The fans of Boston continue to stuff the ballot box with hometown favories instead of who is most deserving.

Justin Morneau is batting 309 with 18 HR's

Miguel Cabrera is batting 330 with 16 HR's

Victor Martinez  314  with 14 HR's

Mark Teixeira, Carlos Pena

Kevin Youkilis is such a force offensively that he doesn't start in my fantasy league. I'm in a ten team league and you tell me which one of these guys you would sit for Youkilis

Pujols, Cabrera, Berkman, Fielder, Morneau, Teixeira, Gonzalez, Pena, Howard, Martinez

Youkilis has numbers that are more comparable to Todd Helton. That would be fine if we were talking about Helton in his prime. After all this is Youkilis peaking and Helton dwindling. As far as career goes Youkilis isn't in the same conversation as Helton.

So I ask,.....how does a player who is not even one of the 10 best at his position get to be an all star. The so called knowledgeable fans of Boston is how. Your sports opinion can't be taken seriously with such homerish antics.

You want to talk about defense. I agree Youkilis is better than some, maybe most. I'll tell you something else. Some of those guys are better than you think as well.

I'm hearing a lot people lobbying for Wakefield to be an all star.  Maybe there have been sentimental picks in the past, but sentimental to baseball not a particular team.  The rest of the country does not have a sore spot for Tim Wakefield just because he's done a decent job as a number 5 for a dozen years. He doesn't even factor in to the October plans of his own team. As far as the numbers go it's laughable.

Rankings/ 13 plus starts

ERA  28th

IP      19th

K's     38th

WHIP   27th

BAA    21st

The only offensive category he cracks the top ten in is a negative category  with  BB's against where he's 10th

Is a BIG reason why the Red Sox are hesitant to give up their young talent. What the Red Sox are basically saying is we should have hung on to Ramirez and traded some other guys. You didn't win 2 rings with home grown talent no matter how loud you scream about it.

Take a good, long look at the Red Sox 2004 World Series roster. Every pitcher, and every single starting position player with the lone exception of Trot Nixon, did not come up through the Red Sox system.
That's right. Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Johnny Damon, Keith Foulke, Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, Dave Roberts, and Orlando Cabrera were all high-priced free agents or acquired through trades.
Now, examine their 2007 payroll. It's $165 million. That was higher than all but one team in baseball.
This is not a small market club of scruffy underpaid underdogs. These are the New York Yankees, except they are located 300 miles to the northeast.
Despite the club's obvious mercenary approach in recent years, Red Sox fans are always the first to accuse other teams of "buying their championships."

 In 2008 all your young guns were playing well. Lester, Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury. they were all there and they came up short without the BIG NAMES. Your home grown talent are a bunch of ROLE PLAYERS. Pedroia can't do what Manny, and Ortiz have done. SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF PEOPLE. You don't scare pitchers by doubling them to death. Frustrate yes. That pesky Pedroia is what you'll hear.

You are OVER THINKING. Paralysis by Analysis. Over value your young talent and deals will be hard to make. Ellsbury batted .27? last year and Buchholz was a disaster. To offer those two players foe Ramirez is DILUSSIONAL and insulting!!

I'd like to point to 11 games. That's 70 percent of games played.
Bills
Colts
Chiefs
Doplhins
Niners
Jets
Chargers
Steelers
Seahawks
Rams

In 11 games vs those 10 teams. Cassel threw a grand total of 5 TD's with 9 interceptions and an average QB rating of 78. That's while running the most prolific offense of our generation.

Matt Cassel is clearly the product of phenomonal coaching, Wes Welker running after the catch, and an absurdly easy schedule.

He was also the most sacked QB in the league which tells you why he was so successful running the ball. He was running for his life!!

Screen passes to Welker was half the running game for most of the season and Welker MADE Cassel. 95 percent of the big plays were screen passes to Welker who single handidly gets Cassel paid next year. Cassel should give Welker a happy ending,.....or half the  money he'll make because of him.

 I'll tell you again. New England fans have a distorted view of their team.

Remember this post from week 2. It was titled "The Dynasty Is Over"

I was banned for posting it.

 I heard a lot of people compare Cassel replacing Brady to when Brady came in for an injured Bledsoe back in 2001. If you believe that, then you have no place in the world of sports talk. When Brady came in for Bledsoe, it turned out to be an upgrade. Brady wasn't filling in for a QB who was busy winning championships. Brady wasn't replacing an MVP who was breaking touchdown records. Brady wasn't filling in on a team that was in the middle of a dynasty. Brady helped to make a good team better and Cassel has zero chance on improving on the Patriots record breaking season of a year ago. There is only one way for Cassel and the Patrotss to go.
The good teams you barely beat last year with Brady at the helm will have their revenge this year. Problem is the Patriots aren't playing to many good teams during the regular season. So regular season success is almost guaranteed. In that division you get 8 wins just for showing up. A championship, FORGET IT! Bottom line is,......the dynasty is over!
 
 If you are one of those people who believe that Tom Brady is one of the best QB's to ever play the game. Which I am not! Then you must also believe that the Patriots are in serious trouble without him. You can't talk about Brady over the last seven seasons like he's an NFL immortal, and then say we'll be fine without him. WITHOUT BLINKING AN EYELASH!!! Do I have to remind you that you didn't win the superbowl last year,......and you HAD Tom Brady. Do I have to remind you that you are three years removed from a championship WITH TOM BRADY. Now you think
that you have a chance without him. It's good to be optimistic, but I prefer to be realistic. It's easy to say that the Pats will be fine during the regular season. They WILL: be fine. After all they have the easiest schedule in the league. What a JOKE! They play 16 games and ONLY 4 of those games are against teams with winning records last year. My point is the Patriots are a good football team and with their POPCORN schedule THEY could go 11-5 with any QB. However, THEY WILL
NOT WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP!!! The dynasty is OVER!!!!

First of all Matt Cassel should get down on his knees and thank Welker with a happy ending. Half of his passing yards is Wes Welker and his yardage after the catch. Welker isn't catching passes downfield. He earns ever yard he gets while running past defenders like they were the pee wee team. Matt Cassel will be getting paid next year and Wes Welker is the biggest reason why. Because not only has he been the outlet for Cassel, he IS the Patriots running game. This Patriot team could thank Welker for 2 wins easy and in my mind if the Pats make the playoffs he has to get MVP consideration. I hate him with a passion because he has single handidly kept the Patriots in the race.

We all agree that the AFC isn't as strong as it was a year ago. Last year the Colts, Pats, and Chargers were the favorites and as expected they ended up having to beat each other  to advance in the playoffs. Of course the Pats came out on top. I thought last year that the the NFC had closed the gap and was getting stronger. I was right and this year the numbers back up the fact that the NFC is at least the equal. I don't see any team in the AFC as good as the big 3 were last year. 

I think the Pats will win the division. There is no reason they can't win their last 4 games, Seattle, Raiders, Buffalo and Arizona. Arizona is over rated and most of their wins come from within their HORRIBLE HORRIBLE division. Seattle, SanFran, and St Louis acoount for 5 of their wins. The Pats are better than the 4 teams left on their schedule.

So the Patriots will go 11-5 and win their division without beating one TRUE contender. Just as I predicted in week 2.  Don't tell me DENVER was a good win, and don't tell me the JETS WEEK TWO was a good win,....THEY WEREN'T.

The Patriots have yet to win 3 games in a row this year and although that should change this week it's not a good sign. Putting three or four straight wins together in the playoffs with an unpolished QB and a so-so defense is not a great recipe.

The Patriots will be a MONSTER next year. Brady is back and the young guys on defense will have grown up a little. All the injuries on defense have forced more playing time for thr younger guys. That's going to help next year.  With the maturation of the defense Bill will go back to the blue collar ball control approach. He'll do this to protect his QB. He'll do this because that's how the Patriots won 3 championships. The Patriots didn't win championships because of their offensive weapontry. They won with a smash mouth, grind it out, mistake proof, bend but don't break brand of football. Dropping back 50 times is not how you keep a QB healthy.

I posted this week two after Brady went down. I know you remember it. It was titled:

“The Dynasty Is Over”

 I heard a lot of people compare Cassel replacing Brady to when Brady came in for an injured Bledsoe back in 2001. If you believe that, then you have no place in the world of sports talk. When Brady came in for Bledsoe, it turned out to be an upgrade. Brady wasn’t filling in for a QB who was busy winning championships. Brady wasn’t replacing an MVP who was breaking touchdown records. Brady wasn’t filling in on a team that was in the middle of a dynasty. Brady helped to make a good team better and Cassel has zero chance on improving on the Patriots record breaking season of a year ago. There is only one way for Cassel and the Patrotss to go. The good teams you barely beat last year with Brady at the helm will have their revenge this
year. Problem is the Patriots aren’t playing to many good teams during the regular season. So regular season success is almost guaranteed. In that division you get 8 wins just for showing up. A championship, FORGET IT! Bottom line is,……the dynasty is over!
 
If you are one of those people who believe that Tom Brady is one of the best QB’s to ever play the game. Which I am not! Then you must also believe that the Patriots are in serious trouble without him. You can’t talk about Brady over the last seven seasons like he’s an NFL immortal, and then say we’ll be fine without him. WITHOUT BLINKING AN EYELASH!!!

Do I have to remind you that you didn’t win the superbowl last year,……and you HAD Tom Brady. Do I have to remind you that you are three years removed from a championship WITH TOM BRADY. Now you think that you have a chance without him. It’s good to be optimistic, but I prefer to be realistic. It’s easy to say that the Pats will be fine during the regular season. I agree, they will be fine. After all they have the easiest schedule in the league. What a JOKE! They play 16 games and ONLY 4 of those games are against teams with winning records last year. My point is the Patriots with their POPCORN schedule THEY could go 11-5 with any QB. However, THEY WILL NOT WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP!!! The dynasty is OVER!!!!

The New England Patriots have a pathetic schedule and have struggled with it. Matt Cassel has looked brilliant at times because of coaching, his supporting cast and the cupcake schedule afforded to him. The 2008 Patriots were built to outscore you and although that might look easy against Miami and Kansas City it will be a problem against CONTENDERS!! You just seen a glimpse on what your QB might look like in a playoff game against a top notch defense. it's not hard to understand you have to beat a good team to be considered one. It's 11 weeks into the season now and the Patriots have not done that. The Patriots have such a soft schedule and they don't seem very prepared when they play the better teams. It's like they expect every team to roll over like St Louis and Buffalo. This was ANOTHER team that the Patriots have owned and they were man handled again.

And Cassel has played damn good BUT,

IT'S ALL ABOUT BELICHICK!!

He is constantly evolving, adapting and adjusting with the talent he has. Recognizing his strengths and playing around them. They bring in Randy Moss last year and at the same time the defense starts getting older and a little slower. So what does Belichick do. He turns into Mike Martz. He knew he would have to outscore teams like the Colts and the Chargers. HE KNEW his aging defense wouldn't be able to shut those high flying teams down like they have in the past. So Belichick outscored everyone, ever! Then at seasons end he drafts speed on defense because he doesn't want to throw the ball like he did. He wants to play ball control. Now to start this season he loses his MVP QB.  What does he do, he turns back into the PRE -MOSS Patriots. Grind it out keep it close 17-10 over Kansas City. 19-10 over the Jets. He see's his QB growing through the season. Playing some of the weaker teams allows them to stay in those games and stay at the top of the standings. Now the season progresses and Cassel starts feeling comfortable and BOOM, back to back 400 yard games in the air.

Here is what most people are not understanding. You have 16 games to play in a season. If 4 of those games are against winning teams and 12 of those games are against losing teams , then you have a phenomenal schedule and a recipe for a great record. If you beat 11 of those 12 mediocre teams and finish your season 11-5. Are you happy with that??? That would mean you lost to a team you were supposed to beat. Which the Patriots have done already in the first Miami game. That would also mean you lost to all the good teams you played. Which is what is happening in New England. I'm not impressed even a little. The game against The Jets, the game against San Diego, the game against the Colts........ those were the three toughest opponents the Patriots have faced and they have 3 losses to show for those games. This Sunday  the Patriots have a good team to play which has been rare on their schedule. Pittsburg is a team that the Patriots have owned. As I did against the Colts, and the Jets who the Patriots have owned, and the Chargers who the Patriots have owned. I predict another Patriot loss to a team they have owned and then everyone will know what I already do. The Patriots are the best of the worst teams.  With victories over Miami, St Louis, Kansas City, Buffalo, Denver, and San Fran. I am not impressed.  The fact is that Denver is the best win of the season for the Pats. That’s pathetic, Denver???? That’s the big win?? Denver would be 3-8 if the referees got it right. I looked at the Patriots schedule after Brady went down and couldn’t find 5 losses, and I looked hard. Believe me I looked. I wanted to find 7 but couldn’t. I came to the conclusion that the Patriots could go 11-5 with Todd Marinovich. They’re looking at 10-6. If they lose to Pitt and Arizona they will finish 10-6 without beating a good team and losing to every good team they faced.

That's why they call me the five percener. I see things you don't see.

LouieTheLip has spoken!!!

Matt Cassel is throwing to the 2nd best wide receiver of all time, and because of that he will look brilliant sometimes. Dink and Dunk and then chuck it up!!! After all Randy Moss turned Culpepper in to an MVP with the chuck it up approach. Most of  Cassels passing yards are YAC from Welker and Faulk and Gaffney and the rest. This week is the first time he went down field just a little and now we know why. SINGLE COVERASGE ON MOSS,  Moss is the man and made some brilliant catches.  Don’t get me wrong Cassel played well, but Moss was brilliant. Any NFL QB should be able to get the ball to Moss while he has single coverage. Moss is the key to the offensive prowess the last two years for the Patriots, MOSS MY FRIENDS! Tom Brady a QB who had a career high 28 TD passes in a single season. First year with Moss he throws 50. From a career high 28 to a NFL record 50. Lets not forget the impact Moss has on teams. The two highest scoring teams in the history of the NFL both had MOSS on them.. Moss made Cunningham look like a pocket passer!! Even when Moss is  not being thrown to its because of the double coverage, which  opens up things for everyone else. Same thing he did last year for Brady. Which is why Brady was able to take his game to a new level. MOSS turned  a team that would outlast you into a team that can score at will. Moss took a blue collar grind it out and wear you down team and turned them into an offensive JUGGERNAUT who had teams beat at half time. Moss helps decent QBs look great and turned a great QB (Tom Brady) into the most feared offensive weapon of a generation. The common thread through all these offensive records has been Randy Moss.

...Belichick rules!!

Over the last 3 weeks Matt Cassel has thrown 1 TD and 3 interceptions. Tom Brady would have thrown 10 TD's and zero interceptions over that same stretch.

Brady Quinn threw more TD's in the first 10 minutes of his first professional start than Cassel has thrown in the past 3 games.

Moss is on pace for lower numbers than he had in his first season while with the Raiders.

The Patriots beat a great San Diego team twice last year. This year they lost to a LOUSY San Diego team.

Against the Jets, San Diego, San Fran, St Louis, Indy, and Buffalo ……Matt Cassel threw 2 total touchdowns in those five games. With two of the best weapons in the game.

You're not grooming your future QB in New England. You are grooming a QB for another team. Matt Cassel will be gone next year and Brady will be back. The progression of Matt Cassel has more to do with Belichick and the game plan. It has more to do with the Patriots schedule being so easy. He has had the time to get comfortable playing the chumps of the league. Belichick is not asking him to do much. It's been dink and dunk. He threw 7 touchdowns and 3 were against the worst defense in the league,....the Broncos. You know the Bronco's the team that made a pathetic Kansas City Chiefs offense look like the 80's Forty Niners. In the other 8 games against mediocre teams Cassel has 4 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Bilichick is taking it slow. Building the confidence of Cassel against these terrible teams. The easy schedule allows for a "one step at a time approach". The old walk before you can run attitude. The schedule allows Bill to win without showing all his cards. When you least expect it, when the time is right, when you need it the most. Bill will pull out all the stops.

It simply won't be enough.