take the wild card. The Yankees will be dead in the water. I forget the number now, but Boston has a huge number of home games in September, while the Rays have a greater number of away games. I think thats what it will come down to.