Game Story: Jules McCracken Starts Tomorrow/Later Today.

Just imagine if I knew anything about photoshop.

Source: Yahoo!

You all saw the game. Or the highlights package. Or read the boxscore. I dunno. Despite allowing 5 BBs in 6 IP, Erik Bedard was also unhittable to anyone not named David Ortiz. Brilliance it was not, but when Beckett was busy displaying something quite below brilliance, it was more than enough.

To some degree, I'm tired of our lineup and I don't know what to do about it. Gagne is a good pickup, and make sure anyone who tells you otherwise has their Yankee hat stuffed up their something. However, like most of you, I was kind of hoping the Sox would pick up a bat. The scenario outlined...where?, in which Papi would've gone under the knife and been back with a healthy knee in 4-6 weeks with Manny DH'ing and Jermaine Dye playing LF ran itself around my head and won the Oscar for Best Dream Involving Papi Hitting Many Bombs in the Playoffs. Another nominee was the one in which I, personally, convinced Wayne Krivsky that David Pauley was all he needed in exchange for Adam Dunn. Perhaps you could place your own similar dreams in the comments?

Anyway. Yeah. Not going to recap, though suffice to say that I expected "Being" to be our offensive weapon against super-left-hander-Bedard. All right. The almost undeniable fact that lineup order means almost nothing aside, here's what I see:

1. Drew
   
2. Youks
   
3. Papi
   
4. "Being"
   
5. Lowell
   
6. DP
   
7. Tek
   
8. Crisp
   
9. Lugo

Flip the last two as needed or desired. Youks, whether mental block or something else, is not succeeding in the 5-slot. I think he's putting more pressure on himself to hit, rather than playing his game. I'm guessing most of the scratching heads will come with DP's spot, and trust me, I thought long and hard about whether to flip he and Drew in this lineup. I just feel like if a couple of #'s 2-5 are on-base, he's the best bet to slap a single between the CF and RF and get the lead runner in. Yeah, he's not going to clear the bases, but who else besides 3 and 4 are anyway? I might flip Tek and Crisp as well. Drew's slot might be a bit obvious, but amongst all his faults all season long, he's gotten on-base at a good clip.

Anyway. Debate the merits of any of that here, feel free to tell me that I've obviously been "on something". Either way, Batshit McCracken starts tomorrow in a completely different duel from the one tonight: Two starters (along with Steve Traschel) who can give you some absolute garbage outings. Pregame pick? I'm going with Traschel to make it harder on his club. He's been doing the whole "crappy starter" thing a lot longer than Jules.

Has to be Papi. Or maybe Theo?

Lugo, who left 6 OB all by himself. Though, in a vacuum, he has a point about that strike 3 call with the bases loaded.

P.S.: Breaking News! That guy at the top? Yeah. Him. He pitches for the Red Sox now. Don't know if anyone (like maybe ESPN) had told you that yet.