That “leap,” so to speak, is the most important thing to come out of last night’s game, even with the Sox regaining a game lead in the Wild Card race.  If Buchholz is going to be a legitimate starter, presumably in the 3 spot behind Beckett and Lester, then he needs to learn how to stop the bleeding during “the big inning.”  Thus far in his young career, that has been a major issue for him.  Pitching brilliantly for 3 or four innings doesn’t mean shit if you blow up for 4 runs in the fifth.  Of course it remains to be seen whether Clay can build on this moral (and actual) victory and carry this mental edge into his next start, which, the way things have been going for him, will probably be against a reincarnated Satchell Paige.  It is telling, though, that he was able to dig in and hold down the fort in light of the circumstances: coming off two consecutive games where he received zero run support and facing another pitcher that rarely allows any.

And if last night was something of a fluke and Buchholz doesn’t put it all together this sometime before the postseason (fingers crossed) then I think it will be safe to say that holding on to him this long, through the Santana and Halladay sweepstakes, will have been a pretty big mistake.  One of my biggest complaints about the Red Sox front office, and this even goes back to the Duquette era, is that they let their prospects go stale in the farms.  Look at every single guy their farm system has produced in the last 5 years and what age they finally made it to The Show: Dustin Pedroia (24), Kevin Youkilis (26), Freddy Sanchez (26), Jon Lester (23), Jacoby Ellsbury (24)…and Buchholz is now 25.  In a (presumably) steroidless era, none of these guys are exactly spring chickens.  Could Pedroia or Youkilis have hit at the major league level at age 22?  Why not?  Neither has struggled for any prolonged period in the majors.  Now, I’m not saying that every single one of these guys was ready to play in the majors prior to when they actually did, and some guys do benefit from not being hurried, but at some point you can’t really be considered a “prospect” anymore.  Remember when Freddy Sanchez was the blue chip of Pawtucket?  He was 26 years old!  History shows that age 27 is the prime age for a major league hitter, so Sanchez was almost past his prime before he even began playing in the bigs!  Furthermore, consider the Hanley Ramirez situation – the guy was generally considered the best prospect in any team’s farm system and they sat on him, in spite of the massive vaccuum at shortstop we’ve had since 2005.  Then what happens?  We trade Ramirez who immediately becomes Florida’s starting shortstop and wins NL Rookie of the Year and nearly the MVP.  Also, Sanchez starting hitting right away after he was traded to Pittsburgh in 2003.

Point is, once you hit age 25 it should be sink or swim.  27 year-old rookies aren’t worth shit.  I’d rather have a 32 year-old Cy Young Award winner at the top of his game than some guy who’s two years away from wearing a “BUST” sign around his neck.

Where the hell’s all this coming from you ask?  Well for one, the latest exhibit in the mounting pile of evidence supporting my claim, AKA ESPN’s “Do Not Report” order for the Ben Roethlisberger rape allegations, issued late Monday night, the same questionable line they walked with Favre’s Lions/Packers debacle last season.  Again, the Favre story, like the Roethlisberger’s, had already been reported by other reputable outlets.  The gag order has apparently been lifted since then, as the story is now covered on their NFL page.  I assume ESPN just wanted to tread the legal waters of reporting such allegations carefully for fear a libel suit or something.

What’s that got to do with the Pats and what’s wrong with being careful, you ask?  I will answer your question with a question: WHERE THE FUCK WAS THIS “JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY” WHEN ESPN RAN WILD WITH THE MATT WALSH/SUPERBOWL WALK-THRU TAPE STORY FOR SIX FUCKING MONTHS LAST YEAR??  Can you answer that for me? CAN YOU?!?  There is such a double-standard when it comes to ESPN’s coverage of the Patriots compared to the rest of the league it’s appalling.  With only a painfully small handfull of exceptions, The Worldwide Leader showed no discretion whatsoever in their handling of both the initial SpyGate story (by the way, don’t you think that adding “-Gate” as a suffix to every controversial issue is one of the more redundant aspects of our vernacular?  Plus, isn’t it a pretty dated reference by now? We really can’t do better than lazily going the “-Gate” route all the time?) and the Super Bowl XXXVI Walk-Thru story.  They scheduled special editions of NFL Live so Stink Schlereth and Cris “Crack” Carter could gleefully pile on with further speculation and accusations that hadn’t even been levied against the dogged, stoic Patriots. LeAnne Schreiber, ESPN’s ombudsman and the only practical person in Bristol at the time had this to say about it:

Schlereth imagined how such tapes might affect the outcome if film was shot, edited and utilized “during the course of a game” — a practice Patriots coach Bill Belichick had consistently denied since last September, and for which there was no evidence. Never mind. The mere possibility that tapes could have been shot and used during a given game, with likely “amazing” effect on game outcome, got Schlereth and then Carter so riled up that pretty soon they had convinced themselves of the virtual certainty of their speculation. “If it’s not helping you during the course of the game, then why are you videotaping teams [like the 2002 Chargers] that don’t play within your division?” Schlereth asked, before providing his own answer. “Because you are using it during the course of the game. You are making adjustments during halftime.” Carter noted that the situation most likely to provide the opportunity for editing tapes for in-game use was the extra-long halftime of a Super Bowl. “To think that a Super Bowl might be slanted in a team’s favor!” Carter fumed. For an hour and 15 minutes preceding the Goodell news conference, this “SportsCenter Special” was a runaway train of inflammatory speculation that had Schlereth and Carter placing asterisks on all the Patriots’ Super Bowl wins under Belichick. Several times, Wingo tried to remind viewers this was simply the analysts’ personal opinion, but Schlereth resisted the notion that his opinion was debatable. Nothing short of a flashing red “speculation” sign filling half the screen for a full 75 minutes would have had any chance of counteracting the effect Schlereth and Carter were having.

That was just one episode of NFL Live. If you’re a Pats fan and really want to get your blood boiling, go back and read Gregg Easterbrook’s columns from 2007-2008.  With the notable exception of Schreiber (thank goodness for her) and the obvious exception of Simmons (thank goodness for him, too), ESPN’s television and internet personalities seemed to have been given carte blanche to say whatever they wanted on the issue that, again, was entirely unsubstantiated and ultimately proven false.  In spite of mounting evidence that the story was false, including Tomase coming forward three days later and admitting that they basically railroaded an unprintable story through to beat the New York Times and ESPN to the scoop, this lasted from February 2, 2008 through May 2008, when Matt Walsh met with Goodell, showed his hand and it turned out he’d been bluffing since before the flop.

The whole thing was a lie.  But the damage was done.  Ask the Duke lacrosse players if their reputations were restored intact once they were vindicated by the truth after  a drawn-out public witch hunt.  Look at Kobe Bryant — he’s gotten back much of reputation, but no one looks at him the same way they did before Eagle, CO.  And the same thing will happen to Roethlisberger, to some extent, regardless of the outcome of the legal actions taken.  Once you’re pinned with the black spot or the scarlet letter, things will never be the same.  The Patriots are cheaters.  Black Mamba and Big Ben sexually assaulted women.  The Duke kids might not be rapists, but they’re sexist and racist and bad people.  Doesn’t matter that these people were victims of circumstance and large, rabid groups that were eager to see privileged white boys taken down a peg, or the team that always beats their team shrouded in ignominy and their accolades tarnished.  This stuff would be true with or without ESPN’s participation.  My gripe though is that ESPN has decided to protect Big Ben to the best of their abilities, but they were the driver of the SpyGate bandwagon’s North American 2008 tour.

In conclusion, I ask, What the fuck?  Where was the gag order on all of the fraudulent Walk-Thru tape stories?  Why make a cottage industry out of Patriot/Belichick bashing and then turn around and bury the Roethlisberger and Brett Favre stories, both of which, by the way, are more despicable accusations than taping other teams (to very different degrees, of course)? I ask them rhetorically here, but I would genuinely love to know the reason for their taking two totally opposite approaches to similar dilemmas.  The only answer to these questions that I see is that they have an anti-Patriot bias, and unforunately the ESPN propaganda machine would turn Joe Goebbels green with envy.

- Nomar’s 2 homerun comeback from wrist injury game

- Mo Vaughn and Roger Clemens’ departures

- Pedro’s 17 in Yankee Stadium (read the article if you watched it…trust me)

- The first 2 innings of the 1999 All Star Game

- Game 5 of the 1999 ALDS (this being The Game of my life, there will be a full-fledged post on it sometime in the future)

…basically all of the pre-2004 highs we had, then tonight had special meaning for you.  Nomar Garciaparra — the man who paved the way for Pedro, Brady, Pierce and whoever is good on the Bruins, was back in town for the first time since his departure on July 31st, 2004, seconds before the trade deadline and only months before the Red Sox would go on to win their first World Series in 86 years.

Say what you will about the moves made that ultimately ran Boston’s favorite son out of town and ultimately led to a title.  Tonight, all of that was neither here nor there.  Tonight was about Nomar Garciaparra getting his fucking due.  Sure, Nomar got his fair share of standing O’s during his time in Boston, but tonight “Red Sox Nation” gave Nomar Garciaparra — the man who saved two women from drowning in the Boston harbor — the sendoff he deserved 5 years ago, and believe me, there are few athletes in American history who appreciated their fans the way #5 did.  And for that, he got a token of thanks that few who have donned a Red Sox uniform have ever deserved and that few will ever receive.

You’re fucking A right, Eck.  It gives me chills, too.

The series sweep featured three of the best kind of wins for a team, or most soul-crushing if you’re on the other end of the broom: A Wire-To-Wire Domination Game where it becomes clear that the other team still can’t touch your ace, a Hold On To A Close One Game where you protect the early lead late in the game by withstanding the opponent’s best shot, and, my favorite, a Comeback Game where you show the opposition that, no matter what, you will win in the end.  The Red Sox might only have a 2 game lead over the Yankees (and the rest of the AL East) in the standings at the moment, but it feels like a whole lot more as they have all but clinched the season series here in early June with an 8-0 record against their once-formidable rivals.

The Yankees have reacted like a spoiled rich kid who just got decked in the mouth out on the playground–they threw a tantrum and then cried to mommy.  In other words, they acted like the Colts.  At least when we were getting the shit kicked out us on a yearly basis we took it like men.

Can You Name the 2004 Red Sox World Series Winning Roster?

If you can’t name everyone in 6 minutes then get the fuck out of here!  Just kidding — I got everyone except the left-handed reliever who doesn’t have the same name as a famous fictional serial-killer.  Which is disappointing because I met this guy once at the McDonalds on Needham St. at 1am.

PS — Joe Schweon, don’t even waste your time.  You won’t be able to do it.

Harrison arrived in New England amidst a swirl of controversy, as fourth-year coach Bill Belichick had just cut Pro-Bowl safety, and staple of two Super Bowl defenses Lawyer Milloy, a fan favorite, before the start of the 2003 season.  Harrison, Milloy’s replacement, came with the reputation of being one of the NFL’s dirtiest players, and some experts wondered whether he still had the legs to play in deep coverages.  History, we know, speaks for itself regarding the decision to bring in Harrison at strong safety.  He immediately became one of the leaders on defense, voted one of the defensive captains by his teammates, and would be instrumental in the back-to-back Super Bowl Championships the Patriots won in 2003 and 2004.

Just how instrumental was he in the post-season?  In the 2004 AFC Divisional Game (2003 season), with the Patriots trailing by four late in the game, he intercepted League Co-MVP Steve McNair to set up the go-ahead drive that gave the Pats a 17-14 lead and ultimately move on to face the NFL’s other Co-MVP Peyton Manning in the AFC Championship.  The next week against the Colts, Harrison, to further silence those who questioned his coverage skills, intercepted a Manning pass in the Pat’s end zone and later went on to force a Marvin Harrison fumble, which the Patriots recovered.  New England went on to win the AFC Championship and Super Bowl XXXVIII.  After ten years in the NFL, Harrison had finally earned his ring in New England.  He was named First-Team All-Pro for the 2003 season.

It was more of the same in 2004 for the player who quickly made us all forget Lawyer Milloy (with all due respect to Milloy, who was also a great Patriot) and who seemed to become a life-long Patriot overnight.  Again named to the All-Pro Team (second team) in 2004, he led all defensive backs in tackles (138) for the second straight year, and captained a Pats defense that was second in the NFL in scoring (which was notably missing Ty Law and Tyrone Poole for much of the season).  And once again he would come through in the clutch throughout the post-season.  In the divisional round he continued to own Peyton Manning, who had thrown for a then-league record 49 TDs in the regular season, intercepting him to put the game on ice.  He would intercept Ben Roethlisberger in the AFC Championship game the next week, taking the pick back 89 yards for a TD in a 41-27 rout by the Pats.  Spurred by incendiary remarks by little-known Philadelphia receiver Freddie Mitchell in the week before Super Bowl XXXIX, Harrison submitted his best post-season performance: 1 sack and 2 interceptions, including one to end the Eagles last-chance drive and win the game.  His 7 post-season interceptions stand as a Patriot team record.

But enough with the bio stuff.  To put it plain and simple, Rodney Harrison is one of the greatest Patriots ever, at least of the Bill Belichick era.  A better fit to play for BB has never existed.  For me personally, he joins Troy Brown, Tom Brady, Drew Bledsoe and Kevin Faulk in my top 5 favorite players of all-time.  From the day he rolled into town he was the glue holding the secondary, if not the entire D, together.  And those defenses were all-time.  Rodney was an old-fashion, hard nose guy who loved contact and played with a chip on his shoulder every down, which is a dying breed in football.  In the NFL’s Golden Era he would have been hailed as an inspirational, working class hero like Chuck Bednarik, Dick Butkus or Sam Huff.  These days, playing until you hear the whistle earns you the “Dirtiest Player” Award (2004, 2006, 2008).  For all of the pussies who cry about Harrison’s style of play, I guarantee you that if given the chance to have Harrison on their team for the last 6 or more years, they wouldn’t hesitate to say yes.

One thing that sometimes gets lost in all the “dirty player” bullshit is the fact that Rodney Harrison was one of the smartest guys you will ever see play the game.  Whenever I watched the Pats on defense, the only guy I cued on was Rodney because by watching him you could tell what was coming even before the snap.  And I’ve never seen anyone time a QB’s snap count as well or as frequently as he did.  Typical Rodney play: third and two, other team’s starting to mount a drive in a close game, and all of sudden you’d see #37, with 10 yards of steam, crashing the left side of the line of scrimmage just as the center hikes it on an stretch play to the left.  I swear, it was like he was inside the other team’s huddle all game long.  (Also, to give you a sense of the kind of smarts and versatility he had, he is the only player in NFL history to record 30 sacks and 30 interceptions.  Ever.)

It’s always sad to see a Patriot from the Dynasty Days go.  With each Troy Brown, Mike Vrabel and Ty Law that moves to greener pastures, or hangs up their cleats for the last time, those glory days that felt like just yesterday for so long start to look a little smaller in the rear view mirror.  Rodney Harrison moving on, much like Mr. Patriot Troy Brown, is a particularly tough one to come to terms with.  So with that, we bid you adieu, Rodney.  It was a real treat to have you on our side.  See you in Canton, or sooner.

Here’s what Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft had to say of Harrison’s career.

PS — Do yourself a favor and read Chad Finn’s farewell to #37.  A warning to true Patriots fans: it might get a little dusty in the room when you read it.

Well, here’s a summer blockbuster to keep you preoccupied.  It’s not all hype either.  Here’s what the critics have to say:

Randy Moss had this to say about Brady’s return: “The sky’s the limit for this offense…I think that we could be a little bit better than two years ago. I’m very excited for us as an offense. I’m excited for us as a team. [The offense is] going to be a little bit scarier.”

Mike Reiss, the leading source for everything Patriots, noted that Brady is making accurate throws on the run, which is a good indication that he knee is in good shape already.

Brady’s doctor, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, confirms what we’ve all suspected for the past 8 years…that Brady is super-human.  He says, “Let’s face it, guys that are athletes like him, they’re strung together different. By and large, they follow the same biologic rules as the rest of us. However, they’re able to do things with their neuromuscular control, and their strength gains, and how they respond to exercise a little bit differently.”

Gisele Bundchen says of Brady: “He needs to wear three condoms to prevent his super-sperm from impregnating me, like he did Bridget Moynihan.”

Or, we could just defer to Touchdown Tom himself: “I feel as good as I could possibly feel.”

In other words, look out NFL.  The Patriots are coming.

But furthermore, it’s funny how much things have changed karmically for the Red Sox.  It used to be the Red Sox getting the guy whose value suddenly went out the window.  Boston was the city of choice for future Hall of Famers — the Andre Dawsons, Jose Cansecos, Steve Averys and JD Drews — to land one last big payday as they eased into retirement.  If this was, say, 1996 it certainly would have been the Red Sox left holding the hot potato and having to overhaul their entire marketing campaign overnight.  In my mind, this whole  sequence of events, going all the way back to last July, is as much a sign of the cosmic change in this franchise as the 2004 ALCS comeback.

As far as my take on the Manny aspect of this goes, there are two sides to it.  The first is this: I don’t actively wish bad things upon Manny — after all, with the exception of Hound, I was the biggest Manny apologist there was, especially when he was doing stuff like this — but I do take great satisfaction in the Universe adhering to the “What goes around comes around” corollary.  In spite of all the great times we had together, he screwed us plain and simple, so it’s nice to see him taken down, like, 10 pegs.

(If you are one of the people who complains about this stuff being too long skip this next part)

Here is an extended analogy: You date a girl for 8 years and she’s amazing, looks like Gisele, the whole nine yards — but every once in a while she does something that makes you say “Woah” (in a bad way).  You overlook it because most of the time things couldn’t be better.  All of a sudden, she starts pushing you to get married and she wants the most expensive ring at Tiffany’s.  You aren’t quite ready to make the leap, although it certainly isn’t out of the question.  You just need to figure it all out.  Understandably, this doesn’t sit well with her.  After all, she’s spent all of her prime with you, but she overreacts big time, withholding sex and manufacturing blow out fights over nothing on a regular basis until you are simply forced to break up.  You rebound with a Maura Tierny type (Bay), which is fine but not quite the certified dime piece you almost married.  Your ex, on the other hand, loses 10 pounds and gets a boob job and starts dating Justin Timberlake and he ultimately gives her that ring and doesn’t even ask for a pre-nup.  Needless to say you’re feeling kind of down about everything.  Then, less than a year later, it becomes public knowledge that your ex-GF gave JT VD!  (Or, since their are needles involved here, let’s call it Hepatitis-C.)  Everyone starts piling on about what tramp she is and poor JT is trying to figure out what the hell to do, because she’s out of commission and he’s still in to her for $45 million!  Meanwhile, Maura Tierny is 3rd in the AL in homeruns and second in RBI, so you actually made off like a bandit!  And while you still have a lot of great memories about your Latin American ex — your first Christmas together, the trip to Tahoe — you can’t deny feeling immense satisfaction over the way things ultimately played out for her.  That make sense?

(OKAY STOP SKIPPING)

On the other hand, it really sucks that Manny of all people is tainted by steroids, both from a Red Sox fan’s perspective and a baseball fan’s perspective.  I won’t get into all the sanctity of the 2004 Title stuff because Simmons has already covered it in detail.  As a fan of baseball, I don’t know who is left that you can trust.  For me, there were three guys that I have literally gone on at length about over the past 5 years saying “You know, if there’s one guy who definitely isn’t juicing it’s Player X.”  Well, those three guys, in order, were Rafael Palmiero, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez.  So the lesson here is that I am usually talking out of my ass.  At this point, I don’t trust a single guy out there.  Sorry to all of the players who are clean, it’s not fair to them, but based on everything we’ve seen I don’t trust any of them any farther than I can throw them.  Like Simmons, if it ever comes out that Pedro was juicing…I don’t know what I’ll do.  I just hope those three years of transcendent brilliance don’t get taken away from us.

At first I thought this was a joke, but it looks like Gillette actually made this as part of series on how to shave various parts of your body.  I would really love to have been a fly on the wall in that marketing brainstorm where some guy goes “I’m just gonna throw this out there… how about we market razors as a way to shave your pubes?” and the incredulous boss goes “Why the hell would someone do that?” to which the idea guy replies, “Well, it makes it look bigger” and the boss slowly raises his eyebrows as he makes the “I’m Intrigued Face.”

Also, keep in mind this is the corporate sponsor of the Pats.  I can’t decide if that’s cool or embarrassing.

PS — I know I’m marching into uncharted territory with a non-sports related post, but some people have been complaining about the content thus far so I decided to mix it up.

PPS — Sorry for another extended dry spell.  I’ll try not to let it happen again.  Thanks to ALib4Lax, N. Doherty & Tom Culberson for telling me to get my act together.

(Update:  I just realized why so many people sent me the link above…it was posted on barstool an hour ago.  Didn’t mean to poach.)