Koji, Where Hast Thou Gone?

Let’s get the horrible, cheesy joke out of the way, because I can’t help myself and have zero impulse control:…

Do We Really Need Giancarlo Stanton?

As nice as it would be to have Giancarlo Stanton playing for the Boston Red Sox, do we really need him?

About Last Night: Post-Break Rejuvenation?

Are the Red Sox turning a new leaf, or is this just a minor victory on the long, slow, inexorable march towards the AL East cellar?

Lowell Says Goodbye to Boston

See you later, Mike Lowell. It was fun for a while there. By now you know that Lowell is retiring…

4/23 Online Seats Game Thread: Boston Looks to Beat Up on Baltimore

While the Boston Red Sox fell short of a sweep of the Rangers, Jon Lester is hoping to throw for his first win of the season tonight against the visiting Baltimore Orioles.

Fireside Chats #61: Where we are the champions….errr…wild card my friends

[podcast]http://360thepitch.com/firebrand/61_10_1_09_firesidechats.mp3[/podcast]

Paul and I catch up after a week off with the end of the regular season looming. The Red Sox have clinched and instead of painfully breaking down the teams' miserable performance in these "exhibition games", we look forward with initial thoughts to another match up with the Anaheim...Los Angeles Angels in the ALDS. All after, of course, a little prayer for Jon Lester and Josh Beckett's health.

All that and more on Episode #60 of Fireside Chats on MVN!

Fireside Chats #60: Where we count chickens before they hatch all episode long and love it

The playoffs are right around the corner aren't they? Cause if they aren't then we might be a little bit ahead of ourselves. At least were not too conceded to think we still have a chance to catch the Yankees, even if my Daisuke-fueled bravado may have called the Red Sox the favorites to win the World Series. Ok...maybe we did include a "glimmer" of hope at the division still.

We talk rotation, Daisuke's return, Buchholz' emergence, the confidence in the offense and do some advanced scouting of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

All that and more on Episode #60 of Fireside Chats on MVN!

Fireside Chats #59: Where we write off the Rays, the hopes of the division, and Jonathan Papelbon’s long term future in Boston

The Red Sox got the two out of three wins in Tampa that we talked about last episode, and proceeded to meet doom in Chicago at the hands of "the Revenge of Kotsay". Net/net, the Rangers are still in the wild card hunt and aren't going anywhere. Paul and I break down the Red Sox castoffs and in season additions and give Theo and team a positive in season grade with this team built for the post-season (should they get there). All that just primes us for the big finish, where Paul nearly convinces me that trading Jonathan Papelbon in the offseason is the right thing for the franchise in a "Seymour-esque" way.

All that and more on Episode #59 of Fireside Chats on MVN!

Fireside Chats #58: Where we prepare for a statement series in Tampa Bay

The Red Sox have put a nice run together and now stare down a series that we all circled as an important one back in April. They have the rare opportunity in sports to go for the kill. The question before us however, is do they have the killer instinct?

All that and more on Episode #57 of Fireside Chats on MVN!

Fireside Chats #57: Where we dip into the Mad Dog for a little relief

Sorry for the lack of shows recently, a vacation followed by a week with a fever eerily similar to Jason Varitek's batting average knocked me out of commission. But we are back and ready for the stretch run! We talk playoff chances, hurdles in the Red Sox way of making it there, key players that need to step up on the way home and more. And we welcome, for the first time, a very special guest long known for his ability to scream into a "Mike" and talk sports...."Mad Dog" (our very own version at least).

All that and more on Episode #57 of Fireside Chats on MVN!