but they always seem long and intolerable.
if fact, i have given up on more than a few to go work on the yard, if memory serves.

lets 'buck' that trend today. against all odds, mussina goes 7, 3 ER, 6 H and Mr Achy-Breaky Back goes 4 innings, 5 ER 10H 4 BB 0 K.

ok, ok... lets just hope for a win.

And if anyone happens to be living in or near San Francisco right now, enjoy this weather while it lasts. This has to be the nicest day in years! Too bad I'll be stuck inside watching the Yanks. That's baseball for ya.

In a perfect world Buckner wouldn't be known as a "very good player" either. Surrounded by Cub fans growing up, I was mystified by the love given Mr. Mediocre. I always assumed that people loved him the way people love 'the Matrix'---the best of a bad bunch.

The guy was wa-a-a-a-y better than me, but he 'slugged' .450 twice in 18 seasons and had a .350 OB% twice as well. He had maybe two seasons that wouldn't have embarrassed Mark Grace----is this 'very good'?

Sorry to be so strident, but I still haven't gotten over the shock of a Strat draft in 1982 where he went #2 overall behind Mike Schmidt.

I remember Game 5, I was punished for some reason and so couldn't watch the game, but had to listen to it on the radio.

I remember Vin Sculley in the ninth: "Here's one of the toughest outs in baseball." It was Rod Carew, of course, who made the last out by (iirc) grounding to short.

Granted the Sox could have won the game in extra innings, maybe they'd have had a 40-45% chance and I'm sure they'd have preferred to have that chance, but the horse was already out of the barn. Also, they blew a game 7 lead. Buckner made the error but got a seriously disproportionate share of the blame for the collapse.

So there were some positives here. Let's not be too revisionist with Buckner, who was no Hall of Famer, but who made the most out of his limited physical talents.

We'll win it, though.

Won't be easy, but we will.

See, even when he's not hitting he brings something to the table.

Thanks, Robby!

Mussina 35 through three.

I agree that I m-i-g-h-t have overdone it, but I am old enough to remember 70's ball---Brian Doyle anyone?? Even adjusting for the ERA he was a completely average hitter for his entire career and that's figuring in all of the Mark Belangers, Fred Stanleys and Tom Veryzers of the league. As a first baseman he likely hurt his team almost every year he played.

He lived on his batting average...If he hadn't gotten injured, he might have been a different player. I guess I don't think I'm being revisionist to state that a first baseman who had on on base % of .321 and barely slugged .400 for his career not only wasn't very good, but probably wasn't good either (but still w-a-a-a-a-a-a-y better than me, but not Greg Brock).

But we have to work the count, dammit.

Same for Mussina through four.

(This is when he's going on and on about how Tek didn't really make a bad baserunning play.)

Most baserunning mistakes are made when players don't try to take the extra base? Holy batshit. Did he really just way that?

A REAL HIT!

107 just an analogy.

Aha! No way the Sox can let Varitek get away next year. Because he puts down the right fingers.

Now, how did Varitek let that happen? His fingers let the pitch stay up in the zone. Good thing he moved Ellsbury so quickly to his right.

Sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly, game tied!

I love it.

Love it.

2-1!

Come on Moose.

Oh, another smooth move by the AG.

Gag

C'mon Moose, 1 more!

I have a hard time believing that single pitch to Manny was the critical evidence.

230 Moose was great...no shame in only gettign beat by Manny.

And speaking of walks...

I think Moose is/was a very good pitcher. He was missing something that could've made him great- a Hall of Famer.

The problem though is the Yankees always treated him as a GREAT pitcher.

He always reminded me of the fussy old man who sends back his soup three times at the deli.

Less I digress, this game is far from over...

LET'S GO YANKEES!

My God, how can the Yankees compete with this roster of supermen?

We're begging you...

But here's Jose...

Watching men sitting around singing "Viva Viagra" ....

Little known fact-the Yankees lost the next three games (That Mussina never appeared in) because Mussina is a wimp.

That being said, Moose has aged poorly. It's not because he has bad moral character, hygiene or anything else that he can't hit 88 on his fastball anymore, it's just the way his body aged.

He pitched okay today. Not great, but he was effective. Girardi fucked up not having him walk Manny. As for 2006, I'd just say that was a product of his age. Yeah, he had a 3-1 lead, but he couldn't hold it and that's life. How come the Yanks scored no more runs that day? Is that on Moose too?

Is it Moose's fault that in game 5 of the 2005 ALDS Bartolo "Harpo Marx" Colon got hurt right before the Yankees were about to grind him into a fine powder?

All I said was that in the 3-4 years he seemed to give leads up right away. And that throughout his career, he was almost great. I chalk it up to bad luck, maybe out smarting himself on the mound, whatever, it is an intangible feeling, call it an opinion.

Mock away.

Whoa. Pedroia takes a full swing. That's admirable, Tim!

Does McCarver even remember anything about the way pitchers were used when he player?

His stuff as it stands doesn't match up to the AL East right now, for sure.

I swear to God, I'm going to fucking kill someone!

Cano and ABreu need to deal with this!

Enough!!!

That's Abreu's ball!!!

God, it kills me to see this happen day in, day out!!!

(And welcome, by the way.)

Don't worry, McCarver corrected him: "Defense all day long--first Lugo and then Drew,"

Let's agree to disagree. I think that Moose was putrid last year and I acknowledge that you don't. I don't know how you define putrid, but I'm curious how you'd define Mike's season if it wasn't putrid.

Please.

Please...

gotta love him .... :-)

You're in the driver's seat.

Easy does it, nice, sold contact.

Don't guess, just put the bat on the baseball...

Oh my God, now they're taking out the tarp?

and sheff wasn't used to playing with bubba, because torre didn't reliably sub crosby in for bernie in the late innings of games that year ... hell, even when he did get subbed in, more than half of the time it was into left or right, meaning he and sheff still didn't get a chance to get used to playing together ...

Well ... Bryant Gumbel and the NFL Network have decided to go their separate ways for the 2008 season, so there is always hope for ESPN and Morgan ...

or perhaps not ... :-(

Caller: People shouldn't boo Big Papi, he's been great for us.
Host: I agree, he's been on two, TWO WS teams. Next caller.
Next Caller: People shouldn't boo Big Papi, he's been great for us!
Host: I agree, he's been on two, TWO WS teams. Next caller.

And so on.

And new, young, uneducated fans have no idea how bad Mac, Joe Morgan, etc al are.

Imagine, an entire well visited website (FJM.com) is based on criticizing baseball's '#1' announcer. It's a joke, but I guess MLB figures 'morons' have lots of disposable cash that they want in on.

Doug Mientkiewicz is in the starting lineup for the Pirates tonight .... at THIRD base.

(PS Further sexual innuendos not intentional)

Ok, Alex, nice short stroke..

Like what? The eight inning after a rain delay? And looky there, he went with an offspeed pitch.

this is almost worth the interminable wait

Dude's locked in, why would you ph for him?

Fucking baseball???

Well, they just cut to Nascar, and I do not have FX here in the people's republic of Quebec. Enjoy the last out, folks.

And that's that.

I can not fucking believe that Fox did that.

I'm ok with today's loss.

This is bullshit!

but we witnessed a miracle - no pitcher has ever gotten up 4 TIMES to warm up and then did what paplepoo did.

I am convinced that the bell has tolled for Damon.

Four straight lefties at the end of the order, but I would like to get Posada more ABs.

and by the way why i had just gotten back from the airport and hadn't turned my computer on yet - so myabe this was in the earlier comments - but why was farnswacker warming up - was the hope that the lightning would strike the tallest thing around

How about

Jeter
Abreu
ARod
Matsui
Posada
Cano
Giambi
Melky
Damon

So FOX switched over to NASCAR in the middle of an AB, because the game had run too late thanks to all this rain? Damn. Protest letters, anyone?

The only other guy is Abreu, but then does A-Rod hit 3rd? Seems silly to hit the only two righties (Jeter and A-Rod) back-to-back. Giambi, Posada, and Matsui are all poor 3-spot hitters, IMHO, because of the GIDP possibility. That leaves Cano. In an ideal world - aka post-June 1st - Cano hitting 3rd makes lots of sense. Right now though? No thanks.

WHAT are the Red Sox doing with someone as nice as Sean Casey, I ask you?

Mussina gives me some hope actually. I think if this turns back into a 6-7 runs a game offense, he will be all right. Did anyone else notice that his curve yesterday was at 67-68?? Is that an all-time low?

And I'm firmly in the back-off-Johnny D camp. WAY too early. April elicits strangeness, even here. Do we drop Cano too? Is Big Papi toast in Boston? Is Sabathia finished?

You're probably right. However, I pretty confident that Cano at age 25 is going to come around. Plus, who would play 2B? Damon at 34, on the other hand, I am not so sure about. And even if he does start to warm up, he will barely hit his position in LF. Plus, the Yankees do have some OF options, though admittedly not that attractive.

I don't know if Big Papi is toast, or if Sabathia is finished (after 241 INN last season, it's not inconceivable). But after last season's performance, my patience with Damon is limited. Whatever the case, he should not be batting lead-off right now.

I'm calling it now. If CC ends up sucking until, say August, come the offseason, we'll be debating whether he's toast or not - in terms of, should the Yanks give him a long term big money contract?

I hope, for our sakes, because there's no answer to that question, that CC either sucks all year, or ends up signing to stay in Cleveland.