Red Sox, Durant, and the Big East Tourney

With the Boston Red Sox set to begin their title defense in 12 days, I would to give my three keys to the Red Sox if they are going to compete for back to back titles.

1. Starting Pitching

Obviously it always comes down to starting pitching for every team and its the oldest cliche in the book but these things are cliches for a reason. Personally, I'm not too worried about Josh Beckett and his back pain. If opening day was somewhere in America, I think he would pitch but with the game being in Japan and the flight there being 17 hours, I'm glad hes not making the trip. With Curt Schilling out until about the All Star break (as much as I don't want to say it, I think he may be done) and Tim Wakefeild getting up there in the years (hes 41), the key to Red Sox staff this year is Jon Lester. Some say Dice-K but if you look at his numbers (15-12, 4.40 ERA) not bad for a first year rookie in the American League. Not to mention all the pressure from the Japanese media following him every step of the way. Do I think he'll have a second year in the A.L. like Beckett? No, that's unreasonable to ask but I think its reasonable to look for 16-18 wins and mid 3.00 ERA. I say Lester because it's time for him to finally step up. He needs to be last years Dice-K. I believe hes poised to do that. He gained a lot of confidence in that World Series clinching game last year. Earlier this spring training, Lester went toe to toe with Johan Santana going 4 innings, allowing 2 hits and striking out 5. Even though it is only spring training, Lester extremely pitch efficient with no walks. If he can just throw strikes,and i know everyone says that, the Sox could have yet again one of the best rotations in baseball. As for the 5th spot in the rotation, it could be a two headed monster of Bartlo Colon and Clay Bucholz. Colon looked good today going 2 innings and giving up 1 run. Bucholz has had some trouble this spring training but he's looked good as of yet. If any of them struggle, there's been talk of trading Coco Crisp to the Cubs for Jason Marquis or maybe some other 5th starter.

2. Manny Delcarmen
Hyde Park's own Manny Delcarmen is a key for this team coming out of the bullpen to help fill the "Eric Gagne" role. Now by saying that I don't mean to pitch terrible and look like an ass on the mound, I mean to be the 8th inning power arm to complement Hideki Okajima. Okajim was phenomenal last year and surpassed any expectations last year. Delcarmen has to be that guy and he showed glimpses of that last year (K'ing Sammy Sosa with straight gas comes to mind) because Mike Timlin is too old and Julian Tavarez is too crazy.

3. J.D. Drew
Cause he has to at least hit better, right?





Now on to basketball. Watching the Celtics absolutely tool on the Sonics and rookie Kevin Durant last night got me thinking about Durant's season thus far. I am a big Kevin Durant fan. To be that size and have a handle and jumper like he has is something special. I haven't watched Durant a lot this year but I did see a lot of him last year at Texas. At Texas, he could score at will with a plethora of moves. He was able to post up the smaller guys and take the big guys off the dribble. Now that he's in the NBA, I don't think he is being used correctly. Granted that he has absolutely no help, he has put up impressive numbers (19.5 ppg) but he's been playing out of position all year. The Sonics have him playing shooting guard. With his unique skill set, I see him as a Dirk Nowitzki type where he can be one of the toughest match ups in the league. With him being a 3 or 4 and go down on the block more often he should be able to grab more than the 4 boards he grabbing now and he'll shoot at a higher percentage (he's at 40% right now). Of course, he'll need to put some weight on and get stronger in order to bang with the big guys in the paint. Plus with the Sonics headed for a high draft pick they should be able to draft him some help on the offensive end. Eric Gordon perhaps?



As far as for the best conference tournament in college basketball, the Big East, I don't mean to toot my own horn but for those that know me know that I have been reppin West Virgina since the Gansey/Pittsnogle era. Earlier today, they pulled the upset by beating UCONN to advance to the semi finals in the Big East tourney with my boy Joe Alexander dropping 32. But like i said I don't mean to toot my own horn.
Right now the Pitt/L'ville game is on right now and its too late for me to pick that, I'm gonna pick tonight's Notre Dame/Marquette game on ESPN. Since the back courts of Tory Jackson and Kyle Mcalarney (ND) and Dominc James and Jerel Mcneal (Marq) kind of cancel each other, the question is who can stop Irish forward Luke Harangody? Answer= No one. I'm going with the Irish.