Ballgame’s Points

Has anyone else noticed how machine-like the Red Sox have become?

To this team, obstacles don’t register and negative storylines carry minimal weight.  Losses — when they come — seemingly dissipate into thin air while victories are greeted with little fanfare (like, for instance, any of the eight wins in eight tries they’ve piled up against the Yankees).

The fans still swarm into Fenway and belt out “Sweet Caroline” before the eighth inning, but now more than ever, being associated with the Red Sox is to be part of a world-class enterprise: an impeccably constructed, well-oiled and systematically run baseball machine.

It began last year after the club parted ways with Manny Ramirez, marking a new era within the new era of Red Sox baseball.  Minus the enigmatic and endearing slugger for the first time since the franchise shed it’s long-standing title of choke torchbearers, a severely depleted Sox contingent motored all the way to the seventh game of the American League Championship Series.

The theme of constantly battling the odds — yet feeling next to no effects of them in the big picture — has continued in 2009.

Consider the following:

After losing six of its first eight games, Boston was 3 1/2 games behind Toronto before barely blinking.   That four of those losses came against its two playoff foes from a year ago (Tampa Bay and Anaheim), alarm bells were probably sounding somewhere, but nobody cared to hear them.

Josh Beckett was atrocious in April, logging a 7.22 ERA in five starts.  When a Boston ace gets tuned up in April, it’s typically time to lay into the panic button.  Panic??  Puh-lease.

As poor as Beckett performed early on, he was outdone by Jon Lester.  Their lynchpin in the rotation last year, Lester got abused in six of his first 10 starts.  No worries kid, you’ll get em next time.

How about Theo and the Trio’s $100 million man?  Let’s just say Dice-K’s first stint on the DL was far more productive than all but one of his eight starts.  He’s back on the shelf again, and aside from feeling bad for the guy, is anyone really losing much sleep over his absence?

Then there’s David Ortiz.  The man whose toothy grin and big stick made life after Manny seem manageable.  Still hindered by an injured wrist and knee, Big Papi cranked 10 homers and knocked in 46 runs while slugging .529 in the two months PM (post-Manny) last year.

He assured all he was healthier, hungrier and fitter than ever this spring before coming out of the gates looking like he’d never seen a 92 mph fastball.  After two months, one homer, a .186 average and five different spots in the batting order, “Ortiz” and “release” began floating around in the same sentence.  While Papi has since (thankfully) rediscovered his stroke, the fact remains the Sox skipped not a beat during an extended period of time when their most feared hitter had morphed into the easiest out in baseball.

Throw in Kevin Youkilis landing on the DL after carrying the team (.393-6-20) over the first month and change, Dustin Pedroia running on hot and cold, J.D. Drew’s disappearance from the middle of April through the middle of May, Mike Lowell’s continued recovery from offseason hip surgery, both shortstops getting sidelined … and there’s no way this team could possibly be perched atop the American League today … right?

Well, as the kids are saying: Beleedat.

Indeed, the Red Sox have a four-game lead on the Yankees in the AL East and a three-game advantage over the Tigers for best record in the league.  They’ve stormed back from three and a half down in the division on May 18.  They’ve won five straight series and haven’t lost more than two games in a row since the second week of the season.

They have arms sprouting like dandelions: John Smoltz is here; Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden remain in the pipeline; Daniel Bard mowed down 16 batters in his first 15 appearances as a big leaguer.

Their lineup is gelling; their starting pitching is top-notch; their bullpen is unmatched.  No matter whom Terry Francona sticks in his lineup — from Jason Bay to  Jonathan Van Every — they’ve all produced.

Put it all together and the Red Sox again appear to be on a track leading to and through October.

ESPN has already dubbed Albert Pujols “The Machine” and Cincinnati will always lay claim to “The Big Red Machine”, but is there any denying the Olde Towne Team has transformed into the Olde Towne Machine?

After lots of networking and prodding, I was given the opportunity to cover a Mets-Phillies game last week for MLB.com.  The story I ended up writing was on Ken Takahashi, the New York relief pitcher who served up the game-winning homer in extra innings to Raul Ibanez.  The link is below.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090612&content_id=5283844&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Coincidentally, Takahashi was one of a few players around when I was in the clubhouse before the game.  He conversed with a Japanese writer for about 20 minutes and passed the rest of the time hanging out with his interpreter.

Until this year, Takahashi had spent 14 seasons pitching for Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan’s Central League.  He was acquired and released by the Blue Jays this spring, at which point the Mets signed him to a Minor League contract.  Since his callup at the beginning of May, he was more or less just another arm in the Mets bullpen.

Outside of closers, relief pitchers go largely unnoticed by the media; they are the linemen of baseball, meaning they typically only garner attention when they screw up.

For Japanese ballplayers in the US, role or stature matters not; be it Ichiro or, well Ken Takahashi, their every move is tracked and dissected by a personal shadow of reporters from back home.  Japan is a baseball rabid culture, and when one of their own makes the move across the Pacific, they are eager to chronicle his progress.

Needless to say, Takahashi was borderline despondent in the clubhouse after the game.  When he spoke to the four or five Japanese reporters, his voice registered as barely more than a whisper; the despair in his eyes needed no translation.  He gave up a game, sure, but he also let down his true fans half a world away.  It was only then that it really hit me what a monumental transition it must be for a player to take such a leap.

In Takahashi’s case, he left everything he knew and entered a situation where all he could relate to was the game itself and the man he entrusted to be his ears and mouth.  Add to that the fact that he’s carrying the weight and expectation of an entire nation that views him as a hero, and you can appreciate the enormous burden that is placed on expatriated ballplayers from our ally in the Pacific.

That got me thinking about Dice-K Matsuzaka, and the struggles he’s endured this season.  This being his third year with the Red Sox, one would assume that he would continue to make strides and enjoy more success.  To the contrary, this has been his poorest campaign yet, as he’s gone 1-4 in seven starts with a 7.55 ERA and .372 batting average against.

While his 18-3 record and 2.90 ERA were moderately deceptive last year (he had a 5.04 BB/9 ratio, was consistently working into deep counts and seemingly always operating with multiple runners on base), he made big improvements from his rookie season, lowering his batting average against from .246 to .211 while cutting in half the number of homers he allowed (25 to 12).

Which brings us back to the World Baseball Classic this past March, when Dice-K led Japan to a defense of its title by going 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA while routinely pushing the bounds of the established pitch count limits.  He contended that the bit of extra work — he threw 14 2/3 innings in the tournament — was not the reason he landed on the disabled list with a tired arm in mid-April, and he may be partly right.

When Dustin Pedroia suffered an oblique strain in the WBC and went through a subsequent slump to begin the season, he talked about how it had been difficult playing in such an emotionally charged environment, with so much at stake,  at a time when he was traditionally just resuming everyday baseball activities under the Florida sun.

Fiery and competitive as he is, Pedroia was still just a second baseman on a US team that wasn’t exactly known for bleeding red, white and blue.

Naturally Team USA wanted to win, but let’s not mince words: This side of Cuba, there was no country more emotionally invested in the WBC than Japan.  It is their World Cup and Dice-K is their global superstar.  After his historic performance on the hill in the inaugural tournament in 2006, the pressure for him to perform honorably and succeed only grew greater.

So although physically and in terms of relative pitches thrown, he may not have overextended himself (like he asserted), there is simply no overstating the psychological toll the WBC took on Dice-K.

While it was seemingly predetermined that the Lakers would return to the NBA Finals for a second consecutive year and record 30th time overall, the Eastern Conference playoffs ended up leaving in its wake a long trail of what ifs.

What if the baby Bulls had had the chops to knock off the Celtics in the Most Epic First Round Series Ever?  Would the Finals be returning to Chicago for the first time since MJ?

What if the Magic hadn’t received a team-altering gut check when the Celtics stormed back in the fourth to take Game 5 in Boston?  Would they still have been able to come together and vanquish the champs in Game 7?

What if Lebron had a Ray Allen?  Or a Rashard Lewis or Pau Gasol?

And the granddaddy of them all: What if Kevin Garnett had been healthy?  If so, would any of the above groups of questions have even been worth asking?

(No, no, and yes.)

As tantalizing and vexing as it is to ponder what might have been, the facts remained that Kevin Garnett wasn’t walking through that door and Mo Williams wasn’t going to be the crucial second banana on a championship team.

Enter Magic, stage right.

Let’s not sell Orlando short.  The Celtics and the Lebrons didn’t give it up to Superman and his sidekicks; they had it taken from them.  While it’s realistically impossible to beat a pair of champs in the same playoffs, the Magic did essentially that.

They grew up before our eyes after enduring one of the most painful 1-2 punches in playoff history to go down 3-2 to the Celtics.  Just when everyone thought it was over, the Magic — trailing in the fourth quarter of Game 6 in their own building — came alive to send the series back to Boston, where they promptly became the first team in history to come back from down 3-2 to beat a Celtics outfit.

Cleveland may not have been the defending champs, but they had fallen only once in 44 games that mattered in their house.  Orlando wasn’t given a choice: Either tear down the walls of a building that contained one of the most decisive home courts advantages off all time, or go home.

Make no mistake about it: The visiting team that will be showing up at Staples Center Thursday is not the same squad it was at this time last month.  The Magic are as battled-tested and proven as any team making its first Finals appearance in 14 years could be.  They won a Game 7 on the toughest home court to win a Game 7 on, then steamrolled a team nobody and their mothers gave them a chance of beating.

At the heart of the matter — and indeed what becomes the determining factor in the majority of playoff series — was favorable matchups.  Orlando had them against both the Celtics and Cavaliers.

Versus the Celtics, Paul Pierce had to give up four inches to guard Hedo Turkoglu, and the duo of Big Baby Davis and Brian Scalabrine was borderline comical given their task was to contain Rashard Lewis.  Kendrick Perkins put on a clinic of how to defend Dwight Howard (muscle him up chest to chest and force him into running line drive hooks) for five games until Superman got angry at his coach, and that was that.

Against Cleveland, let’s just say as dominant as Lebron was, there was a mismatch of comparably epic proportions on the other side.  Howard did the basketball equivalent of eating Zydrunas Ilgauskas for breakfast or stealing Anderson Varejao’s lunch money.  And he’s simply a bigger, younger and meaner version of Ben Wallace.  Ouch.

How next to nobody saw this coming is a topic for another day.  But staying on the topic of matchups, it’s hard for anyone to be so naive to think the Magic will have the same ease operating in their style of play against Los Angeles.

If you could tailor a pair of defenders to man up Turkoglu and Lewis, some version of Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol would emerge.  Gasol has the wingspan to interrupt Turkoglu out on the perimeter and the quickness to stay with him on penetration.  The scouting report on Odom indicates he’s ideally suited for defending Lewis, in that he’s long and agile, and more than comfortable operating outside of the paint.

It’s more or less a certainty that Howard will give Andrew Bynum some serious on-the-job schooling, but Phil Jackson will not allow him to be so fluid in his dominance.  Which is to say you’ll see a lot of the Josh Powells and D.J. Mbengas playing small spurts merely to make life as taxing as can be on Superman.

In addition to matchups, there are two other factors that, depending on the series, can swing an outcome.  The first is coaching, an aspect of this Finals that needs little synthesis, considering one guy has nine rings and the other is in uncharted territory.

The second is hunger.  As talented as the Lakers were last year, they ran into the hungriest squad this side of the 2004 Red Sox.  Playing Garnett, Pierce and the famished Celtics was like running into the proverbial buzzsaw.  The Lakers didn’t stand a chance.

Well, as the saying goes, times change.  Last year, we didn’t see the hungry, desperate, ferociously competitive Kobe Bryant until the gold medal game in the Olympics.  Then we saw him.  His teammate now and competitor at the time, Gasol, saw him.  Lebron and Carmelo Anthony took note.

This is Kobe’s time, and everyone knows it.  A win in the 2009 NBA Finals cements Kobe as one of the handful of greatest players of all time and puts him on the list of most prolific champions.  He’ll also tie that fella named Shaq with four rings, one on the solo.

A magical run it has been for Orlando, but it will end at the last possible moment in the least desirable place, at the hands of the Black Mamba.

Lakers in seven.

For a fleeting moment, it seemed like Lebron James’ buzzer-beater in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals was going to alter (or restore, depending on how you view it) the future of basketball.

Cleveland would not be heading to Orlando, inexplicable losers of two straight in a building they had gone 43-2 — and essentially 43-1 — in up until this series, their dreams all but doomed.  The mammoth “WE ARE ALL WITNESSES” billboard in downtown Cleveland was not going to be suddenly interpreted as a cruel confirmation of another heart-wrenching letdown in the City that Rocks.  A 23-point lead, along with the Cavs season, would not evaporate into the  air over Lake Erie.

Those things were not meant to be, because in case anyone forgot, the Chosen One was wearing one of the white jerseys with red trim.  And He would not allow destiny to be derailed.

It took one ridiculous, high-arcing jay for Lebron to steal back a stolen game.  With it, the delicate notion of momentum returned to the Cavaliers side.

Yet less than 48 hours later, the Magic came out in Game 3 and wiped away every bit of that momentum Cleveland had amassed.

And you had to think: Maybe Lebron, who’s averaging nearly 42 points in the series, just isn’t enough.

Is there really any denying that three of the best four players in this tilt are Orlando’s to claim?

Dwight Howard poses huge matchup problems for Cleveland’s either underprepared (Anderson Varejao), overly soft (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) or undersized (Ben Wallace) front line.

Rashard Lewis is a nightmare cover for big men (who he can make follow him outside) or small forwards (who he can post up).

Hedo Turkoglu is 6-10 and does a little of everything, from running point to rebounding to dropping daggers.

On the Cavs, only Mo Williams even belongs in the discussion with Orlando’s top three.  And he’s shooting just 32 percent so far in the series.

Add it all up, and it’s fairly easy to understand how close Cleveland is to facing an insurmountable 0-3 deficit.

However, if there is a silver lining to all this, it’s that 1) the league clearly prefers a Lebron-Kobe Finals, and the refs have reflected this preference, and 2) Stan Van Gundy has professed out loud that he has no clue what to do about James, which should be a grave concern for Magic faithful going forward.

More on that point: On three occasions these playoffs Orlando has given up buzzer-beaters — to Andre Iguodala vs. Philadelphia; to Glen Davis vs. the Celtics; and to Lebron.  After the two most recent walk-off shots Van Gundy shouldered the blame.

The funny thing is that against Boston, Coach Stan drew up the perfect play — doubling Paul Pierce and impeding his passing lane to Ray Allen — but Pierce had the confidence in Davis to defer to him, and Big Baby had the confidence to knock down the shot.  That was championship swagger pure and simple, something that can’t be defensed.

Moving forward to the Lebron shot, for some reason Van Gundy opted not to double team James, and got burned for it.  He’s taken the blame for both mishaps, but only really deserved it for the most recent one.  Either that Celtics play continues to haunt him or he’s begun to second-guess himself, or a combination of both.

No matter what, there’s little doubt that Van Gundy’s coaching gaffe is the most tangible explanation for Orlando not being up 3-0 in the series, and he knows it.  You can bet his team is aware of it as well, and will look to take decisive control of the conference finals with a win in Game 4.

For Cleveland to get back on track and avoid slipping into an imposing 3-1 hole, someone not named Lebron is going to have to step up.  We’ve all seen how performances of 49, 35 and 41 from James have netted barely one win for the Cavs.

His supporting cast must make some noise in Game 4, and if it does and Cleveland ties the series at two, all those witnesses will flock back to Quicken Loans Arena for Game 5, believers once again.

If not, Orlando will be poised to prove that Lebron’s magic at the end of Game 2 registered as nothing more than a cheap parlor trick.

One more win and it all becomes house money.

One more victory in a seventh and decisive game, and this Celtics squad will have officially logged one of the gutsiest NBA title defenses you’ll ever see from a team unable to go back-to-back.

One more series-clinching triumph on the fabled parquet and the ‘09 Celtics will stand proudly next to the ‘87 outfit that so nearly and improbably repeated as champions.

While there’s a big difference between falling in the NBA Finals (as the ‘87 Celtics did, to the Lakers in six) and the conference finals (as the ‘09 Celtics likely will, to the Lebrons), it is undeniably remarkable how these champs have worn the crown.

To date they’ve won seven postseason games with an eight-man rotation.  The first guy off the bench has been Brian Scalabrine, Boston’s own Jackie Moon.  The energizer is Eddie House, who allegedly only gets extended minutes from his coach when he’s ready to play defense (bet he’s been hearing that one since middle school).  And then there’s the x-factor, Stephon Marbury, the guy Doc Rivers once said — to a cascade of jeers — would win his team a playoff game.

As fabulous as the starting five has been (we’ll get to Glen “Big Baby” Davis and the rest of the Fab-Five in a moment), there’s no doubt that the Green stand on the brink of another conference finals appearance thanks in part to the contributions of this unlikely triumvirate coming off the pine.

On more than one occasion in the Orlando series Scalabrine has drained huge shots to give the Celtics life.  House’s  Game 2 outburst was so decisive and executed with such precision even Jason Bourne would have been impressed.

As for Marbury, well let’s just say Doc’s comments proved prescient.  With the season on life support in a building that was already collectively dead, Steph saved the day with his 12-point onslaught in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter of Game 5.  When the Celtics and the New Garden were unconscious, Starbury was their epinephrine.

Take a minute to digest all that.

Okay, good.

Now there’s no doubt that trio has helped propel the Celtics to where they are today, but as we know,  Game 7s are when the stars must come out and seize the moment.

Orlando can say all it wants, but the fact is the Magic are not adequately prepared for what they’re going to find waiting for them at TD Banknorth Garden come Sunday night.

Dwight Howard was fantastic in Game 6, backed up his talk, but Kendrick Perkins has played him to as close of a stalemate as is possible against an All-NBA first teamer and Defensive Player of the Year.  Perk is too strong to be bullied by Superman and possesses a better repertoire of low post moves.

After an electric first-round performance from Boston’s backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen, Rondo has been inconsistent and Allen has been nonexistent (save for one go-ahead trey in Game 5) vs. Orlando.  The marked edge in guard play the Celtics were supposed to have in this series has still not registered.

If I were Courtney Lee or J.J. Redick — two guys with a combined four years of experience — I would be disconcerted, to say the least, at the prospect of trying to hold down Jesus Shuttlesworth in the biggest game of my life.  And I would be downright frightened when taking into account that Allen has misfired on 31 of his 36 three-point attempts this series.

Trying to defend Ray in a long series is like playing Russian roulette: It’s not a matter of if, but when.

Ask any Celtic — considering they are most suited to answer such questions — what it takes to prevail in a Game 7, and they will tell you it’s as much a mental excursion as it is a physical test.

Big Baby has been in a groove since the beginning of the playoffs.  Shedding baby steps in favor of a quantum leap, Davis has upped his level of play exponentially in the postseason.  However it was in Game 4 that it all came together — the union of the mental and the physical — for Baby.

He came out struggling and picked up an early foul.  Early in the second quarter he turned the ball over then committed a dumb foul, which forced Rivers to pull him out.  In a sequence partly caught on the television broadcast, Davis proceeded to let out a slew of f-bombs before finding his way to the end of the bench, where he continued to mutter obscenities to himself, utterly incensed.

It’s well known how Kevin Garnett has become the mentor for Davis.  Between watching him perform throughout the playoffs and then seeing his tirade after that series of inexcusably poor plays, you started to sense that the man is channeling the exemplar.

Instead of a prolonged emotional breakdown from Baby, he instead directed his anger inward and gathered himself, then came back to hit a go-ahead jumper with 32 seconds remaining before sinking a buzzer-beating dagger for the win that tied the series at two.

Those are the kind of moments that transpire in a drawn out series, moments when one team unleashes a temporary blow that mushrooms into the psychological advantage necessary to snuff out an opponent’s season.  In the Chicago series that happened when the Celtics dismantled the Bulls on their home floor in Game 3.  The series may have turned epic, but the mental battle turned in favor of the Celtics after that game.

The same can be said of Game 4 of this series.  The Magic had it won, had the play they wanted in crunch time, executed it to perfection.  Stan Van Gundy correctly decided he was not going to let Paul Pierce beat him.  Pierce felt the double team coming and correctly decided to put the fate of HIS team in the hands of someone not named Ray.

Once Baby’s shot fell through the nylon, the mental edge swung back to the Celtics.

It took a second consecutive collapse from Orlando, some infighting and an admirable bounce-back performance in Game 6, but that all merely postponed the inevitable.  All that really mattered was the Celtics stole back home court in Game 4, along with a sizable chunk of Orlando’s mojo.

Game 5 was painful, for sure, but I guarantee you when crunch time comes on Sunday and the ante gets upped, that lost opportunity at Amway Arena is going to find its way into the subconscious of the Magic and the champs will pounce on them for the knockout blow.

When it’s all over and the Celtics are giving their postgame press conferences, you won’t have to listen too closely to pick up the gist of their explanation for how and why they improved to 4-0 in Game 7s in the last two years: mental toughness.

It’s then that they will pack up their belongings — along with that mental toughness — and head to Cleveland, where Lebron and a big pot of house money will be awaiting them.

I know, it doesn’t look good.

Manny tested positive for a banned substance and is not appealing the automatic 50-game suspension he received as a result.

The statement he issued was opaque and dodgy, which is not a surprise considering it was likely penned by Scott Boras.

The media response has been ferocious, with everyone from hot air extraordinaire Bill Plaschke to revered baseball scribe Jayson Stark sticking their fangs into Manny.

The rest of us, meanwhile, are left to mull over everything that has happened in the last 24 hours and decide if Manny’s a steroid user.  I’ve been asked point blank the question a few times in the last day, and my response in each circumstance has been, “I’m not ready to believe that.”

I’m still not, despite all the evidence to the contrary.  Despite the suspect “personal health issue”, the peculiarity of the doctor’s Florida location, and the fact that the drug in question is frequently used by steroid users coming off a cycle.

I’m not ready to believe that we can lump Manny in with Steroid Abuser A through Z, because since when was Manny ever lumpable (not sure if that’s a word) with anyone?

The man is a different breed, one of a kind.  While that doesn’t exonerate him from present accusations, his situation can’t be sweepingly tied to Palmeiro’s wagging finger or Sosa’s linguistic amnesia.

Could Manny’s statement be a bold face lie?  Yes, yes it could.

But be careful not to underestimate Manny’s overly dependent nature.  We’re talking about a guy who nearly backed out of a $160 million contract with the Red Sox upon learning that his favorite clubhouse attendant in Cleveland wasn’t ready to uproot himself in order to accompany the slugger to Boston.  A guy who on occasion needs to be told how many balls and strikes there are when he’s in the batter’s box.

So is it that far-fetched to think that maybe Manny did actually have a medical problem he wasn’t very proud of and sought treatment outside of the MLB web?  That he blindly entrusted a doctor to prescribe him something he assumed would have no ulterior consequences?

The sentiment among baseball people is that’s hogwash.  That players have had far too long to adapt to MLB’s drug testing policy and parameters.

They are right, but they’ve also been right about many things in the past that have been applicable to everyone BUT Manny (like for instance, showing up at Spring Training on time, not faking injuries to get a day off, not holding teams hostage over contract negotiations etc.).

They never got through to Manny then, so why suddenly is the SOP (standard operating procedure) for ballplayers relevant to Manny now?

Like it or not, the murky and mercurial Ramirez has always had a double standard applied to him, and that shouldn’t change just because his latest shady act has gotten him bounced for two months.

As I said, I still don’t know what to think.  Manny may or may not be guilty of the crime he’s now paying 50 games and over $7 million for.

But if he wants to begin the arduous task of clearing his name and proving his innocence, it’s going to have to begin with a marked deviation from the Manny SOP.  Which is to say murkiness is going to have to give way to transparency.

He says he saw a physician for a personal health issue.  Who’s the doc?  What was the issue?

He claims to have passed “about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons”.  Let’s hear more about those.

He issued a written apology to the Dodgers organization and fan base, but has yet to be seen or heard from in the flesh.

Bottom line is Manny must come out of his shell like never before if he’s to stand a chance against an enraged baseball populace.

Until then, I know … it doesn’t look good.

I left my friend’s place after Game 6 of Celtics-Bulls last night, exhausted and in a malaise.  My memory of what had just transpired — usually crystal clear — was so clouded and fragmented, my thoughts so blurred, that I had trouble finding a subway station I’ve used countless times.

After making the 30-minute journey back home — during which I must have looked like a zombie to strangers around me — I watched highlights of the game.  Actually strike that, highlights of the battle.  Because let’s face it, this war of attrition was the closest mind-body struggle between two adversaries one will ever see outside of the ring.

There was Rondo and Hinrich’s undercard.  The blood gushing from Pierce’s nose.   Ray’s 51 (FIFTY-ONE) on the scorecard.  Miller’s revenge.  Salmons’ onslaught.  Baby’s fadeaway.  The ice in Ray’s veins.  Pierce’s almost-steal and knockout of the challenger.  Noah’s indescribable flurry to stagger the champs.  Rose’s KOS (knockout swat).

I watched all this for a second and third time, and tried to gather my thoughts.  Wasn’t happening.  Tried to sleep.  Nope.

I turned on the TV, and what happened to be on HBO?  A documentary of the “Thrilla in Manila” between Ali and Frazier.  It was an intense and jarring recounting of possibly the greatest fight ever.   It was also the only suitable way to give some perspective to a mind-blowing basketball game.

It’s often too easy to get swept up in The Moment, and everyone — from players to media to fans — is predisposed to this phenomenon from time to time.  It’s human nature: When we witness something extraordinary, precedents and past-happenings become puny in comparison.  Typically though, upon reflection, the grandeur of an amazing occurrence in sports gets reduced once The Moment has passed, nerves have settled, and rational thought has reentered the equation.

Let’s not mince words: Ali-Frazier III has stood the test of time as a seminal moment in sports that will never be matched.  Just seeing Frazier, Frazier’s son, Ali’s team, writers and historians chronicling this epic fight, you can sense that wherever they were on that day in 1975, they have remained since in spirit.

For 14 rounds in sweltering heat, two of the world’s finest fighters waged a war that nearly killed them both.  There is no more telling quote than from Frazier, who when asked if he would have risked his life to go out for the 15th and final round, said, “Yeah.”

When the documentary ended, it was just after two in the morning, and I was finally lucid.  I realized that Ali-Frazier comparisons get thrown around FAR too generously, and that there will never be a sporting event — in boxing or otherwise — than could garner such a comparison.

But as a metaphorical script?  That’s a different story.  That’s where Celtics-Bulls VI steps in.

Early in the fourth quarter Chicago went on a run, unleashing a series of blows that had the champs staggering (similar to Frazier’s middle-round assault on Ali).  The Celtics took the Bulls’ punches, and returned in kind, with a crowd-silencing 18-0 run that turned a 10-point deficit into an 8-point lead (akin to Ali’s blistering sustained attack in rounds 12 to 14).

Naturally there are inconsistencies, no more significant than the fact that the champs lost the game whereas the champ won/survived the fight.

But a series of plays in the last minute of the third overtime truly gave this basketball game the feel of a heavyweight bout — epitomizing the desperate chaos that ensues in the waning seconds of a final round.

With the game tied at 123, Pierce jumped a pass and knocked the ball into the backcourt, seemingly destined for some series-clinching thunder.  But he stumbled at midcourt and the ball careened out of bounds, giving it back to the Bulls.

Then, after a defensive stand, Pierce had the ball back in his hands at the top of the key.  He went to drive left, and feeling the double team coming, tried to whip a pass to Brian Scalabrine in the corner.

It was then that Joakim Noah let loose the proverbial final combination: First he intercepted the ball and tapped it towards center court.  Next he picked it up and dribbled the rest of the floor — trailed by an exhausted Pierce the entire way.  By the time Pierce caught up to the rumbling seven-footer, he had thrown down a tremendous flush and drawn the sixth and final foul on the C’s captain.  He nailed the free throw to boot, putting the finishing touches on the finishing barrage.

So here we are, six games, seven overtimes and one epic script into a bona fide first-round heavyweight basketball bout.

Game 7 is Saturday in Boston, a game that will double as the most significant affair ever contested at such an early juncture of the never-ending tournament that is the NBA playoffs.

Everyone who’s anyone will be there for the epic finale.  Maybe even Kevin Garnett.

And I’m thinking he may not be in a suit.

Heady times in Boston once again.

The Red Sox and Yankees are set to tango at Fenway in their inaugural ‘09 series beginning Friday. The Patriots will be on the clock Saturday, as the 2009 NFL Draft fires up. And once the Celtics take care of the Bulls, both the Green and Bruins will be appearing in their respective conference semifinals for the first time since 1992.

A few thoughts about each…

AM I THE only one yearning for an infusion of hate into Sox-Yanks? Isn’t that what made this whole thing the preeminent ongoing sports drama, way back when?

You ask any Red Sox or Yankees fan what they remember most clearly about the rivalry in recent past — apart from The Comeback — and a Boston fan will say Varitek’s Glove in A-Rod’s Face, while a New York fan will recount Pedro’s Body Slam of Zimmer.  These enduring images characterized and defined the rivalry, made it drop-everything, must-see television 19 or 26 times annually.  ESPN and Fox salivated all over it.  Passionate followers cleared their schedules and did everything they could to score the hottest ticket in town.  Casual fans tuned in because, hell, anything could happen.  No matter who you were, Red Sox-Yankees always found a way to find you.

Nowadays?  The media outlets aren’t nearly as enthralled, which is largely a reflection of popular sentiment.  And quite frankly, it’s because they have barely anything to hype.  The big storyline going into this weekend surrounds Joba Chamberlain and David Ortiz.  Joba, who has thrown at Kevin Youkilis on a few occasions, was called out by Big Papi, if you can even classify it as such.  Ortiz basically said that since Joba has shown head-hunting proclivities, he’s going to find it difficult to gain respect throughout the league.  (His comments contained almost as much vitriol as a certain drive-by argument…)

Would it be that out of line if Big Papi had said something just a tad more incendiary, to you know, send a message? I for one would love to see Joba hurl some chin music at Ortiz, watch Papi step out of the box and tell Joba to watch his corn-fed behind, then blast one into the center field bleachers.

IT’S PRETTY MUCH impossible to predict what the Patriots will do come draft day, which is why it’s so much fun tossing around various conspiracy theories.  Using the last two drafts as indicators, there’s truly no telling what Bill Belichick is up to.

Two years ago, the Randy Moss-to-New England rumors had come and gone before the draft, yet Belichick pulled a cat of out a hat in New York and in came Moss for (even at the time) a laughable fourth-round pick.  And a year ago, clearly deviating from his track record of only selecting linemen high in the first round, Belichick traded down from the seventh to tenth overall pick and selected linebacker Jerod Mayo.

While the possibility of Julius Peppers becoming a Patriot has been declared dead for all intents and purposes, it is for that very reason that it could still be alive.  When Peter King reports that New England is looking to trade its first-round and a second-round pick to move into the low top 10, but professes to have little idea as to why, the theories are free to fly.

All that’s for sure are the following facts: 1) New England was initially offering a second-round pick for Peppers, which was not enough, 2) Having shored up their secondary (signing Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden) and running game (Fred Taylor), the outside linebacker position is the Patriots’ only glaring weakness, 3) A low top 10 pick is an excellent bargaining chip, given the caliber of talent available there, as well as the slightly smaller financial obligation necessary to sign the player.

If Peter King doesn’t have a bead on what the Patriots will do, it’s legitimately anyone’s guess.  But that’s what makes following Belichick’s moves on draft day so intriguing.

THE CELTICS WERE the champs again on Thursday night in Chicago.  After a pair of scintillating games at the Garden that could have gone either way, Paul Pierce took command of Game 3 from the outset and the Celtics defense suffocated the suddenly overmatched Bulls all night.

Even with Kevin Garnett on the bench in a suit, it was a vintage performance from the Green on the defensive end, as they held Chicago to under 41 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers.  For the first time in the series, Pierce played like the best player on the court.  And Rajon Rondo, who battled to a stalemate with Derrick Rose in Boston, took decisive control of the point guard showdown, racking up 20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.

This series may still be extended — Chicago was 28-13 at home before Thursday — but for the Bulls, there’s ultimately no recovering from such a colossal beatdown in their own building.  Especially against the champs.

I HAVE NEVER written about the Bruins, because 1) I don’t know enough about hockey to throw my weight around, and 2) the Bruins have done nothing but disappoint for a very long time.  They infamously blew a 3-1 series lead against Montreal as the No. 1 seed in 2004, then attempted to reverse the script last year as the underdog, before falling to the Habs in seven.

All I remember from last year’s playoffs was how a few choice Boston crackpots decided to beat up visiting Montreal fans leaving the Garden.  It was an unnecessary and classless thing to do, though it paled in comparison to the disgraceful act staged by Canadiens fans before Game 3 Monday in Montreal: booing the American national anthem.

It was fitting that the Bruins proceeded to snuff out Montreal’s season with a pair of systematic thrashings, while formalizing a tidy four-game sweep in which Boston outscored the Habs 17-6.   I can officially say I’m back on the bandwagon, and am eagerly anticipating the Bruins’ projected second-round matchup with the New York Rangers.

To bring this rambling column full circle:  Maybe a little Bruins-Rangers is just what the doctored ordered for a suffering Boston-New York rivalry.

(Unless of course Joba decides to throw one behind Big Papi Friday night.)

Tom Brady might be sitting courtside at TD Banknorth Garden on Saturday — when the Celtics officially begin their title defense — but unlike last postseason, he will not be the most important guy in street clothes next to the Celtics bench.

Unfortunately, that honor will go to the Big Ticket.

What many feared last month after Kevin Garnett’s brief and unsuccessful return from a knee strain is now a bitter reality: The MVP of the Celtics, Mr. Anything’s Possible himself, is out indefinitely.

We have all witnessed how the fire burns inside this unparalleled athlete. We saw him spill his guts every night for 12 years in Minnesota. We were awed when he brought his act to Boston and did the same over a surreal 97-game stretch last season; a series of extended encores punctuated by a world championship. And we were grateful when a long-suffering basketball town was returned to its rightful perch atop the hoops world.

Now, with 14 years and well over a thousand games under his belt, it appears his heart and passion for the game have proven to be more enduring than the knees entrusted with carrying all that extra weight, literal and otherwise.

There are still no reports of structural damage in his injured right knee, just a career’s worth of wear and tear of the highest degree. (Seems like the term “wear and tear” grossly understates the matter, no?) He hasn’t been officially ruled out of the entire playoffs, but it’s probably wise to keep expectations at a minimum going forward.

It’s tough not to be down at this point. When KG was healthy, the defending champs — spurred by an historic 27-2 start — were the story of the league.

Yet not long after that run, the main plot of 2008-09 season shifted away from the Celtics and towards Lebron and Kobe, Cleveland and LA.  Garnett went down, the Cavs were unbeatable at home (falling only to LA), and the Lakers had wrapped up the West before MLK Day.

While Cavs-Lakers was accordingly billed as the surest Finals since, well Lakers-Celtics, and would’ve had a good chance of happening even if KG was healthy, it’s a damned shame the Green won’t get a real shot at defending their crown. Anyone who tells you Cavs-Celtics would have been a foregone conclusion with Garnett back is full of it.

Garnett’s loss is a striking blow to a team that wore the championship belt and bullseye all year, battled multiple injuries throughout, integrated new players, and still emerged with 62 victories. It was an admirable first chapter to the team’s first title defense since 1987. Now, with the end game pretty much determined, all that’s left to see is how it concludes.

I don’t think it’s optimistic to believe the Celtics will fulfill their end of the bargain and give Lebron the rematch he’s wanted — albeit under different circumstances.

This team has dealt with a ton of adversity.  In addition to Garnett being sidelined for 25 games, key reserves Leon Powe (12 games), Tony Allen (36 games) and Brian Scalabrine (43 games) all missed significant time.  That enabled Glen Davis to grow into his skin, and helped accelerate the transition for newcomers Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury.

Add to that Rajon Rondo’s emergence as an elite point guard and Kendrick Perkins’  continued development (both enter the playoffs as unquestionably better players than last year), and there is a solid and experienced supporting cast around the now Big Two, who are not to be forgotten.

Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are among the proudest players in the game, and will make it their personal mission to carry this team as far as they can.  Even with rings — and Pierce with a Finals MVP — both can vividly recall the days when they were some combination of underestimated and underappreciated.

Allen has been channeling Jesus Shuttlesworth since last year’s Eastern Conference finals.  He will take it up a notch.

As for Pierce, let’s just say a lot of people didn’t take him seriously last year when he proclaimed he was the best player in the world.  He may have overstepped a bit, but after manning up and dismissing Lebron and Kobe on the biggest stage, his point held water.

For the two most important months of the 2007-08 season, Paul Pierce was the best player in the world.  He’s always relished having something to prove, the greats always do.  Now he does (again).

The Celtics likely won’t make it back to the promised land without their leader, but that doesn’t change the fact that the belt is theirs until somebody rips it off them.

Knowing this team and its coach, knowing Allen and the reigning Finals MVP, I wouldn’t bank on anyone not named Lebron or Kobe taking the honors.

Need a comprehensive preview of the 2009 MLB season?  Want to know who’s going to make it through the gauntlet that leads to October?  Itching to find out which teams will rise out of nowhere to become legitimate threats?  Wondering how all the hardware will be distributed?

Well then, please read on.

AL East Champions — Boston Red Sox (96-66)

The Red Sox have been the team of the decade thus far.  They’ve won at least 93 games six times, played for four pennants and hung two banners.

Boston’s success has revolved around developing homegrown talent through its farm system (Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jonathan Papelbon), and filling in the holes through trades (Hanley Ramirez for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell before the 2006 season) and free agency (recent signings of John Smoltz, Brad Penny and Takashi Saito).

Combine that with a prolonged dedication to defensive proficiency, and you see how drastically the core philosophy of the franchise has changed in the last 10 years.  The Red Sox are a team built for the long run, both the grind of a 162-game season, as well as the future.

While the health of cogs David Ortiz, J.D. Drew and Lowell will be closely monitored throughout the ‘09 season, Boston’s pitching and defense is good enough to make up for any offensive shortcomings.

The Red Sox will retake the AL East and make another run deep into October.

AL Central Champions — Cleveland Indians (89-73)

If the Indians have taught us anything in recent past, it’s that they are all about expectation.  When they’ve avoided it (2005 and 2007), they’ve flourished (average of 95 wins).  When they’ve encountered it (2006 and 2008), they’ve flopped (average of 80.5 wins).

Now that CC Sabathia is a distant memory and Fausto Carmona is fresh off a back-to-earth ‘08 season, there is very little expectation in Cleveland.  Though that’s not to say there isn’t a quality ballclub there.  With a 26-year-old MVP candidate in Grady Sizemore at the top of the lineup, the Tribe will plate runs.  Versatile newcomer Mark DeRosa will complement the likes of Ryan Garko and Jhonny Peralta to form a solid one through nine.  And remember the name Shin-Soo Choo (1.038 OPS after the All-Star break last year).

The pitching staff is a question mark, especially given that no one is banking on a repeat of Cliff Lee’s 22-3 campaign of a year ago.  But then again, few are counting on much from Carmona, who was shaky and broken down last year after a 2007 season that saw him throw 230 innings (he had never thrown more than 173 innings at any level).  Given that he relies primarily on a hard sinker, so long as he consistently locate his pitches, there’s no reason to believe he won’t bounce back with a big season in ‘09.

As for the bullpen, which was nothing short of a train wreck last year, Joe Borowski — along with his 89-mph fastball and countless blown saves — is out as Indians closer.  That alone is cause for elation among Cleveland fans.  New fireman Kerry Wood, health issues notwithstanding, is going to totally transform the vibe of that bullpen, not to mention the late-game managing strategies of Eric Wedge.

With a well-rounded club and scant expectation, the Tribe will do what they do best: fly under the radar en route to the postseason.

AL West Champions — Oakland A’s (88-74)

They are turning back the clocks in Oakland.  The days of Billy Beane jettisoning any and all valuable commodities for prospects are over.  By signing Matt Holliday, Orlando Cabrera and Nomar Garciaparra, and bringing back old friend Jason Giambi, Beane’s A’s are going for it.  Now.

They will be relying on a young and largely unproven rotation, headlined by an ace, Justin Duchscherer, who is not likely to post another sub-3.00 ERA.  But as opposed to last year, the Oakland hurlers will not take the mound knowing they must totally shut down the opposition to win, because their offense (worst in the AL in 2008) finally has the ability to plate a significant amount of runs.

Don’t underestimate how a change in clubhouse culture can affect play on the field as well.  With a veteran-laden, high-powered offense and a throwback leader in Giambi, the A’s clubhouse will be a light and comfortable atmosphere in which the young arms can mature without significant pressure.  Beane’s well-established track record of developing pitching would indicate that one or more from the top-prospect trio of Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill and Vincent Mazzaro will make the leap in ‘09.

The injury to projected closer Joey Devine is a blow to the bullpen, but the Oakland relief corps will still feature a variety of quality options (including Brad Ziegler, Russ Springer and Michael Wuertz).

Behind the new bats and a new mentality, the A’s will recapture the AL West after a two-year hiatus.

AL Wild Card — New York Yankees (94-68)

The new Steinbrenner contingent invested nearly half a billion dollars into their enterprise.  How then is it possible that the Yankees will finish as a second-place team?  Because the Red Sox have better pitching.  That doesn’t mean the Yankees staff isn’t formidable, because it is.  For whatever reason, CC Sabathia is not a fast-starter.  While his April struggles are dominating the headlines in New York right now, over the long run his poor debut in pinstripes — however extended it may be — will be old news once he wins 20 games and finishes at or near the top of the Cy Young balloting.

It wouldn’t be prudent to hold A.J. Burnett — the other high-priced newcomer to the New York rotation — in the same regard as Sabathia.  Last year marked only the second time in the last eight seasons that Burnett started 30-plus games (he’s averaged just under 24 starts per season in that span).  If Yankee fans aim for 20-25 starts from Burnett, they won’t be disappointed, because when he does pitch, he’s very good (3.81 career ERA, 8.40 K/9).

Behind Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte, Joba Chamberlain is slated to be the fifth starter.  Everyone knows he’s much better than that.  Considering the questions surrounding Pettitte (who will be 37 in June and posted a career-worst 4.57 ERA last year) and Wang (who spent considerable time on the DL), Joba is really only the fifth starter in theory.

Whatever hurdles the pitching staff encounters, the Yankees offense will more than make up for.  Sticking Mark Teixeira in the middle of that lineup is going to pay immediate dividends, and will be even more devastating once Alex Rodriguez returns.

The Yankees will be back in the playoffs.

Not Quite Enough

Tampa Bay Rays (91-71) Hands down the third-best team in the AL, but the rules say only two from the same division can make it.

Los Angeles Angels (87-75) Too much uncertainty surrounding the starting rotation, compounded by aging key contributors, will ultimately stall the Halos.

Sleepers

Texas Rangers Opposing staffs better hope to be throwing their frontline guys when clashing with a Texas offense that is genuinely fearsome.

Kansas City Royals Studs in the rotation and a sneaky-good lineup should have the Royals sniffing their first winning season since 2003.

Awards

Cy Young Josh Beckett

MVP Grady Sizemore

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NL East Champions — New York Mets (92-70)

A new year, a new stadium, and new hopes in Flushing.  Gone is the hex-house that was Shea Stadium.  Citi Field is the new home of the Metropolitans.

Just like recent versions of the Mets, the ‘09 one will feature an offense with considerable speed and power, as well as a deep bench.  The recent signing of Gary Sheffield gives added depth to the corner outfield tandem of Daniel Murphy and Ryan Church.  With one of those three coming off the bench every night, as well as Fernando Tatis and defensive specialist Alex Cora, Jerry Manuel will have versatile guys at his disposal late in games.

Late in games.  Those three words have haunted Mets fans over the last three years, as the staple of the Mets bullpen has been blowing leads late.  Just as Shea Stadium was dismantled in the offseason, so too was the New York relief corps.  Out went failed setup men Aaron Heilman and Duaner Sanchez, and in came documented closers J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez.  No longer will the eighth and ninth innings be disaster central for the Mets.  To the contrary, in fact.

That swings the onus back to the starting rotation, which will be strong if John Maine and Oliver Perez can sufficiently back up frontline starters Johan Santana (already a far more vocal leader this year) and Mike Pelfrey (dominant in stretches last year).  Add it all up and the Mets will be leading many games late — and locking them down at the end.

The revamped bullpen will be the main reason why the Mets get over the hump and back to the postseason.

NL Central Champions — Chicago Cubs (98-64)

It’s tough to say what’s more difficult for Cubs fans to endure: knowing their team is guaranteed to be bad, or knowing their team is guaranteed to be the best — and fearfully counting down the days until the playoffs begin.  In years past, it was the former that Cubs fans had to come to grips with.  After consecutive NL Central crowns and a pair of embarrassing sweeps in the playoffs, it is now the latter.

There is, however, no getting around the fact that for the Cubs, the 2009 regular season is going to serve as nothing more than a 162-game warmup for a five-game series in October.  Remember the Cleveland Indians of the late 90s?  That’s the last team that was as much of an obvious runaway favorite as this year’s Cubs.

Chicago added Milton Bradley to a lineup that scored 855 runs last year, 56 more than any other team in the NL.  They will have a full year of Sean Marshall (and not Jason Marquis) as the fifth starter.  If Rich Harden can approach the 25 starts he made last year, they will have one of the game’s filthiest pitchers as their fourth starter.  Kevin Gregg is the new closer, with nasty setup man Carlos Marmol ready and willing to take the reigns when necessary.

The Cubs are going to win a lot of games, and for better or worse, with each one the disturbing reality of October is going to become a little more apparent.

NL West Champions — Los Angeles Dodgers (89-73)

Traditionally, when a team loses its ace and closer, panic tends to set in.  That was initially the case for the Dodgers when Derek Lowe signed with the Braves and Takashi Saito headed east to Boston.  Until the beginning of March, the Dodgers were nothing more than a young team with promise and a suspect pitching staff.

That is, until Scott Boras ended his four-month standoff with general manager Ned Colletti and agreed to terms on a new contract for Manny Ramirez.

Just like that the Dodgers offense transformed into one of the NL’s best.  Of course all this is old news to Dodgers fans.  Their team was mired in mediocrity for the first two-thirds of last season before Manny arrived.  After Ramirez abused opposing pitching staffs over the final two months of the season and into October, it became abundantly clear that one player can indeed be the difference between middle-of-the-pack status and bona fide contender.

While the offseason was replete with angst in Tinseltown, Manny’s presence has settled all nerves.  The pitching staff still has issues (Is Chad Billingsley a true No. 1? Can Clayton Kershaw take the next step so soon?  As the full-time closer, will Jonathan Broxton avoid the horrid stretches that have plagued him in the past?), but what was proven last year was a little Manny can go a long way.

How about a full season of Manny?  You know the answer.

NL Wild Card — Philadelphia Phillies (90-72)

By virtue of their dash to a world championship last fall, the Phillies changed a lot of perceptions about their franchise and city.

As for their chances of a repeat, let’s just say recent history isn’t on their side.  Of the eight World Series champions this decade, only the 2001 Yankees made it back to the Fall Classic.  Four failed to even qualify for the playoffs in the year of their title defense.

The Phillies will be able to avoid becoming the fifth team on that list, because their offense features three MVP candidates and a newcomer (Raul Ibanez) who is a run-producing machine.  They will have to score a boatload of runs, as their starting rotation is full of holes.  After Cole Hamels (who threw 262 1/3 innings last year and has been dealing with elbow problems), the Phils top three will round out with Brett Myers (erratic) and Jamie Moyer (46 years old).

Having Brad Lidge to close games is key.  His consistency and a potent offense will get Philadelphia to where it wants to be: in the postseason with a chance to defend its crown.

Not Quite Enough

Arizona Diamondbacks (87-75) Playing a full season in a division with Manny (five HR, 1.588 OPS in 12 games vs. ARI last year) will be the D-backs’ undoing.

Sleepers

San Francisco Giants A talented and well-rounded rotation will have the Giants breathing down the necks of the contenders out west.

Cincinnati Reds With young aces and young sluggers headlining in Cincy, the Reds will lack consistency but prove to be a headache for the duration.

Awards

Cy Young Johan Santana

MVP Manny Ramirez

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Playoff Picks

ALDS

Red Sox over A’s; Yankees over Indians

NLDS

Mets over Dodgers; Cubs over Phillies

ALCS

Red Sox over Yankees

NLCS

Mets over Cubs

World Series

Red Sox over Mets

PLAY BALL.