mulberryshoots

I love camels, don’t you?. . . they stay calm and sanguine while everyone else around them goes berserk! . . .

Okay, so when the Red Sox traded Adrian Gonzales, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett two years ago, people were agog. The team was playing badly, drinking beer and eating chicken wings as they kept losing with Bobby Valentine as their manager. Coming from last place to winning the World Series with a bunch of bearded guys you couldn’t even remember the names of occurred the very next year under new coaching manager, John Farrell. Yep, that was just last year, remember?

Yesterday, they did it again: this time, trading six players that included the only two pitchers that the Red Sox really have and who helped them win two World Series: Jon Lester and John Lackey. At the very last minute, the Yankees sent a fax at 3 in the morning saying that they wanted Stephen Drew. Jonny Gomes looked like he didn’t know what hit him as he headed out to Oakland along with Jon Lester. Nice place to live, Oakland, CA. Lester’s a free agent after this season so there’re some whispers that gee, he might come back to the Sox next season. John Henry was seen saying goodbye to Jon Lester, pulling him out of his caramel colored pick-up truck and having a quick word with him out of sight of the cameras before Lester climbed back into the truck and drove away.

It seems that management decided to build up their offensive hitting capacity by getting Yoenis Cespedes, a young Oakland slugger–and that it would be easier to get pitchers than sluggers. (How much longer will David Ortiz be around, you might ask.) I hope they’re right because you wouldn’t really want to count on Clay Bucholtz as our only starting pitcher. I mean, who else do we have? They traded Peavy a couple of weeks ago which wasn’t surprising. Uehara, the relief pitcher only comes in at the very end and pitches a few crucial strikeouts. But he’s not a starter.

It’s actually interesting to watch the game tonight at Fenway Park. I don’t see many empty seats. It feels different to be watching a lineup that still has Mookie Betts, a little guy who came up from the minors about a month ago in the lineup. (BTW, Betts made a spectacular catch in tonight’s game.) They’re playing the Yankees who have Stephen Drew at 2nd base and Jacoby Ellsbury firmly ensconced in the Yankee lineup. Ellsbury, who was never appreciated enough here in Boston, went to the Yankees for a five year, $150M dollar contract after the World Series win last year. Yep. And remember when Johnny Damon went to the Yankees a few years ago? Where is he playing now anyhow?

It’s a Friday night and not much is happening with the Market Basket saga that’s closing its second week. Management is threatening to hire new people if they refuse to return to work on Monday, August 4th. Push is coming to shove between management and employees while the Board continues to stall its review of buyout offers.

So, between the Red Sox pulling apart its former World Series team and Market Basket pulling itself apart piece by piece, there’s never a dull moment around here in the Boston area. At least not this week.