Rumor is Tim Hudson is available

For the record, this is my rumor milling and no one else's. That's not me saying "Hey, I'm Jon, I'm on the pulse of trade rumors because I write in a stupid blog." it's more along the lines of this here check list that it seems Theo and Co. seem to go by when selecting free agents:

1. Hudson is past his prime, speaking in terms of pitchers (34 y/o this year) - Check
2. He is recovering from injury - Check
3. He was a premier guy once before and is on the comeback trail - Check
4. He is most likely to decline an option with his current team worth $12 mil to go into free agency where he'll get an incentive based deal until he shows he can pitch again.

Let's see. Who does that remind me of? Oh yeah, that fat guy. What was his name? Bartolo Colon. Hmm, that's one. Oh yes, Brad Penny. And that other old guy. Smoltz? Yes, John Smoltz. And for the hell of it I'll throw in Eric Gagne and David Wells, although Wells was worth it if not just for the entertainment and I don't recall him ever being injured, unless you count being a fat booze hound as an incurable injury.

It's sad that the season is 2 days removed and I'm already dissecting moves that are months away. At least as I listen to the radio I realize I'm not the only one doing so.

John Smoltz still wants to play

Yup, Old Man River doesn't feel like hanging it up quite yet. Lucky for us Sox fans, he's saying he wants to stay with the Cards in the NL. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the 8+ ERA he had here in Boston or that whole thing how he totally choked here in pretty much every humanly possible. Soon the trade rumors will start and everyone will get all worked up over Bay and Holliday and trading away Paps and what to do with the whole Youk/Martinez/Lowell trifecta. At least it will be an interesting off season of second guessing and rumor-milling. Who am I kidding, the first week after "the lose" is the worst. NESN should run Heidi highlights all off-season, or at least re-runs of every Sox victory last year.

He's just waiting

Look, you know this guy can pitch and you now when he does he hands taints to his opponents like an electrified taint handing machine, aka Mecha-Beckett 2000. The last few times out, well I figure he's just saving some of that venomous mojo for October. Despite looking more like the Sox version of John Smoltz*, the boys still got the W at the end of the rainy night on a few key Sox defensive plays and White Sox defensive eff-ups. The White Sox play the game like little leaguers. It seems like they know if any of them make a mistake Ozzie is going to yell at them in the dugout, let a few f-bombs out in a post game interview regarding their sh*tty play and then bench the guy the next game. Although, a lot of the stuff Ozzie says is kind of funny.

* Smoltz so far with the Cards: 11 IP, 1 (one) earned run. With the Sox I don't think Smoltz went on a run of 11 pitches without giving up more than 1 run. I'm going to chalk it up to NL play because there is no way someone goes from sh*t show to hero like that.

See ya Smoltzie

Don't let the door hit ya where the good door split ya. That's kind of harsh but that's what it came down to and The Professor is no longer with the Red Sox. DFA'd today. It'd be a shame if that's the way he ended it all, but it was pretty obvious it wasn't going quite as everyone had planned. Now instead of listening to everyone talk about getting rid of Smoltz, we just have to listen to everyone talk about who is going to start and why did they get rid of Masterson, etc, etc. Should be fun.

On to more pressing matters though, like the 3 games the boys can still salvage from this road trip through hell and come up with their heads held somewhat high. Becks, Buchs and Lester. Definitely the wild card in the middle but I think they can at least get a split out of this and maybe more if they can de-rail the Yanks tonight. The blood is definitely flowing.

What do I think?

Me (during the 4th inning Smoltzing): ::choice word, choice word, well lots of choice words:: Oh my god, just let him go.
My wife: Go where?
Me: I don't care. Away.

Why I dislike the Rays

Remember the movie The Rookie? Think more Quaid, less Sheen. The part that really made me start disliking the Rays before they did that whole '08 thing was that scene where the main character walks into the Rays clubhouse for the first time and sees the "treasured history" of his fellow Rays hanging in jersey form in the likes of Fred McGriff, Jose Canseco and Wade Boggs. Sorry but those guys didn't exactly bleed purple and teal or whatever the Ray's lame ass colors are. Baseball inaccuracies in movies really tick me off. I won't even bore you with my take on that Brandon Fraiser crapfest "The Scout" or how the hell anyone is supposed to believe that Freddy Prinze Jr. can 1, throw that fast or 2, land Jessica Biel on his best day. Summer Catch my ass.

Also, how did Brad Penny land that? He definitely didn't impress her with his pitching skills. At first the portly bastard was serviceable, but now he's starting to lose that initial fat guy swagger he arrived here with. At leas we have Smoltz starting tonight against the first place Yanks??? Oh man.

Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?

When the Nation notes that"Thankfully the Sox are playing some of the less fortunate teams before the AS break and should be able to notch a few easy wins" the Sox should learn to listen. Shut out by the A's. Ouch. Not exactly the infield of your dreams last night either with Lugo and Green in there at the same time because mighty mite was out with some family issues. Then you got the Professor just giving up piles and piles of hits bringing his ERA up over the bogey level for a par 5. Bogey being a golf term. The Cheese appeals to all. Appreciate it people.

Tonight however, JPB brings the magic and quite possibly a hunting rifle to lay down the law against the A's before they try to pull a Seattle on the boys and go up 2-0. There is no way he settles for anything less than total domination and quite possibly a Temple of Doom-like tearing out of the A's heart. Both are not only necessary, but at this point required.

The professor returns

John Smoltz, aka the professor, threw more like that professor than the one we all hopefully envisioned. After his back fired experiment titled "The first inning that effed us all" he bounced back pretty well for the next 4. Don't read into, he's washed up, first start jitters, he hates gays, blah blah I'm not listening to it unless they're talking about Jessica Biel playing Ginger in the imminent Gilligans Island remake. Hell, Hollywood has resurrected everything else under the sun so why stop now? Personally, I draw the line at this. I swear to all things Youkilis if they ever make a Back to the Future remake I will hang up my hover board for good.