SHANKED

The Boston Red Sox and the Boston Globe conspired and drove Theo out of town. Whether or not they to do so or were just trying to keep Theo "in his place" is irrelevant. According to a piece by Michael Silverman in The Boston Herald, the Red Sox leaked some information to Dan "Shank" Shaughnessey. Shank used this information to compose what is essentially a propaganda piece for the Red Sox front office. Here is the column from Sunday's Globe

Right off the bat, Shank demonstrates his journalistic ineptitude:

The news conference should be at Fenway tomorrow afternoon. Halloween. No tricks. No boos. Look for the traditional handshake and jack-o-lantern smiles from Theo Epstein and Larry Lucchino. They'll say they look forward to many more years working together to bring championship baseball to Boston.

This, as we all know, never happened.

The unfortunate part of the entire episode is that a lot of inside stuff went public.

It is unfortunate. It is also unfortunate that Shaughnessey himself aided the Red Sox in allowing certain things to go public. This is such a hypocritical statement. Don't whine about something you helped others do.

Theo Epstein is a truly remarkable young man from a truly remarkable family. He would be a success in any field of his choice and Boston is fortunate that he set out to have a career in baseball. He got to the mountaintop faster than anyone in the history of the game and deserves to be paid accordingly. But he did not get there alone. And that's why he's not signed yet. That's why this has taken so long.

The Theo-Larry story is as old as the Bible. Mentor meets protege. Mentor teaches young person all he knows. Eventually, the prodigy is ready to make it on his own and no longer feels he needs the old man. That's what we've seen unfold on Yawkey Way, and that's why the Theo deal is not done yet.


Actually, I am reminded of a story in the Bible that mirrors this situation. When David, the guy who killed Goliath (New York Yankees, perhaps?) was beloved by everyone in the land of Israel for defeating the Philistines (winning the World Series) and bringing back the coveted Ark of the Covenant (World Series trophy), the King of Israel (Larry Luchino) was insanely jealous. Saul, David's predecessor on
the throne, even went so far as to nearly kill David in his sleep. Instead, Saul unpopularly appointed his son to be King. After the civil war that ensued, David was able to claim the throne. Saul was an envious old man who wasn't happy that David was getting so much praise for winning the war. It was Saul's war, but David had been the one who went out and won it. Instead of sharing in David's glory, Saul was
consumed by jealousy and turned against David. This is exactly what happened in the relationship between Theo Epstein and Larry Luchino. Theo got the accolades for conquering baseball while Larry sat in his office like some miser trying to figure out how much he could charge people to sit in the 3rd row behind home plate and asking himself "How come I'm not getting all the credit? Without me, Theo would be nothing."

Larry taught Theo too well and now he is looking in the mirror as he tries to hammer out a deal with the GM he made in his own image. Both are merely doing what they are trained to do. In Theo's case, he's doing what Larry trained him to do.

Apparently, Larry Luchino is the ONLY person responsible for Theo Epstein's success. The professors at Yale, Theo's parents, his mentors throughout the years, the intelligent baseball people whom he surrounds himself with, and Theo Epstein himself are not repsonsible for Theo's metioric rise from intern to GM of a World Series Champion.

What is alarming -- for the future of the Sox franchise -- is Theo's sudden need to distance himself from those who helped him rise to his position of power. Lucchino and Dr. Charles Steinberg are a pair of Red Sox executives who ''discovered" Theo when he was a student at Yale. They picked him out of thousands of wannabe interns. They hired him in Baltimore and then took him to San Diego with them. They held his hand and drove him places during his Wonder Years. They urged him to get his law degree. And when they set up stakes at Fenway Park, they fought vigorously to bring him home. A year later, when Billy Beane got cold feet, Lucchino turned to 28-year-old Theo and made him the (then) youngest GM in the history of baseball.

Wouldn't you want to distance yourself from a group of overbearing men who didn't praise you for what you did? What if all they did was take responsibility for everything good you ever accomplished? I have a Professor at my college who is urging me to go to law school. If I do and become succesful, will she take responsibility for my success? She can claim success in guiding me towards it, but any success would be mine, as would any failure. That's what life is. People point you in directions and then leave the rest to you. Shank, Luchino, and the Red Sox organization fail to comprehend this. Yes, Theo was helped along the path to success, but he had to do most of the walking.

Let's start with Theo being a ''baseball guy" while Larry is a lawyer with a lofty title (CEO). Granted, Epstein is a student of the game, but it's a mistake to say he knows more about baseball than Lucchino or anyone else in the Red Sox baseball operation. Theo is 31 years old and did not play baseball past high school. He spent four years at Yale and three years at law school. That hardly leaves time for much more than rotisserie league scouting. He can read the data and has a horde of trusty, like-minded minions, but we're not talking about a lifetime of beating the bushes and scouting prospects. Lucchino was a good high school baseball player and made it to the NCAA Final Four with Princeton's basketball team. He came to baseball as an executive in 1979, when Theo was 5 years old. That doesn't make him George Digby or Ray Boone, but he's not Les Otten, either.

The only thing keeping Theo from being a lawyer like Luchino is that he hasn't passed any bar exam to my knowledge. I'm sure if Theo put even a little bit of effort into it, he would pass. Let's look at The Shank's logic here:

1. Larry Luchino is old
2. Theo Epstein is young
3. Older people know more than younger people
Conclusion: Luchino knows more than Epstein

Luchino may know more because he's been around longer, but that doesn't mean he is wiser than Theo. It only means that he might know more facts and more history. Theo, on the other hand, is more willing to try new things and experiment. He also has more energy and vigor. He also has much more charisma. As important as baseball knowledge is, it is equally important to be willing to try new things in order
to get ahead. After all, almost every other GM for every other team will be following the beaten path. Trying new things will set you apart from your competition. Also, charisma and vigor are vital to a GM, particularly at trade deadline time.

Some more Shank logic:

1. Larry Luchino played baseball in college
2. Theo Epstein did not play baseball in college
3. Playing baseball in college gives you a smarter baseball mind
Conclusion: Luchino is smarter when it comes to baseball.

So Larry playing second base or whatever for Princeton many years ago makes him more intelligent? What? How the hell does that work? Where did Peter Gammons play his college ball? How about you, Shank?

More on this later.

THEO LEAVING RED SOX

Boston.com Story
The fact that the Red Sox offered what Theo wanted, and that it took so long to do so, demonstrates that Theo just didn't want to be here. I don't think it was anything against the fans, or his players, but against his "bosses." People might remain loyal to the Red Sox organisation and portray Theo as an egomaniac, but I think the problem resides with the organisation itself.

I don't like Larry Luchino that much. He's a good CEO when it comes to profit, but he has alot of failings. Things like the budget the Red Sox were kept on last season which prevented them from re-signing guys like Pedro Martinez. Things like spending $100M to renovate Fenway by putting in even more $200+ seats instead of investing $500M and putting in thousands more seats for everyone. Then he claims that he cares about the average Sox fan.

Luchino has always seemed bitter about the praise Theo has gotten for the team's success. Face it, Larry, even if you were making all the pivitol deals, Theo was the guy whose face was out there, not yours.

Now the big questions is, how do the Red Sox replace him? I really have no idea. Will they get another young kid and create a puppet regime like they think Theo was? Maybe Luchino will be the GM himself. According to Shaughnessey "Epstein is a student of the game, but it's a mistake to say he knows more about baseball than Lucchino or anyone else in the Red Sox baseball operation." Shaughnessey's conclusion is that Luchino is older and played baseball in college, whereas Epstein is only 31 and didn't play ball for Yale. If you want to laugh your ass off, read his column.

There are times when I look up the VFW Parkway towards Fenway Park, then I turn around and look down Route 1 towards Gillette. The way the Patriots handle things leaves me in awe. The way the Red Sox handle things causes me pain.

THEO SIGNS THREE YEAR EXTENSION

Boston.com Story

Thank God we retained him. I know he's made some bad moves but he's also the man who helped assemble the 2004 WS Champions by getting Curt Schilling, and Keith Foulke. Then he polished the team into championship calibre when he dealt Nomar and got Cabrera and Mienktiewicz. Hopefully it wasn't just a freak thing and he can return to his genious ways for the 2006 season.

TEDY BRUSCHI!!!

Patriots 21, Bills 16. More on this game tomorrow.

COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE NEW NHL

I like how there's no red line. I like how there is a salary cap. I like how there are no more ties. I don't like the massive amount of penalty calls. I know the League wants to see more offense, but I'd like to have the game flow more than have players be able to score more.

Defenders can't really defend away from the puck anymore. They're essentially screens in front of the goalie. I also don't like the ridiculous amount of power plays. Power plays, if you ask me, are boring. Both teams spend most of the power play at the same end. The team with an advantage passes the puck around, waiting for a hole to open up. The shorthanded team stays at home trying to prevent a hole from opening. It isn't very exciting hockey to watch. I prefer to watch 5 on 5 hockey with forechecking, backchecking, and good ole transition hockey.

The Bruins 5-4 loss (I hate this add a goal thing for shootout victories, why not call it 4-4 with the Devils winning on penalty shots) pissed me off immensely. It was actually a good hockey game until with about 4 minutes left and the Bruins up 4-3, Glen Murray was called for hooking. The Devils scored on the power play, the game went into OT, and the Devils won on penalty shots.

I'm sick of special teams hockey determining the outcome of almost every single game. I'm also sick of the constant stoppages in play. The face-offs that used to be due to offside passing have been replaced by faceoffs after penalties. The game is losing flow because of ticky-tack penalties. It's getting old.

Most people in New England probably don't care, but the New England Revolution did something astonishing last night. Down 2-0 in the series against New York/New Jersey, the Revs needed to score 3 goals within 30 minutes in order to advance to the 2nd round of the MLS playoffs. That's exactly what they did. New England scored 68 minutes into the game, then at the 73rd minute and finally at the 83rd minute. New York teams just love to collapse to New England teams, don't they?

THEO-RIZING

The word on Yawkey Way is that The Epstein and the Boston Red Sox are very close to a deal. The news is supposed to break on Monday, but who the hell knows. The difference between Luchino's offer and Epstein's demand is said to be a mere $300,000 a year. That isn't chump change, but it won't exactly bankrupt the Sox to give Theo $1.5M considering almost all of Theo's "employees" make more than that.

Red Sox assistant GM Josh Byrnes was hired by the Arizona Diamondbacks to be their new General Manager. The leading candidate to replace Byrnes as assistant GM - stay with me on this one - is assistant TO THE General Manager Jed Hoyer.

I think that Theo is a good GM, but he couldn't be as good of a GM if he didn't have the hefty budget provided here in Boston. He has been able to make mistakes and take chances that alot of GMs can't afford to make. Just a quick review of some of his moves:

Busts:
IF Jeremy Giambi, RP Ramiro Mendoza, RP Chad Fox, RP Byung-Hyun Kim, RP Scott Sauerbeck, SP Jeff Suppan, P John Halama, OF Jay Payton, RP Matt Mantei, SP Wade Miller, SS Edgar Renteria, RP Mike Remlinger,

Good Moves:
2B Todd Walker, P Bronson Arroyo, 1B Kevin Millar, RP Scott Williamson, RP Lenny DiNardo, 2B Mark Bellhorn, IF Pokey Reese, 1B Doug Mientkiewicz, RP Curtis Leskanic, RP Mike Myers, SP Matt Clement, SP David Wells, OF Adam Stern, IF Alex Cora, 2B tony Graffanino, RP Chad Bradford,

Great Moves:
RP Mike Timlin, 3B Bill Mueller, DH David Ortiz, OF Gabe Kapler (twice), SP Curt Schilling, RP Keith Foulke, Terry Francona, SS Orlando Cabrera, OF Dave Roberts, 1B John Olerud

Notable Draft Picks:
SP Abe Alvarez, SP/RP Jonathan Papelbon, IF Dustin Pedroia, P Craig Hansen

Theo has still been at work. He and the Red Sox have resigned Mike Timlin to a 1 year deal. He wanted a 2 year deal but also wanted to stay in Boston. He decided staying with the Sox was more important than the extra year, cut ties with his agent, represented himself, and has agreed to a tentative deal with us. This is the first piece of good news this off-season. First piece of any news, really.

Re-signing Timlin is the first step to building a good bullpen for 2006. As we saw in 2004, having a good bullpen is vital for any playoff run.

Johnny Damon has filed for free agency. Manny Ramirez has asked to be traded. It is the seocnd time he has asked for a trade in this season alone. Last time, he changed his mind in one of the weirdest incidents in trade deadline history.

David Ortiz won the Hank Aaron award for the American League. Andruw Jones got the NL one. The award goes to the best offensive performer in the League. This could bode well for Ortiz as MVP, but many people might still feel that playing defense matters that much. A lot of people, mostly Yankee fans strangely enough, don't recognize the fact that if we didn't have Millar and Olerud, Ortiz would be playing first base. He's not like Edgar Martinez and can't play. More on the MVP later.

BRUINS, BRUSCHI, BYE BYE SVUEM

The Bruins beat the pathetic Pittsburgh Penguins last night 6-3. Once again, the Bruins showed how easily they can score goals with 4 in the 2nd period, and also showed how easily they allow goals. The Bruins changed up their lines and seemed to be less agressive on offense in order to prevent odd man rushes going the other way. They need to do something as they are 0-5-0 within the Northeast Division.

You've all heard that Tedy Bruschi is making an effort to return to the Patriots this season. I have no problem with this so long as it is safe for him to do so. It seems that it is safe for him to play football again. If he did come back and play, and is effective, it will be like Curt Schilling pitching on the bad ankle times 1,000.

I think Bruschi, if he's effective, can help out our defense, but I'm not expecting him to be a savior. He adds another dimension on the pass rush, run defense, and pass defense in the middle, but he still can't go out and defend against the deep ball, which is what has been hurting us.

Bruschi does have a nack for coming up with a huge play when we need it most. His INT 2 seasons ago against Miami in the blizzard game comes to mind along with countless other tackles for losses, forced fumbles, INTs, and big hits. We've really lacked big plays on defense which were keys to our Super Bowl seasons. Tedy can also provide an emotional spark on a defense that has lost leaders like Rodney Harrison and Richard Seymour to injury.

Dale Svuem is finally gone. I liked Svuem as a coach, and a guy in the clubhouse, and I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I didn't like him when he was standing in the 3rd base coach's box. He wasn't fired either! He took a job with Milwaulkee so he could be close to his family during Spring Training. I'm shocked that he was never fired considering how much the Red Sox front office bases their policies on sports radio (See: banning of Yankees Suck shirts, the Gestappo behind home plate that prevents you from talking on a cel phone, et cetera).

Svuem's replacement is DeMarlo Hale, a former Sox player and farm system manager. Hale led our AA affiliate, then the Trenton Thunder to a 92-50 first place finish in 1999. Then he was not promoted to AAA manager and the void in Pawtucket was filled elsewhere. Hale, understandably upset with the organisation, left and became a coach with the Rangers. He's been on the same staff as Francona in Texas and was even interviewed by the Red Sox for the vacant managerial job left by the Grady Little fiasco. It's nice that Hale can get over the bad blood he had with the previous organization and join the new regime.

Boston College moved up in the polls this weekend without even having to play a game. #10 Texas Tech was demolished by #2 Texas 52-17 so the Red Raiders fell way back in the polls. BC is now 11th in the Coaches' poll, behind Notre Dame, Florida State, LSU, UCLA, Miami, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia Tech, Texas and USC. Three of the four highest ranked ACC teams were all taken from the Big East and all four are relatively recent additions to the conference. The highest Big East team is West Virginia at 17th. All other Big East teams are unranked, but Louisville would probably be #26 if it was a ranking. In the AP Poll, the Eagles are ranked 13th behind Penn State and Ohio State. BC might also be able to move up in the BCS poll that comes out tomorrow as Texas Tech was ranked 7th.

Boston College faces their toughest test of the season and the best team in the ACC, their old foe the Virginia Tech Hokies. It's a Saturday night game down in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech is looking to remain undefeated and should have a little bit of fire in them as they played Maryland pretty close until finally pulling away. If BC can somehow pull off te upset, they will most definately surge in the polls, and if FSU loses another conference game, Boston College will win their division and play in the ACC title game. BC will probably lose though. VT is just too dam good.

2006 SCHEDULE RELEASED

The 2006 schedule and ticket prices for the 2006 season have all been released. Most ticket prices are the same except for the upper end tickets which have gone up slightly in price. Field box seats went up to $95 and loge box seats went up to $85. Green Monster tickets also went up in price as did seats on the right field roof.

The Sox begin 2006 in Arlington, Texas on April 3rd, a Monday. After an off-day, the Sox fly up to Baltimore for their first AL East matchup of the 75 game divisional schedule. If we want to win the division in '06, we've got to win at least 40 games within the division.

The home opener for the Red Sox is Tuesday April 11th against Toronto. The Sox have a 10 game homestand against the Blue Jays, Mariners, and Devil Rays. At not time in 2006 do the Sox have a scheduled 4 city road trip, or 4 team home stand. However, last season, the Red Sox didn't have many homestands against more than 2 teams for much of the early part of the season. It is nice to see that we will have a few lengthy homestands.

Last season, the blatantly artificial scheudling of New York vs. Boston to begin and end the season has not carried over into 2006. The two teams don't play each other until May 1st. They then play 5 times in 11 days, and 11 times in 39 days. Then they don't play for 70 days. Weird schedule.

The interleague opponents for the Red Sox all come from the NL East. Interleague play will begin on May 19th in Philly. Then AL play resumes, then interleague begins once more on June 16th in Atlanta. Then, the Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, and New York Mets come to town. The Red Sox end regular season interleague play with a trip to Miami to play the Marlins.

Looking at the schedule, the stretch from May 29th to August 3rd, also known as summer, could prove to be brutal. From May 29th to June 18th, the Sox have to play 15 of 18 on the road. This road stretch includes trips to the Rogers Centre, Yankee Stadium, the MetroDome and Turner Field. We haven't really played well in these places recently. Then there's a 9 game homestand, but they're all interleague games. We typically struggle with interleague games. A 10 game roadtrip including 3 in the Chicago brings the season into the All-Star break. After the break, the Sox should be able to feast on KC and Oakland in Fenway, but then they have to do the West Coast trip to Seattle and Oakland. Then its home against 2 90+ win teams, the Angels and Indians. If the Sox want to succeed, we will need to win alot of games early and late in the season because that middle stretch could kill us.

WHOOPSY DAISY

Nobody was hurt as construction scaffolding supporting the .406 Club collapsed the other day at the Small Ballpark in the Fens. This little incident demonstrates the difficulty of renovating a 93 year old building, particularly one with such a strange design. No-one knows what caused it.

Renovating the .406 Club so it is open to the air and not just a giant fish bowl is nice, but when are the Red Sox and the people of Red Sox Nation going to realize that we need a new ballpark? They could pay for some of the stadium by selling of pieces of the old one. Hell, they sold pieces of grass for Pete's sake. Think about it, you've got 35,000 old seats that you can sell at $250 a pop. That's $8,750,000. Then you've got pieces of the dugout, dirt from the field, parts of the bullpen, bricks from outside of the building. I think the only things that should be saved are the scoreboard in the Monster, the foul poles, and Ted Williams' seat. Apart from that, the rest of the ballpark should be torn down, sold as scrap/souvenirs, and a new and better one rebuilt in its place.

Anyway, speaking of rebuilding things, the Red Sox off-season has taken on a few new dynamics. David Wells has asked to be traded to a West coast team, preferably the Padres. Wells has a home in San Diego and even though he signed a 2 year deal, only wanted to pitch for us for 1 season. I don't know what it is about players that want to play out West. The weather is nice, but the fan support sucks for the most part except for maybe in Anaheim.

I think the Red Sox should try to deal Wells, but I don't know how much they can hope to get for him. Especially since everyone knows he wants to be traded. If he does leave, it opens up another spot in the rotation. I think the Sox need to address the problems at the top of the rotation if they want to win the World Series in 2006. We need to get at least a good #1 if not an Ace, and then a good #2 right behind him. We can't depend on Schilling like we all did, for some unknown reason, in 2005. If Wells is traded, it will be the 11th time he's changed teams and if he goes to San Diego, it will be the 3rd time he has pitched for the same team in two different stints.

Manny Ramirez may or may not ask for a trade. He may or may not mean it. He may or may not be granted his request. If Manny does ask for a trade, I don't know if the Red Sox would be able to get much for him unless it is someone else with a high contract. And I really don't think the Sox could take the $20M Manny will earn in 2006 and get much to replace his production.

It's awefully late in Manny's contract to trade him. He's got three years left and then the two option years which probably won't be picked up. Frankly, unless Theo can dramatically improve the pitching staff and not just throw together crappy arms like last season, we need a guy like Manny in the middle of the lineup. We need to keep our offense scoring 900 or more runs in 2006 and without Manny, I don't see how that could happen.

Matt Clement might get arthroscopic surgery on his left-knee. The Sox want him to get it but Clement wants another opinion to confirm the diagnosis and need for surgery.

The Red Sox offered Theo Epstein a three year contract extension worth somewhere around $900,000. I think that offer is somewhat of a joke seeing as Billy Beane was offered $2.5 M over 5 years, and many other big market GMs make much more than what Theo makes.

For some reason, the Red Sox have expressed an interest in retaining the services of Matt Mantei. This baffles me. He sucked for us last season and then he had surgery. So not only will he be rehabbing, he will be trying to correct his poor pitching. That's not the type of risk we should be taking.

THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE COUNTRY

The Red Sox have expressed an interest in Yakult Swallows lefty Hirotshi Ishii. He had 37 saves for the Swallows, 2nd in the Central League of Japan, despite the fact that the Swallows weren't very good last season. He is 28 years old but has missed some time in 2004 and 2003 due to injuries despite this, his ERA has been 2.05 or lower for each of the past 4 seasons. This could be a good way for the Red Sox to acquire a closer. As an added bonus, we'd also be able to expand our image on a global scale. Japanese releivers have typically done well in the States (Hasegawa, Takatsu, Otsuka) so I think this deal could pan out nicely. Ideally, he'd be competing with Foulke for the closers role. Realistically, Foulke would have to take the closer's role from Ishii.

PATS CAN'T CATCH UP WITH BRONCOS

This was such a winnable game. The Patriots shot themselves in the foot so many times. So many stupid penalties such as two men in motion or the holding penalty on the punt before the Pats began their last drive, or the intentional grounding call to set up a 3rd and 20. So many dropped passes by Givens and Branch. So many innacurate throws made by Brady. An inability to stop the run at the line of scrimmage. An inability to put consistent pressure on Plummer. An inability to defend against the deep ball. Nobody stepped up and made a big play, except Patrick Pass, perhaps. An inability to score touchdowns when we drove the ball down field. Think about this, if we had gotten 2 TDs instead of the 2 field goals we got, we would have had 28 points. Then again, Denver wasn't exactly playing very aggressively in the 4th quarter and probably could have put up at least a field goal on our very bendable and breakable defense.

More on this game later. I'm too pissed to continue writing about this. Thank God Tedy is trying to come back.

PATRIOTS @ BRONCOS PREVIEW

The Patriots face another tough game this week. The scheduling gods and injury gods have conspired to make the outset of the Patriots season unbearable. This is the 4th straight opponent that was in the playoffs last season. This is also the 4th road game of the young season. If the Pats lose this game, they go into the Bye Week at 3-3 which isn't all that bad, all things considered. If they win, they go into the Bye Week with a 4-2 record, 1st place in the division, and alot of momentum.

The key to beating Denver is to stop the run. The Pats did that last week against Atlanta, and by doing so, forced Matt Schaub to beat us, which he very nearly did. Jake Plummer, however, is more sucseptible to being beaten by us. If we force him to make the plays, he will inevitably make some big mistakes. We need to capitalize on those miscues. We also can't afford many screw ups on offense.

We will be without Rodney Harrison, Tedy Bruschi, Tyrone Poole, Richard Seymour, Matt Light and Troy Brown. I don't think Kevin Faulk will be dressing for the game, either. Gus Scott is also out.

Denver RB Tatum Bell and S Nick Ferguson are both probable. CB Champ Bailey will be a game time decision.

I think we will win this one, but it will be extremely close. I think a 24-20 victory will be what goes down at Mile High.

In other New England sports news, #11 Boston College moved into a tie with Florida State on top of the ACC Atlantic Division by coming from behind and beating Wake Forest, and by FSU losing on the road to Virginia. FSU holds the tie-breaker though thanks to their victory over BC. However, if the Eagles can run the table in the ACC, and FSU loses another conference game, we will be on top of the division and play the Coastal Division winner for the ACC championship. I don't think this will happen, but even if we finish 2nd in the division, it says alot about Boston College football.

In order for BC to win their remaining ACC games, they have to beat #3 Virginia Tech on the road next week. FSU can definately lose one more game as they face #11 Florida in Gainesville on the last week of the season.

Charlie Weiss completely outcoached Pete Carroll in Notre Dame's 34-31 victory at the last second. Carroll is merely a beneficiary of Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, and a group of amazing non-skilled position players. Reggie Bush demonstrated to the country that he is a selfish scumbag of a player. Not only did he arrogantly celebrate before getting into the end zone with 3 ND players on his tail, but he stole a kickoff from his fellow return man. I'm glad that players of the ilk of Reggie Bush, regardless of how talented they are, will never play for New England so long as Belichick is the coach.

The Bruins were beaten by Dominek Hasek and the undefeated Senators last night, 5-1. Joe Thornton didn't play due to his back spasms. Without him, the Bruins seem to really struggle to create pressure and score goals. He draws alot of penalties, less than should be called but he isn't a diver so he doesn't get calls, and draws alot of attention which allows his linemates to have more space and also allows other lines to go up against weaker defensive pairings. Andrew Raycroft has not been that outstanding of a goalie thus far. Last night, he allowed 4 goals on 24 shots. That's not what we need out of him in order to win.

The Celtics have started their pre-season schedule. They've lost 2 of their 3 exhibition matches, but they've been putting up points when the starters are playing. I think they will be good this year. Good enough to win it all? No. But good enough to make the playoffs and win a series or two.

By beating the Chicago 1-0 last night, the New England Revolution won the regular season Easter Conference title. They won 17 matches, drew 8, and lost only 7. They'll play the Kansas City Wizards in round 1 of the MLS playoffs. New England beat KC 2-0, tied them 1-1, lost to them 2-1, then tied them 2-2. The series is a two game one with each team getting a home game. The team with the most goals combined in the two games wins and advances to the Conference Championship.

The college hockey season has just gotten under way. #4 Boston College lost 3-2 to #7 Michigan in Ann Arbor. Hockey East newcomers #19 Vermont won the Nye Frontier Classic in Alaska. #14 Boston University opened the Hockey East schedule by beating #18 UMass-Lowell 3-1 at Agganis Arena in Boston. #12 Maine beat #2 Denver twice, 5-1 then 4-2. It appears that the 2005-06 Hockey East championship will once again come down to BC, BU, New Hampshire, and Maine. The Beanpot Tournament should be interesting this year as Harvard is ranked 17th.

LOOKING TOWARDS 2006

The Red Sox are going to have 14 players come up for free agency. Here is the list:
RP Mike Stanton
CF Johnny Damon
1B Kevin Millar
1B John Olerud
3B Bill Mueller
1B Roberto Petagine
IF Tony Graffanino
RP Ricky Bottalico
OF Gabe Kapler
OF Dave Berg
IF Jared Sandberg
RP Matt Mantei
RP Mike Myers
RP Mike Timlin

Stanton, Millar, Petagine, Bottalico, Berg, Sandberg, and Mantei should all be gone. Bill Mueller is a questionable one. I think if we can re-sign him to a short one or two year deal, we should keep him. The same goes for Olerud. Graffanino should be re-signed to bring some experience to the bench in case some of the younger players don't work out. Kapler should also be re-signed because he's a good 4th outfielder/pinch runner/right handed bat on the bench. Timlin and Myers should also be re-signed. They are two of the maybe three dependable bullpen arms we have.

The big off-season pageant will be Johnny Damon. I'd like to keep him seeing as he is pivitol to our offense as a leadoff hitter. However, I don't think he deserves what he might ask for. In which case, he can go play for the Yankees and have fun shaving every morning, and trimming his hair.

The one position that has a lot of depth to it on the free agent market is first base. Paul Konerko would be a nice pickup, if you ask me. He would make a really good #5 hitter which is something we lacked for most of the season. We could also attempt to pry Mike Sweeney from the Royals. His contract is about a quarter of their total payroll so they might be happy to dump that.

Second base should be split between Graffanino and Pedroia, as well as some Youkilis. He was the Offensive Man of the Year for our Minor Leagues last year and was an Eastern League Post-Season All-Star with Portland. Pedroia struggled somewhat in Pawtucket, hitting .255 compared to .324 in Portland, but I think it is a perfect time to put him in there. With Graffanino backing him up, he won't be under too much pressure to perform.

Third base should be split between Mueller, if we can re-sign him, and Youkilis. If we can't get Mueller to sign a short deal, I think Graffanino could come over and platoon with Youkilis. Joe Randa and Geoff Blum could also be fillers for a season. I think Youkilis is as ready as he'll ever be to play consistently. I also think if he's given consistent playing time, he'll do pretty well.

Shortstop, unfortunately, will be Edgar Renteria's once again. The only way this might be avoided would be if we can't re-sign Damon and Mueller, sign Rafael Furcal to be the leadoff hitter, and then move Renteria to third base. This is a slim possibility, but you never know. There is no way we could move Renteria with his contract and his numbers from last season.

Left-field will probably be Manny Ramirez, unless the Red Sox work on a deal to move him. It wouldn't shock me that much as they've worked on deals to dump his contract almost every year he's been here. He's a great player, but he takes up alot of salary.

Center-field is the big mystery. I think the Red Sox would like to see Johnny Damon out there in 2006, but there are alot of questions. I don't think he's worth more than $11M. He's not getting any younger. He's prone to injuries, its a surprise he didn't fall apart this season. His 2nd half of 2005 scared me. I think the injuries were finally taking a toll on him. If he has an entire season like his second half, he won't be very useful to us. The scary thing is, the Yankees are looking for a center-fielder.

Potential replacements:
Gabe Kapler - this wouldn't be my first choice as I don't think Kapler is an everyday player.

Hideki Matsui - he's a potential free agent. If the Yankees want to spend money on pitching and a new center-fielder, they might let him go.

Jacques Jones - solid defense and a decent bat. Could benefit from hitting at Fenway.

Jay Payton - proved last year he could hit for us. But then again, he might not hit for us if he's not fighting for a job.

Carl Everett - just kidding

Kenny Lofton - He hit .335 with Philly last season, stole 22 bases (only caught 3 times), and had an OBP of .392. Didn't have huge production numbers, but then again, he was batting after the pitcher AND batting in the Phillies lineup. Scored 67 runs in 110 games. He's going to be 38 years old next season, but I think he could be a good filler before we're able to find a more permanent replacement. With the amount of kids we'll be bringing up, it might help to have some experience on the team in Lofton. He's been to the playoffs quite a few times, but still hasn't gotten that WS ring. Maybe that will entice him to come to Boston. I think we could sign him for maybe $5 million, which would save us some money to help our pitching staff.

Left-field will probably be patrolled by Trot Nixon next season. I'd love to see Kapler stay on this team so we could take Trot out against those tough lefties. That hurt us somewhat down the stretch and in the post-season. We need to be flexbile. We were flexible in 2004, but not in 2005.

I wonder who our DH will be.

Ideally, this would be the offense I'd put out there.

C - Jason Varitek
1B - Paul Konerko
2B - Dustin Pedroia/Tony Graffanino
3B - Bill Mueller/Kevin Youkilis
SS - Edgar Renteria
LF - Manny Ramirez
CF - Kenny Lofton
RF - Trot Nixon/Gabe Kapler
DH - David Ortiz

A potential batting order:
1. Kenny Lofton
2. Edgar Renteria
3. David Ortiz
4. Manny Ramirez
5. Paul Konerko
6. Jason Varitek
7. Trot Nixon/Gabe Kapler
8. Bill Mueller/Kevin Youkilis
9. Dustin Pedroia/Tony Graffanino

I think our bench should look like this:

C - Doug Mirabelli
IF - Kevin Youkilis
IF - Tony Graffanino
1B - John Olerud
OF - Gabe Kapler

Graffanino could be used in the outfield in a pinch. He has little, very little, experience out there but we could still use him.

Now for the bigger challenge, the pitching staff. If we want to win the World Series again, we're going to need pitching. That's why we won it in 2004, as well as 1918, 1916, 1915, 1912, and 1903. Pitching wins championships. We had an amazing offense last season and were swept out of the playoffs in 3 games. We were just like the Cleveland Indians from 1995-2000. Score 950 to 1,000 runs a season, get into the playoffs against good pitching, and then lose.

The pitching staff is full of question marks. But there aren't a whole lot of answers out there. Unfortunately, most of the staff will be under contract next season.

Did anyone know that by winning the World Series in 2004, Curt Schilling's contract was automatically extended thru the 2007 season? His deal actually contains some werid things, here is a summary from MLB4U.com:

"Curt Schilling: 2-Year EXTENSION worth 25M signed after being trade from ARI in Nov. 2003- + the deal includes a vesting option for 2007 based on Red Sox winning WS between 04-06- + the total value of the deal can rise up to 37.5M- + receives 2M raise if Sox win WS- + all performance bonus money is paid to specific chairities- + if he cannot sell ARI or NE(if traded) homes the Red Sox must buy them at the appraised price- + receives personal luxury box at every home game he starts- + receives 50K bonus for All-Star Game start- +100K bonus for All-Star seldction- will make 12M in 04 and 12.5 in 05- + WITH RED SOX WINNING WS in 2004, his 2005 salary rises to 14.5M and his 2007 option worth 13M becomes GUARANTEED (in total guaranteeing him 15M extra than orignal value)- + Bonuses he has earned: 400K for 2nd place in 2004 Cy Young Voting
Agent: Jeff Borris Service Time: 14.134
NOTE: WS clauses are illegal by MLB rule, but officials did not catch the clause in Schilling's contract till after the trade and it was allowed to stand."

So, anyway, here are the pitchers currently on the team and the year in which will be their last year under contract with us:

SP Matt Clement - 2007
SP David Wells - 2006
SP Tim Wakefield - 2006
RP Mike Timlin - 2005
SP Curt Schilling - 2007
RP Keith Foulke - 2006
RP Craig Hansen - 2009
RP Matt Mantei - 2005
RP John Halama - 2005
RP Mike Stanton - 2005
RP Mike Myers - 2005
RP Jeremi Gonzalez - 2005
SP Bronson Arroyo - 2005
SP Wade Miller - 2005

I think the Sox should make an effort to re-sign Bronson Arroyo, but as a bullpen pitcher, not a starter. He might not like this, but I just don't think he has the stuff to be a 200 inning pitcher. We also need to make an effort to re-sign Mike Timlin. We also need to explore the option of putting either Schilling or Wakefield into the bullpen. If we don't, we will have one open spot on our rotation.

There aren't any Aces out there on the free agent market except for one: Roger Clemens.

Why the hell not? We NEED an Ace badly. I know Roger is happy down in Houston, but I would still make an effort to get him. Why wouldn't he? Apart from being happy in Houston, the people he didn't like in the Red Sox front office are long gone. And do you think he likes having to bat? I doubt we'll sign him, but it'd be awesome if we did.

There are some good enough pitchers on the free agent market to fill in our last spot. AJ Burnett, Joe Mays, Jarrod Washburn, Kevin Millwood. We need to find someone who we know will make 30 starts and win at least 15 games for us and have an ERA of 4.00 or below.

Our possible rotation:
1. Clemens, but more likely AJ Burnett
2. Schilling
3. Wells
4. Wakefield
5. Clement

That's actually not that bad. Especially if Schilling is healthy.

The bullpen needs ALOT of work, too. We need Foulke to come back healthy, and we need to re-sign Timlin and Myers. If we do that and keep Arroyo as a bullpen pitcher, we won't be in terrible shape. I think Papelbon should start the season in Pawtucket just because we need him to be a pitcher for us for a long time to come. The same goes for guys like Delcarmen, Alvarez, and Hansen. Either AAA or AA for them.

Tom Gordon will be a free agent this off-season but I doubt the Yankees will let him go, especially to us. A guy like Paul Quantrill, Felix Rodriguez, or Bob Howry might make for a nice set-up man. We're also probably going to make a move to get BJ Ryan to be a potential closer in case Foulke continues to struggle. Our potential bullpen:

Closer: BJ Ryan
Set-up: Mike Timlin
Set-up: Bob Howry
Unkown: Keith Foulke
Mid-relief: Bronson Arroyo
Situational lefty: Mike Myers

That isn't a bad bullpen at all.

The Red Sox have quite a bit of off-season work to do. Hopefully Theo will do a better job at making a team for the 2006 season than he did for the 2005 season.

LOOKING BACK ON 2005: MANAGEMENT

Terry Francona got about as much as any manager could given the team he had. He had to deal with injuries to Foulke, and Schilling, the constant injuries to Damon, the BS Jay Payton emitted, Kevin Millar, Manny being Manny, the ineffectiveness of Embree and absolutely no pitching whatsoever. I'd say that he did as good of a job as anyone. If, at the beginning of the season, you told me the Red Sox would have no starting pitcher even close to a #3 starter, Foulke would be hurt/ineffective, Embree would suck, Renteria would suck, Millar would suck, and Bellhorn would suck, I wouldv'e told you that we'd be lucky to win 85 games. As it is, we won 94 and took down the Wild Card. Not great, but not bad.

Theo had a terrible off-season and then a great mid-season. We lost all our pitching and pinned our entire staff on Schilling, Foulke, Embree, and Timlin. Only one of those guys excelled. The Renteria move was not a very good one. I still don't understand it. What the hell was wrong with Cabrera? He proved himself with us last season and then we let him go. And the scraped together pitching staff was not a good idea from the start.

During the season, Theo made some good moves. Olerud, Graffanino, Bradford, and bringing up the youngsters were all good decisions. I think in a few years, we will have a nice, home grown pitching staff. That will free up alot of money for bullpen guys and bottom of the lineup hitters. I think by 2010, we will have won another World Series. That's for another post, though.

LOOKING BACK ON 2005: HITTING/DEFENSE

The strength of the Red Sox was without question, their bats. They led the league in hitting with an average of .281. When we didn't hit, we lost. We hit .240 as a team in the LDS. Only San Diego had a worse batting average. We scored a league high 910 runs or 5.617 a game.

Our defense wasn't exactly great. Our fielding percentage of .982 was good for 22nd best in baseball. We had the 7th most errors with 109. That is the highest of any playoff team, tied with San Diego

CF - Johnny Damon
Damon was the catalyst to our offensive machine. He got on base for Ortiz and Ramirez and he was also able to knock in alot of the bottom of the lineup guys. However, Damon started off much better than he finished. He hit .343 before the break and .282 after it. He hit .316 and had an OBP of .365. He hit 10 HRs, which isn't bad for a leadoff man. He knocked in 75 which is terrific for a leadoff hitter and he scored 117 runs. He led the team in steals with 18.

Damon's biggest flaw defensively is his arm. He has good range, can track balls down, and catches anything he gets to. However, opponents frequently were able to take an extra base off Damon's weak throwing arm. The problem wasn't a big deal, but with the pitching staff being so lackluster to begin with, giving away extra bases didn't help much.

SS - Edgar Renteria
Renteria's season, both offensively and defensively, was a big dissapointment. He hit a mere .276 and his OBP was .335. He did manage to score 100 runs. His HR total of 8 was about what I expected from him even if he played well. He has never been much of a power hitter. He was able to knock in 70 runs though which isn't too bad.

Defensively, Edgar was a liability. He led the world in errors with 30. Other than that he was pretty good, but having an error every 5th game from a player who has won Gold Gloves in 2003 and 2002 is extremely dissapointing. Edgar's high salary didn't help things too much, either.

DH - David Ortiz
The biggest part of the offensive machine were the two men in the middle of the lineup. Big Papi had yet another stellar season. He played in all but 3 games, hit .300, knocked in a league leading 148 RBI, and hit 47 HRs, falling only 3 shy of the Red Sox record. He also walked 102 times and had the 4th best OBP in the league at .397. He was 2nd in the league in slugging, 3rd in runs, 3rd in bases, 8th in doubles, 2nd in runs created, 1st in extra base hits, 3rd in times on base, 4th in SAC flies. The fact that he was 7th in intentional walks with 9 hitting in front of Manny Ramirez shows how amazing a hitter he was this season. AL MVP? That's for another post.

LF - Manny Ramirez
Another monster season for Manny. His average wasn't as high as it's been in years past, but it steadily climbed throughout the season. He hit .292 with 45 HRs and 144 RBI. He was second only to Ortiz in the RBI category. He was 7th in OBP, 4th in slugging, 4th in OPS, 7th in runs, 6th in total bases, 6th in walks, 5th in runs created, and 6th in extra base hits. He was an All-Star for the 9th time in his career, and the 8th time in a row.

The one flaw with Manny is his defense. His range is poor, he gets bad jumps, and makes interesting decisions. The two parts of his defensive work that shone this year were his ability to play the Green Monster and his ability to throw runners out. He had a league leading 17 asissts. But he also made 7 errors which is pretty high for an outfielder.

C - Jason Varitek
Varitek started the season off with good offensive production. He hit .301 before the break and .256 after it. He hit most of his HRs before the break. However, his RBIs are nearly the same before and after, his OBP is nearly the same, but his slugging is down about .080 points. He didn't come through in a few big spots, but I really don't think he belonged as a #5 hitter. In fact, the Red Sox were searching for someone in that role all season.

Varitek isn't going to throw many guys out because the Red Sox don't really care much about allowing stolen bases. Tek will, however, call a good game. It was difficult to see if this ability was still intact as the pitchers on the team weren't very good. I also think that the workload placed on Tek's shoulders to get used to so many new pitchers was a lot to ask of him. It definately took him some tome to adjust to Wells, for example.

1B/OF - Kevin Millar
In a word: bum. Millar hit 9 HRs this season which is appalling for a first baseman. He was 7th on the team in HRs, not very far ahead of Renteria, Graffanino, Olerud, Mirabelli and Bellhorn. Millar somehow got into 134 games and somehow got 449 ABs. He only had 38 extra base hits and 50 RBI. He walked 54 times and struck out 74 times. He only batted .272. Thirty-seven MLB first basemen had more HRs than Millar.

Defensively, Millar is also a bum. There were many instances when he looked like a total fool. Renteria had similar troubled at the plate and in the field, but he didn't really have a replacement behind him. Millar did. Olerud shouldv'e played more along with Youkilis and even Ortiz a few more times.

RF - Trot Nixon
Once again, Trot was befelled by injury and once again, his numbers for the season weren't that great. He did knock in 67 and hit 13 HRs which isn't bad considering he only played in 124 games. He was, in my opinion, unfairly thrust into the role of full-time right-fielder. We had Jay Payton for awhile who was hitting well, but we let him go. Then Kapler came back, but then got hurt.

Defensively, Trot was very solid. His storng arm kept alot of runners from taking extra bases, and he made quite a few stellar plays in the field.

3B - Bill Mueller
Another solid season from Mr. Solid. Bill hit .295, hit 10 HRs and knocked in 62 runs. He scored 69 times, had 47 extra base hits, and had an OBP of .369. He did, however, ground into 22 double plays to lead the team. Guys like Mueller are pivitol to the Red Sox offensive machine because they keep the pitcher working hard throughout the entire lineup. They knock in guys like Manny and Ortiz, and get on base for guys like Damon.

Mueller had another good season at the hot corner. He made 10 errors and had a fielding percentage of .972. He made alot of tough plays and almost always made the easy ones.

2B/SS - Mark Bellhorn
Bellhorn did not repeat what he did in 2004. He only hit .216 and struck out 109 times in 85 games with us. He had a bad start, and in my opinion, fell victim to the pressure cooker that is Boston. We probably should have gotten rid of him sooner and should have used guys like Youkilis more often to reduce his ABs.

Defensively, Bellhorn was very solid. He made the plays on the balls he got to and he turned the double play very well. He played wherever Francona asked him to with little complaint, at elast publicly. I still think Bellhorn is 10 times the player Kevin Millar is.

2B - Tony Graffanino
Perhaps the ebst mid-season acquisition behind Olerud, Graffanino did a good job at 2nd base, replacing Bellhorn. He hit .319 in 188 ABs, hit 4 homers and knocked in 20 runs. If he had 500 ABs, those numbers would translate to .319 - 11 - 53 which isn't that bad. Defensively, Tony played well and demosntrated a great deal of effort in the field. He will, unfortunately, be remembered more for his error in Game 2 of the LDS than the over 200 error free plays he made.

1B - John Olerud
A great mid-season acquisition. Olerud was an upgrade over Millar. In 173 ABs, he hit .289 with 7 HRs and 37 RBI. Translate those numbers to 500 ABs and he would have had .289 - 20 - 107. Compare those numbers with Millar's .272 - 9 - 50. Olerud was/is/always will be a superior player.

Olerud's best contribution was with his glove. We saw last year with Mientkiewicz how vital a good glove man at first base can be. We saw it again in 2005, but sadly, we didn't see it enough.

C - Doug Mirabelli
Dougie is quite possibly the best backup catcher in baseball. In 136 ABs, he hit .228 with 6 HRs, and 18 RBI. Calculate for 500 ABs and that is .228 - 22 - 66 which isn't all that bad. He contributes to the offense once in awhile which allows Varitek to take alot of time off and remain fresh. Defensively, there's no-one I'd trust more behind the dish when Wakefield is pitching. He also has a gun of an arm.

OF - Jay Payton
Payton was very productive while he was here, but he didn't want to be here anymore so he left us. We probably could have hung onto him for some time because he was hitting very well. He had 5 HRs and 21 RBI in 133 ABs with us. Defensively, he was pretty solid. He would have been a good platoon partner with Trot but it was not to be.

IF - Alex Cora
Another mid-season attempt to plug some holes. Cora filled the gap as a replacement infielder which was left when Pokey Reese left the team. He hit relatively well in limited time with us and he played the field adequately.

OF - Gabe Kapler
I was so excited when Kapler came back and then so dissapointed when he got hurt. He was a very pivitol part of our team last year and I thought he would be one this year, too. He didn't hit that well in his time here, but it seemed like every time he was in the lineup, he'd do something big or small with the bat or his glove to contribute to the team.

IF - Kevin Youkilis
I don't think Kevin was given much of a chance by Francona which is a shame because we couldv'e used him at 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and SS. He only had 79 at-bats. He did hit .278 and had an OBP of .400, but OBP is a stat used for long term success, not one game every week and a half. Not only was his playing time and his position inconsistent, his location was a variable. He went up or down I-95 in between Boston and Pawtucket a total of 7 times this season. And unlike his predecessor Lou Merloni, he didn't complain and neither did any of his teammates.

I really think we should have used Youkilis alot more. With Millar, Bellhorn, and Renteria all struggling, and Mueller with bad knees, there was an opportunity to play him nearly every day. I really feel like if he got to have 20 or so plate appearances a week, he would have been a big contributor.

IF - Ramon Vazquez
Vazquez was a dissapointment even as far as backup infielders go. He was essentially useless to us and when we released him, it helped us.

1B - Roberto Petagine
Petagine was a longshot and it didn't work out too well. He started off nicely, getting a few big hits here and there in spot opportunities. However, I'll always remember him as a last resort pinch hit strikeout victim with 2 out in the 9th.

OF - Adam Hyzdu
Hyzdu was used as a backup outfielder. He was good enough, I suppose, but didn't have the same ability as some of our bench players in 2004.

C - Kelley Shoppach
Shoppach was used as a 3rd catcher and did his job well enough in the 9 games we needed him to play in.

OF - Adam Stern
Stern was used primarily for his speed. This was a good role for him because he is fast. He really couldn't do much of anything else.

OF - Jose Cruz
Cruz was an attempt to fill the gap left by the leaving of Roberts, Kapler, and then Payton. It didn't take.

IF/OF - Alejandro Machado
Machado was used late in the season as a utility player and did his job well enough. He has some potential down the line to be a decent player.

1B - David McCarty
McCarty was used briefly in the role he occupied for a great deal of 2004 as a defensive first baseman. He didn't do too badly.

SS - Hanley Ramirez
Only 2 ABs, and 2 Ks.

C - Shawn Wooten
0 for 1 in 1 game.

The frontline hitting for the Red Sox was good with Damon, Ortiz, and Ramirez, but a few temporary gaps in the lineup hurt us, particularly in the playoffs. Varitek, Millar, and Nixon were not good enough #5 hitters in our lineup. The lack of offense from 2nd base and shortstop also hurt us. The lack of power from 1st base hurt us alot.

Our bench was not nearly as good as last year. Last year we had Mirabelli, Reese, Mientkiewicz, Kapler, and Roberts. All of these players are good enough to start for some teams. This year it was Mirabelli, Cora, Olerud, and a bunch of replacements at outfield. This hurt us and if we had lost some players to key injuries, would have killed us.

PATRIOTS CLIP THE FALCONS

We needed this win as desperately as you can need a Week 5 win. With Harrison, Bruschi, and Seymour out, along with Poole and Gay, the Patriots were forced to make some serious adjustments. We were fortunate not to have to go against Mike Vick, but Matt Schaub is no slouch. Even when the Falcons were down 14-0, he was still confident and capable and kept his team in the game all day long.

We won this game mostly because of Corey Dillon. He was dependable enough to give the ball to and Brady really played off the run really well. He got the ball to start evert first half posession except the last one and every time, he got 5 or more yards. It is pivitol to get those first yards to open up the playbook on 2nd and 3rd downs. Dillon ran for 106 yards on 23 carries. He also caught 2 passes for 13 yards. He never got into the end zone, but he got the ball close enough.

Daniel Graham had a huge breakout game as well. He had 5 catches for 119 yards and a TD. His comrade at tight end, Ben Watson, had a TD pass but his day was marred by offensive pass interference penalties.

Deion Branch returned to the spotlight with 8 grabs for 107 yards. Overrall, Brady hit 9 different receivers which speaks to our depth and his ability to find the open guy.

Patrick Pass had a solid day seeing some time at halfback due to the injury to Faulk. He ran 6 times for 34 yards, including a touchdown.

Brady had a nice day throwing for 350 yards, 3 TDs, and a tipped INT. He was able to exploit holes made in the Falcons defense and rose above alot of penalties on the offensive line and on Ben Watson.

Adam Vinatieri. Those two words have replaced the words "clutch" f the US World Cup team needs a penalty kick, they should call on Adam Vinatieri cuz he just doesn't miss when it matters most.

The defense looked really well most of the time. Even without Seymour, they were able to pressure Schaub, and stop Vick at the line. It was nice to see some gang tackling again which is how we stopped Pittsburgh's big runners in the playoffs last year. If Shaub hadn't been so mobile and surprisingly cool under pressure, the defense would have racked up some sacks and possibly some picks. Credit to Shaub for rising above it.

It was a good win, but the problems that have plagued us all season were all too apparent. Too many stupid penalties, an inability to tackle on defense, an occasional inability to protect Brady's blind side, and failure to capitalize on mistakes. We played well enough to win, but we can play better. Now, its on to Denver.

VICK AND SEYMOUR OUT

Michael Vick is the only name on the Falcons injury list, but his name is next to "Out." The Pats injury list is a selection of offensive and defensive players. Seymour, Kevin Faulk, and Matt Light are all out. LBs Tully Banta-Cain and Matt Chatham are questionable. CBs Randall Gay, Tyrone Poole, Duane Starks, and Chad Scott are questionable. SS James Sanders, DE Marquise Hill, and OT Brad Gorin are questionable. WR/KR Bethel Johnson is questionable. Tom Brady is probable and he'd probably better have an amazing day if we have any prayer of winning.

Even without Vick, the Falcons will still try to run the ball all over us. And with no Bruschi, Johnson, Harrison, or Seymour, this shouldn't be too difficult. With an injured secondary and a defensive line that has failed to put much pressure on opposing QBs, the Falcons will also be able to pass deep on us, too.

If we can win this game on the road, I think we will make a statement to the League that we aren't done and we can still win tough games. If we can win this one and win at Denver, we'll go into the much needed bye week with a 4-2 record. Certainly not terrible considering our schedule has been immensely difficult and our injuries have piled up like a snowball.

I've just heard that Tyrone Poole is out of the game, too. This could be a terrible weekend for Boston sports.

LOOKING BACK ON 2005: PITCHING

Is it too early to look back on the 2005 season? No. Much like a murder investigation, it's always good to look at the evidence as soon as possible.

Player by Player Review:

SP - Tim Wakefield
Wake had exactly the kind of season that was expected of him. He went 16-12 in 33 starts, with an ERA of 4.12. He led the team in innings with 225.1, and complete games with 3. He pretty much was what was expected of him. As a #4 starter, his numbers would be adequate, but he was often the best starter on the team. Which says alot about how bad our pitching was.

SP - Bronson Arroyo
This was supposed to be the year that Arroyo broke out as a top pitcher. At first, this was what happened. Early on he was stellar. In March and April, he was 3-0 with a 3.69 ERA. He even threw a near no-hitter against the Tigers. This good start would fizzle though. His ERA for every month after April was over 4. For the last two months of the season, his ERAs were 5.40 and 4.85. Overrall, he was another #4 starter with a 14-10 record and an ERA of 4.51. He was able to eat alot of innings, throwing 205.1.

SP - Matt Clement
Clement started off the season as our Ace. He went 10-2 before the All-Star break. After that, however, he was 3-4. He was yet another #4 pitcher going 13-6 with an ERA of 4.57. He was a gamble pickup and he paid off at first, but not over the long run.

SP - David Wells
Wells was our fourth #4 starter. This pickup was more of a gamble and I'd have to say we got about the best you could have hoped for. He got injured early on but he didn't break down as was feared by many. He also pitched well enough to win Game 2 of the ALDS and won that Friday game against the Yankees that gave us a chance to win the division. A chance that was squandered. He went 15-7 with an ERA of 4.45. Not bad numbers for a #4 starter, but again, he was our fourth such type of pitcher.

SP/RP/Closer - Curt Schilling
Nobody knew how the ankle would affect Curt's pitching ability. But we all knew how his extra weight would. I'm shocked there wasn't a ton of criticism for Curt after he showed up to training camp out of shape. Actually, I'm not shocked. Curt's an All-American, corn fed, white guy and people like Pedro Martinez are gerri-curl sporting, hispanics. Weird how that works out, eh?

Anyway, with the absence of Pedro and Derek Lowe and no signing of a legitimate Ace, Curt was supposed to be our best starting pitcher this year. In my opinion, he was our worse. This was compounded by the fact that Francona stuck with Curt in games long after Curt had lost it.

Schilling had a weird season going from starter to injured to closer to starter. As a starter, he made 11 starts. He went 4-5 with an ERA of 5.87. He gave up 96 hits, and 16 walks in 69 innings (1.62 WHIP). As a releiver he was slightly better. He went 4-3 with an ERA of 5.18 in 21 releif appearances. He made 9 Saves in 11 Opportunities. His WHIP was 1.27. Even though he wasn't a great releif pitcher, he was definately better out in the pen. As a starter, he was a #5 at best.

SP - Wade Miller
You get the feeling that Theo is a gambling man? All of these additions to our rotations were essentially are crap shoots. Wade Miller was no exception. Miller did not work out as well as Wells or Clement though. He only made 16 starts going 4-4 with an ERA of 4.95. His season was plagued by injury and then the Red Sox were plagued by his healthiness.

RP/Closer - Mike Timlin
Mike Timlin was thrust into a role in which he did not belong. He was forced to pick up the slack for Foulke AND Embree. He was sent to the mound 81 times, a new Red Sox record for appearances. He was a true workhorse for us. He had 24 Holds, 13 Saves and 7 Blown Saves. He won 7 games and lost 3. He had an ERA of 2.24 but he allowed far too many inherited runners to score. He's given us 229 regular season appearances the past 3 years with us. Without him, our bullpen would have completely collapsed.

RP/SP - Jeremi Gonzalez
The fact that Gonzalez is 8th in innings pitched for us tells you how bad our bullpen was. Gonzalez made 25 releif appearances and 3 spot starts. His ERA was an abysmal 6.11. At first he was used in situations that mattered. Too many situations. And then he was relegated to mop up duty and dire emergencies.

Closer - Keith Foulke
Perhaps the biggest dissapointment of the year. Foulke struggled with injuries all season and as a result, left us without a dependable closer. He was only able to make 15 of 19 Save Opportunities and his absence really screwed up the bullpen, dumping alot of extra work on Timlin and forcing us to use more kids in tough situations.

RP - John Halama
Another gamble that we lost on. Halama made 29 releif appearances and 1 spot start. He had an ERA of 6.18 and was essentially ineffective.

RP - Mike Myers
Myers was a part of our championship team, then we didn't sign him, then we traded for him. He was actually one of the few pitchers that did his job. He was used as a situational lefty and was pretty succesful in this role. He made 65 appearances for 37.1 IP.

RP/SP - Jon(athan) Papelbon
Papelbon was one of the pleasant surprises to emerge from the Red Sox minor league system this year. At season's end, he was probably the most reliable pitcher on the staff. He only made 17 appearances (3 of which were starts) but his ERA was 2.65. In 34 innings, he gave up 33 hits and 17 walks (1.47 WHIP). He struck out 34. Without him, I don't know if we make the playoffs.

RP - Matt Mantei
Another roll of the dice that came up snake eyes. Mantei was horrible for us. He allowed about twice as many baserunners as he threw innings and his ERA of 6.49 was one of the highest on the team, which says alot considering how crappy our pitching staff was.

RP - Chad Bradford
Bradford was Mantei's replacement. He was used as a situational righty and did his job nicely. He was a Dan Duquette type pickup off the scrap heap and he did well. He made 31 appearances for us and had an ERA of 3.86

RP - Mike Stanton
I'm surprised we didn't try to get him earlier in the year. For us, Mike threw one inning allowing 1 hit, and striking out 1. I'm really surprised we didn't attempt to get him sooner. It couldn't have hurt the bullpen too much.

RP - Lenny DiNardo
Shockingly, the Red Sox didn't utilize DiNardo very much this season. He only made 7 releif outings and 1 spot start but he performed very well. He finished with an ERA of 1.84.

RP - Manny Delcarmen
Manny Delcarmen was another nice surprise. Although his lack of control prevented him from being used in big situations, he did give us 9 innings of 3.00 ERA pitching which is quite a contribution compared to what guys like Matt Mantei and Jeremi Gonzalez gave us.

RP - Blaine Neal
Just another demonstration of desparation. 8 innings pitched, 8 earned runs.

RP - Chad Harville
Scrapings from the bottom of the well. 7 innings, 5 ERs

RP - Mike Remlinger
We picked him up 2 years too late. 6.2 IP, 11 ER

RP - Craig Hansen
We brought him up 2 years too early. He demonstrated some good pitches, but not good pitching. He had difficulty keeping calm and throwing strikes in tough counts. When his pitch count rose and he fell behind in the count, opponents would sit on and devastate his fastball.

RP - Abe Alvarez
2.1 IP, 4 ER

RP - Clay Meredith
2.1 IP, 7 ER. Yet another crappy short term attempt at a solution.

RP - Scott Cassidey
0.2 IP, 3 ER

RP - Matt Perisho
0.0 IP, 1 ER, an ERA of infiniti. Matt Perisho really sums up the bullpen and the entire pitching staff. Inability to get an out, inability to avoid giving up runs.

RP - Alan Embree
Another huge dissapointment. Embree gave the Red Sox 37.2 innings of 7.65 ERA of work. He was essentially worthless but was still used too frequently in tough spots. The lack of Embree as a dependable set-up man really hurt this team.

Pitching Summary:
The lack of quality pitching really hurt the team. Last year we won the Series because of our pitching. We had Pedro, Schilling, Lowe, Wakefield, and Arroyo as a starting rotation. That's two #1s, a solid #2 in Lowe and a great #4 and 5 at the end of the rotation. Our bullpen was amazing too. We had Foulke at the end, set-up by Embree and Timlin with Myers used as a situational lefty.

Overrall, our pitching had an ERA was 4.76 as a team. That is absolutely terrible. The Red Sox as a team blew 17 Saves. That is abysmal. Think about it, had we converted just one of those Saves, we would have won the division and played LA instead of Chicago, and we would have played the first two games in Fenway.

WHY WE LOST

In no particular order...

Wakefield didn't come up big enough for us. We needed to completely shut down the White Sox in order to assure victory. He pitched decently, but not amazingly, which is what we ended up needing.

An inability to hit young pitching and guess how old Bobby Jenks is: 24

El Duque still owns us. When I saw him warming in the pen, I cringed. Even with the bases loaded with 0 outs, I wasn't confident.

Johnny Damon and Edgar Renteria did NOTHING. A combined 1 for 8 to set up the big bats in the lineup isn't going to cut it.

Pulling Papelbon despite his crusing through the game. 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 2 K.

Jason Varitek unable to get a big hit.

Bill Mueller not able to get a hit the entire series.

These reasons and more are why the Red Sox lost Game 3, which is why we're out of the post-season after one round for the first time since 1998. For the first time since 1995, we've been swept out of the post-season.

I really hope that whoever plays Chicago, either LA or New York, will sweep the White Sox. I'm getting sick of Ozzie Guillen and even though the White Sox outplayed us and deserved to win, I still think they're an overrated team.

RED SOX PLAYOFF COMEBACKS

1986 vs. California Angels: Red Sox go down 3-1, win 3 straight to win AL pennant
1999 vs. Cleveland Indians: Red Sox go down 2-0 on the road, win 3 straight to go to ALCS
2003 vs. Oakland Athletics: Red Sox go down 2-0 on the road, win 3 straight to go to ALCS
2004 vs. New York Yankees: Red Sox go down 3-0, win 4 straight to go to World Series

Tonight the Red Sox put out their old war horse, Tim Wakefield. The man who was there the last time we won the division. The man who played in the 95, 98, 99, and 03 LDSs. We didn't need him in last year's LDS because we swept. This time, we need him.

He goes up against Freddy Garcia. I don't think Garcia or the White Sox have the mettle or the experience or the confidence to beat us in our own backyard. Then again, I also predicted we'd win games 1 and 2.

GAME 2, CLOSE BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH

This game was lost on four different plays.
1. Graffanino's Error
2. Wells throwing 2 straight curveballs to Iguchi
3. Nixon pulling the ball too hard down the right field line
4. Renteria trying to pull a Jenks fastball

That's it. That was the game. 4 fucking plays. We screwed up and we lost. We deserved to lose because of these screw ups. But the game was even closer than the 5-4 score would suggest.

David Ortiz needs to learn how to not hit into the shift that other teams put on him. He needs to learn how to bunt better. It isn't that difficult of a thing to learn.

I have confidence going back into Fenway even though we're down 2-0. If we can win on Friday and Saturday, I'll have confidence facing El Mercenario in Chicago. Obviously, we need to win tonight though.

BLAAAAAAAAAAH

What a crappy game. What a crappy outing by Clement. What a crappy offensive output. Crappy, crappy, crappy!

Now that my anger is out, I still think we're going to win this series. Wells is going tomorrow and he has been very good lately. Chicago is throwing Buehrle against us, but he has struggled against good teams this year and we are a good team. If we win tomorrow, we split in Chicago and the series essentially becomes a best of 3 with most of the games in Boston. We should be able to win that. We will be able to win that. We will win that.

WHITE SOX SERIES PREVIEW

For the third straight year, and for the fifth time in their history, the Boston Red Sox are the AL Wild Card winners. They will play the AL Central Champion Chicago White Sox in the ALDS.

The two advantages the Red Sox have over the White Sox are history and experience. Chicago hasn't been in the playoffs since 2000. They haven't won it all since 1917. The last post-season series they won was the 1917 World Series.

The Red Sox have much more experience than the White Sox in the post-season. Here are our playoff experience stats:
Bronson Arroyo: 9 games, 2 starts, 16 IP
Chad Bradford: 8 games, 0 starts, 8.1 IP
Matt Clement: 2 games, 2 starts, 12.1 IP
Mike Myers: 7 games, 0 starts, 4.1 IP
Curt Schilling: 15 games,15 starts, 109.1 IP
Mike Timlin: 37 games, 0 starts, 41.1 IP
Tim Wakefield: 15 games, 8 starts, 59.1 IP
David Wells: 25 games, 15 starts, 113.1 IP

That's 118 playoff appearances, 42 starts, and 364.1 innings pitched

Doug Mirabelli: 9 games, 17 ABs
Jason Varitek: 36 games, 132 ABs
Kevin Millar: 26 games, 92 ABs
Tony Graffanino: 12 games, 14 ABs
Alex Cora: 4 games, 15 ABs
Edgar Renteria: 52 games, 194 ABs
Bill Mueller: 33 games, 134 ABs
John Olerud: 63 games, 230 ABs
Johnny Damon: 29 games, 132 ABs
Trot Nixon: 35 games, 116 ABs
Manny Ramirez: 78 games, 297 ABs
David Ortiz: 35 games, 131 ABs

That is 412 combined post-season games, and 1,504 at-bats.

Here are Chicago's numbers for playoff experience:
Mark Buehrle: 1 game, 0 starts, 0.1 IP
Freddy Garcia: 6 games, 6 starts, 34 IP
Jose Contreras: 8 games, 0 starts, 11 IP
Orlando Hernandez: 17 games, 14 starts, 102 IP
Dustin Hermanson: 2 games, 0 starts, 4 IP

That's 34 games, 20 starts, and 151.1 IP. without El Duque, it is 17 games, 6 starts, and 49.1 IP. Overrall, the Red Sox have 84 more appearances, 22 more starts, and 213 more innings.

AJ Pierzynski: 14 games, 45 ABs
Chris Widger: 5 games, 4 ABs
Paul Konerko: 3 games, 9 ABs
Jermaine Dye: 28 games, 102 ABs
Carl Everett: 8 games, 28 ABs

That's 58 games, 188 At-Bats.

I don't put a whole lot of stock in the auro surrounding playoff experience. It usually doesn't matter until it becomes crunch time. But in the playoffs, crunch time is the biggest and most intense crunch time imagineable for a ball player. When its tied in the 8th inning, thats when playoff experience matters. When you lose the first game at home, that's when playoff experience matters. To have already gone through the fire makes it easier to go through again. In my opinion, going through the fire in 2003 against New York made it possible to come back against them in 2004. We had already seen the playoffs and knew what they were about. The White Sox haven't. Furthermore, Ozzie Guillen, as a player, was never on a playoff series winning team when he played regularly in the series. Does this matter? Who knows?

Here are the ever important pitching matchups. As we learned last year, anything can happen to pitchers so anything can happen in the game. Derek Lowe was not supposed to start for us at all but went on to win all 3 clinching games. This season, our imposing Schilling-Pedro-Wakefield-Arroyo is not there to look at with awe. This year it will be Clement-Wells-Wakefield-Schilling with Arroyo in the pen. It isn't so bad though. All of these pitchers are capable of having stellar performances, and they have 5 World Series rings amongst them so they have been there and done that.

Game 1: Tuesday 4:00 PM EST, US Cellular Field, Chicago, IL
Matt Clement vs. Jose Contreras
Matt Clement starts the series for Boston primarily because of the way the rotation was when the season ended. It was either Clement or Arroyo and I think Francona made the right call to choose Clement, putting Arroyo in the beleaguered bullpen.

The White Sox, on the other hand, chose to start Contreras. They feel that he is their best pitcher. Contreras has improved since his days with New York, but in my mind, he will always be the guy that was bought by the Yankees, but owned by the Red Sox.

Clement ended the season at 13-6 with an ERA of 4.57. Those are not good numbers considering his 10-2 before the All-Star Game and his 3.85 ERA in the first half. He gives up a good number of walks, about 2 per start, which gets his pitch count up early on. If he's throwing strikes though, he's pretty good. His last start was a 5 inning, 4 run outing against Toronto which was good enough for a Red Sox victory. Before that, he went 6 shutout innings against the hapless Orioles. In his last 10 starts, he's had 6 quality starts and 2 starts that were pretty bad. He isn't going into October with a hot arm, but it isn't cold. I expect 6 innings and 3 runs from Clement, which I feel should be enough for a win if the pen doesn't implode. Matt hasn't started against the White Sox this season.

In somewhat limited exposure, the White Sox have decent numbers against Clement. Overrall, they're 37/117 (.316). None of the players who have had more than 7 at-bats against him have an average below .300. Podsednik is 7 for 19, Blum is 6 for 18, Perez is 4 for 13, Konerko is 3 for 9, Crede is 3 for 8. Everett is 3 for 6 and Rowand is 2 for 3 with a rare homerun. The one number that scares me is their OBP vs. Clement. It is .394 as a team. They will be able to get on base so hopefully Matt can strand alot of runners and get out of a few jams. Otherwise, he won't last long and won't give us a good shot to win.

Jose Contraras, El Mercenario, finished 2005 with an impressive 15-7 record and an ERA of 3.61. Like Clement, he walked about two people a game. He was able to go about 6.4 innings a game.

Unlike Clement, Contraras has a hot arm. He went 8 in his last start, allowing 2 runs. The start before he went the distance allowing only 1 run. Before that, he went 8 again and gave up only 1 run. He has gone 7 or more innings in 9 of his last 10 starts. Nine of his last 10 have also been Quality Starts with the only exception being a 7.2 inning outing against Minnesota in which he allowed 4 earned runs. He has won his last 8 starts in a row. But like we saw with the Patriots losing at home for the first time in 21 games, streaks end.

In his one start against us this year, he went 5.2 and allowed 3 runs in a 6-4 Chicago victory. He was a beneficiary of a poor start by Arroyo, great bullpen work, and the Red Sox leaving 11 men on. In that game, the Red Sox combined to go 10 for 35 (.286), hit two homers (Tek and Ortiz) and hit a double. We walked 6 times and were struck out 9 times. Eight of the hits we got were off Contreras but only 2 of the walks were off him. We left 6 men in scoring position. If we capitalize on opportunities Contreras gives us, we can get a big inning and put up a big number. Otherwise, he'll shut us down and we will lose.

The Red Sox have seen just about as much of Contraras as the White Sox have of Clement. We're 33/101 (.327). However, our on-base percentage is a very nice .427. We should work a walk each time through the lineup. Ortiz is 3 for 14 with a double and a homer. Damon is 4 for 14 with a homer. Manny is 3 for 13 with a double and a homer. Mueller is 6 for 13 with a double and a homer. Mueller's bat is getting hot too so look for him to have a nice day. Millar is 5 for 10 with a double and two homers. Tek is 3 for 8, Cora is 3 for 7, Tony G is 1 for 6, Trot is 2 for 4.

I think the Red Sox will be able to get alot of baserunners against El Mercanario and I think we will be able to put up some runs. We let his previous start against us slip but that was a rare lapse against this guy. It would be very nice to put up some runs, let Clement cruise and focus on throwing strikes, and wear down Chicago's bullpen, which is pretty dam good which would make it that much better to wear it down.

My prediction: Red Sox win 7-3

WHO SUCKS MORE, FOX OR MILLAR?

OK, OK, its not all that bad. Because Cleveland lost, all we need to do is win tomorrow and we clinch the Wild Card. Even if we don't win and the Indians lose, we clinch the Wild Card. Even if we lose and Cleveland wins, we have a playoff game on Monday in Fenway to determine the Wild Card. Schilling goes tomorrow against who knows. The Yankees having clinched will probably rest alot of players including the recently disabled Mussina.

Kevin Millar is not a good baseball player. I'll begin this game analysis by stating this fact.

Wakefield began the game by giving up consecutive basehits. Giambi hit a ground ball to Graffanino who tossed to Renteria. Renteria eliminated A-Rod but for some reason, and it wasn't A-Rod because he enver touched him, Renteria lost his balance and couldn't make a throw to first to complete the double play. Jeter scored and there was a runner on. Sheffield came up and hit a 2 run bomb into the Monster Seats. 3-0 New York, but it could have been 2-0. Matsui grounded out and Cano flew out.

Damon walked to begin the bottom of the 1st. He then stole second. Renteria flew out but Damon tagged and moved to 3rd. Ortiz struck out. Manny came to the plate and turned on a pitch the landed on the roof of the Cask N' Flagon. 3-2 New York, but it couldv'e been 2-2. Kevin Millar, who sucks, flew out.

The Yankees struck again in the 2nd. Tino led off with a single. Bernie hit a line drive right at Millar's glove, but Millar, who sucks, couldn't snag it. The result was a double that gave the Yankees runners on 2nd and 3rd with 0 outs. Millar, who does suck, should have caught the ball and because he was closer to the bag than Tino, should have been able to step on the bag for a double play. Flaherty knocked in Tino with a SAC Fly, and moved Bernie to 3rd. Jeter hit another SAc Fly. The runners shouldn't have even been on base and the inning should have been over. But, Millar sucks. A-Rod ended the inning by flying out. 5-2 New York, but it could have been 2-2 if we had good defensive players.

Mueller walked to lead off the bottom of the 2nd. Mirabelli and Nixon each struck out. Graffanino singled. Damon walked. Renteria had the bases juiced with a full count. There was a questionable called strike that I felt was ball 4 but it was called a strike. Renteria foul tipped the 3-2 pitch into the mit of John Flaherty. The game was effectively over after this point.

Matsui hit a homer in the top of the 3rd to give New York a 6-2 lead. Ortiz doubled to begin the 3rd for Boston, but could not advance. Millar, who sucks, flew out. The Red Sox would get sporadic baserunners but wouldn't be able to mount anything significant. They got Johnson's pitch count up early but every inning, they made him work less and less which allowed him to extend his outing. We never got to their middle relief.

In order for us to not win the Wild Card, we will have to lose tomorrow, have Chicago lose, and lose a playoff game on Monday against the Indians. I don't think all three of these things will happen. But you never know.

Curt Schilling will go against Jaret Wright, not Mike Mussina. I doubt that guys like Sheffield, Rivera, or Gordon will be playing. No matter how poorly Curt pitches, we should be able to capitalize on the Yankees pitching unless Wright comes out with a great start.

Wright has an ERA of 5.97 with a 5-4 record. He has pitched 60.1 innings in 12 starts. He doesn't give up alot of homers but he has allowed 78 hits. He's also walked 27 batters. That is a WHIP of 1.74 which isn't that good. The Red Sox as a team are batting .338 in their careers against Wright. .349 if you don't count pitchers stats. Damon, Ortiz, Renteria, and Varitek all have great numbers against Wright.

The White Sox will send Brandon McCarthy against Scott Elarton in a pitching matchup that appears to be about even. The Indians look near dead though. The White Sox aren't playing balls to the wall and they're still beating Cleveland in Cleveland. Even if a playoff game is forced, I doubt the Indians will be able to muster any sort of effort against us. I could be wrong though.

#21 Boston College shutout Ball State 38-0 in Chestnut Hill. However, it was Ball State, it was at home, and Ball State had suspended 16 players for the game because of something to do with textbook loan violations. BC will return to reality and ACC play when they host #19 Virginia next week.

The Bruins begin their season on Wednesday against arch-rival Montreal in The Garden. It should be interesting to see how the Bruins look this year with a salary cap and new rules. We've also got some new faces but the core of the team is the same.

The Patriots will host the San Diego Chargers Sunday. LT Matt Light, Rb Kevin Faulk, and S Rodney Harrison will all be absent due to injuries for the Patriots. CBs Randall Gay, and Tyrone Poole, Chad Scott, and Duane Starks are all questionable. Tom Brady is probably with his right shoulder injury.

The 49ers and Arizona Cardinals will be playing the first ever regualr season NFL game outside of the USA. They will kickoff tomorrow in Mexico City. Next season, the NFL might have a regular season game in London's new Wemberly Stadium.

My alma-mater, Xaverian, the 7th ranked team in Massachusetts, shutout New Britain HS, the 3rd ranked team in Connecticutt 35-0 in New Britain. Remember this name: Chris Fox. He's the son of former Patriot Tim Fox and has a full ride to Boston College. He plays for Xaverian and is a great athlete with alot of potential.