Sports

Well, old friend Doug Mirabelli has been traded to San Diego for second baseman Mark Loretta. Should work out well for them, although I'll miss Mirabelli... he's good people.

Also today, the Sox have ended the Edgar Renteria experiment. He's been traded to the Atlanta Braves for a high level prospect whos name escapes me. So, does this mean now that we have to call him "Gone-aria" instead of "Rent-a-Wreck"?

Well, with about 13 games to go the Sox are clinging to dear life for the AL East title. As we speak they've got an anorexic 1 1/2 game lead on the Yankees, and are definitely not playing their best baseball for sure. Whatever happens the rest of the way, we have a lot to look forward to for the future. I just watched the Major League debut of the young 21 year old Craig Hansen and man, it was impressive. A nice 3 up, 3 down inning with two K's and a popout against the Devil Dogs.

He's got fantastic stuff: a fastball in mid to high nineties and a great slider that's damn hard for a breaking ball. He's probably one more legit pitch away from being a front-end starter (my guess is he's working on a change-up).

Between him, Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen; things are looking on the up for the Sox' pitching stable for the future.

Hi folks. Long time, no see. Sorry for the unusually long delay in putting up a post on the site... works been insane and I am working on a new version of coomey.net.

So what's new? Well: Worcester now has a pro baseball team! The Worcester Tornadoes. They play up at a totally revamped Fitton Field up at Holy Cross. Believe it or not, their games are televised on WGMC-TV 3! I actually watched a game last night against the North Shore Spirit. To tell the truth, it's a NICE brand of ball. It truly is pro-league. So, support local baseball everyone.

Seeing the Tornadoes immediately brought my thoughts to the sadly now defunct Worcester Ice Cats. I really fell out of touch with what was happening in 'Catsville over the last five or so years, but after I heard they were leaving town, I felt pretty sad about it. Dawn Dhavale and I went to their inaugural game way back in '94. Over the years I probably went to 50 or so games. We took road trips to Springfield, Providence and Albany to see them play. I still remember a lot of the players I followed from back in the day: Walt Poddubny, Eric Fichaud, Terry Virtue, Blair Atcheynum, Jason Widmer...

It's sad to see them go. Hockey will be missed in this town.

Cam Neely was just inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was the epitome of a hockey player. He could fight AND score. He totally deserves this.

Edit: Cam was actually just elected to the HHOF. The formal induction is November 7th.

Okay I just wanted to make a quick observation. The Red Sox World Series ring ceremony was held today at Fenway Park. (YEAH BABY) As far as I know, all the players from last year's team were invited to participate. A notable absentee was one Pedro Martinez. Since he signed with the Mets last year, this man has not stopped bad-mouthing the Sox with nothing to back it up. Lately though, he's gotten ridiculous going out of his way to say stupid things like: ?If they want to keep the ring, that?s fine...? Bottom line: the guy is a punk. I hate to say it, but Yankees fans were right about him.

Let's contrast that with another man who you could say actually had a legitimate reason to complain about the Red Sox if he wanted. The difference is that Derek Lowe has class. The Sox barely made any attempt at all to re-sign the guy. He was demoted to the bullpen for the playoffs. People questioned his ability and even his psychological integrity, including myself, all season last year. He ended up clinching the win in all three series' in the playoffs last year. He was terrible during the regular season. He was amazing in the playoffs. All this time Derek took the criticism instride and has had nothing but kind words about the Red Sox and its fans. Derek Lowe showed up for the ring ceremony today. He even wore his Red Sox jersey. This guy's got class and I hope he kicks ass in LA.

The Patriots are again world champs. Welcome to the region of Champions. Condolences to Tony Murabito for watching his Eagles get this close, only to be run over by the patriots freight train.