Sox Notes: Schill out till after break; Celts crash & burn in draft

Sox say Schill won't return to the hill until after the All Star break at the earliest
Not like we didn't already know this was coming, but Terry Francona confirmed what every member of the Nation knew to be fact-Schill's stay on the DL will last longer than the minimum 15 days, and from the looks of it, considerably longer.

Francona had this to say yesterday, as reported by the Globe's Gordon Edes:

"He can throw now, but I think they want him to reach certain levels with testing. All the things we said the other day remain true. We want him to be able to finish the season being a consistent, good pitcher. That's why we're trying to use good judgment."

Schilling went on the DL retroactive to June 19th with what is being classified as shoulder tendinitis, and with baseball set to resume play after the break on July 12th, that would make almost a full month out of action for the 40-year-old, 15-year vet.

Needless to say the situation cannot be classified as good. Even if the workhorse righty makes it back shortly following the break, the combination of the unsurety behind the cause of the injury and Schilling's advancing age doesn't bode well for a man who has already logged over 3,200 innings pitched on that appendage attachment.

All we can say is get well soon, Curt.

Cause I'll take half a Schill over a whole Gabbard.

Off Topic: Celtics continue to wallow in obscurity
The annual NBA Dog & Pony Show, a.k.a the 2007 NBA Draft, took place in front of a bunch of millionaires, soon-to-be-millionaires, and loser hoop junkies at MSG last night, and even though the Celts possessed the fifth pick in this talent-deep pool of players, Danny Ainge and Co. somehow managed to fuck it up anyway.

After Greg Oden and Kevin Durant went 1-2 to Portland & Seattle, there were still a lot of quality, NBA-ready players that could have helped the Cs in a rich draft class: the Gator duo of G Corey Brewer & F Joakim Noah; clutch PG Acie Law IV; pterodactyl-like F Brendan Wright of UNC; and Chinese prospect Yi Jianlian (is he related to Ann Jillian?) all could have helped a team that needs help at almost every position.

Except shooting guard.

See, the C's have had this occasionally disgruntled, 5-time All Star named Paul Pierce entrenched at that position since...oh, the late '90s.

So when Boston selected Georgetown forward/ mystery man Jeff Green and then traded him along with anchor Wally Sczerbiak (thank god!) and Delonte West (oh no!) to the Sonics for aging, ailing, defense-free shooting guard Ray Allen, the few remaining members of the Green Machine fanclub dropped their jaws, scratched their heads, then ran to the phone in a effort to unload their 07-08 season tix.

Sue PP okayed the deal, and he will slide over to the familiar SF spot when on the floor with Allen, but really, is having two aging & possible disgruntled superstar guards on the floor with a bunch of unproven youngsters really a recipe for postseason success?

Didn't think so either.

Don't get me wrong, I love Ray Allen. Loved him when he was a scrawny, sharpshooting kid at UConn, loved him as Denzel's talented, sensitive meal ticket Jesus Shuttlesworth in Spike Lee's underrated "He Got Game", and loved him as he poured in almost 17,000 points over 11 NBA seasons.

But he is by no means the answer to what ails the struggling Cs.

Surprisingly many media honks, including the estimable Jim Rome and CBS Sportsline's Tony Meija, have lauded this deal, with Meija going so far as to say the Celts are "relevant again" with the arrival of Allen.

Huh?

The only way the C's would have been relevant again is if the ping pong balls had gone their way and they had landed the 1 or 2 pick like they planned when Doc & Danny had them tank the last half of the season to win the lottery.

Instead they've got two 30-something vets coming off injury-plagued years who both would rather be playing somewhere else.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.