The Village Idiot

FINISH HIM!

Um, it is kinda difficult to control the boards when you lose your starting Center with 1/3 of the series to go and you're simultaneously getting gang-raped by the officiators. Look kids, the stats don't lie: 37-17 in FT attempts for the Lakers vs. the Celts respectively in Game 7. I mean, how is that even allowed? How? How? How? How?

I was a yooj Celts fan during "little child 'hood" between '80 and '94, but then let it go during the era of the NBA when I didn't think the Jordan-esque style of play (tongue waggin, dunkin', Rodman-tattoos, Jordan-fanatacism, etc.) was the best way to play the game. To this day I feel like a bandwagon fan because I was largely absent during the Celts' tough years, but I rationalize all of this by saying that I was enough of a fan between ages 5 and 15 to buy me life-long free passes to be whatever kind of Celts fan I wanted to become later in life. Now that all that's out of the way, several observations about tonight: -They played very, very tight. Very un-Celts like. What was Doc's pre-game speech? -Why in God's name did they not call a TO when they regained possession with 22 seconds left on the clock? I thought they had a couple TOs left? -Rondo, Rondo, Rondo: Never stop going to the hoop and calling games. That's when the Celts cruise, dominate, decimate. He seemed missing from tonight's game throughout, but especially in the last 5 minutes of regulation and the last few of OT. -Peirce: Love you, doll, but when you're not hitting it, how about swinging the ball around? Or going to the hoop? -I wanted Ray Allen taking every shot in OT. Every shot. Felt like he only had the opportunity to take 1 or 2, both of which I think he made (definitely one). -This is suddenly a series. Dwight Howard was freaking unstoppable. I'm not worried, but I'm aware. -The Celts got a little complacent tonight. Here's hoping it's a wake-up call. Thankfully, they're not a team of little entitled bitches who won't learn from this. They're proven, mature, experienced veterans who learned tonight to let Rondo do his thing, play loose, have confidence, and take all the mistakes from tonight and turn them into successes in Game 5. Ray Allen's mama don't take no mess. WIN IT IN 5. 'Til Wednesday...

You guys are right, this list is from 2009, actually. Not like it's ancient though. WATER!

Thanks. Hear what you're saying to a degree, re: the salary issue, but given where the market was for outfielders when Drew was signed in '07, and given this list of players below, it's understandable why the Red Sox offered Drew the contract they did, considering how much the front office values OBP, defense, and character in their FA evaluation system. Looking at this list is actually quite staggering. (Meanwhile, Jesus, Ramon. This guy really has been pitching like dogshit this year.) The following chart lists the top-twenty five highest paid players. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees- $ 33,000,000 Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers- $ 23,854,494 Derek Jeter, New York Yankees- $ 21,600,000 Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees- $ 20,625,000 Carlos Beltran, New York Mets- $ 19,243,682 Carlos Lee, Houston Astros- $ 19,000,000 Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers- $ 18,971,596 Johan Santana, New York Mets- $ 18,876,139 Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs- $ 18,750,000 Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants- $ 18,500,000 Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels- $ 18,000,000 Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners- $ 18,000,000 Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs- $ 17,000,000 Aramis Ramirez, Chicago Cubs- $ 16,650,000 Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies- $ 16,600,000 A.J. Burnett, New York Yankees- $ 16,500,000 Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves- $ 15,500,000 C.C. Sabathia, New York Yankees- $ 15,285,714 Jason Schmidt, Los Angeles Dodgers- $ 15,217,401 Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles Angels- $ 15,000,000 Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies- $ 15,000,000 Derek Lowe, Atlanta Braves- $ 15,000,000 Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees- $ 15,000,000 Miguel Tejada, Houston Astros- $ 14,811,414 Lance Berkman, Houston Astros- $ 14,500,000

Ram-Ram making the jog to the mound. Wake grabbing himself a cocktail...

Sox clicking on all cylinders today. Sunday funday.

I think you're reaching a little here. It's a game thread. I felt like responding to a play where Drew got a quick jump on a ball, because it reminded me of the many times Drew gets great jumps on balls and therefore doesn't have to dive to make a play (like Trot often had to do), and that's why I made that one statement that I think most Sox fans, in general, tend to undervalue Drew's contributions to the Sox. I don't think there's much to argue with here, you probably just enjoy being argumentative. But that's OK too. You're prerogative and this is a message board, after all! Wake 1/3 of the way through the 8th. Our pitching staff is back, friends.

Wake's the man. It's beautiful when the knuckleball dominates a team that's an offensive powerhouse. Here's hoping Buch and Lester can bring it against the MFRs early this week. They must be destroyed. Anyone have an update on the Astros/Rays game?

The definition of to undervalue is to assign too low a value to; to underestimate; or to have too little regard or esteem for, so my point stands. I think our fan base does undervalue Drew, on the whole. Rather than focusing on the things he does well that are valuable to the team--i.e., field his position, hustle on every play, get on base, not make outs, take pitches, say very little to the media, be a well-regarded family man--instead, fans over-obsess about what they perceive that Drew is not, and most of those observations are either erroneous, overblown, and/or based on fans' own hang-ups about how much money players make. (Drew makes too much money! He's not a Dirt Dog! He doesn't hit for enough power to justify his salary! He's dull! He gets injured too much!) In pretty much every statistical category that's of worth for someone at his position, Drew is the best right fielder the Sox have had since Dwight Evans. Many Sox fans fail to recognize that. Thus, they, the fans, undervalue him. Fortunately, the front office does not.

The Sox really need to get a big bat. They can't score any runs this year. Drew sucks. Beltre can't field. Papi's done. Our pitching staff will never turn it around. This is a bridge year. Theo should be fired. This ownership group only cares about the almighty dollar. The Fenway sell-out streak's in jeopardy. Tito is a sorry excuse for a manager. Sox response: Suck it, haters.

Drew gets such great jumps on balls. He may be the most undervalued Red Sox player of my lifetime.

This is quite the efficient game so far. Wake up at bat with that little gut he has going is oh so softball league-esque. Makes me feel a little bit better about myself.

I read something today that said that if the Celts won tonight, it would be the first time in their history that the club won 2 away games to start a playoff series. This seems impossible to me. Anyone have the awarewithall, as Aaron Boone announcer extraordinaire would say, to look it up? I've spent the whole night watching Celts/Sox in a bar in NY and I feel like I've been flattened by an old-fashioned milk truck.

Through my network, I may be able to friend Michael Kay on Facebook. This is not out of the realm of possibility. This could revolutionize all of our lives. More later.

Watching YES after MFY chokes is always enjoyable.

This is what happens when an elite pitching staff and bullpen collectively underperform in the first 40 games of a season at the same time that a team suffers several key injuries as early as week two. The Sox's offense has been very consistent, scoring lots of runs, hitting a lot of homeruns, and picking each other up. Our pitching staff, especially the bullpen--that was supposed to be the foundation on which this team would be built--has literally been crumbling right in front of our eyes since last season. I'm curious to see how Theo et al attempt to address these issues this season. The only bright side I can think of, possibly, is that the Yankees pitching staff has been overperforming but likely won't continue to do so, and they're finally starting to show their age. The Rays have strong pitching, but their lineup is overperforming and likely will regress as the season progresses. I'm not giving up, by any means, but this pitching is going to have to go on a very dramatic, sustained run/tear to see this situation improve. If it's any consellation, there really are still ~120 games left. Plenty of time...but oh so frustrating to watch, for sure. Does this mean I have to get a competing hobby this summer? Damn it, I was really excited about baseball starting just 8 weeks ago. That feels like an utter eternity ago.