DEAR DIARY... IT'S ME, PEYTON

Dearest diary,
Sorry I haven't talked to you in a while. Sunday was a very rough day, and it's been a rough week since then. Me, Marvin, and Reggie all had to go to the hospital for dehydration Sunday night. We all cried too much after the game. We even cried at Chuck E. Cheese's. Coach Tony was mad at us for that. "Chuck E. Cheese is a no cry zone" he always says.

I wasn't just crying because we lost. I was crying because I was lied to.

Before the game, Daryl Smith and John Henderson of the Jaguars came up to me.

"Hey, Peyton," Daryl yelled across the field during pregame warm ups. "Can you do us a favor?"

"Sure fellas," I replied with a smile.

"Well, man, some of our DBs have been feeling down lately," John stated.

"Oh, I see. Me too. The end of summer always makes me feel a little low."

"Yeah, man" Daryl agreed. "We were wondering if you could throw them a few interceptions, just to make them feel better."

"I don't know guys, Coach Tony might get upset. I could never hurt him. And we want to win the game too."

"Peyton, we promise to give the ball right back. Garrard will throw a pick or Scobee will fumble or something. Please."

"Well, alrighty then!"

HAHA, I love Ace Ventura! When he talks with his bum (sorry for swearing)it cracks me up. Get it? CRACKs me up? tee hee hee :-) Don't tell my dad I said those words ;-)



But they didn't give the ball back at all! Rashean didn't even let his offense touch the ball! Those Jaguars pretend to be nice, but they're mean guys. I hate them! Adam called them the "F*guars" on the sideline and Coach Tony had to give him a spanking during halftime.

Coach Tony has been really hard on us this week at practice. We only got to watch 101 Dalmatians on film day. Dwight and the guys all wanted to see 102 Dalmatians right after. He says Cruella Deville reminds him of that mean old man who coaches the Patriots.



But Coach Tony wouldn't let us. :-(

Yesterday, we usually have a 90 minute flower picking session before practice. Me, Marvin, Dallas, and Joseph always compete to see who can find the prettiest flower. I like daisies. But Coach Tony only let us pick flowers for 30 minutes. He said we had to get inside and work on "Important stuff." What's more important than daisies? I didn't have enough time to find a single one!

I think losing makes Coach Tony into a mean guy. He never used to yell before. But now he's a sour-puss all the time. I don't like it. Neither do the rest of the fellas.

So guess what me and the guys did this morning to cheer him up? We threw him a surprise birthday party! His birthday isn't until October 6th. "That's the surprise!" Dallas said. That Dallas is such a crazy guy! We decided to make it a Dora the Explorer party. Coach Tony loves Dora, and so do I.



So we had the party, with cake, and ice cream, and orange drink. Coach Tony loved it. We all gave him gift certificates. I gave him one to Blockbuster. And you know what he did with it? He rented 102 Dalmatians and we all watched it! Twice!

Then the clown came. He was hilarious. He made me a balloon unicorn. Unfortunately, Antoine Bethea is afraid of clowns, so he locked himself in the showers. But he came back out when the clown had been gone for an hour.

I love my coach. I'm so lucky to play for a coach like Coach Tony.

And I love you too, diary!

Yours forever,
Peyton

SOX TO RETIRE #6

The Red Sox will retire the number 6 Friday night, on the eve of Johnny Pesky's 89th birthday. In order to do this, the Sox had to change their policy on retired numbers. Doerr, Cronin, Williams, Yastrzemski, and Fisk - the owners of the retired numbers in left field - are all Hall of Famers. Pesky is not.

But, he's been with the team in one capacity or another for almost 60 years.

The number 6 has also worn by Harry Agganis, Joe Cronin (for one season), Rico Petrocelli, and Bill Buckner. Gary Gaeti was the last Sox player to wear it in 2000.

I'm happy about this move. Pesky wasn't a phenomenally great player. He was good, but not Hall of Fame good. But he's been a part of this team for so long. The term "ambassador" of the game gets thrown around too much, but in Pesky's case it fits him like a glove.

And hopefully this opens the door to retiring Tony Conigliaro's #25.

Sources:
Boston.com
Red Sox Diehard.com

RED SOX IN PLAYOFFS!!!

By giving eventual Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee his 3rd loss of the season, the Red Sox clinched at least the AL Wild Card. It's their 5th playoff appearance in 6 years, and 19th in team history.



It's been a very interesting season to say the least. With all the injuries and drama, making the playoffs is a bigger accomplishment than it was last year. Schilling never pitched a game. Colon came and went, then came and went. Beckett wasn't Acelike as he was a year ago, plus he missed some time. Okajima struggled, as did the rest of the bullpen. Ortiz missed time and played with hurt wrists. Lowell's been injured pretty much all season. Drew's missed a lot of time. And of course, there was that Manny Ramirez guy. Remember him?



Last night, the two most valuable players on the team came through for the Sox. Youkilis hit a 2 run homer in the 4th to put the Sox on top. Pedroia hit a 2 run double in the 5th to tie the game at 4-4.

I know Pedroia's been getting the "MVP" chants, but Youkilis had 11 RBI, has played two positions (three if you count his abbreviated outfield stint), and batted everywhere in the top of the lineup.

The Sox can now use the remaining 5 games to get the rotation aligned, give players like Papelbon and Ortiz some rest, and get ready to play some October baseball. There also needs to be some roster decisions for the postseason. More on that later.

Oh, and the Yankees were eliminated from playoff contention last night.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Fausto Carmona vs. Paul Byrd tonight.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

BRUINS CRUSH CANADIENS IN PRESEASON OPENER

Patrice Bergeron suited up for the Bruins for the first time in nearly 11 months last night. He did not disappoint. He tallied a goal and three assists as the Bruins began their preseason campaign against Montreal in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Bruins beat the Habs 8-3. Linemate Marco Sturm had two goals and two assists. Youngster Vladimir Sobotka added two goals of his own.



You can't really take much away from a preseason hockey game, especially when goalies are changed so frequently. But it's still hockey, and it's still the Montreal Canadiens. The 2nd period, for instance, saw 34 penalty minutes given out, including a pair of fighting majors. 54 more penalty minutes were dished out in the 3rd, among them were four fighting majors and a game misconduct for Andrew Ference.

It would have been nice to actually see this game on television, or even hear it on the radio. Not for the score, but for the fights.

The Bruins continue their preseason tonight in New Brunswick as they take on the Islanders.

Sources:
BostonBruins.com
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Mike Dembeck

SOX FALL SHORT

12 men left on base, 7 men left in scoring position, a 2 out baserunning blunder at 3rd, a rarely seen stretch of wildness from Beckett, and so on. The Red Sox had ample opportunity to win last night's game and clinch a playoff berth. They also would have stayed 1.5 behind Tampa Bay in the division.

Maybe they threw the game so they could clinch Thursday night when I'm there.

Eventual Cy Young winner Cliff Lee takes the mound for Cleveland tonight. He's 22-2 with a 2.41 ERA. He opposes Tim Wakefield, who has struggled mightily in 2 of his last 3 starts.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Winslow Townson

FROM UNDEFEATED TO UNFORTUNATE

Last week's victory over the Jets reminded fans of 2001. This week's loss to the Dolphins reminds me of 2002. That was a year of inconsistencies. A defense that held the Jets to 7 points one game, then allowed New York to score 30. An offense that put up 44 on the Jets in week 2, then scraped by to get 17 in week 16.

Both the offense and defense were flat yesterday. Matt Cassel didn't do much that helped the Dolphins. But he didn't do much to help the Patriots. The Pats' first drive started with excellent field position at the Miami 49, but went 3 and out. The second drive went as deep as the Miami 7, but two sacks and an interception resulted in no red zone points, which is inexcusable. So instead of being up 6-0 or 10-0, the game was scoreless, and Miami remained confident.

The defense struggled with big plays all day. Pennington had 4 passes of 20+ yards. And we all know what Ronnie Brown did (4 rushing TDs, 1 passing TD, and a 62 yard touchdown run that sealed the game in the 4th).



The Pats visited the red zone again at the start of the 2nd quarter, but only came away with 3 points.

Give credit to Miami. They played well on defense, pressuring Cassel (sacking him 3 times), forcing two turnovers, and playing tight in the red zone. Pennington had a superb day, throwing 17 for 20, and the Dolphins ran for 216 yards on 36 carries (6.0 YPC).



So the 21 game regular season winning streak is over. But there were 2 playoff losses mixed in there, and Pats fans know what the REAL 21 game win streak was all about back in '03 and '04.

The Patriots lost at home for the first time since November 12, 2006. They had a 15 game home win streak.

The 2-1 Pats are now 2nd in the AFC East to the 3-0 Bills. The last time the Patriots weren't in 1st place was October 18, 2003.

Thankfully, the bye week should get things sorted out in Foxborough. There will be plenty of film for the team to review before playing San Francisco in 2 weeks.

Sources:
ESPN.com
Pro-Football-Reference.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
AP Photo/Winslow Townson

SOX EXTREMELY CLOSE TO CLINCHING AFTER 3-0 WIN OVER TORONTO

The Sox will be playing at least one extra game this season, as they clinched at least a Wild Card tie yesterday. They only need to win one more game to clinch. Or the Yankees could lose a game for the Sox to win the Wild Card. The AL East title is also a possibility, as the Rays are only 1.5 games ahead.

Daisuke had one of his best starts of the season, going 7 innings, allowing 2 hits, and 2 walks. It's the first time he's gone 7 innings since August 29th.

Pedroia had an RBI and a double, his 52nd double of the season, which leads the Majors.

Ortiz hit a 2 run shot. In his last 6 games, Papi had 4 homeruns, and 10 RBI. He already has 21 RBI in September.

The Sox return to Fenway tonight to start a 4 game series with Cleveland. Zach Johnson (0-3, 6.35 ERA) faces Josh Beckett. Beckett has allowed 2 runs in his last 19 innings.

The Yankees don't play tonight. Tampa Bay is at Baltimore.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, J.P. Moczulski

SOX SQUEEZE OUT A 4-3 WIN

The Red Sox can clinch the Wild Card Saturday thanks to a 4-3 win over Toronto and an 11-1 loss by Minnesota. Paul Byrd had a Paul Byrd kind of evening, 6 innings, 3 earned runs. And get this, the bullpen pitched three SCORELESS innings. That's how you win 1 run ballgames.

Paul Byrd solidified his case to be the #4 pitcher in the Sox playoff rotation. He's gone 5+ innings in all 7 of his starts with Boston, and gone 6+ innings 6 times. That kind of consistent inning eating is what you want out of a #4 starter.

The Red Sox probably should have scored more than 4 runs. They had 9 hits and 5 walks to work with, but rarely came up with the big hit, or a few smaller hits in a row. 10 men left on base, 5 left in scoring position.

If the Twins lose Saturday, the Yankees lose, and the Red Sox win, at the very least the Red Sox will be the Wild Card winners.

But winning might be a tall task. A good pitcher's duel is on the slate for Saturday afternoon, as 15-5 Jon Lester faces 18-11 Roy Halladay.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, J.P. Moczulski