Odd Thoughts

MLB Report

Roving reporter Deacon Blues has a very interesting fact concerning Ricky Henderson and his base stealing prowess in the post below. However, the comments from the old site are gone so you really missed out.

The Oregon state house passed legislation today to fund a stadium for the Montreal Expos. The legislation still has to be signed by Governor Ted Kulongoski, and there are still many details to work out. This would be good though: if the Expos move to Portland, disgruntled Mariner fans would have a second Northwestern team to break their hearts. Seriously, I do think Portland is a better option than a rebirth of the Washington Senators or a move to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

FOX Sports Radio personality Jim Rome had an excellent take on his show today about Pedro Martinez. I really wish I had been able to find a transcript so I could give a direct quote, but the gist of it was that Pedro is a big whiner. Pedro skipped his scheduled start Thursday against Oakland, which was an extremely important game for the Red Sox after having lost the first two games of the series and having a one-game deficit in the wildcard standings. Pedro asked to be excused from his turn in the rotation because he had a sore throat. He missed the start because of a sore throat. Do you think Curt Schilling would have asked for the day off? How about Derek Jeter? NO! Nobody asked you to give a speech, Pedro, they asked you to pitch. They asked you to go out and come up big, in the big game, to justify your big paycheck. Maybe Boston hasn't been able to overcome the curse in recent years because their hero, their superstar, would rather sit on the bench sucking cough drops instead of going out and doing what champions do.

On a positive note for the Red Sox, they did come back from their series against the A's to sweep the Mariners in four. Now the M's, A's and Red Sox all have the same record (in a manner of speaking), they're all tied for the wildcard lead, and the A's are now tied with M's for the lead in the AL West. The A's share in the lead is the first time they've been in this position since May 1st. It's going to be a wild final six weeks in the American League (and I haven't even mentioned the AL Central race), but I will hold to my original prediction: M's in, A's in, Red Sox out.