"You're A Bum" -- Okay, I Get It

Yuri Sucart

Is A-Rod's cousin. That's all.

Selig To Reinstate HR Crown to Aaron?

Is baseball's steroid scandal about to make Hank Aaron the once and future home run king?

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig reportedly is considering restoring the crown to Aaron, who lost it in 2007 to Barry Bonds.

Bonds is set to go on trial on March 2 on obstruction of justice charges related a federal investigation into the BALCO steroid scandal.

Bonds' trainer was indicted on charges he supplied steroids and other performance-enhancement drugs to baseball players through BALCO, leading to speculation that Bonds also had used steroids, allegations he denies. - Fox News

As one commenter on the issue stated, "Bud Selig practically encouraged the entire steroids era. Seeing him running around demanding apologies and acting pissed off about steroids users is enraging." Another one tied in some humor, "This is like Mark Foley campaigning against child pornography. Oh, wait... it's exactly like it."

A-Rod Tested Positive in 2003

In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated.

Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.

When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, Rodriguez declined to discuss his 2003 test results. "You'll have to talk to the union," said Rodriguez, the Yankees' third baseman since his trade to New York in February 2004. When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I'm not saying anything." - Sports Illustrated

Sucks for you, A-Rod!

Hall of Fame Becoming Irrelevant

Congratulations to Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice for their inductions into baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Rickey was a no-brainer, yet somehow more than 5% of the voters felt he wasn’t worthy. Rice was a controversial pick, but regardless of where you stand on his worthiness, you have to feel happy for him.

And that’s about where I stop caring about baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Unlike a lot of baseball fans, I did not get into endless debates about why Rice’s numbers aren’t exactly Hall-worthy, or why Bert Blyleven should have been voted in years ago. The Hall means nothing anymore, at least to me. Baseball is such a great sport not just for the action on the field, but for the antiquity and the lore. Who hasn’t been told stories of Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, or Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series, or the mastery of Bob Gibson? - Baseball Digest (Click to read the rest)/ Bill Baer

I agree with Bill here.

Henderson, Rice Elected to Hall

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Rickey Henderson, who has the most stolen bases in Major League Baseball history, was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot, while Jim Rice earned the honor during his last year of consideration from the sport’s writers.

Both earned enough votes to win a spot in the shrine in Cooperstown, New York, Rice was selected on his 15th and final time on the ballot.

Henderson, who also scored the most runs in major-league history, was named on 511, or 94.8 percent, of the 539 ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Rice, who played his entire 16-year career with the Boston Red Sox, got 76.4 percent of the vote.

Congrats to these two former Red Sox players.

MLB players to go to Olympics?

MINNEAPOLIS -- If the quality of play in Olympic baseball competition was consistently more suited to a beer league than to Beijing, if the value of an entire sport depended solely on the names in that day's lineup, if someone was trying to pass off the worst-of-the-worst as the best-of-the-best, then dropping baseball beginning with the 2012 London Games might make some sense.

But Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire doesn't buy that as a reason the International Olympic Committee might have for eliminating his favorite sport.

"Why is that their concern? What does that have to do with it?'' Gardenhire asked before his team's game against the Oakland Athletics at the Metrodome. "Olympics are about competing against each other and the joy of sports. It's about countries getting away from everything else. Why does it have to be `the best?' I liked it when it was all college kids. I liked all sports when they were college kids. The best moment we've had, with our hockey team: College kids. They beat the Russians [at Lake Placid in 1980]. To me, to say that, that's a weak excuse.''

A Miracle On Ice trumps a Dream Team, as far as Gardenhire is concerned. He admits, however, that he is biased toward baseball as an international sport. He manages a team with five players on the active roster who have participated on national teams. The Twins organization sent 15 players to the World Baseball Classic in 2006, and Gardenhire, who has a German birth certificate, occasionally jokes about coaching Deutscheland in international competition.

"What's sad is, as it's gaining as a world game, we're taking baseball out,'' Gardenhire said. "A lot of countries are picking baseball up and playing. We've got our people going around the world and teaching and helping them start programs. So now when it's finally growing and being accepted by other countries, it's being shut down.''

The IOC, in voting in 2005 to drop baseball and softball after the Beijing Games, also cited the costs of constructing ballparks at Olympic sites and the limited interest in the sports in Europe, Africa and other nations. The topic is scheduled to be revisited in fall 2009, with an eye on the 2016 Games.

"I really find it hard to believe that we can't have baseball but we can have BMX bicycle riding,'' said Twins shortstop Adam Everett, a member of the U.S. squad that took gold at the 2000 Games in Sydney. "Especially going to the Olympics, winning a gold medal and seeing that the stadium was full, I mean, in Australia. That was every game we played, and they're not known that well for baseball.

"It's disappointing. It's America's pastime, but you look and it's becoming global, with Japan and China. The Latin countries, that's their main sport. We've got the World Baseball Classic and that's similar to the Olympics -- but it's not the Olympics. You're talking about representing your country with all the other athletes, and wearing red, white and blue, and maybe getting a chance to win a medal? That's cool, and for people to not have that opportunity, that kind of stinks.''

Everett and his teammates captured gold thanks to Milwaukee pitcher Ben Sheets' three-hit shutout of Cuba. Three years later, current Twins Joe Mauer, Jesse Crain and Mike Lamb were among the U.S. group that failed to qualify in Panama for the 2004 Athens Games. Justin Morneau, the 2006 American League MVP, played for Canada's national teams in 2001 qualifying and in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Now, they all click on the Beijing blog of Twins farmhand Brian Duensing, on loan to Team USA from Rochester (AAA).

"Baseball is one of the most popular sports in the world -- on our side of the ocean, at least,'' said Crain, who pitched for Morneau's Canadian team in '06 (he was born in Toronto in 1981 while his American parents were there for business). "From what it sounds like, it just doesn't seem like it's that popular in London and London is where the next Olympics is, right? Any time you play a sport, you wish it was recognized at the Olympics. But there's not much we can do about it, other than promote it and try to get it back in there for 2016.''

Sending major league players, somehow, some way, would give the IOC the glamour and gate attractions it might crave to reinstate baseball as an official event.

I say forget about Olympic Baseball, and make Olympic Wushu a reality!

A Rant, Courtesy of Me, Andrew P. Fallon

OK now, boys and girls! This rant's gonna be about Manny Ramirez's so-called "Manny being Manny" bologna that we fortunately won't have to deal with anymore. Ready?

Screw "Manny being Manny". I sure as hell won't miss that shit. The only people who bought into that were the people who like put their fucking dogs in Ramirez jerseys and shit. He was just a distraction away from baseball! Just a fucking sideshow to Boston Red Sox BASEBALL!

I hope Joe Torre can smack some sense into this clown.

Thank you. You may now return to your regularly scheduled News.

Barry Bonds Screwed

The U.S. attorney's office filed 14 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction against Barry Bonds on Tuesday.

The filing was first reported by ESPN's T.J. Quinn.

The counts were filed in what's known as a superseding indictment that broke up the four counts that baseball's all-time home run king was charged with in November.

The new indictment was issued in response to a prior ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who agreed with a defense motion that the initial indictment was potentially vague and ambiguous. The primary point was that the government charged several different lies in single counts, presenting potential problems for a jury.

This indictment alleges no new lies and doesn't suggest Bonds could serve additional time if found guilty. The next hearing in the case is skedded for June 6. - ESPN

For some, this is great news.

Tom Butler soon to retire

WAKEFIELD - A blue windbreaker with a Red Sox logo on the back sits tossed across a chair. Fenway Park is the screen-saver on the computer next to his desk. Other sports memorabilia dot the office. Town Administrator Thomas Butler is a certified sports junkie.
As he contemplates his final days of service to the town of Wakefield, after a career that has spanned 36 years, you know that closely following his Sox and BC Eagles will continue to be a passion for Butler in his retirement.
But you also know that the man who has put in so many hours, both nights and weekends behind his desk at the William J. Lee Town Hall, will also miss the job.
Butler, a lifelong resident, first became Acting Town Administrator in November of 1998 and was named to the post permanently the following August. Before that, he was the selectmen’s executive secretary, a position he had held since 1991. Butler’s first job in local government, from 1972 to 1991, was a senior town accountant.
Butler, 62, was always a numbers guy. He admits that. But he is also a man who cares deeply about the town he grew up in - just don’t ask him about smashing face-first into a goalpost at Moulton Field while fielding fungoes off the bat of his high school baseball coach, Lou Racca.
He feels torn about leaving at a time with so many fiscal problems but confident in the knowledge he turned in a balanced budget to Town Meeting in April. He candidly revealed that he believes a representative form of Town Meeting would serve the town better than the current open meeting format. He wishes that more of his time was taken up with economic development rather than balancing all of those budgets. And feels that the town must now wean itself away from its reliance on state aid.

I hope you enjoy retirement, Mr. Butler, and I hope whoever takes over can aid this town in this time of financial crisis. I agree, we need to wean ourselves off of reliance on the state. But representative town meetings? The open town meeting is the only remnant of true democracy in this nation. If Wakefield loses that...oh boy...

Kelli Pedroia warns of tanning dangers

Want to be tan? Be careful.

Winters are long in the Chicago area, where Kelli Hatley Pedroia grew up, so she'd frequent the local tanning parlor. She was 14 when she started, not legally old enough, so her older sister signed for her.

"We just felt pasty and gross from the winters," she says.

Summers were spent at the backyard pool. On spring break, the family always went somewhere hot. "My mother and I would just fry ourselves with tanning oil and no sunscreen," says Pedroia, who's married to Dustin, the Red Sox second baseman and last season's American League Rookie of the Year.

A photo of her on the night of her senior prom shows her tanned in a strapless white dress, flanked by her equally tanned parents. A year later, at age 18, she was diagnosed with stage two melanoma, which is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women ages 25 to 30.

Looking Back At The 2007 Redsox Draft

Nick Hagadone - P - Round 1 - Hagadone had a flat out awesome year in 2007 with short season Single A Lowell. He started 10 games and had a 1.85 ERA. To make matters even better, he had a 1.37 strikeouts per innings ratio. Multiply that over 9 innings and Hagadone averaged more than 12 strikeouts per 9 innings. Word around town is that Hagadone might have to have Tommy John Surgery. With Single A Greenville this year, he pitched 10 innings of shutout baseball, but he just recently suffered an arm injury.

Ryan Dent - 2nd Base - Round 1 - As a hitter, it is quite hard to find a groove when you only play 10 games all season. Dent kind of proved that in 2007 with Lowell. He batted only .178 and had 5 more strikeouts than hits. This year Dent has spent the season in extended spring training in which he plays in exhibition games.

Brock Huntzinger - Pitcher - Round 3 - Huntzinger is a starter, but you wouldn't be able to tell from his 2007 stats. He played for the Gulf Coast League Red Sox, which is a rookie league team that is less competitive than Single A Lowell. He started three games and pitched a total of seven innings. He only let up 2 earned runs. This year he is also in extended spring training and what do you know? He might just be pitching some balls to Dent.

Chris Province - Pitcher - Round 4 - The Red Sox must have liked Province so much in his 5.1 innings of shutout baseball in Lowell that they promoted him to the more competitive Single A Greenville. At Greenville, Province was able to pitch significantly more innings and he had mixed results. He went 3-2, but finished with a rather high 4.91 ERA. This year Province is back in Greenville honing up his game. He has 1.93 ERA and has held hitters to only a .203 average. I think it is safe to say that he is on the fast track to Lancaster (Single A Advanced)

Will Middlebrooks - Shortstop - Round 5 - Middlebrooks was drafted right out of high school. The Sox didn't want to rush him to professional baseball right away, so they decided to let him sit out the rest of the 2007 season. Right now he is in extended spring training.

Rounds 6-12 will be featured in another segment of "Looking Back" sometime in May.

Hawk attacks girl

A certain New York Yankee slugger should beware: A 13-year-old taking a tour of Fenway Park today was attacked by a red-tailed hawk that swooped off its nest, drawing blood from the girl’s scalp.

Her name: Alexa Rodriguez.

Who cares about baseball?  Is she okay?

“She’s fine, a little shaken, but OK,” said Vince Jennetta, a teacher who chaperoned Rodriguez's class trip from Memorial Boulevard Middle School in Bristol, Conn.

Oh, okay.  Yankees suck!

A Tokyo Split

TOKYO -- Days before his start against the Red Sox on Wednesday, Oakland pitcher Rich Harden bought an ancient samurai sword. The purchase was purely for recreational purposes -- Harden is a collector -- though given the way the Sox have treated him in the past, any inclination to arm himself was defensible.

Harden didn't need any accessories today. His strong right shoulder, finally healthy after two years of assorted miseries, was sufficient to bend the Sox to his will in a 5-1 Oakland win that sent both teams back across the Pond with a split of this two-game exercise to create some global warming for Major League Baseball.

Emil Brown, whose base-running gaffe in the 10th inning snuffed out any hope of an Oakland comeback in the opener, hit a three-run home run in the third off Sox starter Jon Lester, who also was touched for a run in the second.

Lester was lifted after four innings. The Athletics added a fifth run in the eighth on a two-out double by Kurt Suzuki and a single by Jeff Fiorentino, the young Athletics' center fielder who had been made to dress in a pink kimono before departing the Tokyo Dome over the weekend. - Boston Globe

Damn, how many of you predicted the Sox would go 162-0 in '08?

Sox win in Japan

TOKYO -- Having already gone to great lengths to start their season, the Red Sox went into overtime in the first regular-season game they have ever played outside of North America.

The Sox gave Japan its first taste of what has made them World Series champions twice in the last four seasons with a 6-5, 10-inning win over the Oakland Athletics before 44,628 in the Tokyo Dome.

Sweet Caroline!  Good times never seemed so good!

Red Sox Begin Title Defense @ 6:07 AM

TOKYO -- They are the defending AL East Champs, American League Champs, and World Series Champs.

Tuesday morning, they can be Champions of Breakfast.

It will be 6:07 a.m. back home in Boston when Dustin Pedroia steps into the batter's box to face Oakland righty Joe Blanton at the Tokyo Dome.

It's a odd way to start a title defense. When the 2005 Sox resumed work after the wondrous winter bacchanal of 2004, it was Johnny Damon digging in against Randy Johnson in Yankee Stadium on Sunday night prime time with all the trappings of the Sox-Yankees' 100-year-war. It felt like the World Series.

This feels ... foreign. The Sox are on the other side of the world, celebrities in a strange land, bringing Major League Baseball to a country where the sport is revered. While even the most devout seamhead must admit that football is America's most popular sport, baseball is truly still the national pastime of Japan. And so a Boston-based baseball Nation rises to watch the Red Sox in the land of the rising sun. - Boston Globe

All y'all non-sophomores can watch the game in its entirety.

Jordan's betting on Sox again

Jordan's Furniture is betting again on a Red Sox win, this time a sweep of the World Series. Jordan's chief executive Eliot Tatelman revealed today at Fenway Park that if the Boston Red Sox sweep the 2008 World Series by winning the first four games, customers who make a purchase between March 25 and April 27 will receive sofas, sectionals, dining room tables, beds, mattresses, and rugs for free as part of its new "Monster Sweep" promotion.

Quick!  Buy some furniture, and hope the Red Sox use steroids and don't get caught!  Or, you know, win without the aid of dangerous drugs.  They can do that, too, right?

Sox go to Washington

Members of last year’s Red Sox team will fly to Washington, D.C., today to meet
with President George W. Bush at the White House, an honor that comes with
winning the 2007 World Series.

"My fellow Americans...I love me some o' them Red Sox...eh-eh-eh."

Sign up for baseball. Or not.

Baseball Sign-ups will be held on Thursday, February 28 at 2:15 in the field
house.

Ah, yes, baseball. America's pasttime. Yeah, right.

Schilling sidelined

Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling will not have shoulder surgery for what appears to be a partial tear of his rotator cuff, despite the recommendation of the doctor who operated on the shoulder in 1995, and will follow the more conservative course recommended by Sox medical director Thomas Gill, after the club and player agreed to submit to today's recommendation by an outside medical expert.
Even without surgery, the 41-year-old Schilling is not expected to be ready to pitch until the All-Star break, according to several sources familiar with his condition.

Whatever happens, I hope Curt isn't on the sidelines for too long.