Welcome Back Mark Prior!

Final Stats:

3.2 IP
7 H
8 R
7 ER
1 BB
2 K
4 HR
17.18 ERA

I was just about to make a joke about that. The savior of the Cubs season gets taken deep three times in the first inning

Jon Garland just went deep. :love:

Wow, I went running as the Twins were down 0-1 in the sixth, thinking it was another case of deaf bats on the road. Now I get home and we won 8-2! Oliver Perez must have actually been pitching decent, but the Twins are back at 500! Fuck you Cleveland, I knew we'd be better than you. Damn Detroit though, messing up out second place finish.

haha at the yankees losing today and yesterday.

I fucking hate the Atlanta Braves. I have watched almost 75% of these past 20 games.

6 fucking runs in the top of the 8th, after such a dramatic turn in the 7th. Unbelivable.

And I have never EVER heard boos at Turner Field. EVER.

hey same

Whos the guy who swings at every single pitch on the Braves?

Jeff Francouer?

Yeah i thought that mighta just been Joe Morgan talking shit but the guy really did just swing at everything, he's trying to be Vlad Guerrero or something. To be fair he did dig that first base hit out from a pretty good pitch from Schilling, but still, his OBP is less than .300 :-\ Guy's gotta get some self control.

Also, were there really that many Sox fans in Turner Field?

On Friday, they were out-cheering the Braves.

And Jeff Francouer will learn. 50+ RBIs isn't bad at all. Patience will make him a All-Star.

If one would remember, my previous custom title was "I <3 Francouer". Until he learns some self control, he is on notice.

So what team is going to trade for Shannon Stewart?

Miss June 2000?

and Jason Grimsley's HGH Mystery Partner is...

David Segui??

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2489724

There are lots of Sox "fans" at every ballpark the Sox go to, as soon as the Sox stop being good they will find a new team though. These same people were Yankees fans from 1998-2000

Yeah you get glory supporters in every sport i guess, over here if you go to a Liverpool or Man Utd game you can expect to see as many fans from London and Birmingham as you can from liverpool or Manchester

displaced Red Sox fans (people once living in this area) that have moved on to other parts to the country have been known to force their children into being Red Sox fans (I've seen it happen haha) plus hands down the best colleges are all around here, so a lot of times fans move to other parts to the country after they graduate for jobs. So that contributes to it, but yeah I am sure there is a lot of glory supporters ontop of that.

I dunno why they would pick the Red Sox though, I mean they have been pretty good the last 4 or so seasons but they've only won the World Series once and still haven't won the AL East since 95. I definetly think there is still way more Yankee fans that have never even set foot in the state of New York.

*raises hand*

To be fair i was born there and moved to Blighty at age like 2 1/2, and i support the Knicks too and i started following the Yanks before '98 so yknow, i get a pass:D

Going to the Sox game 2niiiiiiiiiiite, KYLE SNYDER BABY 22.50 ERA

Jesus thats nearly as bad as Mark Mulder

ZING!

Yeah, there was a "Lets go Red Sox" chant at the Metrodome a few weeks ago when Johan was holding them to one run and 13 K's. It's rediculous and is really annoying in a way. Everytime I saw somebody in a Red Sox apparel, I reminded them that they aren't from Boston.

The reason the Sox are the big team though, is for a few reasons. The most legit, you can say that the 2004 World Championship team is the most famous team in a long time. They just had all the big players that year. The OK reason, they are billed as the anti-Yankees, which they really aren't. The bad reason, ESPN and everybody else markets the shit out of that rivalry. As soon as they won, you could buy a Red Sox hat anywhere you went.

Yeah well I have never heard the Red Sox cheered at Atlanta either, but obviously now that the Sox won a WS they are everywhere. Pretty ridiculous.

I'd rather have the Red Sox get booed everywhere but Fenway. That way it feels even better when we sweep a team like Atlanta and they're all pissed off about it.

The whole Red Sox Nation thing is just a fad anyway. After the White Sox won the World Series last year I saw people wearing White Sox hats, and before that I had never seen anyone wear one before. Casual fans like teams that win, and they LOVE the underdog, and like BCWWF said, the Red Sox were always marketed as the "Anti-Yankees", or underdogs to the evil empire so everyone just jumped the bandwagon.

People jump on the Red Sox bandwagon because ESPN tells them that the Red Sox are the good guys and the Yankees are a bunch of no-good roidheads who only care about money. In reality the Yankees and Red Sox are the exact same team; but Ortiz and Ramirez didn't get busted with their roids, Sheffield and Giambi did. It doesn't help that they got their roids from the same guy Barry Bonds did. Damon and Millar come off as nice, down-to-earth guys, Rodriguez and Sheffield just kinda seem like jerks. Schilling is an asshole, but anybody who performs well with any injury, no matter how mysterious, is viewed as a hero. The Red Sox are guilty of everything the Yankees are blasted for (buying all the best players, steroids, dickhead players) but the Red Sox let their players grow beards and are more identifiable with people who watch baseball.

The Red Sox Nation will be gone in 2-3 years. If they continue to win championships, people will get tired of them winning just like they got tired of the Yankees winning. Just like they got tired of the Lakers winning. If they don't win anymore championships, Manny, Ortiz, and Schilling will all be gone soon enough and the face of the team will be completely gone. It won't be long before a new bandwagon starts with a new team.

BINGO BANGO BONGOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Manny goes yard and the Red Sox finally win a game I am attending...didn't get to see Papelbon pitch tho :mad:

Everyone can say Red Sox Nation is ridiculous/full of bandwagon fans etc but it doesnt really bother me. Red Sox are a pretty cool team that obviously a lot of people like, so blame ESPN for showing stuff that people watch. Fucking ESPN, only the most succesful sports network in the US, showing shit that a lot of people actaully watch? What a bunch of assholes. Only thing that pisses me off about the whole Red Sox huge popularity is the fact that you cannot get good seats at Fenway Park unless you are willing to sell out some serious cash. Makes it tough for the real fans to get seats, but outside of that having tons of Red Sox all over America is pretty hilarious. Imagine being a player for the Braves and hearing "A Let's go Red Sox chant" - why don't the Braves fan pipe up and drown it out?

I'm sure ESPN's pocketbook would take a huge hit if they stopped showing 3 Red Sox games per week

The Red Sox do have a really high payroll, but I don't really think they are the same exact thing as the New York Yankees. Who have they really "bought"..Manny and Schilling.

Schilling makes 12.75mil and Manny makes 20mil Ortiz is making something like 5.5mil right now but he will be making 13mil next season (but I dunno if you can say the Red Sox "bought" Ortiz, he was pretty much not wanted by Minnesota and became the most clutch hitter in baseball while a member of the Red Sox) Jason Veritek makes 10mil (wasn't bought either though) a year but outside of that the rest of the money isn't really ridiculously high per player.

If you look at the Yankees, they have a ton of players making over 10mil+ (A lot right aroud or over 15mil as well) While some of those players where brought up through the minors, a large majority of them where taken from other teams. The Yankees 2006 payroll is about 70mil more than the Red Sox, so I'd have to disagree that they are the same exact thing as the Yankees. Actually I guess they are the same exact thing though, because Manny and Ortiz are both guilty of taking steriods apparently.

Even with that said, I really don't care about the Yankees paying tons of money to players, if you got it why not spend it? Is it their fault for making so much money? Same goes for any other teams with high payrolls, people are gonna hate on them because they can pay players. If Major League baseball isn't going to impliment a salary cap then allow the teams to spend all the money they want, and let the small market fans cry. Dunno why these teams should be penalized for having money, its not like they are breaking any salary cap rules or something.

Red Sox have one game on ESPN in the month of July

LMAO

He went from hitting 20 homeruns in 2002 as a member of the Twins, as far as I know the Twins weren't too interested in keeping him? Then he moved onto the Red Sox where he hit 31 in 2003, 41 in 2004 then 47 in 2005. He is the most clutch hitter in baseball, so while the timing of the comment was somewhat funny (I'll admit I just put that in there to say he was the most clutch hitter, probably wasn't really needed) it is still true.

But you can just ignore the rest of the shit I said because you saw something that was funny.

Its not true, because clutch hitters don't exist

Uhh dunno how you figure that

I guess its just a cowincidence he hits walk off after walk off homerun

I would like to hear your definition of what a clutch hitter is, and how Ortiz magically gained this clutch hitting ability after he put on a Red Sox uniform

LOL Magically gained

There was no magic involded, he just simply did not get big hits in big situations while playing for Minnesota, he was a platoon first baseman that was released in the off season.

Since he has been a member of the Red Sox he his hit numerous walk off homeruns(5) or drove in the winning (or tieing) run a shitload of times late in the game. To me, that is clutch but I guess it is just a cowincidence he gets all those hits in key situations.

Take a look at the 2004 post season; 19 RBI's (tied a record), Walk off in the bottom of the 10th againest the Angels in Game 3, Walk off againest the Yankees in game 4 in the 12th and got the game winning hit 14th inning with a walk off single in game 5 (after a 10 pitch at bat)

That wasn't the point of original post at all though, my point was why should teams that have money not use it? How it is a bad thing that teams have high payrolls, is it there fault for being succesful financially?

To be fair, I think the Red Sox probably have a much better hitting coach than the Twins, a safer lineup and an easier park to get a big hit. He was always a talented hitter in Minnesota, but he was nothing special at all, which is why we the Twins didn't even offer him a contract and nobody second guessed the decision.

For all we know David DeJesus is the most clutch hitter in baseball but the Royals haven't played in a meaningful game in 3 years. As the Red Sox #3 hitter Ortiz has more opportunites than anyone in baseball to get a big hit and he's gotten alot of them. But that doesn't make him a clutch hitter. Why did he go 2-21 in the 2003 ALDS? Did he forget how to, uh, clutch hit? Are walk-off home runs and RBI's how you measure clutch hitting? I'd say the guy leading off the 9th inning of a tie or 1-run game is in just as much, if not more, of a clutch situation than the guy who knocks in the walk-off run. There is too much of a grey area there, and no one has any idea how to truly measure clutch hitting. Keep listening to NESN though.

Your post had nothing to do with mine so I played your game. I said nothing about the Yankees and Red Sox being big meanies for spending all the money they have. If I was Steinbrenner or Henry I would do the same thing (except maybe go after pitchers younger than 60). The point of my post was that the Yankees and Red Sox play the same game, the game the other 28 teams cannot play but the media makes the Yankees out to be the bad guys and the Red Sox the good guys. And its easy to see why, why would a casual baseball fan root for ARod, Sheffield, and Giambi when Ortiz, Ramirez, and Damon are much cooler, more likeable guys? And there's been no proof than any Red Sox player use steroids, although there are some, because it's becoming more obvious with each new scandal that all 30 teams have a ton of players using steroids. It might be Manny and Ortiz, it might be Doug Mirabelli and Alex Cora. But 2 of the Yankees best sluggers have been proven to be on a ton of steroids, obtained from the same source that the most hateable player in the game gets his. But at the end of the day:

The Yankees have players who use steroids. The Red Sox have players who use steroids.
The Yankees players are severly overpaid. The Red Sox players are severly overpaid.
The Yankees have players who are giant assholes. The Red Sox have players who are giant assholes.

You can argue the finer points of that with more detail if you like, but the three main reasons people hate the Yankees, the Red Sox are guilty of.

Royals get:
OF Joey Gathright

Devil Rays get:
SP J.P. Howell (AAA)
2B Fernando Cortez (AAA)

lol stupid fucking Royals. They give up on their #1 pick from a few years back for a guy who sucks at every aspect of baseball except running. Howell probably isn't going to amount to much but Gathright has proven he's shit.

More importantly it means the DRays likely won't trade Crawford. SUCK IT ANGELS