For Love of the Sox

Celtics Post-Season Thought

2009-03-24T23:32:00.002-05:00

I'm not as confident in the Celtics as I had been at this time last year. This isn't because I believe the Celtics have lost a step from last year, but more so because I feel like other teams have stepped up their games. Last year the Celtics coasted to the best record in basketball and home court advantage. This year, the Celtics most likely won't be able to pass the Cavs for the top spot in the East and the Magic are nipping at their heels for the number 2 seed.

This is mostly to blame on the lengthy injuries, most notably to Kevin Garnett. Doc Rivers is wisely taking no chances with the health of his stars with the division locked up. Having KG at 100% is more important than seeding or homecourt advantage.

I think regardless of their seeding, the Celtics should get into the Eastern Conference Finals, but taking down the revitalized Cavs is a pretty tall order.

BC Basketball One and Done in NCAA Tournament

2009-03-24T23:24:00.002-05:00

After a strong showing against Duke in the ACC Tournament and upsets against Duke, UNC and Florida St. during the regular season BC basketball was rewarded with a #7 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Few people believed BC would make a real run in this tournament, but because they brought some top teams down a few people thought they could pull off an upset in the second round, but clearly this was not the case.

This season as a whole still has to be seen as a victory. Few predicted that BC would be making an appearance at the NCAA tournament and was seen as one of the weaker teams in the loaded ACC.

A-Rod admits to steroid use...

2009-02-13T23:53:00.002-05:00

A-Rod did the smart thing and decided to go with the Andy Petite route rather than the Bonds/Clemens route of simply denying the evidence stacked against them.

Does an apology warrant any level of forgiveness for poor ole Alex, caving to the immense pressure of the expectations placed upon him when he came to the big leagues? I don't think so, but it does count for something.

A-Fraud Reportedly on Steroids

2009-02-07T13:19:00.002-05:00

Sports Illustrated is reporting that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003. I'm a bit conflicted in my feelings about this.

As a Red Sox fan and Yankee hater I feel a great amount of schadenfreude to see their star player taken down a notch and showing once again the shallow nature of their success.

As a fan of the game of baseball this makes me very sad. I had said in previous posts about Bonds that I was glad that A-Rod would break Barry Bonds' record and baseball would again have a legitimate Home Run King and in the process bring some dignity back to the baseball record books. Unfortunately, it seems that the tarnish of the steriod era of baseball won't come off so easily.

Varitek makes a deal with the Sox

2009-01-31T15:20:00.002-05:00

At long last the Red Sox and Sox Captain/Catcher Jason Varitek have agreed to a deal. The deal brings Varitek back to the Sox for 2009 and includes both a club and player option for 2010. The club option allows them to bring back 'Tek for the 2010 season for $5 million and the player option allows 'Tek to return for $3 million and a possibly an additional $2 million in incentives.

Varitek made a big mistake in declining arbitration, which likely would've kept his salary at a hefty $10 million. By declining any teams interested in Jason's services would have to surrender a draft pick in the process. Beyond that, 'Tek's services just aren't worth that much. Many have made the comparison to the Orioles Gregg Zaun in terms of experience and offensive production. Zaun recieved $1.5 million for his services this year and has a club option for $2 million in 2010. Have a look at their numbers from the 2008 season:

Varitek
131 Games
37 Runs
93 Hits
43 RBI
.220 BA
.313 OBP
Age 36

Zaun
86 Games
29 Runs
58 Hits
30 RBI
.237 BA
.340 OBP
Age 37

You'll notice Zaun played fewer games, but had a higher batting average and OBP than Varitek. Given the similarities between the numbers on these two and the disparity in the deals they got I think it's fair to say 'Tek's offer was generous and enough to allow him and his agent to save face after foolishly declining arbitration. This wasn't an awful deal for the Red Sox as everybody knows that Varitek's marketability is his intangibles such as his work with the pitchers and leadership in the clubhouse. I'm personally glad this matter has finally been resolved.

Super Bowl Prediction

2009-01-31T15:07:00.002-05:00

I'm really not feeling much heat from this years Super Bowl, and I'm content to blame that on the Arizona Cardinals. Oh sure, nice little storyline about Kurt Warner making it back to the big dance after the Greatest Show on Turf fell apart against the upstart Patriots in 2001, but other than that...

I do have a soft spot in my heart for long suffering teams, (Prior to 2004 I could easily relate) but only when that team has a fan base that's suffered with them. In the last World Series nobody could deny that the Rays had an awful run up until that season as a franchise, but the Phillies had suffered through some pretty awful seasons and their fan base for the most part stuck it out with their team. The Rays could not sell out a game at their stadium until they made the playoffs and all of a sudden a fan base crawled out the woodwork with their recently purchased Mohawks and Evan Longoria jerseys acting like they had been following this club from day 1. When it came time to decide who I was backing it was no contest.

The Cardinals aren't quite as bad as the Rays, but seeing them in the Super Bowl after they rolled over for the Patriots late in the season doesn't sit right with me. If they actually gave it their all in that game they don't deserve to be playing in the Super Bowl, if they phoned it in during that final game it's bad sports karma.

I think the Steelers are by far the superior team and see a solid win for them Steelers 17 Cardinals 10.

Jags Out, Spaziani In

2009-01-13T12:36:00.003-05:00

In case you missed it, BC head coach Jeff Jagodzinski was fired recently for interviewing for the vacant Jets job. BC's feelings were hurt that Jags had bigger aspirations than being BC's head coach for the forseeable future. I can't say I'm overwhelmingly disappointed. Jags was a solid coach that brought them twice to the ACC Championship game, but the Eagles were a pretty good team before Jags got here. I think Jags is a long shot for the Jets job and is probably only being considered because of his connection to Brett Favre from Green Bay. In all likelihood he'll pop up as a coordinator somewhere.

After a quick search BC has decided to promote long time BC defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani. I like this choice as coach. Spaz picked up the pieces when Tom O'Brien left for NC State and coached them to a win in the bowl game that year. I have always felt that BC's defense was the true strength behind the team, holding their own against even the toughest of opponents. Perhaps his coaching style won't translate well to the offensive side of the ball, but you can never be sure when it comes to coaches.

Goodbye Josh McDaniels!

2009-01-12T07:33:00.002-05:00

It has been confirmed that Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will head for the snowier pastures of Denver to take over for Mike Shanahan as the Broncos head coach. McDaniels will have some big shoes to fill to replace Shanahan, who spent 14 years in Denver and brought home back to back championships in 1997-1998.

One of the biggest questions surrounding McDaniels is his experience. He spent two years as the Patriots offensive coordinator picking up after Charlie Weis left for Notre Dame. The results posted by the Patriots offense in his first year as coordinator were staggering and quite respectable this year given that the reigning NFL MVP went out for the season in the first quarter of the first game. These results are pretty impressive, but how much is due to McDaniels and how much is due to Wes Welker and Randy Moss coming to town? It's really impossible to say definitively, but I'm leaning more towards the latter.

In recent weeks we've seen how a number of Bill Belicheck's former coordinators have performed in the head coaching positions with Eric Mangini and Romeo Crennel losing their jobs as head coaches. In all likelihood, the only reason Charlie Weis still has a job at Notre Dame is due to the large contract they extended to him. This year the Fighting Irish went 6-6, the minimum required to be eligible for a bowl game. The Browns haven't soured on the Belicheck coaching tree as they've opted to hire Eric Mangini as their new head coach.

I'll be curious to see how McDaniels does in the big chair after only two years at the coordinator position.

Red Sox sign Bartolo Penny....I mean BRAD Penny

2008-12-29T19:55:00.002-05:00

The Red Sox signed right-handed starting pitcher Brad Penny to a one-year $5 million deal with some incentive bonuses for innings pitched. I think this signing is somewhat similar to the Bartolo Colon deal the Red Sox went with last season in that if Penny regains his old form he could be a tremendous bargain and if he doesn't the Red Sox didn't exactly break the bank to get him. Penny had an awful year with the Dodgers spending ample time on the DL and posting an ugly 6-9 record and a 6.27 ERA. That said, this was by far the worst season of Penny's career and if he can stay healthy he should be a great 4th/5th starter. This acquisition is not as flashy as folks had hoped, but as I've said before big names don't always equal championships.

11-5 not good enough....

2008-12-28T19:39:00.002-05:00

Thanks for nothing Brett Farve!

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. I suppose the Jaguars are just as responsible for the Patriots failure to make the post season, but that game was not televised for me, so I'm focusing on Brett.

The Patriots played a solid game, shutting out the Bills in Buffalo. Both offenses struggled due to extremely windy conditions, but the Pats still managed to put up points and win.

Unfortunately, the Jaguars were completely shut down by the Ravens and Brett Farve threw the game away on a quick snap and overthrow right into the hands of a Dolphins player. This is the Brett Farve you don't see on the highlight reels and why I believe he's one of the most overrated QB's in the NFL.

[Skip this paragraph if you've got a John Maddenesque mancrush on Brett Farve]
Sure, he makes SportsCenter highlight reels with his passes, but he throws away games more often than people realize. This season he threw more interceptions than any QB in the NFL. The highlight of his career was his one Super Bowl win over the '96 Patriots. As much fun as the '96 Pats were at the time, in retrospect they were a pretender team with a coach busy setting up his next job. When the Packers came up against a real contender the following year against the Broncos they lost.

So, the Patriots will be the first team in 23 years to miss the playoffs with an 11-5 record. Despite all the injuries the Patriots seemed to be playing their best football in the past few weeks and was looking forward to seeing what they could do in the playoffs. Quite a shame we'll never get to see it.

Mark Texiera and other offseason thoughts...

2008-12-28T03:19:00.003-05:00

Looking at a listing of the highest payroll teams from last year, I noticed an alarming trend. Of the 4 highest paid teams in baseball only one made an appearance in the post-season, the Boston Red Sox. The other 3 (New York Yankees/Mets and Detroit Tigers) failed to make it to October. The Tigers completely bombed finishing last in the AL central, a game behind the lowly Kansas City Royals. The Mets had a respectable season finishing only 3 games out of the division and only one game out of the wild card, but a disappointment given the high hopes brought to the club by Johan Santana. Chances are if you're reading this, you know the Yankees finished 3rd in the AL East behind the Rays and Red Sox.

To find the teams that were successful last season you need to look lower on the list. The Tampa Bay Rays managed to win a tough AL East and make it to the World Series with a group of young, hungry talent that was well balanced on both sides of the plate.

The Yankees haven't learned the lesson provided by these upstarts from St. Petersburg and seems to have stuck with the plan that landed them outside the playoffs this year. This strategy isn't quite the same, the Yankees didn't give up any of the promising prospects of their farm system to pick up these big name players and these players are probably more reliable than some of their other big expenditures of recent years, but still...

So Mark Texiera will be in pinstripes this year, and perhaps Tex, CC and AJ will prove me wrong, but if the Yankees disappoint again next season I'll be the first to say I told you so!

In a way I'm glad the Red Sox didn't get this deal done with Texiera. To match the Yankees offer to fill a spot that doesn't actually need filling seems like an awful idea to me. I realize Mike Lowell is old, but he's a solid player that was crucial to the run in 2007 and was good when he was healthy in 2008 and I have no qualms about him playing 3rd base for us. I'm also happy that the Red Sox can keep Kevin Youkilis, a gold glove first baseman, at first base instead of moving him to third. This gives the Red Sox ample resources to make acquisitions prior to spring training most notably at catcher.

It kills me to say this, but I really hope they don't resign Jason Varitek. I know his agent is going to make some unreasonable demand for Tek's services. The tag line that has bought Tek a ton of slack in this town is that his contribution is his intangibles:

"Well, he may not have the best bat or the best arm, but he's great at working with the pitchers and a great clubhouse guy!"

First of all, I really question how hard it is to get good years out of a rotation that features Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester. Varitek doesn't catch Wakefield and if he did do any work with Clay Bucholz then it really didn't show this season. Beckett and Matsuzaka saw ample success in their own careers before they ever threw a pitch to Jason Varitek. Maybe Varitek can claim some of the success of Jon Lester, but we all knew he was a top notch talent to begin with. A rotation with that much talent would most likely make any catcher look good.

I think these intangibles are important, but I just don't think it's enough anymore. The Red Sox have really transitioned away from a homerun hitting team to more of a smallball team. They have a number of hitters on staff who can get on base and have some speed once they get there. Manny Ramirez is long gone and not coming back. David Ortiz is not the clutch power hitter he once was and gets weaker without a big bat around him to force pitchers to pitch to him. The real contributors have been guys like Pedroia and Youkilis, sure, they'll hit a few homeruns a year, but their biggest contribution is their ability to get on base and help generate runs. This is where a guy like Varitek is lethal. There just can't be rally killing black holes in the lineup like Varitek. It seemed like so many potentially big innings ended with men on base and Varitek hitting a pop-up or striking out last season. I would much prefer to see the Red Sox pick up a promising young catcher that can drive in some runs.

The only way I'd be satisfied with Jason Varitek returning in a Sox uniform would be at much more reasonable "hometown discount" kind of price. I really can't imagine there's that much demand for his services around the league given his offensive production.

As far as the starting rotation goes, I wouldn't mind seeing them acquire one of the remaining free agents on the market now that the Yankee spending spree is probably over and the price tag has dropped a bit. Additional flexibility to move Justin Masterson to the bullpen, avoiding relying on Clay Bucholz as a 5th starter and have some depth in the event of an injury would all be benefits of picking up another free agent pitcher. With that said, if the deal isn't there I have no problems with the existing Red Sox rotation.

I Don't Like the Look of This One Bit!

2008-12-21T16:56:00.002-05:00

The Patriots demolished the NFC West Division winner Arizona Cardinals 47-7, with the Cardinals TD coming on a long Matt Leinart pass in junk time. The Patriots went right for the throat scoring two touchdowns on it's first two drives and didn't let up. This win puts the Patriots to 10-5 and are no doubt favored over the Buffalo Bills that have not won a game against the AFC East this year. Sadly, at this time the Patriots have received no outside help in securing a playoff spot. Baltimore pulled out a victory in Dallas on Saturday night, most likely eliminating the Cowboys from playoff contention. The Dolphins also rallied to win over Kansas City. If the Jets win against the Seahawks the Patriots will have only one route to the playoffs (barring an unlikely tie between the Jets and Dolphins) in which they will need to beat buffalo and have Baltimore lose to the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars. If the Jets lose and then beat Miami the following week and the Patriots win their game against the Bills they can win the AFC East, but I don't put much faith in the 3-11 Seahawks ability to beat a playoff caliber team like the Jets. Let's hope they prove me wrong.

It's frustrating to think that the Patriots may be the first 11-5 team to miss the playoffs in 23 years.

Pats cruise by lowly Raiders

2008-12-16T18:22:00.002-05:00

There seems to have been more notably bad teams in the NFL than usual this year. The Lions are chasing 0-16 and a large number of other teams have been awful (Rams, Chiefs, Bengals, Seahawks), so the Raiders at 3-11 don't look as bad, but after watching the Patriots dismantle them last Sunday it became clear to me how bad the Raiders are. The franchise is in disarray with constant coaching and personnel changes, overpaid underachieving free agents and disappointing high draft choices. JeMarcus Russel has been a disappointment on par with a number of highly touted QB's that have disappointed lately or seen limited playing time (Brady Quinn, Matt Leinart, Vince Young). Darren McFadden has been impressive, but not enough to make up for the shortcomings of the Raiders.

On Sunday I had no idea what to expect from the Patriots. Nobody knew how the death of Greg Cassel, Matt Cassel's father, would effect Matt's performance, but Matt came out swinging and the Patriots jumped out to an early lead against the Raiders, seemingly scoring at will until the game went into junk time. The Patriots defense seemed sharp at first, but seemed to lose their edge with such a large cushion so early, allowing the Raiders offense to put up a respectable 19 points (the final score was 49-26, but the Raiders scored a TD on a kickoff return that can't really be credited to the offense). By the time the 4th Quarter came on I was hoping that CBS would move to the Ravens-Steelers game which was far more competitive and had important attachments to the Patriots playoff hopes.

This moves the Patriots to a 9-5 record and places them in a 3-way tie for the AFC East with the Jets and Dolphins and a 4-way tie for the second AFC Wild Card spot with the Jets, Dolphins and Ravens. The Bills had the opportunity to deal a serious blow to the Jets playoff hopes with a 3 point lead, possesion of the football and under two minutes to go in the game, but on 2nd and 5 called a pass play, JP Losman rolled out, was strip sacked and the ball was brought in for a Jets Touchdown. Buffalo would still get two possesions after the Jets defensive touchdown, but Losman was picked off on both possesions to end the game.

The NFL tie-breaking procedures do not favor the Patriots and will require some outside help in order to make the playoffs. Specific Details are listed here: (http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/wilbur/2008/12/15/settling_the_scenarios/). The most likely scenario would seem to be the Patriots winning both of the two remaining Games and the Ravens losing one of their remaining games to allow the Pats to clinch a Wild Card Berth.

NFL Week 2: The Matt Cassel Era Begins

2008-09-15T22:17:00.002-05:00

Matt Cassel started his first game since High School on Sunday against Brett Favre and the Jets and managed to come out with a solid 19-10 win, making the Patriots 2-0 and talking a number of Patriots fans off the Zakim Bridge. Gone are the showtime Patriots of 2007, back are the win ugly Patriots that brought home 3 Lombardi Trophies.

I wouldn't be foolish enough to suggest that losing the reigning league MVP and resorting to your completely unproven backup is a good thing, but this may bring the Patriots closer to their roots and strategies that made them a dynasty. Smart coaching, smart play and tough defense. This team is still stocked with experience and talent. Long story short: These Patriots still have a shot.

Matt Cassel's performance was reminiscent of Tom Brady circa 2001. Tom made short high percentage passes, avoided high risk throws into coverage, relied on his running game to get the occasional hard yards and did a good job protecting the football. Matt Cassel managed to keep a cool head in one of the toughest venues in the league and proved that he can give this team a real chance to win.

Looking elsewhere in the league, being a solid team might be enough to make it in the AFC. Of the trendy AFC Super Bowl picks only New England and Pittsburgh are still undefeated. Indianapolis hasn't looked at all like Indianapolis. The Colts got embarassed week 1 against the Bears in the first game in their new stadium and were fortunate to get an ugly win against the Vikings that required an Adam Vinatieri last second special. The Chargers are 0-2 after losing two close games to the Panthers and the Broncos. With that said, it took the Chargers some time to hit their stride in 2007 as well, I would not be surprised to see them get their act together in a few weeks and get into the playoff race. Possibly the biggest disappointment in the NFL at this point is the Jacksonville Jaguars. People were calling the Jags the team nobody wanted to play and a defensible Super Bowl pick. After losing to the unheralded Titans in week 1 and the suprising Bills in week 2 experts are backing off this team in a hurry.

Wakefield Drags Tiger's Skid to 5 Games

2008-05-07T09:26:00.004-05:00

Tim Wakefield has been reasonably solid all year, now posting a 3-1 record, but last night's 8 IP, 2 hits, 0 R, 0 walk performance was his first really dominant performance of the year. Wakefield has brought the struggling Tigers to their fifth consecutive loss by holding the Tigers to a mere two hits over 8 innings of work, before Mike Timlin ate a scoreless 9th inning to possibly build some confidence with a healthy five-run lead.

The Red Sox bats continue to produce. The Sox tagged Tigers starter Nate Robertson for 3 runs in the second inning by stringing together a walk from Mike Lowell, a double from Kevin Youkilis, a single from JD Drew, a double from Kevin Cash and a sacrifice from Coco Crisp. Robertson would allow base runners in all 7 innings that he pitched in and hits in all but the first inning. Finally, Robertson was chased from the game after a David Ortiz homerun. This would bring in Tigers reliever Freddy Dolsi for his first appearance in the majors, he picked a hell of a batter to start out on and Manny Ramirez would go deep to make it back to back homeruns. Manny had an impressive night at 3/5 at the plate, this homerun puts him to 497 career homeruns. Ortiz's homerun gives him two in the last two games. In the last 5 games with a plate appearance Ortiz has steadily dragged his batting average from .172 up to .225, hopefully this is a sign that David truly has broken out of this early season slump. Kevin Cash was also a pleasant surprise with a 3/4 performance. Cash has been solid all year long and now owns an impressive .361 batting average. It's nice to know we have options in the event that Jason Varitek is injured or hits a prolonged slump.

Clay Bucholz (2-2, 3.71 ERA) will take the mound tonight against Armando Galarraga (2-1, 1.88 ERA)

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Allen, Pierce and King James Disappoint in Game 1

2008-05-07T08:59:00.003-05:00

If you had told me that Ray Allen and Paul Pierce would combine for 4 points in Game 1, I would assume that they had lost. If you told me LeBron James would only put up 12 I would assume the Celtics would have won easily. Both of these things happened on Tuesday night, but fortunately the Celtics were able to come out on top 76-72 in a game that highlighted the defensive skills of these two teams.

Both teams failed to hit a true offensive rhythm, but KG would have the best performance of the night with 28 points, 13-22 from the field and 2/2 for free throws. Rajon Rondo also had a solid night with 15 points, 5-8 from the field and 5-6 from the charity stripe. Sam Cassell also came up big scoring 13 points in just 18 minutes of play. Sam was 4-8 shooting including 2-4 from beyond the arc.

Cleveland also had it's fair share of players that stepped up with Zydrunas Ilgauskas putting up 22 as the game's high scorer, followed by Wally Szczerbiak with 13.

Despite lackluster performances by Pierce and Allen, I got a good feeling about the series from this game. The Cavs had more preparation time and rest than the Celtics, but the Celtics still managed to take care of business at home. Despite their offensive miscues, the Celtics played stalwart defense and were able to contain King James, even if this did open up other opportunities for Ilgauskas and Szczerbiak to make plays. It is unlikely that they can keep James under wraps like that for the remainder of the series, but it is just as unlikely that Paul Pierce and Ray Allen will continue to struggle to score points as they did in Game 1.

Photo Credit:

(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)

Celtics Finally Put Down Upstart Hawks/Red Sox Complete Revenge Sweep of Rays

2008-05-05T01:08:00.005-05:00

Round 1 Game 7- Boston 99, Atlanta 65

After the upstart Atlanta Hawks won all 3 games in Atlanta to push the Celtics to a deciding game 7 at home the tank seemed to be completely out of gas as they were steamrolled by the Celtics at the Garden. The media has harped on it incessantly, but it's worth dwelling on as the games in Atlanta seemed to be the polar opposite of those played in Boston:

Boston Avg Points Per Game in Boston: 98.75
Boston Avg Points Per Game in Atlanta: 95
Atlanta Avg Points Per Game in Boston: 77
Atlanta Avg Points Per Game in Atlanta: 100.67

That's a 23 point difference in production for Atlanta at home! Away from the Garden the Celtics seemed to lack intensity and crumbled in the fourth quarter if the score was anywhere near close, in Boston the fourth quarter was little more than a formality for the Celtics and often ended with the Big 3 sitting for most of it.

I'll give the Hawks some credit, they showed some pride by playing hard in their home court and refusing to roll over for the Celtics after going down 0-2. That said, the officiating in this series seemed lopsided, which culminated in Game 6 with a called 6th foul on Paul Pierce at a pivotal point in the fourth quarter. The most staggering figure was the disparity in free throw attempts, the Hawks had 220 free throw attempts against the Celtics 152. To some extent this is reflective of the Hawks style of basketball, which largely revolved around sending somebody inside to draw the foul rather than backing off and taking a jump shot or kicking it out to the perimeter the way the Celtics often do. I found it ironic that despite Mike Bibby's claim that the Celtics fans were fair-weather fans, it seemed to match the description of Atlanta's own fan base. Every time the Hawks announcer had to queue the crowd to begin a "De-Fense" or "Let's Go Hawks" chant I laughed a little inside at Bibby's comments.

Unfortunately, the 37 win Hawks have exposed some key weaknesses of the Celtics in this series.
1. Difficulty playing away from home: Every crowd the outside the Garden the Celtics match up against is going to be hysterical, convinced that they can rattle the Celtics.

2. Difficulty closing out games in the fourth quarter: In games 4 and 6 in Atlanta the Celtics entered the fourth quarter with a lead, but would walk out losers. In Game 4 the Celtics entered the fourth with a healthy 10 point lead, but collapsed with the Hawks outscoring them 32-17. With this in mind few teams are going to be mentally calling it quits if the game is still within reach entering the fourth.

The Celtics will start it up with the King James and the Cavaliers on Tuesday night in Boston.

Sox Sweep Rays Out of Fenway

Prior to the Series with the Rays, the Red Sox had been in the midst of an offensive slump. They had managed to take 2 out of 3 from Toronto thanks to some stellar pitching and some late inning heroics, but over a five game stretch had only scored 4 runs. The Sox seemed to get their swing back against the Rays scoring a combined 26 runs over 3 games. The Red Sox starting pitching has also been stellar lately. With this sweep the Red Sox take a 3 game lead in the AL East with the Yankees, Rays and O's all tied for 3rd place.

The Sox open a 10 game road trip tomorrow night in Detroit. The Tigers continue to struggle and are coming home after being swept by the Twins.

Bruins Season Over/Red Sox Complete Four Game Sweep of Rangers

2008-04-22T08:30:00.004-05:00

Ok, so we've got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?

The Good News

The Red Sox completed the four game sweep over the Texas Rangers. Clay Buchholz gave a strong performance: 6 IP 5 Hits 2 Walks and no runs scored. David Aardsma and Manny Delcarmen would give up a combined 3 runs while eating innings with a substantial lead. Kason Gabbard was solid in his 2 innings of work, but left the game after hurting himself after a botched pitch attempt where he lost his balance, or possibly his footing. The Rangers bullpen has been an absolute trainwreck, and with 7 innings to cover it's not surprising that Rangers reliever Dustin Nippert gave up 8 runs over his two innings of work. The Rangers pitching staff gave up an exorbitant 11 walks, not to mention 12 hits, they were lucky to get away with only 8 runs on the books. Manny Ramirez took his scheduled day off despite the fact that his early ejection from the game yesterday was essentially a day off, but fortunately the Red Sox managed to get it done despite missing their leading RBI man. David Ortiz hit two doubles to rack up 3 RBI's, but Ortiz wasn't the only hot bat. Julio Lugo was 4 for 4, Dustin Pedroia was 2 for 5 and Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 4. A solid win on both sides of the plate.

The Bad News

The Bruins lost to the Habs 5-0, season over. I give this team alot of credit. Nobody gave this team a shot, but they fought hard when they could have gone down quietly and in doing so grabbed back some of the fan base that has been ignoring them for a while. Hopefully this is an indicator that the franchise is headed in the right direction.

A bit too much to talk about...

2008-04-21T04:36:00.008-05:00

Despite all that's been going on in the Boston sport scene lately, I've actually found it a bit overwhelming to try and keep up with everything. Perhaps a quick recap of the relevant information will do.

Patriots/NFL Draft 2008
Despite having the 31st pick overall taken from them as punishment for the cameragate/spygate incident against the Jets, the Patriots made the smart move of trading up with their pick to get the 49ers pick this year. Luckily, the 'Niners tanked it this year and will be handing over the 7th pick overall to the Patriots. Experts seem to have trouble guessing what the Patriots will do with their pick as there are really no glaring holes on the Patriots. The most likely scenario is that the Patriots will trade down their pick to another team and fall back to it's usual plan of finding late pick gold. Otherwise, if Jake Long (OT Michigan), Chris Long (DE Virginia), Darren McFadden (RB Virginia) or Glenn Dorsey (DT LSU) don't get picked by the time #7 rolls around, any of these gentlemen would make a fine addition to the New England Patriots just on the basis of their sheer talent.

In a related story Boston College's Matt Ryan is being highly touted as the top QB prospect in the draft. As much as I like Matty Ice and what he's done for the Eagles, I think he's being a bit overrated and reaping the benefit of factors outside his control: A weak QB class this year and a number of teams looking for a centerpiece Quarterback to start rebuilding their franchises. In all likelihood Matty will be heading to Miami or Atlanta and have some rough seas ahead as it is unlikely he'll be able to turn those teams around.

Red Sox
The Red Sox have been used to being the only game in town this time of year, but that's not the case this year. The Red Sox are cruising at this point: They are on a 4 game winning streak, they have the best record in the AL at 13-7 and outside of a 15-9 loss to the Yankees that exposed the weakness of the Boston bullpen. Mike Timlin has been a huge liability since his return from the DL and it might be an indication that he doesn't have any gas left in the tank. Tomorrow the Curse of Eric Gagne may come back to haunt us again as former Red Sox pitching prospect Kason Gabbard (Traded to the Rangers in exchange for their closer Eric Gagne), will match up against current Red Sox pitching prospect Clay Buchholz. Gabbard has been solid across the boards in his 3 starts this season, giving up 7 hits and 2 walks in each of his outings, has a 2.41 ERA and 1-0 record.

Celtics
I was concerned that after weeks of playing meaningless games the Celtics might lose their edge heading into the playoffs, but they had more than enough energy to put away the Atlanta Hawks in the first game of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. The game looked tight at certain points in the opening half; the Celtics would establish a big lead, the Hawks would storm back, but they stopped storming back in the second half and the lead just grew and grew until the time ran out 104-81 Celtics. The points were actually spread out very generously with Ray Allen posting a team high 18 with Pierce, KG, Rondo, Cassell and Powe all putting up 10 or more. If the Celtics continue to play the kind of basketball they've played all year, they should easily cruise into the second round.

Elsewhere in the NBA playoffs, the Pistons blew a large lead to the 76ers at home and lost 90-86. If the 76ers can keep the momentum there might be an upset in the making.

Bruins
I don't really follow hockey much, but I must admit that the Bruins have captured some of my attention by threatening to knock off their arch-rivals, and number one seed, Montreal Canadiens. I figured this series was over when the Canadiens went up 3-1 in the series, but the Bruins have responded in dramatic fashion by beating the Canadiens 5-1 in Montreal and 5-4 in Boston to even up the series at 3-3 and forcing a deciding game 7 in Montreal. If the Bruins manage to pull the eight seed over a one seed upset the bandwagon jumping will begin.
Oh, and did I mention BC won the National Hockey Championship?

Developing Trends...

2008-04-11T07:44:00.002-05:00

10 games down and the Red Sox are at a somewhat disappointing 5-5 record and we can see some early trends developing.

THE GOOD

JD Drew
JD has picked up where he left off last year in the playoffs and appears to have found his comfort zone here and earning some of that big money he's getting paid. In 7 games he's 11 for 25, hitting .440, has two homeruns and second on the team for RBI's with 7 and has drawn 3 walks. Let's hope he can keep up the pace.

Sean Casey
The seemingly redundant off season acquisition has already proven to be a worthwile asset. He's 5 for 14, hitting .357 with two doubles. With Mike Lowell's recent minor thumb injury keeping him on the DL for a bit we may be seeing more of Sean Casey at first and Kevin Youkilis moving to third to cover.

Kevin Youkilis
Youk has been money in the bank thus far this year. Youk has played all but one game despite having an excellent backup in Sean Casey which attests to the strength of his performance this thus far. Youkilis is 11 for 34, hitting .324 with 3 doubles and 2 triples and posted six walks. With that said, Youkilis always starts off red hot and cools off after the all-star break.

Coco Crisp
Many people, including myself, felt it would be beneficial for all parties if the Red Sox traded Coco even if it meant getting less value for him. Coco clearly is good enough to be a starter in the majors and it seemed like he would be riding the pine based on Jacoby Ellsbury's strong performance last year that got Coco benched for the World Series. Tito has done a fairly good job of splitting time between Jacoby and Coco with Coco getting 23 at bats to Jacoby's 17. In the first ten games Coco has made more productive use of those at bats going 7 for 23, hitting .304 and drawing two walks. Coco does have every reason to be playing hard, he might be able to earn back the top spot or possibly bump up his trade value and make him easier to move when the trade deadline rolls around.

Julio Lugo
Much like JD Drew, Julio was a constant disappointment last year that seemed to do a little better come playoff time, but this year Julio seems to be off to a good start. Julio is 10 for 33, hitting .303. Julio's fielding has been a problem with 4 errors in 9 games.

Okie/Paps
I combine these two because it's basically the same story. Both of them have been well rested thanks to blowouts in either direction and have great ERA's, picking up right where they left off last year.

THE BAD

David Ortiz
This has been a big part of what's wrong with the Red Sox offense, Big Papi has hit a serious slump going 3 for 36, that's .083, in 10 games this season. Two of his 3 hits came in the 5-0 win against Oakland on April 2nd and is hitless in 8 of 10 games this season. Big Papi still knows how to work counts and commands respect with his bat, as evidenced by the 9 walks he has drawn thus far this season, tied for most in the AL. There is some suggestion that this might be a slow bounce-back from offseason knee surgery, I don't personally believe this is the case, but I'm not a doctor. I think with some time Big Papi will find his swing.

Jacoby Ellsbury
We got a taste of Jacoby's potential last year, but he seems to be having some trouble adjusting to the idea of being a permanent starter and has been splitting time with Coco Crisp in center field. Jacoby is 3 for 17, hitting .176 including a homerun and drawing 3 walks. This seems somewhat reminiscent of Dustin Pedroia last year. Dustin had some trouble adjusting to the big leagues, but by season's end he was a Rookie of the Year candidate.

THE JURY IS STILL OUT

The Starting Rotation
It's a little too early to say anything about the starting rotation just yet. Bucholz and Beckett both have only one start each. Beckett's ERA is inflated from Manny Delcarmen giving up a grand slam that scored 3 inherited runners with 2 outs in the inning, which accounts for 3 of the 5 earned runs on the books for Beckett.

Dustin Pedroia
Dustin is one of 3 players to start all 10 games so far this season. In that time he's posted a respectable 11 for 40, hitting .275 including 2 doubles and 5 walks. A comfortable pace, but nothing to get excited about.

Manny Ramirez
Manny is alot like Dustin, he's also started all 10 games and posted 11 for 40, .275 but with only 3 walks and a team high 12 strikeouts. Manny currently leads the team in RBI's with 8. Manny has hit a number of extra base hits with 5 doubles, 1 triple and a homerun; but this is nothing special for Manny. I think this is a little disappointing given that Manny is in a contract year and the strong start he had to this season.

Mike Lowell
Last year's World Series MVP is off to a slow start 6 for 30, hitting .200 and 3 walks. Mike recently injured his thumb while fielding a ball and will be on the DL for a while.

Sox Pitching Makes Strong return in 2-game sweep of Oakland

2008-04-03T15:24:00.002-05:00

With both Dice-K and Jon Lester looking terrible in their performances against the A's while in Japan, there was reason to be concerned as these two would start the following two games in Oakland in the same pitching matchups. Fortunately, Dice-K and Lester both seemed to find their grooves early, Gave 6 2/3 IP and the only run given up between these games was a solo homerun off Dice-K. The bullpen was also unscathed with Jonathan Papelbon ending the first game with authority by striking out all 3 batters he faced in the 9th inning protecting the sox slim 2-1 lead and recording the save. Bryan Corey and Manny Delcarmen would give a solid performance to wrap up the 5-0 win the following night. A confidence inspiring performance all around by the Red Sox pitching staff.

The Red Sox bats were adequate but a bit disappointing at times. The quantity of hits isn't the problem, but more so that it seems that the Red Sox are squandering opportunities. In the first game the Red Sox had 9 hits and a walk, but only managed to put up two runs. In the second game the Sox had 13 hits, 5 walks and had two batters hit by pitch, that's a grand total of twenty base runners, but only managed to yield 5 runs. The Red Sox had multiple low-out/bases loaded situations but continually failed to capitalize thanks to strikeouts and hitting into double plays. It was a solid win, but easily could have been a complete rout if the hitting had been a bit more timely.

There is some good news on the hitting front, both Big Papi and Jason Varitek seem to have broken out of their respective mini-slumps that had me so concerned in the previous post. Varitek went 4/8 in the two game series including a homerun and a homerun that was mistakenly ruled a double by the officiating crew. Big Papi was not quite as impressive with his 2/8 performance (both hits coming in the second game), but showed that he's still got it by blasting a 2 run homerun to kick off the Red Sox offense.

The Sox have Thursday off and open up a three game series against the Jays in Toronto on Friday. Sox Ace Josh Beckett is expected to start the third game which should match him up against Jays Ace Roy Halladay, should be a hell of a game. The Fenway park opener is April 8th against the Tigers.

Sox Offense takes the day off against the A's

2008-03-26T18:16:00.002-05:00

Thanks to some misinformation and an incorrect listing in my cable guide instead of watching the Red Sox play an exciting opening game against the A's to kick off the season on Tuesday morning, I had a good 4 hours of Mike and Mike in the morning recorded on my DVR and missed the slim Red Sox victory in extra innings. I managed to successfully avoid making the same mistake twice and woke up around 11 AM a few hours prior to class ready for some commercial free hours of baseball action. Unfortunately, all the action the Red Sox could provide this time was a Manny Ramirez solo homerun in the disappointing 5-1 loss to the A's.

John Lester had an unimpressive outing. He managed to avoid any serious mistakes prior to a bad 4 batter stretch in which he would give up a hit, a walk and then a 3 run homerun to Emil Brown that blew open the close game. Outside of that particular stretch I did not think that Lester's performance was poor, but nothing to write home about either. He looked stronger in the later innings, but was pulled after 4 for new reliever David Aardsma. Aardsma, Delcarmen, Corey and Lopez would all give solid performances with Corey giving up a late insurance run in the 8th inning.

The primary problem with the Red Sox was their complete lack of offense. Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, Brandon Moss (Playing his second game in place of the injured JD Drew), and Jason Varitek would go without a hit in the game, as well as Sean Casey in his one Pinch Hit at bat for Moss.

There are some good signs and bad signs for the Red Sox from this season opening series.

Manny Ramirez is playing like it's a contract year (which it is) and provided 5 of the 7 RBI's the sox scored in this series.

Mike Lowell managed to have a good night going 2/4, not bad coupled with the 1/4 night he had in the previous game.

Julio Lugo seems to be starting the season off right going 3/6 in the series, drawing a walk and stealing a base.

JD Drew seems to be working through some minor back problems and did not start either game of this series.

David Ortiz did not look good in the Tokyo Dome despite impressive numbers against A's starter Rich Harden in the past. Ortiz was 0-7 in the series with two walks.

Jason Varitek also had a rough series going 0-8 with 6 strikeouts and no walks, the definition of an offensive black hole. It's a good thing 'Tek brings more to the table than his batting average.

Hopefully this will give the Red Sox some information to work with and begin to work out the kinks and be ready for the A's next Tuesday to resume their season.

Randy Moss signs 3-year $27 Million deal.

2008-03-05T13:39:00.002-05:00

One of the most highly touted free agents this off season was Patriots WR Randy Moss. Moss had made numerous statements that he wished to return to the New England Patriots and indicated that he would likely take the hometown discount to make that happen, but with the tremendous disappointment at the Super Bowl and with no deal signed by the beginning of the free agency period rumors began to circulate that Moss was shopping around for a new deal and interested in reuniting with his former QB from his days on the Vikings Dante Culpepper. Fortunately, these rumors did not come to fruition and Moss will likely be finishing out his career in a Patriots uniform.

The $27 Million deal is nowhere near the bargain of the century the Patriots got for Randy's services for the 2007 season, where he signed a shorter deal for less money to become a patriot, but the deal is still a bargain given the eye-popping numbers Randy set last year. There are reports that other teams made better offers to Randy, but that the intangible factors of the Patriots organization is what brought him to accept less than his market value. The Patriots again showed their excellent ability to work under the salary cap by inking a quality veteran player for less than what other teams were offering. I guess winning is a great bargaining chip when you're speaking to potential players.

With Wes Welker and Moss anchoring the receiving corps it is likely that the Patriots will still have a potent offense for the 2008 season.

Time to let it go...

2008-03-04T07:02:00.002-05:00

I took the Patriots losing the Super Bowl to Giants pretty hard. The most explosive offense in the NFL scored a whole six points less than their season low in the most important game of the season and Tom Brady couldn't work his magic in the remaining time left. The O-Line looked overwhelmed the whole game, Tom Brady seemed to be moving poorly and Eli's performance was the definition of adequate and thanks to some late heroics and the eye popping "helmet catch" we can all conveniently forget how ineffective Eli was for the vast majority of that game. Eli was given the MVP, but this was one of those MVP's where they couldn't single out one defensive player to give the award to because so many of the Giants D managed to step up and make big plays. But the Celtics have the best record in basketball and Sam Cassell joining the Celtics sometime today will give them some additional depth and experience that will be huge come playoff time. The Red Sox are back in Ft. Meyers and despite Curt Schilling's extended DL stint that will keep him out for at least a large chunk of the season there's alot of reason for optimism this season. The Patriots have had some folks pack up for greener contracts, such as Asante Samuel, but managed to ink Randy Moss for the next 3 years at a reasonable price and should be able to get great value for the 7th overall draft pick they'll receive from the 49ers.

There's still alot of optimism for Boston teams, can't let one big let down ruin everything.

Thoughts on the Super Bowl

2008-01-31T15:30:00.000-05:00

With the Super Bowl coming up ESPN is in a constant state of media circusry, placing the rantings of Tom Brady, Eli, Randy Moss and Plaxico Burress at the forefront of the sporting world. I almost get burnt out on football from the overwhelming two weeks of hype that is attached to the Super Bowl, it gets old really fast. Some of the issues on top of the heap:

1. Plaxico Burress made a brilliant decision by ripping off Broadway Joe and guaranteed a victory over the Patriots and one upped him by guessing the score: 23-17 Giants. Apparently Tom Coughlin didn't get the memo about coaching your players to not give the Patriots bulletin board material through the media. The media wasted no time blowing this snippet of egotism way out of proportion. I can't blame them, if the Patriots win it makes for a great storyline with the failed Anthony Smith guarantee made earlier in the year. If the Giants win we've got an upset comparable to the one Joe Namath guaranteed quite some time ago. I don't concur with Plaxico's prediction. The Patriots haven't scored less than 20 points this season and racked up 38 against the Giants defense in week 17. I'd give the Patriots a bit more credit than 17 points.

2. Randy Moss. Randy Moss is just a constant point of discussion. The recent allegations made against him has been the only real distraction he's created off the field all season and he seems to have successfully diffused this matter too for the time being. People have also begun to question Randy about his plans for next year as his contract is only a one year deal. If it's true that Randy is about the W's and not the $'s then he'll probably accept the slightly below market value offer the Patriots will likely make when the season is over. I said at the beginning of the year that Randy Moss could turn things around with a no-nonsense strong leadership locker room and a franchise where winning is paramount. Put Randy on a team like the Bengals and he'll be right back to underperforming and putting out the wrong kind of headlines. Randy said he would like to finish his career as a Patriot, if he's willing to leave some money on the table he probably can.

3. Brady's ankle has been one of the most heavily discussed non-injuries in recent memory. Brady was wearing a medical boot shortly after the AFC Championship game causing most of New England to panic. Brady missed some early practices, but has since returned to practice and is reportedly moving well on the ankle. The Injury Report did not list any ankle problems and instead featured the typical probable listing for Tom Brady referring to an unspecified shoulder problem. The probable status indicates the Patriots disdain for the injury report more so than any actual injury to Tom.

General Thoughts:
There's one key difference between the mind sets of the Patriots and the Giants that Junior Seau touched on after the AFC Championship game when asked about the difference between this conference victory and the one he had years ago with the Chargers in his prime:

" Well, we don't have yellow flags flying all over the place. We don't have the Super Bowl Shuffle being taped prior to the game. Going in there and really not finishing what we set out to do, which is to win the AFC Championship is definitely special but in terms of difference, it was basically we are now looking forward to the next opponent. As you can see, we are not having a parade. We don't have the confetti in the locker room. We are not jumping around. Everyone's gone. Everyone went home."

The celebration he describes sounds more like the Giants post-game celebration after beating the Packers in overtime. What makes the Patriots different from the other teams in the NFL is that winning is expected. A trip to the Super Bowl was almost a foregone conclusion for the Patriots and they know it means nothing without one more win. The Giants have already surpassed everybody's expectations of them and at this point they're just happy to be in the big game.

Prediction:
Patriots jump out to an early lead in the first half. Patriots fall asleep and the Giants rally midway through the second half, but it's too little too late and the Patriots wrap things up. 35-21 Patriots. Tom Brady 4 TD's 1 INT, Eli Manning 2 TD's 2 INT's.

Conference Championships: Week 2 - Take 2

2008-01-14T10:57:00.000-05:00

The conference championship games are set, and coincidentally both matchups occurred in week 2 of the season. Although the teams and the locations are the same, there is reason to believe things may not go as smoothly for these teams as they did in week 2.

Both of the underdogs have grown up alot since week 2. The Giants pulled off the big upset against the Cowboys in Dallas and Eli has come a long way. The Giants also gave the Patriots all they could handle in a meaningless game in week 17.

That said, this could be Brett Farve's last chance to grab a Super Bowl ring for the road and betting against a motivated Brett Farve playing at Lambeau field is not something I'd like to do, and I won't, I expect the Packers to go to the Super Bowl.

The Chargers were thrown into a tail spin when they came to Gillette earlier this season. They would lose games to the Packers and the lowly chiefs in the following two weeks. Eventually the Chargers found their groove and are currently on an 8 game winning streak.

In week 2, the Patriots were just coming off of the spygate scandal and were hungry to prove that some taped defensive signals don't account for. Some of that fervor has worn off and there's certainly the possibility that the Patriots are losing a step with the victories being less convincing as the season progressed.

But again, the favorites are the favorites for a reason. Tom Brady can go into the AFC championship game with no fear of seeing the Reche Caldwell face.

Tom Brady's game against Jacksonville was a great performance that stands out in a season full of great performances. His completion percentage was record worthy and devastating. Jacksonville's gameplan was to grind out long scoring drives and control the clock, which they succeeded at, but the Patriots scored on nearly every offensive drive to bury the Jaguars. The Patriots defense showed some weakness against the Jaguars, but managed to contain their running game with some success and forced David Gerrard to pass for big yards. Eventually Gerrard slipped up throwing a rare interception to end the game.

Part of me is sad that the Colts lost. They are a better team than the Chargers, but the Chargers match up well against the Colts for whatever reason and the Colts seemed to have a sub par day, which just doesn't cut it in the playoffs. Bill Simmons is always talking about how the Lakers dodged a bullet in the rivalry with the Celtics in the 1985-1986 season by not making it to the finals for the rematch that year, instead losing in the Western Conference championship. I feel like I've been robbed of the opportunity for true revenge with the Colts avoiding playing the new and improved Patriots in their house in a huge playoff game. Welcome back to being painted a choke artist Peyton.

My picks?
28-21 Packers

35-21 Patriots

Carl gives it to you straight....

2007-12-18T06:33:00.000-05:00

Homefield Disadvantage?

2007-12-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

The Patriots became the 2nd team in NFL history to reach the 14-0 mark matching the 1972 Dolphins perfect regular season (in '72 the Regular Season was only 14 games rather than 16) and wrapped up homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The Patriots officially are playing for nothing but the W as the results of the remaining two games will have no effect on their post season seeding.

I'm conflicted about what to do now. I think that resting most of the key starters would be beneficial in allowing them to heal, rest and prepare for the post season. BUT, there is the possibility that without game conditions they may lose their edge like the Colorado Rockies before the World Series. With the last two weeks of the season and the bye week off this is a serious concern, but the Rockies were young and inexperienced, Tom Brady and the Patriots have been there before and know what it takes to be champions. What would be best? Probably enough playing time to keep the starters sharp, but otherwise rest them.

On to the game...

The Patriots beat Mangini and the Jets 20-10. The weather conditions in this game was a huge factor. It had snowed the night before and was still snowing in Boston around game time. The FieldTurf looked excellent, but Tom Brady did not. The wind caused the ball to carry. The wet ball led to dropped and bobbled passes. This was the primary reason for Tom Brady's bad game. Leave it to Laurence Maroney to make me look stupid by putting up a great game right after I got through trashing his season up to this point. I'll forgive him for this one. The reason the Patriots won this game was actually the defense and special teams. Eugene Wilson provided the Patriots with a touchdown by returning an interception for a touchdown on the first drive of the game after Jets QB Kellen Clemens got a good look at the FieldTurf compliments of Patriots DT Richard Seymour. Clemens injured his ribs on that play and would not return. The only offensive touchdown was gift wrapped for them by a blocked punt by Kelley Washington placing them deep in Jets territory. The Jets also had a touchdown compliments of a botched punt attempt as Patriots punter Chris Hanson couldn't get a handle on the football and gave the Jets time to block the punt and return it for a touchdown. Other than that, this game was a showcase of offensive failures. The Patriots had problems moving the ball all game and the Jets squandered multiple trips to the Red Zone as the Patriots defense improved on it's early season failures in the red zone. There was a brief reprieve in the game called after the fans began throwing snowballs at the Jets bench and the camera showed a large chunk of ice thrown onto the field.

I'm starting to wonder if it's a good thing that the Patriots have homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. It seems that the Patriots lose their explosiveness on offense when the weather conditions get bad. Tom Brady's lackluster games against the Ravens in the Wind Bowl and this so-so game in a messy home game wasn't encouraging. If these conditions had hit when the Patriots were playing a better team than the Ravens or the Jets the quest for 19-0 might be over. I'm not concerned about the remaining games this season. A loss would be bad, but I'd prefer another Super Bowl trophy to a perfect season with a post-season collapse when Tom Brady can't win the game because they're so dependent upon their passing game. Then again, playing in Pittsburgh or Cleveland probably wouldn't be much of an improvement over Foxborough.

Elsewhere in the League...

The Dolphins ended the quest for 0-16 with an overtime win over the Ravens thanks to a botched field goal kick by the Ravens kicker. It might be nice that the Dolphins no longer have that chip on their shoulder when they come into Foxborough next Sunday, or maybe it'll be bad now that they've had a taste of victory and have a chance to break up the perfect season. I suppose only time will tell.

The 49ers managed to slip by the Bengals on Saturday night moving the Patriots draft pick down a few spots.

The Browns beat the Bills 8-0 in near blizzard conditions. That wasn't a touchdown with a two point conversion either, that's two field goals and a safety. I thought the snow here was bad. The Browns are poised for a playoff spot if they don't screw up the last two weeks.

The Jaguars beat the Steelers at home to help set themselves up for the wild card and for being the only team to beat the Steelers at home I'm granting the Jaguars official "Dark Horse" status. The Jaguars are also the only likely playoff contender that the Patriots haven't already beaten and have a solid 10-4 record. Their losses this season include two to the Colts, their opener against the Titans and a loss to the Saints without their starting QB.

Carolina upset the Seahawks to ensure a first round bye for the Cowboys in the playoffs.

The Colts didn't wow anybody by beating the Raiders by 7 points, but wrapped up their division.

Dallas had a terrible game against the Philadelphia Eagles to keep things interesting in the NFC. The Eagles seem to be playing much better down the stretch. They gave the Patriots a run for their money and were the only team besides the Patriots to close the deal against Dallas this season.

The Chargers wrapped up the AFC West with a big 51-14 win over the Detriot Lions. Jon Kitna threw 5 interceptions, hard to win games that way. This is another team that seems to have really gotten it's act together down the stretch. This is another team I wouldn't mind avoiding in the playoffs.

The Redskins beat up on the Giants in New York to keep their playoff hopes alive. Hopefully this is an indicator of how the Giants plan to play for the remainder of the season.

The Mitchell Report

2007-12-14T06:33:00.000-05:00

The Mitchell report, an investigation into steroid use in Major League Baseball, was released to the public today and showed some interesting findings. Initial reports suggested that Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek had been involved with some sort of banned substance, but these reports turned out to be premature. Needless to say this gave me a scare. There's a short list of names that it would have devastated me to hear they were using PED's and Jason Varitek is on it. Partially because Varitek is such a fan favorite and such a long time red sox, but also because I have always considered 'tek to be a mediocre hitter at best and his contributions to be veteran leadership and the work he does with the pitching staff. His offensive contributions are of minimal importance when compared to most of the other bats in the lineup.

The biggest blow in the Mitchell report for me was Mo Vaughn. Mo spent years as the face of the Red Sox and became an extremely popular local figure for his extensive work within the community, it's sad to hear that this scandal will tarnish his local legacy both as a good player and a good human being.

Eric Gagne was also named by the Mitchell report, but this can be clearly tied to his superlative performance that won him the NL Cy Young award in 2003 and his mediocre performance outside of this season. Thankfully Gagne is no longer our problem and can enjoy falling into obscurity with the Brewers.

Brendan Donnelly was also a short term fixture in the bullpen who was named by the Mitchell report, but when Gagne was acquired it was released that Donnelly was hurt and would spend the rest of the season on the DL after undergoing surgery. There was some buzz about resigning him, but this will now likely fall by the wayside if it hasn't already.

No other recent Red Sox of relevance were named by the Mitchell report. There were, however, plenty of Yankees on the list.

The headliner of this report was none other than the Rocket himself, Roger Clemens. ESPN broke the news that he would be on the list prior to the actual release of the report and this turned out to be more reliable than the information regarding Jason Varitek. This information has permanently tarnished the name of Roger Clemens and taken him down off of his untouchable pedestal with all his Cy Young awards and other accolades. This also may have redeemed Dan Duquette, the man who chose to let Roger Clemens leave Boston because the Rocket was supposedly in the twilight of his career. In retrospect, perhaps the duke was right, maybe Roger was on his last legs and resorted to some desperate measures to get his edge back.

Roger has claimed that this is a complete falsehood through his lawyer, but in all honesty the pieces all seem to fit. His bounce back after leaving for Toronto? His late career renaissance with the Yankees?

Rogers friend and current Yankee pitcher Andy Petite was also named in the Mitchell Report, along with Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, etc.

I suppose I couldn't have asked for this report to turn out better. None of those who have received god-like status in this town have been implicated. The Red Sox that were implicated were either long retired, long out of town or never truly worked into the fold here to begin with. But even with that, I can recognize that this is a sad day for baseball and I get no joy from reveling in what is most likely the worst day of Roger Clemens' career.

The Juggernaut Continues to Roll...13-0

2007-12-10T03:44:00.000-05:00

This was the last true hurdle. The Steelers are the last team on the schedule with the talent to legitimately beat the Patriots. The Jets and Dolphins are outclassed by the Patriots in every aspect of the game, the Giants are outclassed as well, but to a lesser degree. I don't think these games are a forgone conclusion, not because of the talent of these teams, but because all the Patriots need is one win (or one Colts loss) in the remaining 3 games to clinch the 1st seed in the AFC. The games against the Ravens and Eagles showed the Patriots can be lulled asleep by terrible teams and rest on their impressive W-L record. The competition doesn't get much worse with the Jets in a tie for the second worst record in the NFL and Miami having the worst record in the NFL. As I said earlier, it may actually be more beneficial to the Patriots to lose these games so that the 3-10 49ers can move under them in the standings and get the Patriots a higher draft pick.

Their opponents on the other hand have every reason to win. The Jets got embarrassed at home in the opening game of the year with the Patriots in which the SpyGate/CameraGate incident occurred. Jets fans hate the Patriots for this and if the Jets can break up 19-0 in Foxboro this could make an otherwise atrocious season a bit more bearable and possibly buy Eric Mangini another year at the helm. If the Dolphins break up 19-0 it could be one of the biggest upsets of all time. Think about it. The race for 19-0 and 0-16 ending at the same time with two weeks left in the season? The NFL couldn't write a better script than that.

If that's not the perfect storm for a big upset, then I don't know what is.

On to the game itself.

There were signs that this one could be the end of the line for the Patriots perfect season. Cracks in the armor had begun to show for the Patriots against the Eagles and Ravens with the "only lose by a field goal" blueprint. Perhaps a better team, such as the Steelers, could upgrade the plan to "Don't lose to the Patriots". But as I predicted, the Patriots were going to wake up for this game because they recognized the Steelers as one of the most talented teams in football.

The Numbers are somewhat deceiving for the Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger had a downright respectable day behind center with 19/32 and 187 yards. Steelers RB Willie Parker also had what may have been his best game of the season putting up 124 yards on 21 carries. It is somewhat telling however that both of these solid performances only yielded on touchdown. But this doesn't really explain why the Steelers lost, the Patriots offense does.

Without strong winds messing with his passes, Tom Brady got right back to business as usual. His 32/46, 399 yard, 4 TD day had Brady back to "video game on easy mode" form. This game was all Brady as the Patriots only had nine carries this game, one being a 4-yard run by Brady. Laurence Maroney couldn't capitalize on Brady's fireworks drawing defenders out of the box with a pathetic 18 yards on 8 carries.

While we're on Maroney, I'd like to point out how this guy's terrible season is being swept under the rug while everybody is distracted by Tom Brady and Randy Moss. I often feel that a RB's numbers have as much to do with his talent as it does with the threat of the passing game he's working with. I consider Joseph Addai a heavily overrated RB because he reaps the benefits of Peyton Manning drawing defenders back into coverage and away from the line of scrimmage. Laurence Maroney enjoys a similar benefit, but seems completely unable to capitalize on it. He's 23rd in the league in avg yards/carry and 31st in yards/game. Sammy Morris is 14th and 24th in those categories respectively. This is why I think the Patriots should consider taking Arkansas' Darren McFadden should he be available to them in the draft rather than trading down their pick as they have often done in the past.

This win was a flat out beating. The Patriots resolved to beat the Steelers through the air and the Steelers linemen couldn't properly pressure Brady and the Steelers secondary couldn't cover well enough to stop them. Simple as that.

Mike's yearly BCS rant...

2007-12-09T05:17:00.000-05:00

I really REALLY hate the bowl system in college football. I hate the questions it leaves unanswered. Sure, we've crowned a national champion, but there are always questions about the participants and somebody getting screwed etc.

I hate the subjectivity of non-automatic bids. This might be my bias from going to BC. BC currently possesses the country's longest bowl winning streak. Do you know why that is? Because it's the same story every year. BC falls just short of a BCS bowl and get passed over for worse football teams in the bowl selection process and then plays a team that's beneath them. Why you ask? 3 Reasons.

1) No bowls are held in the New England area because who the hell wants their bowl to take place in frigid New England in the middle of winter when you could have it in somewhere like Florida? Bowls often like to choose schools that are geographically close to the bowls, like Clemson was for the Chick-Fil-A bowl this year. BC was passed over for this bowl despite winning their division in the ACC, finishing with a better record than Clemson, a higher ranking than Clemson and beating Clemson.

2) BC fans have a reputation for not being willing to travel. Who can blame us for not travelling for this stuff. Who has money for game tickets, plane tickets and hotel rooms or time to do all that for that matter. I love BC football, but I work for my spending money and I live on a tight budget. This is also related to the fact that BC is not near any bowl sites.

3) Sponsors have gigantic boners for programs with more history. Let's face facts, BC's football greatness can be summed up in one pass. More well respected programs like Texas, Nebraska, Ohio State, LSU, Florida, Miami, FSU, Virginia Tech, USC, Notre Dame, etc. always get moved up in the bowl selection process just because they have a dedicated following left over from their national title glory days.

So welcome to the 2007 season where the story repeats again. BC couldn't lock up an automatic BCS bid by beating the Hokies in the ACC title game and were subjected to at large bids. Surely BC should get the second ACC bowl selection with the Gator Bowl, they were ranked #2 in the country at one point and went to the championship game right? Nope, they got passed over for the Virginia Cavaliers, the runner up for the Coastal Division. WELL, at least the third ACC bowl selection should be a lock for the Chick-Fil-A bowl RIGHT? Sorry, why take the BETTER team when you could take the CLOSER team in the Clemson Tigers, see above for additional ranting on this bowl selection. ESPN was even kind enough to provide a look into the process of overlooking a better team with this article:

(http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=3142612)

"Past success is what makes Stokan's current decision so difficult. With the Hokies winning and claiming an automatic spot in a BCS bowl game, Boston College is probably the most deserving team to invite from the ACC. The Eagles, after all, beat Clemson and Virginia Tech during the regular season and have quarterback Matt Ryan, a Heisman Trophy candidate. But Stokan was noticeably discouraged by the small number of Boston College fans who made the trip to Jacksonville.

"We have to protect our ticket," he said."

Doesn't that just make you sick to your stomach? It's not about which team was the best, it's about who would sell the most tickets.

So here we are folks, the Champs Sports Bowl. BC had this exact same bowl a few years back and won it then. Their opponent? The Michigan State Spartans (7-5 Overall 3-5 Big Ten, placed 8th in the Big Ten conference), this team was barely bowl eligible. So, the Eagles will win and the cycle of mediocrity continues.

The killer is, I was sure this was going to be the breakout year, the year we were going to get that automatic BCS bid and make people acknowledge BC football. Maybe next year...

GO TO A PLAYOFF SYSTEM OR TAKE THE BOWL SELECTIONS OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE SPONSORS NOW!!!!

Ravens bring Pats to the edge

2007-12-06T03:20:00.000-05:00

The Ravens were looking like they had slain the Juggernaut, but then they remembered they were the Ravens and played accordingly.

The Ravens caught the Patriots napping. With their division already wrapped up and the 1st seed in the playoffs likely to be wrapped up in the coming weeks it's not surprising that the Patriots may not be taking opponents like the Eagles and the Ravens seriously. In a way I think these last two games were the equivalent to the second half slump the Red Sox faced this year. The Red Sox amassed a large lead by the All Star break, coasted through the second half getting enough wins to secure the first seed in the playoffs, and then turned it back on for the playoffs. It might actually be to the Patriots BENEFIT to lose to the Dolphins and the Jets in the hopes that maybe the 49ers will slip under them in the standings and the Patriots will get a higher pick in next year's draft, but somehow I doubt that's what coach Belichick has in mind.

About the game itself:
1) The Patriots failure to score in 3 tries on the 1 yard line is the biggest offensive let down this year. When the Ravens were being penalized left and right and they lined up on that one yard line I figured this week we were back to business as usual. All year long they've been getting that hard yard, it's concerning that they didn't this time.

2) Randy Moss was again a non-factor for the second straight game. This is primarily because Moss was being mugged on every snap. Teams have finally figured out that they need to not only double cover Randy Moss, they need to bend the rules.

3) The severe winds in Baltimore seemed to seriously effect Tom Brady's ability to throw accurately. There were a number of misthrown and dropped passes. The Ravens had a distinct advantage as their running back Willis McGahee is a much better back than either Laurence Maroney or Kevin Faulk. The Patriots defense looked helpless against McGahee for much of the game, fortunately they were able to stuff him when it counted in the later minutes with the clock winding down.

4) Ravens coach Brian Billick responded to some trash talk from Rodney Harrisson by blowing him kisses....just a little creepy.

Johan?

2007-12-06T03:01:00.000-05:00

One of the biggest pitchers on the market at the moment is Twins ace Johan Santana. The man is a bona fide ace who consistently provides a solid ERA and W-L record. He has become discontent with the Twins unwillingness to spend to make the team a contender and as such he's being actively shopped around to the large market powerhouses.

Worst Case Scenario:
The Yankees have made some solid offers of some of their highly touted young talent: Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Melky Cabrera's names have been thrown around quite a bit. Even with Andy Petite on board for another year, the Yankees have some notable gaps in their pitching staff that held them back last year. Santana would solve that problem nicely for the Yankees and make them almost as dangerous pitching as they are hitting with Wang, Petite and Santana in their rotation. Hank Steinbrenner has reportedly set a deadline for negotiating with Santana that has since passed, but this is the same guy who told us that A-Rod was gone and never to return.

Best Case Scenario:
The Red Sox move some combination of Coco Crisp and one of their top level prospects, either Jacoby Ellsbury or Jon Lester. Ideally the Twins would take Crisp, Lester and some mid-level prospect and the Sox sign Santana for an extended deal. The Red Sox starting Rotation would be undoubtedly the most feared in baseball and strong for years to come.

I think it's important to make competitive offers for Santana, but to not completely sell out the farm system in order to get him. Santana is a superb pitcher, but Lester, Bucholz and Ellsbury all have the tools and the drive to become great players. When we traded Hanley Ramirez for Josh Beckett we knew that Ramirez was a future all star, but we got an all star in return. But if we had traded two Hanleys we'd probably all be kicking ourselves.

Rosevelt Colvin done for the season.

2007-11-28T10:10:00.000-05:00

Rosevelt Colvin was placed on injured reserve after sustaining a foot injury against the Eagles which will keep him out for the remainder of the season. See you next year and please collect your ring at the end of the season.

The Patriots still have an excellent group of linebackers, but may cause some depth issues as Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau had been splitting time due to their advanced ages. The loss of Colvin is reminiscent of his previous season-ending injury to his hip he sustained against the Eagles a few years prior.

Eagles downgrade the Patriots from "Juggernaut" to "Almost Beatable"

2007-11-27T01:47:00.000-05:00

I give the Eagles alot of credit for the game plan they played. Even with Donovan McNabb the Eagles were outmatched by the Patriots. So, the Eagles decided the only way to win this game was to gamble. All night long backup QB AJ Feeley attempted to thread the needle by hitting receivers in the middle and throwing into coverage. He was burned by his cavalier passes when the Patriots caught 3 Interceptions, including a pick-six from Asante Samuel and James Sanders catching another to put the game away. This style was also exemplified through some of the plays called. The Eagles chose to go with a surprise onsides kick, the most desperate of desperation manuevers, in the second quarter with a 14-14 tie. The Eagles played this whole game as though they were in the 4th Quarter and down by two touchdowns and with a little luck they actually managed to give the Patriots a scare. They tried everything but a fake field goal.

The Patriots on the other hand had an odd day. Brady's production numbers were acceptable, but short of the "video-game on easy mode" type of numbers he has put up this year. Randy Moss was aggressively covered all day long and bobbled a long bomb that hit him in the hands and later robbed of a touchdown by a phantom offensive pass interference call (I immediately had flashback to the Indy game where a similar inexplicable offensive pass interference call occurred in the end zone). Laurence Maroney did not even take a snap in the first half and when he did get the ball in the second half he didn't do much with it: ten carries for 31 yards and a Touchdown. With the Eagles distracted by Randy Moss, Wes Welker quietly cleaned up with 13 catches for 149 yards. Despite some solid receiving numbers, Brady had a number of poorly thrown and dropped passes.

The Patriots did manage to stick it out and come away with a tough win. It might be good for the Pats to get a little scare at this point in the season to shake them out of their complacency after beating up on almost every team on their schedule. A nice serving of humble pie, a wake up call to shake them out of their post-Thanksgiving stupor. After this game it will be hard for the Patriots to overlook the Jets and the Dolphins who both took the fight to Pittsburgh in the past two weeks.

With the Bills loss to the Jaguars Sunday afternoon the Patriots officially clinched the AFC East title and a playoff spot. The Magic number for both the bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs is 3.

Draft Pick Watch:
The 'Niners were able to slog out a 37-31 win against the Arizona Cardinals to improve to 3-8, they are now in a 3-way tie for 4th worst record in the league with the Raiders and Falcons. This week's scheme for what to do should the Patriots get the 49ers top 5 draft pick: Arkansas' Darren McFadden. Although just a Junior McFadden is being considered for the Heisman and looked strong as the Razorbacks knocked LSU out of the national title race. I have never been that impressed with either Sammy Morris or Laurence Maroney. With a deadly passing game keeping guys away from the line Maroney should be tearing it up, but week after week his performance is mediocre at best. A really strong talent like McFadden could bring the Patriots offense to yet another level.

Free Agent Roundup

2007-11-19T23:46:00.000-05:00

The most important news is Mike Lowell working out an agreement with the Red Sox. The exact terms of the deal are still up in the air, but it's something to the tune of 3 years for $37.5 Million dollars. Mike probably could've gotten better money or another year elsewhere and I respect the fact that he decided to stick with the Sox.

I've been pretty clear about my stance on the 3rd Base situation. I wanted to see Ortiz, Ramirez and Rodriguez all in the same lineup. I thought the Yankees were out of the bidding and A-Rod would be available for pickup on the cheap. Overpaying Mike Lowell isn't a terrible backup plan though. I expect Mike's numbers to drop off due to the fact that he set a number of career highs this year, his advancing age and the fact that he's no longer in a contract year; but he still will benefit from hitting balls off the Green Monster in Fenway, is a golden glove caliber defensive 3rd Baseman and brings an intangible veteran presence to the clubhouse.

A few more pieces of the Yankee puzzle have come back together now that Mariano Rivera has agreed to resign with the Yankees for 3 years and $45 million dollars. Normally I bash the Yankees for overpaying for over the hill talent like this, but I think when you spend the money on consistent performers like Rivera and A-Rod it's money well spent. I'll be interested to see if the Yankees can buy a halfway decent starting rotation in time for next spring.

You remember that stuff I said about the Bills maybe giving the Patriots a game....yeah....nevermind that...

2007-11-19T23:32:00.000-05:00

I really thought the Bills would give the Patriots a game. Yeah, they didn't have Marshawn Lynch anymore, but they seemed to have gotten so much better since the brutal beating they got early in the season. They had even worked their way back to a winning record!

The Patriots are just too good this year. They destroyed the Bills on Sunday night, I don't even think the score accurately reflects how sound of a beating this was. The only TD for the Bills was also really lucky with JP Losman losing the ball on an earlier drive, recovering his own fumble, then scrambling and making a one handed throw, that looked to be a throw away at first glance, which a receiver caught and ran for the first down. The throw down field for the TD was also an aberration against a Patriots defense that usually does such a good job of preventing big pass plays like that one. Once again the game was over at the half. The Patriots magic number to win the AFC East is 1.

Elsewhere around the League:
The Colts just got away with a win over the Chiefs. Adam "Sleeper Agent" Vinatieri had another terrible day at 2/4, but hit the game winning field goal to save face. Not exactly an impressive performance for the Colts at home.

The Steelers were the biggest surprise losing to the Jets. THE JETS!! This gives the Patriots even more breathing room as their magic number for the bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs is 4.

BC on their way to the ACC title game

2007-11-19T23:05:00.001-05:00

BC can book their tickets for Jacksonville for the ACC title game after beating the Clemson Tigers at home.

I admit, I had a pretty bad feeling about this game. BC has faded out late in the season year after year. Now they were going up against a hot Clemson team, In Clemson, On a 2 game losing streak, With the ACC Atlantic division on the line, it seemed like the perfect recipe for bad momentum. But I was wrong.

(Random Observation: If you saw the immediate pre-game for this, did you see the Clemson team coming out onto the field? They had this really funny bit where they were all lined up in the tunnel with about 3 guys looking like they're killing themselves to hold these guys back. I just had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. I started saying things like "OH NO THEY'RE SO PSYCHED UP THESE 3 CHUBBY GUYS IN POLO SHIRTS NEED TO HOLD THEM BACK!" and "OH BOY, BETTER NOT LET THE TIGER OUT OF IT'S CAGE!". Eventually one of them did push past, at which point he stepped back behind them again and started pushing forward again)

The Eagles got off to a slow start and my fears seemed to be coming to light, but I remember a specific turning point. When Eagles LB Kevin Akins made that interception against Cullen Harper that's when I felt like the tides had turned. Harper had only thrown 4 Interceptions in his college career, so when he threw that pick I could sense that something was amiss. Of course the game remained tight right up until the last minute. When the commentator said something to the extent of "All Harper has to do here is try and get a few extra yards and not get sacked" It was like the football gods themselves had given the commentator some sort of inverse divination. After watching him get sacked a few moments later I jumped off my couch and did my own version of the sack dance. Clemson kicker Mark "I'm not Clay" Buchholz had a rough day as the potential tying kick fell short, a few yards short, like the number of yards lost due to that sack.

BC only moved up slightly in the rankings, which I felt was disproportionate given that they played a tough conference opponent on the road and came back from behind to give themselves a shot at a BCS bowl. Apparently Matt Ryan has played his way back to the fringe of Heisman contention with a little help from Oregon's QB Dennis Dixon, who is now out for the season. BC will play a home game against Miami with nothing on the line before heading down to Jacksonville to take on the winner of Virginia Tech-Virginia for the Orange Bowl bid.

Patriots v. Bills Preview

2007-11-17T03:06:00.000-05:00

With the Colts losing this weekend the Patriots now have some breathing room with regards to the Bye/Homefield advantage. Dwight Freeney is done for the season and was a huge part of the Indianapolis defense. The Colts are definitely reeling right now. Now the primary threat to the Patriots bye/homefield advantage/16-0 is the Steelers. If the Steelers run the table and the Patriots lose to the Steelers and another game as well the Steelers will get homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The Magic number for the bye is 5 (Colts) and the Magic number for homefield advantage throughout is 6 (Steelers).

The Patriots have an excellent chance to put the nail in the coffin for the AFC East with a win over the Bills on Sunday night. The magic number for the Patriots in the AFC East is currently 4, but if the Patriots win this game it will actually bring the magic number down to 1. Subtract one for the Patriots win, subtract one more for the Bills loss and subtract one more for clinching the head to head tie breaks with the Bills. A Patriots win Sunday night means that the Patriots would have to lose every game and the Bills would have to win all their remaining games for the Bills to overtake the Patriots in the AFC East, not a very likely scenario given the lofty goals for the Patriots this season.

There are some advantages and disadvantages going into this game. Buffalo has been better at home this year. The Bills are actually only 3-2 at home, but look at the two losses. They gave the Cowboys quite a scare on Monday night prior to the "Duel in Dallas" where some crucial mistakes late in the game cost the Bills what should have been a win as the last second field goal sailed through the uprights to give the Cowboys the win. Allowing Tony Romo to come back after throwing 5 interceptions was embarrassing. This was easily Dallas' luckiest win. The other loss at home was just as close with a last second 42-yard kick by Jason Elam as time expired giving the Broncos the 15-14 win. Both of these games could easily have been wins for the Bills if Elam and Folk hadn't been so clutch from long distances.

The big loss for the Bills will be that RB Marshawn Lynch will most likely not be playing in this game and is currently listed as doubtful. Lynch has been looked over with all the fireworks Minnesota's Adrian Peterson has been setting off, but Lynch has been very impressive all year and provided a spark to an otherwise lackluster offense. This may force the Bills to throw, something that has not been their strong suit this year.

Boston College v. Clemson preview

2007-11-17T02:43:00.001-05:00

There's really no great insight here or talk about where this game might lead. The Eagles have shot themselves in the foot by losing two consecutive ACC games to lose their national title hopes and put their ACC championship in jeopardy. Now it comes down to this game. If the Eagles win this game they win the Atlantic Division of the ACC and will be going to play the coastal division champion (The winner of the final game of the season between Virginia Tech and Virginia) in the ACC Championship game. If they lose, Clemson will go instead and BC can look forward to another irrelevant non-BCS bowl where they'll likely be passed over for worse teams with more reputable programs like Miami and Florida State.

Matty Ice has successfully played himself well out of Heisman contention. When he came back after a terrible game to win in Virginia Tech he was scrappy. When he just played badly against Maryland and Florida State he was just bad. That's three bad games in a row for Ryan, it might be a gambler's fallacy, but I think he's due to get his act together.

BC's defense has been equally lackluster after being impressive all year. They allowed more points to Maryland this week than the Terps had scored against any opponent this year with 42. By comparison, the Terps scored only 31 against I-AA Villanova and 26 against Florida International, the team with the longest losing streak in I-A football and currently 0-9 this season. The Terps were also on a losing streak in which they scored under 20 points in 3 consecutive games and lost to the UNC Tarheels. Maryland QB Chris "Goldilocks" Turner had a career game to put Maryland over the top.

Clemson, on the other hand, is currently on a four game winning streak and is now actually ranked above Boston College in the rankings at #15. Clemson QB Cullen Harper has put up some strong numbers this year. BC will have to find the winning formula and remember how to get temporary amnesia in order to beat the Tigers and earn the right to represent the Atlantic Division.

A-Rod comes crawling back to the Yankees

2007-11-16T01:58:00.001-05:00

When A-Rod decided to opt out of his contract and had what appeared to be a massive falling out with the Yankee front office I figured there would be no chance of A-Rod wearing pinstripes next spring. I figured that to screw the Yankees out of that much money from the Rangers in his contract would be unforgivable. I figured A-Rod saw the writing on the wall, that the Yankees were due to get into a rebuilding year and clear out some of their dusty old talent and start working towards the future and that A-Rod wanted to be part of a winner, like the Red Sox.

I missed the boat on this one. Apparently A-Rod/Scott Bora$$ grossly misjudged what clubs without pockets as deep as the Bronx Bombers were willing to pay, realized their mistake and A-Rod without his money grubbing agent in tow went crawling back to the Steinbrenner brothers begging to be a Yankee again and even willing to take a pay cut for costing the Yankees such a large chunk of Ranger money. This situation clearly didn't pan out as I would have liked. We can all get back to hoping A-Rod gets hit by a bus now.

The good news is that the Yankees may have to curb their offers towards Mike Lowell somewhat now and it should make it easier for the Red Sox to work out a reasonable deal with Mike. I stand by my belief that Mike's numbers will drop off when he's no longer having a contract year, but he still hits well in Fenway and is a solid defensive infielder and a positive influence in the clubhouse.

Manning, Dungy and Vinatieri combine their efforts to blow it against the Chargers

2007-11-13T00:07:00.000-05:00

The Germans actually have a word for this:

scha·den·freu·de n. Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.

This is exactly what I was experiencing after Adam Vinatieri's last minute field goal sailed wide to give the Chargers a slim 23-21 victory at home. This loss wasn't just on the shoulders of our once beloved, now turncoat place kicker, oh no, there was plenty of blame to go around. Peyton Manning set a Colts franchise record, but not the good kind of records like he usually sets, this time it was six interceptions in one game. Even Colts RB Joseph Addai looked lackluster with 56 yards on 22 carries against a Chargers defense that allowed Adrian Peterson to run up the highest yardage total by a running back in a single game just a week prior. Coach Tony Dungy stupidly decided to waste a crucial time out to argue with the referees about a false start penalty against his team. Oh, and three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney hurt his left foot in the fourth quarter and left the game. Freeney's status is questionable and the Colts have claimed Simeon Rice off waivers after he was released by the Denver Broncos last Friday. Then Jesus Christ himself came down from heaven wearing a Tom Brady jersey and smote Peyton Manning for his arrogance.....ok, maybe not that last bit, but it was still pretty bad.

This really opens things up for the Steelers. If they can beat the Patriots in Gillette on December 9th and run the tables and the Patriots lose another game they'll get homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. Otherwise, the Patriots are poised to wrap up the division, the bye and home field advantage in the coming weeks.

Mike Lowell can't come to a deal with the Red Sox before exclusive period ends

2007-11-12T23:51:00.000-05:00

Nick Cafardo's Extra Bases blog is reporting that the Red Sox couldn't come to a deal with Mike Lowell.

My guess as to how this will pan out? Mike Lowell will get his desired 4th year and probably more money to play for the Yankees. Then he'll revert closer to his career numbers without the Green Monster helping out his average and his numbers will get lower as he ages, like most of the Yankees that have been picked up coming off of their primes. I think the Sox will then be able to open up the purse strings to sign Alex Rodriguez without getting severe backlash from the Fenway Faithful for not resigning Mike Lowell.

News Writing Class Assignment: BC beats FAU 68-62

2007-11-12T23:31:00.000-05:00

I submitted this for my News Writing class assignment. We were all brought to the game, allowed to relax in the Media Room and then sit on press row for the game. The assignment was to write a recap between when the game ended ~9 PM and the deadline at midnight. This is what I wrote, don't think it's half bad. BC played a terrible game and were lucky to get hot down the stretch to beat FAU.

NEWTON - The Boston College men’s basketball team made a comeback late in the second half to beat the Florida-Atlantic Owls 68-62 in Chestnut Hill Monday night.

The Eagles trailed by as much as 8 points with time winding down in the second half, but were sparked by a 20-3 run with Junior Guard Tyrese Rice and Sophomore Forward Shamari Spears contributing 16 of the points. Complaining from Florida-Atlantic coach Rex Walters prompted a technical foul that further assisted the Eagles in their comeback. Soon the Eagles would put the game out of reach and would improve to 2-0 on the season.

Rice lead the Eagles in scoring with 21 points. Rice shot 5 of 13 from the field and 2 of 7 from beyond the arc, but was 9 for 10 from the free throw line and had a team high nine assists.

Spears also had a productive night. Spears posted 18 points, shot 7 of 10 from the field, sunk 4 of 5 free throws and lead the Eagles with 8 rebounds.

Both Rice and Spears missed Saturday’s season opening game against New Hampshire after violating NCAA rules by participating in a non-NCAA certified contest last July. Both players made their season debuts tonight. The Eagles received significant contributions from Freshmen Biko Paris and Rakim Sanders to post a 67-57 win against New Hampshire.

The Eagles will prepare to take on Mercer Bears next Sunday in Chestnut Hill. On Saturday Mercer posted a 96-81 upset win over the #18 USC Trojans.

My Second Article

2007-11-12T09:52:00.000-05:00

BC caps season with ACC title - Sports

This was actually a fun game to watch, unfortunately it was freezing cold that night which somewhat dampened the experience for me. The soccer coach was a nice fellow, but really only gave me one usable quote, the fact that I didn't have a recorder made me even more reluctant to use verbatim quotes from my hand written notes of the post game interview. I think this was an improvement over my swimming piece.

Too much pitching? A good problem to have...

2007-11-07T08:20:00.000-05:00

With the pick up of Schilling, the exercising of options for Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavarez there are now 7 potential starters for the Boston Red Sox: Beckett, Schilling, DiceK,Wakefield, Bucholz, Lester and Tavarez. What are we going to do with the extra two you ask? Obviously Julian Tavarez can be moved to the bullpen. What about the other 6? The other night I was talking with my co-workers about the option of possibly having a 6-man rotation. Turns out I might not be as crazy as I thought, this was from Nick Cafardo in today's Boston Globe:

"Epstein was asked about going to a six-man rotation and did not close the door on the idea. In fact, he said, it had been and would be up for discussion. Matsuzaka and Schilling likely would benefit by an extra day's rest."

The idea of having a 6 man rotation is somewhat odd. With Josh Beckett's youth and dominant pitching we wouldn't want to reduce his starts, but it would seem to make perfect sense for the rest of the rotation. Matsuzaka has pitched his entire career on a six man rotation, the transition to a 5 man rotation certainly took it's toll on Daisuke and he seemed to have some fatigue issues later in the year. Schilling is aging and seemed to benefit from working on an additional days rest. Tim Wakefield is also aging, although this is less of a factor due to the fact that he is a knuckleballer, given the injuries he incurred this year I'm inclined to believe it couldn't hurt for him to spread out his starts a bit more. Clay Bucholz has never pitched a full season in the majors and had to be shut down by the Red Sox before the playoff for fatigue issues, having extra rest between starts might help him transition to the grind of the majors. Jon Lester has also never had a full year at the big leagues, who's to say how he'll react to his first full season? This would still leave Julian Tavarez as the insurance man in the bullpen should their be an injury to one of the starters.

If the Sox don't choose to do this then I'm at a loss for who's going to be the odd man out. Beckett, Schilling and Daisuke are the untouchables. Wakefield has been a bullpen guy in the past, but he won 17 games last year as a starter. I don't think there would be any benefit to keeping Lester and Bucholz in the minors, they're both ready for the big leagues and would be going to waste in Pawtucket.

Isn't it great that with the current lack of starting pitchers on the free agent market this year we have more quality starters than we know what to do with? Big supply, strong demand, sounds like the formula for a favorable off season trade market for the Red Sox.

Kevin Youkilis wins Golden Glove

2007-11-06T17:13:00.000-05:00

Kevin Youkilis was named the winner of the American League Gold Glove for his outstanding fielding at first base all year long for the Red Sox. Now I can refer to his fielding prowess by saying he has won a golden glove rather than saying his fielding is golden glove caliber.

Curt takes the home town discount to sign with the Sox

2007-11-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

Curt Schilling is reporting on his blog that he has agreed to a one year deal with the Red Sox.
From Curt's blog 38Pitches.com:
"The deal looks like this.

$8 million in guaranteed base salary

$2 million in bonuses for 6 seperate weigh ins.

I inserted the weigh in clause in the 2nd round of offers, counter offers. Given the mistakes I made last winter and into Spring Training I needed to show them I recognized that, and understood the importance of it. Being overweight and out of shape are two different things. I also was completely broad sided by the fact that your body doesn’t act/react the same way as you get older. Even after being told that for the first 39 years of my life. Now I can’t get on Dougie anymore, which sucks, and I am sure the clause will add 15-100 more jokes to Tito’s Schilling joke book.

$3 million in IP incentives based on IP totals.

$1 million for receiving a Cy Young vote, any vote."

I salute Curt for making this deal. He definitely could have gone elsewhere to get more money or another year, but he took the hometown discount instead. Regardless of how this year turns out for Curt I'll be grateful for the concessions he made to stay in Boston. The Red Sox now have all of their starting rotation from last year as well as Clay Bucholz and Jon Lester.

Curt Schilling reports that he is coming close to a one year deal with the Red Sox.

2007-11-06T07:42:00.001-05:00

From Curt Schilling's Blog 38Pitches.com:
"Talks with the Red Sox are moving. Theo and I have spoken multiple times daily over the past week and given the current situation I am feeling very confident that we will be able to finalize a 1 year contract to allow us a chance to finish our career as members of the Red Sox organization.

There are some things to iron out and details that must be finalized for both sides but barring something unforseen (sic) or outrageously odd happening I feel very comfortable that I will finish my career here."

The Red Sox front office has verified that this is currently the situation.

Patriots come back in 4th Quarter to beat Colts.

2007-11-05T09:37:00.000-05:00

The Colts and some terrible officiating gave the Patriots their first, and possibly only, scare of the year. The Patriots refused to lose and scored two quick touchdowns in the fourth quarter to grab the lead for good as the defense shut down Peyton Manning, capping things off with a hit on Manning that resulted in a fumble that Roosevelt Colvin caught. A few runs, a third down pass to Wes Welker for a fresh set of downs and a couple of kneel downs later and this game was over.

I'm not going to harp on it, but the officiating in this game was terrible and, in the post-Donaghy world of officiating, refereeing and umpiring, suspiciously lopsided in the Colts favor. The few calls that went against Indianapolis (4 penalties, 25 yards) were 2 unquestionable false start calls a fairly obvious defensive holding call and a blatant offensive holding call. The one pass interference call that went against the Patriots the flag was thrown well after Randy Moss had secured the pass and hit the turf and the penalty was declined. Later Randy was called for an offensive pass interference call that had even the broadcasters scratching their heads. The Colts were also placed deep into the red zone on defensive pass interference calls against the Patriots. The second call against Ellis Hobbs on a deep throw to Reggie Wayne made no sense whatsoever as Hobbs made very little contact with Wayne, got past Wayne and was going for the ball when Wayne fell on Hobbs to draw the penalty. This game set a franchise record for penalties for the Patriots. I think it is also worth noting that the Colts did manage to cover the spread in this game.

Joseph Addai had a much better game than Peyton Manning did as Peyton's number were unspectacular and included an interception and a lost fumble. Tom Brady had a relatively bad day throwing two picks, including one in the red zone, which doubles his interception total for the year. Otherwise his numbers were solid with 3 TD passes and a good completion percentage.

Most people now feel confident that the Patriots will finish with a perfect season and see the Colts again in the AFC Championship game in Foxboro. This is the most likely scenario, but there's still some meat on the schedule for the remaining 7 games. The Bills have picked themselves up and won their last 3 games, the Eagles are capable of having a big day from time to time and they'll need to play the 4-3 Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore. These are some solid trap games. The real tough games left on the schedule include the Steelers in week 14. The Patriots could also be caught sleeping with the bye and home field advantage wrapped up in the final week of the season against the Giants in Giants stadium. At that point in the season the Giants could also be fighting with the Cowboys and the Redskins for the NFC East title or, even worse, a wild card playoff berth.

It's over, FedEx Orange Bowl here we come!

2007-11-04T11:58:00.000-05:00

In typical BC fashion, they blew it. Goodbye national title game, goodbye #2 Ranking and goodbye Matty Heisman.

This game was almost identical to the Virginia Tech game, except instead of a last minute touchdown pass, Matt Ryan threw right into coverage for a pick 6 to end the game for all intents and purposes. Matt Ryan had an atrocious night. It's hard to win games when you throw three interceptions, it honestly could have been more as he was constantly throwing into coverage. The Eagles defense was similarly lackluster. They caused no turnovers whatsoever, mediocre quarterback Drew Weatherford tore up a highly touted Eagles secondary and was given far too much time in the pocket. It also seemed like they let the 'Noles off the hook too many times on third down. BC got outplayed and deserved to lose this game.

So that's it, the pollsters are way too fond of their golden boys like LSU and Oklahoma for BC to ever get back into the national title hunt as a one loss team. The best we can hope for now? With a loss by Wake Forest to Virginia this weekend it's down to Clemson and BC for the Atlantic Division of the ACC. If Clemson beats Wake Forest and BC at home, they'll win the atlantic division of the ACC and go to the ACC Championship for a chance at the Orange Bowl, most likely facing either Virginia or Virginia Tech from the coastal division. That said, the Eagles are still masters of their own destiny, if they beat Clemson and either Maryland or Miami in the remaining 3 games they will clinch the division. If they don't manage at least a BCS bowl this will be a tremendous waste of a good season by the Eagles.

Wakefield and Tavarez to return for another year with the Red Sox

2007-11-03T00:53:00.000-05:00

The Associated Press is reporting that the Red Sox have exercised options to return SP/RP Julian Tavarez and SP Tim Wakefield to the Red Sox for another year. I strongly support this decision as both are cheap and versatile, veteran pitchers that can contribute in the starting rotation or the bullpen. Tavarez will likely be placed as a long reliever who will occasionally make spot starts if necessary.

This could be an indication that the Red Sox do not intend to re-sign Curt Schilling as these options provide the Red Sox with a good 5 man rotation of Beckett, DiceK, Bucholz, Lester and Wakefield with Tavarez as an insurance policy.

Curt had this to say on his blog 38Pitches.com:
"I also wanted to mention something else. For anyone interested please just assume things are happening with Boston without me mentioning it. Theo and I have spoken more than once but there will be no details or updates of these discussions. I am in contact with the Sox and talking."

This would suggest that the Red Sox and Curt have yet to come to a solid decision on Curt's contract.

BC v. FSU Preview

2007-11-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't been keeping up with college football this year, this isn't your older brother's Bobby Bowden dynasty Florida State Seminoles. The 'Noles are a respectable 5-3 this year and will likely gain bowl eligibility in their remaining schedule, but at 2-3 in the Atlantic division of the ACC their chances to win the Atlantic division are slim at best and a loss to the Eagles at Chestnut Hill will eliminate them as contenders. The 'Noles received a generous pre-season ranking, which speaks highly of their talent pool, but clearly something has been lacking in their execution. They immediately lost this ranking with a loss to an underrated Clemson team to begin the year. They had back to back ACC losses in weeks 6 and 7 against an underrated Wake Forest and inconsistent Miami team. Their only win of relevance is a win over former Dolphins coach Nick Saban's #22 Alabama Crimson Tide (6-2), the Crimson have since climbed back up to #17 in the rankings. Wins over Duke (1-7), UAB (2-6), Colorado (5-4) and NC State (3-5) lacks the same prestige. Boston College is a well earned #2 in the country, 8-0 and 4-0 ACC. In all likelihood, this game should be another ACC win for the Eagles against a winning program.

That said, FSU is a talented team that's in "wounded animal backed into a corner" mode. A win over the Eagles on the road would bring their program back to prominence, make them bowl eligible and help salvage a season that many in Tallahassee already consider to be a failure. There's a very big bullseye on the Eagles and the Seminoles are just the kind of team with the talent to surprise you. This is a classic trap game.

National Title Game Chase:

#3 LSU has it's last big test of the season on it's schedule against #17 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. LSU is threatening to leapfrog the Eagles in the rankings even if the Eagles finish undefeated and LSU finishes with 1 loss due to the Tigers strength of schedule and the Eagles weakness of schedule.

#1 Ohio State Buckeyes take on the #21 Wisconsin Badgers in Columbus. The Buckeyes are also undefeated at 9-0, but will need to win this game as well as win against the resurgent Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor to run the tables.

In what should be a great Pac-10 matchup, the undefeated #4 Arizona Sun Devils take on the #5 Oregon Ducks (7-1). The Sun Devils need this game for a legitimacy win. They beat Cal, which at the time was ranked #21, but Cal has since been dropped from the rankings after reaching rankings as high as #2 at one point this year. The Ducks are the real deal with a Heisman candidate at QB with Dennis Dixon and will provide the toughest test of the year for the Sun Devils. The Ducks are a 1-loss team, but could also be fringe national title contenders. They are coming off of a big win at home against USC and would be in a position to win the Pac-10 championship if they win this game.

ACC Roundup:

The Clemson Tigers should stay in ACC title contention for another week by steamrolling 1-7 Duke. Maybe the Blue Devils will surprise me, but I doubt it.

#24 Wake Forest and #23 Virginia will slug it out in Charlottesville, VA. Virginia needs to win in order to hold off Virginia Tech in the ACC Coastal division and Wake Forest needs to win to stay on BC's heels in the Atlantic Division. I'll be pulling for Virginia, but I think Wake Forest is a much better team.

Maryland will take on the UNC Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. Maryland's Atlantic Division chances are hanging on by a thread as it is, but I would like the 'Terps to be out of contention when BC heads down to College Park next week. UNC isn't likely to come through at 2-6, but they did surprise Miami in a 33-27 win in Chapel Hill a few weeks back. A win here would also put the 'Terps one win away from bowl eligibility.

The Miami Hurricanes will take on Tom O'Brien's NC State wolfpack in Miami. Miami needs this win to stay in the ACC title chase as they'll be taking on both of the teams on top of their division in the following two weeks. If they run the tables they would quite possibly be in a situation where they would need to beat BC in Chestnut Hill in order to win the Coastal division on the last week of the season. NC State isn't likely to stop them at 3-5, but one of those 3 was a huge upset win over #15 Virginia last week and Miami has shown a tendency to underestimate opponents based on it's losses to UNC and Georgia Tech in consecutive weeks. This win would make the 'Canes bowl eligible and is the last easy game on their schedule as they will have Virginia next week before trying to beat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and BC in Chestnut Hill to fnish out the season.

Decisions, Decisions....

2007-11-01T09:39:00.000-05:00

The season is over, there's a fresh World Series trophy in Boston and the celebration is over and the talk of dynasty is ready to begin. The Red Sox face some really tough decisions with regards to their approach to free agency this year. Some people will be moving on, some will be actively shopped around until they find a home elsewhere and some currently have nothing but question marks.

Let's start with the easy one:

Tim Wakefield: There's some controversy surrounding Tim Wakefield and whether or not the Red Sox will pick up the option on his contract for another year. This is almost a foregone conclusion in my mind. Regardless of what else happens, Tim Wakefield is just too good a bargain to pass up. He's the longest tenured Red Sox player on the roster by a wide margin, he can be a starter or help out in the bullpen and the fact that he's a knuckleballer makes his age/health minor considerations. Regardless of what happens with other pitchers on the staff, Tim Wakefield is an excellent insurance policy and will contribute.

Curt Schilling: I initially believed Curt would be staying in Boston and finish out his career with the Red Sox, but some recent news gives me good reason to doubt that this will be the case. News outlets are reporting anonymous sources within the organization think resigning Schilling to another year is unlikely, Curt has filed for free agency and has reported a number of teams he'd be interested in pitching for and Curt has written goodbye letters to a number of his teammates.

What do I think about Curt Schilling's situation? Putting aside the sentimental value of seeing Curt wrap up his career in a Boston uniform, I could easily go either way. Pro: Curt has only asked for one more year and has expressed no interest in a long term deal. Con: Curt wants the same salary for what is admittedly not the same product the sox wanted when they initially signed him. Pro: There is a real lack of quality pitching on the free agent market. Con: The Red Sox can sign Tim Wakefield and have a pretty good rotation of Beckett, DiceK, Bucholz, Lester and Wakefield; Schilling might get in the way of some promising prospects. Pro: Schilling showed some flashes of brilliance from his old self with the near no-hitter in Oakland and some dominating performances in the playoffs. Con: Schilling had a mediocre regular season at best and took a DL stint, at his age durability is a real concern.

Either way, I'm infinitely grateful that Curt seems to have no interest in playing for the Yankees. Seeing him finish his career in pinstripes would be a slap in the face to the Boston fan base that loves him, and he knows and acknowledges this.

Mike Lowell v Alex Rodriguez: Two weeks ago I would have been strongly in favor of signing Mike Lowell, but some things have changes since then. Alex Rodriguez basically gave the Yankees front office the finger by opting out of his contract and getting Texas off the hook for a large portion of the subsidy they promised the Yankees when they picked up A-Rod's contract. Now, the Yankees need a quality 3rd baseman and are unwilling to talk to Alex Rodriguez. What this does: Drives up the price of Mike Lowell and brings down the price of Alex Rodriguez. There are a very limited number of clubs that can afford A-Rod's services and still field a competitive team. I also think Rodriguez's decision to leave New York is the result of the transition they'll be going through with a new manager and likely losing some key members of the team to free agency. I think A-Rod wants to play for a serious title contender, the Yankees aren't likely to be able to offer this next year. This narrows down the list of potential homes for A-Rod considerably. My guess: Boston or the Angels. So, to summarize, Alex Rodriguez is young, just won the MVP award and will probably have to take less money than the Yankees would have paid him.

Mike Lowell, on the other hand, is coming off of an unprecedentedly good season. He had never hit above .300 in his entire career and this season he hit .324. His highest RBI total prior to this season was 105, this season he hit 120. This year was clearly a late career renaissance for him while in a contract year. I don't expect him to maintain these numbers once he's settled into what will likely be his last contract at age 33. If Mike Lowell is going to be in a Red Sox uniform again it's not going to be cheap, and it probably won't be worth it.

I hate to say it, but you might actually get more bang for your buck with Alex Rodriguez. The X factor? Clubhouse chemistry. When asked about A-Rod v. Mike Lowell Jason Varitek refused to comment, essentially saying that he felt that he wasn't the person to ask, but pointed out that he knows Mike Lowell is a big part of their clubhouse chemistry.

Coco Crisp: This guy needs to be moved, he was a good center fielder, but not good enough to let Jacoby Ellsbury rot in the minor leagues for another year.

Julian Tavarez: Julian Tavarez is very similar to Tim Wakefield. He's cheap and has great versatility and durability. Should Curt Schilling move on I think Julian would make an excellent 6th starter/long reliever in the event somebody in the starting rotation gets hurt.

Bobby Kielty: We could use a 4th outfielder, not sure this is necessarily the way to go though. I hear there are some solid prospects in the Red Sox minor leagues that could provide as a solid 4th outfielder.

Julio Lugo: The dream scenario in my mind actually involves Julio Lugo being sold off to another team with the Red Sox eating about a third of the money for his contract and bringing in Alex Rodriguez to play his original position at shortstop. This is farfetched and extremely speculative though. In all likelihood we're stuck with Julio Lugo next year. If it's any consolation, Lugo's batting numbers were almost all below his career average, I could see him bouncing back nicely in his second year.

Doug Mirabelli: We tried getting rid of Dougie before, but then we realized that nobody else could catch Tim Wakefield and a million passed balls per game wasn't good for business. This time we do have Kevin Cash, who caught Wakefield effectively during Doug Mirabelli's DL stint. I'd prefer to see Cash playing rather than Mirabelli. Of course if Wakefield isn't coming back then there's no need for Dougie whatsoever.

Should be interesting to see what the Red Sox front office puts on the field for 2008.

The 2007 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox!!!!

2007-10-30T19:37:00.001-05:00

What can I really say about this season that hasn't already been said? There's a couple people I'd like to thank...

Josh Beckett: You pitched so well all year, then you turned it up a notch for the post season. When we went down 3-1 against the Indians your start was the one beacon of hope that kept us all sane. You turned the tide, you did everything we could've asked of a pitcher and more.

Hideki Okajima: You made it interesting those last two games, but you were our workhorse in the bullpen all season long. Every time you came out late in the game in a close game we felt good because we knew you were throwing everything you had into every single pitch. Through hard fought inning after hard fought inning Dice-K's stable pony became the stud and we love you for it.

Jonathan Papelbon: You were truly born to be a closer. Your tremendous energy and exuberance brings a fun quality to the game that really makes it worth watching. We've watched you flourish from a promising young prospect in the minors to one of the most dominant closers in the game.

Dustin Pedroia: How stupid do we feel after we asked Terry to sit you down for Alex Cora early in the season. Those first few months must have been really tough up at the big ball club, but you never let that get to you and you fought and ground out at bats and somehow managed to bounce back to finish the season with numbers that make you worthy of Rookie of the Year consideration.

Jacoby Ellsbury: I remember when a friend of mine who's more familiar with the Red Sox farm system told me about you. I thought he was exaggerating, your ability to get big hits, your defensive skills, your speed on the basepaths. Minor league stats! Little did I know you were even better than advertised. When you finally got that spot in the ALCS it seemed like every time the Red Sox needed a boost, there you were to give it to them. I am really going to enjoy seeing what you can do in a whole season up at the big club.

Manny Ramirez: You make every pop fly to left an adventure, feel the need to flip of your helmet every time you run the bases and sometimes it seems like you don't care; but I know we never could have done it without you. There were times where your bat just carried our team through the tough times. That three-run walkoff homer against the Angels was huge.

Big Papi: Maybe the numbers were down this year, but everybody knew you were playing through alot of pain. Even through all of that, your presence at the plate never wavered, you still came through with big hits throughout the post season. I can't wait to see you bounce back from knee surgery and see you come back strong.

Mike Timlin: You did more than any of us could have expected this year. Brendan Donnelly was supposed to be our setup man, but that didn't work out, then it was supposed to be Eric Gagne, but that didn't work out, then the job fell to you and Manny Delcarmen and you came through when it mattered. You were great in the second half and great in the post season. You filled the gap between the starters and Okajima so well.

Kevin Youkilis: You were just great all year long. No longer are you the Greek God of Walks, you still get a decent amount of walks, but you've become a dangerous hitter. You got hot at the plate at just the right time, to the point where I was claiming your bat to be more indispensable than Big Papi. Your defense has been gold glove caliber all season long.

Mike Lowell: I'm not sure if you'll be back, the Yankees might make you an offer you can't refuse. The Red Sox also might decide that the money is better spent on the likes of Alex Rodriguez now that the Yankees are no longer available for a bidding war. Just like with Johnny Damon, I won't like it, but I'll understand. You came to us as a throw-in with Josh Beckett, but you've been every bit as valuable. We all knew you had great skills with a glove at third base, but we didn't know you were going to have such a potent bat. With Ortiz and Manny having down years your bat made up the difference and earned you the love and respect of the Boston faithful.

JD Drew: Thanks for the grand slam and some nice hits in the post season.

Julio Lugo: Thanks for some nice hits in the post season and not making one too many errors against the Indians.

Coco Crisp: Thanks for a solid season and not making a fuss when you were benched for the rookie. I'll always remember that smile on your face as you hobbled to the dugout after catching that pop fly to end game 7. I wish you luck wherever you end up next year.

Jason Varitek: Real fans know that what you did with the pitchers this year and your leadership in the clubhouse was the real contribution more so than your bat or your defensive skills. Thanks for another solid year.

Bobby Kielty: Thanks for 1/1 HR in Game 4. You didn't know it at the time, but that was the difference. Way to make it count.

Dice K: I know everybody's saying they overpaid for you, but that's what they said about Josh Beckett last year. Considering that Beckett went 16-11 his first year in Boston 15-12 doesn't look so bad. I expect big things from you next year. You gave us what we needed in Game 7 when everybody thought you couldn't do it.

Curt Schilling: I hope it's not, but if this is your final game in a Red Sox uniform, thanks so much for everything. It was amazing to see flashes of brilliance like your near no-no in Oakland and the extra gear you seemed to kick it into for the post season. Your physical tools aren't what they used to be, you recognized that and you worked around that and managed to be effective anyways.

Jon Lester: You might be THE feel good story on a team full of feel good stories. We were all inspired by your fight to beat cancer when we weren't sure we'd ever see you in a Red Sox uniform again. Yet, there you were in Game 4 pitching your heart out and getting out of some tough jams. You never complained when you were done rehabbing but Tito stuck with Julian Tavarez and showed some real class. I'm looking forward to seeing you as an every day guy next year.

Clay Bucholz: It's a shame we didn't get to see you dominate the post season the way you did in the regular season. Your no hitter was a true inspiration coming from a pitcher making just his second big-league start. I can't wait to see what you can do next year with a whole year at the big leagues to work with.

Julian Tavarez: You were just a mini-Tim Wakefield this year. You did everything we needed. Need a spot start on short rest? Why not Julian? Need a long reliever? Why not Julian? If we needed a closer I'm sure you would have been up to the task and done a halfway decent job in the process. Your versatility, your performance and your humble attitude were crucial.

Tim Wakefield: I think Mike Timlin said it all when he butted into Tim Wakefield's post game interview after Game 4 of the World Series. This win was all about you. You've been with us for so long it's hard to imagine what it'd be like to have Red Sox baseball without you. You had a great regular season. I can't imagine how hard it was for you to admit you were too banged up to pitch in the World Series, but you put the team ahead of your own personal wants and allowed John Lester to go out there and pitch a great game to wrap up the series. I sincerely hope the Red Sox can see what a bargain it would be to pick up your option for another year. With your versatility there's no way it won't be money well spent.

Terry Francona: You do such a great job of managing in a town where it's so tough to be a players manager. There's a million people second guessing every move you make when you manage the Red Sox, and you always respond with respect and professionalism. When Red Sox nation was calling for your blood after Game 4 of the ALCS, you kept a cool head and you stuck by your guns. Not an easy thing to do.

Royce Clayton: Thanks for showing us the way to dupe Taco Bell out of additional free tacos.

It was a great season and I can't wait till spring training...

Is there any way we could NOT give Eric Gagne a WS ring?

2007-10-28T23:40:00.000-05:00

Although anti-climactic, it was an appropriate ending to a dominating season by the Red Sox. Wow....just....wow....

Who Sits and Who Hits?

2007-10-27T03:20:00.000-05:00

Terry Francona has made a tentative decision to sit Kevin Youkilis for game 3 and David Ortiz will take his spot in the field at 1st base. Jacoby Ellsbury will be moved into the leadoff spot and Dustin Pedroia will be moved into the #2 spot in the lineup to replace Youk. I'm not sure I agree with this decision. Have a look at the numbers for the ALCS and World Series for Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Mike Lowell.

Ortiz:
10/32, .313 BA, 1 HR, 7 BB and 5 RBI
Youkilis:
16/36, .444 BA, 3 HR, 8 BB and 8 RBI
Lowell:
11/33, .333 BA, 1 HR, 5 BB and 9 RBI

You don't need to tell me about how clutch David Ortiz has been in post seasons past, but Youkilis is swinging the hot bat right now, I'd like to ride that until he cools off a little.

Consider who would benefit most from the additional rest. Ortiz is pretty banged up right now, some time to heal would allow him come back with a vengeance when/if the series returns to Boston.

Let's not forget that Big Papi can still pinch hit. How great would it be for a pitcher to think he's one Julio Lugo ground out away from getting out of a jam only to have David Ortiz stroll up to the plate instead? One of the most clutch hitters in baseball history hitting in only the clutchest of situations? That's what I call a psychological edge.

I don't place a high priority on fielding, but it's still something that should not be ignored. Youkilis and Lowell are both Golden Glove caliber fielders at their positions. Big Papi with his bad knee, complete lack of speed and rust from not having played the position for quite some time is a serious liability. Last time the Red Sox played a first baseman with a bad leg in the World Series he made a costly error. His name was Bill Buckner, perhaps you've heard of him?

Matty Ice comes through in the clutch

2007-10-27T02:14:00.000-05:00

I just want to clarify something here.

This win had less to do with Matty Ice getting it together in the fourth quarter and more to do with the excellent Eagles defense and special teams. They won't be properly recognized, but the heroes of this game was the stingy Eagles defense that held the Hokies to only 10 points all game and kept the game within striking distance while Matt Ryan was posting 3 and out after 3 and out. Keeping the Hokies offense under wraps all night in their home stadium with the offense floundering was no small task and they were up to the challenge.

Eagles punter Johnny Ayers might have been the real MVP behind center as he buried the Hokies deep in their own territory multiple times throughout the course of the game. Even Sid Vicious came through with an onsides kick that was recovered by the Eagles and gave Matt Ryan ample time to march down the field.

That said, I was impressed by Matt Ryan's ability to get temporary amnesia, forget the terrible game he had played up until the fourth quarter and came up big when it counted. Despite the fact that this was easily his worst game of the year, experts seem to think that his clutch performance in the 4th Quarter will highlight his resiliency and supplement his Heisman credentials.

This was a huge game for the Eagles. The biggest criticism of the Eagles this year had been that they simply hadn't played against any good teams. With a win over a top 10 team on the road it's going to be harder for the experts to make this argument. The Eagles are in a strong position to go to the ACC Championship and possibly national title game if they can avoid the upset in the 4 trap games that round out their schedule.

The Atlantic Division of the ACC is a bit thin. Wake Forest is second in the division with one loss and will need the Eagles to lose two of their remaining four games as the Eagles would win a tie-breaker scenario as a result of their win in the opening week of the season. Florida State and NC State have both been eliminated for all intents and purposes with 3 conference losses each. Clemson and Maryland both have two losses in the conference, but one will knock the other from being a realistic contender as they play this week. After this weekend's games there should be only two teams within striking distance of the Eagles.

It might be a bit optimistic to talk about the national title potential with some strong opponents still on the schedule, but it's looking to be a distinct possibility.

The Ohio Buckeyes have the top spot for now, but they've also been getting fat off of cupcakes in the schedule and they're approaching the meat of they're schedule. They'll need to beat Penn State in Happy Valley, A Wisconsin team that had been ranked highly at one point in the season, An Illinois team that upset Penn State and Wisconsin in back to back weeks and finish off the season in Ann Arbor, Michigan where the Wolverines seem to have bounced back nicely from their struggles early in the season and is now ranked at #20.

LSU is back near the top of the rankings after dropping from a loss to Kentucky two weeks ago, but the critics love this team with a passion and a last second victory over #17 Auburn was reason enough to bump them back up to number 3. The Tigers have their last real challenge of the year against #24 Alabama in Tuscaloosa and will wrap up the year with what should be 3 easy games. If LSU manages to win all their remaining games I could easily see LSU leapfrogging the Eagles in the rankings....at which point I'm going to be very busy writing alot of angry letters.

IT'S TOO MUCH!!!!

2007-10-26T04:37:00.001-05:00

I'm going to need some recovery/digestion time to let the gravity of last night's contest set in. If you missed the BC Eagles v. Virginia Tech game, you can see the part that matters below. Let me set the stage. BC's offense had been horrific all day long, Virginia Tech's offense wasn't much better, but they had been able to put up 10 points. The Eagles finally scored with little time left in the fourth quarter, managed to convert an onsides kick to get the ball back, that's where this video picks up.

After a horrendous showing by Matt Ryan that looked like it was going to bring an end to the Eagles undefeated season, the end of their national title hopes and the end of his Heisman Trophy chances, on those last two drives he showed the 66,233 fans in Lane Stadium what all the fuss was about. U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E.

After the shock of that win I wasn't really able to enjoy the fantastic game the Red Sox were playing. Curt Schilling, Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon were better than good keeping the Rockies to just one run to give the Sox the 2-1 victory.

I'll post some more about both of these games tomorrow sometime, after the shock wears off a bit.

Red Sox or Eagles?

2007-10-25T14:37:00.001-05:00

Me and the rest of the BC/Red Sox fans face a tough decision tonight.

On the one hand, I have the Boston College Eagles. They're undefeated at 7-0 and are playing their biggest game of the year at Virginia Tech (6-1, 3-0 ACC). This is the legitimacy game. BC is ranked number 2, but this is more the result of Boston College being in the right place at the right time, alot of cupcakes on the schedule and the teams ahead of the Eagles continuing to lose. The Eagles have only two respectable wins to their credit at this point by beating Wake Forest (5-2, 3-1 ACC) in the opening game and an overrated Georgia Tech (5-3, 2-3 ACC) in week 3. This game has everything going for it: It's a matchup featuring two top 10 teams, It's against an ACC team and therefore has ramifications for the ACC Championship game and the Eagles need to run the tables to get into the National title game and this game is the biggest threat to the Eagles going undefeated. This will also have a huge effect on Matt Ryan's Heisman trophy chances. If the Eagles win this game it could be the biggest season for BC football since a guy named Doug Flutie was behind center and I was in diapers.

On the other hand...

How many times does one get the opportunity to see the Red Sox compete for a World Championship? Sure, we got one back in 2004, but there was a pretty big drought before that if I remember correctly. It could be a while before I get to see the Red Sox on the biggest stage in baseball again. If Curt Schilling and the Red Sox bats get it done tonight it could be the beginning of the end for the Rockies.

So what do I do? No doubt the World Series is a bigger deal than BC-VT by itself, but is one game of the World Series bigger than BC-VT? How do I eat, sleep and drink Red Sox but bleed Maroon and Gold? Which game gets my attention and which game will I Tivo and desperately try to avoid hearing the score of?

Fortunately, there is a reasonable gap between the start times of each, maybe the Eagles can run up the score early on and make it easy on me! One can only hope....

Red Sox rout Rockies in opening game of World Series, surprisingly series not over...

2007-10-25T12:50:00.000-05:00

First of all, let's try to put game 1 into perspective before we declare the series to be over:

1) Turns out none of the thirteen runs the Sox scored last night carry over into tonight, or any of the other 6 potential games in this series. The Red Sox lit up CC Sabathia to open up the series with the Indians, but that didn't prevent them from winning the next 3 games.

2) Josh Beckett will probably only be able to make 1 more start, so I hope you enjoyed it. Apparently some of our other pitchers are going to have to win games if we're going to win this series.

3) After tonight's game, the Red Sox are going to have to travel to the mile high city where hit baseballs carry just a bit more. Maybe some of those wall ball doubles the Rockies hit last night will turn into home runs. Also, the Red Sox will have to sit either Big Papi, Kevin Youkilis or Mike Lowell in Colorado; all of which have been key contributors in the Red Sox lineup all year. In order to get Papi's bat they'll have to take his glove and his bum knee as part of the deal and lose either the golden glove caliber skills of either Mike Lowell or Kevin Youkilis. I hate to say this, but it might be better to have Papi on the bench as a pinch hitter rather than take another potent bat and good glove out of the field. At least that way he'll be rested by the time it comes back to Fenway.

4) Clearly the Rockies lost a step from their eight days off. Jeff Francis looked terrible and the timing of the Rockies hitters looked way off as they tried to hit Josh Beckett. They're due to get their groove back pretty soon.

The Good News:
1) There was some concern about whether or not the Rockies knew how to hit Josh Beckett as they were able to give Josh his first loss and worst outing of the regular season. They looked pretty lost trying to hit Beckett last night.

2) The Rockies had to plow through a large portion of their bullpen to eat innings. With no off day this could affect their availability or effectiveness for tonight's game.

3) I think it's nice psychologically to break the Rockies of that confidence they probably had from their unbelievable winning streak. Not only did they end the streak, they ended it with authority.

4) A win tonight ensures that the Rockies will need to win at Fenway to win the series. Maybe you can never really quantify it, but homefield advantage is a beautiful thing.

World Series Game 1 Preview: Beckett v. Francis

2007-10-24T03:19:00.000-05:00

This pitching matchup occurred before on June 14 at Fenway and ended in a 7-1 loss to the Rockies. Looking at the box score, it seemed like the Red Sox should have had a better game than one run. Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek and Manny Ramirez all had 2 hits and everybody in the lineup but David Ortiz and JD Drew had a hit. Jeff Francis was pulled after 5 innings and gave up no runs whatsoever.

Beckett, on the other hand, gave up more earned runs than he had all year and recorded his first loss for the year. 3rd baseman Garrett Atkins was the game's hero hitting a grand slam in the third inning to give the Rockies a 5-0 advantage. Matt Holliday would hit a 2 out solo shot in the fourth and went 2 for 5 on the day. A few other Rockies also had good days at the plate. Atkins would finish the day 3 for 5, 2nd baseman Kaz Matsui would also go 3 for 5 on the day and the catcher Yorvit Torrealba was 2 for 4 for the day.

The impression I got of this game was that Beckett temporarily reverted back to his 2006 form being susceptible to the long ball, something he has improved upon dramatically this season. Francis was somewhat lucky in his ability to get out of jams as the Red Sox hit him well but couldn't seem to come through with clutch hits.

Things to look for:
1) Matt Holliday: He's the NLCS MVP and finished near the top in the NL in every offensive category. Ironically his batting average and OBP in the post season are significantly down from his regular season and career numbers going only 8 for 28. Why all the fuss? 4 of those 8 hits were homeruns.

2) Hawpe, Torrealba and Matsui: These three guys have been the heart of the Rockies offensive production in the post season. They have been an excellent supplement to Holliday's bat by doing a great job of getting on base and coming through with big hits in the playoffs. Together they've drawn 14 walks, put up 17 RBI's and a combined 24/77 hitting. All three of these hitters were below .300 hitters for the season. If the sox pitching can snap these guys back to reality the rest of the lineup is hitting below .200.

3) Feeling rusty or rested? The Rockies have had a record 8 day layoff after sweeping the Diamondbacks in 4 games. Different teams and players react differently to long layoffs. They may react well to the additional rest to heal and prepare, or they may be caught flatfooted with their timing off trying to catch up to a Josh Beckett fastball. The Rockies have attempted simulated games to stay sharp. If Beckett comes out throwing fire and they're not ready for it, it could be a long night for Rockies hitters.

Tim Wakefield to be left off World Series roster!

2007-10-23T14:31:00.000-05:00

The Red Sox held a press conference today to announce that Tim Wakefield would be left off the World Series roster due to his injuries. Wakefield was the only Red Sox pitcher to record a win against the Rockies during their interleague series against them in mid-June. The Red Sox lost the 3-game series 1-2 with Beckett and Schilling taking the losses.

Terry Francona suggested Jon Lester as a replacement for Wakefield's spot in the rotation and announced the first 3 starters, the rotation should look something like this:
1) Josh Beckett
2) Curt Schilling
3) Daisuke Matsuzaka
4) Jon Lester?

Unlike in the Indians series, the Red Sox do not have the option of pitching Beckett on short rest game 4 and then having him make a start in game 7 on full rest. Although the Red Sox didn't mention him, Julian Tavarez is also an option for a fourth starter, but I think he would be put to better use to take Lester's spot as a long reliever/meltdown insurance plan in the bullpen. The number suggest that Tavarez is more effective his first time through the lineup and becomes less effective in subsequent times through the lineup.

They also announced that Jacoby Ellsbury will be starting in center field in place of Coco Crisp. I strongly support this decision as Ellsbury is swinging a hot bat lately and his defensive skills and speed on the basepaths are comparable to Crisp.

Like taking candy from a.......terrible football team...

2007-10-22T03:39:00.000-05:00

Coming into this game I was under the distinct impression that this was a classic trap game. Normally, for a trap game the underdog has to be underrated, the favored team is overconfident and is caught off guard by the underdog. Normally there has to be some sort of semi-relevant statistic that gives the factual basis for this concern.

For this game the fact that I kept on thinking of was 0-21 @ Miami losing to the Dolphins last year. What I forgot, however, is that these are the '07 Patriots and they are the 0-7 Dolphins. It's pretty hard to underrate an 0-6 team like the Dolphins and even harder to underrate an 0-7 team. As for the Patriots, clearly Tom Brady hasn't forgotten the embarrassing blemish on last season's record and seemed to be out for blood as he spread the ball around and racked up 5 TD passes IN THE FIRST HALF!!!!! Coming back from the locker room with a 5 touchdown lead much of the Miami crowd decided to beat the traffic and the Patriots were playing as though they had bigger fish to fry and couldn't wait for this game to be over. By the time the 4th Quarter rolled around, Bill felt it was time to take it easy on them and threw Matt Cassel out there to eat up some clock. Of course Matt quickly threw an interception that was returned for a Touchdown. The Patriots sideline immediately went into crisis mode as the Dolphins were now only a mere 21 points behind in the 4th Quarter. Bill had Tom Brady get suited up again and ran him out there to put another 7 on the board and put the lead a much safer 28 points away.

When asked about running up the score on the Dolphins by bringing Tom Brady back into the game, Bill denied this vehemently.

"I did it because of the score," Belichick said. "One more turnover, and then it's a 14-point game in the middle of the fourth quarter."

This was a game only in the academic sense, game usually implies the possibility of failure, this was a slaughter. The Dolphins can now race against St. Louis Rams for worst record in the league and 1st pick overall in next year's draft. The Patriots on the other hand have bigger goals. Think they gave Don Shula in the stands and his undefeated 1972 Dolphins squad something to worry about?

Next week the Patriots will take on the Redskins with it's very well earned 4-2 record at Gillette Stadium. The 'skins have had a tough schedule and are one of the elite teams in the NFC and in a tough division with Dallas and the Giants. They're a good football team, but probably not good enough to beat the Patriots, but then again who is?

Elsewhere in the League: I think Jacksonville has a real shot against the Colts on MNF. The Broncos caught the Steelers with their pants down and pulled out a last second 50 yard field goal for the win. The Steelers have some real talent on their roster that gives them the tools to compete with the best teams in the league, but they seem to have some trouble with consistency. Buffalo pulled off an upset against the Ravens and now solidly possess the #2 spot in the AFC East at 2-4. In related news, the Patriots magic number is down to 6, they could potentially clinch their division by week 11.

WORLD SERIES BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-21T23:35:00.000-05:00

I am almost in shock after tonight's game. All the signs were in place for things to go wrong. Daisuke Matsuzaka looked terrible in all of his post season outings and I had nightmares of Daisuke melting down and Josh Beckett warming up in top of the first inning trying to squeeze a few more innings out of his tired arm to keep our World Series hopes alive. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz weren't hitting. Jake Westbrook was getting out of jam after jam after jam thanks to his incredible knack for inducing double plays and found his groove later in the game keeping the Indians close the way he did in Game 3. This is normally where the Sox give up two runs on stupid mistakes like Julio Lugo missing a routine pop fly or Julio Lugo failing to turn an easy double play or Julio Lugo making a costly baserunning error to assist an Indians double play and pack it in for the season...but not tonight. Tonight the Red Sox found their second wind late in the ball game and pounded on the Indians bullpen to turn a tight 3-2 game into a full fledged blowout and Julio's miscues will forever be swept under the rug of victory. I guess we found out where those Dustin Pedroia hits were hiding as he slammed in a 2-run homerun to give the sox the 3-run cushion they needed to breath easy, then slapped a 3-run double in the eighth to put the game out of reach and prompt Big Papi to get his goggles on. Any Red Sox fan who tells you that their confidence never wavered when they went down 3-1 isn't a true Red Sox fan. The 2004 season was an excellent band-aid, but deep down we can't forget the chokes of post seasons past. Every big game makes you think this may be the first chapter in a new century of Red Sox playoff woes. Few things compare with the feeling of Coco Crisp catching that ball and running into the wall, but still springing up and hobbling to the dugout with a smile on his face, because now he knows that feeling too.

Maybe the Rockies will come into Fenway on Wednesday well rested and blazing hot and destroy the Red Sox hopes of winning another championship, but for tonight the Red Sox can sleep easy knowing the Rockies are going to have to come to Fenway, where Josh Beckett will be waiting for them.

Beckett sends it back to Boston

2007-10-19T03:13:00.000-05:00

There is so little about the Red Sox you feel like you can rely on this year. Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Dice-K, Dustin and even Manny and Big Papi have been consistently inconsistent all year. Fortunately for the Red Sox faithful, Josh Beckett isn't on that list. He was solid all season and seems to have turned it up a notch for the post season as he posts one lights out performance after another. It's no wonder the fans were calling for Tito's blood after putting Tim Wakefield in rather than Beckett on short rest for Game 4, who wouldn't want 3 appearances this series with the way he's been pitching lately? The other Cy Young candidate CC Sabathia paled by comparison as the sox once again got to him early and often. If one wasn't familiar with their bodies of work, one might assume that Byrd and Westbrook were the dual aces on the staff rather than Sabathia and Carmona based on their performances in the ALCS.

There's something comforting about the Red Sox situation right now. It would have been easy for the Red Sox to get swept in Cleveland, but now they've grabbed the momentum back, and if the Indians want to go to the World Series they're going to have to come to Friendly Fenway and stump the sox in front of a raucous home crowd. If they can do that then maybe they deserve to go to the World Series. Curt Schilling will have a chance to add another chapter to his volume of post-season lore in Game 6 on Saturday night. The sox were able to get to Fausto Carmona in game 2 and pushed it to extra innings before Eric Gagne and Javy Lopez teamed up to blow it, with any luck they'll be able to get to him again and Curt Schilling will turn out a better performance this time around.

Fortunately for the officiating crew, their botched call of what was clearly a Manny Ramirez Home Run will get swept under the rug as the extra run was inconsequential given the 7-1 final score, but I'm still upset about it, at the time it was still a very close game and another run could have been the difference that ended a season of baseball. The officiating this ALCS has been terrible, especially the balls and strikes. The strike zone hasn't been consistent at all. I've heard arguments that a more technological instant replay approach to baseball would ruin the flavor of the game, but there's nothing more irritating than calls that stand that were clearly incorrect when seen on replay like Manny's homer tonight or when it seems like an opposing pitcher is getting questionable strike calls and your pitcher isn't. The technology is there, it makes no sense not to use it.

In other news...

The University of South Florida Bulls, this year's Cinderella story in college football, which had scraped and clawed it's way to a perfect record and #2 in the AP Polls lost to Rutgers Thursday night. This will finally bring an end to the speculation that the Bulls could run the table, post a perfect record and shock the college football world by going from an unranked program to national title contender in the course of a year. This is good news for Boston College as they should move up in the rankings over the weekend as a result. This has been the overall theme of BC's season, advancing in the rankings not because they're winning, but because the teams in front of them continue to lose. If the scrappy Michigan State Spartans can pull out a win over the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes BC might be able to jump from 3rd to 1st in the bye week.

My first published article...

2007-10-18T03:04:00.000-05:00

The Heights

The time between the end of this meet and the deadline was like two hours, throw in the drive home and I was in a rush. I scraped this thing out from my notes/recorded interview with the coach in about 45 minutes. Not my best work, but I'm glad to see it still made it to print. I was told once I'd put in some time on this stuff I'd be able to move onto more relevant/entertaining sports, I personally hope this comes about sooner rather than later. I came at this assignment with a positive attitude, but have you ever been to a swim meet as a spectator? It's like a louder version of watching paint dry. I respect that fact that the sport relies heavily on perfecting technique, but to a casual observer in the stands it just looks like swimming back and forth alot.

The Irish Famine of 2007 continues, BC advances to 7-0 and #3 in the polls

2007-10-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

BC came into this game the heavy favorite, ranked unanimously at #4 in the country and sporting an undefeated record more than halfway into this season. The Irish, on the other hand, have had a terrible start and now hold an embarrassing 1-6 record in what has been written off as a rebuilding year. Despite this disparity between one of the most notable rivalries in college football, the BC fan base was up for this game and many made the trip to South Bend to see the game. The campus was a ghost town this weekend and an eerie silence overtook the mods, the hub of BC's nightlife.

BC didn't disappoint as they rolled to a 23-14 victory. A few quick observations about the game.

1) Matt Ryan threw alot of passes over the heads of his receivers, but he still put up some respectable numbers on the day and the win helped him further his Heisman aspirations.

2) Ryan bounced back well from the interception he threw that was returned for a Touchdown, I like that kind of unflappable confidence, or as he termed it "temporary amnesia".

3) The Irish seem to be figuring themselves out. Their backup junior quarterback Evan Sharpley played sharpley (I couldn't resist...sorry) after he took over for starting quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

4) BC running back Andre Callender had another good game for the Eagles, it's nice to see the run can get it done when the defense is keeping Matt Ryan from making big passes.

5) There were a massive amount of questionable penalties called over the course of this game, most against the Eagles. I found it amusing when Charlie Weis was exclaiming from the sidelines that every call had gone the Eagles way, shortly after the commentators noted that the Eagles had been charged with nearly twice as many penalties as the Irish. The final numbers were 15 penalties for 131 yards against the Eagles, 7 penalties for 64 yards against the Irish. Nice try Charlie...don't get too worked up, not with that bum ticker...

Next week's game against Virginia Tech will be a real test for the Eagles. The Hokies were the victims of 48-7 shellacking by LSU down in the Bayou, but other than that they've been a very strong team. They put up an impressive win against Clemson two weeks ago and have clawed their way back up to 12th in the polls and are tied with Virginia at 3-0 in the coastal division of the ACC.

Wins don't come easy out of Blacksburg.

Duel in Dallas: Cowboys get blown away 48-27

2007-10-14T21:23:00.000-05:00

This was easily the best win for the Patriots this year. They downed a 5-0 team on their home turf.

They didn't get lucky. Romo seems to have worked out the kinks from the 5 interception game on MNF against Buffalo. His only interception came late in the game and was the last nail in the Cowboys coffin at that point. The Patriots also had an acrobatic Randy Moss TD pass downfield be overturned on review. The Patriots managed to overcome a big mistake by Tom Brady giving away 7 points on a strip sack. Despite the mistakes the Patriots ground out a well earned, convincing win.

As for TO? He put up a respectable 6 catches for 66 yards and had a TD catch and did put up a slightly better day than the "Other 81" Randy Moss who had 6 catches for 59 yards and a TD catch. Moss wasn't really the story as Wes Welker and Donte Stallworth cleaned up with the backfield more open thanks to the Moss double team.

The AFC East continues to be abysmal outside of the Patriots as Miami dropped to 0-6 this weekend and the Jets are still 1-5. Buffalo had the bye this week and occupies the #2 spot in the division at 1-4. The Patriots magic number is now 7.

The Patriots will be trying to avoid the huge upset against winless Miami on the road next Sunday.

2007-10-14T02:00:00.000-05:00

Feeling down about Game 2? This made me feel better...

ALCS Preview

2007-10-11T22:53:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, The Indians were able to wrap up their series against the Yankees in Game 4 and weren't forced to use either of their 1-2 starting rotation punch in the process. Rather than pitching Sabathia the Indians chose to pitch Byrd and they pulled out the win. Because of this the matchup between Beckett and Sabathia is locked in. The season series between these two was 5-2 in favor of the Red Sox. Their last series was an interesting exchange as Dice-K pitched 7 shut out innings to get the win over C.C. Sabathia in a 1-0 win. Fausto Carmona would flip that on Josh Beckett and the Red Sox the following night in a 1-0 win for the Indians. In the last game between the two Julian Tavarez and Kason Gabbard were lit up for 9 runs, but the Sox put up 14 of their own to win the game. Early in the season Curt Schilling threw a 7 inning 1 run gem to get the win against the Indians. Beckett also pitched a solid 7 Inning 3 hits 2 ER performance early on in the year.

What does all this mean? Any of the Sox starting 3 is capable of having a lights out performance against the Indians and Sabathia and Carmona are just as capable of shutting down the Red Sox. I would say that Sabathia and Carmona are slightly more potent than Beckett and Schilling, but there isn't a huge disparity. There is a larger disparity between Tim Wakefield and DiceK and the Indians 3-4 Westbrook (6-9) and Byrd (15-8). The fact that the Indians haven't had the opportunity to hit against Tim Wakefield this year should be an advantage to wake who can often throw off hitters who aren't experienced with hitting the knuckleball.

This is a very evenly matched series, the sox will be lucky to advance to the World Series, but they have all the tools necessary to do so.

The Bills do everything possible to blow it against Dallas on MNF

2007-10-09T09:06:00.000-05:00

The Cowboys-Bills game on Monday Night Football last night was absolutely ridiculous. Tony Romo, the head of one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL right now, threw 5 interceptions and lost a fumble for good measure. Romo was playing this game like he had bet his salary for the next 10 years on the Bills. Finally, Romo scored a TD and had the opportunity to tie with the 2 point conversion, but instead TO dropped a really good pass in the end zone, but who needs the two points when you can just get 3 for a FG? Dallas successfully converted an onsides kick, got to the brink of their kickers FG range and their kicker put it through the uprights not once, but twice after the Bills coach pulled off the trendy "last second timeout to ice the kicker" trick that everybody seems to be trying these days. The kick was dead on and had the distance as time expired.

The one thing the national media and ESPN seem to be glossing over is just how astoundingly bad the Bills offense was this game. Their defense and special teams put up 21 points and 6 turnovers total and they only had one scoring drive, a FG, to supplement that score. They even threw an interception deep into the red zone where a FG probably would have locked up the game on for the Bills. There were so many times where any life from the Bills offense would have put the nail in Dallas' coffin but they just couldn't deliver.

I took an active interest in this game as the Patriots are headed down to Dallas to take on the Cowboys this coming Sunday and the Pats will be seeing the Bills again in week 11. Personally, I feel much better about both of those games after watching this game. Dallas' offense isn't as sharp as it seemed and they probably aren't in the same class as the Colts and Patriots.

3 posts for the price of one: EVERYBODY WINS!

2007-10-07T17:45:00.000-05:00

This was a fruitful weekend for Boston sports as the BC Eagles advanced to 6-0 against Bowling Green University, The Patriots moved to 5-0 against the Browns and the Red Sox swept the Angels and await the winner of Cleveland-Yankees in the ALCS.

The Red Sox swept the beat up Angels in Anaheim this afternoon in a convincing 9-1 victory. Curt Schilling gave up no runs in 7 innings before Okajima came in to pitch the 8th and Gagne came in on mop up duty to give up a run in the 9th. Manny and Ortiz went back to back against Weaver to get the 2-0 lead, a shaky margin of victory until the Red Sox posted 7 more in the top of the eighth inning. This will allow the Sox to rest up and reset their rotation for the upcoming ALCS. After watching the Sox beat up on the worn out Angels I wouldn't mind seeing the Cleveland-Yankees series go to five games. Seeing Sabathia or Carmona any less than the Red Sox have to would be a big advantage. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner also made the following statement regarding the status of Joe Torre:

"His job is on the line," the owner was quoted in Sunday's editions of The Record of New Jersey. "I think we're paying him a lot of money. He's the highest-paid manager in baseball, so I don't think we'd take him back if we don't win this series."

Could this be the end of the Joe Torre era in New York? Dare I say a "rebuilding year" for the Bronx Bombers? I personally hope so.

On to other matters...

The New England Patriots cruised to another easy win to improve to 5-0 in a 34-17 win at home over the Browns. The Patriots seemed to almost lose interest in a lethargic third quarter that broke an impressive streak of consecutive quarters with points scored and allowed the Browns to almost sneak back into this game. Tom Brady had his least impressive performance so far this season and was supported by an impressive showing by the defense as it produced 3 interceptions (2 by Junior Seau and 1 by Asante Samuel) and a fumble recovery and return for a Touchdown in the last minute of the game by Randall Gay. The Patriots first real test will come next Sunday in Dallas as they take on the 4-0 Cowboys. (looking good to become 5-0 against the Bills on MNF) If they win this game in the same easy manner they have cruised through team after team this year expect the 16-0 talk to reach a whole new level. That said I have no expectations that Tony Romo and one of the most impressive offenses in the NFL to roll over even with the Patriots defense being as solid as it has been.

Speaking of undefeated football teams...

The BC Eagles rolled to 6-0 after a strong 55-24 win over Bowling Green and amazingly to it's highest ranking ever at #4 in the country in both the USA Today, AP and Fan Polls. USC and Wisconsin dropped in the rankings after losing to unranked programs to make room for the Eagles move up in the rankings. USC broke it's 35 game home winning streak by losing to Stanford in a 24-23 stunner. Stanford was fittingly the last team to beat the Trojans at home back in 2001.

Matt Ryan added to his Heisman credentials with a solid line: 24 catches/32 attempts, 312 yards and 4 TD passes.

The cream puff portion of the schedule has been extended by one game as the Eagles will head to South Bend to take on the 1-5 Fighting Irish who managed their first win of the season over UCLA on Saturday. Hopefully this isn't an indication that the Irish have gotten their act together. BC will try to hold off the upset for another week before the 5 conference games that round out the schedule for the Eagles.

Patriots roll to 4-0, still on cruise control

2007-10-02T01:52:00.000-05:00

The conditions seemed right for an upset. A very talented team playing below it's potential at home with a chance to silence all their critics by beating the highly touted Patriots. The feature back Laurence Maroney would be on the sidelines for this game. I would have been surprised by a Bengals win, but not blown over. The Patriots aren't the type to let that happen though. They're smart, well coached veterans with ice water in their veins who've heard enough "Any given Sunday" speeches in their careers to know not to look past any team in their way. This is why the Patriots get the 16-0 talk instead of the 4-0 Cowboys, 4-0 Packers and even the 4-0 defending champions the Colts.

The Patriots have lived up to expectations by being the only modern NFL team to win all of it's first four games by greater than a 20 point margin. Randy Moss has been better than advertised and the defense has looked rock solid even without Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison. Carson Palmer, Chad "Ocho-Cinco" Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh for all of their star power could only muster a measly 13 points against the Patriots defense

There is one point of concern however. The Patriots opponents so far have been soft. All four of their opponents are 1-3 after week four. The one "good" team they've played, San Diego, reached a new low last Sunday with an embarrassing loss to the lowly Chiefs and fell to 1-3. Maybe Marty always choked in the playoffs and that wasn't good enough for San Diego, but at least he got there, something current Chargers head coach Norv Turner is having trouble with.

Next week's matchup brings our old friend Romeo Crennel back to Foxboro with his Cleveland Browns. The Browns have managed a respectable 2-2 but have been inconsistent after being blown out by Pittsburgh to start the season and edged out by the Raiders in week 3. Their wins include an impressive win over the Ravens this week and the 51-45 fireworks display with the Bengals in week 2. Romeo is the Patriots former defensive coordinator and no doubt will have some insight into cracking the Patriots defense.

BC avoids upset against UMass

2007-09-30T03:46:00.000-05:00

I couldn't watch this game because all the tickets were snapped up for parents weekend on campus and this game wasn't televised because UMass is a I-AA team, a very good I-AA team at that, and that's just not worth watching apparently.

The Eagles won the by a comfortable, yet unimpressive margin. Usually, when a nationally ranked team plays a I-AA team anything short of a rout keeps the team from moving up in the rankings if not dropping down in them. The Eagles, however, seem to be poised for a jump in the rankings thanks to some outside help. The #3 OU Sooners were upset by unranked Colorado, #4 Florida was upset by unranked Auburn, #5 WVU was upset by unranked South Florida, #7 Texas was upset by unranked Kansas State, #10 Rutgers was upset by unranked Maryland and #11 Oregon lost to #6 California. #1 USC barely avoided the upset against unranked Washington and #9 Wisconsin was lucky to come away with a win against unranked Michigan State. Suddenly, BC winning by a meager 10 points doesn't look so bad. With 6 of the 11 teams ranked ahead of BC losing and two more winning by slim margins against unranked opponents. There's a big top 10 shakeup coming and BC should look pretty good with it's 5-0 record intact.

The Eagles should be able to maintain their spot in the top 10 if they manage to avoid the upset against Bowling Green and head into South Bend to take on a Notre Dame team that has amassed the worst opening record in ND history and slipped to 0-5 against Purdue this weekend. The Irish did show some fight in the second half, but it was too little too late. They'll try to right the ship against UCLA before taking on the Eagles and USC in the following weeks.

It's also worth noting that #13 Clemson lost to Georgia Tech. This makes the Eagles the only team in the Atlantic Division of the ACC without a conference loss. It's important that the Eagles stay sharp as they finish the season with 5 conference games against @Virginia Tech, Florida State, @Maryland, @Clemson and Miami. Every one of these teams has the tools to beat the Eagles if BC doesn't bring their best game.

Sox magic number in the AL East down to 3

2007-09-26T02:36:00.000-05:00

The Sox scattered seven runs over the course of the game and Curt Schilling threw a 1 run gem and the Yankees fell apart against the Devil Rays and lost in extra innings.

It was nice to see the shoe on the other foot tonight. The Red Sox dominated the A's tonight at Fenway. The offense effectively capitalized on opportunities and Curt Schilling gave a promising start that seemed to say "I'm ready for the post season". Curt gave up a solo home run and scattered 6 hits. Manny was back in the lineup and put in a respectable day at the plate 1 for 2 with a walk. Bryan Corey gave up some irrelevant runs while on mop up duty in the 9th. Bringing Paps back in with a big lead would've been a waste.

The Yankees again failed to clinch a playoff spot over the Tigers. This time it was their bullpen that could not shut the door with a 5-0 lead as Tampa Bay hit the grand slam to take the 6-5 lead. The Yankees again had to dig into their bullpen with another extra inning game and gave up the big hit and the win. The Tigers still have the outside shot of the Yankees losing every game for the remainder of the season and the Tigers winning every game for the remainder of the season to win the wild card, it's not likely, but I can dream can't I? It still brings a smile to my face to see the Yankees working their bullpen hard right before the playoffs.

The Yankees now have five games in which they need to make up 3 on the Red Sox.

I would prefer to play the Indians rather than the Angels in the post season. The Indians have been a completely different team in the second half, but the Red Sox are still 5-2 against them in the regular season and the Indians are 0-6 against the Yankees. The Red Sox have a good record against the Angels too, but not quite as good. The Angels were also 6-3 against the Yankees this year. With the curse broken I no longer feel it's necessary to go through the Yankees in the post season for me to enjoy a World Series and would appreciate it if their opponent could take them out early.

So what's the Patriots magic number?

2007-09-24T06:28:00.000-05:00

The Patriots rolled to an easy victory over the Bills 38-7 at Gillette Stadium.

The Bills were a shallow team to begin with, but they have been decimated by injuries. This problem was exacerbated this weekend as Bills QB JP Losman went down on the first drive of the game. There's some controversy about whether or not this was a dirty hit by Vince Wilfork. To me, this looked like Wilfork bracing for a fall and incidental contact, but with all the recent controversy with the Patriots I wouldn't be surprised to see the league and the media give this more attention than it merits. Only Vince Wilfork will know for sure.

Backup QB Trent Edwards took his first snaps and looked excellent on his first drive downfield against a potent Patriots defense. Marshawn Lynch helped with the march downfield and scored the Touchdown to give the Bills an early 7-3 lead. This would be the high point for the Bills as the Patriots put up 35 unanswered points and the bills offense would reel off one 3 and out posession after another.

Despite these big numbers, there is still room for improvement for the Patriots. Tom Brady made the bonehead play of the game when he fumbled on what should have been a slam dunk touchdown at the 1-yard line. The Patriots defense had some trouble making adjustments to the Bills offense. Watching a rookie backup QB make so many big passes against the Patriots on the opening drive was embarassing.

Am I the only one worried about the Patriots getting soft? Cruising to win after win with ease could lead to overconfidence, the kind of overconfidence that costs you when you play against better teams later in the year. The Patriots opponents combined record is 2-7. The quest for the perfect season isn't going to be a cakewalk with the Cowboys week 6, Colts week 9 and Steelers week 14. We all know that the Colts are for real despite close games against the Titans and Texans. Dallas has put up some amazing numbers on the offensive side of the ball and posted a solid win this weekend against the floundering Bears. Dallas is the only team to score more points this season than the Patriots. The Steelers easily rolled to 3-0 over the 2-0 49ers this weekend.

Moss Watch:

Randy posted another impressive line with 5 catches, 115 yards and 2 Touchdowns. If you could get an assist in football, Randy should have gotten one for the double team he drew on the Jabar Gaffney TD catch. Randy handed the football to a young fan after his second TD catch and chose to avoid the media after the game.

The Patriots head to Cincinatti for Monday Night Football next weekend. The Bengals are looking to bounce back from an embarassing loss to Cleveland where they lost 51-45 and a tough loss to the Seahawks this week.

I voted for Brand it...

2007-09-20T14:33:00.000-05:00

Fashion designer Marc Ecko has decided to allow people to vote on what should happen to the infamous record breaking 756 home run ball. I mentioned in a previous post that I thought somebody should put an asterisk on it and I stand by that and was glad for the opportunity to help make that happen.

I've been asking myself lately why I dislike Bonds so much but can still so avidly support the Patriots despite it's own steroid scandal and CameraGate. I'm not defending what the Patriots did, but I do take some comfort in the fact that they are paying their dues for their dubious methods. Rodney Harrison has sat out some important games and will sit out some more before he can return to the field. The Patriots are also paying the biggest penalty in NFL history by getting the maximum fines and being the first team to ever lose a first round pick. There's something redeeming about paying the price for wrongdoing. This is a price Barry Bonds has not and will not ever pay and for me that makes a big difference.

The wheels have come off!

2007-09-20T13:04:00.001-05:00

I don't want to overreact, but this looks pretty bad. The Yankees have made up five games in six days narrowing the lead to just a measly game and a half. Boston has matched it's longest losing streak of the year at four and hope to break out of it with an off day followed by a series in Tampa Bay.

I don't want to overstate the seriousness of this. The Red Sox are still in a strong position to make the playoffs with their magic number at 3 against the Tigers and the Red Sox are bound to come out of this funk and the Yankees are also bound to cool off at some point. There are worse places to be than a game and a half up with 9 games left to play. It's also worth noting that the sox won't be playing a single game against a team above .500 or in playoff contention, not that the yankees will either.

This is still a serious cause for concern. There is now officially nobody you can trust in the Red Sox bullpen. Papelbon's implosion against the Yankees doesn't look like just a bad day anymore. It probably didn't matter as the sox went down in order in the ninth anyways, but Papelbon giving up the grand slam killed any chance of a rally. Terry is wisely resting Okajima, but who knows if this will do the trick. Mike Timlin looked anything but sharp last night against the Jays as he hit a batter, and allowed two walks (one intentional) to load the bases for Papelbon to give up the big hit. Eric Gagne? I'm not even going to touch this one.

The offense has also really struggled as of late. Last night's game Jesse Litsch allowed two hits (including the solo HR by JD Drew that accounted for the one run of sox offense) over 6 2/3 IP. This is pathetic. This is the same guy the Red Sox scored 7 runs off of in 3 1/3 IP on September 3rd. Some of this has to do with Manny Ramirez's extended absence from the sox lineup, but this dismal performance against a pitcher who is mediocre at best suggests something more.

The whole offense seems to be slumping. Jason Varitek is 4 for 34 in his last ten games, two of which came in the 3-4 loss to Toronto tuesday night. Mike Lowell was 2 for 11 over the course of the Toronto series. David Ortiz went from red hot to ice cold with one hit in his last 14 at bats. I think it's pretty clear that he's hurting again, and the sox no longer have the luxury of giving him time off with Manny still out of the lineup. Dustin Pedroia is 4 for 26 in the last 6 games. I doubt these slumps will continue, and what better place to break out of a slump then against Tampa Bay late in the season after a day's rest, but it's still a cause for concern. Keep in mind, even if the sox manage to blow the AL East, they have all but clinched a playoff spot through the wild card and the playoffs is an excellent place to find redemption.

No Tape Required...

2007-09-19T01:39:00.000-05:00

The Patriots annihilated the Chargers Sunday night at Gillete Stadium 38-14.

I was lucky enough to snag some tickets for this game. The Foxboro faithful weren't deterred by the recent "CameraGate" scandal that's been the talk of the NFL. The house was rocking as the Patriots entered to thunderous applause that managed to jump up a notch at the introduction of Bill Belichick. Belichick uncharacteristically acknowledged the support from the home crowd by waving to the fans. In a post game press conference he would mention his appreciation for their support and getting the players fired up for the game.

The play on the field matched the stadium's atmosphere as the Patriots tore down the field on the opening drive to quickly gain the lead. On the next possession, Phillip Rivers would throw an interception on the first offensive play of the game giving the Patriots the ball deep in their territory. This key turnover would be fruitless as the Patriots would be unable to create a first down and missed the field goal. This was the only time where it felt like the Chargers were going to get into this game, but this would not be the case. The Patriots offense was moving the ball all game. Chargers head coach Norv Turner made some questionable decisions to punt in fourth and short situations while trailing. Adalius Thomas introduced himself to the home crowd by returning an interception for a touchdown. The Chargers would eventually get on the board, but this game was locked up by half time as the Chargers were outplayed on both sides of the ball.

Loud-mouthed Chargers MVP LaDanian Tomlinson was notably quiet after his 18 carries for 43 yards day. The question of how the Patriots would handle LT was one of the few football related questions to break through amidst the "CameraGate" frenzy. The Patriots figured something out as LT was a non-factor the whole game.

The Patriots really said quite a bit with this game.

They showed that they are capable of competing at the highest level without the aide of videotaped defensive signals. Hopefully, this win will quiet some of the critics who feel that this recent scandal taints the legitimacy of the Patriots 3 Super Bowl championships.

They also showed that the week 1 rout of the Jets was no fluke. The score was 38-14, the exact same score they had posted against the Jets the week prior, but this time against a much more highly regarded team.

Randy Moss didn't quite match his yardage from the previous week, but he was close and also caught two TD passes. ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback noted this about Moss' time with the Patriots thus far:

"Wide Receiver Lack of Ego: Randy Moss has scored three touchdowns this year, and each time handed the ball to the official and walked back to the sideline. Much as we're all now suspicious of New England, this improvement is not based on cheating, it's based on coaching."

Seems the "Belichick Reform School for Troublesome NFL talent" is getting the job done once again. If he keeps this "great performances/low profile" thing up he's at serious risk of becoming a reliable asset to the team and a fan favorite.

The AFC East is looking to be a foregone conclusion with only two weeks into the season. The Bills, Jets and Dolphins are all 0-2. Buffalo was held to 3 points against the steelers and next week isn't looking good against the Patriots. Miami had a tough loss to an underrated Redskins team, but were blown out by the Cowboys at home. The Jets are better than an 0-2 team, but Pennington still hurting from the Patriots game the week prior stood helpless on the sidelines as the Ravens beat the Jets by a touchdown. Next week's game of Miami v. Jets should prove whether both of these teams are contenders or pretenders.

Sox finish game like they should have finished last night, beat Yanks 10-1

2007-09-16T14:09:00.000-05:00

I really didn't get a chance to watch this whole game, but here's the things that stuck out to me.

1) Beckett pitched a great game against a good team, if he pitches at this level in the playoffs there should be at least one win you can put in the bank.

2) It's getting harder and harder to deny Jacoby Ellsbury an everyday spot on the roster with the way that he's been playing lately. Even with JD Drew's numbers climbing out of the cellar he still looks bad compared to the red hot rookie.

3) This was Big Papi's 4th multi-hit game in a row. Over that span he's been 9/16 with 3 HR's and 8 RBI's

4) It was nice to see the Red Sox get to Wang. In his previous start against the sox Wang threw a 7 inning, 1 hit, no runs gem. The next time we'll see Wang (if we do see him again this season) it'll be in the post season, and I don't want him thinking he's got the Red Sox all figured out.

5) The Red Sox are fighters. Alot of teams would pretty down having lost in such dramatic fashion the night before, but not these sox. They came ready to play and put up the game they should have finished off last night.

BC makes a statement, Beat GT 24-10

2007-09-16T00:21:00.000-05:00

A 24-10 win over a ranked ACC opponent on the road is impressive enough by itself, but the score doesn't do justice to the beating the Yellow Jackets took tonight. BC had nearly double the yardage GT did, easily could have scored another touchdown on the final drive of the game and had a promising drive cut short by Matt Ryan fumbling deep in GT territory. BC advances to 3-0, all conference wins, BC is quickly becoming the front runner for the ACC championship. Matt Ryan added to his Heisman credentials with an impressive day: 30/44, 435 yards, a TD and no interceptions. The BC offense seemed to be marching downfield at will as the defense looked helpless against Matt Ryan's many precision passes.

The defense also looked strong as they held the Jackets rushing attack to a meager 63 yards. This had a very different feel as the strengh of BC's defense in it's first two games had been it's ability to create timely turnovers, this week they did not create a single turnover, except of the 3 and out kind. It was nice to see that BC didn't need opposing Quarterbacks to make multiple bad decisions in order to win games.

I think this really clarified who was the contender and who was the pretender in this matchup. Georgia Tech's 33-3 win over the Irish in the season opener looks diluted now that the Irish are 0-3 and have been outscored by opponents 102-13. BC has likely earned their way into the top 10 in the rankings and can settle down for 3 non-conference home games against Army, Umass and Bowling Green before heading into South Bend to take on the Fightless Irish.

Elsewhere in the ACC

Clemson rolled to 3-0 against Furman, no surprise there.

Virginia sneaked out a 22-20 win against the Tar Heels, Virginia racks up it's second conference win and the heels start out 0-1 in the ACC.

The Noles posted another less than impressive win 16-6 against Colorado, not going to break back into the rankings that way...

Duke finally managed to crack it's 22 game losing streak, which had been the longest in the country, in it's 20-14 win over Northwestern.

Miami managed to "bounce back" from it's embarassing beating against Oklahoma last week by adding another loss onto the new longest losing streak in college football for Florida International. Keeping the underwhelming quality of Florida Intl the 23-9 victory was unimpressive.

Stabbed in the back...

2007-09-15T01:28:00.000-05:00

I'm almost too depressed by the outcome of the Sox-Yanks game tonight to write about it, but I've got to stay sharp so here goes...

Okajima had been faltering lately, a few posts down I talked about how the long season was getting to him and he was losing his edge. Today's meltdown confirms this for me. It might be best to rest Okie, let Gagne pitch and possibly build up some confidence, give Okie some warmup appearances just prior to the post season to get him back into his rhythm and go from there. The real shocker tonight was Papelbon.

Going into tonight's game he had given up two hits in August and September combined, tonight he gave up 3 hits, all his inherited runners scored and two more runs on top of that. I know Terry brought him in too early, I know expecting Papelbon to be flawless for the remainder of the season wasn't realistic, I know even closers can have a bad day but I can't help but feel stabbed in the back on this one. Of all the games for Papelbon to have a breakdown why did it have to be against the Yankees with a substantial lead going into the late innings? Everybody was ready for the Sox to come back strong in Fenway after that embarrassing sweep in the Bronx. Finally the Yankees hopes for the AL East and the references to the '78 team would be put to rest. The sox had a great chance to do that tonight. Daisuke managed to show he's still got a little something left in the tank by limiting the Yankees to 2 runs and 4 hits (Working around 5 walks!), but this time the guys who have come through all year didn't come through. This loss goes squarely on their shoulders. There were no untimely errors, no lucky bloop hits, no lack of run support....just bad relief pitching.

Patriots spying incident comes to a close

2007-09-14T00:26:00.000-05:00

NFL Commisioner Goodell had reached a decision regarding the Patriots penalty for videotaping Jets signals in last Sunday's game. Bill Belicheck recieved a $500,000 fine, the Patriots organization recieved a $250,000 fine, and the Patriots will lose a 1st round draft pick if they make the playoffs and a 2nd and 3rd round pick if they do not. It's hard to determine the fairness of this penalty as there is really no precedent for this particular infraction and all penalties are completely within the discretion of commisioner Goodell. I felt like the Broncos violation of the salary cap to sign some key players to win the Super Bowl provided them with a much greater advantage than recorded defensive signs mid game could have provided but the penalty was much lighter for the Broncos as they only lost a later round pick.

Fortunately, the Patriots planned ahead and have a second first rounder pick they acquired from the 49ers in this year's draft. I'm willing to gamble that pick will probably fall much sooner than the pick the Patriots would have gotten naturally. There will still be some new talent to get excited about in the off season.

Portland Trailblazers declare season over and no refunds on season tickets

2007-09-13T15:34:00.001-05:00

It's been confirmed. Greg Oden, The number 1 overall pick by the Portland Trailblazers in this year's draft, is gone for the season after having microfracture surgery performed on his knee. It's always painful to see a city pin it's hopes for a championship on one guy and then to see him go down before ever playing a minute of professional ball. This isn't "Len Bias" bad, but then again the 1986 Celtics were defending champs when they picked him up. My condolences to the Portland Trailblazers owners, players and fan base on your stillborn season.

"Mr. Clutch is Back!"

2007-09-12T23:43:00.000-05:00

Don Orsillo summed it up nicely as the ball soared over the glove of Delmon Young to drop into the right field seats securing the Red Sox 5-4 victory. David Ortiz had built up a reputation as Mr. Clutch over the past few years. With the game on the line and Ortiz at the plate it had become an aberration when Big Papi didn't get the big hit. But this year there was something different about Ortiz. He's hurting, his power numbers were way down, his incredible ability to always come through in the clutch seemed to be gone. The 3-4-5 powerhouse of Ortiz, Manny and Drew was found lacking by the Boston faithful as all 3 are having relatively unproductive years. Ortiz proved tonight that he still has some pop left this year and can still come through in the clutch as he accounted for all 5 RBI's tonight on two Homeruns. It's nice to see that somebody on the Red Sox is hitting their stride heading into the playoffs rather than falling off of it.

Sox rally in 16-10 win over Rays

2007-09-12T15:19:00.000-05:00

These last two games have been a microcosm for the Red Sox offense all year: Consistently inconsistent. The night before the sox were shut out in a one run nail biter. Tonight, the sox score 16 runs to overcome the 10 runs Red Sox pitching gave up.

Tim Wakefield's knuckleball wasn't dancing as the Rays pounded him in his 3 innings of work. This left a long night and unfriendly scoreboard for the Red Sox bullpen. Kyle Snyder was unable to stop the bleeding as all his inherited runners scored on Pena's homer. Javy Lopez also allowed an inherited runner to score in his 1/3 of an inning of work. This is where things started to turn things around as the Sox came to within a run in the bottom of the fifth. Corey, Delcarmen and Timlin would all contribute a scoreless inning of work as the offense put up another 8 runs of support in the later innings. Eric Gagne would give up a run while on mop up duty in the 9th.

The Red Sox offense was the exact opposite of it's performance the night before as every Red Sox hitter had a hit and all but Kevin Cash had multi-hit games. This is not surprising as the Tampa Bay bullpen is horrendous and had ample ground to cover after Tampa starter Sonnanstine only went for 3 1/3 before getting pulled.

With the season wrapping up there are still so many questions about the Red Sox. They have managed to win games and still have the best record in baseball, but there are so few players that have been consistently dependable this year.

Josh Beckett has been solid all year and is definitely worthy of Cy Young consideration, but what about the rest of the starting rotation? Curt Schilling has shown some flashes of brilliance and has been more consistent as of late but still has some terrible outings in the mix. Daisuke Matsuzaka seems to be feeling the effects of a longer season and a shorter rotation. His IP and number of starts is entering uncharted territory. In Daisuke's last 5 starts he's 1-4 with a 9.57 ERA. Tim Wakefield had been pitching well, but in his last two starts he has failed to make it out of the fourth inning. He has also been terrible against good teams this season. His record against teams in the playoff race (LAA, SDG, NYY, COL and DET) he is 2-6 with a 8.45 ERA

The bullpen is also no longer the place where games with opponents trailing after 6 go to die. Jonathan Papelbon continues to dominate the ninth inning, but what about the rest of the bullpen. Hideki Okajima seems to be burnt out from his overuse all year long and is developing his own case of Japanese Late Season Syndrome (JLSS) as his ERA has climbed from 0.87 at the end of July all the way up to the 1.76 it stands at now. Clay Bucholz will get a chance to contribute by making bullpen appearances, but how will the rookie hold up in the post-season. I think it's also worth noting the reservations Terry Francona voiced about Bucholz when the discussion of placing him in the bullpen was brought up.

"It's not just etched in stone - OK, this guy is a good young pitcher, goes from Double A, to Triple A, to the major leagues, that you throw a guy in the bullpen in September and it translates into a bunch of zeroes, I'm not sure that it's practical."

"He's the type of kid that it looks to me as he works into a game can get stronger. Having a guy come in [in relief] who's never done it and throwing him in there in the eighth with a couple of men on base, I don't know how that works. I'm sure it's something we'll talk about, I just don't know the answer yet."

Hardly a ringing endorsement for the "Bucholz to the bullpen plan" from the manager. Eric Gagne has managed to settle down and looks more comfortable in a Red Sox uniform, but he is still giving up runs in many of his appearances and has yet to throw a clean inning for the sox. Mike Timlin has been fairly solid ever since his return from the DL in early June, lowering his ERA from 6.23 to 3.24, but he still has the occasional implosion, like the four runs he gave up against Baltimore on August 31st. Also, at Timlin's age it definitely raises questions about his durability down the stretch.

If this team were playing like it did in the first half I'd feel confident that they could beat any team in the league. The way they're playing right now? I'm not sure.

Stealing Signs?

2007-09-12T14:49:00.000-05:00

There have been a few instances of the Patriots bending the rules in the past to get a competitive edge. Some may recall the Indianapolis response to the loss the Patriots gave them in the playoffs a few years ago. They insisted that the Patriots had manhandled their receivers which brought the "five yard chuck" rule to prominence at the beginning of the following season. Now the accusation is that the Patriots personnel were videotaping defensive signs in order to interpret them and make the proper adjustments before the play. Bill Belichick made the following statement about the matter:

"Earlier this week, I spoke with Commissioner Goodell about a videotaping procedure during last Sunday's game and my interpretation of the rules. At this point, we have not been notified of the league's ruling. Although it remains a league matter, I want to apologize to everyone who has been affected, most of all ownership, staff and players. Following the league’s decision, I will have further comment.”

I'm not quite sure what there is here that could potentially be misinterpreted. The Game Operations Manual states:

"no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game." and that "all video shooting locations must be enclosed on all sides with a roof overhead."

If a Patriots employee was on the field operating a video camera then this would seem to be a fairly open and shut case. This will most likely cost the Patriots some late day 1 draft picks. I don't think that this really takes away from the Patriots victory on Sunday or the credibility of this team. There's been numerous examples of teams incurring some lesser rules infractions and continuing to have successful seasons after being penalized. The Broncos going over the salary cap with John Elway and the Steelers working out in shoulder pads in the offseason are some of the more prominent examples and both teams were similarly penalized. With any luck the Patriots will move forward from this, play a great game against the highly touted Chargers and silence some of their critics.

Wasted Talent...

2007-09-11T13:44:00.000-05:00

Curt Schilling has had some solid starts recently. In his last 4 starts his ERA is a respectable 2.52. Despite this solid performance by Schilling the Red Sox have lost in his last 3 starts. Last night's game stood out as Scott Kazmir cruised through 7 scoreless innings and the Rays bullpen surprisingly managed to hold onto the slim 1-0 lead. I thought maybe the Red Sox had finally caught onto Kazmir when they finally posted 6 runs against him in Tropicana 3 weeks ago, but now it seems that was just an aberration and Kazmir is back to owning the Red Sox. The Red Sox bats looked lifeless as they scattered 5 hits and no baserunners made it past second base all game. So another solid performance by Curt Schilling goes to waste. Curt's pitching has been inconsistent all year, but to see them waste his good starts is especially disheartening.

Tonight the Tim Wakefield goes up against Andy Sonnanstine. Sonnanstine's season ERA is a hefty 5.73 and 7.71 in his two games against the sox this year. Wakefield has really dominated the Rays this year. His season ERA is 4.39, but his ERA against the Rays is an astounding 1.65. Wakefield has recorded wins in all 4 of his starts against Tampa Bay this year including two shutouts in his last two starts against them. Hopefully these trends will continue.

Pats able to keep up with hype!

2007-09-09T15:17:00.000-05:00

The feeling I had about the Patriots before today's game was not a good one. I had questions. How well could the defense function without Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison? Is Asante Samuel in regular season condition after his hold out throughout most of training camp. Would Tom Brady's new fatherly duties throw him off his game? What can we expect from a Randy Moss injured for the entire preseason? Would the preseason problems with the offensive line protecting Brady come back to haunt them in the opener?

I had questions and this game had answers.

The defense held the Jets offense to a meager 14 points despite creating no turnovers whatsoever and were swarming around Chad Pennington all game. Tom Brady's performance was untouchable as he tore up the Jets secondary to the tune of 22/28, 297 yards, 2 TD's and no interceptions. Randy Moss really got the chance to showcase what he could do on the field as he posted 183 yards on 9 receptions and a Touchdown. The amount of time Tom Brady was allowed to sit in the pocket was incredible. He could've set up a lawn chair and had a read of the Sunday Paper with the time the Jets D-Line gave him.

The only question that remains is the rushing game. Despite an impressive opening drive for Laurence Maroney, he quickly became ineffective shortly after and Brady went to the air to move the football. Even with this setback, Maroney and Morris gave some encouraging signs and were able to grind out tough yards when they needed them in short yardage situations.

The Jets were hands down flattened by a better prepared and more talented team, however, I don't think the Jets are done. Chad Pennington showed some true grit trying to walk off a potentially serious injury and hobbling back onto the field to help the Jets score one of their only two touchdowns before sitting once the game became a lost cause. I get the feeling the Patriots are going to be making many of the teams on their schedule look like non-playoff teams this year. If the Jets can sort out some of the issues they're working through they could be a real threat later in the season.

Elsewhere in the League
Plenty of surprises in the opening week. Pittsburgh made a strong statement in it's first time in a long time without Bill Cowher by pounding the lowly Browns. If the Browns don't right the ship Romeo Crennel will probably be looking for a new job at the end of this season. The Packers put up an impressive win over the much heralded Eagles. More time is needed to tell if Favre really does have another year in him or if Donovan McNabb doesn't. There was some speculation about how the Vick-less Falcons would do this year. Some felt that Vick was the most overhyped and overrated Quarterback in the NFL and that the dropoff from losing Vick would be minor. The beating they took at the hands of the Vikings would seem to suggest otherwise. San Diego won a defensive battle against the Bears holding them to 3 points all game in a 14-3 win. It will be interesting to see how the Chargers handle the revamped Patriots offense.

BC outclasses NC State 37-17

2007-09-08T23:48:00.000-05:00

The question this game left me with was "Is BC that good or is NC State that bad?". It's always going to be some combination of the two, but I was leaning more towards the latter. Tom O'Brien decided to stick with quarterback Harrison Beck after the dismal performance in the Wolfpack's opening game of the season against UCF. Beck wouldn't show much improvement against a razor sharp BC secondary. Beck was making risky passes all day long and managed to put up 321 yards and went 26/50 on the day, but his haphazard decision making cost him as BC picked him off 5 times, not to mention Harrison's lost fumble. A mishandled snap by the NC State punter deep in NC State territory gave the Eagles the go ahead touchdown. Giving up 7 turnovers can make it difficult to win ball games.

The BC offense seemed to be upside down today with Matt Ryan being limited to 15/34 and 142 yards, a big difference from the impressive 32/52 and 408 yards he posted against Wake Forest last week. The biggest difference seemed to be with the receivers. Missed routes, dropped passes and a lack of open receivers held back the Boston College passing game. The Boston College run game which had looked so ineffective against Wake Forest managed to put itself together as Andre Callender had a breakout game with 158 yards on 18 carries and 2 TD's including a breakout run downfield for 69 yards.

BC gets it's first real test as they head down to Atlanta to take on #21 Georgia Tech and try to improve to 3-0 in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets put up an impressive 33-3 win over the overhyped Irish in week 1 and pounded on Samford this weekend. If the Eagles defense can continue to create turnovers and the offense is firing on all cylinders next weekend they could definitely beat the Yellow Jackets and become a solid fixture in the top 25.

Michigan continues it's downward spiral from their preseason hype as they were manhandled by the unranked Oregon ducks 39-7 in the worst loss for the program since 1968....oh how the mighty have fallen in the rankings.

This was a rough weekend for the ACC as Miami was routed by the Sooners, VT proved it couldn't hang tough with a real national title contender as they were destroyed by LSU and Florida State put up an unconvincing win against UAB. It seems the ACC's 3 most prominent football programs are again having down years. Again the less heralded programs like BC, Georgia Tech, Clemson and Wake Forest seem to be gaining the credibility for the ACC. If the ACC fails to put up a real contender in a BCS bowl this year it's automatic bid could be in jeopardy.

Clay Bucholz No-No's the O's

2007-09-03T10:54:00.000-05:00

Personally, I am just astounded by this kid's accomplishment. In his second Major League start he throws a no hitter? Unbelievable. I figured between this and the Appalachian St. over Michigan game in the same day SportsCenter would explode. What I found especially impressive was how dominant Clay looked throughout the no hitter with Dustin Pedroia making the only defensively impressive play. Jason Varitek should also get alot of the credit for this gem as he more than likely called this whole game for the rookie up from Pawtucket. The big question now is whether or not Clay has secured himself a permanent spot on the roster. How do you send a kid who's 2-0 with a No-Hitter to his credit back down to the minors? I looking forward to the contribution this kid will provide to the Red Sox starting rotation. He sure made Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain look like second rate prospects.

BC stumbles ass backwards into win against "ACC Champs" Wake Forest 38-28

2007-09-01T18:35:00.000-05:00

So how about that Michigan-Appalachian State game? I honestly think this is one of the biggest upsets in college football history if not the very biggest. My local Pop Warner team could bury Appalachian. The only question before this game was whether or not the Michigan score would break triple digits. I think Rocky got better odds against Apollo Creed. The Wolverines were number 5 in the country and considered national title contenders yesterday, today they'll be lucky to stay in the top 25. Oh well, all the more room for other teams to move up..speaking of which....

So how do you get mad at an offense that puts up 38 points? When the opposing defense scores two touchdowns off of sloppy turnovers, including the opening play of the season. Soon it was 14-0 after the Demon Deacons stormed down the field to put up 7 more. It was at about this time that I nearly turned off the TV in disgust and began mourning the decision to place Jagodzinski as the head coach. But Matt Ryan righted the ship and put up 5 Touchdowns as the running game struggled to establish itself all game. Dejuan Tribble carried the Eagles to a victory kicking and screaming by posting 3 interceptions, 2 of which came in the Red Zone. Pretty easy to come back when the opposing offense can't stay on the field and they rely on their defense to put up half the points. BC has set the tone with the first conference win in the ACC, but this game was extremely sloppy on offense and led me to believe that if somebody's going to put BC in the end zone it's going to be Matt Ryan and supporting a one dimensional offense is no cake walk. The Eagles will welcome our turncoat former head coach Tom O'Brien with his new look NC State wolfpack to Alumni Stadium and look to improve to 2-0 in conference play.

Yankees fall apart in Detroit finale in 16-0 rout

2007-08-28T00:49:00.000-05:00

If you have to go into the Bronx for a series late in the season, this is the way to do it. 8 Games up on the Yankees, they've just lost 3 of 4 to the Tigers ending in Mike Mussina getting lit up and pulled after 3 innings of work. The Yankee bullpen didn't fare much better and Justin Verlander posted a shutout on the usually explosive Yankee offense. The Yankees limp into the Bronx still in wild card contention thanks to Seattle's 3 game losing streak. The Rocket choked in the opener of the series giving up 6 runs over 5 innings, the bullpen had to cover the remaining 5 2/3 before the lead was blown in the 11th. Tonight the Yankee bullpen had to eat the remaining 5 innings Mussina left them. The Red Sox had an off day today and walk into Yankee stadium with the best record in baseball and coming off of one of the biggest routs in baseball history as they destroyed the White Sox in Chicago to sweep a four game series and outscored them 46-7. The sox are red hot and the Yankees are ice cold, seems like the perfect conditions to finally KO the Yankees' AL East ambitions.

The Great Chicago Fire of 2007

2007-08-26T23:22:00.000-05:00

Fortunately for the Chicago fans, at this point in the year they've already dropped the White Sox in favor of the cubs and didn't have to witness the incredible beating they took at the hands of the Red Sox in this four game series. The consistently inconsistent Sox offense seemed to finally be clicking all throughout this series as they lit up the White Sox pitching staff for 46 Runs over 4 games. FORTY-SIX! In the meantime the Yankees struggled with the Angels and the Tigers and the AL East lead is back to a robust 7.5 Games. I can't think of a better way to roll into the Bronx with a chance to put the Yankees out of the AL East race for good and possibly set them back in the Wild Card.

Takin' Care of Business...

2007-08-22T12:31:00.000-05:00

The sox put up two quality games against the Rays as the Yankees dropped their first two to the Angels in dramatic fashion.

Tim Wakefield continued to confound the Devil Ray whippersnappers with his knuckleball and Kevin Cash filled in admirably for the injured Doug Mirabelli. It's nice to see that the sox have found somebody in the organization besides Mirabelli who can catch the knuckleball without a dozen passed balls per game. Seeing the sox getting to Scott Kazmir early and often was also a nice touch as he typically pitches so well against the Red Sox. There really isn't much to complain about from the first game, they did everything well on both sides of the ball and cruised to an expected victory.

The second game the Red Sox again put up another strong performance offensively, but raised some concerns about Jon Lester. What really killed me about Lester's performance was the walks and homeruns. He gave up 4 walks over 5 1/3, one was of no consequence, two would be brought home by a subsequent home run and the last would buy him an early ticket out of this game. If he's giving up walks and then giving up homeruns when the pressure is on it could be bad news against an offensive powerhouse like the Yankees. Manny Delcarmen is still struggling to regain his form from earlier this season and seemed to be having some control issues when he hit a batter and walked a batter to bring Okajima into the game. Declarmen hasn't had any Gagne level screw ups, but hasn't looked all that sharp lately either. Papelbon looked really dominant in the last four outs of the game striking out the first three batters he faced and getting the last out on a popup. I think alot of people were expecting a second half drop off by Papelbon like they had seen in previous years, but Paps looks as though he hasn't lost a beat. In August he's had 8 appearances, allowed one hit, walked 3 and struck out 14 batters.

Tonight Dice-K goes for the sweep. The Rays have won two games against the Sox all year, both were in Dice-K's last two starts against the DRays. His first loss was a tough luck loss leaving a tight 1-0 game in the 7th inning before Manny Delcarmen gave up back to back homers to give the Rays a substantial lead. In his last start he fell apart in the third inning against the Rays and left the game after six innings with a 6-0 defecit. Hopefully Dice-K can turn it around tonight with a win.

Sox split 4 with the Angels at Fenway

2007-08-20T00:28:00.000-05:00

The sox split four games with the Angels at Fenway park and there's quite a bit to talk about. Clay Bucholz made his first major league start and got his first major league win. Eric Gagne managed to throw away another game for the Red Sox. The Sox bats seemed to wake up for the first 3 games of this series and then posted one measly run in the finale.

Clay Bucholz has been a highly touted prospect all season long and got his first taste of the big leagues in the day game of the day/night double header on Friday. He pitched reasonably well all things considered. He pitched against the offensively powerful Angels, but he caught them at an excellent time as they flew in from Toronto the night before and had to play a double header the following day. So I would guess that that evens out. The sox bats took the Pressure off Bucholz early by posting six runs on John Lackey in the first. Bucholz had some trouble with giving up leadoff walks/hits, was helped on multiple occasions by double plays, seemed to struggle with control at times, only pitched six innings and gave up four runs to keep the Angels in the game; but all in all I still felt this wasn't a bad showing for his first outing in the Majors. He'll likely benefit from some more time in Pawtucket and could be a strong contributor for the sox in the future.

Eric Gagne managed to do it again. The entire town of Boston seems to have collectively lost it's patience with the struggling reliever who once again gave up the lead and probably the win. The only people that haven't lost their patience seems to be the Red Sox themselves as Gagne was put in the game with a 3-1 defecit in the final game of the Angels series where he again allowed multiple runners on base before closing out the inning. I would just love to have something to cling to so I could defend Gagne. One situation where he comes out, throws a clean inning and heads back to the dugout. Since he's been in a Sox uniform he just has not been able to deliver on this for us and it's starting to concern me.

Curt Schilling had a rough outing in his start. Fortunately, the sox bats provided him with 10 runs to smooth out the rough edges and this less impressive start by Schilling got swept under the rug as he took home the win. Since his return from the DL Curt has put up a 4.50 ERA, not terrible, but not that great either.

Julian Tavarez put up a solid 6 IP 2H 2 ER in the finale which would unfortunately go to waste as the sox bats were unable to produce the runs to capitalize.

Kevin Youkilis' slump continues going 2 for 14 in the series with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk.

This upcoming series in Tampa will hopefully settle the Red Sox down. The road trip continues to a 4 game series with another division cellar dweller in the White Sox, then an off day and then a three game series in the Bronx. The Yankees will take 3 games against the Angels on the West Coast, an off day, and then 4 games against Detroit in Detroit before meeting the Sox in the bronx. This is an excellent opportunity for the Red Sox to make up for some lost ground by playing the AL's worst while the Yankees play the AL's best.

DiceK gives up so many runs even the Rays bullpen can't blow it!

2007-08-16T13:43:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how playing against a team like the Devil Rays changes your perception of what's good. Anything short of a sweep against the Rays feels like a failure. The sox managed to eventually score some runs off the starter Sonnanstine and almost won another game off of the weakness of Tampa Bay's bullpen. Fortunately, the Yankees dropped their series to the Orioles after hitting a 3 run home run in the 9th to put the game into extra innings. This two game losing streak may be indicative that the Yankees are cooling off once again. Both Yankee losses must be disheartening given the 12-0 pounding they took in the second game and then losing after a dramatic ninth inning comeback and hopefully this will carry over into their next few games. At this point I almost feel like a Yankee loss is better than a Red Sox win as I'd prefer it if the Yankees didn't win the wild card. Facing and losing to the Yankees in the Post Season would feel like a colossal failure after dominating them in the standings all year long.

Sox Pitching
Daisuke had a pretty terrible outing, his worst since early July. He's still adjusting and he's put up some solid numbers in his last few starts, so that's not what concerns me. The troubling part about this game was that he got beat up by the Devil Rays. Daisuke only had one clean inning and most of his others looked shaky right from the start.

Julian Tavarez would take over and pitch a clean inning and got into a bit of trouble in his second inning of work before handing off to Mike Timlin.

Mike Timlin wrapped up the eighth and threw a clean ninth and has looked extremely strong lately. Outside of Timlin's meltdown in Seattle back on August 3rd where he took the loss, he's been light's out in his recent appearances and could become a key contributor if Eric Gagne isn't as reliable as we had hoped.

Sox Hitting
The sox did the same thing all three games of this series. The Tampa Bay starter gave a good start and was pulled after 6-7 innings despite their lights out performance and the bullpen would come into the game and efficiently give up whatever runs were necessary to ensure a loss. It had worked in the first two games of the series, why not the third? Unfortunately, Daisuke gave up one too many and the sox bats couldn't pull off the late inning heroics despite both Ortiz and Manny coming to bat in the ninth with the opportunity to win/tie the game. This is another episode in a disturbing trend where Big Papi and Manny both seem to have lost their ability to get the big hit when it really matters. Our late game heroics have been coming from the likes of Mike Lowell, Coco Crisp, Jason Varitek and even Julio Lugo this season.

Kevin Youkilis has not looked like himself all series long going 1 for 13 with 6 strikeouts and no walks over the course of this series. All three stats are astounding given that he's been a consistent hitter all year who is good at drawing walks and rarely strikes out. Dustin Pedroia, JD Drew and David Ortiz also went hitless today although Ortiz was able to draw 2 walks.

Sox walk off in ninth to drop the Rays 2-1

2007-08-14T22:50:00.000-05:00

The sox really needed a nice easy series against the Rays to bounce back from the terrible showing against the Orioles over the weekend. Tonight Red Sox nation is resting just a little easier. Jon Lester had an extremely strong outing, which he desperately needed given the three shaky starts he posted prior to this game. Eric Gagne is still without a clean inning, but managed to hold onto a one run lead and hopefully built up some self confidence and gained some goodwill with the hometown faithful after a the weekend from hell in Baltimore. He even picked up the win for his inning of work. The Red Sox again showed that when absolutely necessary they do have what it takes to come back and win. A solo homerun from Mike Lowell, a double that almost left the park from Jason Varitek and a single from the ill Coco Crisp was enough to win the series against the Rays. While this was going on the Yankees fell very flat against the O's in a 12-0 rout bouncing the Red Sox lead in the AL East back up to 5 games.

Sox Pitching: B+
Lester: A-
Manny Delcarmen: C-
Mike Timlin: Incomplete
Eric Gagne: B+

Lester's only blemish on the day came in the form of a Carl Crawford leadoff double in the 4th followed by a single and a sacrifice fly. 5 of his 7 Innings were clean and minus an inconsequential leadoff walk in the first he retired the next 3 batters easily. He really made the Tampa Bay Devil Rays look like.......the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Manny Delcarmen looked shaky allowing a leadoff single and a walk to put himself in a 2 on and no out situatuion in the 7th. Luckily MDC pitched his way to two outs, intentionally walked Carl Crawford before handing off to Mike Timlin who finished off the inning. Gagne would come in for the ninth and looked sharp striking out 3 of the 4 batters he faced. The two out double by Harris keeps Gagne from recording his first clean appearance by the sox, but he still managed to get the job done.

Sox Hitting: C-
Heroes: Mike Lowell (1 for 4, HR), Jason Varitek (1 for 2, 2 BB, R), Coco Crisp (1 for 4, RBI)
Goats: Julio Lugo (0 for 4), David Ortiz (0 for 3, BB)

I have alot of respect for the pitching abilities of Scott Kazmir, ever since his rookie season I've noticed him as one of the bright spots on a team without many bright spots. I often wonder if he would be a household name if he were on a team that could put up some runs for him. That said, the Red Sox still looked incredibly lame against Rays pitching for eight innings. One of the benefits of playing the Rays at this point in the season was manifest as they pulled Kazmir after 6 innings despite only giving up 4 hits and working on a shutout. With the Rays unable to make the post season this move makes perfect sense and again the sox reaped the benefits by scoring their runs off the Tampa Bay bullpen. It looked as though the sox would start turning the tide immediately in the 7th with a leadoff walk to start the inning, but a botched bunt attempt by coco crisp and double play ball by JD Drew would end the inning. The eighth was an uneventful 1-2-3. A borderline strike 3 call on Manny Ramirez for the first out of the ninth had me sweating bullets, but fortunately Mike Lowell delivered with a home run over the monster. Youk would strike out on another questionable strike 3 call before the magic began. With two outs Jason Varitek hit a shot deep to right, just a few feet shy of a home run. Coco followed up with a hit, the throw was off and Varitek was able to score from second without a play at the plate.

Public Enemy #1

2007-08-12T20:13:00.000-05:00

I wonder how much Steinbrenner paid to get Gagne to throw every close game he entered? That's the only explanation I can come up with to explain his dismal performance ever since joining the sox. This is the second easily winnable game that Gagne has handed to the lowly Orioles and cost the Red Sox another game over the Yankees as the lead in the AL East fell to four. He's managed to waste two excellent starts by both Daisuke Matsuzaka and Curt Schilling.