Random Wednesday Thoughts

• What an incredible few days for the Red Sox. It seems like every game has been a come-from-behind thriller. They swept four games from the Texas Rangers, and last night took the first of a three game series with the Angels - in their (recent) typical fashion. They were down 5-1 at one point, yet came back to beat the Halos, 7-6. Jacoby Ellsbury - who might be this year's Rookie of the Year - had two home runs and a stolen base. Dustin Pedroia - the reigning ROY - had three doubles. The kids have really stepped up - and now the vets are heating up as well.

• Manny now has 496 homeruns! I was hoping he might hit #500 at home - but there are only 2 more Fenway games on this homestand. Still, an awesome accomplishment that we'll celebrate no matter when or where.
  

• The rise of Jacoby makes one wonder how much longer we'll have Coco Crisp on the bench. There are reports that he'll play tonight, but he's going to have to pour it on if he wants to remain in the employ of the Sox. Of course, he might prefer a trade to someplace he can play every day. A shame, really, because he is a very talented player and had some key moments in the 2007 Championship season.

• It sounds like everyone is either sick, recovering or developing a flu bug in the Red Sox clubhouse. Tek has been so sick, he hasn't been able to even drive to the Park. Cannot Tito tell these sick guys to just stay home? No one wants those germs going any further!

• I loved this item that Deadspin found on the LoHud blog:

The Yankees contacted the visiting clubhouse manager of every stadium where they play and asked that the candy and ice cream be removed before the team comes to town.

All clubhouses have an assortment of candy, gum, sunflower seeds, ice cream and other goodies. Personally, it never has made sense to me. Why would you provide professional athletes with junk food?

The players, of course, aren’t too pleased. They’re used to M&Ms and Snickers bars.

The clubhouse in Tampa Bay replaced all the candy with nuts, dried fruit and granola. It was hilarious to watch as guys smuggled in candy bars and ate them furtively at their lockers.

Further proof that Girardi is a total control freak! Or is treating the Yankees like his own private empire.

• Eric Gagme - er, Gagne - blew his 4th save yesterday for the Brewers - and for the 4th time, his teammates pulled off a victory. Surely they are getting tired of pulling his bacon out of the fire. On the other hand, it allowed our old friend Gabe Kapler to single in the winning run. Yeah Gabe!

• Finally, Red's post over at SG from early this a.m. reflects exactly what I've been thinking about the last few days. It is amazing how we've gone from being the pitiful Red Sox to the champs in just a few short years. I spent my whole life as a RS fan, and most of those years were pretty bleak. Oh, occasionally they'd play well and give us hope ('75, '86, '03 even), but then....they'd fall apart. We'd always be just on the brink and our hopes would be dashed. That's what made '04 so sweet, so satisfying. And now? Now it's like we expect them to always pull it off. When they were down 5-1 last night, never did I consider turning off the tv and going to bed. I just knew - knew - that they'd pull something out of their magic bag. That I'd end up turning off the tv after watching Papelbon close it out in grand fashion.

And yet, there's still a tiny bit of the Red Sox pessimist in me. I remember last year at this time I was constantly saying it's only April, it's only April. We were in first place (just like this year), but it's only April. And somehow, April turned into May into June into July into August into September - and we were still in first. Suddenly it was the end of October, and we had fulfilled all that early promise - we were World Champs. We hadn't choked, we hadn't fallen apart, we'd persevered.

So here we are in 2008. It's April 23rd and, guess what? We're in first place in the AL East, with a three game lead over Baltimore, 3 1/2 over the Yankees. Yes - IT'S ONLY APRIL! says the little RS pessimist inside. And yet.....is that the flame of hope burning within me?!