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I haven't always agreed with Tito's field decisions, but he's generally had good instincts. That said, it was a mistake not to put Papelbon into last night's game in the 8th. He was just playing the percentages, but sometimes (as the Bill James-besotted Sox Brainless Trust is now discovering) the percentages lie. (That's a whole other riff that I won't indulge now).

Besides, let's be fair about this. John Friggin' McGraw himself couldn't win with the ramshackle collection of bullpen stiffs Theo Epstein has provided his manager: Seanez, Tavarez, Hansen, Delcarmen, Van Buren, Polk, Jackson - oh sorry - those last two are dead Presidents, but what's the difference? They couldn't pitch any worse than the Sox 'pen has since the All-Star break.

Aside from Schilling, the starting pitching has been atrocious. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz have carried the offense, while the team batting average with runners in scoring position has dropped off the table. And the front office has offered little help, choosing to play for the future instead of the present, while pretending that the Sox can still be competitive against the Yankees (or Detroit, or the Twins, for that matter) in 2006. Yeah, right.

Sorry, Red Sox Nation, but no pitching, no clutch hitting, no acquisitions = no pennant this year.

Seth Mnookin does a blog on the Sox and he is pretty dead on with his analysis which goes far beyond the crap in the Boston sports pages and NESN (outside of Eck who calls it like he sees it)

The Sox are a team in transition and made the mistake of trying to compete this year when their players were too old or simply too young. Hansen was in college last year, Lester played in AA abd Delcarmen is 23. Pena is 24 and has been hampered by poor teaching and no real time in the minors. (Ask Farnsworth how hard that kid hits the ball)

Next year the Sox could have had a young infield that could have ruled baseball for years, 5 young pitchers that could have been good or great for years and some salary flexibility to make a key deal as needed. Instead they traded away a power hitting 3B, maybe the next Tejada and a very good young arm in Sanchez in order to try and compete this year.

Hey, 29 teams will not win the series this year. The Yankees have spent over $1 billion in the last 5 years and have not won it. Maybe after signing Damon and buying Abreau they will finally get it this year but no one else can play the game that way.