Sports Redux: Abundance of Pitches

Something strange is happening this season. The Red Sox, despite all of the hiccups and difficulties experienced this season, are in first place in the American League East. They're riding that magical 8-0 season record against the Yankees. And now, in a turn of events the like of which this Bostonist has never before seen, the Boston Red Sox have more talented pitchers than they know what to do with.

Think about it - there have been times during which we've said we have a lot of pitching. There have been instances in which we were due to have our pitching cups runneth over, at least according to scouting. And yet it never really happened. Injury, fatigue, freak occurrences always kept us either just right in terms of pitching depth or, more often, scrambling to see how the team could make it work.

And now here we are, just before the dawn of a new Smoltz, wondering where we're going to fit the guy. We have young Clay Buchholz ready and raring to go prove that last season was just a fluke (an ugly, ugly, ugly fluke). We have Tony Mazz drafting scenarios about the various options the Sox face, given the six arms and egos that want to start for the team (this Bostonist and Gerry Callahan each enthusiastically support Plan A, for what it's worth).

As the brass on Yawkey Way figure out how they're going to handle things in the near future - especially given that the now Smoltz-less Braves are set to arrive on Friday, which could make things all the more interesting - Hanley Ramirez is set to show off what the Sox gave up in 2005. Obviously, we benefited from that Boston-Florida trade, but we know that Ramirez is excited to rub in show off his skills to the team that sent him off.

In non-Sox news, the Bruins wisely signed a multi-year extension with GM Peter Chiarelli. In more amusing news, Dan Shaughnessy is in Lakers hell out in Los Angeles. While none of us like the idea of Kobe Bryant being toasted as the king of the world, you have to admit that Shaughnessy being stuck in the middle of it all really helps to take some of the sting away.