Red Sox Magic Number - 47

With the Red Sox victory over the Orioles and the Yankees losing to the White Sox - the magic number for the Red Sox is now 47.

If you put the number 4 next to the number 7 - you have the Red Sox current magic number. If you put a dash between the numbers 4 and 7 - you have what Roger Clemens' win-loss record will probably be at the end of the season. If you put a "point" between the numbers 4 and 7 - you have what Roger Clemens' ERA will probably be at the end of the season. If you put the number 4 next to the number 7 - you have the total number of people in the United States that think Roger Clemens is still worth the money the Yankees are shelling out for him.

I saw an interesting juxtaposition yesterday. Many consider Roger Clemens one of the greatest pitchers in history and yet on TV yesterday afternoon I saw and heard him getting booed off the field in what is supposed to be his home stadium. Clemens left with his team trailing 8-0 and like I said - he was booed heartily. Last night I went to a minor league baseball game that pitted the Worcester Tornadoes against the Nashua Pride. The Tornadoes starting pitcher, Reid Willett, did not have a good night at all. In fact by the time he was pulled in the second inning his team was trailing 8-0. Willett left the field to the sound of polite applause. The applause was to thank him for his effort and to encourage him not to get his head down. In my mind I could help but compare the fan reaction to Clemens and Willett. It seems fans can distinguish between players who play for the love of the game and those who play for the love of money.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

This year will be remembered in baseball as the year Barry Bonds broke the all-time home run record. Only one thing could eclipse this and obscure it from memory and that is a Red Sox / Cubs World Series. That's why I believe it is due to happen. It seems written in the stars... The YES Network is up for sale. How funny would it be if the current Red Sox owners bought it?.... Everyone remembers that Cal Ripken holds the all-time consecutive game streak and that the record belonged to Lou Gehrig before Ripken came along. Many people also know that Miguel Tejada was the current leader in games played (and 5th all-time) until he hurt his wrist. What many people forget is th Steve Garvey holds the NL record for consecutive games played with 1,207 and especially that Everett Scott held the record before Gehrig came almong. Scott is currently third all-time with 1,307 consecutive games played but when he finished his streak in May of 1925 he was the all-time leader. Within a month of Scott finishing his streak - Lou Gehrig started his epic streak (June 1, 1925)... Kevin Cullen had an excellent article on Bobby Doerr who was honored at Fenway Park today... Of course my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the bridge collapse in Minnesota...

Championship Odds

The Boston Red Sox are the favorites to win the World Series at 3-1 odds.

The New England Patriots are 8-5 favorites to win the Super Bowl.

Now with the Celtics trading for Kevin Garnett - the odds on them winning the NBA Championship have dropped to just 5-1. That isn't close to making them the favorites overall though. Ahead of them are the Mavericks (7-2), the Suns (7-2) and the Spurs (4-1). It should be noted that the Celtics are at least now the favorite in the Eastern Conference (according to the betting lines).

It's shaping up as a fun year for Boston sports fans.

Red Sox Magic Number - 49

The Red Sox magic number is now 49.

The number 49 also happens to be the uniform number for Tim Wakefield.

The number 49 in sports is probably most associated with the San Francisco 49ers and you cannot mention the 49ers without bringing up Bill Walsh. I was remiss in not saying anything about the passing of Bill Walsh. He was truly both a genius and a giant of the game. How important Walsh was to the game of football did not truly hit me till after reading Michael Lewis' great book The Blind Side.

In many ways The Blind Side is the football version of Lewis' baseball book Moneyball and in The Blind Side Bill Walsh plays a central role as the guy who changed it all like how Bill James was portrayed in Moneyball.

The Home Run Record

Everyone who follows baseball knows that Barry Bonds is on the cusp of passing Hank Aaron as the all-time home run king. Likewise everyone knows that Hank Aaron surpassed Babe Ruth's then record 714 home runs to grab the crown. However - you would have to be a real baseball geek to know who Babe Ruth passed to become the home run king in his own right.

The answer to that is Roger Connor who held the home run record before Babe Ruth came along. And how many home runs did Connor have? Just 136. That should give you a good idea of how much Babe Ruth changed the game of baseball.

The Gagne Effect

The Red Sox are going to the playoffs this season. That's a given. The acquisition of Eric Gagne will be felt most once Boston gets to the playoff but in a way not many people seem to be discussing.

Every team that will make the playoffs in the AL this year will have at least two Ace level starters. Detroit has Verlander and Bonderman. Cleveland has Sabathia and Carmona. The Angels have Lackey and Escobar. The Red Sox will be able to counter with Beckett and Matsusaka. The Red Sox top two starters should equalize the starts from any starters in games 1 and 2 and 5 and 6 of any series. So where does Gagne come in? Let me explain.

The Red Sox don't have the overwhelming offense that they had in 2003 and 2004 but what this team does very well is see a lot of pitches per at bat and get on base (they lead the AL in walks). Assuming that the top two starters for the Red Sox and whoever they face in the playoffs will be fairly evenly matched - the key to those first two games will be to get into the other team's bullpen. Being patient and seeing a lot of pitches is what the Red Sox do and that's how you tire out starters and get into the bullpen.

Conversely - with the acquisition of Gagne the Red Sox now have arguably the best bullpen in all of baseball. You have Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima and now Eric Gagne all leading up to Jonathan Papelbon. If the patience of the Red Sox hitters can get them into the opposing team's bullpen early - then the Red Sox have a HUGE EDGE.

This is not to mention the fact that the #3 and #4 playoff starters for the Red Sox - Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield probably have the edge on any playoff pitching match-up. Red Sox fans have to feel pretty good about their chances to win their second World series in four years.

Is Norm Chad Whipped?

I love Norm Chad. I think he's one of the most entertaining sportswriters in the world. However, based on his latest column - I do have to wonder if the couch slouch is now a whipped man.

In his latest column Chad announces that A: he has gotten married for the third time and B: he's not capable of choosing what beer to drink on his own. Yikes! Let's look at these things in reverse order.

Choosing one's taste in beer is like choosing one's taste in music. What kind of person would ask, "what type of music should I listen to?" I can see someone already comfortable in their music tastes asking about finding new sounds but having someone tell someone else "OK - you are now a Springsteen fan" or "you are now a reggae fan" is just weird. Norm Chad - you are now a Heineken Light fan. Seems just as strange - doesn't it?

The good news for Norm's new bride is that if he's gone this soft on a core part of his bachelorhood (his choice of beer) - then he's finally ready for a wife to tell him what to do (the bedrock of any successful marriage). Here's hoping that Chad's newfound marital bliss at least leads to him not making any more dumb divorce jokes in the World Series of Poker broadcasts.

Norm - either pick your own beer or just get used to drinking the beer your new wife likes.

On a side note - I too stopped drinking Rolling Rock once they moved the brewery out of Latrobe.

HT for the Chad column to The Big Lead

Texas Rangers Trade Deadline Haul

You know - I think the big winners of the MLB trade deadline were the Texas Rangers.

Take a look at the talent balance sheet for GM Jon Daniels and the Rangers:

- They trade Mark Teixeira to the Braves and get back the three players Baseball America had rated as the Braves top prospects (Jarrod Saltalamacchia, shortstop Elvis Andrus and pitcher Matt Harrison) plus prospect pitcher Neftali Feliz and Beau Jones thrown in for good measure.

- They trade Eric Gagne to the Red Sox for pitcher Kason Gabbard and Minor League outfielders David Murphy and Engel Beltre.

- They trade Kenny Lofton for Minor League catcher Max Ramirez.

That's at least one starting catcher, one starting pitcher, and a fourth outfielder just for next year. In the near future they will also probably get at least a starting shortstop, starting outfielder and another starting pitcher out of this haul. AND ALL THE PLAYERS WILL BE CHEAP!

Don't overlook that last point. By shedding Teixeira, Gagne and Lofton the Rangers have saved about $7 million for the rest of the season. By trading Teixeira (after making a PR face-saving $140 million contract extension offer) the Rangers save another estimated $12 million next year too. Then you factor in the appeal to fans to come out and see Salty, Gabbard and some of the other kids and you wind up realizing that the financial windfall from the trade-deadline for the Rangers was at least equal to the talent haul they got in return.

Kevin Garnett to the Celtics

Kevin Garnett is coming to the Celtics and I'm very happy about it. This trade is almost the definition of the five nickels for a quarter type trade (although with Al Jefferson included in the deal - it is more like one dime and four nickels for a quarter).

Garnett is a Hall of Fame player. Yes he's at the tail-end of his career but that's OK because he's still one of the five best in the game. In the NBA a quarter always has way more value than the five nickels.

The key for Minnesota is Al Jefferson who as a 22-year old averaged 16 PPG and 11 RPG. When KG was 22-years old he averaged 20 and 10. I think those numbers give false impressions though because this year garbage time started in Celtics games during the first quarter. Jefferson will be an excellent player in the NBA but he will never be Kevin Garnett.

OK - that's the dime - what about the nickels? Theo Ratliff was thrown in because of his expiring contract. Gerald Green probably will never be a starter for a playoff contending team. I think Danny Ainge made McHale take Sebastian Telfair off the Celtics hands as part of the trade. The only player I'm not real happy about giving up (besides Jefferson of course) is Ryan Gomes. I think Gomes is a solid contributor. However, I think the Celtics must feel that his numbers can be made up by rookie Glen "Big Baby" Davis.

Five nickels for a quarter. You always give up the nickels to get the quarter.

Dotel to Braves

The Braves have acquired closer Octavio Dotel from the Royals in exchange for young starter Kyle Davies. This seems like another win-win trade for the Braves.

I don't think Dotel can handle the pressure of being a closer but he seems to thrive in a set-up role. I also think that Kyle Davies has better stuff than his 4-8 record and 5.76 ERA would indicate.

Let's be honest - from the moment the Royals signed Dotel to a 1-year $5 million deal (with a player's option in 2008) everyone knew the plan was to trade him at the trade deadline. The Royals got a soon to be 24-year old starting pitcher. The Royals can take a risk on Davies in the rotation next year and if he fails - hey just release him or send him to AAA. If the Royals, on the other hand, can help Davies overcome his early game problems (his ERA in his first 30 pitches is over 10.45 for his career) then they could have a real keeper.

I have to wonder if Liberty Media is behind this buying spree by the Braves or at least is OKing the moves? The Braves as an asset were pretty much lost among all the other Time Warner holdings but as a Liberty Media property they get a much higher corporate profile.

Teixeira to the Braves

It looks like it's official - the Rangers are trading Mark Teixeira to the Braves for a package centered around catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and shortstop prospect Elvis Andrus plus two more prospects.

This trade could be the proverbial "win-win" situation for both teams.

For the Braves it gives them a solution to their black hole at 1st base. Not only does Teixeira have perhaps the best power bat available this trade-deadline - he also brings with him Gold Glove caliber fielding. With Teixeira in the line-up - the Braves are pretty solid 1-7 in the batting order. This puts Atlanta in a very good position to win either the NL East or the NL Wildcard.

Next year Texeira will probably get at least $12 million through arbitration but Atlanta will probably be losing at least that much when Andruw Jones goes the free-agent route. If Andruw Jones does leave as a free agent - then the Braves will get two top draft picks in compensation and they get to reload the farm system once again to make trades like the one for Teixeira possible. It should be noted that given the facts that Teixeira went to Georgia Tech and the Braves have Mike Hampton's contract coming off the books after 2008 - the Braves should not be ruled out re-signing Teixeira long term.

In the deal the Braves also got lefty reliever Ron Mahay. That helps strengthen the bullpen and again makes the Braves a formidable opponent down the stretch.

From the Rangers perspective - they had to trade Teixeira. They could not afford to risk keeping him and having him get injured. In Saltalamacchia and Andrus - the Rangers got the Braves' two top prospects (according to Baseball America). It is also rumored that the Braves will be including pitching prospect Matt Harrison in the deal. If true then that would be Atlanta's top 3 prospects according to Baseball America. How could the Rangers hope for more than that?

Two things to consider. From the Rangers position - I'm not sure how confident I'd feel about still wet behind the ears GM Jon Daniels dealing with the master of the trade John Schuerholz. In all the deals that Schuerholz has made the only prospect I can think of that went on to become a star is Jason Schmidt. That has to make Ranger fans at least a bit nervous. From the Braves position - I'm still not sold on Teixeira being the great hitter everyone cracks him up to be. Teixeira has almost a 60 point difference between what he hits at Arlington and what he hits on the road. His OPS is over 100 points lower on the road than it is at home. That has to be a red flag. At least the Braves have a one-year audition to see if Teixeira really can hit outside of Arlington (facing NL pitching should help there).

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I think Michael Strahan may not really be thinking of retiring but instead just wants to skip 2-a-days without getting fined. If he says he's thinking about retiring then its tough for the Giants to fine him. Any other excuse gets you fined the minute you miss the first practice... Much has been made about Jose Canseco's comments to WEEI about "having something" on Alex Rodriguez. Most people have assumed that it is regarding steroids but I was listening to the interview as it happened and I took Canseco's comments that A-Rod is "not the person you think he is" (quote taken from memory) to be some insinuation about A-Rod's sex life. There are already rumors that A-Rod is a "swinger" and maybe that's what Canseco was referring to.... It was 27-years ago today that JR Richard had a stoke. The stoke ended Richard's baseball career and put him on a downward spiral that saw him become destitute and homeless. Now 57-years old it seems like Richard has gotten his life back together and is now a Christian Minister... The Mariners are in the midst of a playoff hunt but yet you hear rumors that Richie Sexson is on the trading block. Strange...

A Great Trade for the Red Sox

Alex Speier has a look back at the trade that brought Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe to the Red Sox in exchange for Heathcliff Slocumb.

Excellent job by Speier. It's amazing in hindsight that Seattle did not want to do a Ken Cloude for Slocumb deal straight-up.

Red Sox Magic Number - 50

The Red Sox magic number is now down to 50.

The number 50 also happens to be the number lefty Jamie Moyer wore for the Red Sox in 1996. Of course Moyer did not last long in Boston because then manager Kevin Kennedy liked fireballer pitchers and Moyer pitched with his head and not his balls. So the Red Sox traded Moyer for Darren Bragg - a player who didn't have much talent but sure got dirty playing. Kevin Kennedy's type of player.

Since leaving the Red Sox - Jamie Moyer has won 166 games.

These days the Red Sox embrace crafty lefty pitchers like Kason Gabbard and Jon Lester. And Kevin Kennedy hasn't been able to get a big league managing job since being fired by the Red Sox.

The Red Sox have 58 games left. If they just went .500 for the rest of the season - then the Yankees would have to go 38-20 just to tie. That's a .655 winning percentage. I think Yankee fans should just accept the fact that they are not catching the Red Sox.

Tim Wakefield and Stats

Tim Wakefield pitched six innings giving up just one run to help lead the Red Sox to a 7-1 victory over the Devil Rays last night. The stat that Tim Wakefield is now 8-0 against Tampa Bay in Tampa Bay and has beaten them 17 times overall kept being brought up during last night's broadcast.

As impressive as those numbers against Tampa Bay are - it is other numbers and stats about Tim Wakefield that I think are even more impressive.

Last night Tim Wakefield went into the game tied with fellow knuckleballer Joe Niekro in 89th place on the all-time strikeout list. Wakefield's 7 strikeouts last night not only broke the tie with Niekro but was also good enough to move him past Jason Schmidt and put Wakefield into 87th place all by himself with 1754 career strikeouts. The name that caught my eye on the list of all-time strikeouts was Ron Guidry at 84th place with 1778 strikeouts. Tim Wakefield could pass Louisiana Lightning in strikeouts? That gives some perspective into how good Wakefield's career truly has been so far.

Also the win last night gives Wakefield 163 wins for his career. That puts Wakefield just one win away from breaking into the top 200 for wins in baseball history. Maybe just as interesting it puts him just one win away from tying knuckleballer Wilbur Wood (and 4 other pitchers) in 196th place. Another name that caught my eye on the all-time wins list was Ron Guidry tied at 177th place with 170 wins. That's within striking distance for Wakefield.

Wakefield may not be close to being as good as knuckleball greats and Hall of Famers Phil Niekro or Hoyt Wilhelm in the pantheon of knuckleball pitchers but it can be argued that he's the in the company of Wilbur Wood and Joe Niekro. The strikeout list and wins list certainly support this.

I have mentioned Ron Guidry in relation to Wakefield on both the strikeout list and wins list. It is true that Guidry played in parts of 14 MLB seasons while Wakefield is now in his 15th season. That puts them about on an even playing field even if you say that Guidry's first two seasons shouldn't count because he spent most of those seasons in the minor leagues with just under 33 innings pitched with the Yankees. Those first two seasons for Guidry are offset by the time Wakefield had to spend in the bullpen and by the 1994 season where Wakefield got zero innings pitched at the MLB level (because of pitching in the minors and the MLB strike).

Now I am not trying to argue that Wakefield is close to being as good a pitcher as Ron Guidry but I am using this opportunity to show how just going by the stats can be misleading. Wakefield will most likely pass Guidry in both strikeouts and wins in comparable time spent at the MLB level but is not close to being the pitcher Guidry was at his peak. Mike Mussina, meanwhile, has pitched in 17 MLB seasons and has amassed 244 career wins. Mussina is a borderline Hall of Fame pitcher but in my book Mussina isn't close to being the pitcher Ron Guidry was and yet because he has stuck around to amass stats Mussina will probably get ten-times the Hall of Fame votes than what Guidry received.

Going full-circle back to Tim Wakefield in Tampa Bay, I'm surprised that back in 2000 when Wakefield was a free-agent that a dome team like Tampa Bay or Minnesota didn't try and scoop him up. Consider that in addition to the success Wakefield has had in Tampa Bay he's also 7-3 at the Metrodome with an excellent .216 batting average against some pretty good hitting Twins teams.

Washington Nationals Trade Possibilities

With the trade deadline looming on the horizon - I will try to take a look at what chips some of the teams who are out of playoff contention may put in play. Earlier I looked at the Baltimore Orioles, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Kansas City Royals, the Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers. Today I will take a look what players from the Nationals may hit the market.

- Dmitri Young is either rumored to be on the brink of being traded or being re-signed to a two-year deal. It looks like it will be the latter with the deal reported to be 2-years and $10 million. Of course that leaves open the question about what the Nationals plan to do with Nick Johnson next season. Speculation is that Jim Bowden may be planning on playing the hefty Young in left field when Johnson returns which brings the status of Ryan Church into question. Young probably won't be traded and thus doesn't belong in this discussion but I could not resist the opportunity to point out how Jim Bowden continues to make moves that nobody understands. With the 2-year contract - Young is almost guaranteed to be with the Nationals longer than Bowden.

- Ryan Church - I've never understood what the Nationals have against Ryan Church. They play him when people get hurt and he does a fine job but then the toss him back on the bench. This year he's gotten to play full-time and has been so-so. I have to wonder if he'd do better somewhere where he gets positive reinforcement. Maybe Church gets involved in some three-team trade where Billy Beane or one of the smart GM's use Bowden. Maybe the Cubs will have interest (I keep mentioning outfielders being dealt to the Cubs because eventually I'll be correct).

- Chad Cordero - lots of teams need a closer or a top set-up man. Scott Linebrink just brought 3 minor prospects which means Bowden will ask for the moon for Cordero. He's been rumored to being going to the Mets but you can't trust rumors when Jim Bowden is concerned because he tends to leak his own version of reality.

As strange as it seems - the Nationals may actually turn out to be buyers instead of sellers this trade deadline. Bowden may try to avoid rebuilding out of fear that he won't be there to see the job done. He may also go after former Reds players like Adam Dunn or Wily Mo Pena.

Top 5 - MLB Players from Seton Hall

With Craig Biggio announcing his retirement at the end of the season - I started wondering about who the top players from Seton Hall were. Here's my list.

1. Craig Biggio
2. Mo Vaughn
3. Matt Morris
4. John Valentin
5. Rick Cerone

Why Prohibition Really Ended

A very interesting article about why Prohibition really ended. According to the article it wasn't that Prohibition was a bad idea - it was that the Depression crushed tax revenues and the government needed the money liquor taxes would bring.

There's no doubt that widespread understanding of Prohibition's futility and of its ugly, unintended side-effects made it easier for Congress to repeal the 18th Amendment. But these public sentiments were insufficient, by themselves, to end the war on alcohol.

Ending it required a gargantuan revenue shock -- to the U.S. Treasury.

Maybe the folks who want to legalize marijuana should earn a lesson from this and instead of trying to get marijuana legalized based upon the merits of doing so - they should start arguing about legalizing marijuana as a way to raise new revenues to help save Social Security.

HT NRO's Corner

Harry Potter

If you are a Harry Potter fan then this interview of JK Rowling is a must read.

At the very least you learn about who the Victoire was that Teddy Lupin was "snogging".

Man on Fire

I loved the movie Man on Fire starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. It spurred me to buy and read the book by AJ Quinnell. I thought the movie was great but that the book was 10-times better (a great summer read by the way). That helps explain why I was so curious when I saw that there was an earlier (1987) version of the movie.

I happened to see that the 1987 version of Man on Fire was on cable so I tuned in to watch. Let me just say that the movie was awful. You would think that a movie that starred Scott Glenn and Joe Pesci and featured Jonathan Pryce and Danny Aiello couldn't be that bad - but you would be wrong. The movie was awful, awful, awful. It was so bad that film students should be made to watch this version to see how a director can ruin a great book by trying to be too artsy and writing a convoluted screenplay instead of just using the plot from the book.

A couple of interesting things that I did not know are 1) AJ Quinnell is the pen name for Philip Nicholson (who died in 2005), 2) the Marcus Creasy character was in a series of books (kind of like a Travis McGee character - whereas I thought the Man on Fire book was a one-time deal for the character) and 3) AJ Quinnell (Nicholson) had the same agent as JK Rowling.

Now that I know that there are other Creasy novels - I'm going to have to go out and get a couple. I'll probably start with The Blue Ring or Message From Hell (or whatever Quinnell book is easiest to find).