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Why do I feel like Schilling is going to get outdueled by Pettitte, the yanks are going to clobber Beckett's fastball, and Matsuzaka is going to have some legendary control issues? They've given me no reason not to be optimistic, so I guess I really am a red sox fan.

Actually, Anonymous, that just makes you old.


This isn't your dad's team anymore, homie. We're no longer perpetually jilted. Winning changes this sort of thing. Can't we be regular fans of a team now, without the constant negativity? Schill is going to be gnarly with his new change-up, which hasn't been showcased to the Yankees yet. Beckett's going to have every Yankee hitter out on the front foot with his change and curve looking filthy. Matsuzaka is just going to gyro-mystery-secret pitch the hell out of them, throwing 8 different pitches in a legendary at-bat to A-Rod, sitting him down with his 3rd K of the night. It's going to be rad.

Actually the thing that scares me most over the last week leading up to this match-up is the thought that ARoid will be the Sox 3rd baseman next year after h opts out and Boras pulls a reverse Damon, sending ARoid to the Sox for 6 years at $22 mil a year. The Sox will respond by finally trading Manny making it a wash, salarywise.

I always enter Yankee series with a sense of optimism. It's part of the disease I inherited from my parents, and they from theirs. And there's almost always an equal amount of underlying dread, since the losses are so painful.

Well, honestly I'd be satisfied with any of our rotation coming up. Wakefield has been baffling people lately and Tavarez is entertaining even when he's losing. And when he's filthy... well, check out his starts late last year - or his 4.0 IP in the 19-inning CWS game last July, the day he actually made a big fan out of me.


Compare our guys to theirs - Pettite, Karstens, Wright? Please. I'll give them Andy, but on SP's alone the series, at least, is a foregone conclusion.



But.



We have got to do something about A-Rod. Good for him, he's finally hot, but I wouldn't be surprised if he homers in all 3 the way he's been going - and taking all the baserunners with him. Their rotation is decimated and they're still 8-6; six of those eight wins are come-from-behind wins. Damn the rotation; they'll just outscore us if necessary.



Anyway, all that is just a long way of saying I'm hopeful and optimistic, but I'm still going to watch those games from a quiet corner in a bar so I can stew in private if necessary.

You have no idea how hard it is to endure a Sox-Yanks series if you haven't lived in Connecticut. You have no idea who the friendlies are, and the Yankee fans jump on the bandwagon with each win. Last Augst was brutal. In fact, you have to be careful this time of year about leaving your Sox hat in the car if you're having it worked on. The mechanic could be a Yankee fan. The only thing that is more contentious is being a Sox fan in the Bronx.


All that said, I am optimistic and psyched to see these games!

Tough to decipher optimism from hysteria. I think folks were pretty optimistic last August entering the massacre - or maybe that was just typical media hyped hysteria.


I think a little chin music to Slappy McBluelips will bring him back to earth. April is almost over so he should done crushing the ball

Hey Rob, what happens to your blog when you leave the Merrimack Valley for the state capital? I assume it will continue in some form?

9:30 and I am PISSED! runners on 1st and 2nd with Pedroia due up and he bats Willy No Patience? Rob, is Willy Mo uncoachable or has no-one ever noticed that he has an inside-out swing? If he just tried going to his strength(hitting to RF) he would have so much more sucess. HE IS NOT A PULL HITTER!


Anyways, back to Pedroia. He bats and buts Tek and Coco over... Lugo's fly ball scores Tek. Who know's what happens next...



Put some pressure on the defense! Putting Willy Mo up does nothing.



Rob, I hope you call out Francona on this one. Bad move!



Peace, CRoy

HA! THE HERO IN THE DARK STRIKES! JETER CHOKES! AROD CHOKES! OKAJIMA K'S THE LAST BATTER AND THEEEEEEEEEEE RED SOX WIN! (take that John Sterling!)

Why would you bunt Pedroia when you're down three late in the game? If WMP hits a bomb, we're all saying how Francona's a genius. Anyway, if Lugo hits a fly ball, they're still down two runs with two outs.


Can't wait for the mass hysteria and the "Pedroia sucks/Cora rules" WEEI callers tomorrow.



The "Hero in the Dark" showed some balls tonight. Surprised Tito went down that path (I was expecting Donnelly) but maybe the lack of experience seeing Okajima pitch worked in their favor.



Also not a fan of Torre bringing in Mo in the first game of an intense three-game series, up three runs in the 8th to get five outs. Why not put Myers in for Ortiz-Manny-Drew? Where was Farnsworth?

I agree with Sonoma Sox on dusting off A-Rod. Here's the pitch sequence I'd like to see from Beckett tomorrow. Curveball in the dirt, fastball high and tight enough to drop him on his butt.

Dusting off ARod isn't necessary.


Schilling throwing fastball after fastball to him was the problem. His game plan for ARod was puzzling at best. You get him out his first at bat by using your curveball... and then the next 2 at bats you throw nearly all fastballs to the hottest hitter on the planet.



Schilling needs to update his game plan for the 2007 version of ARod.



PS. Don't forget about the roles Kyle Snyder and J.D. Drew quietly played tonight.

My thoughts on bunting Pedrioa was to keep it close so we can(hopefully) nickel and dime them in the late innings. I don't think the Sox can go bat for bat with the Yanks(therefore bunting Pedroia and letting the top of the order do thier job). Thankfully it all worked out in the end.


I still think Willy Mo will be a great talent, but only if he understands his true power is to right...



Coco Crisp's attempt on A-Rod's HR will prove to be the turning point in his season. I think he was afraid of getting hurt again and that's why he has perfomed so poorly. When he got up from his flip un hurt, he realized he can still go all out and not get hurt.



Peace everyone



CRoy

Rob- going into the 2004 ALCS, I think everyone felt that our staff should outpitch Kevin Brown, Javy Vazquez and Lieber.
btp

what is really funny is that the first poster/comment in this column was dead on. Schilling got outdueled by Pettite, Beckett had some problems (although a lot of bad luck with cheapo hits, etc), and Matsuzaka had some control issues.....


and the Sox *still* swept them. That more than anything is why the Sox should be encouraged, imho - they had 2 less than stellar starts but yet all their starters went through the 7th and the bullpen was almost perfect.



The Yanks will be there in the end - but only if they get starters who occasionally get through the 5th inning....

Let be honest on three facts:


1. It would have been just as easy to get swept in those three game as it was to sweep. Winning is great and momentum is better, but they didn't mean much more, especially as the Yankee get healthier on the pitching front



2. I'll steal a quote from 1 million other souls out there...repeat after me....its April



3. And finally...most importantly, we went at them with out best pitching, while they were down on theirs. Its clear, that with THAT lineup, you can't beat the Yankees, you can only survive them.

Rob,


Perhaps I am a nervous nelly...

But what the heck is Timlin thinking catching all of these home run balls into the bullpen with a towel?? Better yet, why don't the Sox protect themselves and tell him to cut it out? He could easily break his hand, and land on the DL.

rob-


have you lost interest and/or simply not writing the blog anymore now that you're writing for a diff. paper?

Rob,


Before you leave for the Boston Herald, can you please give us one last update on the kittens who were left homeless in Andover? I've been worried sick.



Thanks for your dedication. Go Sox!

For folks still coming here this is the latest from the Scott's Shots column on bostonsportsmedia.com:


The region's hottest media man, Rob Bradford begins his first day at the Boston Herald today, Wednesday April 25 and his final Bradford on Basbeall posting (at the ever-weak Lawrence Eagle-Tribune site) explains a bit of where we'll now be able to find "Blogford," the multimedia star (WEEI, FSNNE and the Herald).



Instead of keeping the ET's BOB address and switching the affiliation to the Herald, Bradford and the Herald are starting a new spot for his on-line missives which will borrow the name of Bradford's old Eagle-Tribune column, the the "Bradford Files", where he'll provide what he calls a "ESPN.com's Page 2 vibe."



The Herald has secured the rights to the www.bradfordfiles.com site and although that might not be up and running (or linking) currently, Bradford will begin blogging at either the "Clubhouse Insider" or his own, new Herald page beginning today, from Baltimore.



There was a last minute snafu that wound up making the use of the fledgling "Bradford on Baseball" page unfeasible at Bradford's new employer, the Herald (likely, we're guessing, caused by some clueless E-T suit who needed to justify his own unjustifiable salary by playing the "no"-man).



No worries though - Bradford's exposure and reach will automatically be increased substantially simply by getting on the Herald site and it's not the worst thing to have a new "brand name" with which to hail the Bradford arrival at the Herald.

Very odd that Rob's last post, pointing readers to his new online home, mysteriously disappeared.


Go to http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/bradfordBlog/ for Rob's current blog.