Quickies

--That's the shortest base hit Ortiz will ever have.

--It was ugly to see, but I would have face-planted going after Ortiz's dribbler, too.  Then again, I'm not in the majors.

--Speaking of which, Dumatrait has not impressed this series.  Former Red Sox property, indeed.

--I looked around my thousands of cards recently, sort of mentally cataloging my stash for my move, when I realized I didn't have a Pujols RC or autograph.  For the hell of it, I googled same, and came upon an ebay auction of Pujols' Upper Deck 2001 RC.  Bidding was at $25.55 with a couple minutes left.  I made my top bid $30 as the totals rose and the seconds decreased.  Last second, someone made a bid of $28.03.  It ended, and I won, at $29.03.  So, yeah, I just spent $29.03 on a Pujols RC, graded 8.5.  Somebody stop me.  I can see where this ebay thing could be addictive.

--Here's where I say that I'm not in favor of the proposed playoff format next year.  Soon baseball will be like hockey and basketball, where almost everyone gets in.  No thanks.

--The Twins are Mauer and Morneau and...Thome, sometimes.  And that's about it.  Great park, though.

--Speaking of Thome, his 600+ homers will be the quietest 600 ever.  Lots of walks for him, too.  He'll be an interesting HOF candidate.  But he's far from automatic.  For those who care, he's second, all-time, in Ks, but also 8th, all-time, in walks.  8th in homers; top-25 in most offensive categories, career.  Stats show that he's probably one of the all-time best offensive players, at least in the top-40, career.  He played on the 96 Cleveland team with Belle, Alomar, Vizquel and Manny, too.  How that team didn't go all the way with those 4 players at the top of the lineup...I know, I know, pitching, pitching, pitching...

--Vizquel will be another interesting candidate.  He should just fall short, but worse players have made it in.

--Won't matter this year, but I'm curious about what games will be like at Target Field in, say, October.  And in April, for that matter.  Cold, is my guess.  But I'll repeat, great looking park.  Its backdrop maybe is the best in baseball.

--Reddick's doing well, but I'm giving him until the end of next year before I buy an autograph.  Unless he pulls a Dave Roberts in this year's playoffs.

Lately

Been away for a few days, so a few things:

--Don't look now, but the Sox are 7-1 in their past 8 games and are finally out of the cellar.

--Baltimore is now there, being one of the faster teams to go from first to last that I've seen.

--The top 3 are the Yanks, Rays and Sox, which you can bet will be the three playing the shell game for the rest of the season.

--A source tells me that you can bet that the Sox will not be paying Papelbon for his services next year.  As they have 3 closers on the roster now, they'll probably try to trade him if they don't think they'll go deep in the playoffs.  If they do, he'll stay, but then go bye-bye via free agency.

--I also hear that all indicators are that Papelbon will have a lights-out year, as he's mentioned he'll test the free agent market next year.  Nice enough guy, I'm told, and not as nutty as you'd think--but not the brightest bulb, either.

--The Angels will have trouble scoring runs consistently this year.  Their pitching and defense will have to be stellar.  This series they haven't been.

--Pitchers need to have better poker faces on the mound.  I'm getting tired of them showing lots of emotion when a call that's not even close doesn't go their way.

--The word is that some players in MLB are taking substances not being tested for yet, sort of a Stealth HGH.  I'm not surprised.

--I also hear that I may be surprised by the support that Manny may get from HOF voters after all.  If he gets in within a few years of eligibility, I will be very surprised.

--You have to wonder why Dice-K can't be like this all the time, if he can be unhittable in two straight starts.  What's going on in there?

--Varitek can go 0 for the season and still catch Game 7 of the World Series for me.

--Then again, so can Heidi Watney, if you know what I'm sayin'.

--The Yanks have 5 out of the top-10 batters in the league in terms of batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.  They'll have to be that way all year in order for them to contend.

--Mike Cameron must have pictures.

--Salty might be too tall to be a catcher.

--Ervin Santana, who could be Pedro, struck out 9 in 7 innings yesterday, but also gave up 9 hits and 5 runs, and some long homeruns.  That, in a nutshell, is why he drives his management crazy.  I remember when he came up, and he was lights out.  Now he's still lights out, but in a different way.

--I just saw Ellsbury thrown out on the second of two consecutive pitchouts.  Before the pitch, Scioscia was going through his signs in the dugout, and I thought: He's calling for another pitchout.  I swear.

--I called a Jim Rice homerun just like that, when I was 14.  A short story due to be in print soon (Space and Time Magazine; look for it in the summer) starts with a reference to the narrator calling a Manny homer, but it's based on me calling Rice's.

--Speaking of which, I was talking to a local former sports reporter yesterday, and when I asked him if he could guess the most perfect homerun swing I ever saw, he said, "Manny's game-winning homer off the Angels in the 2007 ALDS?"  Now, how the hell did he know that?  That was a little bit creepy!

Johnny and Manny

So Johnny Damon and Manny go to the Rays.  Who would've thought that Johnny Damon would get paid more for a year than Manny?  Johnny gets $5.25 million; Manny gets just over $2 million.  Not chump change for sure, but the Rays are saying right now that Damon is worth $3 million more than Manny.  Think about that a second!  Who could've seen that 5 years ago?  (Come to think of it, Jason Bay, who replaced Manny with the Sox, isn't doing so hot these days, either.)

Don't think it's Manny being Manny that got him the lower contract, either.  It's the spectre of the 'roids, of course.  I haven't seen Manny play every day for a couple of years now, but talk has it that his swing has holes now, that his wrist action is just a touch slower.  That's the absence of 'roids, people say.  I don't know.  But I have to say that I wouldn't pay a negative, whining, complaining slugger, who can't slug well and never could field well (though honesty compels me to say that his outfield throws have usually been very accurate)--and he's got a lousy work ethic, too.

Damon will give his all, and be largely inappropriate as he does so.  He'll field well and throw badly.  He'll draw his share of walks and pull some homers to right.  He'll steal quite a few bases if they let him play full-time, though he'll need to rest more these days.  People don't realize what a workhorse he used to be, playing over 155 games a year for many consecutive years.  All told, one of the more under-appreciated players of my baseball-watching career, which started in the mid-80s.  He'll be sabermatricians' favorite player by the time he retires.  He'll probably fall just short of the hall.  Manny, after the writers have punished him long enough for the 'roids and his on-field antics, will get in, probably after his 8th or 9th try.