Random Thoughts

The Red Sox took 2 of 3 from the rival Yankees this past weekend.  They won last night’s game in dramatic form when Mike Napoli hit a game-winning home run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 11^th inning. 

The Red Sox are currently 1.5 games up on the Rays, who they happen to start a four-game series with today.  It’s going to be a battle. 

Today, I thought I’d ease into this week with a Random Thoughts post, since I know by Wednesday’s post, there will be a lot more news to report.

∙  Clay Buchholz is schedule to visit Dr. Andrews today in Florida.  The Red Sox are saying this is just to give verification that Buchholz won’t cause further damage by pitching on the mound.  Buchholz had been amazing this season, but he hasn’t pitched since June 8^th, which has been almost two months now.  If he needs Dr. Andrews to give him reassurance, maybe he needs to visit a sports psychologist as well.  I’m serious; maybe he has a bigger fear of getting hurt than to not pitching again. 

∙  The Red Sox are said to be interested in Jake Peavy, Bud Norris, and Matt Garza (again).  They reportedly had scouts at Peavy’s start this weekend, and they think Norris’s asking price is too high at this point.  The Red Sox have seemed to be linked to Garza the past few years.  Supposedly, the Red Sox don’t want a rental, so my bet is they make a play on Norris.

∙  Speaking of rentals, the Red Sox are still linked to Michael Young.  Young would be a rental, especially since the Red Sox have talent at shortstop/third base in the Minors for future seasons.  His bat would be nice to have on the team, but the Sox seemed to be doing pretty well despite a power bat coming from shortstop/third base.

∙  Lester’s start was pushed back from Sunday to Tuesday.  The reason given was to give him more rest, but it was just the All-Star Break.  How much rest does he need?  Plus, there were some rumors going around that Lester could be traded.  I’m not sure if the Red Sox are to the point of wanting to trade Lester, but it is an interesting thought.

∙  I’m starting to think we’ll see Xander Bogearts in the Majors before we see Will Middlebrooks again. 

∙  I’ve been a bad Red Sox fan these past couple weeks.  It’s been over 2 weeks since I watched a baseball game.  Reasoning: they were on the West Coast before the All-Star Break, then it was the All-Star Break, Friday I was in Chicago for a concert, Saturday the game wasn’t on in the Midwest; and last night, I only watched about an hour and a half of the game (and it was a Sox-Yankees game!).  Not good.  I’m definitely planning on watching the game tonight.

∙  Speaking of the concert I went to on Friday; it was a New Kids on the Block concert.  (Don’t judge, I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember.)  NKOTB is from Boston, and they wore Red Sox apparel during the concert.  Donnie Wahlberg wore a (sparkly) Sox hat during most of the show, all of them wore (sparkly) Red Sox “Boston Strong” jerseys during the last set of the show, and they played even played “Shipping Up To Boston.”  Unfortunately, they changed the words to “Shipping Up To Chicago,” but I still sang them the correct way.  I wasn’t a fan of the sparkly stuff either; one of them even wore a sparkly Patriots hat.

∙  The trade deadline is a mere 9 days away.  If the Sox are going to make a move, they’ll be making a move soon. 

∙  Did you know Jonny Gomes has 5 home runs in his last 19 games?  He’s also hit safely in his last 11 starts. 

And that’s all I have for today.  Make sure to check back Wednesday because I’m sure they’ll be more news to report.  Hopefully, the Sox can put some distance between themselves and the Rays this week.  Go Sox!