One Game Difference

To me, it's amazing what a difference one game makes. Yesterday, there was still panic in the air and Yankees fans were calling in left and right to the radio shows talking about how well the Bombers were playing and how the Sox weren't.

One day later and the talk is all about Vick and nothing about the Sox.

The difference? One game. The Sox went from 4 games up to 5 games up and all of a sudden, everything has calmed down.

I don't understand it. The Yankees were on a 3 wins for every one loss and everyone knows the Sox were sitting at .500 ball for two months. But even so, the Red Sox were still 4 games up.

I mean, think about that. The Red Sox were playing mediocre and the Yankees were playing phenomenal ball (record-wise) and the Sox were still four games up and had the best record in baseball.

What more do you want from your team?

The Yankees are Coming!

Enough already. The Yankees are on a complete tear, while the Red Sox offense has gone bye-bye for the past few weeks. So all I hear about on the radio these days is how the Yankees are coming, the Yankees are coming.

Give me a break, please.

The Yankees, because of their winning ways, are just now getting up over .500. The Red Sox, despite their recent losing streak, are now 7.5 games up. I mean, really. How much better do you want things to be?

And why is everyone getting on Crisp? No one ever promised he was going to be the next great center fielder. He's a good (not great) offensive player who has speed. He's an above average center fielder with great range. That's it. If you were expecting more from him, then that's your fault, not his.

That's a lot of money

What happened to paying market value? Or has the market gone crazy? All the extra revenue seems to have gone to the GMs heads.

5 years, $70 million for JD Drew. 4 years, $36 million for Lugo (are you kidding me? all the bouncing around at shortstop to end with Lugo?). Add in the $19 million for Manny next year (who's reported to be staying after all) and you've got a serious budgetary issue when you're paying 3 players $42 million.

And they still haven't signed the player who should be their priority, Daisuke Matsuzaka. Oh, and what about a closer? Has anyone seen Theo et al looking for a closer this offseason? Pitching is what wins you games. I have a quote I want to place on Theo's wall where he can see it every day. "It's the pitchers, stupid!"

A friend has been hired

A friend for Matsuzaka has been hired. The lefty reliever Hideki Okajima was signed to a two year deal. In 439 Japanese major league games, he is 34-32 with a 3.36 ERA and 41 saves.

It's likely that the Red Sox were looking for just about anyone to come in and be the other new guy along with Matsuzaka in an effort to make him more comfortable. But a 3.36 ERA is fairly respectable for a reliever and I'll be happy to see Hideki in the Red Sox uniform.

Conspiracy theories

Who came up with this one?
Red Sox make offer to Matsuzaka - Yahoo! News

Lucchino brushed aside suggestions that the bid was made just to block the
New York Yankees from signing Matsuzaka.

I mean, can you imagine that sort of thing? Really? Why can't it be about the Red Sox trying to improve their own pitching? You do know that their pitching fell apart last year, right?

Hopefully, they can sign Matsuzaka. If they can't, I'm not about to believe this sort of conspiracy theory claptrap.