Krause: Red Sox might not be last-place bad this season

Idle chatter while greeting the dawn of a new baseball season ?Call me crazy, but I don’t share the gloom and doom over this year’s Red Sox prospects.I just received my Sports Illustrated, and the projection there is dead last. And while I don’t think they’ll be in the playoffs come October, I’m not sure last place is in their future either.The pitching staff looks decent enough to improve on last year’s 69-93 record, and perhaps, yes, .500 would be a logical destination for them. Not great, but certainly better than last year.Obviously, things have to go right. David Ortiz is going to have to play a regular amountn of games, Jacoby Ellsbury’s going to have to stay healthy, and at least one of these short-term gap players is goign to have to exceed expecations. If either Johnny Gomes, Mike Napoli or Stephen Drew become this year’s Cody Ross, maybe we could have a little fun around here.OK, then, who does finish last? How about the New York Yankees, who starting lineup averages, I think, 60 years old. They’re severely beaten up and it’s not even April.Hey, it’s possible. And besides, any year where the Red Sox finish higher in the standings than the Yankees is a good year, right? Even if the Sox are fourth and the Yankees fifth.uWhat a vicious one-two punch this week. First the Bruins lose to the Canadiens (and at this address, that’s worse than the Sox losing to the Yankees), then they lose out on Jarome Iginla after thinking they had him.However, if I were Iginla and I had a chance to play on Sidney Crosby’s team, I’d take it too. It’s hard to get too upset with him.uDanny Ainge complaining about anyone’s griping to officials (he was grousing about LeBron James) is pretty funny. Ainge used to put on such a face when ever he didn’t get a call that even his own teammates made fun of him.But Pat Riley telling him to shut up? Even funnier. Nobody in the history of the NBA whined more than Riley.uEvery week, ESPN plays it’s worst plays of the week, and every week whichever one wins fails miserably when put up against Mark Sanchez’s butt fumble.Methinks that will retire as the undefeated champion of professional sports’ most embarrassing moments.uI’m going to miss Tom Menino’s mangling the names of renowned Boston sports figures.And it wasn’t just the players whose names he butchered. One of my favorite Mumbles malaprops was his use of the term “jumble-tron” to describe those big, multi-purpose scoreboards.uCondolences to coach/umpire/basketball official Mike Muchmore on the death of his mother, Rita.And the St. John’s Prep family has lost Dave Howell, who ws one of the school’s great hockey players from the 1970s.Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].