Jonathan Papelbon is available.

I suppose I'm as guilty as anyone of unlocking the door of the PPC* and setting up shop, but the bullpen has exactly zero pieces I trust going forward, and that's a tremendous problem. Plus, due to frankly managerial incompetence they traded a Wright start for a Buchholz start, and that's a best case scenario (If Wright struggles the rest of the year because of the GD baserunning thing I'll run out of chairs to throw.)

I'm also half-worried Dombrowski may well try to pick up Papelbon, which would be a disaster.

I'm glum, and I'm roasting like a marshmallow today. So my opinions may be sullied by my liquified brain that's melting in 110 heat index heat.

This team hasn't won a series in 3 weeks and has a losing record since the start of May.

But sure, all Is well! Nothing to see here!

has a losing record since the start of May.

48-42 since the start of May with a .564 Pythagorean record.

So yeah, if they are worse than they actually are then yeah that's bad.

And as the person who wrote the post the point was definitely not "all is well" because it obviously isn't. TE is on point about the bullpen, it's a terrifying group and not in the Nasty Boys kind of way. There are reasons to worry a lot about Ortiz and Mookie has a lingering knee thing. But Jesus, the gloom and doom, I find it overkill. I for one am hopeful about going into a stretch run with the Killer Bs, Papi, Price, Porcello and Wright as well as a resurgent EdRod.

*Pants Pisser Club

Well, if Wright, Price, EdRod, and Porcello can start consistently going 7+ IP per start, it makes the bullpen issue far less serious. And, of course, scoring 7+ runs per game would help too...

I mean, I'm someone who'd view a WC game as somewhat of an accomplishment given the season, but who'd obviously prefer not to go that route, mainly because I know they'd start Price in that game and... THIS season I'm not so sure that's the best bet. (I'd start Wright, I think, but I have been told I'm insane before.)

Hey Dan, what are you talking about, the Sox are on a series winning streak! :-)

Well that one will help the Pythag.

Good deal on winning the series and the sweep.

My attitude is "Pissing my pants, but I admit it"...that's different than "Nope. They're ######. Done. Write this date down, and I won't stop patting myself on the back when they don't make it."

And yes, mathmatically it's so close there's no point in even doing math on it. Which is a hell of a lot better than being down 5 or 6 on September 10th and having to hear about all the outliers that made it. And "2004!!"

So, I already pissed my pants and they swept after losing the final game to the Yanks. I gots no more pants to piss.

And... Wright to the DL.

Stupidest PR move ever? It's rocketing up the charts, that's for sure.

Seriously, Farrell should be getting ripped for that move. If Wright struggles the rest of the year because of that stupid ####### move, they could well miss the playoffs. I still can't believe how idiotic that move was.

It was a pretty dumb move. What are the odds that is going to happen though? One thing I found is that depending on where you want to count from Wright's ERA is 4.13 since the break and 4.95 since July 1. That surprised me.

Nine of which is to say it wasn't dumb, why not use EdRod or Barnes both of whom had pitched the day before. Or hell Buchholz.

What are the odds that is going to happen though?

Well, just since interleague play in 1995(?), we have seen two AL pitchers go down with baserunning injuries. Chien-Ming Wang was a damned fine pitcher and never did recover his prior form after a foot injury in Houston.

Two pitchers in twenty years? The odds were definitely in Farrell's favor, heavily so. But it was really stupid.

Two pitchers in twenty years? The odds were definitely in Farrell's favor, heavily so. But it was really stupid.

Yeah, sounds about right. I like the idea of using pitchers to pinch run in non-critical situations just not one of your top two starters next time John.

Roster moves:

1. Wright to DL, as mentioned above.
2. Elias to AAA. I hadn't even noticed he'd been called up.
3. Hanley to bereavement list. My condolences.

4. Marco Hernandez and Deven Marrero called up. With Hanley out, Shaw becomes the primary 1B, and absent any other move Holt becomes the primary 3B and backup 1B. That leaves no backups for the skilled infield positions, and a weak (in 2016) primary option at 3B. The way Marrero has been hitting I'd assume he's only for defensive replacement or emergency, with Hernandez getting the bulk of the time between the two. Whether he starts more often than Holt remains to be seen.

5. Heath Hembree recalled, per Jose's request. Buchholz becomes the primary replacement for Wright. When I turned the game on Friday the first thing I saw was Buchholz making a poor pickoff attempt at 1B. I immediately decided I'd rather watch the Olympics. Hopefully Hembree will have some leads to protect.

EDIT: My bad. Aaron Hill becomes the regular 3B. I'm not sure that's better.

Today's combined lineup, by average exit velocity:

94.9 Ortiz (3rd BOS)
93.5 Napoli (4th CLE)
91.8 Martinez (9th CLE)
91.3 Bogaerts (2nd BOS)
90.8 Bradley (5th BOS)
90.7 Betts (4th BOS)
90.2 Lindor (3rd CLE)
89.9 Santana (5th CLE)
89.7 Pedroia (1st BOS)
89.6 Guyer (6th CLE)
89.5 Almonte (7th CLE)
88.9 Shaw (7th BOS)
88.3 Benintendi (9th BOS)
87.6 Pomeranz (n/a BOS)
87.5 Davis (1st CLE)
87.0 Tomlin (n/a CLE)
86.9 Hill (6th BOS)
85.9 Ramirez (2nd CLE)
84.8 Holaday (8th BOS)
84.6 Giminez (8th CLE)

Elias pitched the last two innings of yesterday's game. He was able to protect the lead.

Elias pitched the last two innings of yesterday's game. He was able to protect the lead.

It was a 15-run lead when he entered!

Yeah, I was surprised too.

Michael Martinez is the Indians second baseman today. I knew we had placed him on waivers but I didn't know the Indians had picked him back up.

Jesus Christ Kimbrel scares the ever loving #### out of me.

Papelbon can do THAT for league minimum!!

Pick him up demote Hembree....see what Paps can do

HEMBREE? NOOOOOOO. He's the only reliever on the staff with an ERA under 3.00. Shoot Verybad into the sun, give Papelbon his number back.

4 in a row though, I'll take it.

HEMBREE? NOOOOOOO. He's the only reliever on the staff with an ERA under 3.00. Shoot Verybad into the sun, give Papelbon his number back.

Sorry. I didn't even look at the stats. Just shot out a name I thought would be the 5th or 6th guy.

Don't do that to me. This bullpen is already giving me PTSD. Every time they make a move I hear "Matt Barnes" or "Junichi Taxawa" but I see Chad Fox and Bob Howry.

I don't usually watch NESN's condensed game re-broadcasts, but it's on now and they just showed the entire long video review of a caught stealing in the 4th. What kind of lunkhead was doing the video editing today? They cut out actual baseball to save time for 5 minutes of a semi circle of umps standing around.

Instant replay fever...catch it!

I would rather it be the case of one of Werner's flunkies messing up while doing a rush job than someone at NESN actually finding it compelling. Even OBrien and Eck stopped faking interest halfway through.

TODAY WAS BRUTAL

I feel sorry for everyone who was near me at the Gym when Kimbrel pitched

This team will kill us all this year - been nice knowing you all

Instant replay fever...catch it!

Replay!! It's fannnnnntastic!

This team will kill us all this year - been nice knowing you all

We didn't endure 2011, and then Bobby Valentine, to stop now.

Oh Phil, this year is FUN! You gotta enjoy this! The crazy kids, Big Papi giving us the send off of all send offs, Steven Wright and the knuckleball (temporarily on hold), Yoan Moncada in the minors...this is fun!!!

Oh Phil, this year is FUN! You gotta enjoy this! The crazy kids, Big Papi giving us the send off of all send offs, Steven Wright and the knuckleball (temporarily on hold), Yoan Moncada in the minors...this is fun!!!

It's bloody awesome - I've enjoyed it heaps - but damn - they still like to #### with us all sideways ...(!)

29-12 since this post went up. I was confident they would be better, never did I dream this.

The more impressive thing to me is the "quality" of their losses. In this span they have only lost 4 games by more than one run, and only two by 5 or more runs.

PLAYOFFS BABY!

PLAYOFFS BABY!

PLAYOFFS BABY!PLAYOFFS BABY!

Morgan Magic was one thing. This stomping streak is another thing. Named what?