Tonight John Smoltz faces Joba Chamberlain.  Smoltz is pitching less like his old self and more like a 42 year-old who doesn’t throw a knuckleball or take steroids.  He is also a right-hander with slowed fastball pitching against a lot of lefthanders in a park where check-swings can knock balls out of right-field.  Still, the Yankees counter with Joba.  Joba has three straight wins, but those are on the heels of starts in which he went 4.1, 3.2 and 5.1 innings.  In two starts against the Red Sox this season, he is 0-1 with a .344 batting average against in 11 innings pitched.  Also factor in that Red Sox ringer Victor Martinez is 2/5 against him and David Ortiz is batting .320 with 2 homers against the Yankees this season, further noting that much of his at-bats against them came in his early-season super-slump.  J.D. Drew is on another one of his hot streaks between injuries.  The Sox better hope for a bloodbath tonight because it is doubtful Smoltz will keep the runs off the board.  Still, Smoltz knows how to pitch and how to win a big game.

Friday is another Beckett vs. Burnett showdown.  This season the enigmatic A.J. Burnett is 0-1 with a 12.91 ERA, 2.74 WHIP and .382 batting average against in his games against the Red Sox.  Those numbers came in two starts totaling 7.2 innings pitched.  Josh Beckett, who is now in pennant-race cruise control, has not completely dominated the Yankees this season but in three start against them, he is 2-0 with a 5.82 ERA (most coming in his last duel with A.J.) with 16 strikeouts in 17 innings.

Saturday’s matinee on FOX features Clay Buchholz against C.C. Sabathia.  Buchholz has not faced the Yankees yet this season and has a 7.45 ERA and no decisions in his two career starts against the team from the Bronx.  C.C. pitched an ok game against the Red Sox earlier this season, going seven innings and giving up four runs for an 0-1 mark on the season.  In his career against the Red Sox, dating back to his Indians days and including the 2007 ALCS, Sabathia is 2-5 in eight starts with a 4.07 ERA.  Keep in mind the Red Sox right-handed lineup features Mike Lowell and Varitek and Victor batting from the right.

It’s Southpaw Sunday for the series finale with Jon Lester and Andy Pettite facing off.  Pettite pitched well against the Red Sox this season, going six innings and giving up three earned runs in his sole start against them.  In his career against the Sox, Pettite is 16-9 with a 3.72 ERA.  In 2008, he was 1-2 with a 7.04 ERA and .375 batting average against.  In two starts this season against the former Highlanders, Jon Lester is 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA and .255 batting average against, retiring 17 Yankees by the strikeout.

In terms of offense, the Red Sox have added Victor Martinez but will likely miss Jason Bay for this series.  The Yankees return the same lineup against the Red Sox that they had earlier in the season.  One team may be slumping while another is thriving but that is the nature of baseball.  The Yankees also feature a stronger bullpen with the emergence of Phil Hughes as a setup-man.  Other x-factors include David Ortiz facing a fan-reception as vitriolic as he faced in the 2004 ALCS and the fact that being 0-8 against the Red Sox, the Yankees might also need to win their head games to beat the Sox in the next few days.

This writer calls shenanigans on this six-man rotation. What Francona and management are really saying is that they are either waiting for a good deal in exchange for Penny or seeing what they can do with the struggling Matsuzaka. While it is likely that there will be six starts by six pitchers in six games, possibly twelve by the same six in twelve games, this so-called rotation will not last the team the rest of the season.

With strong starts against the Yankees last week and the Marlins tonight, Brad Penny has reemerged as a solid starter. While it is now indisputable that he is helping the Red Sox, he likely can help them more by being traded if they can use him to gain a prospect or stretch-run role player (e.g. a Dave Roberts in 2004). Such a move however would only make sense if the team can replace or upgrade pitching production from his spot in the rotation. The Red Sox luckily have John Smoltz returning to the majors and Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden annihilating AAA batters with Pawtucket.

Based on performance, Daisuke Matsuzaka who has appeared in seven games totaling 31 innings with a 1-4 record, 7.55 ERA, 2.10 WHIP and .372 opposing batting average, should be the one to lose his spot in the rotation, either by a bump to the bullpen or a trip to the DL. Keep in mind that Terry Francona gives his players a lot of time to work out kinks (see Kevin Millar, Mark Bellhorn, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia). Any move of Matsuzaka will not be immediate. Still, with Smoltz, Buchholz and Bowden, if it turns out that Matsuzaka is still fatigued from his WBC performance or just needs some time to work outside the majors, there is a suitable (probably better) substitute within the organization.

Before any move is made, the team must see what Smoltz can provide the team. If he’s done, then holding on to Penny would be the smart thing to do. Still, it is reasonable to believe that the team really saw something positive in Smoltz and truly expects him to contribute to make the deal and give him the rehab time. If Smoltz can contribute, the team then needs to assess the health of its current staff (the summer months are always good to put a pitcher on the DL) and its depth because there is always the chance that a starter other than Penny will get hurt.

There really is a dearth of available starting pitching for trade this year. Penny is a bargain for the remainder of the season and will be a free agent when the season concludes. Likely he will go to the National League–the Phillies and Mets have been mentioned in trade rumors, and the Brewers would be wise to trade for him. Since they really do not need anything (a shortstop would be nice but Penny cannot fetch one that would be an upgrade over Green-Lugo-Lowrie), the Red Sox can hold out trading Penny until another team makes the right offer.

Why not keep a six-man rotation? Because that would reduce the number of starts for aces Jon Lester and Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield who is having an All-Star season. It would also mess with pitchers’ heads as they are used to pitching after four days of rest and would suddenly get six. Plus– no other team uses a six-man rotation.

Prediction: Smoltz comes back solid; Penny is traded for a mid-level prospect. Buchholz spot starts over Matsuzaka and joins the rotation upon any other starter coming down with injury.

According to Verducci’s article, the 6-3 / 205 lb. lefthanded-hitting and right-throwing Harper catches and pitches.  As a pitcher, he tops 96 on the gun.   As a hitter, he slugs 500-ft. homeruns. (There are highlight videos of Harper on YouTube.)  After two years of high school, he will begin next fall at the College of Southern Nevada.

While he can be a real-life Roy Hobbs or Steve Nebraska, one must keep in mind that he still has not faced Major League, or even minor league or college competition.   In addition to an express lane to professional baseball, Harper’s decision is as much a step-up in competition.  Parents may shudder at the “loss of youth” but sports fans should rejoice because if Harper is the next Babe Ruth, we get to see him soon.  Who wants to bet he hires Scott Boras next spring?

For those of you wondering who the youngest player in MLB history was, that would be Joe Nuxhall who was two months shy of his sixteenth birthday when he pitched 2/3 of an inning for the War-depleted Reds in a War-depleted league in 1944.  He began (or resumed) his ten-year career in 1952 and went on be a long-time and much-beloved broadcaster of the Reds.

The cause of death hasn’t been released at this time, but Kalas did undergo surgery in February which caused him to miss most of spring training.

I simply don’t know Phlllies baseball without Kalas. Even all the years that the Phillies were unwatchable, they were watchable because you could always listen to Harry. I remember when I was in school in Boston and we were watching “Inside the NFL” on HBO. Harry was doing the voiceover and I told my friends that this guy is our baseball announcer. They looked and me and said, “this guy does your baseball games??!” His voice was that great. Anyone would have loved to listen to him for 162 games.

“We lost Harry today,” David Montgomery, the team president, said. “We lost our voice.”

The Phillies will still play their game today against the Nationals, but they have cancelled tomorrow’s visit to the White House to meet with President Barack Obama.

Kalas was 73 years old and had been broadcasting Phillies games since 1971.

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Many New York Metro area denizens were crushed as the Mets had hopes of an undefeated season not long ago. The loss drops them to 2-1 and speculation is rampant they could slide into a tailspin.

Hours after the 22-year old finished pitching in a game, police say a minivan blew threw a stoplight and caused Adenhart’s Mitsubishi to hit a light pole, killing three people including Adenhart.

The person driving the minivan fled the scene, but was later caught and charged with felony hit-and-run.

WOW.

Behind 13-year veteran-rookie pitcher Kevin Milwood, the Rangers defeated the Cleveland Indians 9-1 in front of a sellout crowd of almost 50,000 fans.  That’s more fans than the Florida Marlins drew all of last season.

Leading the way for the Rangers was second baseman Ian Kinsler who went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Hank Blalock’s name has been circulating around the league as the leading candidate for the American League MVP.

If the Rangers can keep this pace, they will finish the season 162-0.  Their magic number to clinch the division is now 161.  Technically, it’s still at 162 because no other team in their division has played a game.

The Yankees are currently down 6-3 and Sabathia left in the fifth inning after giving up six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. He walked five, struck out none and had a 12.46 ERA.

I’m sure Red Sox fans were just crushed to see him take this big steamer in Camden Yards.

Jamie Moyer will take the mound for Philly on Tuesday and hopes to stop the bleeding.

He pitched Saturday afternoon against the Rays in an exhibition game with mixed results. And when we say “mixed results” we mean he was pretty bad. In five innings he gave up six hits and six runs with two HR’s. The first was to none other than former Phillie Pat Burrell.

He did throw 83 pitches with seven strikeouts, so Philly fans will have to hope that nothing flares up in the elbow this week.

The MLB season kicks off tomorrow night as Brett Myers will face the Braves’ Derek Lowe.

Still blogging from iPhone. Maybe Perry can post a picture?

The Mets have contacted Gary Sheffield directly to gauge his interest in coming to New York and a person familiar with the situation said today that he could sign with a club as soon as tonight. Sheffield worked out yesterday at a college field in Tampa, as first reported by SI.com, and the Mets are considered to be his first choice, with the Phillies and Reds also showing interest.

The 41-year old nephew of Doc Gooden has indicated that he wants to play beyond this season. He’s sitting on 499 career home runs so you’d have to think he can’t just retire now. The Mets could certainly use his right-handed bat.

Perhaps he’ll hit his 500th in Citi Field so a company that deserves all the great press in the world would get even more.

We copied and pasted his list for you because we know how lazy our readers are:

- Brian Dawkins Signs With Denver Broncos

- Brett Myers works a 9 pitch walk from C.C. Sabathia and draws a standing ovation

- World Ph#$#ing Champions!!!

- McNabb is benched at Halftime

- World Series clinching game takes 4 days to play

- Billy King is hired as an analyst for NBA TV

- Marty Biron “stands on his head”

- Eagles go with defensive tackle as #1 FB

- Hank Baskett bags a Playmate

- Eagles fans want Kolb instead of McNabb (Note: Not all of them, but seriously?)

- After hitting a huge pinch hit home run in the NLCS Matt Stairs says, “When you get that nice celebration coming into the dugout and you’re getting your ass hammered by guys—there’s no better feeling than to have that done.”

- Willie Green is a starting 2 guard in the NBA (sorry, couldn’t help it)

- Tony DiLeo is Sixers new head coach

- Jimmy Rollins is DH behind Derek Jeter for Team U.S.A.

- Terrell Owens is in Buffalo

- Jay Cutler wants out of Denver

- Alex Rodriguez took steroids (Wait, nevermind, we all knew that)

- Isaiah Thomas may be hired by Clippers

- Arizona Cardinals play in a Super Bowl

Jenkins has a lot of pop in his bat but that’s about it.

Lackey first felt soreness in his right forearm near the elbow after his start against Kansas City. He was 12-5 with a 3.75 ERA last year so losing him for any period of time is a bad thing for the Angels.

Photo Caption: Good pitcher, but not one of the better looking players in MLB.

“His velocity was better [in Tampa on March 16],” said World Champion first baseman Ryan Howard, who popped an opposite field home run off of Chamberlain just one batter after World Champion second baseman Chase Utley did the same.

“[Yesterday] it looked like he was working on things,” said Howard, who has more World Series rings than Alex Rodriguez.

Against the Phillies, Chamberlain was clocked consistently at 88 and 90 mph on his fastball. Yes it is spring and he doesn’t want to hurt himself, but that is not Major League level.

“He was very stiff, almost as if he was working on something,” a scout said of the Yankees’ No. 5 starter. “I didn’t see anything all that good. The homers were on 90 mph fastballs.”

“This party has officially ended,” Schilling wrote in an email. “After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the world’s best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official.

“To say I’ve been blessed would be like calling Refrigerator Perry ‘a bit overweight.’ The things I was allowed to experience, the people I was able to call friends, teammates, mentors, coaches and opponents, the travel, all of it, are far more than anything I ever thought possible in my lifetime.”

Schilling was as good at pitching as he was being annoying and obnoxious…and that says a lot about how good of a pitcher he was.

Schilling compiled a record of 216-146, notching 3,116 strikeouts in 20 years of MLB service, and is the only pitcher to win a World Series start for three different teams.

“We do not think it is serious, at least at this time” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “We thought it was important for Dr. Ciccotti to check him out and see if there is anything more serious than what we think it is. He’ll decide once he sees him tomorrow morning if he needs to do any testing or any further testing. We did do a physical on him before we ended up finalizing the multiyear deal with him and felt comfortable with the diagnostics and such. But he’s had a little persistent soreness and we want to be cautious about it and have him checked out.”

It is getting to the point where fantasy baseball players have some choices to make. Your draft is fast approaching, and you have options to weigh. I know you have a lot of questions running through your head, so I’m here to help you sort them out. Well, not really me, but my “friends” in the blogosphere. At Off The Record, you won’t see a lot of fantasy baseball coverage, but we feel that it is still our duty (he said duty) to help get you prepared. Either bookmark this entry, or bookmark TheSportsIdiot.com and use the links on my site to find the best sites to keep you informed and ready to dominate.

There are some established sites that bring the noise every season. You should already know these guys:

Rotoworld.com (best site for up to the minute player news as well as great daily reads giving fantasy advice)
RotoAuthority.com (sister site of MLBTradeRumors.com, but with a concentration on fantasy. Also a daily read)
Razzball.com (great daily read as well)

If you want to dig deeper into things, though, check out these links:

BaseballProspectus.com (You have to pay for the good stuff, but it is definitely worth it. Best content I have ever seen.)
RotoRebel.com (Jonathan Gangi’s new blog. He used to write for Rotoworld, and knows his stuff.)
WhosTheCloser.com (Updated daily (once the season starts), this is where you can find quick info about closing situations.)

And then for some fun, and perhaps some good info (I don’t know, I just found them but I like what I see so far) check out SharipovasThigh.com.

If you use these sites in conjunction with your own resources and head, you will do well in your fantasy league. If you have any sites that you feel should be recommended, please hit the comments.

“He was on a different train! And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him,” Papelbon said.

“So Manny was tough for us,” Papelbon added. “You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ballgame, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man! It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that’s exactly what was happening.

“Once we saw that, we weren’t afraid to get rid of him. It’s like cancer. That’s what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It sucked, but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us. And after, you could feel it in the air in the clubhouse. We got Jason Bay—Johnny Ballgame, plays the game right, plays through broken knees, runs out every ground ball—and it was like a breath of fresh air, man! Awesome! No question.”

Manager Terry Francona wasn’t thrilled about the comments, but admitted that’s just the way Papelbon is.

“That’s Pap’s personality,” Francona said Thursday. “The one thing we don’t ever want is somebody criticizing their own teammates. They know that.”

“I wish I could go more,” Hamels said after Monday’s 8-4 Grapefruit League loss to Cincinnati. “But I know that’s not the name of the game. Mentally, you want to go, but your body is not ready.”

How is he feeling so far?

“I’m not there yet,” he said. “[On a scale of] one to 10, I’m definitely at a three or four, but to be at that stage in your second start is pretty good.”

Hamels just wants the season to start at this point so he can return to form.

“I don’t think my arm strength comes until I get under the lights,” Hamels said.

The NL East would prefer that his arm strength never comes at all.

The Mets better hope that Santana and Pelfrey don’t miss any significant time. Both are being counted on to try to overtake the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Lester, who overcame cancer to resume a successful baseball career, got the most money ever by a pitcher with around two years of service.

10. “The timing came from God. The first time I was there for 2 1/2 hours of pushing. This time it was 10 minutes after the delivery. It was perfect timing.” – April 24, 2008

No one could mistake the three-time MVP for Father of the Year after A-Rod calls missing his daughter Ella Alexander’s birth “perfect timing.”

9. “I wish (Jose Reyes) was leading off on our team. That’s fun to watch. Anytime you have that type of speed. I mean, we have a guy in (Brett) Gardner, and that’ll be fun. That’s probably the most fun you can have, is watching a guy like that run.” – March 3, 2009

A-Rod scrambles to clarify his statement later, when he realizes the Yankees, um, already have a shortstop.

8. “Mine!” – May 30, 2007

Like a regular-season version of his “slap” play against the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS, A-Rod yells at Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Howie Clark on a popup, leading him to boot the ball. The Yankees are up by five runs in the ninth inning at that point. “I just said, ‘Ha!’ … that’s it,” says a defiant A-Rod after the game.

7. “I feel very‚ very excited and very honored. The last couple of years have been hard‚ and all of us have the same passion for winning and moving this train in the right direction.” – Jan. 25, 2004

A-Rod says all the right things after he is named Texas Rangers team captain. Then, on Feb. 16, he forces a trade to the Yankees.

6. “The reality is there’s been a change in the relationship over 14 years and, hopefully, we can just put it behind us. You go from sleeping over at somebody’s house five days a week, and now you don’t sleep over. It’s just not that big of a deal.” – Feb. 19, 2007

A-Rod talks about his fizzling friendship with Derek Jeter, which, apparently, once included sleepovers on each and every weeknight.

5. “Jeter’s been blessed with great talent around him. He’s never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun. And he hits second – that’s totally different than third and fourth in a lineup. You go into New York, you wanna stop Bernie and O’Neill. You never say, ‘Don’t let Derek beat you. He’s never your concern.’” – April 2001 issue of Esquire

If that’s how Rodriguez talks about his friends, we sure wouldn’t want to be his enemy.

4. “Mussina doesn’t get hammered at all. He’s making a boatload of money. Giambi’s making ($20.4 million), which is fine and dandy, but it seems those guys get a pass. When people write (bad things) about me, I don’t know if it’s (because) I’m good-looking, I’m biracial, I make the most money, I play on the most popular team…” – Sept. 25, 2006 issue of Sports Illustrated

Putting aside his obvious clubhouse relations issues, we’d like to remind readers that “biracial” A-Rod’s parents are both Dominican. But go ahead and hate him because he’s beautiful.

3. “Last year, I got tested 9-10 times. We have a very, very strict policy and I think the game is making tremendous strides.” – Feb. 20, 2008

Whoa! If A-Rod was tested that many times, there clearly must’ve been cause. Like a failed test? A-Rod is quick to spin it. “My quote from earlier today was taken literally,” Rodriguez says later. “I was not tested nine or 10 times last year. I was just using exaggeration to make a point. My intent was simply to shed light on the fact that the current program being implemented is working, and a reason for that is through frequent testing. I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.”

2. “I knew we weren’t taking Tic Tacs. I knew that.” – Feb. 17, 2009

Other than that, says A-Rod as he admits to his performance-enhancing drug use in a spring training press conference, he had no idea what it was he was doing. “I was stupid,” he says. He said it, not us.

1. “I’ve never felt overmatched on the baseball field. I’ve always been in a very strong, dominant position. And I felt that if I did my work as I’ve done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn’t have a problem competing at any level. So, no.” – Dec. 16, 2007

A-Rod categorically denies taking steroids during an interview with Katie Couric on 60 Minutes. Maybe she should have asked him if he’d ever used breath mints.

“It’s a big blow for the whole family. Alex is destroyed,” J-Rod told ESPNdeportes.com. “We were all very excited to see him play with the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.

“But the most important thing is to have a successful surgery so that Alex may continue his career.”

The surgery is scheduled for next Monday.

Right now, there is no link between the cyst and steroid use. But we’re sure someone will find one.