"Yeah, but" didn't apply

I railed against the proposed Lester-Santana trade during the off-season. I believed the Red Sox would be giving up too much to get the vaunted (former) Twin ace.

I preached patience with Lester's early struggles. According to medical personnel, it can take up to two years to get back to full strength after cancer treatments...if at all. We're still less than two years removed from even the diagnosis and Lester absolutely dominated the Kansas City Royals in his start, throwing a no-hitter (with a little bit of help from Jacoby Ellsbury - one of the other key components in the trade package with the Twins).

Some people will look at the fact that it was against the Royals and say "yeah, but...," but that would be wrong. Sure, one to nine, they're not a dominant hitting team, but one to seven they have only one player hitting below .260, Jose Guillen (.241 after Lester's start), and he's currently seventh in the American League in RBI production. Lester also had to pitch to the leader in batting average (.331), Mark Grudzielanek three times on his way to the offensive shut-down. The Royals currently have the fifth best batting average in the American League - better than presumed offensive powerhouses like the Yankees and Tigers.

There is no "yeah, but..." here. Just a dominating performance against a decent offensive team.

I'm still not saying that Lester is necessarily going to become Johann Santana, but I still don't think Santana was worth trading Lester.

A few quick notes about the start - Lester is just one of three pitchers to win the deciding game of the World Series and the following year throw a no-no. It's him, Sandy Koufax and then back in 1915 Rube Foster did it for the Red Sox. That's not just good company - that's rare company.

Think about that for a second - Lester, Koufax, and Foster. Not Tom Glavine, not Pedro Martinez, not Roger Clemens, not Bob Gibson, Bob Lemon, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Don Larsen, Cy Young, nor Steve Carlton. A who's who of Hall-of-Famers didn't do what Lester did - and Lester has done it with the extra degree of difficulty of doing it while recovering from cancer.

Jason Varitek has now been behind the plate for four no-hitters, and it could have been six had Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling not shaken the Sox catcher off in the ninth inning of games in which they came close. I bring this up because Varitek is nearing the end of his career - he might have four seasons left after this as catchers at his age can deteriorate quickly.

His offensive numbers are solid, but not Hall worthy. But has any catcher been better at calling a game? Has any other catcher been behind the plate for four no hitters? Maybe, but I haven't found him.

A well needed win...

I stand by my earlier statements regarding Curt Schilling and the degradation of skills. That said, it was a hell of a showing yesterday when the Sox needed it. While the story the press is reflecting on is the no hitter that got away in the ninth inning, it really should be wrapped around the fact that Schilling only threw 100 pitches to come away with the complete game one-hit win.

Schilling, who has historically gone deep in counts, walked no one and faced 29 total batters.

Why is all this so important? Because over the last couple of years when Schilling has been allowed to throw more pitches in a game, his following start to two starts have suffered. It was particularly noticeable last year after a 130+ pitch outing against Cleveland and Schilling just looked old for his next two starts.

One other observation: Is it just me, or have Schilling's trouble spots come up whenever he has shaken Varitek off?

Good job boys...now let's get number nine for Beckett. Number nine, number nine, number nine...

From bad to worse...
I'm trying to figure out if the Feds getting involved in the Vick dogfighting case bodes worse for Vick or Gerald Poindexter, the Surry County prosecutor who appeared to be dragging his feet on this case.

Poindexter upon being ousted by the Feds, made the following statement as part of the AP article:

"There's a larger thing here, and it has nothing to do with any breach of protocol," Poindexter said, still trying to rationalize where the federal government fits in. "There's something awful going on here. I don't know if it's racial. I don't know what it is."

Vick and Poindexter are black.

Of course, here are some of the issues that have taken place under Poindexter's watch:

1. Shortly after the May 25th raid, the state animal control rep who was with the police on the raid noted that there was enough evidence to begin issuing indictments/warrants for arrests, particularly in light of the fact that neighbors could place Vick at the house in spite of his assertions that he was never there. Those warrants still have not arrived.
2. Multiple witnesses have come forward over the last two weeks connecting Vick with dogfighting. Still no warrant.
3. During Poindexter's watch, the Vick home where this all took place was broken into. Publicly Poindexter seemed unconcerned, stating that he believed that whoever broke into the home was probably just after furnishings...never mind the fact that it was a crime scene, and it could easily have been someone going there to destroy evidence.
4. At least one witness noted that a number of dead dogs are buried on the property. Somehow Poindexter's office screwed up that warrant, and had to wait for that one to expire while a new warrant was in the works.
5. As a breeder of these dogs, and an allegedly individual involved in fighting the dogs in both North Carolina and Virginia, the crime crosses state boundaries and becomes a federal offense.

All of this doesn't even account for the fact that the Vick family appears to get special treatment on the Virginia peninsula due to their celebrity status as athletes. Really, would Marcus Vick have gotten the slap on the wrist he had if he wasn't either of the following; A) The starting QB at Virginia Tech B) Michael Vick's little brother C) A black sports star in a predominantly black area?

Do I think there might be some racism at play? Maybe, maybe not. If there is, I don't think it's on the part of the Feds. Have the Feds lost confidence in Poindexter's ability to prosecute this case because of other issues? I'm guessing that's a yes.

Shoring up the minors...
According to the Herald, this is our newest first draft pick...

The Sox took University of Washington left-hander Nick Hagadone with their first selection, the 55th overall pick and the 25th pick of the compensation round. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound junior averaged 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings while posting a 6-1 record, 11 saves and a 2.77 ERA in 25 games this season.

All in all, that doesn't look too bad for a team whose first pick didn't come until the second round. Especially considering the kid is a lefty.

Coming Soon...Post 200!