A-a-and the Sox take first place.

Everybody in the East except the Sox lost today. The Jays have come back to earth with a six-game losing streak. The Yankees lost deliciously, at home, to the defending World Champions.

Yet only four games separates the Sox from the fourth-place Rays, who are probably a little better than their record indicates.

Thoughts? Where do things go from here?

(Oh, and unless you're Doug, the other Tim, Warren, or Kyle, make your picks for the all-time Sox team in the comments thread for the previous post.)

Best All-Time Sox TEAM

Okay, fellas, that seemed to go well, but now let's get down to it for real. This time around, you need an entire team:

* 8 starting position players
* 1 DH
* 5 starting pitchers
* 6 relievers (bonus credit: designate long relief, setup man, & closer)
* 5 bench players (preferred mix: backup C, utility IF, PH/corner IF, 4th OF/defensive sub, PR/5th OF)
* manager, bench coach, hitting coach, pitching coach, 1b coach, 3b coach

Offense counts, defense counts, baserunning counts -- everything counts.

Best All-Time Sox Batting Lineup?

List them off, please -- a proper nine-man batting lineup drawn from across the entire history of the Red Sox franchise. Please put them in your preferred batting order, with position or DH noted.

Friday Trivia

What Red Sox pitcher holds the record for lowest ERA for a single season?

Hint: He wasn't born in the Netherlands.

Papelbon on Manny

I love Gary Tanguay's interviews. He's got a sense of wit that makes guys relax and lighten up.  Here is a transcription of his pregame chat with Paps from Sports Tonight on FSN.  My favorite line is highlighted.

JP:  Manny's doing good, man, you know, he's got like a low 1 ERA, you know, he's throwing the ball well [smirking] and, um, he's been great in our bullpen this year.

GT: You know, you really don't need any media training, do you... You are the king of dodgeball.  You can dodge questions better than anybody...

JP:  I thought you talking about Manny DelCarmen [laughing]

...

GT: Let's talk about your old friend, Manny Ramirez.

JP: I don't know Manny Ramirez. No, I don't know who that guy is. You know, he quit on me, he quit on our team, and... I don't know who he is.  Who is he?

GT: So is this karma?  Is this karma, finally, justice being served on Manny Ramirez?

JP: Well I don't know if it's justice or karma or whatever, but I think that it's a situation where I'm glad he's not in our clubhouse or we have to deal with it.  I'm glad he's over there on the west coast, and those guys, Joe Torre and his teammates and coach and staff can deal with all that...Things like this take a toll on you and I'm just glad we don't have to deal with it... Every year in spring training, they give us a long list - in Spanish and in English - what you can do and what you can't do, so to fail a test and it be presented to you what you are being tested for, there's no excuses.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I love Paps' confidence to come out and say what he thinks, that Manny still deserves to be in the HOF, no one should question the '04 or '07 series, and that everyone was doing steroids.  If more folks get caught, they pay the price though - legally, publicly, whatever.  I am also relieved this isn't happening in the Sox clubhouse right now though.

 

Manny being Steroid User

I have to say that I was very surprised to hear that Manny was caught using a banned substance. Having followed Manny through the years, he just didn't seem to care enough to take PEDs. That is not a knock on Manny, but he struck me as a player that enjoyed playing the game, enjoyed making money, but if he didn't play, then that was enough. Anyway, to me, this means one of two things:

1. Manny being Manny, it wouldn't surprise me if he really didn't know he was taking a banned substance. Remember, this is the man that left thousands of dollars in checks in his car and locker.

2. If Manny is taking drugs, then everyone in baseball is taking drugs.

I am very hopeful this will be cleared up, but have a feeling this is just another dark chapter in baseball's "Steroid Era" - which despite baseball saying otherwise, is clearly not over.

Question of the Day (Redsox/Yankees Style)

My friend, Tim Walker, asks, which active players, if they were to retire today, would be sure-fire, no-doubt, first-ballot Hall of Famers?

Keep in mind that, by Hall rules, a player must be active in the Majors for 10 seasons to be eligible for the Hall. Therefore Albert Pujols, for example, is ineligible.

Discuss...

Big P Friday Quiz

Look what happens when I go away for a few weeks - no posts, no comments... Big Papelbon is on virtual life support. Thankfully, the Red Sox have picked up the pace and won a good percentage of games (85% to be exact) since you all have been on sabbatical. Well, it's time to get back to it.

Three Questions for Friday

1. Who is the last Red Sox player to hit for the cycle and when did he do it? Follow up - who would you put money on to hit the cycle in 2009?

2. When was the Red Sox last 100-win season? Follow up question for the comments is what is the liklihood that the Red Sox will reach 100 wins in 2009?

3. Who won more Cy Young awards as a Red Sox player, Pedro Martinez or Roger Clemens? Follow up - should they retire either of these guy's #'s in Fenway Park?

Looking forward to your comments.