Cheech Tremendous

How sure are you that they have the best defense in baseball? I know they have some good defenders on their team like Helton and Tulowitzki, but most sabermetricians will admit that Coors Field has a way skewing defensive metrics even worse than it does hitting.

They also tried to dump Todd Helton for twenty cents on the dollar to the Angels and Red Sox in the offseason and he turned out to be a big reason why they made it this far. Sometimes you just luck into things. I know there's a difference between being "hot" and winning 20 out of 21 games, but the whole notion of momentum and destiny is ridiculous. They've played well, caught a few breaks and ended up winning a bunch of games. I still don't think they have enough talent to beat the Indians or Red Sox in a seven game series, but I guess anyting can happen in a short series.

No one's mentioned that Bill Stoneman is stepping down as GM of the Los Angeles Angels. He joins Jocketty, Schuerholz and Terry Ryan as general managers who won't be returning to their teams next year. Is it just me, or all the good GMs leaving their posts? Are Beane, Epstein, Shapiro and Towers next?

This ump is all over the place with the balls and strikes calls.

That seems entirely counterproductive to me. The argument against the Wild Card is that it dilutes the playoff field by adding a 3rd and 4th team to the mix. A wild card play-in opens up the possibility for the 5th best team to make the field. I am not interested in seeing a team that proved it was only 5th best in its league over 162 games getting a chance to win the World Series.

Better.

The Rogue Brewery is in Newport, not Newberg. It's more like two hours from Portland. Definitely worth checking out if you get the chance.

Not a good example. The NBA playoffs are the most tedious thing in sports. No drama whatsoever.

Gagne from July 21st on He entered a July 21st against Cleveland with 1.23 ERA in 29 appearances. From then on he had a 7.15 ERA.

You don't think that he's hurt? Have you not seen him pitch since he joined the Red Sox? He can't keep anything in the zone, he tugs at his arm after every pitch and often swings his shoulder in large circular motions between throws. He never did any of that stuff with the Dodgers or Rangers. I think he has something wrong with that arm and he's just trying to get through the season to sign a big deal in the offseason. It wouldn't be the first time that he pitched through a nagging injury.

Like I said last night, Gagne is obviously hurt. Just DL him and put Tavarez on the roster. No one cares at this point that you traded three prospects to get him. Just keep him out of high leverage situations.

Fuck it. I'm done.

Thanks Gagne.

Fuck me in the fuckin ass. Anyone but Gagne.

The careers of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood say hello.

Move to the west you coast, you babies.

I take back the many bad things I've said about Lowell.

Carmona gets pulled after throwing 100 pitches through 4 innings. Win or lose, the Red Sox have a scary lineup. They just work the count so well.

Is it just me or has Fox improved their baseball coverage? I'm not nearly as annoyed as I usually am.

Not a great night for Schilling. It could be a lot worse than 5 runs.

Looks like the east coasters checked out for the night. Too bad because they missed a good game.

Doug Davis doing it in the clutch.

Gagne's hurt. I'm sure of it.

I don't know that you'd want Willis. The last two seasons have kind of soured me on him. His walks are going completely in the wrong direction. Willis looks like a #4 starter on a good team. He's all name recognition at this point. Maybe a good pitching coach could turn him around but his peripherals suggest that his best years are already behind him.

What happened to Sabathia's control?