All we needed was one win to head into Boston on a high note. That's not the biggest deal. Garza threw another great game but didn't get any offensive help what so ever. David Purcey is a 6+ ERA lefty who we should be able to crush. He has made us look like a little league team twice in a row. Oh well. Hopefully we can crush Lester tomarrow and E-Jax gives us a chance. Let's lift our Fenway Curse!

We obviously need a new closer after what happened yesterday. That was terrible. Where we are right now we cannot afford to lose games like that. My candidates? JP Howell, Dan Wheeler, Grant Balfour, and Chad Bradford. What do there stats look like against Percy's?

                  ERA    SV      SVO     G       IP     ER

Howell:     2.54     2          3        56      78     22

Balfour:    1.70     4           5        42     47.2     9

Wheeler:  2.54     11        14       62     60.1    17

Bradford:  2.06     0            2        61     52.1     12

Percival:   4.91      27         31      43     40.1     22

All of the pitchers listed before Percy have better stats and are better options. Of those 27 saves, a few have given all of us close heart attacks. I would stick either Howell or Balfour in the closers role for a while to see how they do. Percy has lost his 300+ save material. I wouldn't mind seeing him in the 7th or 8th inning, just not the ninth. I think it is time for Joe to forget about his friendship and move him out of the closer role.

Thoughts?

It has worked in football. It will work for baseball. They need to input the replay before the playoffs. We want the players to decide the game, not the umpires. That's what we saw yesterday. The umpire won the game for the White Sox, not AJ Pierzynski or anyone else. It was a bonehead call.

The MLB needs to make replays for all plays, not just homers. If we had replays, the call would've been overturned and the players would've won or lost the game. The umpires have not helped us twice in the past week. Luckily, one of them didn't cost us the game. Do umpires not respect the best team in baseball? Are they blind? Maybe Jerry Meals needs new glasses. I don't know, but the MLB should be ashamed.