What exactly am I supposed to say about the Barry Bonds trial?

I have received a bunch of e mails in the last few days asking me what my thoughts are on the Barry Bonds trial.

They are very similar to my thoughts on the current season of American Idol.

I am aware that it is happening, but I couldn't possibly care less. I don't even know the details of either one. I know Steven Tyler is a judge... but I am not sure if it is for Idol or the Bonds trial.

Both Idol and Bonds are similar in another way. They used to be big parts of my life. I was a big Barry Bonds fan for the Pirates and the Giants.

And I defended him on this blog a bunch of times.
But after he passed Hank Aaron, there was nothing left to watch.

And in case you missed it, the Giants had a good year last year without him.

And I used to be an Idol addict... then they screwed over Melinda Doolittle, Adam Lambert and Crystal Bowersox and then Simon left. What was the point of watching?

When I read today that they were playing voicemails to his mistress as proof that he had 'roid rage, I said "Oh man, this is going to be thrown out of court." The pitchers who kept intentionally walking him over the years had a more courageous game plan.

Look folks... you may not like Barry Bonds, but there are three things you can not deny:

He was a great player no matter what he injected into his ass.
He is a hell of a lot smarter than Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro who stepped on some legal landmines
He has a great friend in Greg Anderson.

And if you don't like Bonds, he's gone. He's no longer playing. He's part of an era that if it isn't over, it is damn near over.

Imagine yourself in the 1920s looking at he Dead Ball era... or in the 1960s with a higher mound looking at the big home run totals from a few years before.

Or someone watching games now in the retroballparks looking back at the cookie cutter multipurpose stadiums with the Astroturf.

If you don't like Bonds, that's what he should be to you.
In the past and something you'd rather not think about.

There are already new stars and new hope for the game. If you are a Bonds hater, then ignore the trial.

And if you are expecting some great legal drama, then watch The Good Wife.

But there's nothing going on in that court room.

Let's get back to baseball.

THE KING IS CROWNED!!!!!!

YES!
Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young Award that was rightfully his.

And we can all breathe a nice sigh of relief that the writers voting didn't say "Hey! He didn't get as many wins... how good could he be?"

Best WAR for Pitchers.
The best ERA.
Best Hits per 9 IP.
2nd best WHIP.
Most innings pitched.
2nd in strikeouts (1 strikeout behind the leader.)
Most games started.
2nd most complete games (1 behind the leader.)
Best Adjusted Pitching Runs
Best Adjusted Pitching Wins
Best Base-Out Runs Saved
Best Situational Wins Saved
Best Base-out Wins Saved.

AND he won 13 games on a team that lost 101!

As I wrote before, he deserved it even if he was sub .500.

Good job writers... unlike the American Idol voters, you impressed me.

Really America?

Two straight years you had a chance to vote for an original, dynamic and truly talented American Idol... and two straight years you pick a boring white guy who didn't do a single memorable performance?

Seriously! Name your favorite Lee performance! The one that made you think MAN! I am looking at a star here!

You can't do it... because he NEVER HAD ONE!

I thought Kris Allen was bad last year, but he is Mick Jagger compared to this Lee Bozo.


OK, Adam Lambert lost because... well... he was a gay guy and it still isn't OK to be a gay guy in America.

But what was everyone's problem with Crystal?

What she has tattoos?
She is a single mom?

It's a travesty. And we as Americans will miss out on seeing Crystal be an awkward pitch woman for Ford.

Is it the teenage girl factor? I doubt it. Is Lee even cute?

This year's American Idol season was a mess for one reason that was as clear as day this evening:

The lack of Paula.

I've been saying that all year to my friends who watch it. They say "it's not as good this year."

And since the auditions I've been saying "They are going to miss Paula."
Yeah, she's nuts and probably on something... but that was one of the things that made the show fun. Plus you needed her loving EVERYTHING to Simon's hating everything. That way when you watch the show and Paula didn't like it, you thought "Wow... they didn't even get HER vote."

She was smart. She got out first and lo and behold the show got on its waterskis and are heading for the ramp with that shark waiting for them on the season where she left.

So next season... No Paula... No Simon... No chance that the best will win.

Guess what? No Sully.

Don't believe me? Hey, I used to be an Apprentice addict... then they switched to celebrities and I haven't watched an episode of the show in 4 years.

OK folks, back to baseball, but not before we all take a look at the tortuous clip of the dull as ditchwater winner of American Idol warbling with Chicago.

ENJOY AMERICA! You broke it, you bought it!

Another American Idol post

Sorry folks... I am an American Idol addict as well as a baseball nut. And I have no other public forum to make such an announcement:

Crystal Bowersox had better win!

You screwed up in the past, America.

Melinda Doolittle was clearly the best a few years ago... and she didn't make the finals.

And last year's debacle, when the dynamic Adam Lambert lost to the completely devoid of charisma Kris Allen, prompted a modest Sully Baseball rant.

So come on... Bowersox has talent, charisma and is memorable.
The appeal of Lee DeWhatever as completely eluded me. Siobhan, Big Mike or even Lilly Scott would have made this final more interesting than the MammaSox vs. Bland Nondescript White Guy match up.

Bowersox had better win. I tend to root for anything with S-O-X in its name.

My wife questions my loyalty to the Red Sox!

Last night was a complex night of television watching... and it led to all things my wife questioning my devotion to the Red Sox.

I'll explain.

I got home yesterday evening and my kids were with the sitter. I went to the gym where the Red Sox were playing the Yankees. After Monday night's debacle, I was kind of numb. Yeah it was Red Sox - Yankees... but as I said before, it was clear that this year the rivalry was kind of limp because the Yankees were so much better.

But while on the treadmill in my practically empty gym, I put one TV on the Red Sox/Yankees game and one on the Celtics/Magic game.

The Sox were wet from the rain and looked limp on the field. Beckett was getting smacked around AGAIN, Sabathia was pitching his way out of any jam he got in and frankly the Sox were entering a level of apathy that even Hanley Ramirez would say "Hey! Let's pick it up!"

Meanwhile, the Celtics were playing inspired basketball.

The Celtics, who could have treated Game 2 as a Mulligan, came out blazing. They had the Magic on their heels and while they weren't blowing them out of the building, it was clear that they wanted to head back to Boston up 2-0.

I had one team playing with the heart of a champion... and the other played with all the intensity of Frank Sinatra in The Cannonball Run 2.

So yeah, I focused on the Celtics.

And when the Celtics won and wifey came home...
it was American Idol time.

Now granted, without Siobhan nor Big Mike, it has lost some of its luster.

But my girl Crystal Bowersox is still in the running plus it is getting down to the wire.

I checked the Sox score. It was now tied 5-5.

Nope! Not doing it! You aren't going to make me a sucker on back to back nights!

Wifey and I watched the hot guy be boring, Crystal not change the genders of "Maybe I'm Amazed" and that boring Lee guy continue to be boring but for some reason everyone loved him.

I checked my phone.
The Sox had won, 7-5.

I look over at wifey.

SULLY: The Red Sox won. They came back from a 5-1 hole against the Yankees.

WIFEY: You weren't watching it?

SULLY: No, not after last night.

WIFEY: You aren't a real fan!

SULLY: What are you talking about? Who follows the team like me?

WIFEY: You quit on them. If you were a real fan, you'd be watching them.

SULLY: After last night? They sh*t the bed!

WIFEY: It's a new night! NEW SHEETS!

I sat back, realizing that as usual I wasn't going to win an argument with my wife.

WIFEY: (Muttering.) Sully Baseball... PAH!

PAH!

I can't argue with Pah!

Let's update the Tally.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 15

April 4 - 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 - 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 - 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 - 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 - 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk's 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 - 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre's bases loaded walk.)

April 24 - 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 - 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 - 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)
April 28 - 2-0 win at Toronto. (Daniel Bard wiggles out of trouble in the 8th to help Lester shut down the Blue Jays and finish the sweep.)
May 4 - 5-1 win against the Angels. (Juan Rivera misplays Jeremy Hermedia's 2 out flyball into a 3 run game winning double)
May 5 - 3-1 win against the Angels. (Papi and Beltre homer and the Sox hang on despite squandering many potential rallies.)
May 6 - 11-6 win against the Angels. (Dice-K puts the Red Sox in a 4-0 hole before they even bat. The Sox bats respond.)
May 10 - 7-6 win against the Blue Jays. (Sox blow an early 2-0 lead, take advantage of some errors and hang on.)
May 18 - 7-5 win in New York. (Sox climb back from a 5-1 hole. A day after hitting a walk off homer, Marcus Thames drops a fly ball to start the winning rally for the Sox.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 12

April 6 - 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro's error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 - 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson's 10th inning homer)
April 9 - 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 - 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can't score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th... lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 - 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 - 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)
April 30 - 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (Tejada ties the game with a 2 out 8th inning homer and wins it with a bloop in the 10th)
May 1 - 12-9 loss in Baltimore. (Dice-K and Wakes get pounded, wasting 2 homers from Ortiz and an early 4-1 lead.)
May 2 - 3-2 loss in Baltimore. (Varitek is thrown at home trying to score with 2 outs in the 8th. Sox get swept in the 10th.
May 12 - 3-2 loss against the Blue Jays. (The Sox rally in the 9th comes up a run short and Kevin Gregg gets an ugly save.)
May 15 - 7-6 loss in Detroit. (The Sox blow a 6-1 lead and lose it on a 2 out bases loaded walk in the 12th.)
May 17 - 11-9 loss in New York. (The Sox come all the way back from a 5-0 first inning hole to take a 9-7 lead in the 9th... but Papelbon lets up a 2 run game tying shot to A-Rod and a 2 run walk off shot to Marcus Thames.)

+3

Doesn't it seem like they've had more heartbreakers this year?
Evidently they haven't

OK, bring on the Twins... I'll be watching.

Red Sox - Yankees... Lennon - McCartney... sometimes the hype is justified

In a strange way, I guess it is appropriate that American Idol is doing Lennon and McCartney songs at the same time the Red Sox and Yankees are playing.

You can try and be cool and say that the Beatles are overhyped... but then when you think about the total tonnage of great Lennon and McCartney songs that exist, you realize that maybe the hype is justified.

American Idol did a whole night of their songs... and they barely scratched Sgt. Pepper and Rubber Soul.

And lo and behold, the Sox and Yankees get everyone who isn't a Red Sox or Yankees fan mad about the hype. But look at what we got! Three games, all with late lead changes, all up in the air until the end.

Sorry rest of the baseball world, our rivalry is just better.

Now Red Sox... get your act together... and DON'T LET ME DOWN!

We interrupt Sully Baseball to blather a little about American Idol

Yeah I watch American Idol.

What are you going to do about it? It's not like I'm alone.

Plus it's a show my wife and I and my two kids all watch together. It's what The Love Boat and Lawrence Welk used to be, so get off of my back

So I don't think I am alone when I say "The Hell?" based on last night's show.

You have one guy who oozes charisma, stage prescience, knocks every song out of the park and can walk down a stair with smoke billowing everywhere better than Bela Lugosi. And let's see Lugosi do that while singing Mad World.

Yeah he wore make up and was a little bit flaming.

Did that prevent people from loving Elton John? David Bowie? Prince? ANYONE besides Springsteen in the 1980s?

So who gets voted in. The nondescript white guy. A guy who I can't remember a single one of his performances.

He seems like a nice enough guy (at least it wasn't the jaw droppingly obnoxious Danny Gokey) but if someone else had to win, why not Allison? The sweet 16 year old with the pink hair who got her start singing to furniture.

I hope it isn't homophobia. I mean I am sure that is part of it, but I think most of the people who vote are either teen age girls (or my wife.) And I also think that they vote based on who they fall in love with.

And maybe the teenage girls all realized that "Hey, I don't really have a shot with Adam."

As the brilliant Chris DeLuca pointed out, it takes a very bad Gay-dar to think any woman is going to perk Adam's attention.

Family Guy writer and fellow member of the Weston Mass. little league Alec Sulkin equated America picking Kris Allen over Adam with the Trailblazers picking Sam Bowie over Jordan.

And my lunatic friend Nick Stevens, creator of Townie News, compared Kris' win over Adam to Crash winning the Best Picture Oscar over Brokeback Mountain.

That's a little harsh because Crash was a steaming pile of crap and Kris is just forgettable, but I can see where he was coming from.

Oh well. At least Adam won't have to sing that crappy song Kara wrote.

Either way, Kris has shown all future Idol contenders how to play it in a way that would make Machiavelli proud:

Lay low the first few rounds and let the people who are in over their head weed themselves out.

(Sayonara Anoop, Miguel and the blonde girl with all the tattoos.)

Then let the feel good stories wear out. (Adios blind guy, Anoop and the leather neck guy.)

And don't make any stupid decisions when the front runners stub their toes. (Lil Rounds, Allison and Gokey all peaked too early.) 

Then bust out your A game and suddenly you are the new fun person to root for. 

Either way, my wife has sworn off of the show now. She tried to use a baseball analogy with me.

"Remember how I followed the Red Sox the first year we got married? (2003.) Remember what happened how they fell apart? It's like that! I don't need to go through that again."

I reminded her that they won the World Series the very next year.

I'll be there for the auditions when the next season begins.

It's how I am built.

OK, I promise I'll refrain from Reality TV talk... at least until Project Runway starts up!

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And it keeps going for the Nationals

0-7.

I am serious... this is fascinating.

It's like watching a terrible audition on American Idol!

I wonder how bad it has to get before Manny Acta's job is in trouble.

Perhaps 0-April.