Bullpen, Quentin, Magic numbers, ect.

I was at work during the game yesterday, jumping between the Sox’ and Twins’ gamecasts on Yahoo!, but I was paying enough attention to know Richard was pitching a good game. I like Richard and I hope he does well because they’ll need a fifth starter next year. I’d rather have them use someone young and in-house- at least until Aaron Poreda is ready. No need to throw $10 million at another starter, ya know?  

So Richard took it into the seventh and left with two outs and two runners in scoring position. Ozzie opted for Mike MacDougal, and I think everyone knew right then and there that he was going to allow the runs. So Richard still posts ok numbers, but the bullpen blows it again. There is no doubt that the bullpen is the weak point for the Sox right now. Even the normally reliable Bobby Jenks has been letting on tons of guys The Twins bullpen isn’t much better, but that’s not the point. To win the playoffs, the bullpen will need to return to form.

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Another feather in the ‘Carlos Quentin is superhuman’ cap: Q! just got a soft cast off his hand and could return this year. If the Sox have a healthy Quentin for the playoffs, I honestly think they can go to the World Series. Sure, they’ll enter the AL’s fourth best team, but they can top any of those guys four times in seven games. Home runs, baby. They’re awesome. That’s part of the reason that baseball playoffs are so stupid (it should be like the old days- winner of the AL and winner of the NL play in the World Series- but that’s another lecture for another day.

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How awesome are magic numbers? The whole concept is ridiculously fun and excited. As I noted today at work with TTCS’ Phil Barnes, we should all start applying magic numbers to other areas of our lives. Example: like number of classes you can skip before you’ll almost perfectly fail. Magic number: two. Anything higher and it’s a certain F.

Right now, the Sox magic number is nine.
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As Dave noted in the comments a few days ago, TRL, a daily staple in all of our wonderful junior high lives, is coming to an end. What you're fav TRL joint of all-time? I'll go with Freak on a Leash.