Hardball Heaven

Alright, so let me see if I've got the events of the last few days straight.

The Celtics traded Al Jefferson and a bunch of flostam and jetsam for Kevin Garnett, making them instantly relevant. The Red Sox traded a junk-balling lefty and two career prospects for former closer extraordinaire Eric Gagne, and then took 2 of 3 from the Orioles. The Yankees - desperate for bullpen help, as evidenced by Mariano Rivera's rare public plea - instead traded a reliever and got a utility infielder. And perhaps best of all, Roger Clemens, who turns 45 tomorrow, was booed off the Yankee Stadium mound yesterday after giving up 9 hits to his first 12 batters in an eventual 13-9 loss to the White Sox. Oh, to have heard birdbrain Yankee radio announcers Michael Kay and the orgasmic Suzyn Waldman describe the events.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that life is good in Boston sports-land - bordering on 1986-like good. (That, in case you don't know, was the year the Sox went to the World Series ('nuff said on that), the Patriots played in the Super Bowl ('nuff said on that), the Celtics beat Houston for yet another NBA title (talk all you want), and the Bruins were one series away from getting to the Stanley Cup finals. A pretty impressive feat despite some of the gruesome outcomes.)

Sure, I wish the Sox had gotten Jermaine Dye - and his 2-homer performance yesterday against the Yanks made that non-move smart even more. If the reports are true that Kenny Williams wanted Manny Delcarmen or else, I would have included him without batting an eye. I still think this team needs another bat.

That's one area where the Yankees - currently 8 games back - aren't suffering. They've wreaked havoc on AL pitching staffs the last couple weeks, at one point hitting 13 homers in 2 games (interestingly, none from A-Fraud, who's looking for #500). The guy who's been on absolute fire is Hideki Matsui. I know my Sarasota buddy thinks I'm obsessed with the Bombers, but they're only 3 games out in the wild card race. Imagine if they take the wild card? Guess who their first-round opponent will most likely be...

Anyway, that's getting ahead of ourselves. It goes without saying that the next two weeks will be very telling. The Yankees start a series against the woeful Royals tonight, while the Sox have to (once again) jet out to the Left Coast to take on a hot Seattle team and then tangle with the OrangeCountyDisneylandLosAngeles Angels. This is where the rubber meets the road.

Tonight's probables: Jon Lester, who returns to his home state, for the good guys. Horacio Ramirez for the Mariners.