There is a balance out there somewhere between pitching, defense and hitting. We have lots of examples of tipping the scales to offense, sometimes with success, often without. Tipping the scale to defense is revolutionary (retro maybe? Braves, Orioles) by today's models. Z is breaking some new ground. He already has the big east teams checking their D, quote Theo: "We were focused on building a balanced club,'' GM Theo Epstein says. "Our goal was try to be above average in hitting, pitching and defense. The years we've been able to accomplish that have been our best years -- '04,'07 and '08.'' (Smart guys know a good idea when it's worth swiping.)I'm excited to see where Z might find the balance that tips the scales in the M's direction. I don't think anybody called the 24 games bump last year. We're covering new territory here.