My buddy Slater sent me an email during tonight's Sox game, "So far so good with bay. 2nd inning, 3 RBI."
No doubt, Bay's fitting in very nicely in Boston. Good D. Good bat. Good character.
Theo said it best, "We're not asking him to fill (Ramirez's) shoes. We're asking him to be a contributing member of a winning baseball team, emphasis on the last word."
I think the Angels and Yankees best be ready for a totally different experience next time they face Boston.
"There are 25 guys down there right now that feel like a team," said Theo. "It hasn't felt like that for a while and you have to feel like that in professional sports to perform at your best."
After the Angels series, any chance of making the playoffs looked impossible. The Sox were falling apart fast. But now with the addition of Bay, and the departure of Manny, the playoffs are back in sight. In the span of 24 hours, the Sox are functioning as a team again. One can not help but to think back to 2004 and the Nomar trade.
Team chemistry is instrumental in winning any championship. Period.
Just as I did in 2004, I feel the Sox chances of winning the world series are better than ever. I have the same feelings I had when Nomar was traded to the Cubs, and Orlando Cabrera came to Boston.
Be prepared to see EVERY guy on this team give 110% on EVERY play! Be prepared for the playoffs!
August 03, 2008
The new kid on the Sox
June 18, 2008
May 31, 2008
May 19, 2008
May 08, 2008
ERROR TRACKING PART 1
Okay, so Lugo leads the group in AVG (.293), but he's also only two errors away from exceeding both O.C.'s and Renteria's 2007 total. I simply can't stand watching Julio Lugo any longer... ESPECIALLY after witnessing him single-handedly blow last nights impressive come-from-behind effort.
Management must take immediate action to tell Lugo to step it up, or ride pine. Jed Lowrie IS the better option despite his inexperience. He's shown great promise and much better skills in the infield.
April 29, 2008
April 21, 2008
Knocked Out
They did it again. Canadians win.
Game 7 was a let down in many ways, but with the Habs leading since early in the first period, you never got too emotionally high to have the wind knocked out of you. The Bruins can hang their heads high in playing a phenomenal playoff series, and their fans should be very proud.
This team grew more in 7 games, than in all 88 regular and preseason games. Fans who had completely sworn of the Bruins, were suddenly drawn back to watch the games. As Bill Simmons put it, "the Bruins mattered again." (His article is a must read btw).
For the first time in a long time, we have a reason to get excited about the Bruins again... A proven coach who's team responds to him, extremely gifted young talent (Bergeron, Kessel, Lucic, Stuart), and most importantly, Sinden will be gone forever!
This series was a wake-up call to the fans, the organization and hopefully the NHL. I revert you back to Simmons article:
"I don't care what's happened to me and the Bruins over the years; the fact that (A) Montreal fans felt safe enough to come to a playoff game in Boston and (B) they could get THAT many tickets to a playoff game had to rank among the saddest moments in recent Boston sports history. It's one thing to see the dead body of someone you used to love; it's another thing to watch vultures picking away at it. Like everyone else who cares about Boston as a sports city, I was completely horrified." - Bill Simmons
April 18, 2008
Bruins, Shipping Back to Boston
It's hard to blame anyone who may not be watching the Bruin playoffs games. It's hard enough to find them on TV, and sadly the season was what it has been for years - mediocre. But still, this is the Bruins and Canadians. Two of the original six teams facing off in the playoffs, and also one of the oldest, and most storied, rivalries in sports. This series deserves it's earned recognition.
These playoff games have been the most exciting hockey games I can remember watching. Fast action. Big hits. Few whistles. This is playoff hockey at it's best, and the Bruins have been simply remarkable.
Game 4, despite the loss, was an instant on-the-edge-of-your-seat classic literally right down to the last second. This series could be either way - it's that close. On Thursday night the Bruins forced a Game 6 to be played in Boston on Saturday night thanks to an impressive 5-1 win over the Habs.
It's not too late to catch the action (rightfully back on NESN HD). In the meantime, enjoy Thursday night's wrap-up:
April 17, 2008
March 21, 2008
March 04, 2008
Show Paps The Money!
Jonathon Papelbon has made it public - he wants a new contract before Thursday. Unfortunately for Papelbon, he didn't qualify for arbitration which means the team will decide his salary.
"I'm at the mercy of the club right now to a certain extent. It's just a matter of ironing out the numbers. We haven't ironed them out yet and, hopefully, we can get to a mutual agreement."
Papelbon is hoping for a new one year contract, or multi-year deal. But if the Red Sox are anything like the White Sox he may be sadly disappointed. Bobby Jenks (40 saves, 2.77 era, 56 strikeouts), who was also ineligible for arbitration, just received a $100,000 bump from Chicago to increase his 2008 salary to a whopping $550,000.
This is NOT what Papelbon has in mind.
"It's a tough situation for me right now. I feel like with me being at the top of my position, I feel like that (salary) standard needs to be set and I'm the one to set that standard and I don't think that the Red Sox are really necessarily seeing eye to eye with me on that subject right now."
What is the standard salary for top closers? Well, here are some "top closer" 2007 salaries:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Joe Borowski: $4,000,000
Joe Nathan: $5,250,000
Francisco Rodriguez: $7,000,000
J.J. Putz: $2,700,000
Todd Jones: $4,809,159
Mariano Rivera: $10,500,000 (will make $15,000,000 for next three seasons)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Trevor Hoffman: $7,000,000
Chad Cordero: $4,150,000
Billy Wagner: $10,500,000
Francisco Cordero: $5,425,000
IMO, Papelbon should be making more than Kyle Synder. In fact, I believe Boston should be thinking long term here, and lock Papelbon up for the next 5 years at a respectable $40 million.
But with absolutely no leverage it's likely Paps will get "Jenksed."
February 11, 2008
Behind the Scene Photos from Super Bowl XLII
As most of you have heard, my camera never made it to Super Bowl XLII. Luckily, my colleague and good friend Scott Horrigan had his camera, and took some amazing photographs.
Visit here for all 475 photos!
February 05, 2008
Tough, tough loss
Well, hats off the Giants. It's extremely difficult to talk about the Patriots right now, but I'll try my best.
I arrived in Arizona on Thursday afternoon via a team chartered flight, and knew almost immediately this was going to be one long trip as they somehow lost my luggage. But I didn't let that get to me. I told myself I would end up in a better position than where I started, and that seems to be the case.
There were many ups (welcome party with the Krafts, dinner at Morton's and Maggiano's, winning at the casino), and many downs (loss of luggage, loss of the game, every bus getting lost), but all-in-all I had a great time.
All the credit in the world must be given to the Giants. New York's last drive will go down as one of the greatest comebacks in Super Bowl history. Eli Manning is indeed legite. He's the real deal. In the end, the Giants obviously wanted to win more, and they earned every once of the victory.
There are numerous "what ifs" we can talk about. Belichick not going for the field-goal on 4th down... Matt Light's ridiculous false starts... But why bother with all that. The Pats lost. What really kills me though is that I never saw any urgency from the Patriots. The greatest offensive machine in decades only putting 7 points on the board through 3 quarters?!?! Weak!
It's still to early for me to talk about the loss. In other news, I did win my fantasy football league! I'll be putting up photos from the trip in the next couple days. As always, thanks for checking in!
January 29, 2008
January 26, 2008
January 21, 2008
AFC Champs (again)
The Patriots won their 6th AFC Championship by beating the San Diego Chargers 21 - 12 on a frigid Sunday night in Foxborough. Despite a disappointing night for Tom Brady (22-33, 2 TD's, 3 INT's) the Patriots were able to hold the banged-up Chargers to only four field goals, not allowing any touchdowns. It's the team's 5th Conference title since Robert Kraft purchased the team back in 1994 - twice as many as any other NFL team within that span. The perfect Patriots leave for Arizona on Sunday in advancement to Super Bowl XLII where they will face the red hot New York Giants. As you remember, the Patriots edged the Giants 38-35 in New York back on December 29th. The Giants haven't looked back since earning hard-fought victories on the road over Tampa Bay (24-14), Dallas (21-17) and Green Bay (23-20).
January 09, 2008
The Beauty of Playoff Fantasy Football
Just a quick update on my 2007 Fantasy Football team on it's way to becoming league champion. Again, the team that scores the most points throughout the playoffs and Super Bowl is declared league champion.
My team, NH Assault, is currently in first place (no surprise) with 101 points. Here is the roster as promised for all my diehard fans out there!
QB - Payton Manning
QB - Tom Brady (protected from roster)
QB - Eli Manning
QB - Jason Campbell (brain-fart - eliminated)
WR - Randy Moss (protected from roster)
WR - Terrell Owens (protected from roster)
WR - Chris Chambers
WR - Hines Ward (eliminated)
WR - Greg Jennings
RB - Earnest Graham (protected from roster)
RB - Brandon Jacobs
RB - Maurice Morris
RB - Heath Evans
RB - Fred Taylor (protected from roster)
TE - Dallas Clark (brain fart)
TE - Jaramy Stevens (eliminated)
TE - Marcus Pollard
Defense - San Diego (a whale's......)
K - Stephen Gostowski (protected from roster)
K - Matt Bryany (eliminated)
January 03, 2008
Fantasy Playoffs
Okay, 29 minutes until my fantasy league's playoff draft. Here's how it works.
The top four teams advance to the playoffs.
You can protect 6 players from your current roster.
The final rosters, after the draft, will be 20 players.
The weekly rosters are expanded by one spot from the regular season, which can be used on any position.
Scoring is the same as the regular season.
The Champ is the team who scores the most points for the whole playoff run.
I finished the regular season in First place at 12-5, (Editor's Note: I was at my grandmothers house for a family dinner with no notes, laptop or magazines during the regular season draft), and will be protecting Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Earnest Graham, Fred Taylor and Stephen Gostowski. Not too shabby!
This draft has a whole new strategy. What players/teams will go deep in the playoffs? Who do you protect? How to use the extra roster spot? I currently have seven Internet browsers up with player news and states, draft chat room, excel spreadsheet for roster/teams, and the TV is tuned to the NFL Network. I'm ready for a draft. I hope this goes as well as the regular season draft! You know I'll keep you posted!
January 01, 2008
Perfect Patriots
I'd like to wish you all a very happy New Year! I hope 2008 is your best and most successful year in history.
How bout them perfect Patriots? Saturday night was easily one of the best football games I can remember witnessing. Props to the G-men - they brought it! (How about Eli looking like Payton with his four touchdown passes?) Everything about this game felt like the playoffs. The media circus was incredible. In my three years of roaming the sidelines, I have never seen so many photographers at a regular season game. Even the post-game conferences for Brady and Belichick were moved to a larger space to accommodate the media frenzy. And it was well worth the hype.
A) Became the 4th team in NFL history to record an undefeated/untied regular season
B) Set NFL all-time single season scoring record (589 points). Note: their scoring differential was +315... also a new league record
C) Set all time record for consecutive regular season wins (19 wins)
D) Brady set single-season touchdown pass record (50 touchdowns) Note: Brady also set Patriot single-season passing yardage record (4,557 passing yards)
E) Moss set single-season touchdown reception record (23 touchdowns)
I guess you could say they had a pretty good year (they even set the record as most watched show this season).It's on to the playoffs where everyone is 0-0. The Patriots will either play the Titans, Steelers or Jaguars on Saturday night (January 12) at 8:00. If history repeats itself, you can expect one hell of a game!
