Sox Talk

The Red Sox have reached the real halfway point of the season. Through 81 games they are 49-32. Pretty much exactly where I thought they would be considering all the injuries they've been through. Papi, Beckett, Dice-K, and Lowell have all been down at some point this year. One word that describes this baseball season for the Sox is depth. So many guys have come up and contributed. Masterson, Colon, Lowrie, Moss, and Hansen have been surprises. Now I'll give a old fashion analysis position by position of this team.


Catcher- I don't care what Varitek hits. No one handles a pitching staff like Tek. We all saw how valuable he was in 2006 when he got hurt and the Sox just collapsed. He is a streaky hitter and he always goes through slumps but he always ends ups hitting around his career numbers of .265/20/82/.348 OBP. Kevin Cash has been a surprise. Hes been handling Wake well and anything you get with his bat is a plus.


First Base- Youk's been as sold as he has ever been. He always gets off to hot starts and then cools off a bit but hes still getting on base at a high rate (.374) and hitting well (.303). I thinks its safe to say that we will see him at the All Star Game this year. Sean Casey has been a valuable bat off the bench and is a solid backup to Youk when he needs a day off.


Second Base- Dustin Pedroia is another player who should be getting into the All Star Game and probably as the starter for the American League. Pedroia has been great all year and he is the perfect guy to be hitting behind Jacoby because he never strikes out and is extremely patient.

Shortstop- If you are just looking at numbers for Lugo, .274 avg/366 OBP/.347 slug, then you would think that Lugo has been fine. But sometimes the numbers lie. And in this case they do. That .274 average is a soft .274 in my opinion. We are halfway through the year and Lugo has 1 home run and 18 RBI. Hes projected to have 39 RBI this year. His career average is 61 RBI. I don't know if he can turn it around but I hope so.

Third Base- I didn't expect Lowell to have a super year like he did last year but hes coming damn close. 11 homers, .287 avg, and 41 RBI is fine by me at this point of the season. He keeps coming up with clutch hits like he did the other night against the D'backs.

DH- For Papi to be out as long as he has and we are still leading the division, I'll take that any day. We should be even better when he comes back and start to pull away from the pesky Rays.

Outfield- Manny's being Manny. Jacoby has had his struggles but when hes on base he causes chaos. Coco has been key and has contributed with Papi going down. JD Drew has been the offensive MVP and has carried this team since Papi went down. Its been unbelievable to watch. Hopefully he continues it when Papi gets back because he is not going to be hitting 3rd and his hot streak came when he started hitting in front of Manny. The 3 hole belongs to David Ortiz.


Starters- Beckett has just been a little off all year but in his last start he showed that he was back. Lester has been great all year. Hes been very consistent all year and hes leading the team in innings pitched. Hes made huge strides and if the playoffs started today, he would the number 2 guy. Dice-K has been good until his last start but I'm willing to give him a pass on that. He still has outing where he'll drive you insane but as long as he gets the win I'll live. Wake has been doing what hes done for the past 10 years. Masterson has stepped up huge giving us quality starts and wins.


Bullpen-If there is one real weakness on this team, its the bullpen. Pap has a couple of fluke blown saves and I'm not worried about him at all. Okie has struggled big time. He needs to turn it around somehow, some way. Delcarmen has rebounded after a rough beginning to the year. I have like what Hansen and Aardsma has brought to the table. Power right handers out the pen. Aardsma has come on strong as of late. I'm we will make some deal at the deadline for some bull pen help.

38 Was Special

Recently, Curt Schilling had surgery on his throwing shoulder, effectively ending his season and possibly his career (at least with the Red Sox). That got me thinking about Big Schill's career and his time with the Red Sox. Schill is one of the best post season pitchers of all time, highlighted with his 10-2 record and a 2.23 ERA. I remember watching that 2001 world series vs the Yankees where it seemed he pitched every game. Pitching in 3 games on 3 days rest is the stuff legends are made of. That series helped him create a legacy of post season dominance. But then came 2004. He came to Boston to win a World Series and he promised it. Think back to the off season of 2003. The Red Sox were coming off a devastating 2003 ALCS lost to Yankees and "curse" talk was higher than ever. Before Schilling said he was coming to win a World Series, have you ever heard someone say that about the Red Sox? No, people were afraid to become next Bill Buckner or Mike Torrez. Schill was doing to commercials saying he was coming to Boston to break a 86 year old curse.


If the 2001 World Series didn't show that Schill is the ultimate gamer, than the 2004 post season proved it. Every Red Sox will remember how all hope was lost when Schilling got rocked in Game 1. If the guy we brought here to beat the Yankees couldn't get it done, then who else was going to do it? Later we find out that he had a messed up tendon in his right ankle and he couldn't push off the rubber with it. So now our big gun is down and the Sox are done 0-3 to the Yankees. David Oritz and Dave Roberts bring the series back to New York where Schill risks his career and plays with his tendon stitched all up. He goes out and puts on a show and ties the series up at 3 apiece. The rest is history.


Schilling has never really recovered from that injury. While hes pitched, he hasn't been the same. Last year, he added to his legacy by pitching and winning in the playoffs with a low 90s fastball by pitching with smarts and pure guts. I'll always remember what Curt Schilling did for the Red Sox. He promised us a World Series. He brought us 2. The Red Sox will miss when it comes playoff time. Say what you want about the guy but if I had a game to win, the guy I want pitching is Curt Schilling. I think he's a Hall of Famer. I know the Wiz will call me a biased ass but hey I call 'em like I see 'em. 3 World Series titles, 1 World Series MVP. Sound Hall worthy to me. So I'd just like to say, thanks Curt, thanks for coming to Boston.

Still on Cloud 9

Two days after watching my team, the Boston Celtics, win the NBA Championship and I'm still as happy as I was while watching the trophy presentation on Tuesday. I still cant say enough about this team. People thought Ray Allen was done during the first 2 and half rounds of the playoffs and he ended up setting a NBA Finals record for 3 pointers made with 22. Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins made huge strides during this season and they are only going to get better. Also, as much as the Big 3 (and yes, i am going to start calling them that) was tremendous during the regular season and the playoffs, the Celtics don't win this title without the play and leadership of James Posey. He was so good all season. He is the definition of a big time role, veteran player coming through in the clutch. I hope he stays because he is just such a key to this team.


Doc and Danny took a lot heat the past couple of years and now they have built a NBA Championship team. Doc showed what he can do with the tools and that he is one of the top coaches in the league. Danny came through and stuck to his plan from the beginning. As good as the trades for KG and Ray were, I look to the drafts that he's had. Danny is a good judge of talent when it comes to the draft. Leon Powe and Big Baby were second round picks. The players in the trade for KG are an example. Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green (even though hes not in the league anymore), and Delonte in the Ray Allen trade. I'm excited to see what's next.


As for the Lakers, they just absolutely smoked. For me, it was great to see cause I hate the Lakers. Phil Jackson looked clueless at times on the bench and had to go with Chris Mihm at one point. I say from now on whenever a coach just goes to a desperate move like that, I say we call it a Mihm. Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Sasha Vujacic proved that they are softer than Carson Kressely at the Playboy Mansion. Hopefully all the Kobe/MJ talk is done for now because he got absolutely shut down this series.


I'll probably been writing about this for a couple more days. I'm just in heaven right now. They say there can only be one. And I'm glad its us.

Banner 17

The Boston Celtics are the NBA Champions for 2007-08. Words cant describe how happy I am. Ive been a Celtic fan my whole life. I was raised on the greatness of Larry Bird. The Celtics were the first team that I can remember. There's pictures of me, of when I was little, watching the Celtics play with a Larry Bird hoop right behind me. Also, there's some pictures of me wearing a Snoopy/Joe Cool style sweatshirt. Those who know me know how much I love the Celtics.


Somewhere along the way I absolutely feel in love with this team. I love all these players. From Pierce and KG to Big Baby and Sam Cassell. So many great moments that I can remember from this past year. Ray's game winner against the Bobcats. Pierce riding KG's back against Houston. Posey coming up huge against the Mavs at home. The domination of the Texas teams. Going 7-2 when KG was out with injury. Powe's game winner for the T'wolves. KG picking Sebastian Telfair's pocket to win the game. Name a player and I'll tell you a time when he helped this team win. I know I'm jumping all over the place but I cant help it. I will always remember this team. It was a joy to watch this team grow up from pre season in Rome, to a 66 win regular season, and capping it off with a dramatic playoff run and winning the NBA championship.


Legacies were made during this season, too. Kevin Garnett, by winning the championship, has cemented his place in NBA history. With a ring now I feel that he is a top 20 all time player, if not top 15. The way he has performed this year by changing the culture with the Celtics. He was just so much more emotional last night. It was an amazing thing to watch just how much winning this championship meant to him. Kissing the floor, screaming towards the rafters, crying during the post game interview, hugging Bill Russell saying "I got my own". Last was the best of his life and he came up big in the biggest game of the year and his life. By doing so, he has shut up all his critics including Peter Vecsey who in my opinion has lost all credibility by quoting Ron Artest on KG's ability to win.

Larry Bird once that you don't how it feels to be a Celtic until you have won a championship. Last night, Paul Pierce has become a true true Celtic. By winning this, I think that he is in the all time Celtics starting five with Bird, McHale, Russell, and Cooz. I have always been a Paul Pierce fan and I haven't seen any player take the type of heat he has gotten in this town. He showed everyone in the world that he is a top flight player in this league. Just knowing about what this guy has gone through in his career. From dropping to 10th in the draft, to almost dying with the stabbing incident, to playing on some bad teams, and now being the NBA Finals MVP.


There's just so much to talk about this season that I cant really think of it all now. Just a unbelievable season. I'm sure I'll talk about it some more in the near future.

Cry Baby Sasha

First of all, the worlds toughest athlete is by far Sasha Vujacic, and not Tiger Woods. Tiger woods may have had the most improbable puts in consecetive days in PGA tour history, just to tie, but Sasha has came out and said that the Celtics, "play to rough". This comment makes me so mad, I'm just going to forget that you gave up on the Celtics in game four. First of all, your Sasha Vujacic. No more than 5% of NBA fans can even pronounce your name. The name Sasha itself is derived from the American house cat. You made it out of your filthy country, Yugoslavia which 99% of Americans can't point out on a map. You weigh 195 pounds and your 6-7. Are you serious Sasha? I've seen infants with more spine than you. How can you complain about toughness when you cash your 1.5 million dollar check per season, while your family back in Yugoslavia fights in a race war. Take your 1.5 million and buy Yugoslavia, i'm sure thats how much it is on the market. This is the NBA, not girls junior high volleyball. It's great defense that leads you to shoot 3-19 in your last two games you wimp, not people playing rough. Its the NBA, what do you expect. No one in the world other than Bill (I'm about to die of high cholesterol) Plaske, that fat worthless, nobody from LA expected the Lakers to score their season AVERAGE of 108, and through five games, the soft lakers haven't put up anything higher than 103. Its good defense you crybaby puke Sasha. Man up and hit a shot, or sit on the bench and let some other foreign, soft, nobody try to hit a shot you punk. Enjoy being traded in the next two years for cash considerations and a bag of balls you girl...

Celtics and Tiger

It was a tough lost for the Celtics last night in Game 5. The Celts got down early again and fought their way back on the strength of Paul Pierce. KG got into early foul trouble and he never got into a real rhythm and struggled. Game 6 is tomorrow and its a quick turnaround for both teams. The Garden is going to rockin' and its going to be tons of fun. The team, as always, will be lifted by the crowd. I am extremely excited and nervous at the same time. Its going to come down to defense as it always does.


This weekends U.S. Open event and especially today's playoff proved why I love sports so much. Tiger Woods won and hit amazing shot after amazing shot on basically one leg and after not playing in such a long time. Also, mega underdog Rocco Mediate matched Tiger shot for shot and almost pulled it out. It was awesome to watch. And its about time someone kind of stood up to Tiger and not just wilt under the pressure.

Tiger also once again proved why I think he is the most mentally tough athlete of today, if not of all time. Battling pain in his surgically repaired knee, he mounted about 3 or 4 comebacks in the tournament to pull out this win. They have been showing a commercial about Tiger and his dad and how his dad said that he will meet no one that is more mentally tough than himself. That is Tiger's greatest strength above every other golfer out there. In the clutch situations, you just know that Tiger is going to come through.

The Comeback Game

I'll admit it. I was preparing to get ready for a Game 5, tied at 2-2 with the Lakers. In that first half the Lakers played unbelievable hitting every shot. Lamar Odom was playing like he was Larry Bird (I know its wrong to put those two in the same sentence but still). Luke Walton and Trevor Ariza were hitting shots. Pierce and KG still were off their game a little bit. Then Jordan Farmar hit a buzzer beater 3 off the glass to push the halftime lead to 18. It didn't look good at all. All that happened and Kobe didn't even have a field goal yet.


Then the second half, it was completely different. Doc made the adjustment to go small and spread the floor. Pierce took the challenge to guard Kobe and did a great job. Posey and Eddie House were hitting shots and Ray Allen played a marvelous game. It was just an unbelievable game to witness. Everyone contributed. Doc coached great. Pierce, KG, and Allen played great. The role players played great. The defense was great. I cant stop using the word great. Sam Cassell had a great F-bomb laden speech after the Celts took the lead. Amazing.


It truly was one of the greatest games in franchise history and one of the greatest games in Boston sports history. I'm glad that I saw it and now the Celtics are this close to a 17th championship. Unbelievable.

Various Thoughts 2

I didn't know that "milestones" are a stat like batting average and ERA. Thanks for that news. I'm not surprised with anything that comes out about Roger Clemens anymore. Who knows whats next?


Last night, the Celtics struggled vs. the Lakers and lost by 6. I didn't expect to sweep this series but we still had a chance to go up 3-0. Pierce and KG struggled mightily and I don't expect that to happen again. Even though Kobe had a good game, no one else on the Lakers had a good game except for Sasha Vujacic and his hair band. I'm worried about Rajon Rondo and his ankle injury. If he is not 100% then our offense will struggle. Hopefully that means more Eddie House and less Sam Cassell. But I am still confident with the Celtics and tomorrow's Game 4 is the biggest game of the year.


On Manny and Youk's dust up last week, I support Manny up until he gave Youk a little slap. I love Youk but sometimes when he flips out after he makes an out, it does get a little annoying. Youk fired back and Manny got a little chippy. Like I said I back, Manny up till the slap but it wont evolve into anything huge.


Hideki Okajima has not been as money as he was last year. His numbers seem ok but those numbers lie. He has been awful against Baltimore and even worse with inherited runners on. If Okie struggles and every other middle reliever struggles then the Sox are in trouble. Okie needs to turn it around or someone in the pen needs to step up cause we need the bridge to Paplebon.


The Ramblin' Gamblin' ref Tim Donaghy is at it again. He says that the Kings/Lakers series was fixed back in 2002. I remember watching that Game 6 and just laughing at how bad the officials were. I don't want to believe anything Donaghy says because he is such a scumbag. Either this is true and the game was fixed or he just picked the most blatant home called game on the history of earth to help save his ass. You decide.


Ken Griffey Jr hit his 600th career home run the other day. Every kid that grew up in the '90s like me, is a Ken Griffey fan. One of the worst sports injustices ever is that injuries robbed him of hitting 800 home runs. It should of been him that is the all time leader in home runs and not He Who Shall Not Be Named.


Finally, Cedric Benson was released by the Bears for his second alcohol related arrest. Next stop : the Raiders.

Viva Viagra...

Manny hit 500, along with hitting first baseman/utility stud, Kevin Youkilis most recently. Both events in the long run will not be remembered. Milestones are the most over exaggerated statistic out there and mean the least about a persons talent and value to a team. Congrats to Manny, but lets move on. B Shea says the Celtic's can't win without Pierce? I don't know if they couldn't win but by the way the Lakers play defense, I could go out and pop a three.

So Roger Clemens is in the news again. Viva Viagra this time. The New York Daily News has reported that the former star pitcher and current funny man, Roger Clemens hid Viagra in his locker and took it before games as a steroid. Victor Conte, founder of BALCO said that the supplement can be used as a performance enhancer. Finally, I understand how South African runner, Oscar Pistorius and his lack of human legs can run so fast. I wonder if hes missing more than just his legs? Clemons, undoubtingly will come out and deny in the very near future, but at this point where is his credibility? Somehow however in the news today, an even more rediculous, bizarre story made it's way into headlines. The Los Angeles Lakers and Las Vegas have agreed to be 9.5 favorites over the best team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics. Throughout the postseason I have had a relatively good time betting the lines, but this is outragous. Did games one and two mean anything to oddsmakers? The only thing more rediculous than this story is Shelly Smith actually getting a paycheck to be on TV, but that's a whole different story. ..

For tonight, in the betting world, you have to take the Boston Celtics +9.5. For me, I took them straight up at +400. I also like the over in this game at 196. Other solid plays for today include the RedSox -220 over the Baltimore Orioles, and the over in the Dogers/Padres game at 7 runs.

The Truth Prevails

When Paul Pierce went down early in the third quarter and he was clutching his knee, I saw our title dreams fade away. Pierce is our best one on one scorer and our most clutch player. Usually when he goes down, he gets right back up. But this time he didn't get right back up. ABC went to commercial and the first shot they show is Pierce grimacing in a wheel chair. When I saw that my heart jumped into my throat. While he was out everyone else stepped up but I kept looking at that corner where the players come out of the locker room. Then when I saw come out, I was completely re energized and you could feel the team and the entire building get a lift. Then Pierce hit the 2 three's to give the Celtics the lead and we were off.


Pierce is the heart and soul of this team. His been the longest tenured Celtic, knows all the history that comes with a Boston/LA match up, and is the captain. We need him to win. Like I said, he's the go-to-guy, the facilitator, and our best perimeter defender. For any idiot to say he was faking an injury (Bill Plaschke and Phil Jackson) is disgusting. Whats the benefit of the team for him to leave for 3 minutes in the NBA Finals? He said he heard his knee pop and he was probably more scared than anything. He is hurt and people saying he is faking is erroneous. He says his knee is sore and stiff but he'll be ready for Game 2.

500

First off, I said that you could make a case that Celtics/Lakers is a better rivalry than Red Sox/Yankees. I never said that it was better. If you put a gun to my head, I would say Sox/Yankees is better. But its a hell of a lot closer than you make it seem, my good man. Also, your jokes are hit or miss. Just like the Tigers. Ba-dum-dum.


Last night, Manny reached a career milestone by hitting his 500th career milestone. It was also a classic Manny game in a Red Sox uniform. In the 4th, he coasted towards a easy fly ball and let it drop off his glove. The guy reached second and ended up scoring, giving Baltimore the lead. Then later in the game, he absolutely crushed a ball deep into right-center. So many times, Red Sox fans have seen Manny make a bad play in the field and then hit a bomb. Manny is the best right handed that I have ever seen and arguably the greatest right handed hitter of all time. He's the best at hitting home runs the other way. I think hes last 4 home runs this year have been to the opposite field. Thank goodness that we didn't trade him the 10 times we could have. Next up : 600