Jason
With the All-Star balloting over tonight, I finally carved out a few hours to vote for the All Star game. Here's the surprise: the defending champions shouldn't have any players among the starters.

I think that it says a lot about the strength of the league and the balance of the Red Sox that that don't have a clear top player at any position, outside the injured DH of course. Now the fan voting is going to go elsewhere. As a Red Sox fan, I'm going to greatly enjoy having all those Sox sitting in the home dugout at Yankee Stadium. But, when it came to my ballot, I couldn't put any Sox on it -- not even via the hanging chad.

Here's my AL ballot
C J Mauer
1B J Morneau
2B I Kinsler
3B Arod
SS Michael Young
OF J Hamoltion
OF Sizemore
OF Carlos Quentin
DH None

My philosophy for the All-Star game is that the current year should matter most. However, the previous year should get some consideration. I don't have a hard-and-fast equation, but in my mind, it's about 80% this year.

Pedroia is having great years, but Texas's Kinsler is playing better than even Chase Utely right now. Youk also deserves some consideration, but he's a bit behind Morneau in my eyes. Nowhere else are any of the Sox regulars even close.

In the NL, I went with:
C B. McCann
1b Berkman
2b C Utley
3b A Ramirez,
ss H Ramirez
OF Beltran
OF Lee
OF Bay

The catcher race is close between McCann and Martin. Soto, will having a good rookie year, shouldn't be even close. Shortstop is another close call with Reyes finishing second in my eyes. Second is a run away. In the OF, Jason Bay is having a heck of a comeback year, which put him over for me.

Jason
Its was with mixed emotions that I read about Trot Nixon being traded to the Mets. First and foremost, I'm happy that Trot has the opportunity to help a big league club. However, I would much rather have seen him with the Brewers, Dodgers, A's, or Devil Rays -- all of whom could use his veteran presence and skills. Atlas, he'll be playing ball in NYC.

It's a good match though. Trot is a big time player with a lot of grit. He could help to fire up the Mets, who have been nothing if not lethargic all year. Trot won't be able to carry this team, but he could be the spark that lights the fire under the rears of players that could (read Beltran, Reyes, etc).

The problem, for me anyway, is that I'm now conflicted about the Mets. With Pedro pitching only, at best, every fifth night, it was possible to cheer for him and still relish in the short coming of the Mets. With Trot possibly getting more playing time, my calculus is challenged.

I'd like to see Trot to well and prove that he should get a shot at a job next year. I'd also like to see the Mets continue to wallow near the bottom of the NL East. Thus my conflict. So, here's to Trot doing well and getting the Mets good enough to just miss the post-season.

Dan:

Check out this list of the Top 10 athletes to keep your girl away from. Surprising, no Kobe reference. But Manny made the list, and Big Papi got an honorable mention (with 'they don't call him Big Papi for nothing').

Dan:

I'm still not terribly rational about what went down last night and how to respond. So instead of ranting and saying things that are at the very least offensive and at the most could get me monitored by Homeland Security, I'll give you this exclusive footage I found: video of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays ultimate fighting workout. Enjoy.

Continue reading 'Devil Ray Fight Club'...

Dan:

The Sox and Rays just had their fight . . .

• With Navarro pinning Coco Crisp down, Johnny Gomes runs over and starts reigning down haymakers on Coco. The Sox need to throw at Gomes' head every time they see him this season. That was outrageous. He needs to be suspended and fined . . . but he also needs to take one off the helmet. I know that's pretty serious, but it is certainly justified after that.
• Sure, Coco should have just gone to first. No doubt. But Gomes' sucker punches were nuts.

• Coco's dad was a boxer. You could see that. Beautiful how he slid away from Shields' right and came back with a counterpunch. Didn't land, but nice technique.

• Just saw the replays with Crawford punching Coco while Navarro, Gomes and Crawford where all on him. Instead of stopping the fight, they dropped bombs with three guys on one. Crawford needs to take a fastball in the kisser.

• Yes, I am less than rational right now, and I think my wife has stopped talking to me.

Dan:

This week, we found out the Red Sox are losing a popular figure of Red Sox Nation, someone who certainly excites the fanbase. No, I'm not talking about Big Papi's injury. NESN announced Hazel Mae will be leaving the station at the end of this month.

Like many hetero male Sox fans, I've enjoyed Hazel's . . . reporting. And she will be missed. I don't know who they'll replace her with, but I think it's a pretty safe bet it will be an attractive female. NESN has brought on all female reporters over the last few years in an effort to bring more female fans into Red Sox Nation. Us guys could charge sexism; after all, why not hire guys and gals at least 50-50? Instead, we have a steady stream of these attractive young female reporters -- Mae, Katherine Tappet, Heidi Whatley, and others. Now, NESN at times seems less like a sports network and more like a club I want to hang out in. Don't get me wrong, their reporting skills are excellent and they all seem to have very solid baseball knowledge. I do respect them. I don't want to be seen as a sexist pig . . . even if the snout fits. Anyway, I'm not going to complain.

Of course, we also lost Big Papi to the DL this week, and who knows for sure when he'll be back and close to 100 percent. Obviously, losing one of the game's most imposing hitters will hurt tremendously. But it shouldn't sink the Sox. This is a deep lineup. Heck, even Drew has shown signs of using the wall. He does that, and this team should be fine.

Dan:

My favorite chant of all time is back . . . I hope. C's fans need to be screaming this at least one-hour prior to game time tomorrow night. If not, we need to yank those fans out of the Ga'den early on and put our bench fans in there.

Now, you may not remember this, but once upon a time, there was an era when the Red Sox couldn't beat the Yankees. What's that you say? You can't imagine that? We've won two World Series in four years, and the Yanks . . . ? But, trust me, it is true. Prior to Big Papi's historic Game 4 home run in the 2004 ALCS (oh, did I mention I was there and you can see me in those highlights???), the Sox always found a way to lose to the Yankees. We felt oppressed. We got made fun of by Yankee fans. Some even believed we were cursed. Really.

As a sign of rebellion, some Sox fans started what became a popular chant -- "Yankees Suck." I never liked this chant. Sure, I had my moments of weakness, and there were times I chanted it when the Sox played the Yanks . . . or the Royals . . . or the Mariners. But, still, the chant stunk. That's because it wasn't true. The Yankees were winning four World Series in five years. (Honestly. They did that once.) Four rings in five years is not sucking . . . unfortunately. I tried to advocate a "Beat New York" chant. Same syllables as the "Beat L.A." chant, and equally encouraging and energetic. Alas, it never stuck.

Maybe I should have made T-shirts for it and sold it outside the park . . . like that other chant.

Anyway, I can't wait for that to ring through the Ga'den tomorrow night. I am so pumped for this series. Although, I am a little apprehensive. Not about the fate of the series. I just . . . . I just hope the Massachusetts State Police make Kobe where a GPS tracking device. We don't need any trouble.

BTW, one last thing about the Pistons series: I couldn't believe Pistons fans were lame enough to have all those Thunder Sticks in Game 6. I thought Detroit fans were better than that. But, just when I thought they couldn't get any lamer . . . . with the Pistons down by just 6 points with little over a minute left to go in a playoff elimination game, fans started streaming for the doors. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Since when did the Detroit fanbase become Atlanta?

Dan:

Each April, as the baseball season is still in its infancy, we watch as favorites struggle out of the gate, and hopeless underdogs tantalize fans as they hover near first. And each year I say the same thing: Talk to me on Memorial Day.

During those early weeks of the season, we don't have enough material to work with in judging what teams are for real and which ones aren't. To me, it seems you can't really take stock of the contenders and pretenders until you reach Memorial Day.

Now, here we are a few days past the holiday weekend, and, as I look at the Major League Baseball standings, I just don't know what to think. With so many pre-season favorites struggling, and so many pre-season clunkers hanging tough, this to date just may be the most topsy-turvy baseball season in recent memory.

As fans oohed and aahed at the early struggles of the Tigers, Indians and Yankees, I patiently waited for them to spend May rising toward the top of the heap. Meanwhile, I've been waiting for the Devil Rays, Athletics, Marlins and Cardinals of the world to plummet back down to their rightful places near the basement. And now that we've passed Memorial Day, I'm still waiting.

Entering June, what are the Rays still doing hanging around? They're good, but not this good, are they? Can you really see this team hanging around til September, or even making a push for October? At this point, I'm hesitant to make a guess either way. Given my Memorial Day theory, they should have started to fade by now. Maybe they'll hang til August . . . but that's got to be it. It's just got to be.

The Yankees? I thought they'd have pitching problems . . . but while I'd like to say I saw this coming, I didn't. This team is not good, and there may be too many holes for them to plug this year.

Still waiting for the Tigers and Indians to play like they are supposed to. Maybe they haven't received the memo that we've reached Memorial Day. And someone please tell Ozzie's Sox they are overdue to start fading. Not too long ago I said they weren't for real, and that the Royals were real. Brilliant.

And what is more surprising: That the Athletics are still contending (and just swept your Sox), or that the Mariners added another ace this year and are absolutely, positively terrible?

I thought the Marlins would be good . . . . good enough to challenge for third place. And the Cardinals should have been making their golf plans for October by now, not thinking about playing baseball in the fall. And remember when we thought the Giants would be so much worse -- SO MUCH WORSE -- than the Padres. Ah, yes. Those were the days.

Dan:

• I have tix for tomorrow night's game against Kansas City. I originally thought we'd be seeing Jon Lester pitch, and I whined about it to everyone. I did not want to see him (even though he's on my fantasy team). He is too frustrating: walks too many, doesn't make it out of the fifth, we should've traded him, etc. . . . . . Oh how I now wish I'd seen Jon Lester pitch.
• How good a catcher is Jason Varitek? He's now caught four no-hitters -- more than any other catcher in history. It was with four different pitchers -- Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, and the kids Clay Bucholz and Jon Lester. Not a Nolan Ryan in the bunch. And, consider the times Pedro and Schilling each took no-no's into the ninth. The greatness of a catcher goes way beyond offensive numbers, and when ranking great catchers their whole game needs to be considered, including how good they are at managing a pitching staff and calling a game. Jason Varitek is a great catcher.
• You could just see the stress on Jon Lester's face in the ninth inning.
• Back to Lester being on my fantasy team. Walks, hits, fat pitch counts. This guy has been a frustrating mess this season. I had him benched for two games recently. I even tried to trade him three days ago. If I had benched him tonight, I'd be playing in highway traffic right now. And my asking price for Lester just went way, way up. (Of course, his stock just went way up, and maybe this is the perfect time for me to trade him. Something to ponder.)
• I was so sweating that last out -- with a man on third, a base hit could have robbed my fantasy team of a no-hitter, shutout and complete game. But it all worked out and I'm now right on the heels of my evil brother. I know my fantasy team shouldn't matter so much . . . . but it does.
• You have to be at least a little concerned about the wear and tear on Lester's arm tonight. So many times we've seen pitchers throw no-hitters, or near no-hitters, only to go on to struggle or hit the DL soon after. It can take a terrible toll on a pitcher's arm, and with Lester throwing 130 pitches tonight, it is rather scary. But damn, how exciting.
• Seeing how excited everyone on the Sox were for Lester -- especially Francona's really nice embrace afterward -- just has to make you really like this team. Does anybody get more excited about this stuff than Big Papi? It's just a good team that you can really root for . . . a nice change from the Mike Lansings, Mike Greenwells, Jose Cansecos and Jose Offermans of the past.
• Why I love my wife: While watching a highlight of Jacoby Ellsbury's no-no saving catch, my wife says "You make catches like that all the time, babe." Sure, it's for a beer-league co-ed softball team instead of the major leagues . . . just details.

Dan:

• You have to feel for the Milwaukee Brewers. Sure, the Eric Gagne signing was horrible. But, outside of that, here was a team that started the year with a GREAT shot at winning the NL Central, after a quarter-century of being MIA from the playoffs. They have boatloads of young, talented position players. And they've been sunk this year by a rash of unfortunate injuries. Now, their pitching is paper thin and they are sinking fast. I'd argue that this could end up being one down year before they rise to the top again -- ala the Indians of 2006. But with Ben Sheets possibly gone at the end of this year, this may have been their window of opportunity . . . unless they break the bank for a stud pitcher in the offseason.
• Sure, we've been down this road before with the Yankees; they start off horribly slow, people write them off, and then they storm back the rest of the season and into the playoffs. Those other years, I always looked at the calendar and thought, 'No way are they this bad, and there's too much time left for them to come back.' This year, though, I think they really are in deep trouble. As I said at the beginning of the year, if you are the New York Yankees it is crazy -- absolutely crazy -- to rely on rookies for half your rotation, especially when the other half (outside of Big Wang) is so close to joining AARP. More often than not, rookies don't explode onto the scene. They take years to work in. And, if the Yanks aren't careful this year, they could ruin Ian Kennedy. Sliding Joba into the rotation likely won't solve anything; being a starting pitcher is a different animal from being a setup man, and who knows for sure what Joba will bring to the table. On top of all that, the offense that has carried them for so many years is getting old, real old. Sure, Cano is good, at least much better than he's been hitting. He'll bounce back. Melky is decent, but not a guy who can carry you. Now, take a look at all their superstars. Their career arcs aren't rising, and many are starting the slide downward. In prior years, the Yanks always had the goods to go out and make a mid-season deal. But this year they have so many holes, they'd be better off holding on to their prospects and, if things don't turn around dramatically by July 4, chaulk this up as a rare lost season.
• The Athletics are finally coming back to Earth. Now, what is St. Louis waiting for?
• Scary to see Beckett give up four homers yesterday. Shades of 2006. Gulp.