Random Thoughts (July 2, 2009)

Just a few pointless rants while wondering why God has decided to flood Eastern Massachusetts... Less than 24 hours after the Orioles staged a historic comeback against the Red Sox, the Sox launched their own comeback to defeat the Orioles 6-5 in 11 innings yesterday. Trailing 5-1 entering the 9th, the Red Sox tied the game on a two-run single by Rocco Baldelli. Julio Lugo (more on him below) drove in Jacoby Ellsbury with the winning run. In closing out the O's in the 11th, Jonathan Papelbon recorded his 133rd career save, making him the all-time leader in franchise history. The Sox return to Fenway with a 2.5-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East (the Yanks host the Mariners tonight) to begin a ten-game homestand against Seattle, Oakland, and Kansas City before the All-Star break... In spite of his game-winning RBI yesterday, it is expected that the Red Sox will cut ties with Julio Lugo as soon as they are completely confident in Jed Lowrie's health. A combination of Lowrie and Nick Green leaves no room for Lugo in Boston. Instead of just eating the remaining money on his contract (roughly $15 or 16-million), I wonder if the injury-ravaged Mets would take on Lugo, even if they did nothing more than eat up some of his money. Any savings the Red Sox can get on Lugo is money they could spend on a possible fill-in for Mike Lowell if his hip doesn't allow him to play at full speed... Lost in the steroid scandals that have plagued baseball for the last ten years, Albert Pujols has emerged as the game's most dominant -- and CLEAN -- hitter. Through 79 games this season, Pujols is hitting .337 with 30 homeruns, 77 RBI, and a ridiculous 1.205 OPS. Pujols leads the National League in both homers and RBI's and is third in batting average behind Hanley Ramirez (.348) and David Wright (.340). He has a legitimate shot to become the first Triple Crown winner in baseball since Carl Yastrzemski did it for the Red Sox in 1967. It's sad we live in an age in which the media and fans care more about which star will fall because of performance-enhancing drugs instead of directing their full attention to a once-in-a-lifetime player like Pujols... Danny Ainge has been infatuated with center Robert Swift since the Bakersfield, CA product entered the NBA Draft straight from high school in 2004. Ainge eventually had to "settle" for Al Jefferson when the Sonics drafted Swift ahead of the Celtics. Jefferson clearly has become the better player and without him, it is highly doubtful that Ainge would have been able to pull off the Kevin Garnett trade two years ago. Swift, who was not re-signed by the team formerly known as the Sonics, has been added to the Celtics summer league roster. If he plays well -- or shows any signs of life -- expect to see him at the end of the Boston bench in 2009-2010... The Celtics are considered to be the leaders to acquire the services of Rasheed Wallace according to multiple sources and also have made inquiries about forward Antonio McDyess and swingman Anthony Parker. I don't think the C's can afford all three but if they could get both Wallace and McDyess, how many teams could compete with this squad (taking into account the re-signing of Stephon Marbury for the veteran minimum and the probable loss of Glen Davis to free agency): 5: Kendrick Perkins, Rasheed Wallace, Robert Swift 4: Kevin Garnett, Antonio McDyess, Brian Scalabrine 3: Paul Pierce, Bill Walker, Tony Allen 2: Ray Allen, Eddie House, J.R. Giddens 1: Rajon Rondo, Stephon Marbury, Gabe Pruitt/Lester Hudson A nine-man rotation of Perkins, Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Rondo, Wallace, McDyess, House, and Marbury is better than anything the rest of the league has to offer. The expiring contracts of Scalabrine and Allen also give Ainge the payroll flexibility to make a move during the season to add a rotation player (at point guard or swingman) if needed... If I were a fan of the Detroit Pistons, I would want Joe Dumars fired immediately. After the Pistons advanced to the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals, Dumars had a Hall of Fame coach in Larry Brown, a deep and versatile roster filled with team-first players, and the second pick in the '03 draft courtesy of the Memphis Grizzlies. With the chance to select Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, or Chris Bosh, Dumars instead took teenage Croatian center Darko Milicic. In spite of the wasted Milicic pick, the Pistons did win the 2004 championship. But instead of evolving into a dynasty -- which should have been Detroit's fortunes -- they never won another title. They lost to the Spurs in the '05 Finals and then proceeded to lose in the Conference Finals the next three years (Heat, Cavaliers, Celtics) before bottoming out and being swept in the first round this year by the Cavs. During that time after blowing the '03 draft and winning the '04 title, Brown left the Pistons, the roster was never improved enough to put the Pistons over the hump to win another championship, and Brown's capable replacement, Flip Saunders, was fired for not advancing past the Conference Finals in three attempts and replaced by Dell Curry, who had no previous head coaching experience. Dumars made his biggest mistake this season by trading his best overall player Chauncey Billups -- the perfect combination of passing, scoring, defense, and toughness -- to the Nuggets for the infinitely selfish Allen Iverson. After the failed season with AI, the Pistons fired Curry and allowed Iverson, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess to enter free agency. It gave Dumars and the Pistons roughly $20-million in salary cap space to attract free agents. Of course, one must remember, it is Joe Dumars spending this money. The same guy who drafted Milicic. The same guy who traded Billups for Iverson. The same guy who dumped Saunders for Curry. Fittingly, Dumars spent his money on two good players who in no way make the Pistons contenders to win the championship in 2010. He gave guard Ben Gordon a 5-year/$55-million deal and then handed forward Charlie Villanueva a 5-year/$40-million deal. That gives the Pistons a roster that still has more questions than answers. They have no true point guard. They have three shooting guards -- Rip Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, and Gordon -- who all need the ball in their hands to be successful. They have one good small forward in Tayshaun Prince. They have no threat in the post. Villanueva is more dangerous from the perimeter and neither Kwame Brown or Jason Maxiell make opposing defenses lose any sleep. Dumars also wasted his first round pick this year to select Gonzaga's Austin Daye, who is no more than a poor man's version of Prince. In the process, they skipped the chance to take a real point guard (Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, Darren Collison, and Eric Maynor all went after Daye) or post player (Dumars passed on B.J. Mullens, DeJuan Blair, and Derrick Brown). Dumars did land Georgetown power forward DaJuan Summers in the second round but considering their lack of talent inside, using both of their top two picks on big men would have been a wiser choice. As a Celtics fan, I couldn't be any happier with Dumars inability to keep the Pistons a contender. However, all of you Pistons fans out there need to find a way to get Dumars out of power before things get any worse... Enjoy Wakefield v. "King Felix" tomorrow night...