It'll take

After not having written anything for three weeks I hope you understand while I get back into form.

Really, Really, Really Random Thoughts

Long time no blog. Just a quick look about what's going on around the majors and in pop culture.

1) So Barry got number 715 out of the way. I'm conflicted on this. As much as I dislike Barry Bonds I have to admire this accomplishment due to how great of a player Babe Ruth was and Barry Bonds is. Ruth supposedly cheated with a corked bat. Many players have been found to have cheated throughout history and yet only two players have hit as many as 715 HR's. I think this is a testament to just how great Hank Aaron was in his career. I hope the media instead of talking about Bonds and Ruth start talking about that more.

2) X-Men 3 opened to the highest box office during memorial day weekend in history I believe bringing in 130 million dollars. I hope this doesn't lead the studio to actually believe it's good. It was alright, not as bad as I expected it to be, but no where near as good as it should have been. I blame this mostly on Kevin Feige. He's the executive producer and after original director Bryan Singer left to direct Superman the Feige went through directors until he found one who could get the movie finished by the date he wanted the movie released. Brett Ratner was the director who agreed to do despite not having any time or a good script. But still it made money. What I hope Hollywood releases is that it would have made even more money if they had produced a good movie that would have attracted return viewers instead of the crap they put on the screen. I read comic books as a kid and I know those deaths didn't happen the way they were portrayed.

3. Looks like the Rocket is returning to home base. Is this really a surprise to anyone? He was working out in Minute Maid Park and pitching to Astros minor leaguers. Was this really in doubt given all the perks the Astros give him? If I where Clemens I'd try to come up with a long term contract with the perks like Tim Wakefield signed with the Red Sox a few years ago with a life time series of extensions.

4. Look out! It's Milledge time. This young Mets prospect is GOOD! With a capital GOOD! Having seen him play some spring training games and followed his career through the minors I know this kid is going to be a star. If you had any doubt why then was Milledge the name the Red Sox would have needed if they traded Manny this offseason. This kid has all the tools: hit, hit with power, run, throw and field.

5: How great is it to see Nomar having such a great season? I totally that he had leave in 2004 for the Red Sox to go as far they did but he was never disrespectful of the Red Sox. The Nomar I'll always remember was the guy who after the Red Sox were knocked out of the playoffs by the Indians came out and appalled the Fenway Faithful. Just a class move. Now he's hitting .362/.427/.606 with five homers. Good for him.




6. Matt Clement is starting to be a big problem. It's tough to blame him though. Right after he signed his free agent contract in 2005 he was a world beater. Going into the All-Star break that year Clement was 10-2 with an ERA of 3.85. After the All-Star game Clement's ERA began to climb. But it all changed on July 26th, when Carl Crawford lined a pitch off of Clement's face. Since then there have been a number of balls hit back through the box that have sent Clement to showers early. It's good that he's working with a sports psychologist is a good sign. I wish him the very best. But unless he improves this Sunday in his start against the Tigers the Red Sox may have to sit him down.

7. Coco is back! I'm happy to see the Red Sox are currently hitting lower in the order for the time being until he gets himself back into playing form. But no matter he's not going to be as good in the leadoff spot as Kevin Youkilis is.

8. Spiderman 2 is currently playing on HBO this month and I'm amazed that I have never realized just how awesome a soundtrack that movie has.

9. Congratulations to Animal House for being voted the funniest movie ever on the Bravo channel this past week. As a fraternity member and someone whose nickname was Bluto in college, I have to admit, this gave me undeserved pleasure at seeing this movie get recognized. But come on....what other movie had a chance. This poll however was biased for movies that had come out within the last ten years as movie's like Old School, Anchorman, and Meet the Fockers finished well higher then they should of. The worst pick of them all was rating Meet the Fockers ahead of it's predecessor Meet the Parents.



10. There is nothing to watch on TV these days. I'm amazed that some network doesn't take advantage of the brilliant marketing ploy used by Fox a few years ago in which they used to present their new show,The O.C., to a pretty much captive audience during the summer. It worked for that show, which has never been great, so it could probably work for a number of the crap shows the networks are currently pushing.

Tomorrow is how much it goes against everything the Red Sox should stand for by putting Coco back in the leadoff spot.

My computer works! It works!

I'm trying not to jenx this my trying to do too much so hopefully I'll have something new up here tomorrow.

A sad day for us all

Days like these come along and there is nothing you can do to stop them. You see them in the distance and know they're coming and there just isn't anything you can do. Sadly all you can do is look back on them and say it was bound to happen. On Thursday's season finale of the O.C. Mischa Barton's lovely, young, troubled Marissa Cooper was finally killed.



It was only a matter of time. Everyone knew this. Ever since she tried to kill herself mid-first season by digesting an almost legal amount of Tequila and sleeping pills this was inevitable. Her problems mounted and couldn't be hid from Alcoholism, depression, her mother sleeping her with former boyfriend, her father losing millions of dollars of their neighbors money then getting beat up by loansharks, to her surfer boyfriend falling off a cliff drunkenly, her real boyfriend telling her that he knocked up an old friend from home, not to mention being stalked by an insane guy who you met in your psychiatrist' waiting room,
shooting you boyfriends brother, who by the way was trying to rape you and let's not forget lesbians (with the totally smoking hot Oliva Wilde)yes young Marissa had seen a lot before her untimely death.

I have to admit this show had been a guilty pleasure of mine until this season when it conflicted with "My Name is Earl" and "The Office". So with both those shows having ended last week, this week I turned back to the O.C. The wonderful world of good looking millionaires and one rebel from the outside. But of course the lesson is that on the inside we're all alike even the rich and beautiful. When young Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) first took shelter with the Cohen family it literally sent young Marrisa's life into a spiral from which she never recovered.

What's offsetting to me is that I felt nothing towards this TV death. I have a few ideas why. Barton was, rarest of rare, an actual teenager who played a teenager on a teenage TV show. Her co-stars Benjamin McKenzie 28, Adam Brody 27, and Rachel Bilson 24 didn't really seem to fit in with 20 year old Barton. She wasn't a strong actress she was hot. Since the series premiered in 2003 when Barton was just seventeen she just looked too gorgeous to be the age she was supposed to be much like Jessica Biel on Seventh Heaven, which premiered when she was just 14, who was so hot as a young girl on that show (even though I never watched it)it just made you think of nothing else. See also Alyassa Milano.



Also I think she was poorly written character. You just couldn't relate. It's hard to say I feel sorry for this gorgeous, rich, teenage girl who has all these problems and yet just wins about them. She just wasn't a character you could contact with. She was empty. Which stood in stark contrast to Rachel Bilson's Summer. Summer was fun and engaging. She didn't need something horrible in her life to have her character have any meaning. Barton was supposed to be the star but this has long been Bilson's show. I remember when I worked at the SportsNetwork having a indepth discussion between the entire the minor league baseball department about who was hotter on the O.C. Marissa or Summer? I was arguing for Marissa. I see the error of my ways.



Rachel Bilson is wicked hot. Sorry Marissa we hardly knew you. Because your character was awful.

Talking about season finale's how much did the West Wing's suck! I didn't care about Santos. I wanted to see Sam, Toby, CJ, Josh, and the gang actually do something. Like interact with each other. For such a great series to have such a lame finale was very distressing. And to qoute Stephen Colbert "wag of the finger" to both the cast of the West Wing and NBC for bailing on the retrospective that was supposed to be aired due to salary demands of the cast (RoB Lowe) and low ratings. A show like that should have been allowed to go out with dignity. Shame on you both. Instead all anyone got of any benefit from this show was the preview of Aaron Sorkin's next project "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" other then that I couldn't have been more disappointed.

It takes 25 guys to win and we couldn't get the job done tonight."

I have to admit that certainly expected the Twins to be better then they have been so far this season (17-23). With Johan Santana, Francisco Liriano, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau how could this team not be improving. Add in the fact that Luis Castillo, despite what I thought has been awesome at second. It's just that Torii Hunter, shannon Sterwart, Rondell White and Tony Bautista have just been.......Torii Hunter, Shannon Stewart, Rondell White and Tony Bautista. But Wednesday's lose to the Tigers and Justin Verlander may be the point that pushes this team over the edge.

Despite striking out 12 and walking just one Santana lost 2-0. When asked about it Santana repiled "It takes 25 guys to win and we couldn't get the job done tonight."
How are his teammates supposed to take this? I imagine he hopes that this will inspire them. But when you have a flawed team it more then likely signals the end of your tendur with your team.

Santana who signed a long tern contract just last year could be seeing that the Twins are going to have trash this team and go back to the drawing board. If so he's making a mistake. With Santana, Lirano, Maeur, and Joe Nathan the Twins have a solid core of young players (thanks San francisco Giants). I'm starting not to believe in Morneau but that could change very quickly if he puts it together. But overall the Twins have done a great job over the past five years putting a good team on the field for a reasonable price. Santana and his agent had to know that when they signed the extension. Still, even if the Twins can't tuen it around soon, their future should be bright pretty quickly.

But despite Santana the big story in this game had to be Justin Verlander. Despite touching 100 on the gun he somehow didn't strike out any batters. He toosed 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball and stopped Santana's winning streak. If the Tigers have any chance of keeping pace in the AL Central the Tigers are going to need more starts like this from Verlander. I haven't given the Tigers enough credit so far this season and it actually appears that they are for real. It's just a shame for them that they're in a division with the White Sox. But if they can match zeros with Santana then anything is possible.

It's possible!

If my computer doesn't crash tonight I'll be back blogging tomorrow.

Computer problems have been killing me.

To anyone reading this I'm sorry but computer has been killing me lately. Every time I try to post my computer crashes I hope to be back by Monday. Thanks jonathan

Just Taking a Look Around

It's a month into the season so I decided to take a look around the NL to see what's going on. Checking what's going with I what I figured would be going on has shown me that I'm pretty much a moron. Let's start with the NL East.

NL East
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Atlanta Braves: The Braves have not looked good so far this season despite winning today's game. I think the Braves, especially their pitchers, discounted just how much they'd miss Leo Mazzone. All the comments from Braves pitchers were about how they bristled under Mazzone's leadership. This year their collective ERA is 4.48 the worst it's been after a month in the past ten years. It's quickly proving to everyone that Chris Reitsma isn't the answer as the Braves closer with an ERA of 4.97. John Thomson has been great for the Braves sporting an ERA of 2.16 and averaging 7 strikeouts per game. Tim Hudson is proving Billy Beane right for trading him at just the right time. His ERA is 5.09 and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 23:15. The Braves were expecting to trade for an ace and that's not what they've gotten. On the offensive side Marcus Giles and Jeff Francoeur have been dismal. Giles is going to rebound. He's not going to hit .220 for the entire year. His OBP will be high enough that he'll score a truck load of runs. Francoeur, on the other hand, just hasn't developed the plate discipline to be consistent at the major league level. He's always going to be a streaky guy. A positive for the Braves has been Edgar Renteria who is playing much better then he ever did in Boston. There was no anyone could have foreseen this. His line this year is .355/.412/.484. His line last year was .276/.335/.385. But here's the thing last year's line was closer to his career norm then this year's line. His career line is .289/.346/.400. So good for the Braves. Andruw Jones is proving last year wasn't a fluke hitting .283/.354/.575 with nine home runs and 30 RBI. He's a free agent after next year and he'll be just 30 when he's hits the market. Somebody will give him a huge contract and regret it within three years. He's currently day-to-day with a sore back and for the Braves but to improve their on 13-18 record the they're going to need him back as soon as possible.

Florida Marlins: At 8-21 Marlins fans are in for a long year. But it's better then it sounds. What they have to remember is that in this fire sale the Marlins got a lot of talent in return. It just has to develop. In three years the Marlins will better then they were when they won the World Series in 2003 and 1997. That is if the Marlins can hang onto the Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. These are their core guys that Marlins have to build around. Cabrera is young Manny Ramirez in the waiting. He has that much talent. This year he's hitting .340/.463/.580 and he's only 23. Willis could be more of a problem because he's going to soon be arbitration eligible and earning more money then the Marlins can afford. Willis should want to leave. His ERA this season is the highest it's ever been at 5.15. He's not going to win many games pitching for this team and everyone knows it. Willis is the rare player that can be the face of your years to come. The Marlins are faced with turning down a boatload of good cheap prospects and holding onto a pitcher they say they can't afford. But the problem is that Willis and Cabrera, if the team wants to move to another city, are the two marketable players they have. If they get rid of them what attraction will bring the fans in a new city. Hanley Ramirez appears to be the real deal so far putting up a line of .307/.388/.482. He never hit this well in the minors and if he isn't motivated he may not perform. Losing in the majors will probably not motivate him for much longer and he could be distracted and suffer a steep decline. Josh Willingham has been tagging the ball lately but he's not going to continue to hit to the tune of .310/.403/.620. Their pitching is in disarray and will be for awhile but importing all those arms in their deals this past offseason is going to payoff big time in the future. It's going to take a couple of year's but when all this young talent does finally put it together the Marlins will be an excellent team again. The questions are where it will happen and just how long will it take?

New York Mets: The Mets? What to say about the Mets? I already talked about Lima time and the problems that will follow so I'll leave it at that. The Mets have a team ERA of 3.26. To perfectly honest I don't expect that to hold up. Tom Glavine has been unbelievable so far this season putting up a line of 4-2 with an ERA of 1.94 with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 41:14. Let's put things in perspective here. Glavine is 40 years old. The last time Glavine had an ERA below 3.00 was 2002. I don't think he can keep this up. I think he'll have a good season but I don't see him winning the Cy Young. Which brings me to Pedro. Pedro is 5-0 with an ERA of 2.72 with an ERA of 2.72 and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 42:12. The problem here is Pedro's toe. It's been a problem since his days in Boston and it's not going away. Pedro spends time on the DL every year and this year I think he'll spend more time on the DL then usual meaning even more Lima Time. Meanwhile Billy Wagner has put up some good numbers going 2-0 with 7 saves and an ERA of 2.12. But his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 19:8 not great. And he's already blown three saves. He'll put up his usual numbers unless he can't adjust to New York. Stay tuned. Brian Bannister is a disaster waiting to happen despite his his 2.89 ERA. His strikeout-to-walk ratio of 14:17 is going to derail him quickly. Better to put Aaron Heilman into the rotation then wait for this blow up on you. On the offensive side of the ball Jose Reyes has an OBP of .345. But facts are facts. His career OBP is .307. If he can keep this up it's OK to keep him in the lead-off spot if he can't then the Mets are wasting time batting him at the top of the line-up. Paul Lo Duca is doing his normal early season hitting well before second half collapse. Carlos Delegado is hammering the ball as was expected to the tune of .296/.397/.617. Xavier Nady has been a revelation since coming over from the Padres in the Mike Cameron trade hitting .296/.347/.556 with seven homers. Carlos Beltran has hit the way the Mets expected him to when they signed him .273/.432/.636 with seven home runs. But his balky hamstring concerns have some people wondering. There's a term called "Regression to the Mean" which means that players who aren't rookies will play closer to their career norms then will break out and produce a great spike in their careers after 2000 at-bats. Take Beltran for example. When was the last time he had an OBP over .400 for a full season? Answer: Never. When was the last time he had slugging percentage over .550? Answer: Never. Everything is going well for the Mets right now. Luck will be what determines if it continues.

Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies have been on a role as of late as having their last nine games before getting shellacked by the Mets on Wednesday. The Phillies are a better team than I'm giving them credit for being. Their pitching with exceptions of Jon Lieber, Ryan Madson and Gavin Floyd has actually been pretty decent. The arrival of Cole Hamels for Friday's start should be an improvement. Tom Gordon has been dominant as their closer going 2-1 with an ERA of 1.72 10 saves and 24 strikeouts. The Phillies offense is as deep as any teams in baseball. Chase Utley has emerged as a star hitting .317/.381/.
Washington Nationals

Lima Time!!

Wow you have the love the Mets. Not only do they sport the best record in baseball at 21-9 but they are also nice guys. So concerned are the Mets about their slumping division rivals the Braves they've brought in a cure: Lima Time! That's right with Victor Zambrano out for the season with a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow the Mets promoted Jose Lima to start Sunday's game. Lima as I'm sure you know is as good a cure as any for a slumping team. Some teams may sacrifice chickens but I'll taking hitting agaginst Jose Lima over anything. But wait it gets better. This isn't a spot start today supposedly Lima will remain in the rotation. And he will joined by Darren Oliver. I didn't even know Oliver was still pitching. Oliver has pitched well so far this season putting up an ERA of 3.86 and strikeout-to-walk ratio of 17:4. But he didn't pitch in the majors last season and has a career ERA of 5.02. Lima, for his part, last season was a 16 game loser for the Royals. He posted an ERA of 6.99. Before you say well the Royals suck Lima's career ERA is 5.22. The NL East is weak this season but I don't see how a team could win with Lima and Oliver in the starting rotation. I certainly couldn't see them winning in the playoffs.

Kudos to a Canadian

You have to love Neil Young.



I just listened to Neil Young's new album called Living with War. The focal point of the album has to be the song called "Let's Impeach the President". It's about time somebody said it. Almost 40 years after Kent State and he's still the musician who can challenge the White House. The song is basically a laundry list of everything Bush has done wrong. It features audio clips from Bush himself speaking idiotically. I would love to be standing next to Bush the first time he ever hears this song. I imagine he'd turn all red and his head would explode. Young even mentions how Bush is going after baseball's steroid users instead of Bin Laden. Rock on Neil!

Just some thoughts

I was reading Buster Olney's Blog today and I came across where he was talking about how some former players are livid with the players association over the Mitchell steroid investigation. Olney says:

"I've had a whole lot of conversations with a whole lot of ex-players who believe the union leadership absolutely failed to represent their interests in the Steroid Era. I bet there are a bunch of former players who would be perfectly willing to talk freely with Mitchell's investigative staff because they feel their own accomplishments have been tainted by the unrestrained steroid use -- and they blame the union leadership, in part, for what occurred. There are ex-players who will feel little or no allegiance to the union leaders on this issue."



Which to me begs the question what is to stop a former player from suing the players association. What do I mean? Let's take Fred McGriff as an example. McGriff hit .284/.377/.509 with 493 home runs and 1550 RBI in his career and is generally considered to have not taken steroids. He's also generally considered unlikely to voted into baseball's Hall of Fame. What is to stop McGriff from arguing that the players association's turning a blind eye to steroids devalued McGriff's career. While many players may have had monster seasons while taking steroids McGriff had quite productive seasons without steroids. His teammate Jose Canseco was more famous but did he deserve to be? Due to the startingly huge numbers put fourth by many of the players now under suspicion of steroid use McGriff's quietly consistent career never received the attention of Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmerio and Sammy Sosa. Getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame means thousands of dollars in autographs and memorabilia as well as a huge achievement. Can't he argue that the players association and MLB itself turning a blind eye to steroids took that away from him? So could Jim Rice. So could Dale Murphy. I wonder if anyone at MLB or the player's association has considered this?


Globe Staff Photo / Barry Chin)

I was glad to see the Boston fans treated Kevin Millar the way he deserved to be treated by giving him a standing O in his return to Boston. Millar was the heart soul of the Red Sox the past three years and deserved to be treated like it. Despite helping to lead the Red Sox to the playoffs each of his years in Boston Millar was booed savagedly last season when his bat disappeared. So take heart Johnny Damon as soon as you leave the Yankees you'll be welcomed too.

Bad news for the Red Sox as Coco Crisp's broken finger is going to keep him until the end of May. The Red Sox have been getting by with Dustin Mohr and Wily Mo Pena in center but need Crisp back if they want to stay in contention. Francona will have a tough call to make when Crisp comes because Kevin Youkilis has been awesome in the leadoff spot.

So I just finished watching the White House Correspondent's Dinner and I have to say it was awesome. The Republicans invited Stephen Colbert to perform at the dinner. It became apparent that they put about as much thought into this as they did when they decided to invade Iraq. Judging from the faces of Bush and his surrounding lackeys I have to imagine that none of them had ever seen or heard of Colbert. The host of the Report proceeded to roast everyone in the room with any ties to the Republican Party. It was essentially what is said on every episode of the Colbert Report said diectly to the President's face. To Colbert's credit he didn't back down in the face of the President and he let him have it. When a joke his bombed Colbert said "Just shot me, ....oh wait, the Vice President isn't here." He said that comparing this administration to the Titanic was a bad analogy because this administration wasn't sinking like the Titanic, it was in fact soaring. So actually the Hindenburg would be a better. Comedic genius. Most comedians invited to this thing would have pulled their acts back and kissed the president's ass. Not Colbert. Watching Tucker Carlson talk about how Colbert had bombed after the show ended just showed how absolutely clueless these Fox News morons are. The fact that the Colbert Report is a paraody of most conserative elements of Fox News and the Republican party appears to be completely lost on the very people it mocks. Colbert couldn't have written it better himself.

What does overrated really mean?

Sports Illustrated had a poll in it's most recent issue asking 400 baseball players who was the most overrated player in the game. The answer that came back shocked many baseball experts; Derek Jeter. The Yankee captain? How could that be they moaned. Don't these idiots remember the gold gloves, the clutch hitting, the World Series, his leadership or the women he's dated? What makes these "players" think they're better then Derek Jeter? Maybe the fact that some of them are. I'm not one of those Red Sox fans who insanely hate Jeter. I've respected him and when he's made a good play I've said good for him. I laughed when he was on SNL and don't remember ever thinking that he was a jerk. I think it's because of the gold gloves, the clutch hitting, the World Series', his leadership and the women he's dated.

What I'm trying to say is that Jeter is always in the spotlight. Watching Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn last week each one of the shows ran a piece on how great Jeter was hitting and how this may be his best season ever. But was he even leading the major leagues in batting average? No. Was he leading the AL in batting average? NO. But there he was getting the press. Well, no other shortstop can hit as well as he is can they? Um....Yes. In fact there's one hitting better. Miguel Tejeda is batting .392 with 8 HR's for the Orioles. True Jeter does have an edge in OPS but Tejeda is the player that drives the Orioles. Without Tejeda in the lineup the Orioles don't win. Can the same be said for Jeter on the Yankees? I don't think so. Yet Jeter is the one on the news. Why? Because he plays a glorified position in the largest market in the country on the most famous team in the history of sports.
Jeter does a lot of things well and he is truly a great player, but there are better players out there that don't get anywhere near as much press. Maybe that's what this pole suggests.

In John Dewan's new Fielding Bible Bill James writes a piece in which he argues that despite winning two gold gloves Jeter is actually considered to be one of the worst fielding shortstops of all time. The entire arguement is too long for me to get into but it does make sense. Then why do writers think Jeter is so good? Because he's always on TV playing shortstop for a good team in a big market. Defense has always been diffcult to judge and I feel many writers have given up and just go thru the motions. Jeter won the gold gloves at this point because it's simply a popularity contest. Do you remember when Rafeal Palmero won a gold glove in the mid ninties in season in which he played in the field just 30 times. It didn't matter because the voters were lazy and they voted for the player whose name they knew. Same thing with Jeter the last two years. Maybe the players weren't jealous of Jeter as many at ESPN have been saying over the past several days. Maybe they were just stating a fact.

Really Really Really Random Thoughts

OK so I know I haven't posted in awhile and here is the reason why. A friend of mine built my computer for me. Over the years I've gotten alot of virsus's on it. So I put Norton Anti Virsus on my computer and the virsus's stopped. Last week Norton updated itself as it does frequently. Suddenly I had a new pop-up which said I was the victim of software counterfitting and if I wanted to use by computer I'd have to buy a new windows disk for $150 dollars. I sent my friend an e-mail asking what was going on and he said microsoft through Norton was now scanning all the computers and if it found any pirated version of windows it would crash your PC. I asked why that would be happening to me? My friend just asked why do you think? Goodbye $150.00 dollars. Anyway I can only use my computer for a short periods of time before it crashes. Three times in the last week I've tried to post things and have lost them due to my PC crashing. So what I'm going to try tonight is publishing after every single paragraph I write. That should allow me to get at least something out there.



OK here is what's on my mind. With the Red Sox reacquiring Doug Mirabelli to be Tim Wakefield's personal catcher what does this mean for Mirabelli's future? I totally agree with the Red Sox bringing Mirabelli back because it was obivous to anyone watching that Bard just wasn't getting it done. And it was effecting Wakefield's pitching. With Wells having lied about his health throughout spring training the Red Sox traded away Bronson (5-0) Arroyo. So the Red Sox need Wakefield to be confident and successful when he pitches and this was a small price to pay. Besides wasn't it cool watching come out of that police escort with his uniform on and running intoi the stadium to face the Yankees. It was awesome. My question with Wakefield's unique contract: a series of 4.5 millon doallar extenstions for as long as Wakefield wants to pitch. What about Mirabelli? Does he get a life time extenstion to catch Wakefield forever as well?

A touch of class by Johnny Damon. I wish Red Sox fans had returned the favor.




So I'm really concerned about Toronto. They seem to have the Red Sox number this season. Ever since Beckett hit Frank Catalattno they've been playing awesome against the Red Sox. Last night they hammered Beckett and gave Papelbon his first loss. I haven't been giving the Blue Jays enough credit. Halladay is awesome but he's always being hit with the freak injury bug. A.J. Burnett was injury waiting to happen coming into this season. But it's really been Vernon Wells who is turning in a MVP caliber performance. I wasn't expecting that. Or Alex Rios doing the same. Troy Glaus has been a powerbat just like advertised. B.J. Ryan has been money as their closer.

In case you missed the two best starting pitchers in baseball are both playing in Chicago: Jose Contreras ande Greg Maddux. Contreras is 5-0 and has an ERA 1.41 he's also won his last 13 starts. Pitching for a White Sox team that looks fantastic Contreras is going to pile on the wins. Maddux is 5-1 with an ERA of 2.35. I have no clue how he is going to keep it up because without Derek Lee in lineup I expect runs will be hard to come by.

Baseball is really screwing Barry Bonds over. The same day that baseball says it won't celebrate Bonds hitting more home runs then Babe Ruth, Bud Selig gives an interview to Don Walker of the Milwaukee Sentineal in which he says essentially In that fact-finding in the Mitchell Investigation is not as important as folks' knowing baseball wants facts found. I suggest that there be a law in place that whenever anyone talks about Bonds and steriods they have to follow that with "but it was Bud Selig who allowed it to go on for years and then lied that he had never heard of steriods before".

I don't like microwaved chicken, in case anyone was wondering.

So I'm a fan of ABC's Lost and for a show so based in mystery I find it odd that one thing it's lacked this season has been mystery. Last night when Ana-Lucia and Libby were killed how could you not have seen it coming. Ever since Michelle Rodriguez and
Cynthia Watros were busted on the same night for DWI's it was only a matter of time before they were off the show. On top of that the widespread stories of Michelle Rodriguez' bitchiness and the hatred of the rest of cast and crew it was just a matter of time. On top of that Cynthia Watros signed on to star in a new TV show for next year so she was out as well.

It pisses me off to see ads for That 70's Show this year. I can't believe that they didn't end it when Topher Grace left the show. It's dead to me.

I feel ashamed to admit this but I'm going to see Mission Impossible 3 tomorrow. I've never been a fan of these movies. I tolerated the first one because it had a cool soundtrack and gadgets and a smoking hot french chick seen here.


The second movie was just confusing. It gave me a headache. So why will I see the third? Is it my love of star Tom Cruise? Hardly. I'll see this movie in spite of Cruise, not because. I'll see because Lost and Alias creator J.J. Abrams directed it. I'll see it because Phillip Seymor Hoffman is supposedly the badest ass villian since Hannibal Lecter. And I'll see it because it has not one but two smoking hot women in it. Kerri Rusell (Felicity herself) and Michelle Monaghan.





It's official once again! The Office is the best show on television. Last weeks episode when Pam called Jim for a jinx and said he had to buy her a coke and the coke machine was out so he couldn't speak for the rest day was high comedy. When Pam volutneered Jim to speak about about someone who he knew whose life had been ruined by substance abuse and to get out of Jim pretended to start crying was awesome. When it wins the emmy for best comedy this year that should be what they show!

Is gas $7.00 a gallon yet? Just asking?

It was funny last week to see the merger between the White House and Fox News last week when Bush appointed Tony Snow White House press secretary. I hope he stops in his first breifing to promote an upcoming episode of Prison Break. (I know 24 would have been better, but I like 24.)

I was amazed last week to find out that The Ambiguously Gay Duo is actually voiced by the 40 Year Old Virgin's Steve Carrell and Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert. What a wealth of comedic talent. The fact that they've doing for ten years and have only been famous for the past three years goes to show what a comedic genius Robert Smigel is. Carrell and Colbert have long been parntered together having worked together on the Dana Carvey Show before rising to fame on the Daily Show.

I wasn't looking forward to seeing the new Superman movie that's coming out, but the trailer is pretty bad ass. As soon as the classic music started playing I was just like this I'll see. Kevin Spacey looks like a bad ass Lex Luthor. I'm usually more a Marvel Comics fan. But this just looks too good. Also awesome looking trailers for both Casino Royale, the new Bond flick with super hot Eva Green and Pirates of the Caribbean with the equally super hot Keira Knightley:






I tried to post a link to each trailer but that didn't work. Instead here's a link to a page with them all

www.darkhorizons.com/trailers

Red Sox reacquire Mirabelli

Ever since watching Josh Bard try to catch Tim Wakefield's knuckleball in their first game together I've been saying this move was inevitable. On Sunday night the Red Sox reaquired Doug Mirabelli from the San Diego Padres for Josh Bard, minor-league pitcher Clay Meredith. The Red Sox had traded Mirabelli to Padres for second basemen Mark Lorretta. Shortly after the Padres traded for Mirabelli they signed Mike Piazza to be their starting ctacher and clean-up hitter essentially putting Mirabelli into a back-up role. Bard had been awful trying to master Wakefield's knuckler having already allowed 10 passed balls this season. If the Red Sox wanted any production out of Wakefield this year this move had to be made and quickly. Meredith could turn out to be a good pitcher but this was necessary for this year. Mirabelli is expected to be in the lineup tonight against the Yankees and should expect a heros welcome. The Yankees, according to Buster Olney, were trying to block this move by acquiring Mirabelli but just weren't quick enough. Link below.


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Johnny's Coming Home! Hurrah, Hurrah?

Tonight Johnny Damon makes his long awaited return to Fenway Park. Many people are wondering how Damon will be met in his former ballpark after departing for the Yankees this off-season. I hope Fenway gives him a standing-o and then boo's him for the rest of his at-bats. I want the Boston fans to acknowledge Damon's past contribuations to Boston, but then let him know we'll root for him after he's either retired or traded.