Friday, June 23, 2006

CAN WE JOIN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE?

Sorry for the lack of updates. Combintion of work and play kept me from having time to post anything significant.

The Sox re in first place thanks to interleague play. This is a strange development because the Red Sox are typically brought down from the top of the standings because of interleague play. The Sox are 8-1 against the NL. Granted, our interleague schedule has been easy. None of our opponents thus far have had .500+ records. The Mets (.625 winning %) will change that when they come to Fenway next week.

BOSTON ROID SOX?
Paxton Crawford, a sidenote in Red Sox history, has recently come out and admitted to using steroids among other banned substances while he was on the Sox. He also claimed that he was encouraged to do it, and was able to proceed with his cheating in plain sight of the entire clubhouse. Tim Wakefield's reaction:

“To me he sounds like a guy who’s bitter at the organization. He should be thankful they gave him an opportunity to play. No one forced him to take anything. I remember him not being too bright. That’s what I remember about him.”

I'm gonna take Wake's word for it on this one. Crawford sucked, and is a well known sketchball. He has negligible credibility.

I don't doubt Crawford did take roids. However, I must say that the Sox are, apparently, one of the cleanest organizations in baseball when it comes to substances. We have the fewest minor league suspensions for performance enhancers with 1. The only players known or convincingly accused of roids or HGH have been lackluster benchwarmers like Crawford, Jeremy Giambi, Manny Alexander, and Jose Conseco.

CLEMENS OUTPITCHED BY FRANCISCO LIRIANO
The Astros will be paying Clemens about $830,000 per start. His 100 pitches ($8,300 per pitch) weren't enough for the Astros as Liriano went 8 and allowed 2. Clemens went 5 and allowed 2. I really hopes he falters and embarrasses himself. He's a deceptive, manipulative former Yankee.

SOX GET A JOHNSON OF THEIR OWN
The Red Sox traded a player to be named and cash considerations for pitcher Jason Johnson and cash considerations. The 33 year old former Oriole, Devil Ray, Tiger, Pirate, and Indian isn't going to be the final piece to the World Series puzzle by any stretch of the imagination. However, he has a functioning pitching arm which means he is valuable to us. He'll probably have an opportunity to make a few starts. If it doesn't work, he'll be released. If he pulls an Aron Small and wins 10 games, it'll be quite nice.