One of my colleagues at work thought I was overly concerned with bashing the Red Sox in a recent posting. This co-worker thought that concentrating on the Red Sox failures at player personnel was a low blow. When he sees this column, he will think that I am trying to win back his respect. Despite that misguided notion, that Red Sox look incredibly good this year.

Although I have always been and will always be a Yankee fan, I have lived in New England now for twenty-seven years. All of those years featured local newspapers and local TV and radio that lived and died by the Red Sox. For all of those years, I have had access to most of the team's games either through Channel 38 when I was in New Hampshire, or with NESN since I have had cable in Maine.

That's a long time to watch a team and I have seen some really good ones. The year that Lynn and Rice both came up was a brilliant season. Lynn was incredible and Rice was solid and would be a great player for many years. Together with Calton Fisk, they were a catalyst that propelled the team to great success.

The Yaz years were okay but he was such an unlikeable person that you hoped he would choke in those situations when he did. I also got to watch the great Louie Tiant who was the most creative pitcher I've ever seen. Dwight Evans was the best right fielder I have ever seen and if it wasn't for the strike shortened year when he was the hottest player in baseball, he might have become a bigger star that he was.

Then came the Roger Clemens years. Those of you who have been reading this column might think I have a bit of a Clemens obsession. Face it people, I have gotten to see first hand eighteen brilliant season. Even when he was with the Blue Jays, I could watch the games on Canadian TV. His year in 1986 was similar to Ron Guidry's year in 1978. He was just an unstoppable force. The thing I remember most about both pitchers' great years was that they both were considered power pitchers but they both had the greatest control I've ever seen. They simply put the ball where they wanted it each and every time. Please see my Guidry/Koufax comparison at the end of this posting.

The 1986 Red Sox should have won the World Series and sometime soon I will devote an entire post to why Bill Buckner has been given the worst rap since Shoeless Joe Jackson. The '86 Red Sox were better than the 75 Red Sox who almost beat the great Reds in the World Series. But in both cases, I really didn't think the teams were that impressive coming out of the gate. They had a few superstars but weren't deep. They just meshed and played well.

The current Red Sox team is "Yo Mama" deep and talented. Nomar is finally over his wrist woes. Manny looks focused and in the best shape of his career. Shea Hillenbrand has shortened his stroke and improved (and might not even be the best third baseman on the team! - look for Youklas to come on strong). Bill Mueller has been great and should be terrific. Kevin Millar is going to hit thirty homers and knock in over 100 RBI. Ortiz is a good pickup. Damon is solid and a great leadoff hitter. Todd Walker was a terrific pickup and the best second baseman they've had offensively since Marty Barrett. Giambi could do some damage and someday Trot Nixon might put together a career that lives up to his potential coming up.

I think their pitching looks solid both starting and in the bullpen (although I am not sure about the closing by committee idea). Pedro Martinez looks like Hulk Hogan compared to the string bean he looked like in the past. Lowe is terrific and could have been the Cy Young last year. Knuckleballer Wakefield is probably the most valuable pitcher in baseball and the pickup of Ramiro Mendoza from the Yankees was both a coup for the Red Sox and a DOH! for the Yankees.

The Yankees look good but their old pitchers need to stay healthy. If they falter, the Red Sox could pass them and this year, I don't think they would fade at the end of the year. This could be the year, Red Sox Nation. And if so, I'll cheer them on.

But I'll cheer harder if it's the Yankees at the end...


Ron Guidry should be in the Hall of Fame. That is, he should be if Sandy Koufax is. "Wow!" you say as if I had lost my mind. Well, yes, I concur that Koufax had five of the most dominating years in the history of baseball, but for a career (the measure used in the Hall of Fame), Guidry is right there with him. Koufax had a career record of 165 wins with 87 losses, a .655 winning percentage. Super! Okay, Ron Guidry had a career record of 170 wins and 91 losses. That's a .651 career winning percentage--only .004 points behind Koufax.

Arguably the best Sandy Koufax year was when he went 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA. Guidry's best year was one of the best of all time at 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA. Koufax had three 20 win seasons and five seasons of more than 15 wins. Guidry had three 20 win seasons and six seasons of more than 15 wins. Koufax lifetime ERA was .50 points lower than Guidry's (2.76 vs 3.29) but if you compare the ERA to the league ERAs of each's era, they would be right close together.

Like Sandy Koufax, Ron Guidry had class and made the most out of his smallish frame. Both only flamed for a little while but while they did, they were super lights out good. Put Guidry in the Hall of Fame!