Massarotti: Sinking Red Sox An Embarrassment & Other Sports Observations
BOSTON (CBS) -- Sights, sounds and observations while still trying to clear the pollen from my throat and wondering if the 2015 Red Sox qualify as an allergy …
- Plain and simple, the 2015 Red Sox are an embarrassment, which sounds like typical media hyperbole but clearly is not. In slightly more than a week, the Red Sox have given us a dugout argument between one of the worst starting pitchers in baseball this season and his manager, a defeat in which the club took a blowtorch to an 8-1 lead and now an in-game incident in which their $95-million third baseman decided to check out the hot babes on Instagram.
Remember that scene from "The Godfather Part III," when Al Pacino utters the famous line, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in"?
So it is with the 2015 Red Sox.
Just when you thought they have hit rock bottom … the Sox somehow manage to sink a little deeper.
I mean, what's next with these clowns?
- Speaking of train wrecks, everyone in the world is making this observation, but it bears repeating:
In the first round of the U.S. Open, Tiger Woods shot an 80 while 15-year-old Cole Hammer shot a 77. Got that? Tiger got his butt whipped on a brutally difficult golf course by a kid who can't even drive yet.
- If you haven't read Marc Stein's blind pick on LeBron James, do so. Stuff like this doesn't get written about enough because the television broadcasters and analysts are loathe to talk about it. It reminds me of the time that fans at the TD Garden were chanting for then-Celtics coach Doc Rivers to be fired – "Fi-re Doc!" they screamed" – while Paul Pierce was at the end of the Celtics bench laughing about it.
- Speaking of which: the NBA Draft is set for Thursday. The NHL Draft is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The Celtics and Bruins are both sitting in the middle of the first round, though the Celtics also have an additional first round pick.
Maybe the winter teams can make some noise next week?
- Oh, and lest anyone forget, Tom Brady's appeal with Roger Goodell is set for Tuesday.
Which means, by then, it'll probably be time for a member of the Red Sox to post a pornographic video of himself on YouTube, ideally during the early innings of the Wednesday, June 24 game against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park.
That looks like the only open date on the schedule right now.
- OK, I admit it: I typically like The Masters and the British Open more than I do the U.S. Open, but I am taking some sort of perverse joy in watching and listening to the world's very best golfers complain about the state of the greens at Chambers Bay.
- Am I the only one who finds the U.S. Women's World Cup team to be more interesting than the men's?
- In case you missed it, Alex Rodriguez is within one hit of 3,000 in his career. There was a time in sports (and media) when such a pursuit would have been a national story, when reporters from all across the country would have been following Rodriguez to see him join one of baseball's most exclusive clubs. But now? Thanks at least in part to the steroids era, the 3,000-hit club ain't what it used to be.
And most baseball milestones feel like nothing more than bathroom breaks at a rest area.
- So think about it: this is the first year where MLB All-Star voting is taking place exclusively online – that means no more hanging chads at the ballpark – and Kansas City Royals fans are making a mockery of the process. Again, there was a time when Red Sox fans completely ruled the internet as it pertained to the popularity of their players, but now you can't find a Red Sox player within a sniff of the lead in All-Star balloting at any position.
Of course, with this Sox team, there are decidedly few choices.
But still.
Shouldn't Dustin Pedroia be destroying Omar Infante?
So let me get this straight: Royals fans have taken over the internet with regard to fan voting and the St. Louis Cardinals are hacking into the databases of opposing teams.
Sounds to me that if computer science is your thing, the University of Missouri is your place.
- Here's the problem every time some hopelessly optimistic fan tells you that the baseball season is long and that there is plenty of time for a club like the Red Sox turn it around: It isn't. And there isn't. The annual trading deadline is now a matter of weeks away, and the Sox have to make a determination on whom to trade, whom to keep. And while this club leaves them with decidedly few real options, the Sox should consider getting what they can for, among others, Clay Buchholz, Koji Uehara, Wade Miley and anyone else with a reasonable contract who is not part of their long-term future.
Meanwhile, I'll be focusing on Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Eduardo Rodriguez and Blake Swihart over the balance of the season.
You?
Tony Massarotti co-hosts the Felger and Massarotti Show on 98.5 The Sports Hub weekdays from 2-6 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @TonyMassarotti. You can read more from Tony by clicking here.