White Suburban Punk

The Red Sox managed to win two games with walkoffs against the Rangers before being shut out last night.  Clay Buchholz was excellent before tiring, however, so that’s a good sign.  New hero Darnell McDonald was finally kept hitless, although he did have a walk.  Tonight Jon Lester tries to straighten things out against Baltimore at Fenway.

The Bruins look to wrap up their surprising series with Buffalo tonight in Buffalo.  Where this team was all year, no one knows, but they have been an absolute joy to watch in this series.  Johnny Boychuk and Vladimir Sobotka are my new favorite players, and Tukka Rask has been fantastic.

The Celtics go on the road for game 3 of their series against the Heat after blowing them out in game 2.  Once again, I have no idea what will happen tonight, but it’s possible the C’s could put up another dominating performance.  They’ve been strong on the road all season, and now they have KG back.  Of course, with all signs pointing up, that probably means they’re due for a stinker.  Glen Davis has been awesome in the first two games of this series, while Rasheed Wallace only made the news for getting another fine by the league.

The Patriots ready for rounds 2 and 3 of the draft tonight, where they have three picks in the second and one in the third.  They went with a DB out of Rutgers in the first round, Devin McCourty, who Bill Belichick claims was who they wanted.  Today there are the usual overreactions from the media, stating that the secondary was the only area that didn’t need any help this offseason.  Belichick is apparently close with Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, which should provide him with added insight, but the experts in the Boston media know that Belichick hasn’t done anything here in New England to prove he has any idea what he’s doing, so they’re feeding off each other like maggots today.

The Bruins are off a surprising 2-1 series lead after last night’s 2-1 win at the Garden.  Last night’s game was awesome, with the Bruins fans at their chanting, singing, raucous best.  The play has been great, too, with tons of hitting and the usual playoff intensity.  This series so far has been a great example for the people who say that the NHL playoffs are the best in sports.  The Bruins have shown great heart, especially in game 2.  They were down 1-0 in the series and 2-0 in the game, in Buffalo, with their backs against the wall, and came back and won the game.  Heart has been something that appeared to be lacking from the Bruins this year, but they went 8-3-1 in their last 12 games and are undoubtedly playing their best hockey of the season right now.  And Marc Savard has been symptom-free for a week and skated on his own yesterday, so he could conceivably come back if the Bruins advance.

The NFL draft is a multiday event starting Thursday.  The Patriots need to have a good draft, but I’ll see what they did when they’re done.  The massive industry that has developed around the NFL draft is insane.

The Celtics lead Miami, 1-0, with game 2 tonight in Boston.  They will play without KG, who was suspended for allegedly throwing an elbow during an altercation at the end of game 1.  All the talking heads seem to agree with the suspension, even though I don’t really see it on the replays.  It was unquestionably stupid of KG to let himself get into that situation that late in a game you’re going to win anyway, and now all the people that this edition of the Celtics has pissed off can come out of the woodwork (Joakim Noah?) saying that KG is a dirty player and that Paul Pierce is some kind of flopper or something.  Never mind that Pierce’s game is to put himself into position to get knocked down either by driving the lane or keeping possession of the ball in a foul situation.  Whatever.  This Celtics team is definitely hated, and I have to admit that it’s far from my favorite Celtics team, too.  I have no idea how they’ll react to this.  No one can figure this team out.  Several times this season they have shown no motivation just when you expect them to want to make a statement and we were hoping the playoffs would wake them up.  They awoke enough in the second half of game 1, so now what will KG’s suspension do to them?  Motivate them to step it up or give them an excuse to lose?  I have no idea.

Ah, now your 4-9 Boston Red Sox.  Jason Varitek, Dustin Pedroia, and Adrian Beltre — fine.  Everyone else — not so good.  In the starting rotation, John Lackey had two good starts before yesterday’s disaster.  Everyone else has not been good enough.  It’s a team-wide slump, not a team-wide bad team with little talent.  Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about times like this in baseball, especially at the beginning of the year, although this is definitely the best time for something like this to happen.  Sure, there’s the worry that they’ll be in a big hole behind the Rays and yankees, but they’re going to end up where they belong after 162.  I don’t think Lester should be sent down to Pawtucket and I don’t think Jermaine Dye will turn this team into the ’04 Sox.  I am worried about David Ortiz, as it really does look like he’s done, and he’s certainly done as a huge force.  But the Sox have depth there, with Lowell and Jeremy Hermida.  JD Drew is not going to hit .132 this season, Youk won’t end up at .238, and Victor won’t end at .224, which is where they all are now.  Mike Cameron has been placed on the DL and may need surgery, but that doesn’t make it a bad signing.  You just gotta have faith that these are good players, they’re not bums, and they will start performing.  There’s literally nothing else to do.

Photo from Boston.com

Wisconsin steamrolled RIT and BC blew out Miami yesterday in the Frozen Four.

The Badgers wrecked RIT right from the start.  They scored their first goal 1:27 into the game before RIT had even advanced the puck past the red line.  The forechecking pressure from the Badgers was simply relentless, and RIT couldn’t contend with the size, speed, and skill of Wisconsin.  The game winning goal was scored 9:38 into the game and Wisconsin led 2-0 at the break.  After more relentless pressure and two five on three advantages, Wisconsin led 6-0.  They gave up a goal with 27 seconds left in the second period.

In the third, Wisconsin had clearly called off the dogs.  The forecheck was virtually nonexistent, completely abandoned in a move that Gary Thorne and Barry Melrose called “classy.”  There was no need to humiliate them any more.  Wisconsin scored two goals in the third period, with the last one coming against a goalie who was playing in his first collegiate game.

BC led 3-0 going into the third period and then gave up a goal five minutes in to make it 3-1.  They then scored three goals in 1:35 to put the game away, but they most certainly did not call off the dogs.  They continued pouring it on, scoring a seventh goal with 3:40 left and continuing their pressure game after that.  Miami even got an interference penalty with 2:30 left while trying to slow them down.  As a non-BC fan, this seemed like the typical arrogant, spoiled brat, front-running attitude that has made BC so beloved in New England.  Other regions get behind their big time college athletic teams, even if the people didn’t go to school there.  Boston isn’t into big time college sports because they don’t have any big time college sports teams.  BC is on an extremely impressive run in hockey, but unfortunately, college hockey doesn’t count as a big time sport anywhere (except North Dakota).  BC’s football and basketball programs simply do not engender admiration, despite what the delusional Gene DeFilippo thinks.  Doug Flutie’s popularity in the 1980s is the exception, but that was because he was from Natick, not out of any general love for BC.  And BC went back to being an afterthought as soon as Flutie left.  I think BC students and fans actually piss people off locally more than make them want to join in.

Anyway, the final has all the makings of a classic.  These are clearly the two best teams in the country, they’re both hot, and they both can score in bunches.  It should be damn entertaining.

Photo from Wisconsin State Journal

What a day.  Nomar signs a one day contract to retire as a Red Sox and 38 year old Corey Haim is found dead of an apparently accidental drug overdose.

“Nomar’s Better” is probably the most fun chant I ever participated in.  It propped up our player and disparaged a yankee with just two words.  But we really believed it, too.  And for several years, it was a legitimate argument.  Today, it seems that everyone just remembers the ugly end of his time in Boston, but he was an absolute icon and really the only good offensive player on Jimy Williams’ teams.  Nomar and Pedro led Jimy’s Sox to the playoffs in 1998 and 1999 and right now I can’t think of another team with two superstars and really no one else that had as much success as those teams did.

He had his OCD superstitions and his disparagement of the media, but the fans loved Nomar, especially kids.  It was legitimately sad when he was traded in 2004.  It certainly worked out for the team, but it seemed that Nomar never recovered.  He continued to have injury problems and his performance was never anything near what it was in his early heyday in Boston.  There have been suspicions about PED use, but they have only been based on the circumstantial evidence of his career path.  It went south really fast. 

Numbers: He played in at least 135 games from 1997 to 2000 and 156 each in 2002 and 2003.  2001 was lost to a wrist injury, I believe. He played in 81 games in 2004 (43 with the Cubs) and 62 in 2005 in Chicago.  Then he went to LA and played in 122, 121, and 55 from 2006 – 2008 and then had just 65 games last year for Oakland.  He hit over .300 just once after leaving Boston, while he never failed to hit .300 in a full season with the Sox.  He made the playoffs three times with the Sox, 1998, 1999, and 2003.  He played in all 25 playoff games in those years, going 31-96 (.323), with 16 runs scored, 6 doubles, 7 home runs, and 21 RBIs.

Anyway, he was the only good thing about the Red Sox for a number of years, and I was glad he got a ring from the 2004 team.  He deserved it.  So long, Nomar.

Still trying to digest the stunning news about Mark McGwire.  The thing is, why would this possibly improve his chances of getting into the Hall of Fame?  Doesn’t make any sense at all.  He had several pretty bad years, and also lost some to injury.  He also had some phenomenal years, but it looks like they were steroid-aided.  His admission that he used them shouldn’t have any impact whatsoever.  He had something like 23% of the vote this past year, and I don’t see how it should improve from there.  I say he’s out.

So now there’s news that Daisuke Matsuzaka hid an injury from the Red Sox last year.  Great news.  He apparently injured his leg training for the World Baseball Classic and that led him to alter his mechanics and injure his shoulder.  Obviously, the Sox were aware of the shoulder issue, but not the leg.  I don’t think the relationship between Daisuke and the Sox brass can really get any more strained over this, but I think the Sox just want to forget about last year as far as Daisuke is concerned.  Wipe the slate clean, and make sure he comes into camp in premium shape.  Unfortunately, it looks like this is yet another lesson that needs to be drilled into the pitcher’s head — don’t hide injuries!  He says he did it because he didn’t want to make excuses.  But he sucked and once he got sent down . . . Calm down, just forget last year.  He’s supposedly in good shape this offseason, working out in Arizona at the Athletes Performance Center or whatever it’s called.  I heard a radio interview with Dustin Pedroia where he said Daisuke looks good and they were planning to go out to dinner.

Aroldis Chapman signs with the Reds, which is somewhat surprising, but good for them.  According to the article I read about it, the yankees weren’t even in on the bidding.  Of course, the article also calls the Reds’ rotation “deep”, so that makes me suspicious about everything else.  Anyway, we’ll see how he does.  I saw another report somewhere, I can’t remember where, that called him the “John Rocker of Cuba.”  Handing $30 million to a guy who supposedly has maturity issues and is now in the US for the first time, without family or a support network, is an incredibly risky thing to do.

Jason Bay went to the Mets, too bad for him.  Looks to me like his agent really screwed this one up.  He bluffed, and Theo called him on it.  Then Seattle didn’t materialize for him, and he’s stuck in a dysfunctional organization and a huge ballpark, in a city he doesn’t seem that crazy about.  The Mets’ offer was on the table for at least a month before he signed it, after all.  Too bad, he seemed like a good guy.

I very much like the Adrian Beltre signing.  I was pretty skeptical until it happened, but the more I learn about the guy, the more I like him.  I really didn’t realize he was that good of a fielder, and he’s got a better bat than I thought.  He played through brutal injuries last year, including a shoulder injury where he couldn’t lift his arm above his head.  But he played.  So no wonder his offensive numbers were awful.  He seems to have a great swing for Fenway, and if he’s healthy, he should be able to hit 20-25 home runs.  And the fans should love him right off the bat just because of his defense.

I also liked the announcement that Jacoby Ellsbury will be playing LF, something I thought should happen when Mike Cameron was signed.  Hopefully it doesn’t bruise his ego too much, but it should really be better for both him and the team.  It minimizes his lack of arm strength and saves his legs.  He’s also been working out in Arizona and supposedly getting stronger, so maybe we’ll see him drive the ball a bit more next year.  He tends to get on streaks where he just slaps at everything and gets nothing but singles.

That’s all I got as we enter the netherworld between the premature end of the Patriots’ season and Spring Training.

John Lackey and Mike Cameron to the Sox.  Sweet.  Lackey as a #3 starter?  That’s pretty freaking good.  It’s great that Theo kept these moves so quiet, too.  Just last week I wrote that I wished Lackey was more on the Sox’ radar, and it turns out he was.  I guess Theo isn’t writing off 2010 after all.  Lackey will fit in great with Beckett, Youk, Pedroia, and Victor Martinez.  I really like this plan of attack — there’s no way we’ll ever be able to outslug the yankees, but we could outpitch them.  And improving the defense is key to that.  Jason Bay never seemed like a particularly bad outfielder to me, but the defensive metrics apparently say otherwise.  And Mike Cameron is unquestionably an excellent defensive outfielder.  He can play any of the outfield positions, too, allowing Tito great flexiblity to sit Ellsbury or Drew against tough lefties.

I would also be fine with Adrian Beltre at third base.  Again, excellent defensively, but don’t expect too much with the bat.  If the offense is as bad as the Boston media says it will be, they can always try to add something during the season.  I’m afraid to mention it, but Big Papi claimed he was going to come into camp next year in the best shape of his life.  Just sayin’.

I guess an Adrian Gonzalez deal could still be in play, maybe even more so since they’ve added a quality starter without giving anything up.  It seems that would create a very left handed heavy batting order, though, without a real right handed power hitter.  Still, that would be a nice problem to have.

Ah, Randy Moss.  Sixth in the NFL in receiving.  Opponents double team him so much that it allows Wes Welker to have an absolutely crazy day.  In fact, Welker is #2 in receiving yards and Moss #6 in the league.  And Moss is #5 in the NFL in receiving touchdowns.  Not bad for a quitter.  Sure, his production Sunday definitely didn’t pass the smell test.  So he had a bad game, but the team won.  It appears the coach is behind him, the QB is behind him, and the rest of the team is behind him.  He’s still a captain.  As the Young Fresh Fellows say, everything’s gonna turn out great.

The Patriots should retire Kevin Faulk’s #33 when he retires.

The Celtics have won 11 in a row and have the best record in the NBA.  When is Big Baby coming back?  I thought it was supposed to be December.  Anyway, the only win over an elite team was opening night against Cleveland, but they’re definitely beating the teams they should beat, and looking good doing it. 

Big 10 to add a twelfth team?  I think it would be a good thing at this point.  It could even help in recruiting, and of course an elite conference shouldn’t be sitting home watching everyone else play.  But divisions will be awkward, especially for football.  Do you go east/west, or north/south?  I would think that Michigan and Ohio State have to be together, but then do you include Penn State with those two?  And who exactly is the twelfth team?  Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Missouri?  Don’t even freaking joke about Rutgers.

Liverpool lost to Arsenal 2-1, this weekend, and the misery continues.  They didn’t even look passionate, which is extremely worrying.  So far this year, they’ve really risen to the occasion against the big teams, but not so in this game.  The Europa League draw is Friday.  Juventus and Marseille joined Liverpool in dropping out of the Champions League.

Flight of the Conchords is over after two seasons.  Great show, but probably a good decision.  How far could these guys really go before things got tired?  It was just too creative to go on for too long.  Hopefully they’ll come up with some one-off type stuff, and maybe some HBO specials.

On another TV note, Friday Night Lights has been incredible this season.  Best show on television, bar none.

The news from Patriots camp is pretty insane, with the two losses in a row, the inability to win in someone else’s stadium, the four players being sent home, Adalius Thomas essentially blasting BB, and now Brady supposedly has a rib injury.  Things really seem to be falling apart, but BB has four games to rally them.  It’s been a confusing year.  They still have so much talent on offense, but stunningly can’t execute, especially in crunch time.  I think Bill O’Brien has to get a lot of blame for the play calling.  It seems that whenever they start running the ball effectively, they immediately go away from it.  Please come back, Charlie Weis.  The defense has probably played about as well as anyone could have expected, with the youth and all the new players.  Adalius Thomas and Derrick Burgess appear to be bums, and the lack of a pass rush is killing them.  Any secondary would look bad put in that situation.  It’s incredible that they’ve already lost as many games this year as last year, especially considering how Matt Cassel has played this year.  Four games to get their act together, get back to basics, and PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.

The Sox are reportedly close to consummating the deal trading Mike Lowell to the Rangers.  Great guy, 2007 World Series MVP, but the team just has to have better defense on third base.  Of course, they now have to replace his bat, too.  I would think they’re either going to trade for Adrian Gonzalez or sign Adrian Beltre.  If they trade for Gonzalez, Roy Halladay is obviously out.  My guess is that Jason Bay will re-sign here, but if not, I don’t think they’ll get Matt Holliday.  LF would probably end up being a platoon between Jeremy Hermida and somebody like Xavier Nady. 

Is everyone excited about Marco Scutaro?  No.  Boof Bonser?  No, but I’ve actually always liked him.  He was a first round pick in 2000, and is now coming off shoulder surgery.  Good risk, but probably not lots of upside.  After the yankees traded for Curtis Granderson, if they get Bay or Matt Holliday or, god forbid, Doc Halladay, just forget 2010 and 2011.  Although Doc is probably out for them now after trading away one of their top prospects in the Granderson deal.  They could sign John Lackey, though, which would be almost as bad.  I’ve always liked him; it’s too bad the Sox don’t seem to be looking at him any closer.  Theo did have a comment about 2010 being a “bridge” to the future, and it’s getting to the point where no one will be able to compete with yankees next year anyway, so why bother.

The only good news this offseason has been the report that Peter Gammons is leaving the four letter network to join MLB Network and NESN.  Welcome home, Commish.

Badger football doesn’t get a New Year’s Day bowl game after the Outback Bowl bizarrely picked Northwestern.  Sure, they beat the Badgers, but we had a better overall record.  Anyway, I much prefer the matchup against Miami.  Better team than Auburn, and Miami is a team I truly hate.  Incidentally, ESPN’s 30 For 30 show is doing “The U” this Saturday night.  I’ve watched all the episodes so far of this thing, and it’s really good.

Badger hoops got themselves ranked after beating Duke, and then lost in OT at UW-Green Bay.  Harsh, but it looks like UWGB is actually a pretty good team, so hopefully that loss won’t look so bad later in the season.  Marquette is up this Saturday at 6:00 Eastern on ESPN2, in Madison.  Gotta win that one.

Badger hockey is on a nice roll, and they look like they could be for real this season.  They’re #11 in the country now, and they play at #3 North Dakota this weekend.  Friday night’s game will be televised on the NHL network, and I think they usually use the Badger announcers for those games.  The trend this year is for the Badgers to massively outshoot their opponents, at least with shots that reach the goalie.  Five of Wisconsin’s six defensemen have been drafted in the first two rounds of the NHL draft.

Liverpool finished up their Champions League schedule with yet another hard luck loss, this time to Fiorentina at Anfield, giving up the game winning goal basically at the death.  They play a huge game against Arsenal Sunday at Anfield.  I think it will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel.  It looks like Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard will both start for the first time since October.

Everton is supposedly in talks to get Landon Donovan on loan from the MLS.  Hopefully it happens, but I’m skeptical.  The league owns all the contracts in the MLS, and they have a history of asking for exorbitant sums for players on loan.  It would be great for Landycakes, though, and I would be really curious to see how he performs in the Premiership.

That’s all I got.

Maybe I should stop trying to pick college games.  All are against the spread, but I went 1-5 2 weeks ago and 2-9 this past weekend.  It seems that some years I’m uncannily tuned in to the college game and some years I’m, well, I’m not tuned in whatsoever.  There were some harsh losses last week, though.  I picked Indiana +17.5 against Iowa and they lost by 18.  Houston -7.5 against Southern Miss and they won by 7.  And Oregon State -8.5 against UCLA and they won by 7.  The pro picks have gone fairly well, though, 9-4 against the spread both weeks.  I’ll keep trying.

Rajon Rondo signed at 5 year, $55 million contract extension.  Great signing by Danny Ainge, I actually thought Rondo could get more money.  He’s still not in the top 5 highest paid point guards in the league.  If Ainge had let him go to restricted free agency, who knows what would’ve happened?  One of the teams that didn’t get Lebron, Dwayne Wade, or Chris Bosh probably would’ve dumped a plate full of cash on Rondo’s lap and the C’s wouldn’t be willing/able to match.

The supposed contenders with the Patriots for the AFC East crown are a joke.  Buffalo gets blown out by Houston, and Miami somehow beat the Jets.  Again.  Yet the Jets continue to talk.  Rex Ryan claimed that his team outplayed the Dolphins, but still lost.  Special teams don’t count?  They sure do on the scoreboard.  Miami, meanwhile, had 52 yards rushing and 52 yards passing for the game and their hero of the game, Ted Ginn, was called an embarrassment and a coward by a former Dolphin earlier in the week.  Patriots are 5-2, Jets 4-4, Dolphins 3-4.  In the AFC, Indy is 7-0, Denver 6-1, and New England, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh are 5-2.

It’s good to see that Florida head coach Urban Meyer came down hard on his player for the cowardly eye gouge on Saturday.  Suspended for the first half of the Vanderbilt game.  That’s sending a message.  And the guy who did it wears a face shield!

Wisconsin blew out Purdue, 37-0 Saturday at Camp Randall.  Purdue played horribly, with tons of dropped passes.  But when that happens, they should be shut out, and they were.  In fact, Purdue’s QB was 5-23 for 59 yards and a pick, so it wasn’t just the dropped passes.  Purdue had 141 total yards for the game; Wisconsin had 150 in the first quarter.  Nuf ced.  Next up: at Indiana Saturday.  They’ll probably still be reeling from their choke job against Iowa.  Wisconsin is now ranked 22 in the coaches poll and 24 in the AP.

One other note: former Badger and current Houston Texan Owen Daniels tore his ACL in the Buffalo game and is out for the year.

Liverpool lost to Fulham 3-1 in the Premiership over the weekend.  That’s 7 losses in the last 8 games in all competitions.  Rumors are that Fernando Torres’ injury is more serious than they’re letting on.  They’ve got a must-win at Lyon in the Champions League Wednesday and then another must-win Monday against Birmingham at Anfield, televised on ESPN2.  I guess they’re all must-wins now.  Chelsea plays Manyoo at Stamford Bridge Sunday.

It was nice to see that the Phillies held on last night to force game 6, but I’m not too optimistic.  I really don’t want them to do it against Pedro, though.

Wisconsin hockey kicked the living crap out of UNH, 4-1 and 6-1.  Not a nice homecoming for Blake Kessel.

October 13, 2009

Well, that sucked.  Badgers lose to Ohio State for their first loss of the season, Red Sox lose game 3 at Fenway to get swept by the Angels, and the Patriots blow a lead and lose at Denver in overtime.  Ouch.  That’s gonna leave a mark.

To start with Badgers, what a bizarre game.  Wisconsin basically dominated the game, outgaining OSU 368-184, owning the time of possession 42:47-17:13, and only turning the ball over one more time than the Buckeyes, 2-1.  But the team that dominated got blown out.  Killed.  Destroyed.  Annihilated.  Both Wisconsin turnovers were returned for touchdowns and the real killer was the kickoff return for touchdown in the third quarter after UW had cut the lead to 21-13.  That was all she wrote, despite the statistical imbalances.  The encouraging thing for Badger fans is that there is no doubt that UW belonged on the field with Ohio State.  Matt Millen kept repeating (and repeating and repeating) that UW was losing the battle at the line of scrimmage, and maybe they were on certain plays.  But taken as a whole, Wisconsin moved the ball extremely effectively all day, and Ohio State simply did not.  Wisconsin had 22 first downs, Ohio State, 8.  Terrelle Pryor: 5-13 for 87 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception.  Of course, the touchdown was huge, coming right before the end of the first half, and really the only time all day that Ohio State moved the ball offensively.  The bottom line is that Ohio State made big plays when they absolutely needed to, and that won them the game.  Ouch.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, simply got outplayed for three games.  The Angels were just as good as the Red Sox last year, but they essentially choked late in games (remember, they were all close).  This time, they didn’t choke, and if anything, the Red Sox did.  At least, their closer chose an awful time to not be clutch.  But really, the Angels weren’t really lacing the ball off Papelbon, they were more Texas Leaguers that showed that it just wasn’t the Sox’ year.  Now, next year is probably the last run for this group of core players.  Ortiz, Lowell, Beckett, and Victor Martinez, are all free agents after next season (although Sox have 2011 club option on Ortiz for $12.5 million).  One would have to believe that Theo and company will try to extend Martinez this winter, but it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Beckett.  Clearly, he is among the best pitchers in the game and he is 29 years old.  Do the Sox risk letting him play out his contract next year, or try to extend him this winter?  My guess is they try to extend him, but it will be costly.  He made $10.5 million in 2009 and is due for $12.1 million in 2010, relatively a bargain for a starting pitcher of his caliber.  Of course, the big question immediately is Jason Bay.  How aggressive will teams like the Giants, and, yes, the Yankees, be in going after one of the only outfielders with thump who is on the market this winter?  The top of the minor leagues is now essentially bereft of talent, so can we really expect the Sox to improve over this season?  Right now, it doesn’t seem likely to this observor.  For this reason, I believe the Sox will be aggressive this winter in trying to trade for a young, impact player, be it Adrian Gonzalez, Felix Hernandez, or Prince Fielder.  If that doesn’t happen, I think it will be a while before the Sox approach 95 wins again.

Ah, the Patriots.  It seems so bizarre to be worried about the offense when Brady and Moss are both healthy.  And this talk that the offensive struggles were due to Welker being out appear to have been overblown.  Yes, Fred Taylor is out now, too, but this is football, for crying out loud.  Somebody is always hurt.  Remember, in 2007, this offense overcame absolutely everything to win and win and win.  So what’s wrong?  I’ve got to come down on the quarterback play, although the offensive line doesn’t look the same, either.  I have every confidence that the quarterback play will improve as the season goes on, and the Patriots will be a dangerous team come playoff time.  Super Bowl?  I don’t know.  I was very confident before the season started, but now this team just doesn’t look like the old dominant Patriots.  And there are some much better teams in the AFC now, as well.  The Colts are playing as well as they ever have, the Broncos are one of those teams that plays good defense and doesn’t make mistakes, Baltimore is good, and you’ve got to believe that Pittsburgh and San Diego will be there at the end.  I guess I’d even have to put the Jests up there.  I think we’ve got parity here, folks.  Of course, it’s only week 5 and things tend change rather gradually between now and the playoffs.  Teams that look unbeatable now will look very beatable in January.  And hopefully for the Patriots, the opposite will be true as well.