mfy's losing- maybe we go from 2nd place to 1.5 lead

Unfortunately, that has been his sole contribution this season.

I repeat.

BIG PAPI IS DUE UP THIRD.

Can we get some more pitchers like this Papelbon guy?

Top o the order. Win it now!

Now I remember why Boston is playing .600 ball: Papelbon.

I think that people blow his bad plays out of proportion as well so things do balance out. It was one catch. There have been others as well. He's had a bad week starting with the disaster in Seattle followed by last night and now a catchable ball today. It's one week in a season that lasts 6 months.

SO close.

Edit: It's good to see that Youks ran hard. Plenty of people on this team would have jogged assuming the HR.

damn close

Youks almost pulled a big Papi.

Now should Loretta bunt?

Tito better have Loretta bunt.

ortiz wont see a pitch this inning- Cmon loretta

That's right. There was this great catch by Ron Swoboda of the Mets once. I don't know what else he ever did.

Score him, dammit. Now.

A walk would be nice, they'd be forced to pitch to Papi.

If he gets down a bunt it will be up to Nixon

no

If he does, if I am Scioscia I'd walk Papi and Manny.

Mark, you fail.

NOOO!!! You have to let Loretta hit because they're going to walk Ortiz either way, takes the sacfly out of play. You have to hope for an RBI hit by Loretta or Manny.

Could Loretta possibly be any more useless?

I made this awsome catch once in Little League. I suck, too.

Alright, LET'S GO MANNY!!

there would only be one out- sac fly still would have been in play. I think Loretta should have bunted.

And then you turned into a major league ballplayer with a history of success in Cleveland?

How is taking the sac fly out of play for Manny helpful?

Yes. Yes, I did.


Goddamn it, Manny.

WTF is Manny doing swinging at the first pitch?

HOW DO YOU DO THAT ON THE FIRST PITCH YOU *#)*(&%#Q(_*%&#*%&

That sucks. Poor execution by Mark Loretta and Manny. As simple as that.

Manny is not clutch. Argue that one.

Great, extra innings for a team that has sucked horribly in extras.

The green monster takes a win away.

krod has thrown only 21 pitches

Why do I bother? 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004.

Didn't do any good.

With nothing but the ez' and JVB behind Paps. We need to do it in the 10th or we're done.

No kidding, I shouldn't have said "eliminates," but you have to maximize your chances for base hit because you know they are going to walk Ortiz.

Bunting him to third won't do any good unless you get the sacfly or hit by Manny or a hit by Trot, and that's hoping nobody grounds into a DP (as Manny did).

I'd rather maximize the opportunities for a hit by letting them all hit. Then you have a chacne to score that run with a hit by three different people. If I thought they'd pitch to Ortiz I'd bunt him over to third because then you have two opportunities for a sacfly, but I'm not going to rest all my hopes in one chance at a sacfly by Manny or a two-out hit. There's always a wild pitch, btu to me you have more chances to score by lettign them all hit (assuming Ortiz will get an IBB).

My wife says the same thing every time he comes up in a clutch situation.

MFYs getting beat 3-2 through 2 with Wiggy on 2nd with 1 out in the third. 42 pitches for RJ through 2.1.

How many pitches did MDC throw yesterday?

It's not fair to compare anyone to Ortiz, but I honestly can't think of a walk off by Manny.

Tito could go to MDC but Tito had said he was trying to avoid throwing Hansen and MDC on back to back days.

He had a walkoff HBP in 2005, and he got a walkoff (2 run) single off Mariano his first season here.

But I think that's about it.

WIN. IT. NOW.

I think the last game winning base hit he had was last year at the trade deadline wasn't it?

End this game NOW so we can see if a trade is going down, guys. NOW. BATS.

Manny was quoted as saying in the past in the book Feeding the Monster that he told John Henry he hated the pressure in Boston and would like to be traded. If it's true, I'd say that pressure does impact him.

That's not what I meant. What I meant is that by bunting Loretta you're asking the angels, "Yes, please walk Ortiz and have us put all our eggs in the baskets of Manny (sacfly or hit) and Nixon (two-out hit).

If Loretta at least takes pitches there's a chance he walks and they have to pitch to Ortiz. There's also a chance for a wild pitch, and maybe, just maybe, he actually gets a hit. Didn't happen that way, but that's the way I'd play it the next time, too.

You maximize your chances to score by letting Loretta hit or at least not bunt.

I'm not saying there's never a tiem to bunt, I just didn't liek those circumstances knowing they're going to walk Ortiz. I like sacrificing to second more than third, though.

So So So So close.

Again so close.