WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It comes down to Game 7, the biggest bats are somewhat quiet (well Papi at least), so leave it in the hands of the rookies. Dice K goes 5 innings, gives up 2. Not too bad. Oki goes 2 innings, gives up 1. Not too bad. But Jacoby, the CF of the future for this team, huge game, especially getting on in front of DP and his 2 run shot. Four huge contributions from Four big time rookies. And of course, Pap, not a rookie, but still pretty young, doing what he does. Not much in the K department but effective none the less.

So the Tribe, first gets screwed on the call of Manny throwin out Lofton at 2nd. Then the 3rd base coach holding up Lofton when he coulda been the tieing run. Then all the errors in shallow left. Seems like a little inexperience.

So this year its' all about the youth. And we party tonight, cause come Wed it's back to work.

Beckett Wed, Schilling Thurs, Dice Saturday, Wake Sunday....wind it up cause there's one more series to go....THE series. The World Series.

GO SOX!!!

Yeah, that's what Josh Beckett needed, to get MORE fired up for last night's game.

About the only thing the Tribe coulda done is drop their bat when they think it's ball 4.

Seriously though, for those that didn't hear, Cleveland had their National Anthem singer cancel, and replaced her with an Ex-girlfriend of Boston's starting pitcher. And then mid-game Beckett & Lofton had a bench clearing arguement. But what I care about, is that the Sox are still alive. The bats heated up last night. The pitchers are fired up. And this is an exciting series as it heads back to Fenway.

Go Sox!

What a little pressure from the boss will do

Here's a little update to the post that I made only a matter of hours ago, now Torre's pulling up his Ace on short rest for game 4 tonight.

With all the media saying, "Steinbrenner should keep his mouth shut" "Do you really think they played harder cause Torre's jobs on the line".....here's the bottom line. The Yankees are scared. This amazing comeback of a season was based on them putting up monster scores, and their pitching stepping up from horrible to above average. Now it's October, and for at least a third consecutive year their hitting has fallen off big time. So the normally arogant Yankees are grasping at straws and switching to a 3 man rotation on short rest. Sounds like a desperate team to me. On the other side of the field, you got the Indians saying, "we're not desperate, we've got some good depth on the mound, so you're gonna see our #4 tonight".

This will make tonights game even more interesting. As Wang got racked in game 1, can the Tribe do it again, this time in NY? How will Wang throw on short rest? How quick will Torre be with the hook, if the game turns ugly?

Then let's look ahead, if the Wang idea works, you got Pettite/CC for the deciding Wed night match. THAT will be exciting! And as the Sox have already clinched, we're allowed to look farther and say, that if the Yanks pull it out with Wang & Pettite gone, that sets them up for Clemens (or Hughes) game 1 on Friday, Wang on 4 days rest Saturday, Pettite on 4 days Monday, and Mussina (who hasn't ptiched in a month) on Tuesday?

On the Tribe side, if they pull it off tonight with Byrd, then CC & Fausto will walk into Fenway this weekend. Not something I'd wanna look forward to. So as a true Sox fan, can you possibly root for NY tonight? I don't think I can do that.

3 Down 7 To Go

We all know the mission: Division Champs (check), Win the ALDS (check), Win the ALCS, and then the World Series. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Sox are rollin. The pitching's been solid. Not perfect, but pretty darn solid. Even Gagme only let up one run in the last win.

But it's the post-season, and it's all about the pitching. So now they've got 5 days off, so how's the rotation gonna look? Beckett Friday (duh). Then do you keep it Dice then Schill? Will Wake be ready to be #4, or is it Lester's turn to shine?

Most interestingly, who will be coming to Fenway on Friday? And who will be on the mound? It all depends on tomorrow night's game. Mussina vs Byrd. If the Tribe closes it tomorrow, CC will be leading it off Friday. If they go to game 5, the Sox'll get either Fausto or Pettite. Either way, Friday will be a great game. Hopefully Beckett will be firing on all cylinders once again, and the bullpen will be ready to back him up. With a 7 game series, I don't think we'll be seeing any more complete games.

Go Sox! (and between now and Friday, go tribe, take down the spankees)

IT'S ON!!!

October rolls in, the Pats are rollin, and the Sox are entering the playoffs hoping to do the same.

Apparently Tito didn't share my opinion of which ALDS scheduling option to choose, and has announced that he's going Beckett Wednesday, Dice Friday, and Schill Sunday. I obviously don't have a place to argue with only manager to ever take the Sox into 3 postseasons, so let's just get pumped, get behind the team, and hope to see some great games.

Tito did announce that this will move Wake into the pen, but they haven't officially released the rest of the line-ups to see what other pitchers will be there. Most intriguing will be Clay & Lester. The numbers being tossed around are 10 or 11 pitchers, so my guess would be: Beckett, Dice, Schill, Pap, Oki, Gagne, Timlin, Javy, MannyD, and Wake for sure. Then you gotta pick between 1-2 out of Corey, Snyder, Tavarez, Lester, or Clay. Tough choice, and I'm still probably forgetting someone. But I guess it's good to just be in the situation that you're deep enough to have a tough call to make.

Woo Hoo! I can feel it in the air. Time to live at the bar on week nights. And hopefully watch the guys play all month long.

Go Sox!

OR

OK Sox fans, what would you take if you had your choice, schedule option A or B?

Right now, as of mid-day Friday Boston & Cleveland sit tied with the AL's best record. And everyone's been talking about how deep the Sox's pitching staff goes, and how Cleveland would really want Option B so they could throw out CC & Faust twice in the opening series. But I'm not satisfied with that answer. I think it's a little short-sighted. So let's look into this a little deeper.

If you're so concerned about the ALDS and making sure that your two biggest guns get out there if the series goes to the limit, what happens if that works? Now you walk into the ALCS going #3, #1, #2 (in that order) all on 4 days rest. Then you need to use a #4, before you're back into #1, #3, #2 (in that order) . And if all that goes well, you get into the World Series with your #1 on 6 days rest. And during the series #1, #2, & #3 will all pitch on 4 days rest.

Now if option A was the choice, starting on Thursday, you roll through the ALDS using 4 pitchers, and everyone's got extra rest. Then you look ahead to the ALCS, and if you wanna use 1,2, & 3 twice each, only #1 will be going on 4 days rest twice. Then in the WS similarly to the other scenerio, 1,2, & 3 will all pitch on 4 days rest at some point.

That said, I personally feel that Option A is still the answer. The depth of the rotation is good enough, everyone's got good rest for the first series (which has been huge this year for Dice & Schill), and it sets up better for the ALCS. Plus, why not force your opponent to go to a #4 starter. And best reason yet....why not give the Indians some help against the Spankmes?

And on another note, anyone that has ever paid attention to Townienews.com make sure you check out Fitzy now on ESPN.com under their video section with his Monday Night Mania's. They're hysterical, and now he's finally getting the national recognition he deserves. Can't wait to see him going nuts in Cinci this week.

So no more losses, go Sox, take the East, and roll into October.

One More Week....will the Sox Survive?

I'm really not sure. Yeah, the Tigers are 7 games behind, and the Mariners 8 games back in the Wild Card. But dropping 5 of the last 6 ain't too promising. Yeah the line-up's a bit off, when you see an outfield of Ellsbury, Moss, & Kielty, but the pitching just hasn't been there either. Especially the bullpen. Is the superstar pen finally showing it's cracks? Or does the team just have a case of the shanks, ala Tin Cup?

I hope it's the latter. And I hope that Tito can play the Cheech role and cure 'em pretty quick, cause he's only gotta week and a half to do it.

Whether they get the Wild Card or the Division, the bottom line is they gotta get hot. And do it NOW! What do the 06 Cards, 05 ChiSox, 04 BoSox, etc all have in common? They got hot down the stretch. Who's hot right now? (that's rhetorical, we all know the division rival who's 13-4 for this month) Lucky for us, we can't play them in round one (assuming we get there). And we should have the starting pitching depth to not need the bonus day off gift, like the Tribe would love to have (and at 13-5 are also pretty hot this month). The only playoff bound team that's also been cold this month is the Angels (however they just swept the dRays), but I wouldn't want to have to play the coast-to-coast 5 game series with them. Especially how good they've been at home this year.

Bottom line, we need some wins. We need our starting lineup back and healthy. And let the match ups fall where they may. If I had my choice, I'd take the Tribe with the single day of rest between games, and throw Beckett, Dice, Schill, and Lester (who's got a 2.70 ERA for Sept). So let's get some wins from Tampa, Oakland, and Minnesota, and get rolling for October.

Go Sox!

Another Week, Another Roller Coaster



Sub-title: This week's Sox update



So Clay comes out and tosses a No-No. Awesome. But now it's up to Tito to guide the boys down this stretch run. Swept by the Spankees. Horrible. Chances of seeing them again in October. Huge. So the team's gotta get it together, and not just against the teams they've been beating. How weird is this, A-rod has become clutch, and the Sox can only perform against mediocre teams. What a twist.

Yeah, this post is kinda random thoughts, but that's what it feels like as the team does well, and then not, and then back on, and round we go. Wake has an off night, and Tito brings Clay from the pen for some good stuff. Anyone else getting excited to see if they do stuff like that in October? Well not the Wake being off part, but come on, talk about a bullpen: Pap, Oki, Gagne, Clay, Javi, Manny-Del, Julian, and for good measure...Wake too. I mean why not. You only rotate 4 starters in post-season, right? So go Beckett, Dice, Schill, and Lester. I'm thinking Wake's better out of the pen than Jon. And if they go three starter rotation, then we go 3 righties. And that pen's got plenty of long relief help. Now the bats just gotta stay hot to pair with those pitchers, and look out. Hopefully ManRam's relaxing, and getting back to full power, and JD gets hot again. But I guess you ask for the moon right?

So one more week, and we got the O's & Rays. Then it's revenge time. Oh how sweet would that knock out punch be, if the Sox can take the pinstripes out of the Wild Card. But let's not get too greedy.

Go Sox!

It's Showdown Week - (Weekly Sox Report)

So the boys won most of the games they were supposed to win over the past week. That's a sweep of the other sox, and only dropped one game in Tampa. While the Spankees have dropped 2 to the Angels, and 2 to Detroit (with one more game to go tonight). Plus, Mr. Gagne has calmed down a little, 5 k's, 4 hits, and 0 ER over his last 4 outings.

Now we're prepped and ready to go into Yankee stadium. The Sox haven't been there since May 23rd, and haven't even seen the Yanks since June 3. But they've felt 'em breathing down their necks for the past month, that's for sure. So we go into this 3 game set with about a 7 game lead in the East. Tito's set up the rotation so we get Dice, Beck, & Schill. Torre's bringing Petite, Clemens, & Wang. This is gonna be big. Especially with Seatle turning it on as of late, people are starting to notice that the Wild Card might not come from the AL East, or the Central either. So we gotta win the division. And that means winning the series this week.

Emotions will be high. We'll see some of the best pitchers & hitters in the game. Let's just make sure the Sox prove why they still got the best record in Major League Baseball. Game on.

Go Sox!

Weekly Sox Update - Setting up the stage

So Tito's starting to play some games here. The Sox were up by 5 games in the division, sitting with the best record in baseball, and are setting up the rotation like it's the end of September.

However it's really only the end of the August, but the boys in red are preparring for next week's series against the pin stripes like the playoffs depend on it (which they might). For those that don't know what I'm talking about, the Sox pulled up Clay Bucholtz on Friday for one of the double header games, in order to not mess with the usual starters schedules. OK, I like it, let's see Clay, he gets to pitch at home, and it keeps everything normal. Then comes Sunday, and who strolls out to the mound...Julian Tavarez. Is someone injured? Nope. Tito's making the call that he wants to go DiceK, Beckett, Schilling against the Yankees....which is over a week away. However I do like JT showing OC what happens when you try to steal our signs.

Talk about making a stand. Another interesting twist, Wily Mo is gone. He complained that he didn't wanna play Centerfield, when they needed someone to, and he really wasn't performing. So in comes Jacoby....but he didn't even last the weekend!?!? Next comes Bobby Kielty. Nothing against him, but I'm just wondering why make the two moves? If only JD could live up to half of his salary, this wouldn't be an issue at all. And is it just me, or on Sunday, the games on the line, runners on base, 2-outs, Kielty's got 2 hits already....let's ph Drew so he can whiff the game away. Come on.

And of course, the bad news, with Dougie Mirabelli getting injured. Now they had to bring in a new catcher, Cash. This could be huge. We'll find out tonight how well he handles the knuckler.

The Sox got two VERY important series here over this week, that can't be taken lightly. The Drays and ChiSox give us a huge chance to open the lead against the Spankme's before next week's series. I mean, New York's coming off battling Detroit to take 3 of 4, are going out to LA for the Angels, and then go into Detroit who'll be looking for revenge. That's a tough stretch, so Boston needs to take care of business, while they're battling on the road.

Go Sox!

Another weekly Sox Update



Here we sit with the Sox still on top of the entire league with 72 wins. They've been on this perch now for what seems like an eternity. So why am I so nervous?



A couple weeks ago, Theo goes out and snags the best reliever on the market, and adds him to the best bullpen in baseball. So how does that bullpen give up gameS to the Orioles? The 15 1/2 games back, more Sox fans in the crowd than O's fans, home away from home Orioles! I'm not about to say picking up Gagme was a mistake, but the job of a bullpen is to be lights out, and he's got a month and a half to prove that he is. Hopefully he'll prove it sooner than later, so that we don't get passed by the Yanks and M's and miss out on the playoffs.

Most important for the Sox right now is to take more than 2 of 3 from the Drays (and other similar teams). We got 28 games left against TB, BAL, TOR, OAK, and the Whitesox, and need to win at least 20+ of them. Add that with 10 games left against the Angels and Yankees that we need to split (ie get 5 of them), and the team will be in good shape for October. (Yeah, I'm ignoring the Twins series to finish out the season, cause that all depends on how the races are at that point, they could mean nothing, or they could lock the Sox in, or they could lock Minnisota in the Central. Who knows.)

Now as we look at the manually updated out of town scores on the green monster, let's pay extra special attention to that team from the Bronx over the next couple of weeks. 14 games with one day off against Detroit, Angels, Detroit, and Boston. That's a tough stretch for the hottest team in baseball (of course, Sept looks a little different with 6 games against Seatle and Boston, and 21 against TB, KC, TOR, & BAL). As well, we should keep the other eye on Detroit & Cleveland. They've got 6 more games against each other, 6 more games each against Minn, and 3 each against Seatle. But here's where it differs, Detroit gets the 8 games vs NY while Cleveland just has 3 vs the Angels. Advantage Cleveland.

Ahhh yes, the season is heating up pretty good right now. And our boys need to stay on top.

Harry Potter - My thoughts

Spoiler warning, if you have not yet read book 7, Deathly Hallows, do not read this post!

OK, so I just finished the last of the Harry Potter series, Book 7, Deathly Hallows. Add that to a few comments by fellow bloggers knocking the series, and that lead me to thinking that I need to express my thoughts on the series of books & movies, and hopefully start up a good discussion. So let's start at the most recent and work backwards:

Book 7 - Initial reaction: Great book. I flew through it, hoping that nobody I knew or online would spoil the end before I got there. And no one did. However, upon finishing the book I realized why....no big surprise. JK Rowling did such a great job with this series, keeping it good for pre-teens and adults alike, but starting with book 4 had been building the death toll up with every book. Yeah, this one was a bloodbath, but when you get to the end, Harry lives. And not only does he live, but she pulls the whole near-death experience tease. And then when the real final battle happens, she lets him defeat Voldemort, basically, with his own spell turned on himself. I mean, couldn't she let Harry try the killing curse just like he started using crucio? Nope, she keeps Harry as the patron saint.

The Epilogue - How do you take 7 books, over 4000 pages, and try to give you an idea of what happens after the battles in a few pages of an epilogue. You already finished the battle on the safe, cutesy, high-note. Harry wins. Evil is conquered. Everyone laughs and drinks at a banquet. The only thing missing was one more appearance by Harry's favorite dead relatives telling him the force was strong in him, and a few dancing Ewoks. No, JK thought that she'd continue the love-fest with a look 19 years later, everyone's happily married with kids, all going to Hogwarts starting the cycle all over again similar to Harry in book 1. And she keeps is so short, that she hardly covers what happened over those 19 years. I mean, what about the first couple post-war years? Why focus so much on what Harry, Ron, & Hermy will do for careers after school, only to lightly touch on it? What about the fact that the big 3 took a year off, shouldn't there be a year 8 as they go back to actually finish their schooling, or did that whole school thing lose it's importance? And JK did such a wonderful job creating SO many different characters in this wizarding world, yet the epilogue covers only a handful of the main ones.

OK, enough negativity, I thought it was a good book, so let's get into that:

"On with the bodycount!" - Here's something I really like. In my opinion any story loses credibility if no one dies. So in Book 4 a well liked student dies. A great example of how the dark Lord is back, and people are gonna start dying, most likely right under Harry's nose. Book 5 it's Harry's godfather. Now it's even more personal, there's more fighting going on, and of course some lives will be lost. One of those happens to be the only member left of Harry's Wizarding family. Book 6 it's Dumbledore. Now we're talking. If you're not gonna kill one of the kids, take out the next most loved character in the series, who also happens to be the most powerful. This of course shows that nobody's safe, and keeps readers on their toes. Cause anyone can die. Book 7, there are quite a few here. Every battle in this book has some sort of death or dismemberment. I mean, it is a war, right? And if you want to claim that people are risking their lives, you gotta show that they really are. And this time, there are a lot of battles, not just a big one at the end. Instead we get one every other chapter. Hence so many deaths and injuries. Good stuff.

A different storyline - For the first time really, in 7 books, JK varies from the typical Potter storyline: Life with the Dursleys, hint at trouble, Diagon Alley, back to school, minor issues at school, character development, further explanation of the trouble, Quidditch, love interests, everyone bails on Harry, then they come back just in time for the final battle, Harry defeats evil with a little help from his friends, they leave school. Yeah book 4 mixed it up a little bit with the world cup and tri-wizard tourney, which made it one of my favorite books, but that was about all it ventured from the formula. Book 5 added more at the beginning before school, but then back to the formula. Book 6 was excellent, but followed the formula to a T. Then comes 7. Totally different. Starts out the same, and then you realize they're not going back to school. And the big 3 go on their journey that takes half the book, and is unlike anything in the series to date. This is really what makes this book stand out.

More background story - Book 7 was all about tying it all together. Although Dumbly was dead, we really get a good look into his past here. And learn more about the type of person he was, and his really connection to Harry above and beyond his headmaster role. While book 6 was more about Voldemort's back story, this one was really more about Dumbledore's.

The final battle - Although I do feel that some things in Book 7 happened too fast (like how quickly the coup took over the ministry), the build up to the final battle really had to happen that quickly. With wizards that can just disapparate and fly from place to place, mobilizing forces should really happen that quickly. And how appropriate, staging the biggest battle of the series on the grounds of Hogwarts. The best part, of course, is seeing Neville as the leader of the student underground. The one that shares the same birthday as Harry, that could've been who the prophet was written about, gets to play a vital role in organizing people, defying the death eaters at the school, and then taking out the last Horcrux. By him doing that, does that mean that he really killed the dark Lord? I'll get into that in a minute. The final battle was described pretty well. With everyone getting involved, and so much going on whichever way you looked, and of course, so many casualties, it was pretty good. And best of all, when compared to other great movie final battles, at least this one didn't have the two sides lined up, and the main character give the Braveheart speech "Voldemort will never take...our FREEDOM!!!"

Who really killed Voldemort - For those of you not keeping count, Voldemort split his soul up 6 (or 7) times. So in order to truly kill him, you have to kill all of the pieces of his soul. So in order: Harry killed the diary of Tom Riddle; Dumbledore killed the ring of Marvolo Gaunt; Ron killed the locket of Merope Gaunt; Hermione killed the cup of Hufflepuff; Crabbe killed the Diadem of Ravenclaw; Neville killed the snake Nagini. So that's 6 Horcruxes, leaving the 7th piece of Voldemort's soul in him, and the 8th piece in Harry. Both of which were technically killed by Voldemort himself. So you tell me, who really killed him?

OK, that was alot there, but now I feel better, like I just talked with a psychiatrist. Hopefully I'll get some comments here, and get into a discussion. Then I'll break down the other books and movies as well.

Let's Try This Weekly Update Again

Yeah, I know I said I'd do this weekly, but I got a little absent minded, now I really will do it weekly. Especially as the season keeps on chugging. I can't say it's heating up, cause it has been pretty hot since the Sox's (is that correct grammar?) slight slump a month ago. But this week, I am gonna venture a little off baseball too, cause it's truly a fantastic time to be a Boston sports fan.

Sox - Lesson I learned last week, never get in a fantasy league with Theo. Am I upset with Kason getting shipped out to Texas, a little. After starting off all bitter that he pitched the game I was at instead of Schill, I warmed up to Gabbard. He did a good job, and got rewarded with a move to the black hole of Texas. He is a very emotional pitcher, and I doubt he'll ever get that fire built up in the non-challance of AL-west basement dwellers. But we did get Gagne. At first I was totally pumped to see him in Boston. Even if he is just a rent-a-player. Now he's gone out a couple times and what have we noticed, he's not as lights out as we would've hoped. But he just got here, so let's give him a little time to get in a groove. Only issue could come up, is that he's been talking how he would only get traded to a team he could be the closer on. Then the Sox came calling, and he said he would "close" the 8th, and the nights that Pap's not available or resting. That's cool. Until a month from now we find out that Oki is actually more lights out than Mr. Cy Young. Hmmm, how's he gonna take that, when Tito's calling Hideki's number more often or in more critical situations than Gagne? If he can really be a team player, he'll get alot of love bringing the heat out of the pen in Fenway, and can be part of the most feared 3-man bullpen combo in baseball.

Celts - KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce. A little bit of improvement over the last few years, huh? As long as the guys stay healthy I see a top 4 finish in the East, and a legit shot at challenging Cleveland, Miami, and Chicago. However, I still fear that Detroit has too complete of a team from 1-6 (yeah, I'm including a 6th man off the bench) that this new big 3 can't hang with. However if the experiment works, and they can sign KG to some sort of an extension, then it's just a matter of filling the holes with younger guys. For those Boston fans that aren't 100% familiar with KG, he's still the ONLY player in the NBA that can honestly play every position on the floor 1-5. He's big enough for Center, and can dribble well enough to bring the ball up if necessary. His talent is amazing, as long as he's not falling off due to age. The Celts are now relevant, and will be alot of fun to watch with these guys.

Pats - Speaking of new faces in town, and guys I wouldn't wanna be in a fantasy league with. Hello, Scott Piolli! How do you take a team that was only a couple plays from yet another Superbowl, and bring in the kind of talent that they did this offseason. Who did the lose? Dillon, Banta-Kane, and possible Asante. Who did they gain? The best LB on the market (Adalius), arguably the best WR (Randy), a solid #2 wide-out (Donte), and a stud slot/returner (Wes). My only fear is that the receiving core from last year, who are ALL still on the team, don't getting pissy that they're all on the bench at the start of the game. Yeah, they'll cycle through some plays as Bill goes 5-wide, but honestly, if this crew does well this year. Look for Reche to be beggin for a trade in the offseason, and Troy to look towards retirement. Which is too bad, cause they're both solid guys, especially the way that Troy Brown was willing to go both ways, and do whatever was ever asked of him. He's the man.

Bruins - Uhhh, they need some help. And need to stop trading away the best players in the league when they have them. But how 'bout them Celts!

Till next week.

This Week's Baseball Talk

I'm gonna try to do a baseball post every Monday. Even though the Sox & Yankees own baseball (see earlier post) it might actually be about other teams, but regardless we'll see how it goes. Enjoy.

First off Mark Buehrle. So the Chi-sox are starting to see what they can get for the 28 year old Lefty that already has a World Series and a no hitter, and one year left on his contract. The next thing is, they say the Red Sox are the front runners!?!?! If the BoSox pull this off, I hope to Gawd they've already started talking about a long term deal. When you're #1 in the league, have some depth at pitching waiting to break into the majors (ie Jon Lester), and are not filling a hole due to injury, you don't go after the half year rental player. It was different 3 years ago, when Theo played fantasy ball changing Nomar in for 3 starters. That took the Sox from just out of it, to Wild Card winners, etc. But when you're at the top, you don't mess with the chemistry if it's just for the short term.

Second opinion: if Buehrle to Boston happens, and they sign him to a contract extension right away.....DAMN. This year's rotation of Beckett, Schilling, Buehrle, Dice-K, Wakefield. Then after Big Schill walks for more money to pitch a Clemens-like half-season fashion elsewhere, Lester steps in for 4 under 30-year old starters that could be the ace on half the staffs in the league. And Wake's not too shabby either, as most knucklers throw into their late 40's.

Speaking of Clemens, did anyone else notice the Yankees use him in one inning of relief on Sunday, in a losing effort against the Giants? Let's recap the one inning: K, 5-pitch walk of Barry Bonds, single pushes Bonds to 3rd, Sac-fly scores Barry, fly-out. 16 pitches, 1 ER, 1H, 1BB, 1K. Are the Yankees really that desperate with their pitching staff? Or did they just wanna see the circus of Barry vs The Rocket? Which obviously didn't quite live up to any hype.

And Sammy Sosa. 600 Home Runs. Joins the club of Ruth, Mays, Aaron, and Bonds. Does he take his corked bat and size 9 3/4 hat into the hall of fame? Who's gonna get in first, Mac, Bonds, or Sammy? Now that's a good question.

Out.

Yankees vs Red Sox Officially Owns Baseball

Which came first, chicken or the egg, or sports networks covering the Sox/Yankees as if they're the only teams in baseball?

The excuse of course is, the networks give the people what they want. So are these two teams what most of the nation want to see? Does 100% of the country want to see the teams that represent 16% of the population? Or did the networks take a look at the recent merchandise boom and are riding the wave?

As soon as the Sox won the world series in 2004, they doubled their nationwide merchandise sales. And that pushed those two teams over the 50% of all MLB merchandise. However the interesting part, is that out of the 15 best selling jerseys, only 5 are from Yankees and Sox. So it's more team support than individual players. And their overall revenue is only 10% of the league revenue. So it's not like they're the only ones pulling in money. And even though their payrolls are the highest, they're only paying their players 12% of the league's payroll.

Player-wise, half the AL voted on line-up has been from these two teams for the past 3 years. So the fans are speaking that more of the best players come from these two teams. And in a recent article depicting the most "irritating" players, half of them were from these teams, and a couple others used to play for them. And by the way, maybe they're just "irritating" cause the media talks to and about them more than any other team. Ever think about that?

So what's the final answer? The world may never know. But the end result is that the best rivalry in sports is what the people wanna see, what they wanna pay for, and what the networks are gonna cover. So rather than complain about the extra coverage, why don't ya kick back and enjoy some of the best baseball going. Reg season games played like their post-season. Rockin' stadiums full of fans that know when cheer, understand the intricacies of the game, and don't need fountains, amusement rides, or give-aways to draw a crowd. Whether home or away, the nation comes out to support these teams. And it's that surge in support that's kept baseball from falling to the depths of pro sports (ala hockey).

So let's thank the networks for giving the people what they want to see.

The Spurs are the NBA's Patriots

I heard a comment reffering to the Spurs as NBA's equivilent to the New England Patriots in the NFL. This got me thinking, so let's break it down:

Coach
Popoavich - Old School, has a tree of current coaches that were his assistants, Defensive guru that mixes up strategies more often than Lohan goes to rehab.
Belichek - Old School, has a tree, defensive guru....yup, pretty close, but Bill dresses better.

Leader
Duncan - Fundamentally sound, not overly flashy game play, gets everyone involved, is cool under pressure, proven leader with multiple rings
Brady - Same, same, same, same, same....same kinda player, however Tom's obviously the better "playah" off the field. I mean, his girls even make Justin Timberlake jealous.

Defense
Spurs - "Bend but don't break" style keeping them in every game, pester opponents out on the perimeter with borderline-legal hand checks, thuggishly keep the other team looking over their shoulder for the big hit by Horry or Bowen
Pats - "Bend don't break", CB's hand check at the line of scrimmage, and they're always looking out for Harrison

Special Teams
Horry - Can always be counted on for those late 4th quarter nail in the coffin big shots
Vinitieri (yeah I know he's a Colt now, but he was part of their 3 championship teams) - Could always be counted on for those late 4th quarter nail in the coffin big kicks

Officiating
Spurs - Getting the better end of the Horry elbow and riding the wave into the finals.
Pats - Getting the better end of the "Tuck Rule" call and riding the wave into the Superbowl

Close enough for me. Now if the Spurs win their 4th, that means that NE's got another one coming, right?

Is A-rod the greatest cheapest player of all time?

Obviously when you're paid more other teams entire payroll, you're gonna be put under a microscope. But when you're part of a classy organization (Sox fans can hate on the pinstripes, but they are usually a class act) and you're arguably one of the greatest players of all time, every move you do is going to be documented and analyzed. So when you screw up, everyone will talk about it. Question is, of the following examples, is A-rod screwing up, or is he by nature just a cheap player?

#1 - Knocking the ball out of Arroyo's glove. When you're running to first, and about to be tagged out by the pitcher, half-way up the basepath, not even close to the bag, what should you do? Do you A) Try to run your hardest, and maybe beat out the tag. B) Suck it up, get tagged out, and next time try to hit the ball out of the infield. C) Take a swing at the pitcher, as if the ump won't notice you physically knocking the ball out of his glove. Kobe got suspended a game for that kind of junk.

#2 - Sliding into Pedroia, elbow first. It's one thing to slide hard into second to try to break up a double play. It's another to come up with the People's Elbow to the sternum of a rookie 2nd baseman three feet away from the bag. Question here is, if A-rod was still playing short, would he still do this, or might he actually realize that what goes around comes around?

#3 - Yelling to distract the Blue Jays 3rd baseman. Once again, A-rod's picking on a rookie. Whether he said, "Mine" or "I got it" or whatever, bottom line is it's cheap. Is it against the rules? Not really. So why doesn't everyone do it? They got more class than this guy. Would this be news if it was anyone other than A-rod? Probably not. And that's the whole point.

So when looking at this freak of homerun-hitting, base-stealing nature, and discussing his hall of fame credentials, take a look at the whole picture. He's that spoiled rotten kid who can show off when he's winning (and rarely comes through in the clutch outside of contract years), doesn't get along well with others (as evident by virtually none of his teamates defending his cheap shots or PR nightmares he creates for himself), and worst of all, will resort to ANYTHING, no matter how cheap it is, to try to win. Whatever happened to the Yankees that just know that they're better than you? That just go out there and perform better than you on the field? And when they're having an off day, take the loss, shine their championship rings, and come back the next day to spank you? Is A-rod one of those Yankees? Or is he just a cheap spoiled brat that doesn't deserve to be in the pinstripes, and taking part in the greatest sports rivalry ever? Maybe next year will be better, when he can make the playoffs with a .500 record for Sweet Lou in the JV NL. And the Yankees will just reload at third base with someone that respects the game.