The Ballyard

If Papi starts the juice now, he should be finished and pissing clean by spring training.

Yankees - the best money can buy!

Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz covering second gave up the foot race. Why? Damon, heading toward 40 years of age all too quickly, might have lost the race for third - had there been a race. True Pedro Feliz is not kid by baseball standards either at 34. Here is a great photo of how close the two men were to each other only a few feet from second base: http://tinyurl.com/yg5g99c

Go Filthydelphia!

Thank you for your insightful inputs and kind words. I'll be here and appreciate that you will be too!

Please keep writing through the off-season. There's lots for you to comment on and I love the read.

Yes, timely hitting is important -not massive power that leads to home runs regularly but not necessarily when you need them most -viz. Manny Ramirez and Texeira as well.

No, what wins championships is pitching, something that the Sox had when they won their two Series this century and the Yankees didn't. Meanwhile, though, it seems that Theo forgot all about that basic fact and wasted all his effort this spring chasing Texeira and letting the Yankees get a solid No. 2 pitcher like Burnett for relatively cheap money.

Fact, the Yankees started the season with 23 pitchers on the 40 man roster, while the Sox began with only 20 because, you know, they had "enough" pitching. Hah!

You never have enough pitching, and you certainly don't let a solid guy like Burnett go to your division rivals without even trying to outbid them, while wasting all your effort bidding for a guy who's basically just another power hitter. Timely hitting, remember, occurs only when the game is close enough to make a difference, which depends on your pitching. Hey, it ain't rocket science.

Baseball?? They still play that?

I'm never closer to committing a random murder than I am when the Sox do that September Swoon thing.

Hi, JM

I'd just love to see Ted try to stand in there when Dice K throws a high heater to the plate. Then we'd see just how much of a big American guy Ted really is.

Ted: "That little japanese fella" is six foot, 185 pounds. That's tall and solid by U.S. standards.

I was at the game Tuesday night, seventh row at home plate, and Dice K was bringing the real stuff for five solid innings. It was good to see, and from the way he was pitching don't be surprised to see more like it through the end of the season and through the playoffs.

The real highlight, though, was to see Papi's record setting home run as DH. You can always tell from behind the plate when a shot is going to leave the park from the moment it leaves the bat, and there was no doubt about this one.

A bit of caution, though. Lackey is a horse and except for a surprise bit of NL style small ball that got two runs, the Sox really couldn't touch him through seven solid innings.

It's easy with that little japanese fella... he just needs 6 months off between stellar performances. Next season, he won't waste one at the friggin' World Baseball Classic.

Indeed DiceK kept the Red Sox close enough to permit it to happen. How will it end?

Who you callin Enigma, honkey??

It was! But he was managing the Mets at the time: Yogi Berra, in 1973.

It was a N.Y. Yankee, I believe, who made the astute observation that "It ain't over 'til it's over."

Yeah to the Red Soxs...Thanks for a great season. I am sorry the season is ending. Its been a fun one watching the teams.

If Dice K had it in him then he lost it.
Maybe the money went to his head.He's all but losing that good pitching arm that he supposedly had. And 2003 is not today.We can't change the past but we can change the present.Lets play the game with heart.

Good Luck to Mickey and " Way to Go YD Red Soxes" ....Thanks for making thsi season great.

When the Yankee fans start talking about their 27 championships, you can be like "Eff you... we rule lower-central Cape Cod."

Yeah YD Red Sox....Go Team Go.
Everyone who loves baseball should catch a game its always fun and you get to see tomorrow's stars in action.And its free.

Good Riddance.......another in a long line of Red Sox free agent SS disappointments.

Not really a surprise but being 3 up over the Evil Empire at the break when it looked like we'd be tied, PRICELESS!

And what about Dustin Pedroria.

If you're going to dump the whole farm system, you might as well get that Hamstring Ramirez kid to play 160 MVP games at shortstop.

I'd make Dice stay in Pawtucket until he apologizes for Hiroshima.

Lets hope Dice-k can deliver after his R and R.

If the Europeans could be forced to like baseball, the Yankees could one day conceivably have 162 different starting pitchers. we should begin to get ready for this eventuality, the sooner the better.

BC is sending forth a fine catcher in Tony "Dirty" Sanchez, who I believe is playing in the Cape league this summer. While i doubt that my luck could be this good... is that Stasburg kid with the 100 mph heater playing on the Cape this summer? My people tell me that he is Godlike.

I'm so happy after last night, I may have to pull a new Yorker out of his car and beat him with a bat.

Integerity and entertainment hold the higher ground when it comes down to the quality of value. So, I vote yes on I. skip the B. and vote another yes on E.

Again, it comes down to integrity of the game vs. entertainment value.

On Friday, a WEEI caller admitted he would rather have Papi on roids because it meant he would be productive in the middle of the lineup and the Red Sox would be more successful because of it.

If it is true that he can no longer hit home runs without steroids, he should retire immediately and be made Mayor-for-life of Boston.

It's not a perfect thing to have the game at Fenway, but maybe in the long run it'll help promote the league more, encourage some day trippers, good for business, etc. Nice that that Sox are hosting this, given how MLB in general has acted like completely short sighted turds about teams names. And it's a nice perk for the players.

I am kind of disappointed that they are having the All Star game at Fenway. It makes sense, but the game should be held at one of the league ballparks in my opinion.

Williams left the game with his head held high. That won't happen with the likes of Ramirez, Clemens, A-Rod and all the other roid heads.

Williams may have hit .706 if he had the courage to Get All Swole.

Performance enhancing drugs increase your strength but not your eye-hand coordination. Manny would do just fine without the drugs, just may not have hit as many homers.

From a performance standpoint I really don't see an issue with using steroids.....who really cares what these dopes do to their body. They are in the business of entertainment, so taking steroids allows them to entertain better....no skin of my back.

Baseball purists will tell you otherwise, but to me, its not a big deal.

I find it hypocritical that the League is now running around making it appear that they are trying to clean up baseball, when they turned the other cheek back in the mid 90's when they were trying to put fannies back in the seats after the strike.

Baseball has lost all credibility now....so they have become strictly for entertainment purposes.....sort of like "Pro Wrestling".

Manny's a lying punk. He can hit the ball but can he hit the ball without the enhancement drugs? Ted and Yaz never did that kinda stuff. Your insight to the game is truly revealing. Apparently, cheating is the way to win in your book. I would never allow my kid to wear a Ramirez shirt or an Arod shirt. They truly aren't role models or anyone to look up to. They are cheaters. They promote the very worst things that we all try to teach our own kids not to do. Try hard, don't cheat and my the best team win are the words to go by. Apparently money has corrupted the game and your mind madam. Some of the best ball players never did get to win the world series. And some that have gone cheated their way there. Which is better?

I kind of look at Ted Williams and Yaz as guys who played their ass off to do the best for their teams. A batting average of 406 isn't slacking.
A triple crown in 1967 isn't slacking. Quitting on your team at the end of a 160 million contract in the middle of a pennent race , I think, is slacking.

Your serve!!