So maybe Jon Lester should be the one moved to the bullpen when John Smoltz or Clay Buchholz are deemed ready to move into the rotation.
OK, that’s probably not going to happen, but Lester, who had been the ace of the Red Sox staff last year, has struggled mightily in 2009. His woes continues last night as he gave up five runs in the fifth inning on route to a 5-2 victory by the Twins over the Red Sox.
Amalie Benjamin says that the Red Sox continue to be put in a hole by Lester, who has given up at least five runs in five starts this season. Michael Silverman has Lester’s woes continuing in Minnesota, even though it was just one bad inning that did him in. Daniel Barbarisi notes that the Red Sox new lineup got off to a quiet start last night.
Nick Cafardo says that we can’t doubt that David Ortiz is trying his best to regain his form. Sean McAdam states that the Red Sox and Ortiz are entering dangerous territory. Silverman writes more about the move down to No. 6 for Big Papi. Bill Reynolds has lost all patience for Ortiz and says baseball is no country for old men. Barbarisi looks at the Red Sox finally making the change with Ortiz.
Bill Burt has an opposing AAA manager raving about Clay Buchholz. Mike Fine says that Jonathan Papelbon’s performance this season is cause for some concern. Rob Bradford looks back at a confusing day for the Red Sox. Barbarisi wonders if this is a lost season for Lester?
Kevin Gray looks at John Smoltz’s rehab start in Manchester, NH last night with the Portland Sea Dogs. Adam Kilgore has Smoltz satisfied with the progress he’s made thus far. David Willis says Smoltz certainly did not look past his prime last night. Steve Buckley also chronicles the latest step in the John Smoltz Rehab Project. Mike Petraglia has Smoltz targeting Boston.
Cafardo lusts after Joe Mauer. I’m very skeptical that Mauer will leave the Twins after 2010 when he is scheduled to be a free agent – his whole life is there, (his grandparents come to every game) and while I know professional athletes are usually all about who is going to pay the most money, the little I know about Mauer, he seems wired a little differently.
Beth Healy reports on Red Sox minority owner Ed Eskandarian selling his 3.6% stake in the team.
Benjamin’s notebook looks back at a great catch by Jacoby Ellsbury. The Herald notebook also recaps Ellsbury’s catch. The Projo Red Sox journal has Francona putting Papelbon’s struggles in perspective.
Patriots
Dan Shaughnessy weighs in on Brady’s interview with Peter King yesterday, noting that “it’s rare when anybody at Gillette grants an interview of substance without cash changing hands.” Karen Guregian has Brady facing a new routine going forward. Mark Farinella is glad that Brady is back on the field. Shalise Manza Young looks at comments from Brady’s teammates in recent days.
Mike Reiss has the Patriots still looking for inside linebacker depth, and this morning reports that they have signed former Packers and Lions linebacker Paris Lenon.
Celtics
Marc J. Spears and Steve Bulpett report on Kevin Garnett’s knee surgery. Spears’ notebook has Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins unable to attend the USA Basketball minicamp in July because of Perkins’ wedding.
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You gotta love Shaughnessy sometimes. Here’s the ultimate media whore complaining that “money has to change hands” for the Pats to grant interviews “of substance.”
The scary part is that he doesn’t even realize the level of his own hypocrisy.
I wish everyone would stop talking about Mauer. One of two things will happen with him:
(1) He will decide that he wants to stay in Minny, and will reach an agreement with the Twins before he ever hits the market; or
(2) He will decide that he wants to get paid, in which case the Yankees will offer DOUBLE whatever the Red Sox offer him.
There is no way — NO WAY — that Joe Mauer is coming to Boston. Period. I am 100% confident that the Yanks will pay whatever it takes — $30M/year, $40M/year, $50M/year — to keep him away from the Sox and put him in pinstripes.
“”I think, for the most part, when you look back, it can come down to one pitch,” manager Terry Francona said. It’s almost the same thing as Seattle.”
Lester = shades of Beckett in 2006. Tito issued this quote after nearly every start and he finished the season with a 5.01 ERA and 36 home runs allowed in 33 starts.
There MUST be repercussions to Shaughnessy’s comments: ‘it’s rare when anybody at Gillette grants an interview of substance without cash changing hands.’ What a charge! Just because no one speaks to Shaughnessy doesn’t grant him some license to dream up the reason why. He needs to be taken out, literally or figuratively. Either way is fine by me.
I rarely read Shaughnessy at all anymore (just too annoying) but I most definitely don’t read anything he writes about the Patriots. I don’t know what his problem is but he can’t write a column about them without throwing in several wise ass remarks. Come to think of it, I’ve seen him throw in wise ass remarks about the Patriots when the column is about THE RED SOX. The guy is an irritant, like a pesky fly at a cookout.
He and a lot of his “old guard” brethren over at the “17 percent” shop still haven’t accepted the fact that football (i.e. The Patriots) has either caught or surpassed baseball (i.e. the Red Sox) in popularity, even here in this “baseball town” with the “lyrical little bandbox of a ballpark.”
Remember the fit that Shaughnessy, Ryan and a bunch of other Globies threw back in 2004 when the Patriots’ Super Bowl win over the Rams was voted as the greatest moment in Boston sports history in a Globe online poll, ahead of the Red Sox 2004 World Series win? They were fit to be tied and accused a small legion of Patriots fans of “stuffing the ballot box” in order to rig the outcome.
It’s a pure fantasy world over there on Morrissey Blvd.–a world where it’s always October 1, 1967, and Yaz is batting with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th against Dean Chance.
Part of the problem is that some people in the media are obsessed with negativity. About a year ago, the ESPN alternative to the Big Show had the consensus opinion that the Pats losing the Super Bowl was a bigger story than the C’s winning the Championship. I honestly believe if you polled some of these clowns on the best moment in Boston sports history, you’d get the 2008 Superbowl, Bucky Dent, too many men on the ice, Magic’s sky hook, Buckner, Glen Wesley missing the open net, Grady’s brain fart, etc etc…
“If it bleeds, it leads.”