were only MOSTLY dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.

Inigo Montoya: Let me ‘splain.
Inigo Montoya: No, there is too much. Let me sum up…

Great movie

Have fun storming the castle!

“Who are you? I must know.”

“Get used to disappointment.”

Believe it or not, the book is even better than the movie.

Also, I got my daughter a great t-shirt: it’s black, with a red “Hello, my name is” tag, and in the white space of the tag it says, “Inigio Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!”

Sorry, I’m a Cub fan and as such have nothing baseball-related to discuss.

I was hoping to see Francona start another line-up of scrubs just to stick it to the whiners in Boston, who were burning up the net and the airwaves yesterday complaining about the previous night’s fiasco. I remember well, in the days before 1967, how every home game a fan attended in Fenway after around September 15 was liable to have Bill Spanswick pitching, Don Gile at first base,Jim Gosger or someone filling in for Yaz, and a guy with a paper bag over his head at short. And it was fun: the kids and scrubs played hard, if not well, and sometimes you’d catch a bit of hope: gee, that Morehead kid looks great! So Francona has been using games to solve problems (get Dice-K on track; find a reserve infielder with Green hurt; make sure all the starters can work without Varitek),answer questions(Is Gathright, Anderson or Reddick the 5th outfielder? Can DelCarmen find his lost stuff in time for the playoffs? [NO]), and, especially, avoid avoid injuries. Imagine the heat Tito would take if Ellsbury or Pedroia or Bay got knocked out of the post-season trying to win a meaningless game against the Jays? And what better game to punt than one with Tim Wakefield doing a Monty Stratton impression and Halliday pitching, who could easily put some of the regulars into slumps.

But here are the Boston fans, bitching that they “didn’t get their money’s worth” and that they, rather than Epstein and Tito, are right that losing a bunch of late September games means they’re doomed against the Angels. They’ll be back in force if the Sox lose, but if the team does well, you might see more managers adopt Tito’s so-called “rope-a-dope” pre-playoff ways.

Jack, the Fenway patrons from a couple nights ago have a right to be upset.  But it’s just one of those things, and not something Francona or Epstein should be blasted for.

Jack - I’m sure any choice Francona made would be criticized as there is a very vocal base of fans in all sports, though I think some of the worst follow the Red Sox and always see the glass as half empty.  I suspect that Gerry Callahan is one of the folks blasting Francona as he just seems to be happiest when complaining about things. 

Personally I appreciate not feeling the need to watch the team this last week as I will certainly be following every playoff game surviving on mass amounts of coffee after late games in Anaheim.  Had I had tickets to a game in Fenway would I want to see the starter - maybe.  But at the same time, the vast majority of teams play meaningless games in the September and field teams with minor league call-up auditioning for the next season. 

Instead of celebrating making the playoffs again, the ‘spoiled by success’ and ‘I’m entitled’ fan base prefer to whine and complain about not getting then monies worth.  You had a whole season of games that mattered and will be watching you team in the playoffs - games that really matter.  For those fans who just cannot appreciate what you have I’ll use a line from Craig the other day - STFU.

When asked why it took them so long to get back in the race, Mauer replied, “You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.”

Once again, I must tell all of you how much I enjoy and appreciate Shysterball. 
I live in the part of the US where introductions are: “I’m Larry. This is my brother Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl.”  If I ever said, “There’s a R.O.U.S. on my deck”, they’d think it was something I brought with me from the East Coast.
Except for those from the Blue Network who manage to sneak past the gatekeeper, this could be the most intelligent site on the entire freakin’ net.
I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do for daily entertainment once baseball season is over.

Jack - please enlighten me more as apparently I’m not a real baseball fan.  Real baseball fans enjoy 12-0 blowouts?  Really?  I think you’re reaching there.

If that was a unique game, then so are Spring Training games.  Halladay against a AAA lineup, that does it for you?  If that was the one game you went to all year, and you had to pay regular Fenway prices for that exhibition, you have a right to be a little perturbed.  Not necessarily at anyone in particular, but perturbed at the vast disparity between what you paid and what you were given.  It’s great that the Red Sox are going to the postseason.  Now tell me what that has to do with being upset about paying full prices for that “performance”.  However, those patrons did get to see a catcher pitch and an outfielder play infield - that must have been neat.

If only we all could be as courageous as poor Tim Wakefield, the world would be a better place.  Preach on, Jack!