Warren: Who's your choice for coach ? I'd like to see them bring back O'Reilly.

Art Martone: I know, you've made that clear in the past. Him or Don Cherry. Please. My pick -- and, again, this is said with the understanding that I have no idea whether or not he can actually do the job, but simply based on the fact that I can't see any other coach who would stir the blood around here -- is Milbury.

craig: Art - Q for you re: the sports section. I'd love to see more coverage of the PawSox, especially things like previews of the starting pitchers, who is going to pitch, etc. like the ProJo does for the MLB club. I think there's more interest in this area now that fans can see the youths (Ellsbury, Buchholz - soon coming to AAA, etc.) coming through the system & possibly bound for Boston. 2nd comment is: WHY did the ProJo choose NOT to display stats for pitchers of MLB games? W/L's, Holds, Saves, etc. for games other than the BoSox. There are still many of us old-school guys that do read box scores - hope it returns! Thanks Art.

Art Martone: Second question first: Those numbers are there. They're in the lines directly below the pitching summaries. We switched production systems over the winter and it changed, ever so slightly, the size of our agate; unfortunately, that slight change was just enough to make it impossible to put pitchers' records on the same line as their names without forcing us to abbreviate the names to the point of being unreadable. So we hit on this compromise, and people seem to like it. First question second: It's not a bad idea, though people tend not to care who's pitching for the PawSox; they don't, for instance, make a choice whether or not to go to the game based on who's starting (unless it's a Jon Lester or a rehabbing big-leaguer). We're still working to find the right content mix in light of our reduced space, and that's something we may revisit once we've been around the track with the new measures.

Warren: Art.....is there a place on the net where fans can go to buy a DVD of say their favorite redsox game so that can have it for posterity ?

Art Martone: Not that I know of. Can anyone out there help?

Warren: Art...after the game is played.....are the players allowed a certain amount of time in the clubhouse where they can cool their jets and un-wind before they face the media ?

Art Martone: I think there's a 10-minute cooling-off period before the clubhouse doors are open. But players aren't required to be in the room when reporters enter, and many of them are in the players' lounge or the weight room when the media arrives.

mike: Craig, Could you please resend your question? We lost it somewhere in the transfer from the moderator (that's me) to Art. Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience.

Yaz8: Hi Art. I love Hideki Okijima, and I guess Tito does, too. I am worried about how much he is being used, and whether he might get the "dead arm" problem that Mike Timlin often has suffered in late July or early August of each year. What are your thoughts?

Art Martone: I wasn't worried until this weekend, when Tito used him three days in a row for the first time all season. This year especially they've been very good about monitoring each pitcher's workload, so I'm sure they had their reasons; still, I didn't see the need to bring him in yesterday. The workload wasn't excessive -- 45 pitches over the last three days -- but I certainly hope they give him tonight and maybe tomorrow off. We don't really know how Okajima will respond to this usage pattern, and I would be like you: I'd err on the side of caution.

craig: BTW...I will double check the stats part - It is not as easy to read them as before...too bad the format changed.

Art Martone: Hi, Craig. Sorry about asking you to repeat the question; I didn't realize you had asked the first one! So when Mike asked me if I'd seen your question, I said no. I agree the situation isn't perfect, but we *did* get a lot of complaints early in the year about the abbreviations; I remember one time we did something like H'r for Hernandez. There was really no way of knowing who the pitchers were. It's a work in progress, though, and maybe we can figure out a way in the future to do it the traditional way.

Warren: I'm telling ya...bring in Cherry as GM and O'Reilly as coach and the glory days will be back in no time.

Art Martone: You're not going to let this go, are you?

Warren: Art...considering the morons in the Bronx keep yapping we are hearing ghosts...maybe the sox should adopt the song from the moive "Ghostbusters" as a reply back ?

Art Martone: Or this.

Warren: Art....I was at Saturday's yankee game...and can you believe with a nice size lead over the mets...the yankee fans decided let's have some more fun..instead of picking on met fans who were significant in attendance...they picked on us sox fans and started a Boston sucks chant....and when you remind em of our lead over New York...they still say we suck....Imbecilles !

Art Martone: I went to a Yankees-Arizona with a Yankee-fan friend of mine the other night, and we got into an argument on the way home. He claims Red Sox fans are obsessed with the Yankees while Yankee fans don't give a second thought to the Red Sox when they're not playing them; if I'd had a mouthful of liquid, I would have done the biggest spit take you'd ever seen when he said it. Not obsessed with the Red Sox??!? All I see when I go there are T-shirts ("Got rings?" is the biggest one, but there are at least a dozen others) denigrating the Red Sox. Next time he and I go, I'm going to count them. Nice to see that you're proving my assertion.

Pam: Art, I want acknowledge your tremendous foresight when you declined to predict the winner of the U.S. Open. Who would've thought Angel Cabrera would walk away from Oakmont yesterday as the winner? Did you spend your Father's Day watching it?

Art Martone: Nobody could have guessed it, which is why I never try! No, we were at a wedding reception yesterday but of us sports-minded types followed it via cell phone; I have to say, most of us didn't know what the 'A' in 'A. Cabrera' on the leaderboard stood for.

Warren: Art...this sox road trip coming up should be a good way to test our metal of what we're made of wouldn't ya say ?

Art Martone: I would definitely say. Considering the caliber of the opposition -- Atlanta, San Diego, Seattle -- this could be the toughest trip of the year. Even their next Coast trip, in August, should be easier, since it ends with three games in Baltimore.

Warren: Art...do yo think Bonds will retire after this year....or jump to the American League ? I am sure Steingrabber will have a check in hand ?

Art Martone: He says he plans to play, and the American League would seem to be a natural destination considering how much he's slowed down in the field. The Yankees have absolutely no need for him, but you know how George is obsessed with big names, so . . .

Warren: Art...is it me...or has Okajima been hittable of late...I wonder if the guy needs a rest ?

Art Martone: See the above answer, though I don't know why you think he's been more hittable; he's only given up 5 hits and 1 run (with 7 strikeouts) in his last 10 innings, dating back to May 29.

Warren: Art...did you see the video DirtDog made up of Clemens in the year 2057 trying to sign with the yanks...rather funny....

Art Martone: No, but I can imagine. He'd only be 95 in 2057, so I guess it's in the realm of possibility.

Warren: Art....aside from winning ofcourse is there anything is sports pretty than a Ortiz or Manny homer..okay watching the yanks lose but besides that ?

Art Martone: Beauty's in the eye of the beholder, Warren.

Warren: Art...I was watching the movie Babe the other day...did yankee fans towards the end of Ruth's career with them really turn on him to the point of trying to instigate fights with the Bambino or was this Hollywood taking liberties ?

Art Martone: Some liberties, sure. It probably wasn't as bad as depicted, though the fans were on him a bit as his skills deteriorated.

Warren: so in fact the holier than thou yankee fans actually booed the Bambino ? Amazin...and they say sox fans are classless and not appreciative ?

Art Martone: Yankee fans have no right to take the high moral ground on anybody.

Warren: Art....do you see us ever knowing the full extent of the steroid problem in baseball ?

Art Martone: Maybe, but it'll come over a series of little disclosures and not one big bombshell. This wasn't a centralized thing; for the most part, MLB had its head in the sand and didn't pay attention to all the little things that were going on. At some point, enough stuff may come out that indicates just how widespread the practice was . . . or wasn't.

Warren: Art..have you ever considered doing color commentary for baseball...I'd much rather hear what you have to say than Tim McCarver...plus I think you and Joe Buck would be a natural.

Art Martone: Let me get this straight: You'd rather hear *me* than a veteran big-league catcher who arguably had a Hall of Fame career?? I'm flattered, but it ain't gonna happen.