Boston Globe - Sunday Sports Section

- Gordon Edes writes that

One major league area scout said that Maine prep star Mark Rogers hit 98 miles an hour with one pitch last week and was consistently in the 94-m.p.h. range. "It was the best I've ever seen him," the scout said. "He's a little crude, but he's a very good athlete with three good pitches: fastball, curve, changeup." Baseball America, in its initial projection of the June 7 draft, has Rogers being taken by Anaheim with the 12th pick, which would make him the first Maine native (Orr's Island) ever selected on the first round.

Edes overlooks Bill Swift of Portland who was the 2nd overall pick in the 1984 draft (taken by the Mariners)

- Nice article on Terry Francona by Bob Hohler. With all the injuries and the Red Sox with one of the best records in baseball - you have to think Francona is a serious candidate for AL Manager of the Year

- Dan Shaughnessy writes a column comparing Manny Ramirez to Joe DiMaggio. At the beginning of the column he writes:

"That's Ramirez's 361st career home run, tying him with Joe DiMaggio for 59th place on the all-time list."

There it was. It hit me like a bolt of lightning. All this time I'd been wondering whom it was that Manny reminded me of and in a nanosecond it became crystal clear.

I have long believed that Shaughnessy writes nothing but nasty critiques and "woe is us" complaints because he really doesn't know the sports he is supposed to be covering. Here Shaughnessy all but admits that he has no idea where Manny Ramirez stands on the all-time lists. Some of the baseball folks in the Red Sox organization could explain to Shaughnessy that like it or not - Manny truly is in Joe DiMaggio's class as a hitter (and better in many regards). Shaughnessy uses this supposed epiphany to write a truly unfunny column which is nothing but a chance to slam another Dominican player (Shaughnessy's favorite passtime). Manny has been not just the team MVP this season but also has gone out of his way to be accessible to sportswriters and fans alike. For his trouble - Manny gets columns like this from a know-nothing jackass like Shaughnessy? And people outside Boston wonder why Red Sox players don't like talking to the media? I forget where I read the term "oxygen thief" but Shaughnessy epitomizes the term.-

- Nice article by Gordon Edes on the final out in yesterday's game coming down to a confrontation between friends and former teammates - Eddie Guardado and David Ortiz.

- NFL notes from Michael Smith (who I think is better than Michael Holley)