It Is Time. No More Excuses. - Fire Brand of the American League

I think I%u2019ve held out pretty long without crying for drastic changes, but I think the loss last night really crystallizes a lot of things, such as:

Every game we go into with Millar, Olerud, and Petagine on the roster hurts us.

Every game where Millar starts hurts us.

It is time to bench Millar, turn him into a backup first baseman and outfielder, decide between Olerud and Petagine, and make him fulltime and cut the other person.

Every game we go into with a patchwork bullpen (which works sometimes, but has not this year %u2026 look for a column on why Theo%u2019s bullpens are always so bad sometime in the offseason) and it%u2019s just throwing gasoline on the fire.

Every game we pitch Mike Remlinger, bad things happen. It was a good risk, but %u2026

It is time to call up Craig Hansen in favor of Mike Remlinger.

Every game where we don%u2019t use Adam Stern is a lost opportunity for an extra arm in the bullpen. With the benching of Millar and the return of Trot Nixon, Stern becomes virtually useless.

It is time to find a way to get Stern into AAA and keep Jonathan Papelbon on the roster when Wade Miller returns.

I%u2019ve been largely pleased with this team so far this season, but we%u2019re getting into the stretch run, and we still haven%u2019t solved our major issues (okay, we%u2019ve solved one - second base, but that was the least major issue).

But now it%u2019s time to make the radical, and cold-hearted, moves that are neccessary to win a World Series. Theo and company pride themselves on cold-hearted moves, and through the off-season we have heard that we cannot be sentimental about our team or we will lose.

So let%u2019s stop being sentimental.

It is time.