Scott Cordischi On Sports: Lester Hurt, Anthony Walks
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
It’s starting to look like 2010 up at Fenway Park these days.
Last season, the Boston Red Sox were ravaged by injuries to key players up and down the line-up. That appears to be happening to them again this season.
Sox starter Jon Lester was the latest to go down last night. After pitching 4 innings of no hit shutout baseball, Lester had to leave the game with what is being called a left lat strain.
Third baseman Kevin Youkilis didn’t play after being plunked in the back by a pitch the night before against Toronto.
The two join a growing list of walking wounded up at Fenway which includes pitchers Clay Buchholz and Diasuke Matsuzaka. Carl Crawford is currently rehabbing from injury as is starting shortstop Jed Lowrie.
That’s 3 out of the team’s top 5 starting pitchers who are hurt along with their starting third baseman, shortstop and left fielder.
Not that anyone is shedding a tear for the Sox. After all, they do have the third highest payroll in all of baseball. And the team they are chasing – the New York Yankees – has also had its fair share of injuries this season as well.
The All-Star break cannot come soon enough for Boston.
-As Derek Jeter closes in on 3,000 career hits, some are calling him the greatest Yankee of all-time. Has anyone ever heard of Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle? How about Joe DiMaggio?
-Having said that, Jeter scores big points with yours truly for not only being a great player, but also being a class act on and off the field.
-That virtually no one cares that Tiger Woods has withdrawn from next week’s British Open tells you all you need to know about how his stock has fallen over the past year.
-As slimy as he might seem, I’m rooting for Brian McNamee this week vs. Roger Clemens. There’s just something about athletes in denial that rubs me the wrong way.
-Sadly, if Roger Clemens had just come clean like Andy Pettitte a couple of years ago, this would all be a distant memory by now.
-It has been less than a month since the Stanley Cup playoffs ended and already I miss the Boston Bruins.
-Word is that Celtics’ ownership is among those willing to miss an entire NBA season in order to get a new collective bargaining deal which is less player and more owner-friendly.
-Even if the American League wins the All-Star game and home field advantage for the World Series it may not matter. The Philadelphia Phillies will be tough to beat no matter where the Fall Classic is played.
-Former Salty Brine side-kick and WPRO personality Larry Kruger died suddenly on Monday. He was truly one of the good guys in the radio business and will be missed.
-If Ed Cooley can lead the PC Friars to double digit wins next season he should be national Coach of the Year.
-Michael Felger and Gerry Callahan are the two best sports talk hosts in Boston. Everyone else is a distant third.
-Speaking of which, I never realized how much I’d actually miss Dale Arnold until he was taken off of his midday show by WEEI.
-Looking for fresh seafood and rock bottom prices? Stop by the docks in Galilee around 3pm each day when the local fisherman return from their day at sea and you’ll get some great bargains.
-Casey Anthony is the O.J. Simpson of the new millennium.
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