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I am tired of seeing crappy shortstops. Lugo has been his usual non-clutch self but with some bright spots. Nick Green is returning to his usual level of suck-itude, although ahead of Lugo. The sad part is, both have exceeded expectations. Both have played horrendous defense. I know I should give Jed Lowrie a chance, but... any idea what's coming? If not, here's a hint.

Yup. Time to give the Marlins some bullpen relief. The Sox bullpen this year has been nothing short of magnificent (Ironic moment: within the last hour, Papelbon just gave away the game against the Mets, but that's beside the point. To be fair, Florida's bullpen is letting Tampa Bay increase its lead in the ninth) and we seem to have an excess of relievers. In the off-season, we tried the "Throw them against the wall to see who sticks" and it seems like everyone is trying they're best ready-pasta impersonation (Zing!.)

There is quite a few options for the Fish. Bard, MDC, Masterson, RamRam, Okajima, Paps.... Anyways, question: Any combination of relievers for Hanley? Or am I crazy? Think about it. Paps has been the least reliable out of the pen, I'd say, and he still is one of the better closers in baseball.

Maybe some of you have heard of Gator Ball. It is basically soccer, but if you can kick the ball in the air, then someone may touch it with their hands. I have Googled it up and it is played around the nation, mostly at high schools. But if you have heard of it, I have a question.

See, the Gator Ball championship was recently played at my school, and the score was tied 2-2 going into the fourth sudden death overtime. The ball was run downfield, and the player jumped and bounced the ball into the goal, which I thought was legal. Not so fast. Apparently, if you jump, it is an automatic turnover. The opposing team promptly scored to end the game. If it matters, we were using flags.

I may be completely dumb to post this, as the game may not be played nation-wide as I thought, but does anyone know the official ruling? Or as official as it can get? Thanks.

Second thread of the year. Hope that it turns out similar to the first. The line-ups:

Youk given the day off, so Bailey takes over at first. JD replaced with JvE, and (drumroll, please...) Green is our starting shortstop today.

And the pitching match-ups:

BOSTON		CLEVELAND
	Jon Lester 1-2, 4.88 Last appearance: 4/24 vs NYY 6.0 IP, 2 ER Dec = ND		Fausto Carmona 1-3, 7.36 Last appearance: 4/24 vs MIN 6.0 IP, 4 ER Dec = Loss

If both of these guys keep pitching like they have, we'll win the slugfest.

Okay, I know, game just started, but in case Randy forgets the gamethread.

Pitching Matchup
NEW YORK		BOSTON
	Andy Pettitte 2-0, 2.53 Last appearance: 4/21 vs OAK 7.0 IP, 2 ER Dec = Win		Justin Masterson 1-0, 3.18 Last appearance: 4/20 vs BAL 5.1 IP, 1 ER Dec = Win

Comment away. Go Sox.

MFY. A phrase it seems we've used more than usual, thanks to the Yankees seemingly endless spending on Tex, CC, and Burnett. We made much smaller signings, while spending a fraction of the amount the Yanks spent.

Aww, screw it. I can't write.

To the point: Assuming the Red Sox don't sign any more major leaguers this offseason, do you think that we will be better than the 2008 Red Sox were?

I think we are. All the Manny drama is over. We have basically the same line-up, but Jed-I and Papi will have healthy wrists (hopefully) and we have Kotsay to cover first if Youk has to slide over to third if Lowell gets hurt. We signed quite a few relievers, along with Smoltz and Penny as back-up starters. Outlook good?

OK, OTM has seemed dead lately, save maybe the discussions about who has the best rotation in the majors. I thought I'd write something that we could all comment on, agree and disagree. So I decided to compare the line-ups and rotations of the reborn Yankees and the Sox. I stole this idea from over here, when Dewey Finn wrote about the Rangers and Athletics prospects, except this will be about the Major-league roster.

Red Sox                            Yankees                            Advantage

SP Josh Beckett              CC Sabathia                      Yankees. Rematch of the 2007 AL Cy Young. I'm feeling CC will be able to adjust to the AL again in time to have at least a 15-18 win season.

SP Jon Lester                  Chien-Ming Wang             Red Sox. I have a feeling Lester will have a breakout year, finishing in the top three in Cy Young voting.

SP Daisuke Matsuzaka   AJ Burnett                          Red Sox. AJ is a major injury risk, as we all know, and Daisuke has been improving every year. If he lowers his walks, then he will also finish high in Cy Young voting.

SP Tim Wakefield             Joba Chamberlain         Yankees. NG: Tim Wakefield is washed up, IMO!

SP Brad Penny                   Phil Hughes                     Red Sox. Penny is only 30, remember. And he is two years removed from a 16-4 season.

And now the line-ups....

C George Kottaras            Jorge Posada                 Yankees. As of now.

1B Kevin Youkilis              Mark Teixeira                    Yankees. Barely.

2B Dustin Pedroia            Robinson Cano               Red Sox. Is this one even close? Didn't think so.

3B Mike Lowell                  Alex Rodriguez                 Yankees. A-Rod resides over the injured vet.

SS Jed Lowrie                   Derek Jeter                       Yankees. Jed-I is not ready to dethrone Jeter.

OF Jason Bay                    Johnny Damon                 Red Sox. New guy wins over traitor. Non-biased.

OF Jacoby Ellsbury           Melky Cabrera                  Red Sox. Jacoby will bounce back.

OF JD Drew                        Xavier Nady                      Red Sox. Ehh. Close one here. If JD stays healthy, then he'll get it.

DH David Ortiz                    Hideki Matsui                   Red Sox. Ortiz stays healthy, no signs of that wrist injury... it's all good.

So, final score:

Red Sox 8

Yankees 6

Call me biased, that is my opinion. Feel free to agree (or disagree, that is more fun) and give examples of what you would change.

Merry Christmas all! Or happy holidays, to some of you, but anyway, I thought that everyone could make a list of their Red Sox wished for the offseason. I wouldn't recommend putting "Tex giving a big "hell no" to the Yankees and then coming to us for 10 mil a year", but, hey, it's your wish list.

1. Sign Derek Lowe
2. Trade for Teagarden
3. Sign Tek
4. Sign... Rocco!

And if you want, put some of the things you received for Christmas. I got a Wii!