Sports Redux: Rasheed Arrives

The newest Celtic hit town yesterday. With his three-man recruiting committee by his side (we wonder how much guts it would take to turn down a job when Paul, Ray and Kevin come to your interview), Rasheed Wallace met the press and said everything we like to hear when a new guy comes to town. WEEI has a transcript of most of those things. He says he felt Boston gave him the best chance to win, he's looking forward to playing with KG every night, he (for the moment, anyway) doesn't care whether he starts or how much he plays. Sheed will wear #30 for the Green, which has had a really rough stretch since M.L. Carr took it off in 1985. Mark Blount and Sebastian Telfair were the latest to wear it. We hope Wallace does better things, but frankly, we don't see how he couldn't.

David Ortiz hit home run #300 to the very top of the Monster. Then things turned sour, as the Sox' pitching turned an early 3-0 lead into an eventual 8-6 loss to Kansas City. Brad Penny, whose 100-pitch-pr-so limit isn't going to get him out of the third one of these days (Bostonist wasn't even at the game, and we're pretty sure we fouled four pitches off Penny), left with the score 5-3, but Delcarmen and Masterson were smacked around by KC for a four-run sixth. Pedroia also homered for the Sox, and they loaded the bases in the eighth, but only got one run (on a Kotsay sacrifice) and were dispatched cleanly by Royals closer Joakim Soria in the ninth.

Which means...sigh...the Sox are tied with the Yankees for first. The same Yankees who seemed like they were headed for a mediocre season. The same Yankees who can't wait to avenge the last nine times these clubs have met. Good thing there's some time between now and then. More good news is that Mike Lowell has been working out and swinging the bat, and says he'll probably be ready to play soon, assuming his first running sessions go well.

Image from Wikipedia.