Just a few quick links this morning, as I’m headed out for the day…The top story is of course, the trade. Interesting paradox in opinion on the trade, the on-air media seemed to pretty much pan the deal all day and night yesterday, with a few exceptions. The print media seems to love the deal…Jeff Horrigan and Bob Hohler examine the deal. Alex Speier looks at some of Kim’s numbers. Sean McAdam & Art Martone team up to wonder just how Kim is going to be used, as a starter, or as a closer. David Heuschkel says he’ll be used as a starter for at least as long as Pedro is out. Tony Massarotti approves of the deal, noting the price was right and that they got a guy who can fill either of their biggest pitching needs, just not both at once. They’re going to need a further move to fit whichever role Kim isn’t filling. Gordon Edes says that Theo wanted to do this deal before Hillenbrand slumped in the second half of the year, and that he deserves credit for pulling this trade off. Jim Donaldson says though first appearances can make it seem otherwise, the Sox made a great deal yesterday. Steve Buckley’s pay column says that it was tough to trade Hillenbrand, but it was the right move for a team with World Series aspirations.

Steven Krasner says it’s not going to be easy to forget the loss Wednesday night in Yankee Stadium. Jack O’Connell looks at Theo’s “small” approach to building the Sox, and how it just might win his executive of the year honors for the American League. Art Martone says even though Freddy Sanchez can really field, he’s getting called up for his hot bat. In a look at the minors, Michael Silverman says on the reasons the trigger was pulled on the deal was because it appears Sanchez is ready to make the leap. Edes’ notebook reports that Derek Lowe has had a second procedure to remove a growth from his nose, and should rejoin the team tonight.

Peter May looks at David Robinson, how much he’s meant to the city of San Antonio, and now is headed to the ABA….er, NBA Finals for the second time in his career, as the Spurs knocked off the Mavs last night. Nets & Spurs. Get ready for plenty of old 70’s highlights with the red white and blue basketball during the finals.

Kevin Paul Dupont has the story of NJ’s 3-0 win in the Stanley Cup Finals last night. His notebook looks at Brodeur, rising to the occasion. Stephen Harris says the Ducks are in a hole.

Bill Griffith looks at Bruins announcer Dave Shea, who is also the editor and publisher of The Hockey Magazine. In his pay column, Jim Baker looks at Comcast’s CN8 hiring of “Ed Berliner as its regular “Sports Pulse” host on Ch. 3 weeknights at 10, effective June 23.” Berliner, who is coming in from Denver, promises not to be a homer, to be objective and have a fast moving show. Griffith also has a sidebar with the numbers from Wednesday night.

Jeff Jacobs says everyone has an opinion…even Mike Tyson.

Could the trade of Shea Hillenbrand mean the end of Johnny Pesky’s relationship with the Sox? Check out this quote from Pesky in an article by Carol Beggy & Mark Shanahan in the Living/Arts section of the Globe today:

About this year's team, Pesky said he feels good. But he vowed to end his longtime association with the Red Sox if Shea Hillenbrand is traded. ''If that happens, I'll quit,'' Pesky said sternly. ''I've got my letter all ready for Mr. [Larry] Lucchino.''

Both sports radio stations in town have been talking this afternoon about a likely trade between the Red Sox and Diamondbacks of Shea Hillenbrand for Byung-Hyun Kim. Since the news broke, WEEI has devoted almost constant talk to the topic, while after a little while Eddie Andelman went onto talking about Andre the Giant and other wrestling stuff. Has anyone else noticed that since Eddie jumped on the Sox bandwagon, they’ve gone 0-2? Local opinion among the media types here seem to pan the trade, while Peter Gammons on the Big Show talked enthusiastically about Kim’s stuff, and what he can bring to the Sox.

Clark Booth was cheering for Roger Clemens on Monday, and knocks fans who hold a grudge against the Rocket:

The haunted, hung-up, addled denizens of so-called "Red Sox Nation" have made Clemens the symbol of their anger, frustration and remorse. It is very convenient and very predictable. It is also very silly.

One has this advice for said denizens: Grow up! Move on! Get a Life! Failing all of that, try to find some roses to smell! Because you are becoming a bloody bore.

Jim Caple says that letting Roger Clemens go wasn’t the worst move the Red Sox made in 1996.

Bill Simmons looks at what LeBron James has to look forward to in the NBA. Luke Meredith rambles about the dartboard bullpen, Marvcus Patton, and the not-so-Phantom Gourmet among other topics in the “Unsilent Majority”.

Bryan Morry has a look at Patriots rookie receiver Bethel Johnson.

Ray Duckler looks at NH native Matt Bonner and his NBA hopes.

Manny’s not focused again, blows game with bonehead play

Manny throws game away

Should Manny even be playing the field anymore?

Wow. Manny really blew it this time, didn’t he? According to Bob Lobel on the Globe SportsPlus last night, Manny was the sole reason the Sox lost the game last night. He couldn’t get off the air without getting his panel to agree with him and then smugly staring into the camera to say good night. The first headline above is from my pal over at DirtDogs. The second headline was the one the show displayed while they replayed Manny’s throw (which admittedly was horrible) about 20 times in succession. The third was a question asked by Lobel. To which I ask, who are you gonna stick out there? Millar? Ha. Giambi? Haha. Another question…what if that was Trot that made the throw? Would it had even been noticed? Trot can throw the ball into the stands after catching the second out of the inning and not catch any heat for it.

While Manny’s terrible throw was a factor in losing the game, there’s no way you can pin sole responsibility on him for the loss. Too many other things happened last night, as Jeff Horrigan points out this morning, asking a series of “What if” questions. Lobel’s panel agreed that Grady did the right thing by intentionally loading up the bases after Manny’s throw to attempt to get a force at home. No one seemed to remember that this is the second time Grady has done this “Lets intentionally load the bases so we can get a force at any base” trick against the Yankees. He did it last year, on July 21. The now immortal Urbina was the closer…and he walked Posada to force in a run and lose the game…just like last night. I didn’t like the strategy last year when he did it with Urbina and I don’t like it now. Too much pressure on your pitcher to throw strikes. Especially a young pitcher like Lyon. Gordon Edes acknowledges that Grady did this last year, and says there is little comfort to be taken in the comeback. Edes says he checked and Jason Varitek was not thrown out of the game…after the game was over, while Steven Krasner says he was. Don Amore says this is just the same old story. Yankees get the upper hand in the end. David Heuschkel looks at the emotionally charged ninth inning, remembers lasts years similar loss and notes there was some anger in the Sox clubhouse after the game. Nick Cafardo notes further the frustration of Varitek and Lyon, and focuses on the comeback, though it is of little solace. On another note, Nick has been around the Sox for some weeks now, and I’m still waiting for him to get that interview with Manny. He said on WWZN one day that if he was still covering the Sox, he’d get Manny to talk to him. George Kimball does devote an entire article to Manny’s throw, but says while he wasn’t to blame for the loss, he set the stage for it, which is true. Sean McAdam says that the Sox really wasted opportunities to put ground between themselves and the Yankees, and just might’ve awakened the Yankees from their swoon. Tony Massarotti is more positive, he says there can be no doubt that this is a different Red Sox team, fearless and without quit. Steve Buckley garners reaction to that controversial ball three call. Larry Lucchino said on WEEI this morning that Umpire Joe West has a reputation in the game, which was affirmed last night. He said the team will be putting in an inquiry into the quality of the calls last night. Edes has a short sidebar looking at Rivera’s ninth inning meltdown. Edes further looks at Derek Lowe’s ongoing case of hodophobia…what’s that? “fear of road travel”. Massarotti also looks at Hillenbrand’s power outage this year, last night’s homer was only his third of the year. Jack O’Connell looks at Don Zimmer firing back at the Boss. Bill Reynolds has a look at Moneyball, the much talked about book about the Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane. There are Sox-related excepts in there as well. (If you want to purchase the book, if you buy it through the icon in the right column, I’ll get a couple pennies from it.) Charlie Pierce, writing for Slate, says that Roger is the last great flake in the game. Howard Bryant’s pay column says the missed third strike call was not the reason the Sox lost the game. Shoddy defense was to blame. The Yankees made great defensive plays all night, and the Sox didn’t, including Manny. Steve Buckley’s pay column is a tirade against John Henry Williams, who was released from his minor league team yesterday. George Kimball has a pay column looking at John Burkett, again wary of going to Toronto, due to the SARS scare. Burkett came under fire for his comments on the Sox last trip, and is scheduled to pitch the opener on Friday. Krasner’s notebook has more on Toronto and SARS. Cafardo’s notebook looks at the tough ninth inning for Brandon Lyon. Horrigan’s notebook looks at Tony Cloninger note making the trip to Toronto because of his weakened immune system and the SARS scare.

Steve Conroy gets Mike O’Connell’s thoughts on the retiring Patrick Roy. Kevin Paul Dupont looks at an NHL that desperately needs a style upgrade. Stephen Harris looks at former Bruin Adam Oates trying to win a cup with the Ducks. Dupont’s notebook gets Pat Burns’ thoughts on his former Montreal goalie.

Peter May looks at the Spurs attempting to finish off the Mavs once again.

For those looking for football news, out in Buffalo, Allen Wilson says Drew Bledsoe is “fired up” to start his second season out there. ESPN.com has its offseason overview for the Patriots posted.

Here’s a snippet from Rick Gosselin’s Inside the NFL newsletter today.

Who has had the best off-season?
Jeff Elmore, Colleyville, Texas

GOSSELIN: The Patriots. I gave them one of my two A's in the draft, and they picked up four veteran starters in free agency, including Pro Bowl safety Rodney Harrison. This is a team that won a Super Bowl a season ago and tied for first place in the AFC East in 2002. The Patriots just keep accumulating talent.

From yesterday, Jim Donaldson says athletes that choose not to speak to the media are actually playing it smart.

ESPN has Devils/Mighty Ducks game two tonight at 8:00. TNT has Spurs/Mavs game six at 9:00. ESPN2 has Mets/Phillies at 7:00. Those interested in self-flagellation can check out the Bruins/Canadiens from game seven of the 1979 Stanley Cup semifinals on ESPN Classic at 5:00.

Poor Matt White. Anyone think that might’ve been a bit of a tough spot to make your major league debut? Well, it can only get better from here for White. The game was likely over by the time White came in, but any doubt was erased after he gave up six runs in the inning. Nick Cafardo reports on the 11-3 loss in the Bronx. Jeff Horrigan says perhaps the Yankees got a small bit of satisfaction in thwarting a Boston player in search of a milestone, with Nomar being held hitless. Don Amore looks at how Andy Pettitte took control of this game like it was a playoff game. Tony Massarotti looks at the end of Nomar’s streak, and assures us there will be more like it, even if Nomar doesn’t acknowledge the next one, either. Dan Shaughnessy puts himself in the action, and shoulders the blame for ending Nomar’s streak. Steve Buckley looks at the nightmarish debut for Matt White. Bob Hohler has another look at the rough debut for the left hander from Massachusetts. David Heuschkel says that Grady putting White in there might’ve just been a white flag that the game was over anyway, things just were not going the Sox way last night with several near-miss home run balls earlier in the game. (Jerry Trupiano had me punching the steering wheel in frustration after a couple of those calls…you know the drill…SWING AND A DRIVE….WAY BACK….DOWN THE LINE, AND THAT BALL ISSSS…..foul) George Kimball says that the home runs that the Yankees managed to get out of the park were the undoing of Bruce Chen. Gordon Edes has a look at how the even keeled Joe Torre handles the eruptions of the boss. Steinbrenner’s quotes are told to Torre, who reacts to them. Howard Bryant has more on Steinbrenner’s words and how they resonated with the players and GM. Kevin Gray looks at the Yankees trying to get out of an uncharacteristic funk. Brian Fleming has a short look at the red hot Bill Mueller. Buckley has a pay column on Mueller, who is now getting recognition from the Red Sox fans on the rare occasions that he goes out. Yankee fans still don’t know who he is, so they ignore him and boo Manny and Nomar and leave Meuller alone. Edes has a look at Derek Jeter, who is finally back to his full self and causing problems for the Sox. In Kimball’s pay column, he chats with Charley Steiner about the spin the Yankees are in. Getting swept by the Rangers and Blue Jays, two teams that had never swept the Yankees in NY anywhere was a low point for the franchise. In the latest edition of Hench’s Hardball, he says this Red Sox team is pretty on dimensional. They can hit, but not much else. He also wonders what it means when your headiest player is Manny…Hohler reports on the settlement reached in the Donald Fitzpatrick molestation case. This monster spent years in the Red Sox clubhouse preying on the young boys working there. Bryant’s pay column is a look at the Yankees and Red Sox each having a such a small margin for error when they play each other. Neither team can just show up and win, they have to play a nearly flawless game to beat each other. Edes third bit in the paper today is a one-on-one bit with Joe Torre for the Globe’s SportsPlus TV show. Cafardo’s notebook points to Tuesday as a target for Pedro, and notes another dead-end to the baseball career of John Henry Williams. Horrigan’s notebook has more on Pedro, plus a SARS update from Toronto.

Bill Griffith looks at NESN numbers for the holiday Red Sox/Yankees game and revisits the Annika coverage. Jim Baker chats with Don Orsillo about the Sox, Don thinks this edition of the team has better potential for the long haul of the season because of its depth. John Molori recaps his visit to FSNE from Monday and weighs in with his thoughts on the Boston sports media. He mentions this website, but apparently in a negative sense, pointing to me as someone who gets on media people when they change their mind about things. He calls that “The worst aspect of today’s Boston media”. My take: First of all, that is certainly not the worst thing in the media…the worst thing is the petty grudges and agendas that media people carry out against the people and teams that they are supposed to be covering objectively. Second, I don’t have a problem with people changing their mind…as long as they admit that they’re doing so, and that this is a change from how they previously felt. Too often around here, someone will spend weeks, months just ripping on someone or some team. Just tear them up. Then, at a later point, when the player or team is doing well, at that point, they’ll totally change their tune, and all the stuff they said before just never happened and should be forgotten. We’re just supposed to let go that this person has spent a long chunk of time spewing venom towards the person or team, and just let them move on without their being called on it. So my mantra is…feel free to change your mind, but have the stones to admit that you are changing your earlier position, don’t pretend that opinion never existed.

Jeff Jacobs looks at the retiring Patrick Roy. Kevin Paul Dupont gets the commissioner’s take on the state of the NHL. Stephen Harris reports on game one of the Stanley Cup finals from last night.

Peter May reports on the Spurs fourth quarter meltdown last night that postponed the all-ABA finals of the Spurs and Nets for another game at least, and might’ve given the Mavericks new life.

NESN has Red Sox/Yankees at 7:00. (ESPN Nationally) ESPN2 has D-Backs/Giants at 10:00

Bill Simmons thoroughly enjoyed the Red Sox victory over Roger Clemens yesterday. He also revisits the reasons why true Boston fans despise the Rocket.

Dale & Neumy spent quite a bit of time trying to add the final pieces to this Red Sox team. Closers were discussed, Byung-Hyun Kim from Arizona, was discussed Closer of a blurb in Peter Gammons’ column from yesterday. That giant sagging on the Red Sox bandwagon today was from Eddie Andelman making the leap onto it. Yup, after spending the entire offseason and early season mocking the team and Theo Epstein, Eddie is now telling everyone they need to appreciate this team. He also recycled the classic debate, who would you rather have in his prime, Roger or Pedro…deep stuff there.

Sweetness. How else to describe the thought of legions of disappointed media types (not to mention Yankee fans) who were hoping to see Roger stick it to the Sox yesterday and get number 300. Perhaps its better this way, now even loyal Sox fans can enjoy when Clemens finally does reach that milestone. The sight of Marty Barrett wearing a Yankees visor, in the luxury box also made the Clemens shelling satisfactory. Jeff Horrigan says that Grady forcing Roger to change his glove before the game was symbolic in many ways. No kid-glove treatment of Clemens yesterday. Steven Krasner writes about the Rocket failing his history test yesterday, and though the Sox were more focused on beating the Yankees, rather than just Clemens, Johnny Damon admits he didn’t want to end up on ESPN Classic. Bob Hohler says the Sox stole the show yesterday, wearing Roger out, and putting the game away after the Yankees had rallied. David Heuschkel says the Sox made Roger labor on Memorial day. Don Amore says perhaps the Yankees just all got a little too caught up in the moment yesterday. I love the headline of the Lenny Megliola article today: “Rockin’ Roger”. Kevin Gray looks at the indifference with which many Yankee fans treat Roger. A clearly disappointed Dan Shaughnessy knocks the patch, he thinks Roger’s agents were behind putting it on his glove. Jonathan Comey at least admits that he was rooting for Roger to stick it to the Sox yesterday. I enjoyed this bit from Sean McAdam:

In a comment that recalled some of his past unsuccessful skirmishes with logic and linear thought, Clemens said: "It couldn't have worked out any better -- other than the loss."

Whatever you say, big fella.

Gordon Edes notes Roger was either lying, or ignorant about the origin of the glove.

According to umpiring crew chief Joe West, Clemens claimed the glove had been sent to him by Major League Baseball. But that seems unlikely, since the glove he was wearing was made by TPX, his own glove manufacturer, and MLB's official glove supplier is Wilson.

''To the best of our knowledge,'' MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said last night, ''we were not aware Roger was going to wear the glove.''

Whoops. In other articles, Clemens is quoted as saying that MLB had worked real hard in designing that patch… In his pay column, Steve Buckley, who needed to be consoled after the game, knocks Joe Torre for leaving Roger in there too long. Jeff Jacobs says Roger and the Yankees were a bit too presumptuous yesterday. One of the most encouraging things from watching yesterday’s game was seeing the Sox do to Roger what the Yankees of a couple years ago used to do to Pedro. Wear him out, foul off pitch after pitch, Tony Massarotti comments on this strategy by the Sox. Nick Cafardo says the Sox batters frustrated Clemens as much as they wore him out. Jackie MacMullan looks at the Red Sox alumni group who traveled to see Roger go for the milestone. They’re all in awe that he is still out there when they’ve been retired for a decade or more. George Kimball looks at Tim Wakefield, who didn’t even think he’d have to pitch yesterday, because of the rain. Mark Blaudschun says Wakefield wasn’t going to make it easy for his old teammate. Howard Bryant looks at the huge catch by Hideki Matsui which only prevented the Sox from eventually putting up double digit run totals on the Rocket. Steve Buckley says don’t worry, Roger will get ’em next time…Krasner has more on the glovegate situation. Jon Wallach looks at how the Sox wrecked Roger in one inning. Lost in the excitement of the day is the news that Nomar continued his hitting streak. Massarotti duly notes the accomplishment. With the loss yesterday, the Yankees also extended their home losing streak. MacMullan looks at the frustration on the part of the Yankees. George Kimball, a guy who had his share of run-ins with Roger while he was here, (think bread rolls) writes in his premium column today that while he wrote when Roger left town that he wasn’t a Hall of Famer, but that he is now. He can’t resist one last shot at Roger though:

If there were a Nitwits Hall of Fame, they'd have to build a special wing for Roger Clemens. But when it comes to the Baseball Hall of Fame, he's more than earned his place, even if he never wins another game.

Howard Bryant’s premium column is a look at the struggling Yankees. This is in no way the same team that won multiple World Series just a few years ago. Most of the guys are gone, replaced by ones who haven’t grasped yet how to go about winning a title. He uses angry quotes by Jeter, many of which appear in Jack O’Connell’s article today. Joe Sullivan writes about his experience trying to help his son hawk “curse” t-shirts around Fenway. Elsewhere, Hohler’s notebook looks at Nomar’s streak. Horrigan’s notebook looks at the call up of Rule 5 draftee Matt White, as well as Pedro talking to the media. Krasner’s notebook looks at Wakefield’s performance and some of Roger’s catchers over the years. Heuschkel’s notebook has more on Grady and the glove…

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell and Stephen Harris look at the Stanley Cup Finals matchup of New Jersey vs. Anaheim, which opens up tonight. Harris says this should be one boring series. Joe McDonald looks at Pawtucket native Keith Carney, getting ready to play in his first Stanley Cup Finals. Paul Doyle previews the Stanley Cup Finals.

Peter May looks at the Spurs hoping to wrap up the Western conference finals tonight.

Stan Grossfeld has a feature article on Olympic gold medal decathlon winner Rafer Johnson, who recalls his career and experience of being there when Robert Kennedy was assassinated.

NESN has Red Sox/Yankees at 7:00. ESPN has Devils/Mighty Ducks at 8:00. TNT has Spurs/Mavs at 9:00. TBS has Braves/Reds at 7:30. ESPN Classic has a Bobby Orr SportsCentury at 8:00 and 11:00.

In case you missed it, I’ve made a transcript of tonight’s FSNE New England Sports Tonight show, the topic of which was the Boston sports media, and the guests were Jim Baker and John Molori.

Success! OK. All seems to be running, though there are sure to be some bugs here and there. Please now use bruce@bostonsportsmedia.com as the email address to contact me. the old attbi.com address is going away at the end of June anyway, thanks to Comcast.

The National Links page has new headlines service with articles you can actually click on. There should be a few more improvements as we go forward.

Good news (hopefully) for those of you having problems accessing the site. I’ve signed up a deal with a reliable (again, hopefully) web host to provide a full fledged website here. The long weekend should give me time to make the transition. It’s going to cost me a bit more, but I think having a couple “fund drives” a year should more than cover the cost. I used some funds received from the last drive to cover the setup fees and first months cost. Thanks again to everyone who contributed. I hope to have the thing set up by the time everyone goes back to work on Tuesday, but that could change. The important thing to keep in mind is that once the move is made, the old http://bostonmedia.blogspot.com URL will not work, you’ll need to exclusively use the http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com URL. So check your bookmarks, and make sure that you’ve got the latter address saved. (yes Cleve, this is your fault)