Austin Romine, cool. (Though C-Stew has been very tolerable.)

Yeah, I"m psyched for Romine tonight.

Anyone just see that bomb Gomes hit for the Sox? Yow.

dude that is a 4F'd up lineup

Oh! the irony of this lineup from the greatest payroll in MLB.

5) I like the Irony of the Angels and Jays and Dodgers--pre-season darlings--being horseshit so far.

Jesus, 11-5 Twins in the top of the 2nd. Think the two teams will score more than 30 before it's all said and done tonight?

Oh, and if I had to put money on it, I'd say the Sox win this one.

Yeah I've been watching the Sox too. Gleefully in the top of the first, then I just rolled my eyes at Gomes' salami. But then the 'phenom' (they really are calling him that here) got smacked, and hard, in the second inning. Dang, that's gotta be in his head, four in the first and seven in the second.

Both starters out after two innings, man.

[8] And I'll take some of that action! I don't care how it feels: a 5 run lead gives the leading team big odds. I say the Sox are 10:1 against now.

Any year now, 44.

Nothing says "I have confidence in you kid" like batting after the pitcher. Chessmaster™ !

Bam!
Hey, Vern!

A Wells struck ball.

[6] Especially the Angels, "the greatest batting order of all time".

VW drives one!

[12] I don't do psychology, but tactically it's probably the right move.

Sterling's call for that Vernon tater?

[17] Heard him a couple weeks ago (Vernon has more than a couple!). "Wells Bells! The Bronx is Vernon!"

That was a great play by Overbay!

That was also a great play by Overbay.

[19] Lyle has taken over the game. (3 Unassisted; 3-1; 3-1)

[18] Fantastic. Sterling is mid-70s now? Still at the top of his game.

[22] Maybe, if the game is Show Tune Trivia?

Meanwhile, back in Fenway...

With a six run lead, Ryan Pressly, he of the 2.13 ERA, walks the first two Red Sox in the fourth inning. Grounder almost gets him out of trouble, but the Twinks can't turn the DP, one down with runners in the corners.

Little Pony taps a grounder to first, the runner can't score, two away, but two in scoring position for Papi (who is batting .400 with a SLG of about seventy trillion)...
Presly hangs a curve, Ortiz gets out ahead of it and grounds out to first.

I can't think of a good "Presly" joke. Kenboyer, little help?

It's "Pressly", sorry.

Helton will do that.

When the pitcher misses his spot by a foot the ball will go a long way. Shit location.

[24] Some rejoinder with Elvis, but nothing is coming fast.

Damn, why pitch to Helton there?

[28] That (Elvis) will be good when the Twins play the Rangers.

Brett is a good lead-off man now.

[16] He could have started Hafner at P and batted him first (or better, third), then pulled him after the first inning for Phelps. Then Phelps would probably only bat one time before himself getting pulled. Of course, that burns the best bench bat in the first inning.

I think Billy Martin or Earl Weaver tried some scheme like this with the DH, which forced a rule change. Or maybe I misremember.

[30] I agree, but he is still a little timid on the bases and his apprehension can mess with Cano's at bats.

Balk! I throw out this challenge to you all: Explain the balk rule in haiku form.

"With runners on base,
Twirler can't stop his motion
to plate, or free base."

[31] No, that sounds familiar. I wanna say Weaver. Can't quite remember.

[32] You think Cano gets distracted?

I read somewhere (Mathletics, or else The Book, I think) that there is a distraction factor for both the pitcher and the batter when there's an attention-getting runner on first. But for experienced players the distraction factor goes away.

[31] Anyway, you know LaRussa often batted his pitcher 8th, right? And Hardball Times concluded that he was probably right. (The statistical analysis appears to change from era to era, and is also apparently sensitive to quite specific features of the line-up, so it's hard to say anything definite about the strategy in general.)

[33] The pitcher twitches,
Gentle runners may be fooled;
Move up ninety feet.

Pretty views from this park, huh?

[36] Sometimes it seems like Cano is taking pitches waiting for Gardner to go.

[39] If you are ever in Denver when there is a show at Red Rocks, go! There is nothing like it.

Supposed to snow there next week, though.
Maybe not Denver, maybe a little higher up?

[37] I thought it was a tossup or slightly better for the pitcher to bat 8th only over the long haul and especially because LaRussa was trying to get McGwire more ABs with RISP (i.e. it depends on who is at the top of the lineup whether batting the pitcher 8th improves the lineup).

really it comes down to how to get the pitcher the least number of ABs on average. In the old days, when the pitchers went longer, batting them 9th probably made more sense. Now that the pitcher is only going to bat twice in most cases, there is more flexibility where to put him. I actually quite like my idea of batting him in the top three as a PH for a nominal starter, especially if you are certain your starter is not going deep into the game.

My apologies to baseball only fans. Switching between the Yankees and the Rangers/Caps game, the hockey game is incredibly non-stop exciting with 6 minutes to go Rangers up 4-3.

41) Cool. Beautiful-looking there tonight but dag, it looks cold, too.

44) I'm on the other side...going back-and-forth to the NBA playoffs. LOL.

[44] I've had to switch between the game and Mythbusters.

Another slugfest at Coors Field.[Yawn]

[46] They're still making new Mythbusters? I thought the guy with the mustache would have found a way for the funny guy to disappear by now.

[43] well yes, but as you noted that idea is illegal!

True, it matters how good the top of the lineup is. And nowadays the total run difference between batting the P 8th and 9th is probably minuscule .

[49] I thought it was only illegal when the DH is being used, but still technically legal in the NL. I'll have to check.

[49][50] Nope, I was wrong. The starting pitcher has to pitch to at least one batter:

3.05 (a) The pitcher named in the batting order handed the umpire-in-chief, as provided in Rules 4.01 (a) and 4.01 (b), shall pitch to the first batter or any substitute batter until such batter is put out or reaches first base, unless the pitcher sustains injury or illness which, in the judgment of the umpire-in-chief, incapacitates him from pitching.

[47] You want scoring? Two touchdowns to one in Fenway.

Fowler having a nightmare game in CF. Now we're depending on Ben Francisco to give Phelps a chance for a win.

Someone needs to tell Young that the job of a basestealer is to stand on first base until the inning ends.

THIS is getting exciting...

[55] I was rereading the thread and saw [44]. Been watching network tv. with the wife with hockey playoffs on the computer. It is hard to beat playoff hockey. This time of year for sports is great. Have only been checking in with this game here and there. Seeing the bases juiced now. : )

Well I'm no luck. Shit.

Did that play make more sense on TV than it did on radio?

[57] I take that back. I screwed up looking at gameday.

Vernon! 5-3!

Gutty says the booth. All Rise.

That'll work. Okay, now do it again tomorrow, just not nearly as close.

Vernon Wells with a 1.000 fielding percentage at 3rd base. After he made the play the entire infield was smiling, except for him. Prolly a little brown stain in his uni.

Fun, exciting, scratchy win. And the Rox fans get to see Mo, could be the last time.