The Angry Fan musings

Musings on recent events -

Peter Gammons, one of the big boys of baseball coverage, last I heard is still in the hospital following surgerey for a brain aneurism. Initial reports on June 27 (Boston Globe) said that he was expected to stay in intensive care for 10 to 12 days. I have seen no updates on his status, and with all due respect for familial privacy, I'd like to hear at least a "he's been moved from the ICU."
My best wishes go out to him and his family.

After a recent 16 game streak, the Boston Nine, I think had found themselves being written as the Rd Sox, because they had effectively removed the "E".

If I had to handicap the AL East right now, I'd have to favor the Sox. I know what you're saying - I'm a fan - but there have been plenty of years where I've waited on the team to implode in the second half. That could still happen with this team, but I don't think so. I think 2004 went a long way to washing a lot of the bad karma out of their system.
More importantly, I think in a seven game series, the Red Sox are better constructed than the yankees. Actually, I think they're better constructed over the long-haul as well.
Position by position -
Starters W/L ERA WHIP
Schilling 10-3 3.63 1.10 Mussina 10-3 3.24 1.04
Beckett 10-4 4.59 1.19 R. Johnson 10-7 5.13 1.28
Wakefield 7-8 4.05 1.24 J. Wright 5-5 4.23 1.52
Lester 4-0 3.06 1.55 Wang 8-4 4.21 1.33
J. Johnson 0-2* 6.35** 1.75** Chacon 4-3 6.71 1.81

* with Sox
** On the season
While The Big Unit has ten wins, he's been erratic. Jason Johnson, as bad as he has been for the season, looks like he would be no worse than the fourth starter on the Yankees, and the Sox have some highly rated pitching prospects in the minors.
As uncertain as the Boston bullpen has been at times, it's still been better than the arsonists that pass for pitchers in the Bronx. One last pitching note - if you gave me a choice right now, I wouldn't hesitate in taking Papelbon over Mo.

Catcher - Posada has the higher batting average and five more RBI, but has scored one fewer run. I'll take Varitek for his handling of the pitching staff.

First - Giambi will likely always knock in more RBI than Youkilis, but a .300 hitter with a much better glove than Giambi, I go Youkilis

Second - Loretta and Cano. Cano batting average is 20 points higher, but he's scored fewer runs and had fewer RBI's, plus Loretta was part of a team that set a new major league record for games played without an error. I go with Loretta.

Third - This is the exact problem with A-Rod. A-Rod is payed about $5 million a year more than any other player in baseball per year to be the so-called best player in the game. His numbers - .288 BA, 19 HR, 65 RBI, 61 R. Very good, but not the best in baseball. His Red Sox counterpart; .301, 10 HR, 43 RBI, 41 R.