We are back with Five-Thought Friday:
1. Roger Clemens turns 45 tomorrow and, maybe, we are finally reaching the point where we donât have to wonder if he will pitch again next year. Back in the AL, he is showing he no longer has the consistency to excel. Maybe he can pitch again in 2008. But it shouldnât be in the AL, and so it shouldnât be for the Yankees.
2. What nonsense about how Eric Gagne checked his ego by waiving his no-trade provision by accepting being Jonathan Papelbonâs set-up man. First off, he was paid about $2 million to approximate what he would have received in games-finished bonuses had he stayed the Rangersâ closer. Second, he is going to a high-profile pennant race. He is not hurting his free-agent stock as a closer at all by setting up in Boston. He probably only enhances it.
3. I donât know why I find this interesting, but Jose Reyes has 10 triples, yet the Mets and Yankees have exactly the same number as teams at 18.
4. Is it just me or are games unwatchable when Chris Berman of ESPN does them? I wanted to stick with the Dodger-Giant games to see if Barry Bonds hit No. 755, but that self-important, self-aggrandizing, sophomoric voice kept coming on, and, well, Matt Damon was on the Daily Show.
5. Sometimes you look at statistics and are totally stunned by something. Who do you think leads the majors in extra-base hits? I would have thought Alex Rodriguez or Magglio Ordonez. But it was Floridaâs Dan Uggla at 64 and Ordonez did not even lead the Tigers. Curtis Granderson was second in the majors with 62 extra-base hits.
