I’m on vacation…the kids are in charge…I’ll be back Tuesday unless the Red Sox lose three or more games this weekend, in which case, give me an extra week to recover.

LF – Bill Hall

CF – Darnell McDonal

RF – Ryan Kalish

Meanwhile, Jacoby still “feels something” as he goes 3-5 for Pawtucket today. Thanks dude.

ESPN.com – LeBron James is planning to announce the team with which he will sign during a one-hour special on ESPN Thursday night, ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard has learned through independent sources.

ESPN would only confirm that active discussions for the special are ongoing. But sources tell Broussard that representatives for James contacted the network, proposing that James makes his announcement during a 9 p.m. ET special.

Those sources said that James’ representatives requested they be allowed to sell sponsorship for the one-hour special, with the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and that ESPN agreed to the proposal but had not been told what James has decided.

Really? I mean, really? I know this whole Lebron James thing has been the biggest story of the year, but do we really need an hour long special just for his announcement? Do we really care that much? Even worse, ESPN is going to let James sell advertising for the stupid thing! This guy thinks he can just go anywhere and do whatever he wants. Sure, he is the greatest basketball player on the planet, but come on ESPN, have some dignity.

What I am really curious about though, is what does Brett Favre think of this whole deal? I bet he is fucking pissed. The summer is supposed to be all about him and whether or not he will retire or not. There is no way he isn’t rip shit about playing second fiddle to this clown, Lebron. Don’t be surprised if Favre comes running on to your TV’s during the middle of the press conference just to make sure people don’t forget about him.

That’s it, you guys aren’t invited to the parade next week. I’m also going to apologize in advance to any cars with a Vermont or Connecticut license plate in Brighton tonight because when I riot, I riot hard, and I hold grudges. Sure, this isn’t your fault because you were obviously in the top percentile of your respective state for wanting to get the hell out, but you are still affiliated with these idiots so your car is going to have to take the punishment.

P.S. Does this mean we have to change the name of the New England Patriots to the Boston/New Hampshire/Maine/Rhode Island Patriots? I mean, we can’t be having Laker pussies associated with the Patriots, right?

(Photo via AP/Reed Saxon)

Well, this sucks, but I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. Perk is the toughest son of a bitch I have ever seen play the sport of basketball and the fact that he couldn’t finish the game Tuesday was enough proof to me that he was likely done. I have seen a couple of articles out there asking if this is some sort of blessing in disguise. Asking if the Celtics are better off without Perk. Well my friends, that is a page out of the Dan Shaughnessy book of idiotic things to write. How does losing your starting center and defensive backbone make you a better team? Yes, Rasheed Wallace and Big Baby are both better on the offensive end. But we don’t need offense from that position if the Celtics play the way they want to. If it comes down to relying on big numbers from the center than the Celtics are in trouble and going to lose anyways.

Can the Celtics win without Perk? Of course. But it is going to be tough, as it should be. It’s game seven of the NBA Finals, what did you expect?

P.S. I love how the reports went from Perk possibly being able to return in the second half, to a strained PCL & MCL and he is going to try to play anyways to him having a torn PCL & MCL and could be looking at a recovery anywhere from 6-12 months. Got to love the media.

I have been saying this for over three years now since the day I saw him pitch up in Portland during the summer of 2007; Clay Buchholz is a special pitcher. Sure, the road to big league glory has been up and down but I’m telling you, this kid is a future ace and currently is far and away the best starting pitcher on the team. On a night where Jonathan Papelbon, Daniel Bard, and Hideki Okajima were all unavailable the Red Sox needed a big start from Buch. Clay responded by throwing 8 innings allowing only one run while striking out four. The strong effort brought his record to 2-2 on the young season and lowered his era to 2.19. He also has 22 strikeouts in 24.2 innings to only 9 walks. His era is now less than half of John Lackey’s 5.09, the second best on the staff.

When Beckett, Lester, and Lackey finally get their shit together the Red Sox are going to be able to trot out by far the best rotation in the game. I honestly believe that the Red Sox can be 15 games out of first place come June 1st and still be in good position, that is how good this pitching staff is going to be. Yes, it blows watching Lester and Beckett pitch like they are little leaguers getting their tips wet for the first time on a regulation sized field but the reality is that they were both just as bad last year to start the season. Soon they will both go on a run where they are practically unhittable and the Sox will win 25 out of 30 games in a month. Call me a homer, but I am not even close to panicking. Especially after watching Buchholz come into his own to start the season.

What I Liked:

John Lackey Impresses – It took three games but the vaunted Red Sox starting rotation finally lived up to all the off season expectations. Lackey was everything we expected and more last night going six innings allowing only three hits, two walks, no runs, while striking out three. He worked quick and pounded the zone throwing a perfect mix of fastballs and curve balls. After seeing Beckett and Lester struggle it was nice to finally see one of our aces step up.

New Guys Can Hit Too – All winter we talked about pitching and defense and how the additions of Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre, and Mike Cameron would improve the defense enough to make up for their lack of offense. It is still early, but I said from the beginning that these guys are going to bring more offense to the table than expected. That being said, Beltre is batting .364 with 2 RBI while Cameron and Scutaro are both batting .300 with a .417 OBP.

Beltre Is The Real Deal At Third – Again, it has been a small sample size but you got to like what you have seen out of Beltre defensively. The most recent example being a double play he turned in the sixth inning last night ranging to his left on a hard grounder making a quick throw to second on the move allowing plenty of time for Pedroia to turn the double play at first.

I Love The Middle Of Our Lineup – I don’t care that there is a possibility that none of them hit 30 home runs, I’ll take Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez, and Kevin Youklis batting 2, 3, and 4 any day of the week. All three of them in a row like that will wear down opposing pitchers working deep into the count waiting for the right pitch to hit. Just because we don’t have Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz in the middle of our order doesn’t mean it isn’t just as dangerous. Just wait and see.

Dan Bard Is A Bad Man – Three and a third innings pitched, one hit, two strikeouts, no runs. Right now the only bright spot in a questionable bullpen Bard is easily the most reliable arm they have out there. He looks like the Dan Bard of early 2009 when he threw 20+ scoreless innings in a row. He is locating his fastball, throwing his slider for strikes, and straight out blowing away batters. Plus, you know you are dirty when your change up is 89 mph and guys are still way out in front of it.

What I Didn’t Like:

This Bullpen Is Wack – Beyond Danny Bard I have no faith in anyone right now. Talk to me tomorrow and I’ll add Papelbon to that list, but right now I am still too pissed. But other than these two, there are question marks with everyone:

• Manny Delcarmen – when he is up in the 95-97 mph range and pounding the strike zone he is effective against both right and left handed hitters. When he is in the 89-93 mph range and all over the place he is useless. It was encouraging seeing him not get lit up on Tuesday, but he has a long way to go to win my trust.
• Ramon Ramirez – was dominant in the first half of last season. Then he lost it and had no control over the strike zone anymore. He was still effective against righties but struggled mightily against left handed hitters. When he is on his game he is a top notch 8th inning man but we haven’t seen that player since June 2009.
• Hideki Okajima – still effective against lefties, but struggled in the second half of 2009 against righties. Will he regain his dominant form or is he becoming nothing more than a lefty specialist?
• Scott Atchinson – it is never a good sign when you come into the game for the first time and I have no idea who you are.
• Scott Schoenweiss – used to be awesome but is going to need to show me a lot before I trust him. He sucked last year, got cut in spring training, and was only in Sox camp for a week.

Slow Starts For Beckett and Lester – Jon Lester has a losing record in April-May for his career and Josh Beckett sucked for the first five weeks in 2009 before turning it on going into the summer. Maybe it has something to do with the way the Red Sox prepare their pitchers for the season, but both were not sharp this week. Lester was hitting 98 in the first inning and threw a couple of nasty curves and cutters. But after that he was down in the 93-95 range and couldn’t locate to save his life. Beckett, like Lester, couldn’t locate and had no feel for his curve ball allowing hitters to sit on his fastball. I’m hoping we don’t have to wait until June to see both of these guys at the top of their game, but this was not a good star.

What’s Next:

A three game series at Kansas City

Friday: Tim Wakefield vs Kyle Davies @ 8:10pm

Saturday: Josh Beckett vs Zack Greinke @ 7:10pm

Sunday: Clay Buchholz vs Gil Meche @ 2:10pm

So this past Sunday me and my buddies had our annual fantasy baseball draft. It is an eleven team 5×5 roto league in which I am the reigning champ. I had the ninth pick in the draft but ended up trading it away before the draft. I have to say I am happy with the results. I could probably use a little more home run power but their is certainly a lot of potential. So without further adieu, here are the results:

My Pick: As I said before, I traded away my 1st rd pick so not much to say here.

Best Pick: Every pick in the first round is a good pick but I like the balls that Your Fucking Out (Pett) had taking Evan Longoria at seven. ESPN has him ranked 14th overall but personally I like him a lot more than that, especially at a weak third base position. Longoria should be a lock for 35-40 home runs, 100-120 RBI, with above average runs, average, and even a couple of stolen bases. There is not one category where Longoria will hurt you and the drop off to the next third basemen (David Wright) is significant. Pett now had the peace of mind going forward that he didn’t have to worry about picking off the scrap heaps at third base like many ended up having to do.

Worst Pick: Again, every pick in the first round is a good pick but I HATE what Ex of Ex (Billy) did taking Lincecum eighth overall. I am a firm believer that pitching can wait, even the elite pitchers, they are just two risky year to year. You may look at Lincecum and think there is no safer pitcher but his velocity has decreased every season over the past three. Is that really a reason to be concerned? Probably not. But the fact of the matter is that hitters are much safer. You can’t win your draft in the first round, but if Lincecum busts this year he could lose it for Billy.

My Picks: Before I made the trade I was targeting Prince Fielder and Miggy Cabrera with the ninth overall pick. To have Miggy fall to me at fourteen is huge. Now I get who I wanted with my 1st rd pick and still have the extra picks later on as a result of the trade. Miggy has been one of the most consistent players in the game. He won’t give you stolen bases but you can count on at least a .310 average, 30-40 homers, 110+ rbi, and 100+ runs. No doubt a solid pick up at fourteen.

Kinsler I am not as high on as I was last season. He once again missed time due to injury and is injured again this spring. Plus, his average was brutal. Still, he hit 31 homers and stole 31 bases as a second basemen. I think the average will climb back into the .270-.290 range and he should get around 30 HR and SB’s again, the only worry is the injuries. If he can play 150+ games he will likely give you first rd pick value. But if he only plays 120 game then it may be a wasted pick.

Best Pick: David Wright at 19th. While I think Evan Longoria is on a tier all by himself, Wright is on that second tier and still a damn good player. His power dropped last year which scares a lot of people but I think that was more of an aberration than anything. I look for a .310 average, 20-25 HR, 90-100 RBI, 25-30 SB, and 100 runs, solid production in all five categories. It is rare that you have a five tool player like him, especially at a weak position, so to get him at 19th is a great pick.

Biggest stretch: Joe Mauer at 13th. Don’t get me wrong, Mauer is a great player, the reigning MVP, and one of my top man crushes. But being a catcher is risky business. Those guys get beat up behind the plate all season long and have a high potential for some freak injury. I think at this point in the draft I want something a little bit safer. Guys like Teixera and Miggy will get you similar if not better numbers and will have much less risk.

(more…)

Welcome to the new and improved BostonSportsPulse.com

I was sick of the old layout so decided to clean it up a bit. This is is definitely much easier on the eyes and also provides a few new behind the scene features. Hope everyone likes it. !