Pinch me, I'm dreaming.

[Screengrabbed from Boston.com]

This was my thought in the wee hours of this morning. I had gone to be early for me, around 11pm, about 25 minutes before the Globe first reported the Crawford deal. At 4am I woke up to see my phone glowing. I got out of bed, picked it up, and read a text from a friend that said: "Carl crawford signs w/ Boston 7 yrs $142 mill". Since I was up already (and in a slight state of panicked excitement) I checked on the internet, and it was true.

My efforts to go back to sleep after the confirmation that Carl Crawford is now a Red Sox were pretty futile, but I managed to doze off around six. When I woke up for class two hours later, my first thought was that the whole thing had been a wonderful dream, but, as you know, it was true.

I have to be honest: I never thought Crawford would be coming to Boston. Especially after the Adrian Gonzalez deal, I assumed the Red Sox would stay in on the speedy outfielder simply to drive up the price for New York while they were still preoccupied with Cliff Lee. Like many people (Torii Hunter among them), I took it for granted that Crawford would be patrolling the field at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, but I'm certainly thrilled to have him in Boston.

Bill James predicts a typically good year for Crawford in 2011: 149 games played, .300 BA, .350 OBP, .398 SLG, 14 HR, 71 RBI, and 42 SB. Keep in mind that Crawford's power numbers will likely improve from those predictions because he'll be playing 81 games in the friendly confines of Fenway.

Perhaps the best part of the Crawford deal is the fact that he'll no longer swipe about a million bags on us every season (including six in one game) - he'll be stealing all those bases on our behalf. Coupled with a (hopefully) recovered Jacoby Ellsbury and the perennially discounted JD Drew, Crawford makes our outfield one of the speediest in baseball.

I can't believe this is real...

Zero to Hero!

Okay, so maybe Big Papi was never a zero... but he sure came close this April, scuffling is such an epic manner that some Boston-area scribes were calling for his release. David Ortiz took that criticism and made it his motivation, getting hot in May and staying that way, leading to his sixth All-Star selection, and fourth time in the Home Run Derby.

The guys on MLBNetwork called David "the Susan Lucci of the Home Run Derby," referring to the All My Children star who has been oft-nominated for an Emmy, but won just once (she's 1-for-21). Papi's success rate is now much higher, as he's batting .250 in Derby wins after a 32 homer performance last night.


One subplot was that David chose Yankees' bench coach Tony Pena as his pitcher, though no one seemed to think it was a big deal. Pena, there accompanying Joe Girardi, AL Manager, and pitching to Nick Swisher in the derby, didn't bat an eyelash at pitching to the Red Sox slugger. The boys from ESPN summed it up well when they surmised "This isn't a Red Sox/Yankees thing; this is a Dominican thing."

Things sure worked out for the proud people of the Dominican republic, as the final round saw two of their own battling it out for top honors, as Ortiz went up against former Red Sox farmhand and current Marlins superstar Hanley Ramirez (who says the Sox can't produce power?). Ramirez told ESPN's Erin Andrews that Papi "was like a father figure" to him in his days in the Sox system, mentoring him and giving advice to a young player with obvious talent but questionable work ethic.


For his part, Papi confirmed that Ramirez was "like a son" to him, that he always knew Hanley would be a superstar: “I wish Hanley would be playing on our team, like he was supposed to,’’ said the slugger, while acknowledging that the trade had worked out for both sides. David even went so far as to come out and advise the young Ramirez in the middle of the final round, bearing a towel, a sports drink, and his trademarked smile.

The encouragement wasn't enough for the young short stop to eke out a win against Papi, but he put up a strong showing. If there are baseball gods, they couldn't have scripted this better. David Ortiz was counted out on April 31, 2010, and some had written him off even earlier. But Papi knew better - and he proved that he's far from done, illustrating the wise words of Torii Hunter: “You have to know what’s in his heart and you have to understand how much pride he has. He’s too young to be done.’’

Zero to Home Run Derby Hero, indeed.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Quote of the Day

Today's quote of the day comes to you from our favorite Angel's center fielder, Torii Hunter (by way of boston.com). When asked how playing at home in the warm weather will affect his play, Hunter admitted that it might help a suddenly shaky Halos' defense, but qualified that it would also be a boon to New York. The biggest difference, according to Hunter, is today's quote of the day:

"Now I can work on my tan again."

Torii, your current look is delicious: don't change a thing (unless you want to spell your name correctly). For clarification, here's a list of people who do need to tan, and drastically.

JD Drew

Manny Ramirez (and his grill)

Ian Kinsler

Jason (The Canadian) Bay

Tim Lincecum

Daniel (The Sexy Lion) Bard

Joe Maddon (he manages 81+ games INSIDE!)

Jason Varitek (and Captain Hook - Dude is PALE)

Baby Dustin Pedroia

Edward Cullen

Me (I'm the one on the left)

The moral of the story is that there are plenty of us out there who are in need of some serious UV rays, and Torii Hunter is not one of them.