Arms race catches up to Red So

Byline: Bill Ballou

As they prepare to welcome John Smoltz onto the major league roster, the Red Sox are on the verge of becoming the OPEC of pitching.

They have more of what everybody wants than anybody else. Their challenge is to figure out exactly what to do with it, and as they do, one phrase remains embedded in their organizational memory:

Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena.

Too much pitching can turn into too little pitching too fast, as the events of 2006 proved. Boston thought it had enough depth on the mound to trade Arroyo to the Cincinnati Reds for the slugging Pena, but by the time the season ended, its rotation included Kyle Snyder, Kevin Jarvis and Jason Johnson.

The Red Sox open a six-game homestand at 7:05 tonight at Fenway against the Florida Marlins as interleague play continues. Smoltz is ready to be activated from the disabled list and could pitch on Thursday, but also could stay in the minors for one more outing before being brought up.

If he takes an extra day off and pitches on Friday instead of the struggling Daisuke Matsuzaka, Smoltz would be starting against the Braves, the team for whom he pitched for 21 seasons before signing with Boston.

Keeping him in the minors, though, would give Boston some time to figure things out. The Sox should have an announcement today about which direction they will go.

Boston will either have to go with a six-man rotation, send one of the current starters to the bullpen, make a trade, or have someone come down with a convenient injury. Assuming that Josh Beckett and Jon Lester are not involved in any role change, Boston's options involve Tim Wakefield, Brad Penny or Matsuzaka.

While Wakefield has pitched in relief before, he hates it and would consider it a full lace wigs betrayal to be sent to the bullpen to work as a regular reliever. Penny has been a very good No. 5 starter and doesn't deserve to be banished to the 'pen, and it's really too early in the season to trade him.

What the Sox should do is send Matsuzaka to the 'pen to try to straighten himself out. He is not doing anybody any good - and is stressing the bullpen - by getting pounded every fifth day.

If the addition of Smoltz isn't enough to create some issues, Clay Buchholz continues to overwhelm hitters in Triple A and recently has expressed some frustration at his lack of progress. That's irrelevant - Kevin Youkilis had the same emotion in 2005 when he was unfairly stuck in Pawtucket only because he could be sent down without having to pass through waivers, and that didn't seem to derail his career at all.

The Red Sox take on the Marlins having abercrombie fitch just completed a stretch of excellent play. Starting on June 2, Boston played four consecutive first-place teams - the Tigers, Rangers, Yankees and Phillies - and went 9-3 in 12 games, displacing the Yanks atop the AL East along the way.

The Sox did it with pitching, mostly. Their team batting average in those 12 games was a decent, but not sensational, .263. Their team ERA was very good, though, at 3.32.

During their march through baseball's best teams, the Red Sox began to see signs that David Ortiz's bat is coming to life. They also got continued strong production and clutch hitting from Jason Bay, who was 9 for 25 (.360) with six RBIs in the six games against New York and Philadelphia.

Through 63 games, Bay is hitting .286 with 17 homers
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InsightExpress Partners with M

InsightExpress, a digital marketing research firm, and Meteor Solutions, provider of an earned media measurement and monetization solution for advertisers and agencies, announced a partnership, which provides marketers with insight into online advertising performance among influential brand advocates.

The partnership joins Meteor's ability to identify influential brand advocates with InsightExpress' ability to measure ad effectiveness through AdInsights, the company's ad-effectiveness solution.

pandora glass beads For marketers, the companies said this partnership has two benefits:

1) With Meteor, marketers will be able to reveal the full dimensions and drivers of their brand's online social graph -- including insight into who are the most influential brand advocates, what is the most engaging content fueling the viral sharing, and where/how is the viral activity occurring.

2) With InsightExpress, marketers will then be able to survey these Influentials - as well as those they influence - through AdInsights to understand the previously hidden drivers of brand preference and purchase intent among the most valuable target segments.

Combined, the InsightExpress and Meteor partnership provides marketers and agencies with an even more complete view of Best Women Long Sleeve T Shirts Online the impact of paid advertising and how paid advertising drives earned advertising in the social environment.

"The collaboration between InsightExpress and Meteor offers a critical linkage between who is influencing earned media, and how brand response maps to viral activity," said Lizi Cruz, Research Director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners. "This is an exciting development which provides greater depth of measurement in an important media growth area."

Brian Babineau, VP, Media Director at Digital Influence Group, said, "Advertisers have struggled with how to accurately measure who is driving viral response, as well as how this activity drives long validated brand metrics. Identifying who influencers are, and how social activity links to brand measures is increasingly important."

"This is a partnership that responds to two marketer mandates: greater accountability and social media insight. Specifically, Meteor Solutions data shows that, on average, 1 percent-2 percent of site visitors generate 20 percent-40 percent of a brand's total site traffic and an even higher share of conversion," said Ben Straley, CEO of Meteor Solutions. "Meteor identifies these Influentials and InsightExpress reveals the attitudes and motivations of these invaluable consumers. The combined offering is innovative and exciting."

Drew Lipner, EVP, Group Director, InsightExpress, said, "Combining InsightExpress' ad-effectiveness data with Meteor Solutions' influencer data represents an important breakthrough in earned media measurement. This unique collaboration offers an early look at the drivers associated with social advocacy, and maps the connection points between brand and social response."

InsightExpress is a provider of digital marketing research and plays a role in the measurement of advertising effectiveness across online, mobile and other media.

Meteor Solutions offers an earned media marketing solution for advertisers and agencies.

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INSLANE IDEA

SLANE Castle owner Lord Henry Mountcharles was fuming yesterday over plans to build a bypass just yards from his historic home.

The road, which has been fought over for more than 10 years, was designed to go east of the Co Meath village.

But planners have received so many objections they have asked Meath County Council to consider sending it west.

That would take it just a few hundred metres from Irish Daily Mirror columnist Lord Henry's castle and famous concert site. Yesterday he branded catalog printing the move "lunacy" and said: "If they think I am a pushover they have another think coming."

The original route put forward by the council included a new 19m- high bridge east of Slane.

But the dual carriageway would pass 500m from the buffer zone of Bru na Boinne, the world heritage site that is home to passage graves at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth.

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Planners received 110 submissions on the proposed eastern route and a spokesman said: "The board wants to satisfy itself that the alternatives were discounted. It is exploring all options and ensuring other alternatives are explored."

But building the road on the western side would involve demolishing local businesses and has been met by huge opposition from landowners and the Conyngham family, which owns Slane Castle.

Lord Mountcharles, who spent a decade restoring the castle after it was gutted by fire in 1991, said the new proposal could bring the village back to square one.

He added: "Meath county council discounted this [western] route years ago based on its feasibility study.

"To propose this now is nothing short of lunacy. While I accept a process has to be gone through, why is it so late in the day? "I believe the council also thinks this route is unworkable."

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Paddy Macken's family have been living at Harlinstown for more than 70 years and have three family businesses, including Slane Farm Cottages and Hostel.

He said: "This route would wipe out a lifetime's work by my parents, me and my children.

"It is just not a viable option - the terrain is totally unsuitable and impractical."

Local councillor Wayne Harding said: "The best route has been picked, the people of Slane have waited long enough."

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