The Other Boston Trade

Good evening, gentle reader-

I apologize for my recent absence. I've been working on a project that has basically sucked my soul away... God I love grad school. Actually, its somewhat relevant to our current discourse, but more on that soon-

The Bruins made a deal today that I'm somewhat taken aback by... they have traded a Providence prospect for a 32 year old goalie.

So what's the big deal? Well, 1, the B's have 3 goalies right now (Tim Thomas, Hannu Toivonen (sp?) and prospect Tukka Raask). However, none of these goalies are really capable of bring the B's back into the playoffs, and by my estimation Toivonen will be jettisoned for 50 cents on the dollar. But this may be ok, because all the B's gave up in this deal (for Manny Fernandez, the new goalie) was Peter Kalus and a 4th round draft pick. Now, knowing how these things work, Kalus will be the second coming of Paul Coffey (that's an idea if I ever decide to rename my blog... "The Second Coming of Paul Coffey"... I kind of like it. Let me know what you think), and the 4th rounder will probably be the next Joe Sakic, however, if the world is fair maybe that won't happen for once.
But what really surprises me is this: The Bruins seemed to have made a sensible deal that balances both finances and on ice concerns.
Is Fernandez the best goalie available? Well, lots of guys aren't "available", so he may be the best they could get, but he isn't the best goalie out there. Nevertheless, the Bruins have a track record of getting rid of goalies that hold that ever important "potential" and pick up guys that aren't on the back nine of their careers, they're already in the club house, drinking their Bud Light and worrying about getting back home to the constant nagging of the wife.
These names might sound familiar (if and most likely only if your name is Matt...): Peter Skudra, Steve Shields, Jeff Hackett, Felix Potvin. They all found a bit of spare change at the bottom of Jacob's pocket and a ride off into the Canadian sunset.
This years most eligible bachelor-tenders?
Curtis Joseph. Ed Belfour. Robert Esche.

Come on. These guys were all DYING to come to the Bruins, make 3 million dollars too many to play like crap before packing it in.

Yet this isn't the path that the B's chose... for once. In Fernandez they get a 32 year old backstop with a career 2.47 Goals Against Average who is making 4+ million for only TWO years. Chances are Fernandez has a couple of decent seasons left in him, and if he doesn't, well, this little foray into prudency only has to last for two years.
I'm so in favor of this deal I'm pretty sure there isn't something wrong with it, everything must be wrong with it.
I'm just missing something. This is a deal the Pats would make. A deal that Theo would make on a good day (when he's taken his Ritalin and isn't dressing up as a gorilla). Its the best trade that a Boston sports team has made all week, and that's saying something.
Will they fail me in free agency tomorrow? Yup. Not probably, I'm quite sure they will.
But is there the smallest glimmer of hope? Well, if you cock your head to the side and squint, you can kind of sort of see it. Or maybe that's just the light reflecting off the door knob, but anyway...

A Brief Response...

Come on Bree... you know that the best 3 minutes, or 4 minutes, or maybe on a good day if its before noon and its partially cloudy and about 75 degrees, 5 minutes of Ian's life have been "doing something" with you... but 13:39? Puh-lease.

He only has that sort of stamina when sitting down, not moving, and staring intently while concentrating on the only thing that matters... the funny ass crap I provide for his entertainment.

You may have his heart, but I will always own the poor Canadian's soul.

The Cape Weekend

If you haven't noticed by now, I generally don't write too much about what is actually going on with me... mainly because the details are a little too mundane for anyone to have to suffer through. However, I have to say that this weekend is one "to write home about"... its been a very, very good Cape wekeend.
My parents took Meghan and I out to dinner for our anniversary last night, we ended up going to Falmouth Yacht Club and having a really nice dinner, followed by dessert out on the deck, and watching the sunset. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have made better plans for the night, it was awesome.
And it was preceded by a happy hour at the O'Briens house that, as always, provided the correct amount of comedy and entertainment for one night - my dad's fascination with Bill's Blackberry was a particularly great hightlight.

What has made this weekend especially relaxing though has been the chance to sit out on the deck and do my school work - this may sound crazy, but if you had to work on the most boring project ever, I'm pretty sure you would choose to work on it right here too. Ok, so right now I'm writing to you, but that's not the point...
It's 80 degrees with a slight breeze in the shade - I'm playing tunes off of Rhapsody and researching stuff on the net... its really, really great. It makes me really hate the thought of going back to work tomorrow...
Well, that's it... nothing insightful or interesting, just enjoying the weather. I wish you were here to enjoy it with me!

Random cool stuff for another Friday night

I have a very strong feeling of deja vu... as I was here entertaining you all from this same spot last Friday night... well, I suppose in a technical sense its Saturday morning. Whatever.

Tonight was similar to last week as well because the Sox beat a "San" team... (Diego instead of Francisco). I'm pretty sure it means a whale's fin... San Francisco, that is. We all know what San Diego means, and it doesn't have anything to do with being host to a dirty Canadian.

Well, I've been trying to share this clip for a while, it was the one that I really wanted to post last week but didn't get to because the video wasn't working on youtube. I apologize if you have any technical difficulties with it, but we'll give it a try.
On my list of favorite tv shows of all time, NewsRadio is definitely in the Top-5 (this may have to turn into a future post). You may have guessed that already, but I've been hoping to share some of my favorite scenes on the if'n'when they are available (quite illegally though it may be). The interaction between Dave Foley and Phil Hartman was always classic and this scene really exemplifies how well they worked together... here timid Dave finally seems to have the upper hand versus Bill, and the ending is just awesome.




"This one I like, I keep. This one displeases me..."

That's a short enough clip, but if you have a little more time, I'd suggest this... I've got to say like Peter and the Chicken, I had forgotten why they were fighting, but I'm pretty sure this is the best trilogy since Star Wars (the first one).




Die Hard has nothing on these two. Believe me, you may not realize it right now, but in a few days, you'll be at work, or in class, and you'll realize that that was the best 10 minutes you've spent in a long time, mainly because the entire sequence is running through your head instead of the next lame exercise in your daily life.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Another weekend down at the Cape - my parents are down as well, and I took today off to get some work done... and to get some leisure done too. Laney stopped by, we had a nice little frag fest with Halo, always a good time.

A few things to add/follow-up on:

Ever since voicing my displeasure with the DD iced coffee website, I have not returned to it. Not surprisingly, my odds of winning are still exactly 0.

The Half Way Cafe is supposed to be pretty good... there are a few locations in the greater Boston area. Laney and I went there, and I (the phatom gourmet [sic]) would have to say I don't care to go back. Decent Chicken Parm sandwich, but terrible, soggy, crappy fries, private label soda, and a general lack of reasons to try it again. Still searching for the great place to get a good sandwich nearby.

The Bruins are killing me right now. That's all I have to say about it.

Have a great weekend, and remember, if you can't be good... be safe.

I take offense to this...

At least I think I do, I'm not sure I'm smart enough to figure it out though:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/06/older_siblings.html

Of course, when you think about it, I'm pretty sure it's true. I mean, who in my family has a bigger head than Peter? Just kidding, but in all seriousness, their argument might have some merit.

If anyone is interested, I'm planning a class action lawsuit - Siblings v. God.

I can't say it any better than this...

This is the most scathing, seething article I've seen about the Bruins in a long time... and its in the Globe. I would try and expound, but I'd say it covers the bases quite nicely.

http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/wilbur/sports_blog/blog/2007/06/21/bear_claude/index.html

Entertaining for Bruins fans, but should be enjoyable for anyone who likes a nice, well written journalistic pummeling.

Welcome to Boston Claude Julien.

There's Comedy... High Comedy...

And then there is watching Julian Tavarez at bat against the Atlanta Braves.
I must admit, I've been following the Sox faithfully this year, but because of class and a generally busy life (read: I want you to think that I'm busy but really I get bored easily. I think I have ADD. No, really, help me here. I've lost interest in writing about this...) I haven't been watching the games so much as having a vague idea of what is going on night to night.
Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration too... I usually have more than a vague idea, but I don't want you to think I'm a geek... well, whatever.
I digress. Julian Tavarez at bat... its like watching Peyton Manning behind center, except he's less competent but more confident (ie no Peyton Manning Face). There's more action in the batters box than Daisuke's wind-up...
Here's what I observed while watching a couple of at bats:
1) An open stance. Very open. Like, one of those, 'I'm gonna jack it out of the park, I don't need good form, I'm gonna make you pay for this pitch down the middle' stances.
2) To compliment this, he's huge. He's at least 5 feet taller than Dustin Pedroia, which makes him a good 7 feet tall. I actually think he was supposed to be a slugger but was somehow drugged into being a mediocre pitcher.
3) Just in case you didn't see him (reminder: he's huge in the batters box. twice the size of Coco Crisp...), he waggles the bat before the pitch as much as... well, I'm pretty sure he does it more than anyone I've seen. Because, you know... he's gonna crank it out of the park.
4) He has the best bunt-swing-and-a-miss swing I've ever seen. You actually believe that he's about to make contact. He's not... but you believe it.
5) He can take called 3rd strikes better than Julio Lugo... and that's saying something. Remember, if you are trying to work a pitch count, and you suck, then you have to, and I mean HAVE to take strikes. Constantly. If you aren't taking strikes, then you're swinging at the first pitch, and making a weak-ground-ball-to-short out... This is important. If you have a team of 9 crappy players, and your goal is to get past the starting pitcher-as an example, let's use the Baltimore Orioles vs. Johan Santana, you can absolutely force Johan to throw at least 81 pitches just by taking strikes. There's a very good chance that he'll get so sick of being so good, that they'll go to the 'pen where your crap-ass team hits 200% better. (.150 instead of .075). Where as if you go up and swing at the first pitch (and you suck, ie you are the 2007 Orioles), then Johan throws a minimum of only TWENTY SEVEN pitches.
Ok, so this is unlikely of course, but its an important point.
Julian Tavarez does his job at the plate. He takes his strikes. He works the count. He sees three pitches when some would only take one or two.
This may not be important now, and it may not be important ever, but it may not not be important, right? And that's what we're going for.
That being said, I have a few other thoughts on the Sox, if you can get your brain untangled:

-So Schill might be down... here's to hoping he's out as well. No, really. Let's look at the facts. He's 41 (? right?). He's a righty. He's a power pitcher. He's going to break down. He IS breaking down.
So why push it? There are three possibilities:
1) Schilling pitches himself into suckiness, slowly, throughout the year, and can't perform in the playoffs.
2) Schilling gets hurt trying to play, and is out for good (he gets Barbaroed).
3) Schilling shows signs of suckiness, not because he's hurt, but because of the reasons mentioned above, and the Sox shut him down - for now. If they don't do so, he probably falls into category #1, goes .500 or thereabouts (or worse) for the rest of the season, and can't perform in the playoffs (notice i don't say "can't play", we all know that the sox will get an acute case of Pedrosis and pitch him into the 10th in game one of the ALCS). But if they shut him down until the playoffs, the following happens:
The rotation becomes:
1a) Josh Beckett - potential Cy Young winner
1b) Daisuke - potential AL rookie of the year
1c) Jon Lester - possible come-back player of the year (if he gets called up soon)
2) Tim Wakefield
3) Julian Tavarez
So Beckett takes Shills spot, we'll assume that his arm is healthy and the blisters won't erupt, he will automatically give you better performance than Schill. Daisuke doesn't give you what Beckett does in the "2" slot, but should be good for 8 more wins. Lester replaces Daisuke, which could very well be a wash. And in all of this I'm saying that Lester will be better than Schilling's .500 record down the stretch. You get what you get from Tavarez (which right now is brilliant, but we know they won't go .850 as a team the rest of the season, and he'll probably pick up his share of losses in the second half) and Wakefield continues to be Wakefield. That's a damn good rotation.
And one that keeps its current pace and wins the division by 10+ games, without Schilling.
Is this likely to happen? No, Schilling is probably only out for 15 - 30 days, in my best estimation. But that'd be great, because you'd go into the playoffs with the following:
Game 1: Beckett
Game 2: Schilling (fully healed, rested, ready to win one last one before riding off into the sunset)
Game 3: Daisuke
Game 4: Lester
'Pen - Wakefield, Tavarez, Okajima, Pap, assorted and sundry others that make it past the trading deadline.
I'll take that rotation and 'pen versus any AL team in the divisional series - ok, the Angels are 'so hot right now' but I still like that rotation - and it means that everyone would be fresh for the LCS (how does that team not win 3 of 4?).
But wait Andrew, you must be saying to yourself, what are the chances that the Sox make the playoffs without Schilling? Well, I'd say they are about as good with him. The problems that this team has isn't with the pitching - assuming no one else gets hurt, it is deep this year - the problem is with the bats. Lots of the bats. Which leads me to my other points-
-Coco sucks. The next time I'm stuck on the train with the screaming toddler (which has become an everyday affair), I'm going to pretend that his real father is Coco Crisp, and that is why he sucks so much. Because he can't help it (although i think the real problem is the Coco-Crispies... stop giving the damn hellion so much freaking sugar!!!)
-Lugo sucks. Big, hairy, ugly donkey balls.
-JD Drew is sucktacular mainly because he's making sucktastic money to be sucktabulous.
-I know that the Sox had quite the offensive output tonight (and Crisp and Drew homered), but my above points are still valid. And if you don't agree, read this again in 8 games. They'll have regressed back to the (sucky) mean, and you'll agree completely.
-I think the next week will be interesting. San Diego this weekend, then Seattle before going home. Its a long trip and if they can come out of it with a .650 plus record (they're at .666 after the Braves series), that's a very good sign during a season of many very good signs...

Sublog: Food I Ate Recently - Part I: DD In Falmouth

Ok, I'm immediately starting to regret the decision to name this sublog "Food I Ate Recently"... at the time it was catchy because it was the antithesis of all of the other sublog names that I came up with on the fly (but worked quite nicely), however on its own it rates at about a -12 on the originality and interestingality scales. I'll take suggestions for new names for it, but right now I'm already leaning towards "The Double Bacon Cheeseburger of Regret".

At any rate, I want to discuss my coffee. As I think I've mentioned in this space before, I have somewhat of an addition to my coffee.

I won't recall the entire affair, but essentially a couple of summers ago the Saturday/Sunday am dunkies run replaced getting up at the ass crack of dawn to go out on the boat... back in the day I saw dunkies as a great excuse for a chocolate milk and a muffin. Coffee never really entered my routine. This is roughly the same time that I was working 11 hours a day answering phones for Fidelity... though the pay was low and the hours were bad, they did do one thing for me - provide free coffee. Usually 2 16 oz coffees would get me though the morning. I only wish i were kidding.

Well, the need for coffee transferred to my weekends when we'd make the dunkies run. I started getting an iced french vanilla. This was quite good. I was, well addicted... but only on the weekends.

We'll get into my now daily stops at dunkies on the way into work later, but this is really where the dunkies addiction began. You might notice that this particular location gets a "One Star Out of Five"... i'm not entirely sure its that bad, but it doesn't make the best coffee in the world. It was this weekend however the white trash capital of the world, I was a little scared.

Just a little background - this is the only DD for a few miles around. It is PACKED on the weekends - sure, lots of dunkies are packed, but this one is especially nasty because its usually annoying vacationers that aren't patient because they a) have a large order as they seem to travel in large packs and b) they want to get to the beach. A side note, on the far left side of the map, below the Rt. 28 symbol, is the location of the old Jakes Tap. I never went to this fine establishment, but you'll all be glad to hear that it is being replaced with a large, state of the coffee, drive through DD that is sure to clog the road into eternity... but I promise you I will face it its general direction every time I get on my mat to kneel and pray.

Well, that's the general story about the dunkies. I know that you usually come to this place for my witty and irreverent humor, and I haven't really come through for you on this post - but know one thing. I take my coffee seriously. It is no joking matter.

That's why I'm so disappointed with DD for ruining my experience by joining forces with the evil one... no, not George Steinbrenner, Rachael Ray. I mentioned it the other night, but in case you didn't realize how disheartening this could be, take a look at the photo I took while in line... this could ruin any good coffee: