Rice's Hall Bid Falls Short Again

Jim Rice needed to be named on 75% of the 543 Hall of Fame ballots yesterday. He fell short by 16 votes (72.2%).

Goose Gossage was the sole player to gain induction. After appearing on 71.2% (388) of the ballots last year, he was named on 85.8% (466) on Tuesday. That means 78 writers who felt Goosage was not one of the top 10 eligible players last year suddenly decided that he did deserve induction after all. WTF? (While voters can choose 10 players, the average ballot in 2008 had 5.45 names.)

I don't have an definitive opinion on Rice and the Hall, but I lean towards NO, considering his career stats away from Fenway were a meager .277/.330/.459 (Coco Crisp had a .330 OBP last year). However, I do want to learn who the writer is who believes Chuck Knoblauch is a Hall of Famer.

The Herald reports that Daisuke Matsuzaka began preparing for the upcoming season with a five-hour workout in Tokorozawa, Japan on Sunday. Matsuzaka will work out in Japan for the next month before heading to Fort Myers.

Buddy LeRoux, part owner of the Red Sox in the 1970s and 1980s, died Monday night at age 77. I wonder if there is any Sox fan who has a kind word to say about LeRoux.

I forgot to include the Herald's back page the other day:

Earl Ward, a lawyer for Brian McNamee, wants Congress to demand and make public the recording of a December interview between McNamee and two private investigators hired by Roger Clemens's attorneys. "According to Brian, they tried to get him to recant. Brian said, look, what I told the investigators was the truth."

Clemens's lawsuit includes information on McNamee's possible involvement in a Florida rape case in 2001. TCM's lawyers believe McNamee misled detectives during their investigation and that may cast doubt on the credibility of his steroid claims. Rusty Hardin: "The significant thing is, when this guy's rear end is in trouble, does he lie?"

Considering where McNamee says he injected Clemens, we could ask the same question of Billy.