The Official Boston Sports Thread

I am just loving the fact that the Sox are really clicking this early in the season and in all aspects of the game too! Baltimore has put a good team together this year and they are also playing well. I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the running for a Wild Card spot come September.
Unfortunately, no matter how bad they look now, you just can't count the Yankees out of things either. If they can get their pitching problems under control and get back some of their players still on the DL soon they will be back in the hunt as well.

 

The monthly honors were handed out yesterday for the first time this season, and Josh Beckett narrowly missed being American League Pitcher of the Month (losing to Toronto's Roy Halladay). Because of his stellar work out of the bullpen, Sox setup man Hideki Okajima did garner AL Rookie of the Month honors, however.

 

Beckett went 6-0 with the Sox win last night, the 1st Red Sox pitcher to do so since Clemens did back in 1992(?). Coco Crisp made another web-gem catch out in CF last night to keep the A's in check as well. Tonight the Sox play their make-up game against the M's with Dice-K on the mound.

 

Mike Reiss reports in his blog that Tom Brady has agreed to have his contract restructured. $5.28M of Brady's $6M base salary for 2007 will be paid in the form of a signing bonus, reducing Brady's salary to $720K and saving the Patriots $3.96M in cap space for the year. In addition, Brady's base salary for 2009 was increased from $2.5M to $5M.

 

http://media.putfile.com/David-Ortiz-and-Brian-Urlacher-Commercial

"Big Papi" in a spot for Vitamin Water...Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher co-stars.

 

Not a lot happening this past weekend in the sports world. Unless of course you aren't counting the Kentucky Derby, the Sox winning 2 of 3 against the Twins on the road for the 1st time in 7 years, and then there's that whole thing with Clemens signing with the Yankees.

Good game aginst the Twins yesterday. Schiiling looked at his best, until the end of the 6th anyway. Not really sure what happened there but at least the bullpen was able to hold it together for the win.
I don't know about you guys but I think it's too bad that Roger went to NY. I think that having him in the rotation and moving Tavarez and Lester to the 'pen would have made the Sox pitching staff the best in the majors. IMO it's pretty clear it came down to Boston and New York, the team he started with and earned most of his personal milestones with or the team he won two World Series with. I'm sure that the extra $$$ was a major factor in his decision but if he really thinks that he alone can turn the team around then he's got a few Texas-sized rocks in his head.

 

I'm glad to see Beckett doing so well... especially considering that Schill probably won't be back next year.

 

Urlacher got fined by the league for wearing a Vitamin Water hat during a press conference for the SB, which cost him a cool $100k. I wonder how much longer he will support VW. lol

 

Someone I know on IRC posted this starting lineup, which would compete with any team in the majors and still cost less than Roger Clemens alone (based on their 2007 salaries):

SP Brandon Webb $4.5M
C Joe Mauer $3.75M
1B Ryan Howard $900K
2B Robinson Cano $490.8K
3B Miguel Cabrera $7.4M
SS J.J. Hardy $400K
OF Josh Hamilton $380K
OF Alex Rios $2.535M
OF Matt Holliday $4.4M
DH Sammy Sosa $500K

 

If the Yanks wanna pay that much for a guy that'll be lucky to go 5 innings, they can have him. I'll take Beckett and Schilling anyday.

 

In BC football news, the Globe's Mark Blaudschun reports that the Eagles, who already will renew their rivalry with Notre Dame this fall, are about to take another step toward upgrading their non-conference schedule by agreeing to a two-year contract with the University of Southern California which would begin in 2011. The USC Trojans, of course, have returned as a national football power recently under the leadership of head coach Pete Carroll, winning the BCS national title in 2004 and 2005. The two schools have only played each other in football twice -- in 1987 and 1988 -- with USC winning both times.

 

Natick's own Doug Flutie, the former Boston College and New England Patriots quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy in 1984, was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame today in his first year of eligibility. The induction ceremony for this year's class will take place in December in a ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, and will be officially enshrined at the Hall of Fame's museum in South Bend, IN in July of 2008.

 

Amid the controversy surrounding Curt Schilling's comments towards San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, Dice-K actually had a solid outing last night in Toronto, allowing only one run on a Lyle Overbay homer in 7 innings in a 9-3 Sox victory. Dice-K did get into a couple of jams, but was able to escape them without runs scoring, so let's hope an outing like this gets the Japanese star back in a groove.

 

In an apparent vote of confidence from management, the Celtics have agreed to a contract extension with head coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers, whose current deal was set to expire at the end of next season. Terms of the extension were not immediately disclosed.

 

Tim Wakefield finally got the run support that he deserves last night as the Sox rolled over the Blue Jays 8-0 and sweep the series on the road. The Sox come back home for 10 games starting tonight.

In other sports news. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has announced that he is leaving the racing team that his father started to go race for the RCR team in 2008. It's unfortunate that things came to this but Jr. has to do what's best for his career. I think that Dale Sr. raced for RCR before starting up his own team, if that's the case at least there's some familiarity there for Jr.

 

If Jr. Does race for the RCR team, it will mean he can race in his father's #3 car.

Speaking of Dale Jr. Staples is celebrating their 21st anniversary today with an employee cookout. Out in the parking lot they have one of Dale Jr's #8 Sharpie cars. Pretty cool looking.

 

A story in the San Diego Union-Tribune quoted a source familiar with the situation as saying that LB Junior Seau will re-sign with the Patriots late next week, pending a physical. Seau originally signed a one-year deal, but was lost for the season after breaking his arm on Nov. 26 against the Chicago Bears. The future Hall-of-Famer was fifth on the team in tackles (69) despite missing the final 5 games of the season.

 

Well, the saying that goes "All's well that ends well" certainly applied to yesterday's game, as the Red Sox were down 5-0 to the Orioles going into the bottom of the 9th and rallied with 6 runs to win it, the tying and winning runs coming on the last play, which was ruled a hit for shortstop Julio Lugo and an error on pitcher Chris Ray for dropping Kevin Millar's feed to the bag at first base. The Sox, on the weekend, took 2 of the 3 games this weekend after dropping the opener.

There is concern, though, as Sox starter Josh Beckett left the game after 4 innings with what was termed an avulsion (which you may call a cut) in his right middle finger. Hearing Terry Francona talk about it, it actually seemed better than a blister problem, though Beckett would be re-examined today and whether and how many starts he'll have to miss may be determined then. Beckett got a no-decision in the game yesterday, but that stopped his streak of consecutive starts with a win to open the season at 7, and did not tie the franchise record shared by Babe Ruth, Dave Ferriss, and Roger Moret.

The reigning American League champions, the Detroit Tigers, come into Boston for 4 games starting tonight, with Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-2, 4.80 ERA) getting the start for the Sox against the Tigers' Nate Robertson (3-2, 3.43 ERA).

 

Dice-K had perhaps the best outing of his young Red Sox career last night, getting his first (of many, we hope) major league complete game, while scattering 6 hits and allowing only a single run on a homer by Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson in the third inning en route to a 7-1 win. Matsuzaka only struck out 5 Tigers, but didn't walk anyone and his 2-seam fastball and slider were working well enough to induce 16 ground ball outs. Sox shortstop Julio Lugo broke open a close game in the 8th with a bases-clearing triple with the bases loaded.

The series continues tonight with 2006 American League Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander of the Tigers (3-1, 2.83 ERA) opposing Tim Wakefield (4-3, 1.79 ERA).

 

Well, last night was almost the exact opposite of Monday night, as Justin Verlander had a strong outing and the Tigers had a close lead before breaking it open in the 8th and eventually got the 7-2 win. Tim Wakefield had a tough night, with his ERA ballooning to 2.42 despite going 7+ innings. On the bright side, Kevin Youkilis had a monster home run that just missed clearing the back wall in left-center field over the camera position in the 8th inning off Verlander.

The series is scheduled to continue tonight, but could be delayed with rough weather coming in later this afternoon. If and when they play, the Tigers' Mike Maroth (3-0, 4.69 ERA) will oppose Julian Tavarez (1-4, 6.60 ERA). The game will be televised nationally by ESPN (but blacked out in Boston and Detroit, where the local networks will carry the game).

 

That was one heck of a storm!

Hey Richie, when you say local networks, do you mean Fox or the CW? I didn't think that they were carrying week-day games.

 

WoV, when I said "local networks", I meant NESN in Boston's case.

Terry Francona announced during his pre-game session with the media that Josh Beckett would miss his scheduled start on Friday due to the avulsion in his right middle finger. Tito said that Friday's starter would be called up from Pawtucket, but didn't say who it would be.

 

Last night's game was postponed due to rain, so they will play two today, with the first game scheduled for a 12:35 PM first pitch. The pitching matchup for the first game has been changed for the Tigers...Zach Miner (no record) will make the start in the first game against Julian Tavarez (1-4, 6.60) due to an illness on the part of Mike Maroth. The second game will start at the usual 7:05 PM time, and will feature the Tigers' Chad Durbin (3-1, 5.08) against Curt Schilling (4-1, 3.63). Both games will air locally on NESN.

 

Thanks for clarifying, Richie. For a brief moment, I thought I might actually be able to watch the game without going to the 9's for appetizers... not that that is ever a bad thing. LOL

Looking forward to the double header today!

 

Julian Tavarez scattered 4 hits over 7 innings and allowed only 1 run in getting the 2-1 victory in the first game of today's day/night doubleheader against the Tigers. Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis had RBI singles for the only runs Tavarez would need.

In Patriots offseason news, ESPN.com's offseason power rankings have the Pats in the top spot. Also, according to FoxSports.com's Pete Schrager, the Patriots had the best offseason in the league.