Hi everyone,

Welcome back.  How are you?  It's looking a little dark outside at the moment, but I manged to get to the gym and do a grocery shopping without getting soaked, so I'm feeling good about that.  It sounds like the harder rain may be coming later this afternoon.  Oh well, the Clutter Tree could always use more water, and so could the shrub in front of it.  That poor shrub was half brown for the last few weeks, but there are new slashes of green coming through, thanks to this recent precipitation.  In any case, it's time to get to work.  Help yourself to a nice medium iced DD, and let's clear out some Saturday Clutter.

Here's hoping that Tuukka Rask and the rest of the Boston Bruins are ready to close things out against the New York Rangers tonight.  Let's not give these guys any false sense of hope.  They're simply not as good of a team as the B's, and they should be taken care of in a decisive fashion.

There's no way to avoid saying this:  John Lackey pitched a great game as the Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 8-1 last night.  He went seven innings, only gave up two hits, one unearned run, and struck out eight.  He seemed in control of things for most of the night, and if it turns out that we're finally going to see a consistent glimpse of the former Lackey for the rest of the season, that's a significant upgrade to this pitching rotation.

The start of a trend?  (pic via cbssports.com)

Meanwhile, the Sox made a number of roster moves yesterday, with David Ross, Alfredo Aceves and Jose Iglesias returning to the team, while Shane Victorino and Will Middlebrooks both went on the disabled list.  Never really thought we'd see Aceves back with Boston, though he pitched the 9th inning without incident last night.  By the way, is it just me, or do the Sox seem to have more injury problems than a typical team?

Speaking of injuries, New York Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson barely came back from the DL because of a broken right forearm before he went back on because of a broken left pinky finger.  It doesn't seem like this will slow New York down, as they continue to win with half of their starters hurt.

With the Massachusetts U.S. Senate special election coming up soon, I've seen no reason to be interested in the Republican nominee, Gabriel Gomez.  He's against the assault weapons ban, claims not to know about most of the current attacks on women's health, and comes across as just another GOP candidate.  The fact that he called his opponent Representative Ed Markey "pond scum"  doesn't do anything to improve my opinion of him either.   That's not exactly  what I'd call "appropriate" language for someone who wants to be my senator to be using.  Thanks for coming, but I'll be sticking with the experienced candidate.

Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones is now trying to cover his ass after being quoted as saying, "“You will never see as many great women investors or traders as men.  Period. End of story.”  Mind you, he's not saying he's wrong about that.  He's apologizing for the fact that people found his comments offensive.

The New York Times has the most comprehensive interview with Billy Joel you could ask for these days.  What's the Piano Man up to these days?

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Clutter missed Bob Dylan's 72nd birthday yesterday, so let's have him close things out with his song, "Masters of War," as we continue to recognize Memorial Day.  Here he is with today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  BDH, Little Buddha and I will be around if you want to come back to hang out later.  Otherwise, be good, stay dry, and we'll see you again soon.  For now, that's today's Clutter, and we are outta here.