Justin Thrift
Today’s update of the New England sports scene is a bit of a montage; there’s a few things happening that need to be discussed and a few rumors circulating that need to be addressed. First, let’s begin with the Sox.
After sweeping the Yankees for the third time in the 2009 season, the Red Sox took two out of three games from the defending champion Phillies and beat the Marlins yesterday in a convincing 8-2 series opener game in Boston. With last night’s win the Sox improve to 39-25 (giving them the second best record in the majors, second only to the Dodgers who sit atop a significantly easier NL Western division) and 7-3 in their past ten games which came against the Rangers, the Yanks, and Marlins – all teams with winning records and championship hopes. This is impressive stuff for a team suffering from a supposed shortstop crisis, Youkilis and Pedroia slumps, and a seemingly tragic schedule.
Still, as June rolls on, the Sox are getting work done and winning ballgames. Much of this has to be attributed to their stellar pitching which seems to be reaching its natural momentum as of late. Wake threw six beautiful innings of crazy knucklers last night striking out 4 and holding the Marlins to two runs. Jon Lester has been one of the most potent starting pitchers in baseball as of late, striking out 11 or more batters in his past three outings against the Phillies, Texas, and Toronto and allowing no more than 3 hits and 1 run in all three performances. Daniel Bard is adjusting nicely to the Major League level as he continues to pitch solid in the closing position and provides much needed rest for his older counterpart Jonathan Papelbon. Then of course you have the dilemma of what to do with veteran all-star John Smoltz who is now healthy enough to join the rotation. With a few avenues to explore, Tito has decided to add Smoltz to the mix for the time being and increase the starting rotation to a six-man lineup.
But perhaps the best story as of late in the Red Sox camp has been the revival of slugger David Ortiz. He SEEMS to have found a way back from the slumbers of his dark and dreary slump, seems. He’s only struck out five times in the past eight games, hitting in 6 RBI’s with 7 hits and 3 homers. His average has risen to .210 and his bat speed has picked up. Even his outs have been more promising, testing the outfield wall with powerful shots and lining out sharply instead of whiffing repeatedly at fast balls. While it’s still dangerous to make claims of his definite return to the glory days of the old Ortiz, it’s definitely time to admit that Big Papi has turned his game around. It’s also nice to know that Kevin Youkilis is now officially in front of Mark Teixeira in the voting for the All-Star 1b position. See, baseball fans know the difference between passion and greed. I knew I could count on you, West Coast cities.
Across town at the Garden (GAH-den), Danny Ainge has reportedly been a busy bee, working the business phone lines and spurring endless rumors around Celtics blogs. Whatever has been said about the state of the current team and the players that inhabit it, I believe one thing is for certain: we will see a big trade involving the Celtics in the next few months. The Celtics are a basketball team that fell just shy of becoming repeat Champions this season, and if they had had a healthy roster, this team would have knocked off any team they came up against. The Lakers played well, and I’m not taking anything away from their victory, but they didn’t exhibit half as much heart as the 09’ Celtics. The addition of just Leon Powe alone would have secured a victory in the Orlando series and with a fully healthy KG to face LA, the Boston Celtics would be the current Champions once again.
But things did not work out for the Celtics this season and the injuries they suffered exposed a very obvious issue: their lack of big men to cover the post. For this reason, I believe it would be a mistake to become involved in any trade that would see Perkins leave Boston. A somewhat revolving rumor has Perk and Bill Walker going to the Grizzlies for a second round draft pick, and maybe even Ray Allen. While I wouldn’t mind increasing our drafting potential for young stars, this year’s draft is somewhat subpar compared to years past. Trading Perk who fits goldenly into the flow of the current team would be careless and far too risky. There seems to be no one of equal or better talent in a position to replace Perk from this year’s draft, and I see no reason to give away an already young star who has evolved into something special in the past year. I say keep Perk and forget about a 2nd pick draft option.
Rajon Rondo’s future as a Celtic has also been up for speculation recently after three dynamite seasons that have increased his worth by a fortune. Bottom line, Rajon Rondo is not a franchise guy. He’s a young guy from Kentucky and he doesn’t care two sticks about giving a hometown advantage to Boston in his upcoming contract negotiations. His rookie contract is due to expire after next season, and unless the Celtics are interested in raising their payout significantly, he will not be coming back to Boston. He is, however, one of the most sensational point guard talents that the NBA has right now and for this reason I believe the team will do all they can to re-sign him for at least four years. It’ all going to come down to money, and if Ainge can anticipate a negative negotiation spell next spring, he may opt to include this gem player in a trade incentive which would bring someone like Wayde or Chris Paul. This, of course, is as likely as a Lebron-Knicks move, which as any sensible fan knows, isn’t going to happen.
As for Ray Allen, forget about it NBA fans; the Boston Celtics will not sell, trade, or drop Allen’s contract for any reason in the next year – guaranteed. This guy has been too important to this team and his tangent performance in this year’s playoffs was simply a matter of overbearing pressure and “lack of KG-ness”. (Lack of KG-ness is an actual term I’ve coined to justify a Laker’s 2009 Championship).
KG is also rumored to be recuperating perfectly from his recent knee surgery. Boston fans will be relieved to know that the team expects him to be on the court soon and training for the upcoming season next fall. Does anyone else see the startling resemblance between KG’s 08-09’ season and Tom Brady’s? Let’s hope that their rebound seasons are the complete polar opposite of this year and just as similar.
So there you have it sports fans, that’s the gist of what most New Englanders are talking about today. Until next time, go sox...
No comments:
Post a Comment