Daily Archives: September 28, 2008

Game 2 Lineups

Here are the lineups for Game 2 of the doubleheader between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

New York Yankees 89-72

1. Brett Gardner, CF
2. Robinson Cano, 2B
3. Jason Giambi, DH
4. Xavier Nady, LF
5. Ivan Rodriguez, C
6. Wilson Betemit, 3B
7. Cody Ransom, SS
8. Melky Cabrera, RF
9. Juan Miranda, 1B

– Sidney Ponson, SP

Boston Red Sox 94-67

1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Alex Cora, SS
3. Chris Carter, DH
4. Jeff Bailey, LF
5. Sean Casey, 1B
6. Jed Lowrie, 3B
7. Jonathan Van Every, RF
8. Kevin Cash, C
9. Gil Velazquez, 2B

– Tim Wakefield, SP

And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers.

New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox

Don’t forget to vote for who you think the Red Sox MVP for 2008 is over in the left sidebar. Voting goes until midnight tonight.

UConn Football Ranked For First Time This Season

Paw Prints Football News

After receiving votes in the first 5 polls of the season, the UConn Huskies football team will enter their game against North Carolina as the 24th ranked team in the AP Poll and the 23rd ranked team in the USA Today/Coaches Poll.

UConn Huskies Football logoThe Huskies were ranked last season reaching a high of #16 on November 4th, 2007. They spent 4 weeks in the AP Poll and 3 weeks in the USA Today/Coaches Poll last season.

As I told you about earlier this morning, the Huskies game against North Carolina will be televised on ESPN2. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

A full look at both polls after the jump.

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Mussina Gets Elusive 20th Win In Yankees 6-2 Victory In Game 1

Mike Mussina beat the Red Sox for his 20th win of the season

Mike Mussina gave the New York Yankees 6 shutout innings as they went on to beat the Boston Red Sox 6-2 in Game 1 of a day/night doubleheader in front of 37,091 at Fenway Park. The win for Mussina was his 20th of the season and the first time in his 18 year career that he has had 20 wins in a season.

Daisuke Matsuzaka finishes the season 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA

Daisuke Matsuzaka finishes the season 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA.

Daisuke Matsuzaka tuned up for his likely ALDS Game 3 start with 4 innings of work this afternoon. He gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while fanning 5 on 73 pitches. He finishes the season with an 18-3 record and a 2.90 ERA.

Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima were strong out of the bullpen for the Red Sox as they combined for 4 scoreless innings. Jonathan Papelbon had a rough 9th inning in a driving rain as he gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk.

Dustin Pedroia led the Red Sox offense with 2 hits in 4 at-bats. Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a RBI single in the 8th inning. Mark Kotsay and David Ortiz had the other hits for the local nine and Chris Carter drove in the other run.

Matsuzaka breezed through the first 3 innings allowing only a double to Robinson Cano but ran into some trouble in the 4th inning.

He started the inning by getting Johnny Damon to ground out and then he walked Bobby Abreu. With Alex Rodriguez at the plate, Abreu stole second before ARod worked a walk. Dice-K followed the walks with a strikeout of Jason Giambi but he left a pitch out over the plate for Xaiver Nady to drive out of the ballpark for a 3-run home run. Dice-K then gave up back-to-back singles to Cano and Cody Ransom but got Jose Molina to ground out to end the inning.

The Red Sox battled back in the 8th off of Joba Chamberlain.

Jason Bay worked a leadoff walk and Kotsay followed with a ground rule double to deep right. Brian Bruney came in for Joba and struck out Jed Lowrie. Chris Carter pinch-hit for David Ross and had an RBI groundout to cut the lead to 3-1 as Kotsay went to third. Damaso Marte came in for Bruney and Ellsbury greeted him with an RBI single to make it 3-2 Yanks. Mariano Rivera then came in and struck out Pedroia to end the inning.

The Yankees managed to get 3 runs in the 9th off Papelbon to put the game out of reach.

Tim Wakefield and Sidney Ponson will close out the season in the nightcap at 7:35 PM.

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Game One Line Ups

RED SOX
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Jason Bay, LF
7. Mark Kotsay, 1B
8. Jed Lowrie, SS
9. Jason Varitek, C
-SP Daisuke Matsuzaka

YANKEES
1. Brett Gardner, CF
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Bobby Abreu, RF
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Jason Giambi, 1B
6. Xavier Nady, DH
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Cody Ransom, SS
9. Jose Molina, C
-SP Mike Mussina

Fenway Park Weather Update – 9/28

Here is a release from the Boston Red Sox concerning the weather for today’s games:

The current weather forecast in the vicinity of Fenway Park calls for the rain showers currently in the area to dissipate in the late morning hours. At this point, Meteorlogix predicts that relatively dry conditions are expected for the remainder of the day and evening.

The Fenway Park gates will open at the regularly scheduled time of 11:35 p.m. for the 1:35 p.m. day game with the Yankees, and the Red Sox expect that both games scheduled for Sunday will be played.

The ceremony to retire the uniform number of Johnny Pesky is scheduled to begin at approximately 1:15 p.m.

The night game between the Red Sox and Yankees is scheduled to start at 7:35 p.m. Tickets from Saturday’s rainout should be used for the Sunday night game.

This forecast is of course subject to change as the day progresses. Additional updates will be provided periodically.

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 9/28

Paw Prints Daily Roundup

Let’s start out our Sunday morning with highlights from the UConn Huskies win over Louisville on Friday night courtesy of the great Santini.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSyWol5iFNU]

Good news for Huskies fans. According to John Silver of the Journal Inquirer, Saturday’s game against the North Carolina Tar Heels will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register, Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post and Joe Perez of the Norwich Bulletin have highlights of Randy Edsall’s teleconference yesterday.

Tyler Lorenzen’s college playing days could be over.

Zach Frazer is now thrust into the spotlight as QB1 for the Huskies.

Even Randy Edsall was impressed with the Huskies win on Friday night.

Dave Solomon of the New Haven Register says that if Nate Miles is guilty his season should be over.

David Gillett takes a look at one of the UConn men’s basketball opponents Gonzaga.

Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 9/28

Dustin Pedroia is the Red Sox most valuable half-pint

After sitting through yet another rain delay yesterday, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will try to play again this afternoon and tonight in a day/night separate admission doubleheader. If you had tickets for yesterday’s game, they are good for tonight’s 7:35 PM game.

Dustin Pedroia is the Red Sox most valuable half-pint.

Brian Cashman has told the Yankees he will return as general manager.

Injuries are a real concern for the Red Sox as they enter the playoffs.

There will probably be no quick fix for the New York Yankees and Brian Cashman.

Jacoby Ellsbury is streaking into the postseason.

After a rough start, Mike Mussina will go for his 20th win today.

Don’t tell Gil Velazquez and George Kottaras these aren’t meaningful games.

Please let us know who you think the Red Sox MVP is by voting in the poll on the left sidebar at the top. Voting ends tonight at midnight.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the NY Post, NY Daily News, Newsday and Lo Hud websites.

MLB Playoff Races To Hopefully Be Decided Today

MLB Postseason 2008

If you’re just a general baseball fan or a fan of the 4 remaining teams, today is shaping up to be one of the more exciting days in recent memory. There are still 2 playoff spots open with those 4 teams remaining in contention, 1 from each league.

The New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers are tied for the wild card in the National League. The Minnesota Twins hold a ½ game lead over the Chicago White Sox for the AL Central title.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies are all in from the National League. The Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are in from the American League.

It’s pretty simple to figure out or is it. If the Mets win and the Brewers lose, the Mets are in. If the Brewers win and Mets lose, the Brewers are in. If they both win or both lose today, they will play at Shea Stadium on Monday making that the last regular season game at Shea with the winner getting the wild card. The Mets will host the Marlins while the Brewers host the Cubs.

Now here comes the interesting one. If the Twins win against the Kansas City Royals and the White Sox lose to the Cleveland Indians, the Twins are in because their lead will be 1.5 games with no chance of the White Sox making up that deficit. If the White Sox win and Twins lose, then the White Sox will host the Detroit Tigers on Monday in a makeup game. If they both win or lose today, then the White Sox will still need to play the Tigers on Monday. Basically what it boils down to is that if either team has a ½ game lead after Sunday’s games, then the White Sox and Tigers play on Monday.

So if it comes down to the White Sox and Tigers having to play on Monday then things get even more intriguing. If the Tigers were to beat the White Sox then Twins would win the AL Central if the Twins still held a ½ game lead coming into the game on Monday. If the White Sox hold the ½ game lead after play today and lost to the Tigers on Monday then the Twins and White Sox would play on Tuesday for the AL Central title.

Make sense? I’m sure you were confused reading this as I was writing it. Enjoy the games today folks and if you’re a fan of one of the teams not in the playoffs yet, best of luck.