NJ's Rick Porcello Traded To the Red Sox

So it ultimately comes down to this -

The Red Sox traded Jon Lester for Rick Porcello.

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

I have my own theories about just how badly the Red Sox screwed up the Jon Lester negotiations - did ownership REALLY think that the reported 4-year/$70 million offer to Lester last spring was anything remotely close to what their star left-hander would accept? - but we'll leave that for another time. The bottom line is that Boston sent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who was never really in their plans for 2015 to begin with, and two minor leaguers to the Detroit Tigers for right-handed starting pitcher Rick Porcello.

Porcello, still only 25 years old (he turns 26 at the end of December), was a first-round draft pick of the Tigers in 2007 out of Seton Hall Prep in New Jersey. I actually saw Porcello pitch in high school where it was obvious that he had a boatload of talent. He won a career-high 15 games for Detroit in 2014, and has never won fewer than 10 games in each of his six major league seasons.

Cespedes, you'll recall, was acquired by the Red Sox back in July in the trade that sent Lester to the Oakland Athletics.

On the surface, the end result of Jon Lester being in Chicago while Rick Porcello is in Boston isn't even close to being an even swap. You're talking about one of the premiere left-handed pitchers in baseball (especially in the post-season) and comparing him with a kid who, while he's had some success at the major league level, is still very young. But as noted above, Porcello has notched at least 10 wins since coming into the league, and he's good for at least 200 innings a season. I also happen to like pitchers who come from the northeast where the weather can be a determining factor in developing tougher players.

Porcello figures to be either the #2 or #3 pitcher in the Boston rotation.

A Red Sox fan bids farewell to Derek Jeter

If you've listened to me on the radio for any amount of time, you know I'm not a fan of the New York Yankees. Red Sox executive Larry Luchino dubbed them the "Evil Empire" some years back; I've been known to say things far less complimentary.

Photo courtesy Reuters

Derek Jeter's Hall-of-Fame career will come to an end Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park in what will otherwise be a completely meaningless baseball game for both the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Both teams are out of the playoffs, and the lineups for the two previous games of this series have looked like something you'd see in the late innings of a mid-March spring training game when the starters have long since left the field and showered.

Red Sox principal owner John Henry put Friday night's lineup into perspective with an all-too-appropriate seven-word tweet.

Have you ever seen anything like this? pic.twitter.com/Qgogv0IhIM
— John W. Henry (@John_W_Henry) September 26, 2014

So with all that said, allow me to get the snark out of the way first.

I agree with much of what Keith Olbermann said this past week about Derek Jeter. In case you somehow managed to miss what Olbermann said, go here and here.

Derek Jeter isn't going to go down in baseball history as the "Greatest Yankee of All Time." There are at least five ahead of him you may have actually heard of - Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra. I'd even go so far as to offer up Don Mattingly as a better-than-Jeter candidate. You may have some others as well to throw into the mix.

Derek Jeter isn't the "Greatest Yankee Shortstop of All Time." That Rizzuto character was pretty good, you know.

And for awhile, you could make the argument that Derek Jeter wasn't even the best shortstop on his own team once that Alex Rodriguez fellow - remember him? - joined the Yankees.



Photo courtesy New York Times

Team leader? It was blatantly obvious that Jeter didn't make Rodriguez's transition to New York any easier. Truth be told, given my own feelings about Rodriguez I probably would have done the same thing, but as I said right from the start, this is the snarky part.

Team player? One could argue that the Captain could have and should have gone to manager Joe Girardi any number of times this year and asked to be moved out of the two-hole in the lineup as it became painfully evident that he wasn't producing well enough to be in the first third of the order.

Photo courtesy Associated Press

And don't even get me started on the whole "Derek Jeter Farewell Tour sponsored by Steiner Sports." My first thought on Thursday night when Jeter's teammates dumped a bucket of Gatorade (with the "2" in place of the usual logo) on him was, "Wonder how much Steiner will be charging for THAT jersey?"

Don't get me wrong - I'm a big fan of capitalism, and I've never once begrudged an athlete his mega-contract. But these last two weeks of the season have been more like a QVC Network production than a final well-deserved victory lap for a player of Jeter's stature. Anyone want to buy a rake?

The "flip" play against Oakland in the playoffs? I don't care how many times Joe Torre makes the claim, but I refuse to believe that the Yankees actually practiced that play. One could make the argument that the Captain was actually out of position. And if Jeremy Giambi had slid.... But I digress.

Photo courtesy Associated Press

That playoff home run against the Orioles in 1996? It would clearly have been overturned under the current replay rules.



Photo courtesy New York Times

The patented jump throw? I'm old enough to remember a guy named Bobby Wine making similar plays for the Phillies back in the mid-60's. But again, I digress.

Mr. November? As a Red Sox fan, I'll always have Jetes' performance in Games 4 through 7 of the 2004 American League Championship Series to look back on.

** SNARK OVER **

Derek Jeter will play the last game of his Hall-of-Fame career Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park. It will cap off what has been a three-day love fest from Red Sox fans. And while details haven't been announced, you just know that Red Sox Executive Vice President Dr. Charles Steinberg and his staff will be pulling out all the stops to honor Jeter. And deservedly so.

Photo courtesy MLB.com

Plain and simple, Derek Jeter is everything I want a baseball player to be. And yes, he played hard...and he stayed cool.

He respected his teammates, his opponents, and more importantly, the Game of Baseball. In the PED era of players routinely putting up video game numbers, Jeter's name was never on the list of the usual suspects, even as some of his own teammates treated the clubhouse like a chemistry lab.

He battled his way through each and every at bat of his career. He may never have put up enough league-leading numbers to satisfy the likes of the Keith Olbermanns of the world, but he certainly had his share of big base hits, and I lost count of how many of those came at the expense of the Red Sox over the years. Derek Jeter could beat you with his bat, his glove, and his legs. And as someone who probably watched or listened to 90% of Jeter's career, I can say with confidence that he never stopped trying to beat the opponent no matter what the score was.

For years, I led the "if he played anywhere other than New York he'd be considered just another very good player" crowd when it came to assessing Captain Intangibles. But as the final weeks of Jeter's career have unfolded, I've started to appreciate Jeter in a whole new way. I've also discovered a sense of melancholy that I wasn't expecting.

Some of that came from knowing that Jeter is going through that phase of his life as described by Jackie Robinson when he said, "Athletes die twice." Derek Jeter's athletic mortality is playing out in front of our eyes. In many ways, I think it's reminding me of my own mortality.

Photo courtesy New York Times

The image of Jeter heading out to shortstop once last time following Thursday night's game and crouching down with his hands covering his face, clearly filled with emotion, is one that will stay for me forever. Jeter said more in that moment about his love for the game he played so eloquently for nearly 20 years than he could have said in a month of post-game press conferences.

My 13-year old son wants to play baseball for a living. It's all he talks about. Like any of the tens of thousands of kids who call themselves Red Sox fans, he wants to call Fenway Park "home" some day, and he absolutely despises the Yankees.

Photo courtesy New York Times

But when Jeter dropped that single into right field in the final home game of his career to drive in the winning run against the Orioles, my son found himself filled with emotions he wasn't expecting for the only Yankees shortstop he's ever seen in his brief lifetime. "This is really the end of an era," he said in one of those moments that may be the first time he's felt a part of his own childhood dying.

So yes, Keith Olbermann and Derek Jeter's naysayers may indeed have a lot of valid points. And I warn you now that we're going to deal with the whole over-the-top Jeter Love Fest again in five years when Cooperstown surely comes calling.

But this Red Sox fan is also hopefully objective enough to acknowledge one of the all-time greats.

#RE2PECT, indeed.

A Tale of Two Pitchers - Who's Bad?

We buy tickets to see them, or we pay for a cable link/satellite dish to watch them play, we buy the shirt with their names on the back, we may even try to emulate them in some way. They play for OUR team and wear OUR uniform, so they must be nice guys, right?

This past Sunday Andy Pettitte made his return to the Yankees against the Seattle Mariners. He was met with a resounding ovation both before the game and as he was leaving the field, even though he had given up a pair of home runs and was on the losing end of what was happening. Meanwhile a couple hundred miles to the north, Red Sox Nation was blasting one of their starting pitchers, Josh Beckett, for what is being perceived as a lack of proper commitment to THEIR team.

Pettitte is regarded as one of the good guys by Yankee fans. Along with Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada he was part of the "core four" who had anchored the Yankees through their amazing championship run in the 90's. Despite an admission of using HGH, Pettitte has rarely been subjected to any venom from the Yankee Faithful. Did using PED's make Pettitte a bad guy? I mean, it's cheating, right? I don't necessarily agree with his choice, but put me in the category of those who think that Pettitte was just doing whatever he could to keep making a living. Judging from the reaction Andy received throughout his career following his revelation, it was clear that the fans had long forgiven him (if they ever even cared).

Beckett, on the other hand, is the Poster Boy for the collapse of the 2011 Red Sox. For five months, that team was the best in baseball, prior to a September collapse that was almost beyond comprehension. Soon after Boston was eliminated from the playoffs word leaked out that Beckett and a few other pitchers had been drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse during games. Despite the fact that players have been eating/drinking in lockerrooms for years (especially pitchers after they have been removed from a game), angry Red Sox fans chose Beckett as the ring leader, questioned his work ethic and worried about the effect he was having on younger pitchers like Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. More recently, he was skipped for a start with what was said to be a sore lat muscle. That would have fine, except it was later revealed that he had played 18 holes of golf on a non-game day shortly after it was announced that he would miss a game. When he subsequently got rocked in his next start, the boos that rained down upon him at Fenway Park were deafening.

In the post-game media interview, Beckett told fans what they most certainly didn't want to hear - what he does on a day off is no one's business but his. "I spend my off days the way I want to spend them." You can imagine the reaction. Twitter, Facebook, and the call-in shows were full of the expected knee-jerk reaction of "He gets an entire off-season...what does he need a day off for during the season?" Never mind what players do in the off-season - the running, the lifting, the throwing, etc. in an effort to get ready for 162 games packed into 180 days (with the possibility of post-season games). Oh, and I forgot to factor in the millions of dollars these guys get paid. Rachet the anger level of the fans up even higher when you start talking about the money athletes make.

Did Beckett's admonition that his private life is his and his alone make him a bad guy? I suppose it depends upon whether you think a professional athlete owes you anything. Speaking personally, I stopped the whole hero worship/role model thing with athletes years ago (okay, I will admit to having a small man-crush on Jacoby Ellsbury). They're human beings who perform HIGHLY skilled jobs. Say what you will about Andy Pettitte or Josh Beckett or any other MLB player but they hold two out of 750 possible jobs at the Major League level. What's that? You say you'd play for free? That's probably exactly what you'd be worth compared to an athlete who has reached the highest level of his profession.

Now excuse me...I have to check on Jacoby Ellsbury's rehab from his April shoulder injury.

The 2012 High Holy Days

February 1st and 60 degrees makes it official! Spring is on its way! I can't remember the last time we had a winter that was so incredibly mild. Save for a freak October blizzard, Mother Nature has been rather kind to us lately.

Here is official run down for the 2012 High Holy Days.

February 11 - Truck Day
February 19 - Pitchers and catchers report
February 24 - Position players report
February 25 - Full squad workouts begin
March 1 - First day of spring (unofficial)
March 3 - First Red Sox Spring Training game
March 10 - Morris County St. Patrick's Day Parade
March 16 - Matthew's birthday
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
March 20 - First day of spring (official)
March 28 - 2012 Major League Baseball Opening Day
April 13 - Red Sox Home Opener

The High Holy Days 2010

I've been remiss in keeping up with this page over the past couple of months, but with the New Year just a few days old and what seems like the whole country in the midst of a brutal cold snap it's time for our annual announcement.

It's official! Spring is on its way! Here is official run down for the 2010 High Holy Days.

February 12 - Truck Day
February 18 - Pitchers and catchers report
February 22 - Position players report
February 24 - Full squad workouts begin
March 1 - First day of spring (unofficial)
March 3 - First Red Sox Spring Training game
March 13 - Morris County St. Patrick's Day Parade
March 16 - Matthew's birthday
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
March 20 - First day of spring (official)
April 4 - 2010 Major League Baseball Opening Day
April 4 - Red Sox Home Opener

Fun With Numbers

This was originally posted by Brian MacPherson from the New Hampshire Union Leader on his terrific blog One If By Land. I know you can make numbers dance just about any which way you choose (and no one can make numbers do the boogaloo like a radio station GM with the latest Arbitron numbers in his hands), but this still makes for an interesting discussion/comparison. After all, some people were ready to write David Ortiz off at the All Star Break, while the other player has people talking MVP.

"A little player comparison for your afternoon. Below are the numbers of two prominent players since June 1 -- one of whom should be relatively easy for Red Sox fans to identify:

Player A
* .265 batting average, .357 on-base, .558 slugging
* 27 home runs, 77 RBI
* 50 walks, 79 strikeouts

Player B
* .300 batting average, .386 on-base, .551 slugging
* 22 home runs, 76 RBI
* 52 walks, 76 strikeouts

Player B has a significantly higher batting average and on-base percentage. Player A has a slight edge in power numbers -- more home runs, more RBI and a higher slugging percentage. The walk numbers and strikeout numbers for the two players are almost identical.

Player A, of course, is the resurgent David Ortiz.

Player B?

Any guesses?

(Cue Jeopardy music.)

It's Mark Teixeira."

The High Holy Days 2009

It's official! Spring is on its way! Here is official run down for the 2009 High Holy Days.

February 6 - Truck Day
February 12 - Pitchers and catchers report
February 16 - Position players report
February 18 - Full squad workouts begin
February 25 - First Red Sox Spring Training game
March 1 - First day of spring (unofficial)
March 14 - Morris County St. Patrick's Day Parade
March 16 - Matthew's birthday
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
March 20 - First day of spring (official)
April 5 - 2009 Major League Baseball Opening Day
April 6 - Red Sox Home Opener

Faith Rewarded. Again.

Game Five of the 2008 American League Championship Series. With the Red Sox having lost 3 in a row and trailing 3 games to 1 to a white-hot Rays team, there could be no margin for error.

I watched the first inning at my 2nd job; the game hardly started the way I figured with Dice-K giving up a 2-run HR before an out had even been recorded. On the way home I put on WTIC out of Connecticut, opting to listen to the game through the static with the regular Red Sox announcing crew of Joe Castiglione and Dale Arnold instead of putting up with the painful experience of listening to the ESPN radio feed with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. More TB home runs; more Red Sox runners left on base. F-bombs were flying through the car at lightning speed.

As I pulled into my neighborhood at 9:30 PM, my oldest daughter called me from her college dorm on my cell phone. "Dad, this is disgusting. What's happening here?" We talked of the fun we'd had on a couple of Fenway road trips we'd taken from NJ this year, lamented some key injuries to important players, and just figured we'd start counting the days until pitchers and catchers. When I walked in the door, my wife had turned the game off in the living room. The look of disgust on her face echoed my own sentiments. Our 7-year old son came downstairs when he heard me come in and asked me what the score was. "Well, maybe we'll get them in the next game," he offered, until I reminded him that this would likely be Tampa Bay's 4th win. I sent him back off to bed with a Manny-like "there's always next year" and headed down to the family room to check in on the game thread on the SoSH website and see what had developed. That was right about the time that Red Sox relief pitcher Manny Delcarmen left and closer Jonathan Papelbon came in. Like some others, I turned the game off when it got to 7-0. I figured that I wake up for job #1 at 4 AM; it's probably best to not torture myself any longer, so I went upstairs, kissed my wife goodnight, and headed to bed.

"Jim...I don't want to wake you...but I don't think you should miss this."

My wife was gently shaking my shoulder and had this edge of excitement to her voice. Big Papi had already hit his 3-run shot and Papelbon had shut the door in the 8th. J.D. Drew was up. I struggled to focus on the TV in the bedroom just as Drew's shot left his bat. I bolted upright and threw my arms in the air. Somehow I managed to blurt out, "DON'T LET US WIN ONE!" - echoes of Kevin Millar from the 2004 ALCS. Our 9-year old daughter heard the commotion and poked her head out her door. "Get in here!" I exclaimed. My wife mentioned something about it being late and a school night and I just gave her that look that said, "You're kidding, right?"

When Mark Kotsay doubled off the glove of Tampa center fielder B.J. Upton with two out in the bottom of the 8th inning, the phone rang. It was our oldest daughter calling from school. She and her roommate were making so much noise as Fenway was becoming unglued (to steal a phrase from Francona) that one of her dorm RA's came in to see what the problem was. That RA and another ended up watching the game with the two of them. So with my 9-year old talking on the phone with her big sister while wrapped in my arms in bed, and my wife clutching my shoulder, the four of us hung on for dear life during Coco's AB.

By the time the game ended with J.D.'s line drive, we were all screaming - my daughter in her dorm and the three of us in my bedroom...while our 7-year old somehow slept through the entire thing.

We flipped back and forth between ESPN and the TBS postgame show, not entirely believing what we had seen. I'm still not entirely sure that what I saw really happened.

Faith Rewarded.

Again.

Trading Places

Have you ever wished you could be someone else for just a little while? Welcome to my world.

During the 2007 baseball season, the Red Sox called up a kid from the minor leagues who in no time managed to capture the collective interest of Red Sox Nation (and especially that segment of the fandom somewhat derisively referred to as the Pink Hats) with his positively electric playing style.

Jacoby Ellsbury started the 2007 season in Double-A ball in Portland, moving to Triple-A Pawtucket before making his Major League debut over 3 stints with Boston. His Major League resume - even now only a few months old - is already pretty impressive. He hit safely in 27 of his first 32 major league games with an at-bat, including a 13-game hitting streak from September 1-15, during which he hit .426 (20-47) with 3 doubles, a triple, 3 home runs, 13 RBI, 11 runs, 4 stolen bases and 2 walks. The night in Fenway he scored from second base on a passed ball has already reached a kind of legendary status among Red Sox fans.

In the post-season, if he was even the slightest bit fazed by playing on baseball's biggest stage, he certainly didn't show it. In 11 post-season games, including the start in each of Boston's final 6 contests, Ellsbury batted .360 (9-25) with 4 doubles, 4 RBI, 8 runs, 3 walks and 2 stolen bases. His 4 doubles all came in the World Series. Say it with me - this kid is an absolute STUD.

Probably one of the fastest players to ever wear a Red Sox uniform, Jacoby Ellsbury is literally everything I ever wanted to be in my baseball career. He's currently rotating as the Red Sox' fourth outfielder pending either an injury to a teammate, or a trade of Coco Crisp.

If the opportunity to trade places with someone for just 24 hours ever were to happen, I wonder how Jacoby Ellsbury would handle waking up at 4 AM?

The High Holy Days 2008

I'm told it's a holiday of sorts in New England; to the best of my knowledge, no other team's fan base gets as excited about an 18-wheeler filled with baseball equipment as Red Sox fans do.

All I know is that this Saturday is "Truck Day" which means two things. One - the Red Sox equipment truck leaves Fenway Park on Saturday and Two - the High Holy Days are once again upon us!

February 10 - Truck Day
February 14 - Pitchers and catchers report
February 20 - Position players report
February 22 - Full squad workouts begin
February 28 - First Red Sox Spring Training game
March 1 - First day of spring (unofficial)
March 15 - Morris County St. Patrick's Day Parade
March 16 - Matthew's birthday
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
March 20 - First day of spring (official)
March 25 - Opening Day: Red Sox vs. A's at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan
March 30 - 2008 Major League Baseball Opening Day
April 8 - Red Sox Home Opener

Where'd I Put My Resume?

"Dad, can we move to Boston?" "Well I suppose we could, Matt?" "Yeah...and I'll just bring my friends with me!" Oh to be six again and think it's all that simple.

But the fact of the matter is, there's an opening in the Red Sox front office - Vice President of Public Affairs - that is quite similar to the job I held with the Newark Bears a few years ago.

Where'd I leave that resume...and when was the last time I updated the darn thing?

Memo To Theo - Short & Sweet

SIGN MIKE LOWELL!!!!!

Red Sox - World "Serious" Indeed!

Red Sox - World "Serious"

World "Serious." It's one of the last little-kid-isms my 6-year old son has left in his vocabulary, but it's so absolutely perfect in describing how fans feel when their team makes it to the championship game. In fact, my wife, oldest daughter and I have all told Matthew's 8-year old sister Riane that she is to stop correcting him on it. We're not too sure that she understands why, but so far she's willing to go along with the rest of us on this.

Down 3 games to 1 against a Cleveland Indians team that had dismantled the Yankees, I have to admit that the mood in the Monaghan household wasn't all that positive, although once Josh Beckett started to announce his presence with authority (to steal a line from Bull Durham), I started thinking that winning this thing might be possible after all.

This has been a terrific season so far. Among the highlights - just about any time Jacoby Ellsbury has been on base, holding off the Yankees, winning the division, steamrolling through the first round, and of course pulling out the pennant after being down 3-1 against a very good Cleveland team.

But the best part of the baseball year for me actually happened rather quietly during a mid-summer's day game in Fenway Park. My 17-year old daughter and I took in a game while looking at New England colleges. On a beautiful sun-drenched afternoon watching the Red Sox win, I turned to her and said, "This is one of my favorite places in the whole world. I love sharing this with you." She turned to me and said, "It's one of my favorite places, too. Thanks for taking me here."

Last night she and my wife surrounded me on the couch as Dustin Pedroia slammed a double off the Green Monster, Kevin Youkilis drove a ball high and deep into the Boston night off one of the Coke bottles in left, and Coco Crisp made another ESPN Web Gem catch to end the game. And as Jonathan Papelbon beckoned for Jason Varitek to "come to papa" in celebration of the 27th out, they were both telling me how much they wished they were at Fenway. But at that moment, sharing the experience of having my favorite baseball team in the World Series with two of the most important people in the world to me, there was no other place on earth I wanted to be.

J.D. Drew - Better Late Than Never

He has a reputation for being soft. One Red Sox front office executive told a gathering of team fans earlier in the season that there was some concern that while he has all the tools to play baseball, J.D. Drew doesn't always appear to play with any passion.

Last night's first inning grand slam changes everything. EVERYTHING.

Oh, and guess who was supposed to be in Fenway Park last night for the festivities? I HATE when work gets in the way of having fun!

Putting Yankees/Red Sox Into Perspective

Columnist Jackie MacMullen had a great quote in this morning's Boston Globe -

"All of us. Let's be clear on this. When Boston loses to New York one time, it feels the same as getting swept in a four-game series by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It means at least three taunting text-messages from your obnoxious college friend in Brooklyn, at least one smug phone call from your dad, who grew up in Queens, and, to be sure, at least six dozen e-mails from Red Sox fans who are convinced this time the sky - including the Prudential, the John Hancock, and the Citgo sign - truly is falling."

That about sums it up I think.

Clay Buchholz

I was supposed to be in Fenway Park last night, but I had trouble reaching my ticket connection. Didn't miss anything...that is if you don't think throwing a no-hitter in your second Major League start is anything.

There's been a lot of talk (hype?) about young pitchers this season - the Yankees have three whom the fans are salivating over. Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy are considered to be the future of the franchise. The Red Sox already have Jonathon Papelbon set as a dominant closer, Manny Delcarmen has pitched extraordinarily well out of the bullpen, and now rookie Clay Buchholz has thrown a no-hitter in just his second Major League start. Chamberlain's slider is absolutely filthy. Hughes started off great before an injury set him back a bit. And yesterday, Ian Kennedy looked very strong against a Tampa Bay lineup that had spanked Hughes around the night before. If they have any kind of poise, pitchers generally have an advantage the first time they face a team. The Orioles had never seen Buchholz's curve ball before, so they had no idea what the break of it looked like. He even fooled the plate umpire a couple of times.

Look what's happened to Hughes. Great start. A near no-hitter himself in his 2nd outing before getting hurt. Now, he's having some trouble getting people out. Why? Well for one, he's had enough outings that there's all kinds of video on him now. Plus, hitters like to talk to one another, so word's getting out. As great as Chamberlain has looked, remember that most teams are only getting one look at him in a series (think there's a message in "The Chamberlain Rules" that have been dictated to Joe Torre by the front office? They're probably scared to death that Torre will do to Chamberlain what he's done to other relievers - burn him out). It will be interesting to see what happens next season if the Yankees put Chamberlain in the starting rotation. Major League hitters make adjustments all the time; sometimes those adjustments happen game-to-game and sometimes they happen within the same game. Put Chamberlain on the mound for 7 innings every 5 days for a couple of months and see what the results are. I'm not saying that he won't do well. What I am saying is that 1) he won't be able to hit 100 consistently over the course of a game and 2) the hitters are going to make adjustments.

Look at Mariano Rivera - why are some teams able to handle him now? One is age is catching up to him and another is that the hitters know what his pitches do because they've seen him so often. Not that he isn't still very good most times and sometimes still dominant, but he's not the same as he was in the days when John Sterling dubbed him the Greatest Relief Pitcher Of All Time.

So while last night there was all kinds of talk on ESPN and Red Sox-related Internet forums about putting Buchholz in the starting rotation for the remainder of the season, keep in mind that he had a distinct advantage last night. Talk to me after he's gone through a half-dozen or so starts and the adjustments start.

So Where Were We?

With temperatures in the 50's and rain on August 21st it's more like October outside than the so-called dog days of summer, but the American League appears to have allowed the Yankees to creep right back into the pennant race - not just for the Wild Card but the Eastern Division pennant, too!

Two months ago the Yankees were in second place in the East with a 35-35 record, sitting 10 games behind the Red Sox. They were also 6 games out in the Wild Card race. Since then, they've gone 35-20 (.636 winning %) and cut the Eastern Division lead in half and shaved three games off the Wild Card lead (remember, it's the loss column that counts).

How'd they do it? Some of it is the law of averages. With ARod, Jeter and Posada all having career years, and a payroll over $200 million the Yankees simply weren't as bad as they may have looked at times before the All Star Break. The Red Sox - as good as they are - also weren't going to play .700 ball for an entire season. Injuries, slumps, the Gagne Mess - all of that contributed to an evening-up of things in the Eastern Division.

Some random thoughts -

• Phil Hughes is very good, but let's not make room for him in Monument Park just yet.
• Joba Chamberlain has a filthy slider, but I still think that at least part of his success here in the very early days of his Major League career is due to the fact that he's only pitching one inning at a time, and so far not on back-to-back days. Major League hitters make adjustments on pitchers all the time. Why do you think the Red Sox have been able to handle Mariano the past few years? Because these two teams play each other 19 times every season. Let's see what happens with Joba after he's been through the league a few times.
• Tim Wakefield should get 7 more starts this season and has a chance to win 20 games for the first time in his career.
• Yankees GM Brian Cashman did an amazing job of rebuilding the bullpen.
• The Mets have a combined 13 games remaining against the Phillies and Braves. And Pedro is having some difficulty getting hitters out in A ball.
• To read some of the comments from readers of The Boston Globe, you'd never know that the Red Sox still have the best record in baseball. Terry Francona must be doing something right.

Welcome Back, Jon Lester

On the surface, this would seem to be about a baseball player coming back off the disabled list and playing in the Major Leagues again. But it's so much more than that.

Eleven months ago to the very date (Aug 23, 2006) Boston Red rookie pitcher Jon Lester walked off the mound in California in a game against the Angels. Lester had been wracked up pretty badly in a game versus the Yankees five days earlier in Fenway Park. It was revealed shortly after the Yankee game that Lester had been involved in a minor traffic accident on the way to the ballpark. He was still OK enough to pitch against the Angels and even won that game. However when he realized that the post-accident pain in his lower back wasn't going away he went for some tests and found out some devastating news - he had cancer.

When you're 22 years old as Jon Lester was at the time, you tend to have a feeling of invincibility. It's the nature of being in your early 20's. And though the doctors told him it was a treatable form of anaplastic large cell lymphoma when you hear someone tell you that you have cancer, your entire world changes.

It's an insidious disease that sooner or later touches everyone of us. You may be battling cancer yourself at this moment. I lost a very close friend in early May to lung cancer. Three members of my immediate family have all successfully beaten cancer.

Tonight in Cleveland, 11 months to the date of his last Major League appearance, Jon Lester will take the mound for the Red Sox once again. For anyone who is fighting cancer, take a moment today to rejoice because Jon Lester is living proof that cancer can be beaten. This really isn't about baseball. It's about life.

Another Month Gone By And....

So where were we? On May 21st the Red Sox were 30-14 with a 9-game lead in the loss column over the Yankees who were still floundering at 20-23. Since then? Boston has gone 16-11; New York has gone 15-11. And that means that virtually nothing has changed.

I suppose I should be nervous about Curt Schilling missing two starts with God-only-knows-what bothering his shoulder, but then I keep seeing Julian Tavarez go out and do what he did last night - 7 shutout innings against Atlanta. No one will ever confuse Tavarez with the Second Coming Of Cy Young, but consider this - while Tavarez is now 5-4 with a 4.50 ERA, he's unbeaten in his last seven starts and has allowed three runs or fewer in nine of his 13 starts.

A month ago there was talk of Joe Torre losing his job. Thankfully, that nonsense appears to have stopped. But some of the other nonsense hasn't. Jason Giambi has been called to the principal's office to talk about steroids, Johnny Damon - less than two years into his deal with the Yankees - is an increasing defensive liability, and Miguel Cairo who is terrific off the bench simply isn't an everyday player anymore.

71 games in the book. 10 to get to the half-way mark. Stay tuned.