In Reply To #6 Billy Koch? Awwww, that guy is awful! I'd take Rhodes anyday over him. You are right about the pitching. I'm fired up about the Sox rotation this year. I remember those Rockies teams that had GREAT lineups and they never won a thing. Remember the days of Walker (when he was good, healthy and played), Castilla, Bichette? Same thing with some of Texas past teams. And Cleveland in the mid to late 90's.

In Reply To #7 Red Sox/Cubs World Series.... Now that I've gotten that out of the way. The Dodgers are solid man, but what's up with some of their starting pitching? That was always the strength. Nomo is still floating around a 6 ERA, and Weaver? WTF is he doing in the rotation. Good move putting Alvarez there though, at least til he gets hurt. Beltre's ridiculous right now, no way I see him keeping that up. No way I see him staying in Dodger Blue after this year too with his contract up. Gagne is awesome, and they've got some guys that can set him up pretty good. I like Mota a lot. They're inability to score runs might bite them again unless they pick up a solid bat. We'll see, they're off to a good start.

In Reply To #1 with you bein from boston, whatd you think of bonds sayin the city is too racist to play in (my understanding is he's never even been there)??? i personally cant stand the guy, i remember watching him play back in three rivers for the pirates, he sucked and had the same snob attitude he has now

In Reply To #6 I'm not so sure there is a formula that works. The Braves had excellent pitching for a decade. Yes, they've won the division for umpteen years straight. But the same pitching that helped (got?) them to the playoffs each year failed during crunch time. I think teams would be better served by reaching a nice balance between the two, pitching and hitting. Of course, even if you have both of those, if there's no defense, it's not gonna help.

In Reply To #10 You said it... he's never been there. I think he's the snob. Any pitch he takes and is called a strike, he's bitching! F - Bonds! The Red Sox don't exactly field an all white team these days... They asked Ortiz and Pedro and all they had to say about the city was how nice everyone was to them. Boston gets a bad rap for stuff that may have happened a long time ago.. or for those white Celtic teams, or maybe because the Sox typically don't have a lot of black players. They've got half of the Dominican Republic playing for them, that should count as something souldn't it? Truth is, there aren't a TON of African American ballplayers these days. They're all from Dominican, or Panama, or Venezuela... etc. Whatever, tell Bonds to at least visit the city before he insults it!

In Reply To #12 Bonds is right, he should come to NY so he can play against the Sox and help battle racism in Boston. :) Bonds is a bit of a nutjob, but I'm in awe at his talent. When a guy can play like him, I give him the right to bitch about every pitch that's called a strike. He's probably right haha. And other than when Pedro pitched at him, when's the last time Bonds has actually seen a strike? The guy doesn't even know what they look like. And in all seriousness, I have no idea where he gets off calling Boston racist. He's never played there in interleague games, never played there for the team, who knows if he's even ever visited the place. Maybe he's just going through balco withdrawal and is going nuts.

In Reply To #13 Balco withdrawl... now, there's a thought! I don't think he has the right to bitch about every strike called. I've seen pitches that SHOULD be called a strike called a ball to him. If it's not in his wheelhouse than it's a ball... with that said his talents are unreal. He's amazing. Too bad he has to be such an ass. I've actually noticed that a lot of American league teams are pitching to him. I LOVED it when Pedro pitched to him everytime, even when firstbase was open...

In Reply To #14 It's nice seeing big game pitchers go after big game hitters like that. You really couldn't draw up a much better match up than that. Although Clemens-Bonds was pretty damned cool too last year, when Clemens said pre-game that if he stuck his elbow over the plate, it was getting plunked. Slight change of topic: how about Griffey Jr? The guy completely falls off after some injuries, hits a couple home runs, and suddenly he's one of the best center fielders of all time again. I'm pretty surprised at how well he's doing this year, it's nice to see him do so well, after being tortured by Grant Hill syndrome over the past couple years. If anything 500 just solidified his spot in the Hall. Good for him, he was one of the best young athletes around in the early 90's.

you guys are right, i hate him but bonds is an amazing talent no doubt as far as griffey jr., i thought he was finished. The guy is having a great year this year, and he should definately go to the all-star game. I don't think he's been there in about 4 years or so, i just wonder if the reds will keep him now or trade him for some prospects or something... i heard a rumor he may want to go back to seattle.

In Reply To #15 Nice to see Griffey make a comeback. Hopefully he can stay healthy, finish with 40 or so homeruns and stay pretty much healthy for the rest of his career. I've got about 200 of his early (a lot of them rookies) baseball cards and have been watching them dive with his injuries. Hopefully their value will go up now...