At 09:54 AM 7/25/2006, Susan offered:

I'm skeptical about Ben's return also.  My son and I have had rather lengthy discussions about this.  It seems that we are always "waiting for the Ace's return."  That is getting really old for us.

Fans seem pretty restless right now; I sense a growing impatience.  I suppose that comes  with higher expectations, but I think those elevated expectations might have been premature.  I didn't think it was  realistic for them to be considered "contenders" for anything this year, but the team did nothing to temper that kind of talk (I suppose in an effort to sell tickets), so now some of the "faithful" are up in arms, mad, and some are calling for Yost and/or Melvin's head.  It's a real shame when I read comments like this on discussion boards, but that is the way of professional sports these days, I guess.

Chris