FWIW

REDSOX RCAA
David Ortiz 22
Kevin Youkilis 20
Mike Lowell 10
Dustin Pedroia 7
Manny Ramirez 4
Jason Varitek 3
Alex Cora -1
Wily Mo Pena -3
J.D. Drew -5
Eric Hinske -5
Doug Mirabelli -5
Coco Crisp -16
Julio Lugo -19

Sox have been doing it this year with pitching; they’re around the middle of the pack this year offensively.

If I’m not mistaken, according to pytagorean numbers, the Yanks should be 2 games behind the Sox; the Sox have been overachieving, the Yanks have been underachieving.

“my prediction of the Sox means nada.” whoa! You mean a hot start in April and May causes you to throw the whole thing out the window? You can’t be serious.

So you really are a numbers guy. But you are a poor numbers guy.

You can’t hide 3 or 4 guys in a lineup that are hitting under .240. You can cover Manny and Papi with .340 performances by Youkilis and Lowell, Pedroia, Cora etc. for a while but those guys aren’t career hitters at that level and they are falling as I argue with you. If Youk finishes the year at .340, then I’ll throw that into my consideration of the 2008 SAWKS, but until then, I believe it’s not going to happen and that water, along with second tier baseball players, seeks its own level.

And something is up with Manny. He’s becoming a singles hitter. 8 HRs? I say he will still finish the year with 30-35, but your doom and gloomer SAWKS fans (your counterparts in the alternative baseball world known as The Nation) say he will only hit 20. I hope so but I don’t think so.

The SAWKS playing .600 ball? Finishing the year with 98-100 wins? You gotta be joking. A team this seriously flawed? They need both Mark Teixeira AND Ichiro along with another starter when Matsuzaka folds and some bullpen help when the Japanese kid there starts to get nosebleeds. The Yanks only need bullpen help. And not that much if you want to figure in a return to form by Vizcaino and the Farnswhacker. The latter is a real key to the team in the post season. He’s always worried me.

~~~the yankees play boston 6 more times. if they manage to win all of those games, then that means they only have to make up 2.5 games the rest of the way.~~~

You really think the Red Sox are going to not beat the Yankees again this year?

dereksTeam – my prediction of the Sox means nada. They’re showing us that they can win when Papi and Manny are coldish – which is what they did in April/May. If those two get hot, they can make a team a .600 winner all by themselves – - – like they did in 2005.

Steve, you really have to define this fascination you have with the SAWKS. How many games did you predict for them at the beginning of the season? I had them between 85 and 90. Did you really have them at 95-103? That’s what all your comments seem to indicate.

Come clean. Why are they the better team? Have they ever played grind-it-out championship ball? Where do you see this? When I told you the Yanks would put together an 18 and 3 run, that Abreu, Giambi (at the time), Damon, Cano were quality players and would play their numbers, you said I “had blinders on”. Is that the way you respond to someone who disagrees with your chicken little writings, launch an ad hominem attack?

You do some very good analysis and but at other times you are the face of doom and gloom. Well, analyze your doom and gloom. Give us facts. Youkilis a .340 hitter? Pedroia a .300 hitter? Cora a .300 hitter? Schill wins 20 and Beckett wins 30? Okajima the real deal? How could buy this shit?

I mean, really. The SAWKS are not collapsing. This is just a .550 or .560 coming home for a market adjustment.

The only two guys who are going to do better on that team are JD Drew and Manny. Everyone else is playing so above their heads that Pedroia is getting nosebleeds.

steve why do you give up on the division so quick?

the yankees play boston 6 more times. if they manage to win all of those games, then that means they only have to make up 2.5 games the rest of the way. your telling me the yankees are not capable of doing this?

Just keep winning games without worrying about Detroit or Boston.

I’m starting to like our chances.