Phil's Thoughts

Forever Fenway: 100 Years

2011-11-22T12:50:00.003-05:00

A lot has changed in America in the last 100 years. Two World Wars, an economic depression and the office of president change 17 times. One thing has been there through it all -- Fenway Park.

   On April 20, 1912, Fenway Park opened its doors as the Red Sox took on the New York Highlanders (now known as the Yankees). It was an exciting game played before a crowd of 27,000 screaming fans excited to see the new park. The game was a close one going into extra innings with the hometown Red Sox taking a 7-6 victory. Fans say the Sox have been beating the Yankees ever since. The event was so historical; there were plans for a front page story. But news of the Titanic sinking took its place.

   How has a small park in the middle of Boston been able to survive 100 years?

“I think the city of Boston and the Red Sox really care about preserving it. Fenway is by far the best place to watch a game. The memories of players such as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams helped create a feeling that makes it different than other parks. It’s a magical place,” says Red Sox fan Kimberly Krzyaniak.

Fenway Park to fans is an experience: the smell of the grass, the view of the monster in left field, the taste of a Fenway Frank and seeing your team taking the field. Fenway Park is a place where no matter how old you are you get to be nine years old for a day. It takes you back to a much simpler time for a little while.

The Red Sox originally played at Huntington Avenue Ball Grounds but the park was not up to par compared to parks of its time. Team owner John I. Taylor-- looked into finding a new place to play. Taylor saw a piece of land in the Fens district in Boston and thus the name Fenway.

Fenway Park has a rich history beginning with the original grandstands that still stand today to the burning of the left field bleachers. If you went to the park in the 1920’s there was a roped off section of ash in the field bleachers because the team wasn’t winning and they didn’t have money to fix them.

In the 1930’s the team owner Tom Yawkey rebuilt the bleachers and added the most iconic item in Fenway Park. The Green Monster is a 37-foot wall built to keep people from sitting on the street and watching the game for free.

   The Monster has a history of its own. Originally, just known as the wall, it held the score board still in Fenway today. It includes a hidden message. Yawkey and his wife’s initials are on the wall in Morse code using lights on the scoreboard. The monster was covered in ads until the “Splendid Splinter” Ted Williams showed up. Williams who was the best hitter for Mr. Yawkey’s team, found them distracting while batting and they were removed and the wall was painted green in 1947; the monster was born.

The Monster originally had a net to catch homerun balls hit over it but it was so tall a ladder was placed on the wall. This ladder caused at least two inside the park home runs and several triples. The current owner John Henry placed seats on top of the Monster so fans could have a new experience in 2003 as part of a renovation project.

   Henry purchased the Red Sox and Fenway Park in 2002. Since then he has been preparing for the 100 year anniversary by renovating the ball park. He increased the size of the concourses and made the park fan friendly, like a roof deck . He added statues around the park to preserve its history. He even included a place to honor the Red Sox Hall of Famers.

“I think they have helped modernize the park. It gives a bit of the past and present feeling. It’s the best of both worlds” Krzyaniak said.

   Six of the team’s seven World Series victories were in this park, including the 2004 World Series victory which brought an end to the 86 year drought. This brought people back to Fenway.

“Opening Day of 2005 was my favorite day at Fenway Park,” said Kevin Barnes lifelong Red Sox fan. “I flew up from Florida to meet my mother at Fenway. It was a picture perfect day watching them raise the World Series banner. Across the diamond sat the hated Yankees, who I got to say showed a lot of class that day. The atmosphere was electric with past and present players, as well as the Fenway faithful.”

   Though winning the World Series isn’t the biggest highlight for some Red Sox fans. Red Sox fan Jesse Jackson, recalled the 1999 All-Star Game hosted at Fenway. This was a heartfelt event as it was the last time Williams would ever be in Fenway.

“Williams came out on a golf cart on to the field and all the players rallied him. It was a moving sight. The day got even better when our guy Pedro Martinez took to the mound and struck out the side.” Many fans were hoping baseball would allow the All-Star game to come back to Fenway in honor of 100 years.

Petitions were put together and fans begged for the park to be honored. Though Major League Baseball wants to honor the park, they felt it was just too soon for Fenway to host the Mid-Summer’s Classic.

   In recent years several high profile teams such as the Yankees and the Mets have left their historical stadiums for the new cookie cutter style ballpark with all the modern amenities. The Red Sox were under pressure to rebuild in 1999 next to the current park since other teams were rebuilding. There also were talks of moving the team to Foxborough with the Patriots. The fans of Boston would not allow this. They consider Fenway Park the cathedral of Boston, their place of baseball worship.

   With the 2011 season coming to a close it is time to prepare for the anniversary, but how? The Red Sox are currently taping videos of fans telling their favorite memories of Fenway, even giving fans a chance to be a part of the walkways of Fenway. The Red Sox are selling bricks to fans and giving them the chance to place a saying that will be there as long as the park itself.

    What is the most fitting way to celebrate the anniversary of Fenway Park? It is to replay the game that started it all. The Red Sox will take on the rival Yankees on April 20, 2012. “I don’t think baseball would have it any other way,” said Krzyaniak.

   Fenway Park has been part of baseball history for 100 years. It has been the home of many celebrations and a lot of heartbreak. There has to be a reason Fenway Park is known as America’s most beloved ballpark. Could it be because so many games have been played here over the last hundred years or could it be the memories made here? Could it be the stories passed from generation to generation about seeing Ted Williams hit his final homerun or where you were when David Ortiz blasts the homerun to keep the 2004 season alive at Fenway Park? The stories of Fenway Park shared from fan to fan are what have keep this beautiful park open for so many years.

   How the Red Sox really honor the park?

Krzyaniak said, “The most fitting way for the Red Sox to honor Fenway would be to win the World Series just like they did in 1912.”

Three Red Sox Players Bring Home the Gold

2011-11-02T12:42:00.000-04:00

After all the drama that the Red sox have occurred so far this off-season I feel like some good news is finally in hand. Yesterday the Rawlings Gold Glove awards were given out to three of our very own.

For those of you who may not know but the Gold Glove is. It is given out to the best defensive player at each position on the field and this year’s award winners from the Red Sox were Adrian Gonzalez at first base, Dustin Pedroia at second, and Jacoby Ellsbury in centerfield winning his first.

For Gonzalez this is his third Gold Glove but his first in the American League. Gonzalez had a .997 fielding percentage in 2011, a career high, with only four errors on the season.

Gonzalez was on ESPN at the time the awards were given out.

"It feels great. It’s pretty awesome hearing Dustin won as well. It’s pretty awesome playing along side him. Being able to win in both leagues I’m pretty grateful to everyone who voted for me," he said.

"I always say pitching and defense is what’s going to win championships. I take a lot of pride in it. I try to be a complete player. You can always go into offensive slumps, but defense is something that should never leave you."

Pedroia is taking the award home for the second time since his 2008 MVP season. In 2011, he had a .990 fielding percentage with seven errors, the most of his career.

Ellsbury has had an amazing season in 2011 after such a poor season in 2010 after only playing in 18 games due to injury. Ellsbury was named last month as the 2011 American League Comeback Player of the year he was also named to his first All-Star team. He has put up numbers that many feel could win him the AL MVP award which he will probably fall short of due to the Red Sox not making the post season. While he was doing amazing things with the bat this past season he is being awarded for his defensive play as he had a perfect year in center field win zero errors and a 1.000 fielding percentage in a 154 games played at the position.

Kevin Youkilis was named a finalist for the Gold Glove at third base in his first full season back at the hot corner. Youkilis played in 112 games at third with .967 fielding with nine errors on the year. He fail to the guy he replaced Adrian Beltre who also played in 112 games at third with a .965 fielding with 11 errors.

The next awards to be given out will be the Silver Slugger awards which will be awarded on November 10^th and a couple of Red Sox players will probably take him this hardware as well just have to wait and see.

Beckett Had a Down Year As Leader

2011-10-03T17:33:00.001-04:00

Looking back this time last year many people was questioning Josh Beckett’s contract extension because of ending 6-6 and this year so people are questioning the extension for a different reason.

Beckett had an amazing first half the season leading to him being on selected as an All-Star. After the break his numbers began to decline ending the season with 1-2 record in the month of September but ending the season with a respectable 13-7 season with a 2.89 ERA.

So why are so many people upset? Reports have come out about starting pitchers drinking in the clubhouse on their off days. Beckett’s name has be mentioned over and over since these reports have come out, more so since Terry Francona left the team.

Beckett has been the leader of the pitching staff on and off the field but according to an anonymous Red Sox player saying, "Josh has some real leadership qualities, but this time he didn't lead left, he didn't lead right, he led wrong." It’s a shame because the managerial staff has look as him as a leader to the point where they sent Clay Buchotlz to learn from him when he was called up to the bigs.

When Francona left he mentioned not being able to lead and influence players that he once was able to influence. Beckett was one of those players once easily worked with him in the past and now many people believe that is not the case this past season.

Beckett is a veteran in the clubhouse and many of the younger players look up to him. The pitching staff lead by him had a poor season and over and over have caused some problems with media. Beckett has been tied with John Lackey who has been a basket case for the Sox all season.

Many people also question Beckett’s preparation coming into the season being 20 pounds overweight and his conditioning was poor. His conditioning also affects the whole bullpen because of his lack of ability to go long in games as he did in the past. Which could have lead to the over use of the pen.

Beckett needs to step up next season and become the leader of this team in a positive way. He has the ablity to lead the younger guys on the staff to a win. If the rumors of drinking in the clubhouse are true he needs to drop the crap. Even if you are not playing that day there is no reason to be drinking in the clubhouse period! You should be using the off time that you have to be preparing for you next start or in the dugout cheering on your guys. It is completely unacceptable to behave like this and hopefully he will go back to the 2007 Beckett that joined the Red Sox and became an instant leader worried about winning games. To some players big money contracts effect their play let’s hope Beckett is not one of them.

I am not saying that this whole season is on the shoulders of Josh Beckett but I am saying he is a part of what happened.

For those of you who want to know how much the Red Sox pitching staff like beer take a look:

Interview with David Ortiz

2011-10-02T23:27:00.000-04:00

Jessica Moran over at csnne.com had an amazing one-on-one interview with David Ortiz discussing every thing from the collapse of the 2011 season to his free agency. Ortiz also speaks on Tito leaving the club its a good watch so go take a look.

Francona says Red Sox Need "New Voice"

2011-10-01T00:58:00.000-04:00

Ok not going to lie had to put this off for some time prior to writing this because I felt like I was right the obituary of a loved one. As you all know by now the Red Sox released Terry Francona from his duty as the skipper earlier today. The news came out sometime yesterday that it would happen and of course it did.

Early this morning team owners John Henry, Tom Warner, and Larry Lucchino meet with Francona as well as GM Theo Epstein. The meeting ended with ownership leaving as well as Tito. Epstein even went as far to put out a press statement announcing that no decision would be made and then rumor of Francona being back at Fenway brought back question.

Around 5 PM reports came out it was the end of an era and that Francona was no longer the manager of the Red Sox. Many people including myself at the time believe that he had been fired and was heartbroken at the time. Statements were issued from all three parties and dual press conferences were to be held. That is where the information came out.

"It was my decision. I don't know what I want to do. I know I want to stay in the game. This is all I've ever done, all I ever want to do," Francona said during his press conference held earlier tonight.

This got me to wondering what really went on in that morning press conference well Tito would tell us.

"We talked about a lot of different things. I think they wanted to know how I felt about coming back. I think that's probably a fair way to put it. I told them a lot of things that were on my mind, we talked obviously a lot about the organization, and then the team, and what went right, what didn't go right, and then I told them I thought it was time for a new voice. And that's not an easy thing to say. But I thought it was the right thing to do.”

Earlier today news came out of the Boston Globe about conflicts in the locker room even to the point of starting pitchers drinking in the clubhouse on days they weren’t playing. It seemed as if players would not listen to Tito anymore and it seems as if he felt the same.

"I felt frustrated, my inability to reach maybe guys I've been able to in the past," he said. "Or affect the outcome a little bit differently, and that bothers me."

So what did ownership do to keep him around? Not a whole lot in my book to the point where Francona went to add this:

"To be honest with you, I didn't know, or I'm not sure, how much support there was from ownership," Francona said. "I don't know that I felt real comfortable. You've got to be all in in this job, and I voiced that today. There were some things that, maybe, going through things here, to make it work it's got to be everybody together, and I was questioning some of that a little bit."

Later ownership was ask about this comment and if they had been behind Francona.

"I was actually puzzled by that comment," Lucchino said at a press conference held following one by Francona at Fenway Park tonight. "We have done nothing differently this year than we have done in previous years, and I think it's a question you probably have to ask him. I thought he did an exceptional job in conveying the strength of his feelings and his frustrations and his fatigue with the situation here in Boston."

Francona was ask about the pitchers drinking and other unacceptable behavior in the clubhouse and declined to answer questions on this.

"I'd rather talk about generalities. I would never single out players or an event, I'd never do that," he said. "I think I've been pretty open about that I was frustrated, and couldn't reach some of the things I thought needed to be reached, but I'd never single out players."

The greatest memory of Francona was when he led them to the 2004 and 2008 World Series and watching his guys in the dog pile.

As most Red Sox fans know Francona has the closest relationship with Dustin Pedroia.

"I love him. He’s given me every opportunity in the world and given me the respect to play the game with a freedom, and that’s what he allows us players to do. Geez, man, he’s done everything for me and everything for my family ... he’s done everything for me in the five years I’ve been in the big leagues. My heart’s broken for him and I wish he was back and I wish I could have played my whole career for him. It’s going to be hard. I’m sure he’ll come back a better manager and a better person for it. Us, as an organization, we’re going to move forward together,” added Pedroia.

All this should not have come as a surprise to Red Sox fans in the last couple of weeks when Francona was ask about returning for another season he would always decline to comment. But it still hurts the fans who loved him. Francona is considered my most fans including myself as the greatest manager in Red Sox history. During his eight year tenure including two World Series and having the second best win streak in the post season as the skipper of the Red Sox. I honestly believe if Tito wants to manage again he will be back.

In case you missed the press conference here is coverage from it.

Guest Spot: Francona Out as Red Sox Manager

2011-09-30T18:08:00.001-04:00

By Kevin Barnes

As a Red Sox fan I hate to see Tito leave the Red Sox because of the success the team has had the past 8 years under him. However, as a baseball fan and from a business stand point, I have no objection to his option not being picked up.

Baseball after all has become more of a business in the last 2 decades than a sport. The Red Sox amidst having the second highest payroll in baseball have been absent from the post season for two consecutive years, which is unacceptable for the amount talent they put out on the field every night. 2010 was riddled full of injury and yet the Red Sox and Terry Francona stayed in playoff contention throughout but ultimately did not make the post season. 2011, however, was a different story; the team got off to a 2-10 record and then rapidly became the best team in baseball until well…September. Finishing the season with a 7-19 record is inexcusable. I understand that the manager isn’t the one pitching, catching, or hitting the baseball. However, they are the one who decides who is.

Now I don’t think Tito deserves all the blame for the collapse because yes the players do need to perform, but Francona is the one who will take the heat when they don’t perform. I do think that a lot of Tito’s success however has come from the coaches whom he has placed by his side and in the past couple years due to the team’s success has kind of become a revolving door. Losing Brad Mills and John Ferrell was a detriment to the team, and you could tell that it hurt. You didn’t see any connection between Tito and Curt Young throughout the season, Bogart made some horrible decisions down the stretch with sending runners, and Dave Magadan didn’t seem to have any impact on Red Sox bats throughout the season.

The Red Sox aren’t your loosie goosie team; we all fell in love with in 2004 or the polished professionals they were in 2007. Today’s Red Sox are overpaid under achievers, and those types of personalities take a strong individual to control them. I have always admired Tito’s approach at handling the media and keeping all club issues behind closed doors, but I have never been impressed with the way he handles his players. Stemming all the way back to the “Manny Being Manny,” days, Terry has always let the players control the team. The constant displays of negativity that protrude from Lackey, Youkilis, and even Pedroia (although I admire how hard the last two play the game) needs to be nipped in the bud. The laziness displayed on the field from Crawford, Papi and Gonzales needs to be addressed, please bring back the kangaroo courts! The pitching staff I don’t even know where to begin with. Injuries are injuries you can’t avoid them, but with the depth of our minor-league system, it is hard for me to believe that Wakefield, Lackey or Miller were our best options down the stretch.

Again, I applaud everything Tito has done for the franchise the two World Series we won under his reign, but I for one would like to see a manager, who isn’t afraid to put his foot up a players rump when they are underperforming, acting like a jack ass and who will maybe get thrown out of a game or two down the stretch to motivate a team that was heading to the worst collapse in MLB history! You will still go down as the best Red Sox Manager in history... Just, my thoughts.

Day 1 Recap of Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon

2011-08-31T04:34:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was an amazing day for the Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon which raised over a million dollars in the first day. This is a great milestone but I hope that this great cause is able to double this tomorrow I want them to reach the $3 million and I know it can be done.

If you have not had a chance to listen to the stories of the families here is a quick recap from WEEI of yesterday's telethon. You can not listen to the stories of these guys and not want to give. Remember every little bit counts in battling against cancer. You never know when it will strike and who it will strike. So lets work together with Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund and strike out cancer.

Watch this at WEEI

Remember the telethon starts back up at 6 am and you can donate by calling (877) 738-1234 or via text with a $10 dollar donation at 20222 text the word KCANCER. The nice thing about the text is AT&T will be matching your first five text donations. So if you give 10 your really giving 20.

What's New with the Sox?

2011-08-30T15:19:00.003-04:00

A quick post to let you know that Clay Buchholz has began throwing today as he was medically allowed to begin. Buchholz tossed a ball around for about ten minutes. The goal is to get him back before the end of the season and to get him to come out of the bullpen to help the team in the poster season.

Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew will be making a rehab start tonight for Pawtucket in Rochester, NY. This is probably a sign that Drew will be returning the team's roster expand on Thursday and Youkilis is able to return on Friday when his DL stint is up.

Drew will be battling for his spot in the line up as Reddick has began to slump in recent times.

Happy Birthday Splinter!

2011-08-30T11:35:00.004-04:00

93 years ago today one of the greatest baseball players was born.

Ted Williams was born today in 1918 which to some fans was a curse as that was the last time the Red Sox won a world series. (Oh wait we have won two more since then.) Williams is considered the greatest hitter of all time.One of only a few player to ever bat above .400 on the season.

Williams played 19 years for the beloved Red Sox though his career was shortened three season due to World War II. In 1942 Ted was drafted and would serve his country as a Marine pilot. Though during the time in the military he would continue playing baseball.

Williams career would equal a spot in the Hall of Fame , 19 All Star appearances and two MVPs.

So if you are thinking of a great way to celebrate the Splendid Splinter birthday you could give a donation to the Jimmy Fund a project in which Ted held strongly in his heart.

Red Sox Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon Begins Today!!!

2011-08-30T05:09:00.005-04:00

The next two days are an important time for Red Sox fans and it isn't for the obvious reason. Everyone knows that the Yankees are coming into town but more important is the start of the 2011 Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon live from Fenway Park.

Now most Red Sox fans know about the Jimmy Fund but for the ones who don't it's a Fund that goes to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. All the funds raised goes for cancer research. The Jimmy Fund started in 1948 with a radio broadcast from the hospital bed of a young boy.

The Jimmy Fund has been the official charity of the Sox since 1953. The players and members of the staff has taken it as their own. Players such as the great Ted Williams have been involved in the fight against cancer. Most recently players such as Clay Buchholtz and Tim Wakefield are the faces of the organization acting as co-captains for the fund. Once you become a member of the Sox the Jimmy Fund because an extended part of the family. Players really get to know the patients on a personal level and visit them. They also through the help of the Jimmy Fund give kids the chance to go to games and road trips. Some thing with out the help of others may not be possible. The Jimmy Fund just gives them a chance to be a kid for a day and not worry about the pain and heart break of cancer which is important in the recovery process.

In the next two days if you tune into WEEI or NESN you will hear stories of the familes most touched by cancer. You will hear stories of sadness and triumph of how Dana-Farber has been involved in their lives. We have all been touched by cancer in some way if its a family member, friend, co-worker we have all been hurt by cancer.

I encourage and challenge all member of Red Sox Nation to give something if all you have to give is five dollars I challenge you to do that. Give what you feel comfortable giving knowing it will help the lives of others and help find a cure of cancer research. Hopefully one day we will be able to say there is no such thing as cancer. Until that day we need to all do our part.

The phone number to donate is (877) 738-1234. If you want to donate via text you can give a $10 donation if you text KCANCER to 20222.

For more information on the Jimmy Fund click the link on the right side of the screen it will take you to their website for more.

Red Sox Line Up Against Royals 8/19/2011

2011-08-19T16:46:00.005-04:00

Coming off of last nights victory over Kansas City the Red Sox are sending lefty Andrew Miller to the mound to make the start. This will be Miller's first start for the Sox since July 31st when the Red Sox inserted Erik Bedard into the line after receiving him via trade. Miller has a 4-1 record over eight starts for the Sox with a 5.40 ERA. Miller is 0-2 against the Royals witha poor 11.08 ERA.

Opposite of Miller is Jeff Francis the lefty for Kansas City. This has not been a very good season for Francis who has a 4-13 in 25 starts with a 4.76 ERA. Francis has had a small sample size against the Sox only pitching five innings against them but has a win.

Lineups:

CF Ellsbury

SS Aviles

1B Gonzalez

2B Pedroia

3B Lowrie

DH Lavarnway

LF Crawford

C Saltalamacchia

RF McDonald

Pedroia to Clean Up Kansas City

2011-08-18T23:20:00.000-04:00

With Kevin Youkilis out that only means one thing, Dustin Pedroia gets to shine in the clean up spot and boy did he ever. Pedroia lead the Red Sox to a 4-3 win in Kansas City.

The offence has been struggling the past couple of game with the lose of Youkilis and David Ortiz and Pedroia was the needed spark as he went 3-for-4 with three RBI. He knocked in two runs in the top of third to put the Sox up 3-1 on a single. Pedroia's thrid RBI came in the top of fifth inning on a single to score Jed Lowrie, he attempted to get to second base and was picked off. Pedroia ended his batting with a double in the top of the eighth.

Pedroia has been electric in the clean up spot with a .491 (27-for-55)batting average as the clean up man. Not only is his batting average so high in the spot but he has five homers and 15 RBI.

The game was a Pedroia show but Josh Beckett was on the mound looking for his tenth win of the season and he finally got it. By no means was this the best start of the season but it was good enough for the win. Beckett only struck out four batters while giving up seven hits and three runs all earned and one home run.

Beckett went out of the game after pitching seven and handed the ball to his rear unstoppable duo of Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon. Both guys reached milestones as Daniel Bard after pitching a scoreless eighth got his 29th hold of the season. This is the most by any reliever to wear the Red Sox uniform in 123 games.

Papelbon came into the game in the ninth a was unstoppable with two strikeouts to get his 29th save of the season and his 24th consecutive. The 24 straight is a career high for Papelbon but it is also the second longest streak in the American League.

It was also the Major League Debut of Ryan Lavarnway who went 0-for-4 on the night.

Red Sox Line Up Against Royals 8/18/2011

2011-08-18T17:30:00.002-04:00

Coming off a rough series with the Rays the Red Sox are looking to turn their fortunes around in Kansas City. Tonight on the mound for the Red Sox is Josh Beckett who is coming off a rough start in Seattle when he only went five innings and gave up five runs to go with that. Though this has been an amazing season for Beckett who seats with a 9-5 record hoping for win number 10 tonight. Beckett is 6-1 against the Royals with a 2.44 ERA.

On the Bump for the Royals is right hander Luke Hochevar who holds an 8-9 record this season with a 4.89 ERA. He has a 2-3 record against the Sox with a 6.67 ERA. His last three starts he is 1-1 with a 3.10 ERA and striking out 18 batters.

This should be an interesting match up for the Red Sox.

Lineups

CF Ellsbury
3B Lowrie
1B Gonzalez
2B Pedroia
RF Reddick
LF Crawford
DH Lavarnway
C Varitek
SS Aviles

Injury sends Youkilis to DL and Lavarnway get's his shot at the Bigs

2011-08-18T17:01:00.006-04:00

Say it ain't so! It looks like injury bug has bit the Red Sox again. The Red Sox have placed Kevin Youkilis on the disabled list with a sore back that has been nagging him off and on for weeks. Also Red Sox DH David Ortiz has injury as well coming before the double header this past Tuesday with a bursitis on his right heel that has him sidelined for up to a week. So with the Sox down two bats in the line up they have went to their minor leagues and pulled up a slugger by the name of Ryan Lavarnway.

Many people had wondered what kind of shot Lavarnway would get being a catcher and with us being set at the position. But as Tito always says a position will open and the way he has been swinging the bat it has. Lavarnway has been called up to play the DH spot for the Sox

A little back story on Lavarnway he was the 2010 Offensive Co-Player of the Year and this season he has just went off. He started the season in double A Portland and was called up to Pawtucket in a hurry playing a combined 55 games for both clubs. During that time he hit .293 with 30 home runs and 85 RBI.

This is Lavarnway's big shot at the majors because if Ortiz injury continues he will be taking the bulk of the at bats for him until his return to the line up. This is also his audition for next year with both Ortiz and Jason Varitek becoming free agents at the end of the season. If something happens with one of these guys and the Sox can't sign them Lavarnway could be an option to feel their shoes.

This is first shot at the big leagues so lets give him a welcome and see how he fits with our program while the injury bug runs its course.

Happy Birthday to the Muddy Chicken!

2011-08-17T08:39:00.003-04:00

With my first blog back since my laptop went down I thought I would go ahead a take time to wish Dustin Pedroia a happy 28th birthday. Pedroia is a former gold glover, 3-time All Star, former rookie of the year and MVP. Pedroia is having a MVP type season this year as well. Happy Birthday to the Muddy Chicken, give us a Laser Show today on your birthday!!!

Red Sox Line Up against Astros 7/1/11

2011-07-01T16:48:00.002-04:00

The Red Sox are begin their final Inter League road trip today in Houston against the Astros. The Red Sox have not faired to great on this nine game road trip have went 2-4 against the Pirates and Phillies. Tonight Tim Wakefield will be on the mound for the Red Sox. The veteran knuckleballer is 4-3 with a 4.54 ERA. Wakefield has been good in his couple of starts going late into the game. Tonight Wakefield will go up against Bud Norris who has a 4-6 record with a 3.36 ERA.

The line up
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Youkilis 3B
Drew RF
Saltalamacchia C
Reddick LF
Scutaro SS
Wakefield SP

Red Sox Join It Gets Better Project

2011-07-01T10:01:00.004-04:00

Today the Red Sox put out a very important video that I thought I would share with you guys today. The Red Sox have joined on to support the It Gets Better Project. This is a project against bullying of any time. This is a video of encouraging thoughts to help prevent teen sucide. In this video you see Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek and Terry Francona including members of the Fenway staff. It is really important campagin and I thought that I would do my part to help stop bullying by passing along this video.

Big Papi becomes captain for Home Run Derby

2011-06-30T19:18:00.005-04:00

When fans turn it to ESPN on July 11 to watch the Home Run Derby it will be a little differnt than years past. This year the format has changed a little and it will be an American League vs National League show off. In years past the fans have selected who they wanted to play in this event but that has even changed. I think for the better.

This years HR derby will be selected by a captain of each league similuar to the All-Star game in the NHL. The two captains for this event are the past two derby winners, David Ortiz and Prince Fielder. This will be the fifth apperance for Ortiz and the thrid for Fielder. Each captain will select three sluggers from the league they represent to participate. These players do not have to be All-Stars just have to hit bombs.

As always there will be the overall home run derby champion as an individual but there will also be a winning team. Each team captain will select a charity the winning team will recieve $150,000 while the losing team captain's charity will recieve $25,000. There will also be $100,00 donated to the Boys and Girls of America in the winning team's honor.

As in years past their will be gold balls that are worth $18,000 and 3,000 for every regular ball to be added to be donated to the Boys and Girls of America.

This is always a fun event and makes the All-Star weekend more enjoyable for everyone. I feel like this element of the event will bring more life to the event. I believe Big Papi and Prince Fielder are great choices to represent their leagues both have a lot of life to them.

Cameron Sent Packing

2011-06-30T12:14:00.006-04:00

This just in Mike Cameron has been designated for assignment from the Boston Red Sox. This has been something has been long time coming for Cameron who has hit .149 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI in his 33 games played this season.

Earlier today the Red Sox called a meeting with team officals where Cameron was in attendence and this is when Theo Esptein must have broke the news.

With issues in the outfield with J.D. Drew and Carl Crawford about to come of the DL. That left the Red Sox out field with one every day player and the duties was orginially up to Cameron. Though in many instances Cameron has been past over by players just as Darnell McDonald or as of recent Josh Reddick.

So for those out their who don't know what DFA is it basically means the Red Sox have 10 days to either trade him to another team or seven days to place him on waivers. There is an extremely small chance that Cameron excepts a minor-league assignment from the Red Sox.

During his time in a Red Sox uniform Cameron has played in 81 games with a .219 batting average and a .338 on base percentage. Cameron will be missed as a member of the Red Sox. He was a great team member and all around great guy but this is baseball and if your not producing you have got to go.

"Lack" of Bats in Philly

2011-06-30T01:00:00.005-04:00

After last nights shut out the Red Sox inserted David Ortiz into the line up and shifted Adrian Gonzalez to right field to produce some offence. Did it work? Well lets just put it this way the only RBI of the game came from the pitcher of the Red Sox John Lackey as the Red Sox fall 2-1 to the Phillies.

So John Lackey pitched a pretty good game holding the Phillies to two runs one of which was a home run to Raul Ibanez who was a double short of hitting the cycle. Lackey when 7.2 innings giving up eight hits and two earned runs like I mentioned. He did strike out five pitchers which is very unlike him and only walked one batter. Lackey now has a record of 5-7 with an ERA of 6.81. When ask about the homer to Ibanez Lackey said.

"He's seen me about 800 times in the AL West," Lackey said. "I don't have many tricks that he hasn't seen."

Though as good as good of a start they got out of Lackey the bats was not there as the Red Sox only run come off a RBI double from John Lackey to score Josh Reddick in the fifth inning. Ortiz who was inserted into the line up to give the Sox more offense went 0-4. The Red Sox left 12 men of base and they are back to playing like the team we saw in April. The Red Sox look as if they left their bats in Boston. This is what Ortiz had to say

"Sometimes we get caught on all those days off," Ortiz said. " For me personally, I don't like that many days off. When I'm swinging the bat good and I'm in a good rhythm, I want to continue playing. You get caught up in that. I'm not making that as an excuse, but it has something to do with it when you're swinging the bat good, and all of a sudden, you're not playing. I'm talking about in general, not just about myself. There were two days off in this road trip."

The Red Sox have lost in four of the five games on this nine game National League road trip. With these loses the Sox have fail 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the AL East.

A-Gon in the Outfield Papi at first

2011-06-29T15:22:00.004-04:00

Boston fans have been discussing this topic of should Adrain Gonzalez play right field and David Ortiz play first? Well tonight we are going to find if this is best for the team. The line ups are in and both Gonzalez and Ortiz are in the line up. The reason for all this discussion is the long National League road trip that the Red Sox are on. Ortiz who has been smoking hot has only received one at bat each game for the last four games and the problem is the Sox have only won one of those four games. It is clear that the team bats are all needed in the lineup when the pitcher is batting.

So some may ask why Gonzalez in the outfield and has he ever done this before? The answer is yes, once. When he was a member of the Texas Rangers, when he was playing behind Mark Teixeira. He also knowing he would be playing behind Teixeira played in right field during his winter ball while with Texas to prepare him to get playing time. As we all know how that worked out he didn't have to do that and has been holding on to that skill for awhile. Gonzalez is also not the fastest guy in the major league I mean honestly Ortiz could probably beat him in a foot race but as long as he is just dealing with fly ball i believe he will be just fine. Gonzalez has been practicing the position and has even went to Tito to ask if he could play this position. He has shown to be a true team player and this will allow him to work toward his goal of playing in all 162 games this season.

As for Ortiz playing the field this was his primary position prior to becoming a DH he only does this during interleague play and the World Series. I just pray he isn't to rusty at playing the field. I'm not sure I would have put him into the line up tonight with John Lackey on the mound who is considered a ground ball hitter which means a lot of plays to firstbase. I would have probably done it last night while Beckett was getting shelled on the mound or tomorrow with Jon Lester on the mound which may still happen if today goes well.

The Lineups for tonights games are:

Red Sox

CF Ellsbury
2B Pedroia
RF Gonzalez
3B Youkilis
1B Ortiz
C Saltalaamacchia
LF Reddick
SS Scutaro
P Lackey

Phillies
SS Rollins
3B Polanco
2B Utley
1B Howard
CF Victorino
LF Brown
C Schneider
P Worley

Book Review on Jackie Robinson's I Never Had It Made

2011-06-28T02:13:00.002-04:00

This is a first for my blog but I think it will become a regular. I have recently become a reader, not that I couldn’t read but I have learned to enjoy it. Mostly I am a fan of baseball biographies and history of the game. I thought I would take a few minutes to do kind of a book review on the latest book I finished. I just finished Jackie Robinson’s autobiography titled I Never Had it Made.

I Never Had it Made tells the life story of Jackie Robinson from his time at UCLA playing football up until around the time of his death when he was involved with politics. I learned so much about the man I never knew. I always knew Jackie Robinson was a great player and that it was great that he was the first player to break the color barrier in baseball but I never knew what all went into it for him. The book discusses what Robinson called “The Noble Experiment” which tells the story of his journey’s through the minor leagues and into the majors. How Branch Rickey knew that the breaking of the color barer was what was best for baseball.

He goes into his life after baseball which I knew nothing about. Robinson was a business man and as well as a politician. He discusses his journey campaigning for different candidates which he believed could help improve the lives of black citizens and improve civil rights. I can respect this because I am also involved in politics and believe in supporting candidates who I feel have the best values.

Robinson also goes into the heart breaking story of the journey his son Jackie Robinson Jr. took from his youth, into his service in the army and drug addiction. He tells the story of recovery and how Jackie battled back up until his early death.

I bought this book as a baseball fan of Jackie Robinson but I come out of this book a fan of the man Jackie Robinson. The journeys he went through in life to make things better for all people especially members of the African American community. I encourage all baseball fans to pick up a copy of this book and even if you’re not a fan of the game to read this it is a very moving read.

Beckett Throws a Gem and The Bruins Win the Cup

2011-06-16T18:18:00.002-04:00

Ok guys so I know it’s been awhile but I’m back now. It’s been an exciting time for Boston sports fans as you should know by now. Last night the Boston Bruins took home the Stanley Cup for the first time in 39 years. That was the majority of New Englander’s and Boston fans around the country’s attention was including mine.

It was very special for me to see the last of my favorite teams to bring home the championships. I have got to see my University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team bring home the championship twice in my life, I have saw my Pittsburgh Steelers bring home the championship twice, got see my favorite sports team of all time the Boston Red Sox bring home the championship twice, The Boston Celtics bring it home once and now my Bruins. It is an exciting day to be a sports fan for me.

But while everyone was watching the Bruins bring home the Cup to Boston, something special was happening in Tampa Bay. Josh Beckett tossed a one hitter and faced one batter over the minimum of a perfect game in a full game shut-out. Just to think at the beginning of this season Beckett was considered the fourth starter of this rotation and now he has worked his way back into becoming the “Ace” that he was in 2007.

Beckett came short of the perfect game by a hit that almost rolled foul; he pitched what I consider his best performance of the year. He struck out six of the Rays in this gem and not walking a batter. This amazing performance on the mound has lowered his ERA to a 1.86, which is the lowest in the major-league.

All the offense from this gem came off the bat of a certain third baseman by the name of Kevin Youkilis as he knocked a three-run homer in the seventh inning. This was Youkilis’ 10^th homer of the year.

After last night’s win the Red Sox remain in first place in the American League East now one game ahead of the New York Yankees.

Last but not least the Red Sox have moved their game on Saturday from 1:05 to 7:05 against the Brewers due the Bruins rolling rally parade with the Cup.

Red Sox Line Up Against A's 4/20/2011

2011-04-20T14:00:00.003-04:00

The Red Sox continued to lose on the road last night in Oakland. The Red Sox play a second game in the series Clay Buccholz will continue to look for his first win. Oakland has Gio Gonzalez on the mound he is 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA with 14 strike outs.

Red Sox

RF Drew
2B Pedroia
1B Gonzalez
DH Youkilis
3B Lowrie
SS Scutaro
LF Crawford
C Varitek
CF Ellsbury

Athletics

CF Crisp
1B Barton
RF DeJesus
DH Matsui
LF Sweeney
2B Ellis
C Powell
3B Kouzmanoff
SS Pennington

Jason Varitek Gives Credit to Dice-K

2011-04-18T20:27:00.000-04:00

Red Sox Are Going Streaking!!!

2011-04-18T18:32:00.004-04:00

Well the Red Sox are finally on a streak winning their past three in a row. Today was the annual Patroits Day game for the Sox and it was a big one as they went on to defeats the Blue Jays 9-1.

The heroes of the day were Daisuke Matsuzaka and ~~Superman~~ Jed Lowrie. Dice-K pitched a gem tossing seven innings of shutout baseball only allowing one hit and one walk. While Lowrie continues his hot streak going 4-for-5 today with four RBI and a homerun. Lowrie is considered the hottest hitter in the MLB with a .516 average.

"I understand [how hot I am]," said the hot Jed Lowrie. "Who cares? It's April 18, long season. I'm just going to keep my head down and keep grinding."

There were several other great performances from guys who needed a lot of confidence. Kevin Youkilis who came in batting less than .200 had a big day at the plate. Youkilis knocked a double off the bullpen fence that if it was a half inch farther would have been a home run and came up again later in the game and actually hit a home run. On the day Youkilis went 2-for-5 with a strike out. Carl Crawford also had something to be proud of as he got a double off the monster. This was the first hit he had received in over a week so hopefully this will get things going for the sox.

"At this point, I didn't feel [any] hits coming," Crawford said. "I definitely felt better about my at-bat."

"Everybody in the dugout [was thrilled]," said Terry Francona. "I was happy to see the ball he hit before, because it's a good approach, but then you certainly want to see somebody rewarded for it."

Jacoby Ellsbury also had a good day hitting his second home run in two days. Ellsbury leads the team in home runs which is a surprise because coming into the season the Red Sox expected him to be the leadoff man. Looks like that could be part of Ellsbury struggles this season with a .200 batting average. I’m starting to think he is Willie Mays Hayes in the Major Leagues because he isn’t supposed to be swinging for the fences.

Speaking of leadoff men, I believe the Red Sox may have found their guy. Francona put J.D. Drew in the leadoff spot today trying to give Carl Crawford some help. This may have been the best decision of the game. Drew went 5-for-2 with a walk and scored a run in the first inning. This is something I never thought of but Drew makes perfect since as he has such a high career OBS and OPS which is perfect for the lead off. If the Red Sox continue winning I can see Drew in the leadoff spot for games to come.

Today results from today is what many Red Sox fans was expecting out of them since the signing of Crawford and trade for Adrain Gonzalez. If the Red Sox offence continues to play this way they could save the pitching staff several games. The Red Sox are streaking now so watch out because here we come.

Red Sox Line UP Against Blue Jays 4/18/2011

2011-04-18T10:35:00.004-04:00

It's Patriots Day in Boston, which means they are running the Boston Marathon. It also means an extremely early start with more people outside of Fenway then normal. The Red Sox have won two straight and looking to keep the streak going but Daisuke Matsuzaka is on the mound for the Red Sox. Dice-K is off to an awful 0-2 start only lasting two innings in his last start against the rays giving up seven runs and making his ERA 12.86 on the year. They are hoping today will be a bounce back day as they have Jason Varitek catching him hoping to get him back in rythem after he got shell shocked. His counter part for the Blue Jays is Ricky Romero who has a record of 1-1 in

three starts with a 1.66 ERA in 21.2 innings of work.

Red Sox

RF Drew
2B Pedroia
1B Gonzalez
3B Youkilis
DH Ortiz
SS Lowrie
LF Crawford
C Varitek
CF Ellsbury

Blue Jays

SS Escobar
CF Patterson
RF Bautista
1B Lind
C Arencibia
LF Snider
DH Encaracion
3B Nix

Red Sox Line UP Against Blue Jays 4/17/2011

2011-04-17T10:46:00.003-04:00

Jon Lester is on the mound looking for his first win of the season and hoping to get the teams first back to back win of the year. Lester will being up against Jesse Litsch who is 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA.

Lines ups

Red Sox (3-10)

LF Crawford

2B Pedroia

1B Gonzalez

3B Youkilis

DH Ortiz

SS Lowrie

RF Drew

C Saltalamacchia

CF Ellsbury

Blue Jays (7-7)

SS Escobar

CF Patterson

RF Bautista

1B Lind

2B Hill

C Arencibia

DH Snider

LF Rivera
3B Nix

Lowrie Walks Around Like He's Got an S On His Chest

2011-04-16T18:21:00.005-04:00

Box

For anyone who was wondering if Josh Beckett is back, today he proved he is back for sure. He didn’t have a 10 strike out game like last week but if you recall from my line up post all I wanted was a win. He did pitch damn close to his performance against the Yankees. Beckett lead the Red Sox to a 4-1 win.

Beckett went seven innings allowing one run in the second inning and gave up five hits while striking out nine. See I told you it was close to Sunday. He was mixing his pitches similar to last Sunday and is pitching like we got our ace back for 2011.

With Carl Crawford struggling so bad in the leadoff role Tito gave him the day off and had ~~Superman~~ Jed Lowrie the go. Lowrie played the super hero role today went 3-for-5 with two RBI and a homerun. Lowrie was the spark that the team needed to get the win today.

The Red Sox are still struggling hitting with men on base even leaving the bases full at one point in the game.

Dustin Pedroia continued his hitting at Fenway with another hit but he is most credited for his defense today also got some amazing defensive play from Adrain Gonazlez to show why both guys have won a Gold Glove in the past.

Bullpen help today was great as Daniel Bard pitched a scoreless eighth and Jonathan Papelbon got his second save on the season.

Now that the Red Sox finally have their third win the next step is to pick up the first back to back win of the season. Oh yeah, they also need to make Jed Lowrie a permant member of the line up in the leadoff spot seeing he is the only guy on the team hitting .500 on the team with 22 at bats under his belt on the season. I mean if it doesn’t work out its not different than the Crawford experiment that has been a failure. So if Tito is reading make you give it a try.

Red Sox Line UP Against Blue Jays 4/16/2011

2011-04-16T10:28:00.005-04:00

After last night it looks as if the Red Sox are trying a new approach to the line up with a new person in the lead off spot and everything. Josh Beckett is on the mound today for the Red Sox and Jason Varitek will be catching him again. As we know from Sunday night when Varitek catches Beckett good things happen so hopefully we can get another outing simular to his most recent 10 strike out game. Now I'm not asking for 10 strike outs, I really just want a win no matter how it comes. Going against Beckett for the Blue Jays will be the lefty Jo-Jo Reyes. Reyes is appeared in two games this season with a 0-1 record and a 5.23 ERA in 10.1 innings of work with nine strike outs.

Line ups

Red Sox

SS Lowrie
2B Pedroia

1B Gonzalez

3B Youkilis

DH Ortiz

RF Cameron

C Varitek

LF McDonald

CF Ellsbury

Blue Jays

SS Escobar
CF Patterson
RF Baustista
1B Lind
2B Hill
LF Snider
DH Nix
C Molina
3B McDonald

It Makes Me Physical Sick to Lose

2011-04-16T05:21:00.003-04:00

I have been in the bed all day with a Migraine and after this most recent lose by the Sox I feel like everything is getting worse. So if I go to the doctors and he ask what is wrong I am going to tell him the Red Sox can't win a game and they are killing me.

Last night the Sox lost to the Blue Jays 7-6 in a game we could have won. Clay Buchholz had a 3-0 lead going into the top of fifth. Dustin Pedroia had just put a laser show on a knocked a solo home run into the stands at Fenway followed by a two-run homer for Kevin Youkilis. With one out Buchholz walks two start batters to bring Corey Patterson up to the plate with two on with men on second and third hits a bases clearing triple to get the ball rolling for the Jays.

After Buchholz had been roughed up in the fifth he gets the ok to back on the mound for a sixth well that was a poor idea. He gives up a lead off walk and a single before Tito says enough is enough. Brings Alfedo Aceves from the bullpen thinking he can control a win well he is unable to and allows Adam Lind to score giving another earned run to Buchholz.

With the game tied Bobby Jenks comes to the mound he has been a soild pitcher so far this season but just not last night. Jenks comes to the mound and gives up the lead off walk to Jason Nix than a single to Yunel Escobar. As if this wasn't enough to he gives up not one but two more hits each for an RBI to make the game 5-3. At this point you think the fish hook has to be coming well instead a mound visit its sweet of the pitching coach to make the long trip to the mound to do nothing because he left Jenks in long enough to give up not one but two more runs!

The Sox are down 7-3 in the bottom of the eighth when a ray of light comes to Fenway. I think I may have even saw some kid in the outfield waving his arms like an angel was there but that could have been the migraine. But the bottom half starts with a ground out by Gonzalez followed by a walk to Youkilis and a walk to David Ortiz. With J.D. Drew at the plate he stikes out swinging. Jed Lowrie comes up to the plate to pinch hit for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, which was the best move Tito made all night. Lowrie singles which scored Youkilis and puts Ortiz at third and starts the rally. Marco Scutaro hits a double down the left field line for a double scoring both Oritz and Lowrie. With a chance for the win Jacoby Ellsbury comes up to the plate and flies out to end the inning.

The Red Sox would not score again to give the game the final score of 7-6. This has been a rough season so far that has left several people sick including myself. Fans are physically, mentally and emotional sick of the Red Sox losing and it is hard for this blogger to be possitive in times like this. I love the Red Sox but to quote Fever Pitch "You love the Sox, but have they ever loved you back?" I know the Red Sox have loved me back in the past but this years group needs to show fans some love quick and start winning some games. They are currently the worst team in baseball and it breaks my heart.

Week Two American League Standings

2011-04-16T05:14:00.004-04:00

It breaks my heart to do this but as a journalist I must present to you with the week 2 American League standings where the Red Sox are in the basement.

In Case You Missed It: Gonzalez Extension Press Conference

2011-04-15T15:58:00.000-04:00

Red Sox Line Up Against Blue Jays 4/15/2011

2011-04-15T15:45:00.003-04:00

Today is Jackie Robinson Day as I said in my previous blog and all players will be wearing the number 42 in honour of him. Today's match-up will be the Red Sox vs Toronto Blue Jays with Clay Buchholz making his third start of the year. Buchholz has yet to get a win yet with an 0-2 record and hopes to pick up his first today. He currently holds a 7.20 ERA in 10 innings pitched. He will go up against the lefty Brett Cecil who has similar numbers to Buchholz. This will be a great game and hopefully the Red Sox will be able to pick up win number 3.

Red Sox (2-9)

LF Crawford
2B Pedroia
1B Gonzalez
3B Youkilis
DH Ortiz
RF Drew
C Saltalamacchia
SS Scutaro
CF Ellsbury

Jackie Robinson Day in the MLB

2011-04-15T14:52:00.001-04:00

It’s April 15, 2011 Major League Baseball is honoring one of great hero in baseball, Jackie Robinson. Today is Jackie Robinson Day in the MLB. This is the eighth straight year that baseball has honored the man and it is also the only day that the number 42 is wore(With the expection of Mariano Rivera who is grandfathered in). The MLB also has also launched the IAM42.com which is an online campaign for the MLB going on all day.

IAM42 is a way to allow younger fans who may not know the legacy of Jackie Robinson or may want a more personal feel to what he did for baseball. It is the 64^th anniversary of the day that Jackie broke the color barrier in baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers. If it was not for Jackie and his efforts today we would not have many of the great players we have today. The campaign is also being used to keep the legacy of Jackie alive as they have joined in with Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI).

The Red Sox as well as all other organizations will be honoring Jackie by wearing his number on their back today including coaches, players and even the umpires for this special day.

The number 42 was retired by all of baseball on April 15, 1997, which was the 50^th anniversary of Jackie’s first game they did it at Shea Stadium which is the closest National League team in New York to Brooklyn since there is no longer a team in Brooklyn.

Say It Ain't So: Gonzalez Deal is Done

2011-04-15T11:23:00.002-04:00

Who would have known? I hope you know I’m being sarcastic at this point but the Adrian Gonzalez deal is finally done. After waiting since December after all the, is he coming is he not coming mess. According to CSNNE, the Red Sox have reached an agreement on a seven year, $154 million dollar contract extension. The Red Sox expected to announce the deal later today.

As we all know Gonzalez come to the Red Sox via trade from San Diego and now he is going to sign the biggest deal for this current ownership group.

Most people who aren’t regular blog readers may ask, what took so long for the deal to get done? There are two reasons why. The first being Gonzalez did just have surgery on his right shoulder that only happen a little over a month and a half prior to the trade. They wanted to evaluate his recover and ability to play following the surgery. This is the reason the Red Sox will tell you.

But everyone knows the real reason is to get around paying to luxury tax on Gonzalez for at least one year. The Red Sox have Gonzalez this year for a bargain price of $6.5 Million for 2011, had they signed an extension prior to opening day his luxury tax value would be $20 Million even though he doesn’t make that much in 2011. You would have to pay a lot more than his value all because you signed on the dotted line to soon. If you recall the Red Sox did the same thing with Josh Beckett’s deal last season.

Most Red Sox fans like me believe that the deal was sign seal and postdated in December seeing they gave up four of their top prospects to get him. If they did not know that they would sign him long term do you really think they would have bet the farm on him? The Red Sox are the smartest team when it comes to using their prospects and they don’t just give them away for nothing.

With Gonzalez signed long term the Red Sox may have to repair the Green Monster because he is going to be hitting bombs off the wall for years to come.

In Case You Missed It: E:60 on Ryan Westmoreland

2011-04-13T12:44:00.002-04:00

For those who don't know Ryan Westmoreland is a former top outfield prospect that last year had brain surgery. ESPN E:60 did a feature on him last night here is a small sample in case you missed it.

Red Sox Lineup Against Rays 4/11/2011

2011-04-11T16:31:00.003-04:00

Tonight the Red Sox continue their home stand with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Sox will have Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound for the Sox. Dice-K has made one start this season and it didn't go so hot. He went five innings giving up six hits and three runs. Dice-K is known to be a pitcher who gives up walks so his three walks wasn't that surprising and he did strike out two batters. He will go up against Jeremy Hellickson for the Rays. Hellickson has a 0-1 record with a 4.76 ERA in 5.2 innings pitched. Both the Red Sox and the Rays have had a slow start but this could be just what the Red Sox need to get this season going

Lineups

Red Sox

LF Crawford
2B Pedroia
1B Gonzalez
2B Youkilis
DH Ortiz
RF Drew
C Saltalamacchia
CF Ellsbury
SS Scutaro

BecKKKKKKKKKKett is back!!!!

2011-04-11T11:37:00.003-04:00

Wow! That is all I have to say about Josh Beckett’s performance last night against the Yankees. That is the best pitching I have saw out of Beckett in at least the last two seasons to lead the Red Sox to a 4-0 win.

Coming into this game people was doubting him and wondering if he would ever be worth his $68 Million dollar contract. But Beckett come out mixing his pitches better than I have saw him do ever and was throwing the flame as he fanned 10 batters and only allowed two men on base and those only came in the first three innings of the game. His two strongest pitches of the night was his two-seamer that had great movement and he was throwing his curveball perfect as well as for strike. It was just amazing to witness.

The one thing that is different between this start and Beckett’s last? Jason Varitek. Varitek has a special bond with Beckett as he can call an amazing game for him. Varitek is the genius catcher that has caught four no-hitters he knows how to call a game. I believe after this start he will be Beckett’s full time catcher from here on out.

While Beckett was pitching amazing he had some help from Dustin Pedroia’s defense. Pedroia showed why he is one of the top defensive second basemen in the game. Throwing guys out on plays most couldn’t get to. He brought his bat to this series as well. Pedroia went 9-for-13 and 3-for-4 last night against the Yankees. It showed all Pedroia needed was to get back to Fenway in front of the home town crowd to get it going on the season.

The was some bad last night though for offense the bats was moving for singles but it was like no one could hit once men was on base. Last night the guys went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position. There were only two guys to hit for double all game and that was David Ortiz and Marco Scutaro. Scutaro’s second double of the game come at the perfect time with bases loaded to give the Sox a 3-0 lead.

Another great was Jonathan Papelbon, though he came in the ninth it wasn’t for a save but he sure pitched like it was. Papelbon struck out a hot Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira and forced Derek Jeter to ground out to Pedroia.

This was an important win for the Red Sox with a struggling Tampa Bay team coming in today and this could be the confidence they need to get this season off and running.

Yankees 0|2|0

Red Sox 4|12|0

Box

The Buch Rolls In: Clay Buchholz Gets 4 Year Deal

2011-04-11T01:27:00.003-04:00

Well after Clay Buchholz pitching performance against the Yankees on Saturday good news was needed. Well the news is here Buchholz and the Red Sox agreed on a contract extension that will leave Buchholz in a Red Sox uniform for four more years.

This deal is set up similar to the contract extensions pitcher Jon Lester that the team got done last year. Buchholz contract is said to be worth around $30 million dollars, which is what Lester is making on a five year deal with a club option. Buchholz deal is only four years with two club option years.

For those of you who do not know the policy of Red Sox of signing players under contract to long term deals who are already under their control like Buchholz is currently. The player must give up their first year a free agency and must have their arbitration years bought out and have to agree to a club option for at least one year. Buchholz had three arbitration years left under his current deal but no longer has those.

"I owe a lot, just about everything, to the Red Sox," Buchholz said. "They drafted me. They gave me an opportunity to come up in Boston and pitch even though the couple of down years. There are always going to be doubts. This game's not near as easy as some of the guys make it seem sometimes. But I definitely got to the highest point of the highs in this game, and then it took its toll on me and I thought I was better than I was at the time.”

So the Red Sox have their one through four starters locked down until at least 2014. The Red Sox hope that this contract is a deal for his pitching as most believe the Lester deal has been for the team so far. Red Sox fans hope the next deal we hear about is Adrian Gonzalez...

UPDATED! Red Sox Line Up Against Yankees 4/10/2011

2011-04-10T18:02:00.003-04:00

Beckett finally gets his binky in today's game against the Yankees. Jason Varitek will be catching for Josh Beckett today. Beckett's last start was in Cleveland when he got the loss with a 5.40 ERA. Becket went five innings while giving up three runs on five hits with four walks and fanning four. Beckett hopes to have a better start today against the Yankees. He will be going up against the Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia who holds a 1.38 ERA in his first start.

The Lineups

Red Sox (1-7)

LF Crawford
2B Pedroia
1B Gonzalez
3B Youkilis
DH Ortiz
CF Cameron
RF Drew
C Varitek
SS Scutaro

Yankees (5-3)

LF Garner
SS Jeter
1B Teixeira
2B Cano
CF Granderson
RF Swisher
DH Posada
3B Chavez
C Martin

Red Sox Line Up Against Yankees 4/9/2011

2011-04-09T11:54:00.003-04:00

The Red Sox are hoping to start a win streak with Clay Buchholtz on the mound. His last start wasn't a pretty one he got took yard 5 times for the first time in his career. Buchholtz will go up against Yankee newcomer Ivan Nova. Nova holds a record of 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA.

Todays Lineups Against the Yankees:

Red Sox

LF Crawford

2B Pedroia

1B Gonzalez

3B Youkilis

DH Ortiz

RF Drew

SS Lowrie

C Saltalamacchia

CF Ellsbury

Yankees

LF Gardner

SS Jeter

1B Teixeira

3B Rodriguez

2B Cano

RF Swisher

CF Granderson

DH Chavez

C Martin

Week One American League Standings

2011-04-09T01:31:00.001-04:00

Home is Where the Red Sox Heart is: Red Sox Get First Win

2011-04-09T01:03:00.003-04:00

BOX

Today was opening day at Fenway Park and the ~~Evil Empire~~ New York Yankees are in town. With their rival in town what better time to pick up the first win of the year. Well it happened the Red Sox defeated the Yankees 9-6.

Coming into the game today fans was restless and some even starting to panic wondering when the first win would happen. I think the management even was thinking like that to because GM Theo Epstein held a closed-door meet with the team ready to play and it worked. Red Sox set up man Daniel Bard “On a scale of 1 to awesome, it was awesome. It was like Rudy, except there was no prayer at the end.” If it takes pep talks like this all season I say get in their everyday Theo and do work.

Today’s game was like a boxing match that was split up into nine rounds because both teams came out swinging early. The first inning the Yankees put up two runs in the first inning thanks to Robinson Cano knocking in a pair of runs in. The Red Sox could not allow them to steal the show at the home opener so Dustin Pedroia gets up to bat and starts his 2011 Laser Show by knocking a home run into the monster seats.

The top of the second Brett Gardner hit a double to score a run making it 3-1 at the middle of the second. This is when the Red Sox bats decided to go nuts as they would score 5 runs off of Yankee right hander Phil Hughes. All nine Red Sox batters saw action in this inning as Hughes gave up six hits, a fielder’s choice and a walk. After all that action it would be the end of Hughes day.

So with the offense being in full sync you would assume pitching would be as well. Well you know what happens when you assume it makes an ass out of you and me. Most people would think after Jon Lester went seven innings of shut-out ball Thursday that John Lackey would follow with a similar performance not at all. Lackey pitched so poorly that he gave up at least one run in all five innings of work. Lackey was charged with six runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out a pair and giving up a home run to A-Rod.

Following the Lackey disaster Jarrod Saltalamacchia gets an RBI to give the sox a 7-6 lead and gives Lackey the undeserved win. The seventh inning was another big one for the Sox as they put two more runs on the board. The Seventh started with Adrian Gonzalez hitting a leadoff single followed by Big Papi hitting a green monster double for his third hit of the day. J.D. Drew comes up to the plate and blast a base hit that would allow both Gonzalez and Ortiz to score.

The Red Sox bullpen looked amazing today with the newly addition Alfredo Aceves pitching the sixth, Bobby Jenks in the seventh, Daniel Bard in the eighth and Jonathon Papelbon getting the Save. The four of these guys combined for one hit and five strike outs and most important no runs.

The Red Sox are finally getting in gear for the season getting their bats going, now if pitching can get in gear the Sox are going to be a force to be recon with. Getting home was just what the doctors ordered.

Manny Being Manny For the Last Time: Manny Retires

2011-04-08T21:28:00.002-04:00

Looks like its official Manny Ramirez has retired from the MLB. The news about this retirement comes in the middle of today’s Red Sox game via MLB Twitter page. Ramirez is set to retire after news come out that he failed a drug test during spring training this season.

"Rather than continue with the process under the program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player," a statement from MLB said. "If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter."

Manny has put up great numbers especially has a member of the Red Sox that could put him in the Hall of Fame but that day will never come because this is his second failed PED test since the new drug policy has been put in place. Not only that Manny has been trouble in other places in the dugout, on the field you name it Manny has done it. To the point the phrase “Manny being Manny” was created.

While on the Red Sox David Ortiz was his closest teammate, this is what he had to say about Manny. "It's sad, man, to see a player with that much talent and with an unbelievable career get him out of the game," said David Ortiz . "He got his issues like a lot of people know, but, as a player, I think he did what he was supposed to."

This news comes as a surprise to his new team the Tampa Bay Rays as they have said that Manny has been a good teammate and not done anything out of the way.

"We are obviously surprised and disappointed by the news," in the statement put out by the Rays. "We will have no further comment on this matter, and our fans and organization will carry on."

This could be a good thing for the Rays is they will not have to pay the majority of the $2 million contract. It’s a sad day that the game will lose a play as good as Manny. I know that he did use but the ablity that he had he could have been a great player even without the PEDs.

Red Sox Line Up Against Yankees 4/8/2011

2011-04-08T12:00:00.005-04:00

John Lackey will be on the mound today for the home opener at Fenway against the Yankees. After his last start of with a 22.09 ERA and giving up nine runs. The Red Sox hope to get more out of Lackey and that 2:05 at Fenway Park is Awesome O'Clock at least we can only hope. Lackey will be matched on the mound by Phil Hughes who also has had a rough start to the season with a 11.25 ERA.

Red Sox Lineup

LF Crawford

2B Pedroia

1B Gonzales

3B Youkilis

DH Ortiz

RF Drew

C Saltalamacchia

CF Ellsbury

SS Scutaro

Yankees Lineup

LF Gardner

SS Jeter

1B Teixeira

3B Rodriguez

2B Cano

RF Swisher

DH Posada

CF Granderson

C Martin

Carl Yastrzemski to throw out ceremonial first pitch.

Red Sox DFA Dennys Reyes But With That Mask There is Always Pro-Wrestling

2011-04-08T11:48:00.003-04:00

It looks like more changes to the Red Sox bullpen came late last night. Most Red Sox fans wondered after Matt Albers was sent to the DL when and why the Red Sox didn’t do something about Dennys Reyes.

Well it looks like Sox fans got their wish as Joel Sherman of the New York Times tweeted to the world that Reyes was designated for assignment and since he has no options means cut from the team.

Though Reyes has not given up a run in his first three appearances in 2011, he hasn’t got the option to either. In every performance this season walking batters, his last appearance for the Sox Reyes got three earned runs after walking one and hitting two. His performance could be ruled ok up until this happened but this mishap has him off the team.

Coming up from AAA Pawtucket to take his place on the team will be Felix Doubront to take the lefty job in the pen for Tito.

Some discussed Albers and Reyes getting the job over others coming out of spring training and how this could be bad for the Sox. Well as we know it is a young season and things will change. Players will get injuried, while others will just not do their job and be DFA’d. That is the reason we have a Minor League system and we get great use out of it.

Hockey Back at Fenway?

2011-04-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

It looks as if the Red Sox want to play hockey at Fenway again. I know this sound like a joke after the start of the season but seriously it looks like the owners are looking to use Fenway Park to play hockey in the winter.

In 2010, Fenway Park played home to NHL’s Winter Classic which was played between the Bruins and the Flyers. They used the ice rink for several other things while it at Fenway. It was used for college hockey and local ice skating. They played host to Frozen Fenway which sold out and brought in a lot of revenue for the city and the Red Sox. Tom Menino, the Mayor of Boston even talked to the ownership group into holding youth hockey as well.

It isn’t likely the Winter Classic will be back, but Frozen Fenway could be back. Red Sox COO Sam Kennedy told Menino earlier this week that he would to host the event again. Having the college teams match up gives them a chance to play outdoors and gives them a chance to experience Fenway in a new way. The Mayor seemed excited about bringing hockey back to Fenway.

It looks like the Sox also want to hop on the football bandwagon. I guess they saw the success of Yankee Stadium hosting a bowl game and the not so successful game at Wrigley Field even though it brought in a lot of money for the Cubs. The Red Sox are looking at the possibility of bringing in a college football game to Fenway. Fenway has played the home to college football in the past and played home to the Patriots from 1963-68.

This would be an amazing opportunity to make money for the Red Sox that would not have to be involved in the revenue sharing and could use all the tax breaks possible.

LeBron James and Red Sox Join Together to Play Soccer

2011-04-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

Red Sox and LeBron James have come to a partnership. No, LeBron will not be playing for the Sox or in Boston for that matter.

LeBron has joined in a partnership with the Red Sox ownership group with the Fenway Sports Management, as a minority owner of the Liverpool Football Club in the English Premier League. LeBron will have no controlling interest and for that matter gets to make no decisions on the team. What will he make? Money! Liverpool is considered to be one of the most profitable sports franchise in the world.

Everyone knows that LeBron is a huge New York Yankee fan, so how did this union happen? Well Sam Kennedy FSM, president and COO of the Red Sox said James and Henry & Warner at Warren Buffett’s company. James and Henry talked and liked each other wanted to be partners.

“He’s definitely a soccer fan,’’ said Maverick Carter, James’s business partner. “He loves sports and he took a good look at what John and Tom have done with their sports entities and the history associated with the Liverpool franchise, and he decided that it was something he wanted to be involved with.’’

This could be an interesting deal and will be able to branch out more business adventures for the Red Sox ownership group and will open more doors with LeBron James on board. James is the most hated and most loved athlete in sports today which is a win/win for everyone in this deal.

A Day on the Red Sox Farm

2011-04-07T23:13:00.005-04:00

Today was Opening Day for the Minor League system for the Red Sox. It was a successful day for the farm system as they all won a game something the Red Sox have yet to do.

AAA Pawtucket Red Sox

Pawtucket 2

Rochester 1

Box

Winning Pitcher:Rich Hill

Losing Pitcher: Yorman Bazardo

Save: Micheal Bowden

AA Portland Sea Dogs

Portland 4

Reading 3

Box

Winning Pitcher: Alex Wilson

Losing Pitcher: Josh Zeid

Save: Blake Maxwell

A Greenville Drive

Greenville 12

Augusta 6

Box

Winning Pitcher: Manuel Rivera

Losing Pitcher: Justin Schumer

PawSox Game Highlights

The Carousel Begins to Turn in Boston: Albers to DL, Aceves Called UP

2011-04-07T22:47:00.002-04:00

After being swept for the second series in a row and the Red Sox still unable to get a win they are doing what they can to improve the team. According to Boston.com’s Extra Bases the Red Sox have sent right-handed reliever Matt Albers to the disabled list and have called up right hander Alfredo Aceves.

This is comes as somewhat of a surprise to me reason being Albers last appearance for the Red Sox was a good one. In his last two appearances he hasn’t given up a run or a hit and on Tuesday struck out the side. It looks as if Albers is suffering from “sore late muscle behind his shoulder,” that has landed him on the DL.

The Red Sox calling up Aceves was ever more surprising since he had the nod to start tonight’s opening night game in Pawtucket. That didn’t happen and Scott Atchison got the start and got passed up. Atchison who most believed to the first call up on the roster was passed over for Aceves which has to be discouraging after his pitching performance last season for the Sox.

Aceves appeared in five games this spring for the Red Sox with two being in the starter role. He went 0-1 with a 4.05 ERA and an impressive four strike outs in 13.1 innings of work.

Red Sox Line Up Against Indians 4/6/2011

2011-04-06T14:22:00.003-04:00

Today is game two of the Red Sox vs. Indians series and is the first start of the season for Daisuke Matsuzaka. Dice-K had a poor season last season as he went 9-6 in 25 starts but he hopes for this be a bounce back year similar to his 2008 year. In 2008 Dice-K went 18-3 and that was his best year since coming to the United States to play. Dice-K holds a 4-1 record over the Indians so hopefully he will lead the Sox to the first win of the season. Dice-K will be matched up against Mitch Talbot.

The lineups against Indians:

Red Sox

CF Ellsbury

LF Crawford

2B Pedroia

1B Gonzalez

3B Youkilis

DH Ortiz

RF Drew

C Varitek

SS Scutaro

Sox 0-4 Fans Need to Relax it's Only April

2011-04-06T13:45:00.003-04:00

After yet another lose last night making them 0-4. Red Sox fans all over are going to record books, cussing players and some thinking of jumping off a building. But don’t do it there are still 158 more games to play and it just April and at the first week of the season.

Last night’s game against the Indians was not a great one as the bats wasn’t popping and Beckett wasn’t pitching. Though Josh Beckett did not pitch well enough to get the win, he did bring the best performance of the season. He started out strong early in the game but had a rocky fourth inning and after that wasn’t good for anything. Beckett gave up five hits and three runs all earned but were able to find the zone. He struck out four batters and issued 65 strikes out of a 106 pitches in the game in five innings of work.

There was one thing that was great last night and that was the bullpen. The Red Sox had three complete innings of no hit baseball out of the pen. Matt Albers came in the sixth innings after Beckett gave up his third run in the game. Albers pitching was amazing as he issued three strike outs while walking one batter. He thought 22 pitches and 11 of them were in for strike. The seventh brought Bobby Jenks who also faced four batters while striking out three and a walk. The eighth has Daniel Bard going three up and three down. This is the kind of pitching we need from the bullpen if our starts aren’t going to be able to go the extra innings to win the game.

Though pitching was good the offense was non-existent again for the fourth straight game. The team only had four hits in this game and two of them were from Dustin Pedroia as he attempts to fuel the offense. Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia finally got his first hit of the season which resulted in an RBI as David Ortiz scored the only run of the game.

The Red Sox weakness came in the leadoff roles as Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford went 0-8 together in the top of the order.

As I said earlier the Red Sox are off to a poor start but it is still early in the season and there is plenty of baseball left. Everyone is freaking out about this but historically our pitching staff has bad Aprils and Carl Crawford who everyone is freaking out over always gets off to a bad start, just ask the dozen Rays fans out there. Things will turn around and the Red Sox will be the team everyone predicted them to be at the start of the season. So just relax, grab a brew and wait for the lasor show that is the Red Sox to get started.

Papelbon Fifth Anniversary as a Closer is Here

2011-04-05T17:00:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that today is the fifth anniversary of Jonathan Papelbon becoming the closer of the Red Sox?

Coming into the 2006 season the Red Sox had put their faith in Keith Foulke who was a key player in the 2004 post season leading the Sox to their first World Series victory in 86 years. Foulke was coming off a 2005 injury plagued season and a poor spring training. Foulke is called into the game on Opening Day 2006 in Texas. He gave a run and two hits in what was a long inning of work. While the Sox did win the game they knew that they were in trouble and thus the Jonathan Papelbon era would begin.

On April 5, 2006 before the game Terry Francona if there was a chance for a save situation that the rookie Papelbon would get his chance as the closer of the Sox. Papelbon had just came off a 2005 season where he had a 2.65 ERA and issued at least one strike out an inning as a mid-season call up. Francona knew that Papelbon had what it had to take to be the closer as they used him primarily as a setup man, though in the minors he was used a starter.

“About 30 minutes before game time, Tito just called me into the office and said he thought long and hard about, starting the season off, who was going to close, and we decided on you,”Papelbon recalled. “We want to give you the chance to start shutting the door in the ninth. Just go out there and do the best you can.”

That was the conversation that started it all for the Sox. It’s Josh Beckett’s Red Sox debut on the third game of the season, the Rangers only scored one run in the game which come early in the first inning. Beckett is set for the win thanks to a couple of runs in the seventh. Mike Timlin comes in for a rocky eighth inning but survives not giving up any runs. The bottom of the ninth in Texas the bullpen doors open and there he is Mr. Papelbon himself. Papelbon comes running to the mound with adrenaline going wild.

"I remember it pretty vividly," Papelbon said. "I've gotten some good (adrenaline rushes)-Yankee Stadium, World Series, Fenway Park. But that first one is definitely, it was the same feel but yet different means. Same feel, same adrenaline, but different meaning."

"I remember thinking to myself, after it was said and done' Wow, for the first save opportunity in the big leagues, this was an intense as they come, pretty big one right out of the gate, day one' I remember thinking, 'Wow, pretty intense.' I enjoyed it."

Papelbon came out strong throwing high 90’s and got the save. Though he did get the save he was not named the permanent closer until later in the season while they thought about still trying to transition him into being the starter. Papelbon saved 35 games with 75 strike outs in 68 1/3 innings played in 2006.

In his fifth year of in this role of closer of the Red Sox, he has 188 saves hoping to get to 200 in this season. He has the most saves in Red Sox history and the most saves in the American League in a five year span.

This is Papelbon’s final year of his contract and how fitting is it that the start of another season as closer Josh Beckett is on the mound. If Beckett is able to keep the game close then Paplebon will be able to get a save the same way his first save was made.

Red Sox Line Up Against Indians 4/5/2011

2011-04-05T15:26:00.005-04:00

With the Red Sox still looking for their first win of the season they will take on the Cleveland Indians tonight on the road. The Indians currently hold a 1-2 record. The Red Sox will put Josh Beckett on the mound for his first start of the season and he will go up against Josh Tomlin.

Lineups for todays game:

Red Sox Indians

CF Ellsbury CF Brantley

LF Crawford SS Cabrera,A

2B Pedroia RF Choo

1B Gonzalez C Santana

3B Youkilis DH Hafner

DH Oritz 2B Cabrera, O

RF Drew LF Kearns

C Saltalamacchia 1B LaPorta

SS Scutaro 3B Hannahan

PawSox to Honor Past Owner Ben Mondor

2011-04-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is opening day for the minor leagues and it is a special day for the Pawtucket Red Sox as this will be their first opening day since the passing of their late owner Ben Mondor. The PawSox plan to honor Mondor with a patch on their right arm for the 2011 season. Honoring the fallen has become a baseball tradition by bearing the players name or number on your jersey for a season. But the member of the Rhode Island state legislator feel this isn't enough. Yesterday the General Assembly presented the idea to name opening day "Ben Mondor Day" the idea will be brought up today and should go through with no problem.

Mondor purchased the PawSox in 1977 and is credited with saving the dieing franchise. Before he purchased the team they was on the verge of bankruptcy and turned it into the sucessful franchise it is today and gave it a blue collar feel that will live on for ages. Mondor passed away at age 85 in October but his presents will live on with the PawSox forever.

What does Charlie Sheen and Josh Beckett have in common?

2011-04-05T09:36:00.006-04:00

Josh Beckett is trying to help the Red Sox start "winning" as Charlie Sheen also attempts "winning" in Cleveland tonight as the Red Sox attempt to pick up first win of season.

The Red Sox had a rough start to the 2011 season in Texas as the Sox got rocked going 0-3. It was like an early home run derby as the Red Sox pitching gave up 11 home runs in the opening weekend of the season. Last year this pitching rotation was considered to be the greatest in the American League but this year it doesn't look as so.

But the Red Sox are heading to Cleveland tonight and hoping to pick up the first win of the season. Josh Beckett is on the mound for the Red Sox and hopes to come back year after his 5-5 season. This year Beckett has been pushed to the four spot in the rotation in hopes to turn it around.

When ask his thoughts on 2011 he said, "I had some physical issues and there were time I couldn't pitch the way I normally do," said Beckett. "But that said, you still have to go out there and compete and I didn't do that often enough. I was terrible plenty of times. I can't defend that and I shouldn't. It happened and I can't change it."

Beckett hopes to do what no member of the Red Sox staff has been able to do this season, win. The Indians are 1-2 after playing the White Sox but even though they are having a poor start some how they were able to put a total of 20 runs up on the the board. Could this be a sign of more bad to come as the Red Sox pitching staff has already gave up 26 total runs this young season? I think not as they gave them up to the Rangers one of power hitting teams of the American League. This will be a good chance for the Red Sox to pick up the win and to give Beckett the confidence he needs for 2011.

Red Sox Line Up Against Rangers 4/2/2011

2011-04-02T16:56:00.005-04:00

The Red Sox are looking for their first win of the season and hopes that comes today with John Lackey on the mound going up against Colby Lewis. Sine John Lackey is on the mound it only means one thing the game starts at Awesome O'Clock( see video at bottom)

Today's Lineup for the Red Sox

Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Crawford LF
Gonzalez 1B
Youkilis 3B
Ortiz DH
Drew RF
Saltalamacchia C
Scutaro SS

PawSox Release Opening Day Roster

2011-04-02T01:10:00.002-04:00

The Pawtucket Red Sox put out the opening day roster. Next Thursday is the PawSox open the season on Thursday against Rochester Red Wings.

Arnie Beyeler is the 2011 PawSox Manager this is first season with this position.

Starting Pitchers

RHP Alferedo Aceves

RHP Brandon Duckworth

RHP Matt Fox

LHP Andrew Miller

RHP Kyle Weiland

Relief Pitchers

RHP Scott Atchison

RHP Michael Bowden

LHP Rich Hill

LHP Hideki Okajima

RHP Jason Rice

RHP Clevelan Santeliz

LHP Randy Williams

Catchers

Luis Exposito

Mike McKenry

Infielders

1B Lars Anderson

SS Jose Iglesias

3B Yamaico Navarro

INF Nate Spears

INF Drew Sutton

INF Tony Thomas

Outfielders

Ryan Kalish

Juan Carlos Linares

Daniel Nava

Josh Reddick

Former Red Sox GM Lou Gorman passes at age 82

2011-04-01T23:20:00.003-04:00

Red Sox Nation lost one of their very own early Friday morning. Former Red Sox General Manager, Lou Gorman past away at Massachusetts General Hospital at age 82.

Gorman was the GM of the Red Sox from 1984-93 and was the man who put together the 1986 American League Championship team that would fall to the Mets in the World Series and also hung up a total of three AL East flags up in Fenway.

Gorman was ill for over a year and according to his nephew had one goal which he made it to. “All he wanted to do was make it to Opening Day, and he made it,” Tom Dougherty said.

Gorman was always a fan of baseball and played 16 games for the Providence Grays in 1948, which was a Class B New England League. He recorded only one hit in 28 bats as a professional. After this his country called on a need for him and he spent eight years in the Navy. When he got out of the service he went back to his first love, baseball. Gorman spent time working in the minor league systems for the Giants, Orioles and Royales before becoming the assistant GM of the Kansas City Royals in 1976. He would go on to become the first GM of the Mariners in 1977 when the American League expanded. In 1980 he would serve as the vice president of player personnel for the Mets. In 1984 he joined the Red Sox as VP of baseball operations and would later become the GM. As the GM he would put together the 1986 team including players such as Dave Henderson and Spike Owen. He would be the GM until 1993 where Dan Duquette became his successor.

"Lou Gorman was a giant in our industry," said general manager Theo Epstein. "During half a century in the game, Lou impacted and helped so many people in countless ways. We'll dearly miss this good, humble man who leaves an unmistakable legacy on the Red Sox and Major League Baseball."

"Lou Gorman truly was a good man and a friend to all," Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said in a statement released by the club. "A proud son of Rhode Island, he returned to his native New England in the mid-1980s and chartered the Red Sox baseball operations department. Lou promptly led the club to the AL pennant and the 1986 World Series. But for those who had the good fortune to meet him, Lou will be remembered as much for his disposition and character as his baseball acumen. The Boston Red Sox and the rest of baseball will not be the same without Lou, but we are all better for having known him."

The Red Sox will miss Gorman as will all of Red Sox Nation who will remember the good times we had with him and the games that we have won. He touched the lives of several players and members of the baseball community as well his legacy will live on.

April Woes Continue for Lester as Red Sox Fall to Rangers 9-5

2011-04-01T22:46:00.004-04:00

Box Score

Well Opening day is over and the Red Sox fail short to the Texas Rangers 9-5. Everyone was so excited about today and Lester getting his first Opening Day start. But there is one thing Red Sox fans should know about Jon Lester and that is he is not an April pitcher. Every year since he has entered the big leagues April is his worst month of the season.

Today was no different as Lester went 5.1 innings and he gave up six hits and five runs while walking one. This was not the worst Lester gave up all five runs off of three home runs this is the first time in his career he has done that. He also didn’t issue a strike out throughout the game; the last time he went without issuing a strike out was in 2008 against Detroit. Lester’s career in April he holds a 3-6 record with a 4.96.

Another pitcher that is normally lights out but struggled in his 2011 debut is Daniel Bard. Bard came in the eighth inning with a 5-5 after David Ortiz had just knocked out a home run to tie it up. Normally Bard is a flame thrower that is consistent in getting three straight starts as some including myself believe he is the closer of the future. Today was different Bard did not make it through the eighth as he faced seven batters and gave up four runs and was only able to strike out one. It was a rough day for Bard and he was issued the loss.

But there were several good things that came out of this game. I’ll start with David Ortiz getting his first homerun of the season. Last season it took him late into May to get his first homer so this could be a sign of a good start for Papi. Jacoby Ellsbury surprised people who thought that his days at lead off was over as he went 4-for-2 with a walk and on base by error also scored two runs. The most impressive story of the day was the debut Adrian Gonzalez in a Red Sox uniform that went 4-for-2 with three RBI and a stolen base.

So as you see that there was several good things came out of today’s game against the Rangers and remember that it is only the first game of the season. Also a fun fact out there for all of you Red Sox fans, the Sox lost opening day in 2004 and 2007. We know what happened those years we won the World Series. 04+07=11?

Opening Day is Here!

2011-04-01T15:33:00.003-04:00

Today is the day the Red Sox fans have been waiting for since October. It is the first time we get to see the boys of summer on the feild playing ball for real. The Red Sox Open up in about a half hour against the Texas Rangers. Today's game will be a pitching duel between Jon Lester and C.J. Wilson.

This is Lester's first opening day start of his career.

Today's line ups are:

Red Sox Rangers

Jacoby Ellsbury CF Kinsler 2B

Dustin Pedroia 2B Andrus SS

Carl Crawford LF Hamilton LF

Kevin Youkilis 3B Beltre 3B

Adrian Gonzalez 1B Young DH

David Ortiz DH Cruz RF

Mike Cameron RF Napli 1B

Jarrod Saltalamacchia C Torrealba C

Marco Scutaro SS Borbon CF

Dice-K Comes In For Relief of Japan

2011-03-25T17:57:00.004-04:00

As we all know Japan has suffered a horrible disaster on March 11, 2011 and the game of baseball has took a hit as well. Not only has it delayed the start to the Japanese baseball seasons but it affected the Japanese players in the United States. Several players felt it was their place to help out their native land including Red Sox RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka who donated $1 Million to the Red Sox Foundation.100% of the money that was donated will be given to the Japanese Red Cross Society’s relief efforts.

Daisuke and the rest of the Japanese pitchers on the Red Sox have been standing outside of spring training games to raise funds for the relief effort. “To date, the Red Sox Foundation has rasised more than $1.3 million from fans, team partners and sponsors, and Red Sox players and staff, including Matsuzaka’s gift and a $50,000 donation from the Red Sox Foundation. The donations will go to support the Japanese Red Cross Society’s relief efforts.” That statement came from the Red Sox press release.

I am a little surprised it took so long for Daisuke to pitch into help the relief efforts as he is set to make $10 million dollars this year alone. Better late than never is the way to think about this though it is a great donation and will help the people of Japan.

Red Sox players are not the only major leaguers helping out the efforts in Japan. Ichiro Suzuki has donated $1.2 million dollars back on March 18^th. Ichiro plays for the Seattle Mariners which have an extremely large Japanese fan base since Ichiro joined the team in 2001 and feel it is there place to help out and are matching the donation of their fans. Another player that has pitched in to help out is former Yankee and current Oakland A Hideki Matsui game $600,000.

The people in America may not know anyone personally involved with the tragedy in Japan but I believe Tom Werner says best how our connection is with the people of Japan. "Red Sox fans share a common language with the people of Japan through our shared love of baseball,”

If you would like to do your part to help out you can do it in one of two ways you can donate straight to the Red Cross or you can donate through the Red Sox Foundation.

D-Mac Talks About His Time in Boston

2011-03-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

Darnell McDonald become one of Red Sox fans favorite reserves last season. He came into Boston when Jacoby Ellsbury went the the disabled list and come in a pinch hit situation and hits a home run to tie the game and if that wasn't enough he came back to hit another to win it.

McDonald a former first round draft pick back in 1997 has had a long run in the minor leagues but he believes last season was his chance to prove he was able to play in the big leagues. It looks like D-Mac will make the team coming out of spring training which will be his second time in his long career and will be a fifth outfielder.

It looks like McDonald likes to play at Fenway as much as the fans love to watch him. Check out the interview that he gave with NESN about his hopes to have a "special" year.

Are You Ready Yet? The Red Sox Are All In

2011-03-24T23:07:00.003-04:00

Red Sox fans are you excited for the season if not maybe this video from NESN will make you more ready! Just one more week until baseball begins.

2011 Red Sox Rotation Set

2011-03-24T18:00:00.001-04:00

Terry Francona put out the starting rotations and it was not how any of the fans expected it to be. Most fans expected a line up something like this going John Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka. But boy were they wrong. Last week Tito put out the rotation and it will begin with John Lester as many believed but it just goes wild from there. The number two starter of the staff will be John Lackey followed by Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Lackey in the number two spot makes people ask questions and needs an explanation from Francona.

"I think we feel like Lack has a way of matching up with whoever he’s pitching against, whether a guy is a No. 1 or No. 5, you look up in the seventh and you have a chance to win, which we really like. Buck did so good [in 2010], I think we feel like having Buck come out third just enhances our chances to win a little bit. Buck’s numbers would say he can pitch anywhere. I just think Lack’s a veteran, he’s done it. I just think spacing him and Lester, there’s something to be said for that, too. Lack showed up in great shape and looks like he’s ready to go. Ultimately, if they pitch like they should, it’s not going to matter and if they don’t pitch like they should, it’s not going to matter."

The fact of the matter is there is no such thing as a true five man rotation this early in the season. Reason being there will be rain outs and injuries that will change starts throughout the season. Players will miss starts and that will change it for the rest of the season.

The thing that surprised me the most is how last season Josh Beckett was considered the ace of the staff and has moved down so low. Out of a sign of respect the last couple of seasons he has been the opening day starter and some thought that may happen again this season. Last season Beckett had an off year and suffered several injuries. He even got paid big time and that shows favoritism was no play putting him in the fourth spot.

When ask how Beckett felt he said, "Those are his decisions. Just like I would always feel like he would back me up, I back him up on his decision, as well. It is what it is. I don't get paid to make those decisions. Tito makes those decisions. I don't want that job. I never want that job. I'll let him make those decisions and I'll go out and do the best I can to put us in the best position to win."

Let’s hope Beckett has a bounce back year and doesn’t let this effect the way he is pitching since he has a long term deal with the Red Sox.

Red Sox Land Two Players in Top 20 Jersey Sales

2011-03-24T16:30:00.000-04:00

The top Jersey sales in 2010 are finally in and the Red Sox landed two players in the top 20. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury landed on this list. Pedroia was number eight on list and Ellsbury’s no. 2 landed 16 on the list.

As far as team sales got the Red Sox finish second to the Yankees in all of baseball.

When ask about how Pedroia feels about being in the top sales he went on to say.

"It's cool," Pedroia said of seeing fans wear his number 15. "When we're playing at home at Fenway it's fun, because it seems like everybody in the whole stadium has one of our jerseys, and we all kind of look up there and see who it is. It just makes it fun."

They ask if he wore a jersey as a kid he replied saying that he had a Barry Bonds jersey. If you have ever read his book Born to Play:My Life in the Game than you would know that the California native was a huge fan of Bonds as a kid.

As for Ellsbury he was a fan of “the kid” Ken Griffey Jr. as all fans of baseball under the age of 30. Everyone grew up wearing Griffey’s jersey with our hat on backwards and so did Jacoby.

Ellsbury was extremely excited to see how many of his jerseys were sold in 2010 granted his injury pledged season.

"It just goes to show I'm blessed to have these great fans that go to the game and support me. It's exciting," he said. "It's always special. Here at Spring Training, just to see all the kids rolling in, wearing all the jerseys, supporting us, cheering, just seeing their excitement. When you step up to the plate and take the field, just seeing someone wearing your jersey is even more special.”

I predict that more players will be named to this list in 2011 with what all the players who were added to the roster.

Buck Showalter questions Theo Epstein's Intelligence

2011-03-24T15:26:00.003-04:00

We are one week from the start of the season and most managers are preparing to put their team on the field and making fine tuning. Well not Orioles manager Buck Showalter who is taking the time to talk trash. He decided to take what little time he has left to talk about Yankees captain Derek Jeter and Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein.

Showalter took over the Orioles mid-season and ended up having a winning second half after such a poor start prior to his tenure. He was interviewed following a spring training lose to the Yankees. This is when he let it all out there.

When he got on the topic of Jeter he was a little upset about something Jeter does. If you have watched his at bats Jeter does that little thing where he leans over the plate and makes the ball look closer to a ball when really it’s in the paint. He tries to get a ball out of pitches that he really doesn’t want to swing at.

“The first time we went to Yankee Stadium, I screamed at Derek Jeter from the dugout,” Showalter said. “Our guys are thinking, ‘Wow, he’s screaming at Derek Jeter.’ Well, he’s always jumping back from balls just off the plate. I know how many calls that team gets – and yes, he [ticks] me off.”

Talking about Jeter’s strike zone is justified though many players to this. Jeter is the king of doing this even going as far to acting like he got hit by pitch last season when it hit the knob of the bat. Showalter has justice to be upset but he doesn’t stop there next he moves on to wonder boy Theo Epstein.

“I’d like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll,” he said. “You got Carl Crawford ’cause you paid more than anyone else, and that’s what makes you smarter? That’s why I like whipping their butt. It’s great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying, ‘How the hell are they beating us?’ ”

Wow, Showalter really went there? When it comes to the Red Sox, yes we do have a lot of money but talking about Epstein like he isn’t smart is uncalled for. When it comes to buying players the Red Sox are not the team that is guilty of that. The Red Sox are the king of developing talent and using that home grown talent. During the Epstein era the Sox have developed players such as Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and even has players in the minors ready to go. Epstein has developed the strongest minor league system that is all a result of his drafting ability. If he was not smart would he be able to draft such a strong system.

Now when it comes to Carl Crawford being on the Red Sox it is more of a reward for what they believe he will do in the future. Now yes he did go to the highest bidder but why would so many players be bidding for his services if he wasn’t an amazing player. If the Orioles system had a smarter system of drafting and developing winning players they might have the money to get free agents off the market.

Theo Epstein is a Yale graduate with a law degree and passed the Califorina bar exam on his first try if he was a stupid guy do you think he could do this? I think not. Epstein is a GM who is a believer in sabermetrics which is one of the hardest ways to evaluate a player in baseball and he was able to win not only one but two rings for Boston. Epstein is an extremely smart general manager and Buck Showalter is just jealous he isn’t his GM.

Red Sox Lineup vs. Twins 3/1/11

2011-03-01T11:29:00.002-05:00

Today the Red Sox take on the Twins at 1:05 in hopes gain a lead in this years Mayors cup.

Starting Lineup for Boston

Marco Scutaro SS

Jed Lowrie 2B

Mike Cameron DH

Kevin Youkilis 3B

Ryan Kalish CF

Darnell McDonald LF

Jarrod Saltalamacchia C

Josh Reddick RF

Drew Sutton 1B

John Lester SP

Relief Pitchers in this order

Alfredo Aceves

Jonathon Paplebon

Randy Williams

Rich Hill

Beckett Feels Better Following Hit to Head

2011-03-01T09:59:00.002-05:00

As mentioned yesterday Josh Beckett received a hit to the head during batting practice yesterday and shown signs of a minor concussion. Today Beckett meet with press today saying that “I feel better.”

It appears as if a little rest at home paid off for Beckett.

"How do I feel? I feel arlight. I feel better today. I felt like I got hit in the head. I think getting rid of some of the headache stuff I had yesterday is probably good. No activity I guess today."

As for what he remember of the incidence or how he feels about it he went on to say.

"You go through a bunch of different emotions. At first, you're [mad] because you don't know what happened. Then, I tried to walk and I got real dizzy and just kind of took a knee. You just kind of go through everything. I really didn't even know what happened. I didn't know if I got hit by a ball from another field or what. "

It appears the injury occurred to behind the temple on the left side of his head. It sounds as if Beckett will be ok but will have to be monitored for the next couple of days to see how he feels. Though the headaches were gone from the accident he was dizzy and had trouble negotiating stairs. The Staff of the Red Sox are monitoring this situation closely. So close that Beckett went on the say. “They don’t even want me watching tv.”

The Red Sox have set no timetable on Beckett’s return to the mound. His next start is scheduled for Thursday against the Phillies. Most believe that this date will be pushed back until they know Beckett is 100 percent healthy.

Is Dice-K Out of 5?

2011-02-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

Is Daisuke Matsuzaka out of the rotation? I do not believe that is the case. I feel he will be the number five starter on this year’s team as does many others. It looks as if Dice-K would rather think that he is competing for this spot according to an article from WEEI.

"At this stage there is no promise to be in the rotation,” Matsuzaka said using his interpreter Kenta Yamada following his first spring training start today.

Dice-K gave up a solo homerun in today’s game against the Minnesota Twins in two innings of work. He is hoping that this spring will be improvement in the past. The past two seasons with the Red Sox have not been very good to him. In 2009 following the World Baseball Classic Matsuzaka was physically not where he needed to be for the season and he never really got there. His 2009 record with a poor 4-6 record in 12 starts. In 2010 he showed up to spring training in what looked to be his best shape he had ever been in during his tenure as a member of the Red Sox. Though he looked to be in shape he was sidelined from a neck strain injury from March until May. The 2010 campaign ended poorly again with a 9-6 record with 25 starts. Playing with these injuries has not worked out well for Dice-K, who was once looked at to be a front of the line starter for the Sox.

This season Matsuzaka feels he is in competition for the fifth spot even if this is not so. If he helps him prepare to have a better year than I am all for thinking that way as long as it works. It looks as if the right hander plays better when he has something to compete for and he feels he is competing with Alfredo Aceves for the final spot in the rotation.

“It’s actually very important for me to be in competition,” Dice-K said.

Matsuzaka has two years left with the Red Sox each of those seasons worth $10 million a piece that tells me he will be in the line up come hell or high water. Hopefully this season will be a flash back to his 2008 season when he went 18-3 and be able to live up to this contract he signed.

Beckett Suffers From Minor Concussion

2011-02-28T16:15:00.000-05:00

After what some call a bad season for Josh Beckett in 2010 this was going to be the season he lived up to his big dollar contract. Well this is not how Beckett wanted to begin this season. According to ESPNBoston.com Beckett was struck in the head on the left side during today’s batting practice. Following the hit he was showing signs of a minor concussion.

Following the hit Beckett went down to one knee in which led teammates to get the Red Sox training staff out on to the field. He was looked at by the trainers and attended to at the Red Sox facilities and a trip to the hospital was not required.

It looks as though since this happened Beckett has been experiencing conditions that are signs of the concussion therefore he was sent home to rest.

This incident occurred when Red Sox staffer Ino Guerrero was in the outfield during batting hitting snag balls back to a bucket with a fungo bat when one got away and struck Beckett who was in left field.

Concussions have been a serious part of the sports community as of late all that is going on in the NFL for player safety as well as in the world of baseball. Last season Justin Morneau suffered a season ending concussion in July which put an end to his MVP type run. MLB has done things to prevent concussions with a new type of helmets that can handle the faster pitches which are currently thrown by pitchers today.

Though his was a freak accident concussions is a very serious matter and hope that this minor concussion doesn’t have a long term effect on Beckett’s year. He will be checked out again tomorrow by the Red Sox and they will provide a better status on how he is doing.

Ellsbury and Cameron back as Red Sox defeat Northeastern

2011-02-26T21:55:00.000-05:00

The nightcap game for the Red Sox bring two outfielders back on to the field after missing over half the 2010 season. Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron combined for a whopping 66 games together. But tonight’s win over Northeastern,13-2 got them back into the game.

The Red Sox trailed the first half of the game 2-0 going into the fourth inning when the bats decided to wake up. The Sox went on to score five runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and six and sixth. Ellsbury batted in the leadoff spot in the lineup and worked the count in both of his at bats earning a walk. While Cameron played as the DH he had two at bats and was unsuccessful at reaching base. Jed Lowrie also had two at bats and made it on base once with an error.

Ellsbury suffered from fractured ribs in 2010 says that “It felt good getting out there getting some at-bats and getting some innings. …It was nice to go out there and feel normal.”

As for Cameron who went hitless said, "I was hoping I could hit a ball somewhere so I could run a little bit, but it was just good running down the first-base line," said Cameron. "I haven't been in the box since July 30."

After the near no-hitter against Boston College earlier in the day, it would not go this way again. One pitch into the game Ryan Maguire knocked a line drive home run out to left off of a fastball from Kyle Weiland and the other run for Northeastern Ricky Salvucci knocked in a run off of Rich Hill in the fourth inning.
Hill and Weiland are Red Sox prospects. Hill who is competing this spring for a bullpen spot with the Sox and Weiland will most likely start the season with AAA Pawtucket.

Northeastern and the Red Sox have met nine times playing regularly for the past seven seasons. The first time the two teams matched up took place in 1977 at Fenway Park and the starting pitcher for that match up was the beloved, Luis Tiant.
The Red Sox being Grapefruit League play tomorrow against crosstown rival Minnesota Twins to being the Mayor’s Cup, Boston is hoping to defend their title this season. This game will put Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz on the mound. Kevin Youkilis will be playing in the game as well and possibly Mike Cameron, since J.D. Drew and Carl Crawford taking the day off.

Photo from ESPN

Gonzalez and Crawford talk hitting

2011-02-26T18:52:00.000-05:00

The two newest members of the Red Sox sit down with Lou Merloni of Comcast New England to discuss hitting. Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez discuss how they face left handed hitting and there time with the Red Sox.

If the video does not fit in the screen click it and it will take you to the direct source

Red Sox defeats Boston College in a one hitter

2011-02-26T17:01:00.000-05:00

Today the Red Sox started spring training play. The Sox took on Boston College this morning and defeated them 6-0 in a one hit game. The only hit of the game come in the seventh inning by BC’s Jim Laufer.

The Red Sox carried a no hitter into the final inning using six different prospect players. Laufer’s hit came off of lefty Randy Williams, he hit a soft line drive hit and was thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double.

If you are looking at the Red Sox line up you would think this was going to be a regular season game as you have four regular season starters in this game. Those guys include Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Marco Scutaro and David Ortiz. The reason for putting these guys in action against a college team is to give them some extra at bats as all of the guys except Ortiz are coming off an injury pelage season.

In Youkilis’ first game as the full time third baseman for the Sox he was controlled the first inning. Youkilis had to test his ability to play third as BU’s Garret Smith hit strong hit that had the potential to be an extra base hit but Youkilis made an amazing diving play to throw him out at first. Then later in the inning Youkilis knocked out a three run homer into right field.

The starters only played only played three innings and the game also brought several familiar faces in Darnell McDonald, Ryan Kalish, Lars Anderson, and Josh Reddick

The Red Sox and Boston College first started playing each other in 1916 and this was this is the 21^st meeting and the 19^th straight year playing between the Red Sox and BC and the start of play for the year for the Sox.

Epstein Creeped out Crawford

2011-02-25T15:54:00.000-05:00

As you guys know the Red Sox signed Carl Crawford to the Red Sox this past offseason. What you might not know is that the Sox have had their eye on him for a good amount of time. Theo Epstein the General Manager of the Sox has had scouts watching Crawford on and off the field during the 2010 season even went as far to say “as if we were private investigating him.” Then went back to say that was a bad choice of words.

Well it looks like this creeped Crawford out a bit about Epstein watching him. Not only on but off the field but I would say that this is necessary when you about to sign a player to a seven-year deal worth $124 Million the largest contract the Sox have ever issued.

"I thought that was a little weird," Crawford said Tuesday. "I guess that's what they have to do when they're making that kind of investment."

After hearing of these comments and the media’s reaction to them, Epstein sent an E-mail out that read, "Our scouts just did a real thorough job on background, that's all. [We] felt like we got to know him real well, that's all. I told him we got to know him real well and we really respected the decisions he made, even away from the park. We told him we trusted him with a long-term contract because of his work ethic and his decision-making, so we'd be involved in the bidding."

As we know the Red Sox have had players in the past that have not been model citizen or model players such as Derek Lowe, Manny Ramirez, or Mo Vaughn. Seven years is a long commitment and you don’t want a guy who will cause problems in the club house on your team so this may have been the best course of action. This isn’t always the best thing to do without letting the player know what you are doing.

"I didn't say nothing, but I'm from an area where if somebody's doing that to you, they're not doing anything good," Crawford said. "I get paranoid when I hear those kind of stories, so I definitely take a different approach when I do things now. It did have an effect on me, let me put it that way."

We are still a month out from opening day and Crawford has not even had an at bat in a Red Sox uniform and it has lefty a strange filling on him. This kind of situation normally doesn’t happen they try to keep information in house. Epstein is normally like a vault nothing comes out of him but Epstein talking about the situation on WEEI should not have happened. This should have a private conversation with Crawford.

"I definitely look over my shoulder now a lot more than what I did before," he said. "Just when he told me that, the idea of him following me everywhere I go, was kind of, I wasn't comfortable with that at all. I don't know how they do it, how much distance they keep from you when they watch you the whole time. I definitely check my back now, at least 100 yard radius. I'm always looking over my shoulder now. Now I look before I go in my house. I'd better not see anything suspicious now."

Hopefully this relationship between Crawford and Epstein does not go sour as they will be working together for a long time now.

AFC Championship Jets vs. Steelers

2011-01-23T04:23:00.000-05:00

Well the Steelers and Jets will finally get their rematch as it will come in the AFC Championship game. The two teams matched up in week 15 as the Jets pulled off the upset 22-17 but that was without the Steelers MVP Troy Polamalu.

How did we get to this match up you ask? The Jets had the toughest path as they had to face Peyton Manning and Tom Brady’s squads. It was a tough journey full of trash talking and a foot fetish that’s only one person, Rex Ryan. Ryan and his Jets took the pervious to games so personal because they had not beaten either of the quarterbacks in the play offs under his tenure.

During wild card weekend the Jets went into Indianapolis and defeated the Colts by a close margin, 17-16.

The next week would be thought to even tougher as they face the Patriots. The two teams split the regular season but the final match up in Foxbourgh of the regular season by a laugh fest 45-3. So when they met in the division series they wanted to show they are no walk over team and could contend for a Super Bowl. The defense which is ranked third in the league held Brady to only 21 points and even caused him to throw an interception, his first since October. The talking Jets rubbed it in the face of the Patriots one player even doing a flip on the field others with their arms wide out as if they was a jet plane.

But coming to this the championship game against the Steelers the Jets are nothing but respect and love for the team with the most Super Bowl titles. They have done nothing but talk about how great Ben Roethlisberger is as a quarter back and how much they respect him. They also talk about how great Polamalu is and the difficulty he will bring on Mark Sanchez. Is it all a game they are playing? Are they prepared for the Steelers in Heinz Field? If the Jets were to pull out a win they will have won on the road in all the games leading up to the Super Bowl.

But there is one thing in the way of them and that is the Steelers who are well rested as they had a first round bye. The Steelers had a difficult path to this week’s despite only having to play one game to move on. The Steelers took on the Ravens last Sunday at home and was down early because of poor play and stupid mistakes but was able to get their act together to pull off a 31-24 victory. This game had it all a team that is prepared and ready to play with a no excuse mentality, injury or not they will play the hardest they can. The defense has proved to be a traditional bad ass defense, excuse my language. With Polamalu back on defense the rest of their players have also stepped there game up to work together to win a championship.

Both of these teams are extremely prepared as all teams set a goal to make it to the Super Bowl on day one of training camp. I believe this game will come down to the best defensive team I look for this to be a somewhat low scoring pick em’ game. The odds makers have the Steelers a 3.5 point favorite and I would have to say I agree. If all of the team shows up with their best game there is no reason the Black and Yellow won’t return to the Super Bowl for the third time in six years.

Post Season Review: New England Patriots

2011-01-03T21:31:00.000-05:00

The second team in our series is the New England Patriots, who have proved to be the best team in the NFL with a 14-2 record. The Patriots won the AFC East as well earned the top spot in the AFC playoffs and home field advantage throughout.

Coming into the season as you may recall from my preseason predictions I had the Patriots to finish 9-7 and boy was I wrong. I just felt the Patriots was going to have a tough season adjusting to having so many rookies coming in this season that would play, also not making many changes on defense which gave them troubles in 2009 and cost them the playoffs. There also was contract drama with two stars on the team quarterback Tom Brady and Wide Receiver Randy Moss both of those players was taken care of in their owns ways Brady as awarded a $72 Million deal and Moss was traded in a mid-season acquisition to the Vikings for a third-round draft pick in 2011.

The season started kind of rocky for the Patriots at that time I thought I was going to be right with my predictions. About a week prior to the week one game with the Bengals, Brady was in a car crash that some might have an effect on his play but it didn’t and he had a decent start with 25-of-35 completion with 258 passing yards to lead them to a 38-24 victory. It was also a first great game for Wes Welker who caught eight passes for 64 yards and two touchdowns, who was playing after a speedy recovery from a knee injury that ended in surgery but he was back after eight months of recovery. Most people did not believe that he was ready and like the rest of the team he proved everyone wrong.

In week two they would suffer one of their two loses of the season to AFC East rival New York Jets. I actually predicted this lose but I’m sure the Patriots did not they was ready to play the trash talking Jets but came up short 28-14. In this game Brady was plan out played as Jets Quarterback Mark Sanchez as he went for a career-high three touchdown passes. The Patriots had a touch game as they only had a total of 20 first downs and was held to only 291 offensive yards. They also had trouble on third downs as they only went 5-of-11.

Week three the Bills come into Foxboro and the Patriots are looking to have a big bounce back game. This was a bounce back game for Brady as he threw three touchdowns and the team also had two rushing touchdowns in a 38-30 victory. In this game the Patriots started a streak for the season, as well as showed that the only way you are going to beat them was to outscore them because they are going to put points on the board anyway they have to.

Week four would be a blowout 41-14 game in Miami against the dolphins and the team would go into the bye week in week five.

Coming off a well rested bye week the Patriots take on the Ravens in week six and prior to this game is when the Moss trade goes down. It may have been the best move of the season for the team as they removed the aging veteran and brought back Deion Branch. Branch would be a big spark for the offense in the game for sure as he helped lead a comeback form 10 down to a 23-20 win. Branch had left the Patriots four years prior but it was as if he had never left. He had nine receptions seven of which came after a 20-10 Ravens lead. Coming into this game the fans had worried how the team would do in its first game without Moss but I believe they showed them that they would be fine without him.

Week seven looked to be easy win for the Patriots as they had a 17 point lead going into the fourth quarter against the Chargers but they would hold on for a 23-20 victory.

Week eight would put the gunslinger Brett Farve up against Brady as they would take on the Vikings at home. But it was Brady who would look like the true gunslinger in the NFL as he had 65-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Tate in a 28-18 win. Farve would take a tough hit and would be removed from the game.

Week nine would be the final lose for the team as they would go into Cleveland to take on the Browns. In this match up rookie quarterback Colt McCoy made his first appearance against the Patriots and it was a big one. He led his offense to a 34-14 victory over the Patriots. Brady was had a 19-36 passing completion and threw for two touchdowns but that would not be enough. He also stopped by the play of Rob Gronkowski who had a couple drops and a fumble. The Defense just could not stop the Browns running game as they would have four rushing touchdowns including one from McCoy. After the game Brady said.

“We were out of sync all day,” Brady went on to say. “It was not a good game at all. As an offense, we didn’t do much to advance the ball, and that includes the quarterback. If we play like we played today we are not going to beat anybody.”

After a tough lose to the Browns everyone expected a big comeback game against the Steelers and that is what they got as they went to win 39-26. Brady had his way with the defense of the Steelers as he threw for 350 yards and had three passing touchdowns as well as a rushing touchdown. The Patriots defense was also able to take a big piece of the Steelers offense in Hines Ward early in the game. This was a big win for them after the embarrassing lose the week before.

Week 11 would bring in what some would call the biggest rival the Indianapolis Colts and former MVP Peyton Manning. This game would belong to Danny Woodhead as he did it all in this game, he had seven carries and one for a touchdown as well as four catches for 21 yards. Woodhead joined the team after he was cut from the Jets in September. As they say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and he proved to be a treasure for the Patriots. Manning had a late game comeback and threw four touchdowns and 396 but fail short 31-28.

Coming off the close win week 12 would bring the Jets again but this time at home and the Patriots was ready as they killed them 45-3. Brady threw four touches and 325yards in this game he did not want to lose. It was made out to be a big game because of the early season defeat but it was a blow out.

Week 14 would is known as the “snow game” and everyone knows Brady shines in the snow. The Patriots went to Chicago and defeats the Bears 36-7 in the snow. Brady threw for 369 yards and two touchdowns. Need I say more about this game? Brady always shines in bad weather as he did against the Titans the previous season.

Week 15 would be the last real match up of the season for the Patriots as the Packers come in with backup quarterback Matt Flynn as Aaron Rodgers had suffered a concussion the week before. The Packers would have the ball for 40:48 of the game and would hold the Patriots to only 14 first downs but that seemed to be enough. As the Patriots would have a comeback fourth quarter to win 31-27. A standout moment in his game was when offensive lineman Dan Connolly, who is over 300 pounds, had a 71 yard kickoff return which is probably the longest for a lineman in the NFL but I’m not sure.

The Last two weeks of the season was a joke as they outscored the Bills and the Dolphins 72-10 together.

This season has clearly been there best season since they went 16-0 and love him or hate him Tom Brady has showed the he is deserving of the MVP award as he played in all 16 starts and put up amazing numbers.

Going into the playoffs the Patriots they are the team to beat as they have the top seed and home field throughout. I believe there best chance of making it to the AFC championship game would be to face the Jets as we saw what they have done to them already this season.

Post Season Reveiw: Pittsburgh Steelers

2011-01-03T03:15:00.000-05:00

With week 17 finally coming and the NFL season over we begin to shift toward the play offs which begin next Saturday. I thought I would do a break down series over the six AFC teams that have made it to the play offs this year. As you recall I did a preseason blog and made predictions for the season as you know by know I did not do to hot, hell I didn’t even pick one division champion correct. But as they say the play offs are a new season so I am going to take a look back over the regular season. Going to do a review of each team how they did and how they look on the path to the Super Bowl. No predictions just thoughts. I am going to start the series with the AFC North Champions the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I did not have high hopes for season coming in as I posted them to have a 9-7 season because they went the first four games with out there Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as he was serving a suspension put down on him by the NFL. Boy was I wrong the Steelers started the season 3-1 and went through it with two different Quarterbacks Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch. They knocked off the Falcons, Titians and Buccaneers before suffering a week four loss the division rivals Ravens.

After those four games the Steelers would enter a bye week and come back with Roethlisberger back running the offense against the Browns. He would look decent and would complete 16 passes on 27 attempts to lead the Steelers to a 28-10 victory.

Week seven was a true test of how the Steelers would compete as they go to Miami to play the Dolphins in what would be a 22-23 victory for Pittsburgh. In a game where Roethlisberger would attempt to run it in for a touchdown late in the game that would end in a fumble but video could not show who got the ball therefore giving it back to the Steelers and they kick for the win. After that game Roethlisberger said:

“Just a bizarre kind of play. You hate to win in that way, but you’ll take a win,”

The Steelers would not be so lucky in week eight when they went on the road to New Orleans when they would suffer there second lose of the season 20-10 to the Saints. The Steelers just could not compete against the Saints offense or defense. The only touchdown that was scored by the Steelers would be 38-yard run in the fourth quarter by Rashard Mendenhall. They were completely taken out of the third quarter of the game as they only had one possession. Roethlisberger was 17 of 28 for 195 yards following the game he had this to say:

“This is definitely a gut check for us,” He went on to say. “We got knocked down a little bit tonight and now it will be interesting to see how we bounce back.”

Bounce back is exactly what they did in week nine against Cincinnati in a Monday night game but it almost turned out bad. The Steelers at one point in the game had a comfortable lead until Roethlisberger threw an interception that would lead to Terrell Owens getting a touchdown and a missed Kick my Jeff Reed that would have sealed the deal for the Steelers. The defense stood strong and they held the Bengals and went on to a 27-21 victory. With the win the Steelers became 6-2 and tied with the Ravens for the top spot in the North.

Week 10 is when Tom Brady and the Patriots came into Heinz Field and destroyed them. The defense could not do a damn thing against Brady and they also played most of the game without star wide receiver Hines Ward who went out early with a concussion. The concussion would also stop Ward’s consecutive games with a reception at 186 games. Even with the Steelers scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter it was too late and they lost 39-26.

After the tough lose the Steelers would cut kicker Jeff Reed who was in his ninth season due to poor play and Signed Shaun Suisham who became a great pick up for them
down the stretch.

The Steelers came out strong in Week 11 and would kill the Raiders at home 35-3. This game was lead by James Harrison who caused two turnovers by Raiders Quarterback Jason Campbell that Roethlisberger would turn into touchdowns.

Week 12 would be an unsuspecting tough game in Buffalo against the Bills that would end in an overtime victory 19-16 when Suisham kicked a 41 yard field goal for the win. He went 4-4 on the day kicking something most people believed Reed wouldn’t do. The Bills had a great fourth quarter to tie it up but that wouldn’t be enough. In this game Roethlisberger would injury his foot and later would have to wear a protective shoe to protect a broken foot for the remainder of the year.

As if playing with a broken foot in week 13 wasn’t enough for Roethlisberger he would have his nose broken in first series of the game but would play the entire game. The team would go on the road and defeat the Ravens 13-10 in a game won by a Troy Polamalu strip sack late in the game. This was a heavy defensive game as most would expect but with a 10 point fourth for the Steelers it would go their way and they would take control of the North and wouldn’t lose it from there on out.

The Bengals come in for week 14 and get stomped 23-7 as the Steelers went for the sweep. This was another big game for Polamalu as well as LaMarr Woodley who both returned interceptions for touchdown.

“No one is playing as good as Troy Polamalu in football right now, in my opinion,” Head Coach Mike Tomlin said.” When we need a play, he provides it.”

Even with the great play you can’t prevent injury and Polamalu would sit out week 15 against the Jets. This game would come down to the wire but the Steelers would fall short 22-17. The game began with a Touchdown scored before the first minute of the game was up and it would be a battle from there as they remained tied back and forth for the remainder of the game but with a few errors in the fourth quarter would lead the Jets to victory. Due to the strength of schedule the Steelers was award a playoff berth.

The final two games of the season would be a blow out over the Panthers and the Browns and they would outscore them 68-12. Polamalu would return for the final game of the season and got back in the rhythm as if he had never left and was named by his teammates team MVP. After these wins the Steelers would finish the season 12-4 and be second in the playoffs as well as a first round bye.

Going into the playoffs they will have to have Polamalu and Roethlisberger both clicking on all cylinders if they hope to make it to the Super Bowl. With the bye they will play at home on in two weeks. The best path to the AFC Championship game in my opinion would be if they faced the Cheifs in the second round as the Cheifs have had a rough past two weeks. I don’t want to go on to the championship round as there are many factors that would go into play.

A Rainy Winter Classic Goes to the Capitals

2011-01-02T01:00:00.000-05:00

For the past four years after the ball has dropped and a new year has began the boys of winter takes the ice for the Winter Classic. The Winter Classic this year was played at Heinz Field, which is home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the two teams that took the ice was the visiting Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

This was the first time the Winter Classic was played at night and that was because of the rainy weather that was in the Pittsburgh area throughout the day and continued off and on during the game. With the game being played outdoors the weather of course played a role in ice conditions that was kind of slushy and wet at times, but that did not stop the Capitals from pulling off a 3-1 victory over the home team.

The game started out sloppy as neither team was used to the ice which lead to a scoreless first period even though the ice was choppy the emotions was high which lead to a first period fight to excite the fans on hand.

The second period was different it was exciting play as the players began to calm down and adjust to the situation. The penguins was the first to get on the board early in second quarter as Kris Letang had a banked pass off the board to get the puck to Evgeni Malkin who would score. The home crowd went wild and the terrible towels went flying which is a Steelers tradition which made its way to the ice.
Near the seven minute mark in the second period the Capitals took advantage of a power play which would lead to a goal by Mike Knuble to tie up the game. From there on out this game belonged to the Capitals and Eric Fehr who would go to score two more goals one at around the 15 minute mark and again around the 12 minute mark in the third period.

Coming into this game everyone expected big play from what some say are the best two players in the game of hockey in Sidney Crosby of the Penguins and Alex Ovechkin but both of these players was really a non-factor in the game. The poor ice really caused Ovechkin to have a poor game as he took a fall on to his stomach while attempting a shot in the first period. Crosby also took a rough hit in the second from a blindsided hit he would have a limp as he went to the locker room at the intermission but finished the game.

The fourth annual Winter Classic proved to be another exciting event and helps the sport bring in fans it may normally not get in the regular season. This outdoor event with such press brings positive viewership to the game that is normally competing with other sports during this time of year. It always brings in fans of the home city to watch the game because of its location and the show that is brought on. This year’s puck drop was done by former Steelers star’s Jerome “Bus” Bettis and Franco Harris. These two players also did a celebrity shoot out of a Pittsburgh charity and made a show out of it. I believe the Classic is good for the game of Hockey and will bring in more fans to the game.

Cats have Cards for lunch in the Yum! Center

2010-12-31T15:47:00.000-05:00

When Kentucky and Louisville take the court you know it’s going to be a great game. Today’s match up was no different. It was a great game but the Wildcats come out with a huge victory over the Cards 78-63.

This game came with several surprises with a career high double-double play from big man Josh Harrellson had 23 points and 14 rebounds. This was a huge deal as he normal averages about 5 points per game and only scored 28 total points last season. He has really stepped up into this leadership role on this team as he is the only senior on the roster and is the only big man with big man Enes Kanter being ruled ineligible to play by the NCAA.

As it was last season this team is lead by a group of incredible freshmen talent which has two of the teams leading scorers. They showed up to play against the Cards as Brandon Knight had an outstanding game scoring 25 points and Terrence Jones had 12 points, eight rebounds and six assist. This group of freshmen have really stepped up since the loss to North Carolina on ways of their game they are playing better defense as well as offense and are really looking good as they are about to enter SEC play.

As for Louisville they came out early hitting the three but that did not last as they went eight for 20 from three-point line. The Cards was out match on all levels they got beat in every category from field-goals to rebounds they just could not play with this Wildcat squad. They did get some good play out of Preston Knowles who scored 22 points which is above his season average of 15.2 points per game.

This game set a record attendance for the new KFC Yum! Center with 22,803 people. This is the first year of the new arena and it will play host to many more great games between the two rivals for years to come.

With the win over Louisville this puts Coach Calipari 2-0 in the battle of the bluegrass and puts the Wildcats 11-2 on the season.

The next match up for the Wildcats will be Monday against Penn in Rupp Arena at 7:00 PM EST.

Cats Lose a Quarterback for Bowl

2010-12-11T23:07:00.000-05:00

As the Kentucky Wildcats are preparing for their fifth straight bowl appearance they will do so without starting quarterback Mike Hartline, after being arrested early Friday morning.

Hartline was taken into custody outside a Lexington bar and was charged with second-degree disorderly conduct, alcohol intoxication in a public place and failure to notify the department of transportation of an address change.

After news of the arrest got to head coach Joker Phillips he went on to suspend Hartline from what would be his last game in a Wildcats uniform.

“Mike Hartline has had a good record here conduct-wise, and I regret that this happened,” Phillips said. “I really hate that it happened because of what he did, leading this program to our fifth straight bowl, and he’s done a great job at that. But we have clear expectations for how we want our players to act and for them to behave.”

This has been a big blow to the Wildcats going into the BBVA Compass Bowl without Hartline. He started all 12 of Kentucky’s games this season and put up some of his best numbers in senior season. So far on the year he is ranked sixth in the SEC and 24th nationally, in pass efficiency. Hartline also lead the Cats to a 6-6 record.

Since Hartline will not be allowed to play the Cats will look to Sophomore Morgan Newton to take the reins and lead them to a victory. Newton has thrown seven successful passes on season and will be expected to get the start.

The Wildcats will take the field on January 8 against Pittsburgh who has had problems of their own in the firing of former head coach Dave Wannsted after six seasons there.

After Long Day Sox Sign Gonzalez

2010-12-08T00:02:00.000-05:00

December 5, 2010 may go down as one of the most stressful but exciting days for fans of the Boston Red Sox. This is the day that the biggest trade in recent history went down sending first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox by trade but it almost didn’t happen.

All trade talks began on Saturday saying that Gonzalez had been traded from the San Diego Padres for three of Boston’s top minor league prospects, which included Casey Kelly a right-handed pitcher and was considered there top prospect. It was said the only way the deal would go through was if Gonzalez, who is coming into his final year of his contract, was willing to sign a contract extension allowing him to skip free agency and become of a long term member of the team.

The two sides began to negotiate a long term contract with a 2pm ET deadline on Sunday to get a deal complete. Both sides worked long into the night and Red Sox Nation began to worry if a deal would get done. It was said that Gonzalez camp was requesting a six year deal worth $150 million and the Red Sox are not known for signing players over five year deal due to injury or age.

Well the 2pm deadline comes and goes, the fans are nervously waiting to see if a deal had been agreed upon between the two camps.

When a tweet from SI.com’s Jon Heyman came out saying that the “Gonzalez trade had feel thru”. Peter Gammons also added that Gonzalez was leaving Boston on a 4:30 flight and had left a hundred million dollar deal on the table.

At this point the hearts of all Boston fans was broken as some fans were calling for the firing of General Manager Theo Epstein and saying that John W. Henry should sell the team if he wasn’t willing to spend money on winning players. This would be the second time they was unable to finish a deal as they lost in the bidding two years before on first baseman Mark Teixeira to the New York Yankees.

Later in the day as hearts of broken fans sit around to hear from the team sources come out to say what had happened. Rumors began to surface that the two sides was still working on a deal past the deadline deal. This began to bring hope back.
Then at around the 9 pm ET, out of nowhere Heyman sends out a tweet saying that a deal had been completed sending Gonzalez to the Red Sox. This was not the deal Boston had originally wanted and the deal was done without contract extension that they had hoped for.

With all the speculations over of will he or won’t he play in Boston, Monday morning the deal became official in a press conference. Gonzalez said that as a boy his favorite American League team growing up was the Boston Red Sox.
“I’m very excited,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve had five incredible years in San Diego. When I grew up, my whole dream as a kid was to play in the major leagues and be a Padre. My second dream was to be a Red Sox. So, I’m very excited. God has been very, very good to me, and I’m just very excited to start this new phase. I look forward to a lot of world championships.”

Boston fans couldn’t have said it better than that; he is being brought in as a bat that has been missing in the lineup since the trade of Manny Ramirez in 2008.

Since a deal is not in place as of yet he is currently under contract his original contract for one year for a bargain of $5.5 million. It is said that the Red Sox and Gonzalez have common ground and they feel that a deal can be done at a later date. Some believe that a deal will not come from the Red Sox until after Opening Day so to avoid any luxury taxes on the 2011 pay roll.

So now that it is all said and done Gonzalez will take the field on April1, 2011 as the starting first baseman for the Red Sox, the fans can now be excited for the future of the team and no longer be calling for Epstein’s head because of his success.

Lee Leads Rangers to First Series Win

2010-10-13T21:44:00.000-04:00

Cliff Lee and the Texas Rangers win the ALDS and franchise first series win, against the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1. This was also the first season in which the road team won every game.

Coming into the game the series was tied at two games apiece and with the being the deciding game both teams had their ace on the mound; Cliff Lee for the Rangers and David Price for the Rays. Coming into the game Lee had a 3.98 ERA since joining the Rangers and Price had a 2.72 on the season.

Lee came out on top as he threw a complete game. He also struck out 11 men and only gave up six-hits and only allowed one run not allowing a walk. Lee threw 120 pitches 89 of which was strikes and he threw 73% of his first pitches as stirkes. This is his fourth post season game where he struck out at least 10 batters and he also remains undefeated in the post season. When ask his thoughts about the game Lee said:

“It was a lot of fun, I know that much,” Lee said. “We had our back against the wall today and we came out and performed.”

That is exactly what they did the Rangers struck early and off often as they scored one-run in the first, one in the fourth, one in the sixth and two in the ninth. The two runs in the ninth were score off second basemen Ian Kinsler to insure that the Rangers came out on top.

As for the Rays they only scored one run when Ben Zobrist singled into center field to allow Sean Rodriguez to go home. Pitching for the Rays was also a difficulty as they went through four different pitchers but starting pitcher Price went six innings while he struck out six batters and gave up three runs. While closer Rafael Soriano gave up three hits and two runs in the ninth inning alone but the lose goes to Price.

Most teams after winning a series especially the first one in the teams franchise want to celebrate with their teammates with champagne and beer but not the Rangers. Out of respect they wanted to celebrate this as a team with outfielder Josh Hamilton, who sit out the celebration when the team clinched the division because he is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. So out of respect the team celebrated with ginger ale instead of alcohol. Pitcher C.J. Wilson was also able to celebrate with the team as he does not drink as well. The idea was came up with by the equipment manger.

“It was a great idea,” third basemen Micheal Young said. “Josh and C.J. are a big part of our ballclub, and we wanted them to be able to celebrate with us.”
Hamilton was excited to take part in the celebration and said;

“This stuff burns your eyes, too,” Hamilton said. “But for them to adapt the celebration to this, it really says a lot about our organization.”

The team would later celebrate in normal fashion after those two guys left but they wanted to show the respect to wait.

With the Rangers winning this game they will move on to face the New York Yankees on Friday at 8:00 PM at home in the ALCS. The starting pitchers for this game will be C.C. Sabaitha for the Yankees and Wilson will take the mound for the Rangers.

Patriots Trade Moss Back to Vikings

2010-10-06T12:25:00.000-04:00

There has been an extreme change of events that has happened in the last 24 hours. Today I planned to prepare for the MLB playoffs but I check my phone on the way to class to see that the New England Patriots have traded future Hall of Famer Randy Moss to the Minnesota Vikings for a third-round draft pick.

The drama with Moss started after the week one game when he addressed the media for the first time to discuss wanting a new contract with New England. Which lead to a meeting to discuss his actions with head coach Bill Belicheck and Moss giving an apology interview with the Boston media. This was the beginning of the end of his time with team, which may have lead to his poor performance on the field and his extremely poor performance in the Monday night game on ESPN this could have been the last straw for the team who was willing to give him away for nothing but a draft pick which could be key as that makes the team have eight draft picks in the 2011 draft two per round in the first through fourth rounds.

This will be Moss seconded stint with the Vikings who have had a poor season at this point in the season as they are 1-2 on the season coming off of the bye-week this should be a huge Improvement for the team as it will give quarterback Brett Farve a new target in the back field which could be what the team as they have several players with injury some that keeps them off the field for the season and some that just prevents practice so this is a relief for the Vikings.

This could be an exciting but rare midseason trade in which Moss will get to meet up with his former team on Halloween night.

Madness is Here in the Bluegrass

2010-10-01T11:57:00.000-04:00

It's that time of the year in Kentucky the leaves are changing colors and the temperature is starting to drop and what does that mean? That means it is time for basketball season to start in the bluegrass as big blue nation has set up camp at the Joe Craft center on the UK campus waiting for their shot at tickets to the biggest basketball event in Lexington to true blue fans Big Blue Madness.

Big Blue Madness is the first official practice of the season and will be part of an ESPNU event this year. It has been a record breaking event for the school in the past and they are excepting it again for the event. Tickets are available tomorrow morning at 7 am and will be gone extremely quick so it's a battle for the fan to get the ticket but it is well worth it end.

I have been lucky enough to attend the event three times in my life and it is one of the most exciting events for a fan in how it is put together. The team looks at this as a way of honoring the faithful fans giving them a good show and preparing them for a winning season and it is never disappointing the fans that show up. They do different things to wow the crowd some include bringing back a former player the fans love to take part sometimes a dunk contest they actively involve the fans and they always add something new to wow the crowd.

The team has been involving the fans all week by stopping by as signing autographs for the fans and even stopping by early in the morning to deliver them a warm breakfast from the teams official sponsor McDonalds it a special event all Kentucky fans should experience once in their life as a fan I hope to try my luck at the Holy Grail of tickets tomorrow wish me luck I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Closers Blow It But the Yankees Still Win

2010-09-27T01:34:00.000-04:00

The Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees meet up for an interesting extra inning matchup. In a game where both closers receive blown saves but the Red Sox fall short 4-3.

It looked to be a great night for the Red Sox as they came into the game with a chance to go for the sweep. The Red Sox came out in the third inning with an early one run lead with a Victor Martinez RBI to right field which allowed Bill Hall to run home.

Red Sox starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka came out with one of his best outcomes of the season. He pitched 8.0 innings giving up four hits, seven strike outs, one walk and a two run homer to Alex Rodriguez in the seventh inning. To give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

While the Yankees give Phil Hughes the start in a game in which he was going to be skipped. Hughes had a decent game with 6.0 innings pitched, three hits, four walks and one earned run.

The Red Sox forced the Yankees to bring out there closer Mariano Rivera to come in the eighth inning for a quick out, but the ninth wasn’t a normal outing for Rivera as he allowed four key walks. Two walks to Kalish and Two walks for Hall, both of which would lead to two runs scored to give the Sox a one run lead going in to the bottom of the ninth and his fifth blown save.

With a one run lead the Red Sox bring out Jonathan Papelbon to come in and get the save and give Matsuzaka his 10th win of the season but he would blow it for his eighth blown save. He would give up a run to Eduardo Nunez on a Robinson Cano RBI.
With the game being tied 3 all going in to the bottom of the tenth inning, Sox bring Hideki Okajima who would give up a bases loaded walk-off walk to Marcus Thames which would lead to a Juan Miranda run for a 4-3 victory.

Winning pitcher for the Yankees is Logan (2-0) and Okajima (4-4) would receive the L.

Remembering Nine Years Later

2010-09-11T15:14:00.000-04:00

I feel today is a day to take a break from sports talk and talk about the importance of today. Take time to remember and honor those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks that happened 9 years ago today. As many we remember where we were on that day, I will never forget. I was seating in my high school freshman English class on the front row, I was supposed to reading the book To Kill a Mocking Bird but I had dozed off when my teacher gets off the phone and runs to put the television on and screams the World Trade Center has been hit by a plane. I can remember being confused about what was happening and scared of what this would bring for our future as a country. I can remember being glued to the television and seeing the rest of the horrible acts that happened throughout the rest of the day including the attacks on the pentagon and the bravery of flight 93. To this day I still think about it daily as we see our troops fighting the war against terrorism and how it has affected our country and still does daily.

I remember how as a country we joined together and united for the common good of our country, that we wasn’t republicans or democrats but that we was Americans. This was an important scene to show our enemy that no matter what they do to us we will remain strong and join together. An important image I can remember is when former President George W. Bush went to visit ground zero and spoke with the volunteers that were helping find survivors it was an important image for our country. He spoke through a bull horn so everyone could hear this image will always stick with me as well as this one line he said.

“I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people—and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”

All important events were put on hold including sports in fear of another attack to our citizens but we found out that sports are important to hold us together. An important day to our country was on Sept. 18, 2001 one week after the attacks on America, the New York Yankees took the field against the Chicago White Sox. The people was excited to be getting back to normal why the players had no idea why they was about to take the field.

“When we started playing, I didn’t see the sense of it.” New York Yankee Bernie Williams said. “We were playing games and resuming our season, and it seemed ridiculous to me”

“It started making sense when I saw the faces of people who lost loved ones, people who needed something to take them away for a few minutes and see something else,” he added. “We helped bring some sense of normalcy to the whole thing.”

The people of this country needed something to be excited about even if it is sports, it gives us something to look forward to and it was something to heal the city of New York. When the Yankees took the field that night they wasn’t representing the team the was representing the city and they didn’t wear their traditional NY hat they had on NYPD and NYFD hats in honor of the men and women who gave their lives to help and those who was still working to find survivors at ground zero. I recall watching this game not thinking the Yankees are killing the Red Sox in the division, I was thinking of the pride this meant for the city of New York to rise about this day but not forget about what happened to show that you can blow up one of our building but you cannot kill our spirit. We as Americans needed a distraction that sports were able to give us. We used sports to not only help us think about something other than the loss of our countrymen but as a way of honoring the people who died and saying that they did not die in vain.

The acts of 9/11 will always be a sad day in American history that we will feel the effects of this day for years to come but as we will never forget the images of that day. I’ll close with a quote from President Bush.

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last calls, the funerals of the children.”

We will never forget!

Bad Day for Brady Turns Into Payday

2010-09-10T11:54:00.000-04:00

Most people would think they were having a really bad when it started with a car accident. But for Tom Brady it seems like nothing bad can happen, as He started his day yesterday with a minor car accident. At around 6:30 AM on Thursday morning Brady was leaving his home in an Audi S8, which happened to be a loaner, when he was smashed in to by a 21 year old driver which a pretty poor driving record. Brady would walk away from this with no major injuries and managed to keep a low profile while doing it.

Unlike most people who have been in a car accident most people would lay around most of the day or go to the emergency room and get checked out, not Brady. He continued his day as usual as he arrived at practice a little late but made the team meeting and went through the normal practice routine with full pads as scheduled for the day. According to his teammates it was as if nothing had ever happened Brady completed his passes as normal and everything went as scheduled.

As if Tom Brady wasn’t enough of a superman at this point for making it through a car accident unharmed and showing up to practice. It was reported that Friday morning Brady will receive a four-year deal worth $72 million with $48.5 million guaranteed money. This contract makes Brady the highest paid yearly player, this will probably last until Peyton Manning signs his new deal.

This is not a bad way to end a day that started so awful, if getting in a car accident makes me $72 million sign me up. Brady and the New England Patriots will open there season on Sunday at 1PM eastern time against the Bengals.

2010 NFL Projections

2010-09-09T16:37:00.000-04:00

I have taken the last couple of days to put together my 2010 NFL projections grant it I’m in no way or form an NFL expert but I thought I’d throw my two-cents in the bucket. First off I will say I didn’t use any of the pre-season games to come up with this mainly because I feel that pre-season is a joke. I used last season’s results and how much the teams have changed since that point in their off-season activities. Let’s take a look at this at the end of the regular season and see how I did; now here are the teams broken down by conference. I may come back later this week if I have time to explain why I feel which teams will do what.

AFC EAST
New York Jets 12-4
New England Patriots 9-7
Miami Dolphins 9-7
Buffalo Bills 3-13

AFC NORTH
Baltimore Ravens 11-5
Cincinnati Bengals 10-6
Pittsburg Steelers 9-7
Cleveland Browns 2-14

AFC SOUTH
Indianapolis Colts 12-4
Houston Texans 10-6
Tennessee Titans 8-8
Jacksonville Jaguars 6-10

AFC WEST
San Diego Chargers 11-5
Kansas City Chiefs 8-8
Denver Broncos 6-10
Oakland Raiders 5-11

NFC EAST
Dallas Cowboys 10-6
New York Giants 9-7
Philadelphia Eagles 8-8
Washington Redskins 7-9

NFC NORTH
Green Bay Packers 11-5
Minnesota Vikings 10-6
Chicago Bears 7-9
Detroit Lions 2-14

NFC SOUTH
New Orleans Saints 12-4
Atlanta Falcons 7-9
Carolina Panthers 6-10
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2-14

NFC WEST
San Francisco 49ers 10-6
Seattle Seahawks 9-7
Arizona Cardinals 7-9
St. Louis Rams 2-14

Garza Makes No-Hit History

2010-07-27T02:49:00.000-04:00

If you are a fan of pitching then you must love the 2010 season. Pitchers have dominated both leagues as we have saw two perfect game, an imperfect game and with tonight’s no-hitter by Matt Garza three no-hitters. Garza became the Tampa Bay Ray to perform this act in the franchise short existence in a 5-0 win over the Tigers. This game was truly a pitcher duel as there was no hit in the game until the sixth inning when Matt Joyce comes up to the plate with bases loaded and hits a grand slam, to break up a no hitter for Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer. Garza also got help from outfield Carl Crawford when he hit a solo homerun in the eighth inning. Garza made his way in to history with six strike outs and one walk that came in the second inning. Garza had a lot of help from the defense of the team to lead him in to the history books from the outfield with two great plays. The Rays feel great that they are on the winning side of a no-hitter as they have been on the losing side twice this season. Now that the Rays have got the no-no under their belt, it leaves two teams without this joy and those teams are the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres. I look forward to seeing what else this 2010 season has to bring and see if it continues to be the Year of the Pitcher.

The Streak is Over

2010-07-14T00:56:00.000-04:00

For the last thirteen years the American League has came to the All-Star game and dominated the event. Not this year as the National League finally picks up a win in the midsummer classic. The game was a true showing of this year’s baseball being known as the year of the pitcher as the NL’s arms held the AL to only one run as the National League went on to win 3-1.

The AL came out in the fifth inning when Evan Longoria scored the first run of the game and what would be the only run for the AL. The Lead did not last for long as Braves catcher Brian McCann came in to a bases loaded opportunity when he came up with a bases clearing double and three run RBI. As these was the only three runs for NL and that’s all it took to win.

The American League thought that they had a chance in the ninth when David Ortiz (the winner of last night home run derby) comes up with a lead off base hit single off of Jonathan Broxton. As things seemed to be looking up Papi’s Red Sox team Adrian Beltre comes up to bat and strikes out. So with one out in the bottom of the ninth you would think that you would send in a pinch runner for one of the lowest runners in baseball but they left Ortiz out there which would come back to bite them. As Catcher John Buck gets a base hit in right field that would lead to Ortiz getting a force out at second base. With two down Broxton faces Ian Kinsler and Kinsler can’t get it done which leads to the National League win. The winning pitcher for the game was Matt Caps and the save went to Broxton. Of course the winner of the MVP award was McCann who lead to all the runs that was scored for the NL.

The only thing that I don’t understand about this game is the balancing of players by Joe Girardi. Why would you not keep players for the ninth inning in a close game so that you have options? When it came down to need a pinch runner all he has on the bench is Alex Rodriguez, who never entered the game. I feel if he left some bench players and gave himself some better option there may have been a different ending to this game. But there wasn’t and the National League wins the game and wins the home field advantage for the team that wins the NL Pennant.

The Boss has Passed

2010-07-13T13:02:00.000-04:00

This morning the game of baseball has lost one of its more powerful faces, George Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner passed away at the age of 80 at his Tampa home. Steinbrenner was known to most baseball fans as “The Boss” and the owner of the New York Yankees. Most people hated his team but always respected the way he ran it; he was one of the most powerful owners in sports. The man changed the way that organizations got players as he always strived for the best and wanted the best for his organization. He changed the way of free agency and how much players would be worth, always making sure he got who he wanted for his franchise. But he always pushed the players to get what he wanted out of them as he would do this in the media to their face or however it took to get the point across. The players respected him and would always show him that in all times. George built his organization around the idea of winning and winning he did. His Yankees won 11 pennants and 7 World Series titles. He also turned them in to a brand when he created the YES network and putting his all-stars out there made millions off of them. The Boss went out on top his team is the current World Champs, they have the best record in baseball at this point in the season, and 8 of his players made the All-Star team I feel all of this is fitting for the exit of the Boss. You will be missed by baseball!

Big Papi Swings for the Heavens

2010-07-13T02:46:00.000-04:00

The Boston media is sticking a sock in their mouths right now when it comes to David Ortiz, in the early months of the season Big Papi had a slow start to season. The media was calling for his head saying he was too old, his bat was slow and that he was washed up. Last night Ortiz showed them who was in charge while he won State Farm Home Run Derby at Angels Stadium . Ortiz was one of eight players with four players from each league.

In the first round David hit eight homers which helped him to advance to the second round in the derby; he was the third player to advance, while he was joined by Miguel Cabrera, Corey Hart and Hanley Ramirez. There was a poor showing for Cabrera who is leading the league in homers and in path to winning a triple crown and Hart showed good in the first round knocking out 13 homers but put a big goose egg up in the second round. Ortiz put up 13 in the second round to put him at 21 homers to tie him with former Red Sox minor leaguer Ramirez for them to advance to the final round.

In the final round of the event Ortiz out shined his former apprentice while he tied the most home runs in a final round with 11 to make him the first Red Sox player to ever win the home run derby crown.

This was a fun family event which is put on for the fans; all the players had their kids on the field with them including big papi himself. Ortiz asked to participate in the derby because he wanted to put on a show for the fans and that it was for them. He called Ramirez like a son to him that he watched him grow up while he played in Boston in the minor league system. This event looked like fun for all the players and looked to raise the spirits of the Boston players as Dustin Pedroia was there filming him and of them was excited to see their Designated Hitter was having fun representing them in the derby.

David Ortiz 32 home runs put him third in most home runs in the derby in his first win. This puts him a total 68 home runs all time in the event he follows only future hall of famer Ken Griffey Jr. who only leads him by two home runs and he is the only player to win three derbies. This has been a fun to see these All-Star sluggers in action but all the true action continues tonight in the 81st All-Star game which will decide who has home field advantage in the World Series.

The Chosen One Chose a Team

2010-07-08T22:08:00.000-04:00

2010 has brought on the biggest NBA Free Agency class in history; the most wanted prize of the class was Lebron James. Lebron has played his first seven season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he was drafted the number one pick. He is a six time all-star and is one of three players to win back to back MVP awards. He had six different teams begging for him to join him to join their franchise but ultimately He decided to pack up his bags and head to south beach to start a dynasty in Miami for the Heat. LeBron has teamed up two other great Free Agents in Dewayne Wade and Chris Bosh all joining together to hopefully put a ring on their hand. D-Wade has already one championship under his belt with the Heat that he won with Shaq. LeBron says that he chose the Heat because it was in his best interest to win the championship. He was ask if it would have been better to win in Cleveland than it would in Miami and he says a ring is a ring it will be good no matter where he wins. So with all this being said it has been a long wait for all the fans of basketball, some people care some don’t but it affects everyone. If he stays in Cleveland he would have received a lot of money but may have never won the chip. If he went to New York he would have a lot of endorsements offers that he won’t have in other places and would have made a lot of money. He could have went to play for his favorite childhood team in Chicago but in the end he decided it was best to take less money and play with his friends and win a ring.

Ridin' the Rail to the Roses

2010-05-02T02:05:00.000-04:00

It was an exciting but very rainy first Saturday of May, as they ran the 136th Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky at Churchill Downs. The day was full of some exciting races but none was as exciting as the main event with the field of 20 horses in the “most exciting 2 minutes in sports”. It was a wide field of owners of these fine animals from a group of everyday people from Kentucky, to baseball manager Joe Torre, to politician Jack Conway. This race shows that anyone can have a chance at owning one of the fastest and most beautiful horses in the sport of kings. The race began around 6:30 PM when the jockeys hop on their horses for an exciting ride but before starting they hear the state song “My Old Kentucky Home” which brings a tear to the jockeys and all Kentuckians. This is their super bowl their moment of greatness.

The story coming in to the derby was the record of horse trainer Todd Pletcher, who coming in to the race had not won with 24 different horses prior to this year’s run. Some people start to wonder about his ability to train a horse to get them ready for the derby, he is a great trainer and had horses win other stakes races but never the big one. This year his luck had changed at Super Saver made his way in to the winning circle with now three time derby winner Calvin Borel upon his back, this was also the first win for the Winstar Farm group.

How did Super Saver make it to be the one horse with the roses around its neck? Well Super Saver got a great jump out of the gate has he moves to the inside rail and seats in fourth place up until about the one mile mark as he passes only one horse and all of a sudden Borel kicks into another gear as he does like last he rides the rail to win. Borel has made a name himself as being a jockey who loves to ride the inside rail but he is also puts in the work. He works seven days a week at Churchill Downs watching horses and preparing for the run for the roses. He becomes the first Jockey to ever win three derby races in four years, and he says that this is his year to win the Triple Crown. He was one race away from being the first jockey to win the Crown on two different horses last year. I will him the best of luck in the Preakness Stakes race in Baltimore, Maryland on the 1 and 3/16th mile race on May 15th.

Defense and Pitching or Offense and Offense? We got it all

2010-04-29T03:02:00.000-04:00

What are the 2010 Boston Red Sox team are they a team of defense and pitching or are they an offensive team? Well at the start of the season everyone including the General Manager Theo Epstein was preaching that this season would be all about defense and pitching and then you have your fans who still believe the sox can be an offensive team. Well the past two days the sox have shown both one night we have poor pitching on the mound but we are slugging like crazy and the next day our bats was asleep but they proved they can win with both.

On Monday night our “ace” Josh Beckett took the mound against the jays, who he has struggled against in the past and it would not be any different. Beckett gave up nine hits, and eight runs in three innings pitched. He was only one of seven pitchers that made and appearance in a game that the final score was 13-12 with a Red Sox victory. The Bats was alive as the Sox had five players have a three hit game the best of the season. The red sox was lead by their off the bench captain Jason Varitek as he went 3-5 with 4 RBI and scored two runs for the sox. This was also his first three hit game before now full time catcher Victor Martinez joined the team. The Sox defense was not the best in this game but it didn’t give up any errors so you can’t really complain there.

Now Tuesday night’s game was completely different as starting pitcher Clay Buchholtz showed up to play and did just what the skipper wanted him to do pitch. This was truly a game of pitching and defense from the lowest paid starter on the staff. As he pitched eight innings of great baseball to only give up one run even though he did give up seven hits the defense helped him out. Buchholtz gave up his one run to the leadoff hitter for the Jays in the first inning and he threw shut out baseball after that it looked like the true ace of the staff. As for offense in this game well there wasn’t much as there was only two runs that crossed home plate as one was David Ortiz who was batted in by Jeremy Hermida and a pinch hit walk by Mike Lowell for Ortiz in the top of the eighth with two outs to bring home Dustin Pedroia. The bats were not great but they weren’t awful as we had seven hits as a team but we left 16 men stranded on base. With our bullpen stressed to the max and no one to call on in the ninth inning the skip had to call Ramon Ramirez to the mound to finish the game, which before Tuesday only had one major league save in his career. Ramirez surprisingly came in and successfully received the save with the help of the defense.

So with all of this being said who are the Red Sox this season? I feel it is still too soon to put a title on them just yet because they have showed some nights they can have a slug fest and all the bats are in order, then some nights it will be a classic pitcher’s duel. One thing is for certain if the bats and the pitching show up on the same night I feel sorry for whomever they facing that night, because this Sox team has showed it can be great.

Shipping up to Boston

2010-04-24T17:15:00.000-04:00

It is good to be a Boston sports fan right now, with two of the teams in the play-offs and you have the Red Sox finally winning a few games. You have the Celtics being really hot going 3-0 so far against the Heat, with the possibility of a sweep. The Bruins are 3-2 over Buffalo, so they are still in the mix for a chance at the Stanley Cup. Then you have the Sox who are off to a slow start with a 7-10 start but they have won a few walk off wins in the past week. So there is a lot of great stuff for Boston sports fan to look forward with these great series going on.

The Boston Celtics are on a hot streak and they are on their way to a first round sweep over Dewayne Wade and his Miami Heat team. The Celtics won game one was a close one but the C’s pull out a win in a very heated game as veteran leader Kevin Garnett out ejected from the game for throwing an elbow which lead to a game to suspension during Game two of the play offs. The Celtics was lead during that game Paul Pierce with 16 points in an 85-76 win. Game two was a different story the Celtics come out ready to play without Garnett with Glen “big baby” Davis filling his spot on the floor. Ray Allen and cast came out to play as they lead the last three quarters of the game as they walked away with a 106-77 win. Allen had 25 points to lead the team in points. Then you get to last night battle which was the heats best chance at winning as the C’s only won by two points with a 100-98 last second victory made possible by Pierce who made a 21-foot shot to win the game. Pierce was the leading scorer again in game three with 32 points. So the Celtics hope to wrap up the series on Sunday and start to prepare for round two of the NBA play-offs.

The Boston Bruins are looking to make it farther in the quest for the Stanley Cup. The Bruins lost game one to the Sabres 2-1, the Sabres scored one of their two goals in the first period and one in the second period but the B’s scored a goal in the second trying to come back but come up short. The Bruins came back in game two to win 5-3, the Bruins started off slow as they gave up two goals in the first period and one in the second but that would be all that they allow. The B’s went to score two goals in the second and three in the third. The B’s won game three 2-1 putting up one goal in both the first and third period to win. Game four was the long one as it went in to double overtime as Boston pulled a come from behind to tie the game 2-2 in the third period and it took two long overtimes to pull off the win. Game five was lost by the Bruins as the Sabres outscored Boston 4-1. This has been an exciting series and the Bruins get another chance to look up a second round spot with a win on Monday.

The Red Sox have had a poor start this season with the injury of not one but two out fielders and poor pitching and defense. Which is what GM Theo Epstein said would be what lead the team this season. With two injured players it gave a chance to call up two outfielders from the Paw Sox, one of those players was Josh Reddick and Darnell McDonald. At the start of the Texas series people was asking who the heck is McDonald, well they found out in a big way as he hit a home run in his first at bat as a member of the Red Sox and also hit the game winning RBI in the ninth. McDonalds bat was a much needed thing for the Sox as it seemed to be a rebirth of the team for the season. In game two J.D. hit a grand slam and McDonald hit another home run and the game ended in a walk off by Kevin Youkilis. Then last night against the Orioles David Oritz bat finally decided to wake up after being pitch hit for earlier in the week he got his first home run of the year. We can only hope that this week’s games will be a turnaround point for the rest of the season but the pitching will have to be better for that to happen. The bullpen is losing games for starters and the starters are staying in too long and giving up to many runs. The Red Sox are finally starting to look like the team I know they can be this week.

So Boston Fans enjoy the play offs and the rest of the Red Sox series and hopefully they can end their season in the play offs as well.

Big Problems for the Steelers

2010-04-13T21:20:00.000-04:00

First I want to start this by saying that I do not mean for this blog to be gossip blog but I would like to touch on the issues with the Steelers. I really want to talk about Ben Roethlisberger and the Georgia DA that decided not to press chargers. For those in the world who have been under a rock ill update you on what has happened. On Roethlisberger’s past birthday he was bar hoping in some Georgia night clubs where, he meet up with a female college student invited her to his VIP section and according to the victim she was sexually assaulted in the bathroom of the night club. An investigation was conducting and gave to the District Attorney who yesterday said no charges would be pressed. As a criminal justice major in college I agree with the reasons for not pressing charges that there is not enough evidence to convict. I am paraphrasing but he said his job is to convict on crimes not on morals, which is the truest statement I have ever heard.

But back to the Steelers, there are talks that they are going to suspend him and not give the commissioner a chance to suspend. The Rooney family has always been known to be a classy organization but do you really think that putting your best player on the bench is the smartest move when you didn’t make the play offs the year before? I just feel if you want to punish him for his moral actions that seem to be happening on a regular basis then do it within the organization, fine him or something like that but removing him from the field isn’t the best move for the team. I am one of those fans who do not care what you do in your personal life all I care for is what you do when you play the game. Big Ben has been the face of the organization and has brought home two super bowl rings, last year was not the team’s season but they had a comeback the last couple of games in the regular season.

Another point I want to bring up, What in the hell was the Rooney’s thinking when they traded the MVP of the Super Bowl just two years ago Santonio Holmes, to the New York Jets for a fifth round draft pick. Yet again this is a guy with poor moral character but he is an outstanding athlete on the field. Last season his numbers was up from his super bowl year. Holmes had some off the field charges from drugs to assault which will lead to a 4 game suspension from the league that the Jets are going to have to deal with in the 2010 season. So in a way I understand trading him but you just gave him away when all you are getting is a fifth round draft pick from him because in most cases that is going to be someone who is let go before training camp is over. I would have been trying to find someone to replace him with or tried to get a first or second round pick for him which is honestly probably to much to ask for his drama that he will cause for your locker room but his playing ability is worth it.

I feel that this is going to be a tough year for the Steelers because they are going to have to find another wide receiver that can feel Holmes shoes and if they follow through with the suspension of big Ben they are going to be putting two big games on the shoulders of your back up quarter back and is he ready for that? I don’t know but I guess we will just have to wait and see how things work out for the team and hopefully these acts don’t cost them the play offs.

Roethlisberger's statement

The Jersey says it all C U KY

2010-04-08T17:01:00.000-04:00

Well now that the season is over it is that time that all Wildcat fans hate to hear about, the NBA draft. This season the cats have had a very talented team full of freshmen talent and most of those freshmen feel they are talented enough to enter the draft after one year. The university’s athletics website put out yesterday that five wildcats put their name in to the draft those players include four freshmen John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton as well as Junior Patrick Patterson, who will graduate in 3 years so good for him. So this team of one and done players are said to go in the first round.

Can I say I’m surprised about this? Well, I’m not surprised that Wall, Cousins and Patterson are leaving but I am surprised that Bledsoe and Orton are leaving early. Bledsoe is a very streaky player at least he was at Kentucky and only averaged 11.3 points a game on the year which are not NBA numbers in my book. He showed to be a true freshman when the game was on the line and I feel if he had one more year under Coach Cal that he could be a great point guard and may be useful in the pros as of right now I feel he is not ready.

Now for Orton I feel going to the draft is going to be something that he will regret, he is looking at the dollar signs and not the fact that he will be a bench player as he was at Kentucky. Orton is a very immature player who might have averaged at least one goal tending charge in every game, he just doesn’t use his best judgment when trying to block shots and I just feel he isn’t ready. Orton is a freshman who was a sixth man for the cats who did not play his senior year of high school basketball due to injury and it showed on the court. He only averaged 3 points a game on the year, mainly because he followed Cousins and only got playing time when Cousins was in foul trouble or running his mouth. I feel he needed at least two more years under a good coaching staff to prepare to be ready for the tough play in the NBA, he is a poor defensive player but hey who plays defense in the pros, he may fit in.

Now my thoughts on players I knew would be gone. Wall would have been a number one out of high school if the one year out of high school rule had not been put in to place. Wall’s speed is better than any Kentucky player I have saw in my lifetime, his knowledge of the game is so much high then his age. He is just an outstanding point guard that will fit the player of the NBA better than most because of his ability to run the ball up the floor and score. I feel Wall will go over all number one and will fit in great.

Cousins is just a man beast that is the best way I can put it. He can score under the double team which he will not see when is in the pros because well there is no defense played there. Sorry I’m a hater of the defense in the NBA but that is for another day. If John Wall was not on the team I feel that DeMarcus Cousins could have been the freshmen of the year in NCAA. He is just a great player but he does need to grow up some and learn to keep his mouth shut when he gets poor calls against him and be a little bit more careful when he is playing and getting easy fouls but he will be a great player in the league.

I saved Patterson for last because I feel he is most ready for the big leagues. He stayed an extra year when he found out Coach Cal was going to be the coach this season. He improved his three point game by a 100 times because well he had no three point game under Billy Gillispie. Everyone knew he could play in the paint but he proved that he is a more overall player this past year. They was trying to make him or appealing to the scouts more of a Blake Griffin style player (lets hope he has better luck).

So with this being said I am proud of the Year that they gave to Kentucky and wish them the best of Luck in the future. Getting ready for the next batch of one and done players in the bluegrass.