There were bunch of Questions/claims I had to answer. SOme of them were related to the postseason games and some with the 2004 season as a whole. To the most pathetic baseball fans ever, who dwells in NY and now proven to be a "CLASS LE$$$ Citizen" and some other enthusiastic fans also, here are some stats. and analysis of some of the players we talk most about. 1. D. Ortiz D. Ortiz proved the TWINS organization as well as some of the Yankees fans wrong. Someone once said, his base running skills were very primitive and his attempt to steal the base in the ALCS game 4, I believe was pathetic. Everybody now knows that Ortiz had infact stolen the base in that game. It was unfotunate for him and the Red Sox nation at that particular play because the second Base umpire was standing behind Jeter such that his view was blocked by Jeter's leg. In that case the Umpire gave the benefit of doubt to Jeter. IT was a bad call but We didn't blame the Umpire a lot for that. That particular play with 2 outs showed the "WILL to WIN" of D. ORtiz like that of any other REd sox athlete. So that wasn't pathetic, that was an excellent piece of play execution. I am sure more and more little leaguers will get inspired by that play. D. Ortiz do not have to use his legs. In AL the DH holds a particular burden of batting big. And none does that job better than Big Papi. If his Defensive skills were qestionable, go ask the Cardinals how good a 1st baseman D. Ortiz is? Someone talked about REAL baseball and the NL. ORtiz did his job at 1st base also. As of AL, who is a more scary person than Ortiz, if you were a pitcher? All the Yankees know the answer. 2. Manny offseason deal/A-ROD offseason deal. Can you Mr. Preacher of A-ROD tell me how many teams did really bid for A-ROD during the off-season? Not many. And yes, the same thing applies to MAnny also. Not because they were bad players or a problem maker, but because they were too expensive for most of the ML teams to afford. As of A-Rod, I didn't hear about Yankees looking for him until the REd Sox were out of the equation. That left only the Yankees, as a team, which can afford to pay him. It is said there was some $12 million that kept Red Sox from acquiring A-ROD. Thank God for whatever reason it was. We didn't need A-Rod. And now it's proven. As of the A-ROD for Manny Deal, all of us know that it was almost a done deal. The Rangers organization along with REd Sox and A-Rod himself had come to an agreement. However, it was the PLayers Union and that spring meeting (of owners, officials, Commisioner or something) which denied the deal from going through. We all know via Espns and some leading Media how frustrated A-ROd was when the Players Union itself kept him away from joining the REd Sox. NY people can make their own conclusions out of that seemingly bluckbuster deal but truth will remain unchanged. By the way ask A-ROd, which team did he want to play the most for??? Ax bro was telling us that MAnny was just a financial burden to us REd Sox nation and that he was more expensive than A-ROD?? I ask him why and how?? Manny deserved every little penny he earned. Can you say the same about A-ROD?? Quite not. People who have some knowledge of baseball knows that A-ROD is the most expensive player ever?? Manny is second to A-ROD. A-ROD is $25 million a year guy and Mannys is $5 million less costly. At this point whose stock is higher. Everybody knows. If Part of A-ROD's salary is paid for by the Rangers or Mariners than Yankees might be paying him less than what Red -Sox has been paying for Manny. But that's not the point. THe point is when all his pay-checks are put together, A-ROD is far more expensive than Manny. And going back to the deal itself. Acquiring either A-Rod or Manny would meant almost half of their total budgets for most of the MLB teams. Since,they need at least 20 players in the squad, we can all understand why Manny and A-Rod weren't targeted by many ML teams when they were available. 3. Manny Vs. A-ROd in terms of Production. Ax, posted some deceiving stats. above. We were talking about baseball 2004 and he got little confused. Or maybe trying to imply some cheap tricks in order to back up/boost his poor arguments. I have my own breakdown of the 2004 season. Player Games AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB OBP SLG AVG A Rod 155 601 112 172 24 2 36 106 308 80 131 28 0.375 .512 .286 Manny 152 568 108 175 44 0 43 130 348 82 124 2 0.397 .613 .308 A-Rod leads in Number of Runs scored (by 4), games played (3), At bats (43), 3B (2), and SB (By far). And he also leads in SOs. And how about every other categories? SOrry mr. Ax your GOD A-ROd is not even close. A-Rod was not more productive than Manny. I don't know if MVP (regular season) had been awared yet or not but we all know Manny is amongst the front runner. Used to be A-ROD.... not anymore. There goes his WS dreams. By the way, we all saw DURING last nite's game that Barry and Manny were awarded the overall batting titles (Hank Aaron award). so, everything is crystal clear. Do you have anything to say about thier production this season?? . continued..