Well it was fun to watch whoever it was out there, let's see if these impostors can stick around a while and give us a little hope.

Frank Castillo (7IP 5H 0R 0ER 1BB 5K W): If he's getting on track he couldn't have picked a better time. Consistency is the name of the gam though, lets see who we get out there next time around.

There was definitely a glaring difference in managerial decisions last night late in the game. In the Jimy era, after Castillo had allowed the first two hitters of the seventh to get on, he would have been yanked (if he even made it out there for the 7th at all). But under Joe K, he seems to be letting his starters push the envelope a little. Then again, what does he have to lose with the pen being as bad as it has recently?

Carl Everett (1-3 RBI): Came up with a big hit to set the tone in the first, but more notable is that he played hurt last night. I guess on the trip to the West Coast Joe K told Carl that with the injury to Manny the team needs him in the line-up. He was told not to run anything out (slow rollers and DP balls) but to just try and get on base.

Whether it's right or wrong, you know Carl wouldn't have done the same for Jimy. Heck I doubt Jimy would even have approached Carl on the subject.

Troy O'Leary (1-3 R RBI): If he wants to prove all the naysayers wrong, this is his chance. He's had a nice three game run the last few days, and if he wants to show he belongs back in the line-up, he going to have to take advantage of Manny and Carl being banged up.

Doug Mirabelli (1-4 2RBI): Is he playing over his head? I'm not complaining, but I think allot of people are throwing the all star label on him for just a few weeks of play. But I'll gladly enjoy the ride as long as it lasts.

Working the count: Obviously Valdes wasn't on top of his game last night, but how long has it been since you've noticed the opposition's starter throwing allot of pitches in any given inning? There are many schools of thought on whether it's a good thing to swing at the first pitch or not. Whether you think it's OK or not, it doesn't matter in the Sox case, all the teams know we swing at allot of first pitches, and in turn they give us nothing to hit on that first pitch and get allot of easy outs. With the new boss the take sign seems to be on everyone except Nomar and a couple others. So no matter which side of the argument you're on with first pitches, in the Sox case, this is defiantly seems to be a good move. The most notable case of pitch taking is in Shea Hillenbrand, and I think it will make a big difference in his production.

Before the game I had made a post on the message board on what to do with him, but I guess my question is answered. He never really got back on the horse after getting hurt last year, and as much as you hate for a guy to end it like this, he really did the team a favor. His replacement, Todd Erdos, will not be around for long as we have several DLed guys due to come off shortly.

paul@redsox2000.com