Friday Musings (late edition) August 3

Yes, this edition of "Friday Musings" is a few days late. I had the best of intentions of posting last Friday but life got in the way. So enough with the excuses and on with the post...

• * Who is excited to see Manny Ramirez join the 500 HR club this season? I'm pretty sure he's going to do it. Right now, he's 11 HRs short of the major milestone. According to his season stats, he's hitting a home run every 20+ at bats. However, he's sped that pace up to a HR every 11+ at bats since the All Star game. My money says that he reaches the mark in the last series of the season against Minnesota (home.) You might want to buy your tickets now...
  
  
• * Have you seen this picture yet? According to my friend JonS who writes for this blog, we got scooped by barstool.com. I wouldn't have if I had gotten my act together and published this post on Friday. Either way seeing Big Papelbon and Mike Lowell drinking some pops is pretty humerous. I wonder what those two talk about. Props to Cogslice for scoring this gem.
  
  
• * I'm still a little floored by the number of people that are giving Ainge crap for trading Jefferson et al. for Garnett. While I'll admit that I'd like to see a little more of a supporting cast beyond the new big three (the Celts did sign Scot Pollard today), any GM would be lying if they said that they looked forward to playing the green this year. BTW, didn't LeBron single-handedly take the Cavs to the finals last year? I agree that he's an elite player but I'm not sure he's that much better than Kevin Garnett.
  
  
• * So Barry finally broke the record tonight. Yippee! Now we can all get on with our lives.
  
  
• * If you haven't seen the movie Borat yet, you're missing out on one of the best crafted pieces of comedy this century has to offer. Is it crass? Oh yeah. Would it make your grandmother blush? Most definitely. But does it bring you to the brink of wetting your pants repeatedly? Absolutely. As an add-on, if you have seen the movie but haven't seen Sasha Baron Cohen's appearance on Regis and Kelly you've got watch it now. In particular, pay attention to the reference to Kazakh's pop star, Corky Buchev. I laugh out loud every time I see it.
  
  
• * Sitting here watching the Sox step all over their dicks against Anaheim. They go ahead 1-0 in the first and then allow Anaheim to score two for the early lead. Then Dougie M. hits a laser over the left-field wall with a man on to make it 4-2. Then the wheels fell off and Wake gives up five runs in the 5th. The Sox come right back and put the lead off man (Lowell) on. Instead of having men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, Lowell tries to score from first and gets thrown out at the dish. Inevitably, the next two batters ground out -- rally over. WTF?

I don't see any good coming from me staying up to watch the rest of tonight's game (it's already 12:08). If the Sox pull off a victory, great. If not, the Yanks will be 5 games back. No pressure.

IMPORTANT POST SCRIPT -- My boy JonS sent me this link from Boston.com that made me feel a little better (and reiterated my stance over the last few posts)

Rooster Ramblings

-- Seeing as the Red Sox have always been a major backer of the Jimmy Fund, I've got a fundraising idea sure to be a hit with the fans. The Sox brass donates a $1000 each time Curt Schilling issues a "no comment." The Rooster, for one, would be glad to donate to that cause.

-- If David Ortiz isn't convinced that Barry Bonds took steroids, who are the baseball reporters to argue? In the land of the talking heads and knights of the keyboards, there's an eery silence surrounding the physical validity of a certain soon-to-be 45-year-old who's returning and throwing in the 90s. I guess we're to assume these gifts are natural, fellas? The journalist silence on this is reminiscent of the lack of digging that occurred when Bonds broke the McGwire's single-season record. (Oh, and in related news, George Mitchell just ordered a steak at Abe & Louie's.)

-- Because he has been the era's most dominant closer (and player perhaps), the tendency is to assume that Mariano Rivera will, of course, bounce back from his early season troubles. But there are some troubling signs for the Yankees. Namely, when you faced Rivera in his prime -- well, even just last year -- and you went down two strikes early in the count, you knew what was coming: the high fastball. And was it the most unhittable pitch in the game. This year? Not so much. Adrian Beltre and Marco Scutaro (Marco Scutaro!) have already beaten Rivera in the ninth with home runs off the high heat and our own Jason Varitek repeatedly fought off the two-strike high heat in the Bronx (as big an indictment of the pitch as you'll find). It says here that the Yankees' fortunes the rest of the way will be tied more closely to Rivera finding that pitch than they will to Roger Clemens giving them five innings every fifth day.

-- Tom Caron is to NESN what Ernie Johnson, Jr. is to TNT.

-- Yeah, Year One was frightening, but how's Year Two of the Hanley Ramirez trade treating you? Beckett's 7-0 and Mike Lowell is on pace for a career year (making his feared $9MM salary a bargain). Meanwhile, Anibel Sanchez was just sent back to AAA by the Marlins. Props to you, Theo. (Now about that Arroyo deal ....)

-- This just in: Floyd Mayweather likes money.

-- There's a rumor floating around the NBA that if the Suns flame out against the Spurs, they are going to make a run at the No. 2 pick and Kevin Durant, sacrificing their first round pick (which could be as high as No. 5) and any player outside of Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. This, of course, could raise some interesting possibilities for the C's. Would you sacrifice Durant and a player (Gomes?) for the No. 5 pick and, say, Shawn Marion? I would. The scary part of this, however, is that the decision rests with Danny Ainge. While Danny has drafted well, he consistently has been fleeced in trades. This draft -- and subsequent off-season of moves -- is culmination of three years of playing the young'ns and building their value. Make the wrong moves now, and it will be devastating for the franchise. The lottery is May 22.

-- It's great to see old friend Christopher Trotman Nixon go 8-for-10 in back-to-back games against Orioles. Not so nice: seeing that SS Alex Gonzalez has 7 dingers for the Reds. I'm not so sure we will see a better defensive shortstop suit up for the Sox in our lifetimes.

-- Finally some sad news to report: I went to get me some ribs before a Sox game last week and discovered dust gathering on the tables and chairs at the Linwood Grille. Yup, the barbecue has been shut down for good. Apparently, it is going to re-open as an "American grille" at some point. Like we need more of those ... Bastards.

Rooster Ramblings

Some random Sox thoughts from The Rooster:

-- Did the Red Sox REALLY need to let J.D. Drew wear No. 7 right after Trot leaves town? Granted, Trot never lived up to the huge expectations when he was first signed, but he was a Dirtdog for a decade. Meanwhile, Nomar’s number 5 continues to stay out of circulation. Maybe that’s fitting tho -- Trot’s uni continues to get dirty after he’s gone, and Nomar’s continues to stay clean.

-- Jerry Trupiano, wow, we miss ya big guy. I caught a few innings of the opener on RKO. Glenn Geffner was announcing an octave higher than Sanjaya.

-- There’s been a lot of nervous chatter on the local talk show airwaves about the potential trainwreck at the tail end of the Sox lineup. One thing I like down there: Pedroia doesn’t get cheated on his hacks. Varitek, on the other hand, looks Gedman-esque.

-- Raise your hand if you’d rather see Jacoby Ellsbury as the starting centerfielder right now.

-- Yes, we’re only a week into the season, but it already seems that the Yankees hopes of winning the AL East may hinge on two pitchers who aren’t even on their team now – Philip Hughes and the Rocket. If the Red Sox sales pitch works for Roger, it would be crippling for New York. Then again, at the rate the Yankees are pitching, Roger could name whatever price he wants and George would have to pay it.

-- Barry Bonds doesn’t look nearly as crippled at the plate as some writers led us to believe this offseason. The Giants come to Fenway at the Game 67 mark. If he gets some protection in that lineup, is it so unthinkable to believe he could be near the 18-20 home run mark? That would put him on the verge of Hank’s record at the Fens.

-- Do you get the feeling that this is the last week of the season where the Sox are remotely close to .500? Four terrifically pitched games out of the first six. Josh Beckett may have been the best sign of all. We all hoped for– and, in part, expected – Dice K magic. But the bar has been lowered for Beckett after last year’s 5.00 ERA. But if homeboy returns to the form that turbocharged the Marlins, this team could end up running away with the division.