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

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

Who Sits and Who Hits?

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

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!!!!

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?

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...

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

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.