I had mentioned this in the notes this morning but it’s too good to pass up. The fine folks at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland want to make sure the bugs invade the game tonight.

To get the full size version, click here.

As you might have expected, there wasn’t a big turnout for the voluntary workout yesterday at Jacobs Field since the Red Sox didn’t get into Cleveland until the wee hours of the morning yesterday. The biggest question was answered yesterday as Terry Francona said that Josh Beckett will not come back on three day’s rest and pitch tomorrow night in Game 4. The other big question is will the bugs return and haunt the Red Sox. The Plain Dealer thinks they might and even made sure to help that situation out. They made bug masks. So while you’re sitting at work doing nothing today, take a look at the headlines from the Boston and Cleveland area on this Roxtober morning (not a typo, the Rockies are a hot team right now).

Matsuzaka ready to step forward [Boston Globe]

Lofton wants world serious [The Plain Dealer]

Series starts anew [Boston Herald]

Late Game 2 confirms a lot about Indians [Akron Beacon Journal]

Francona Sticking With Rotation [Hartford Courant]

Players attempt to shake off tough Game Two defeat [Pro Jo]

He makes Manny’s returns happy [Boston Globe]

A team of destiny? [The Plain Dealer]

Tito not calling changeup [Boston Herald]

Sabathia expected to rebound [Akron Beacon Journal]

Series Takes On Split Personality [Hartford Courant]

Heading into Cleveland, a thought that bugs the team [Pro Jo]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, The Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal websites.

Currently two baseball teams are looking for a new manager.  Two more may be looking soon.  Right now the only official openings are in Pittsburgh and Kansas City, but two of baseball’s most storied franchises, in the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals may possibly be making a change as well. 

As we all know Yankee owner George Steinbrenner made the statement last week that Joe Torre probably won’t be back if the Yanks didn’t win the series against the Cleveland Indians.  It’s been a week and there is still no word on Torre’s fate, which is expected to come early this week.

St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa is waiting to make a decision on coming back based on who the Cardinals ownership hires as the new general manager.   LaRussa has also been rumored to be Torre’s replacement and was once said to be considered for the opening in Cincinnati, since filled by Dusty Baker as well as Seattle who decided to keep their interim manager, John McLaren.

So without any further adieu here are the candidates for the jobs.

Pittsburgh Pirates

• John Farrell – Boston Red Sox pitching coach
• Joel Skinner – Cleveland Indians 3rd base coach
• Trent Jewett - Pittsburgh’s Triple A manager
• Bob Walk – former Pirate pitcher and current broadcaster
• Ken Macha – former Oakland A’s manager
• Phil Garner – former Houston Astros manager
• Andy Van Slyke – Detroit Tigers 1st base coach
• Jay Bell – Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach

My pick here will be Ken Macha for a few reasons.  First he is a Pittsburgh native and had the job two years ago but turned it down to stay in Oakland.  The Pirates hired Jim Tracy, the A’s fired Macha at the end of the 2006 season.  Second Macha has worked with young talent in the Oakland system.  He took a very young A’s team to the playoffs where they over achieved for a few years and they played their asses off for him.  Pittsburgh has really no veteran presence and Macha would be a good choice.  John Farrell and Joel Skinner will and should get interviews, Phil Garner is a possibility as a former Pirates player and probably the runner up to Macha.  Andy Van Slyke and Jay Bell may get a courtesy call but I don’t percieve those two as ready to manage yet.

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Here’s a little news of the weird video from FOX News. Check out how bad the first guy gets his butt kicked.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-XJc6vqocjE[/youtube]

It’s Roxtober in Denver, CO as the Rockies won another game, 4-1, in their NLCS matchup with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Rockies now lead the series 3-0 and will look to finish the D’backs off tomorrow night. Franklin Morales will toe the rubber for the Rox while Micah Owings gets the ball for the D’backs.

From Rotoworld:

Yorvit Torrealba had a three-run homer and a double off Livan Hernandez to lead the Rockies to a 4-1 win over the Diamondbacks on Saturday night.

The Rockies are up 3-0 with a chance to clinch on Monday. Colorado got six innings of one-run ball from Josh Fogg on a rainy tonight, and Manny Corpas recorded his fourth save of the postseason with a scoreless ninth. Torrealba’s homer in the sixth gave him seven RBI in the Rockies’ six wins. Pitching the potential series-ender for Colorado on Monday will be Franklin Morales. The Diamondbacks are likely to stick with Micah Owings, though they could go to Brandon Webb on three days’ rest.

The Red Sox will not start Josh Beckett on short rest in Game 4.

Trot Nixon’s role on the Indians is invaluable.

Diamondbacks OF Eric Byrnes press conference on Saturday was one to remember.

Despite having won their first 6 postseason games, the middle of the Rockies lineup has been struggling.

 

The Result

The New England Patriots went into Dallas and earned their first victory in five tries at Texas Stadium, 48-27 in a hard fought battle of two unbeaten teams. Tom Brady threw five TD passes, two to Wes Welker and one each to Kyle Brady, Randy Moss and Donte` Stallworth, Kyle Eckel added a rushing TD and Stephen Gostkowski kicked a pair of field goals.

The Patriots showed what makes them a great team, when they were trailing by 4 points in the 3^rd quarter they outscored the Cowboys 27-3 in the last 20 minutes to get the convincing win.

Dallas did put up a good fight, Tony Romo completed some nice passes, their two running backs Marion Barber and Julius Jones got some good runs but in the end it was penalties and some poor decisions that did them in.  Maybe they should have gone with Orville Redenbacher instead of the Jiffy Pop.

Scoring Plays

• New England 14  7 10 17 – 48
• Dallas            0 17  7   3 – 27

1^st Quarter

• NE – Brady 6 yard TD pass to Moss – kick good – 7-0 Patriots
• NE – Brady 35 yard TD pass to Welker – kick good – 14-0 Patriots

2^nd Quarter

• DAL – Folk 38 yard FG – 14-3 Patriots
• DAL – Hatcher 29 yard fumble return – kick good – 14-10 Patriots
• NE – Brady 12 yard TD pass to Welker – kick good – 21-10 Patriots
• DAL – Romo 12 yard TD pass to Owens – kick good – 21-17 Patriots

3^rd Quarter

• DAL – Romo 8 yard to pass to Crayton – kick good – 24-21 Cowboys
• NE – Brady 1 yard TD pass to Brady – kick good – 28-24 Patriots
• NE – Gostkowski 45 yard FG – 31-24 Patriots

4^th Quarter

• NE – Brady 69 yard TD pass to Stallworth – kick good – 38-24 Patriots
• DAL – Folk 23 yard FG – 38-27 Patriots
• NE – Gostkowski 22 yard FG – 41-27 Patriots
• NE – Eckel 1 yard TD run – kick good – 48-27 Patriots

Offensive Player of the Game

Wes Welker 11 catches for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Defensive Player of the Game

Cowboys DeMarcus Ware had 10 tackles and a sack and was constantly reeking havoc on the Patriots offense.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

Dallas head coach Wade Phillips elects to kick a FG on fourth and goal trailing by 14 in the 4^th quarter, then the Patriots have a 6 minute drive that leads to a FG and they get back to the 14 point lead.

Junior Seau picks off Tony Romo with 3:50 left in game to seal the win.

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Do not edit this page

Anthony from the Oriole Post had the good fortune of going to last night’s game at Fenway Park and took a lot of pictures. He was gracious enough to let me share them with you.

A big thank you to Anthony for the pictures.

Cleveland Indians vs. Boston Red Sox: Game Two – ALCS Fenway Park

You may have noticed but I have decided to change the look of the blog again. I have reasoning for the madness.

For one, the old theme was causing my site to crash a lot. You may have noticed that when you came buy it said, you may have used too much of the CPU and seen a gray screen. That was due to some errors in the coding of the blog theme itself.

Secondly, while I did like the color scheme, this new look is more professional and sleek.

You may notice it is a little narrower as well. I am working on that as well. I have tested it on a 15 inch regular monitor as well as my 15.4 widescreen to make sure it fits. The site is optimally viewed with at least a 1024*768 screen resolution.

There are some things that need to be changed still as you may have noticed. The archives and about links at the top don’t work. Also I do need to change the header pictures. I am currently working on that as well.

I may make a few other changes to the style but nothing too extreme.

Thanks to Steve for helping me out this afternoon and pointing out some missing things. I will do my best to get everything back that was here before.

Thanks for reading. Your support is much appreciated.

The Cincinnati Reds have hired former Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants pilot Dusty Baker to their new manager. Baker was given a three-year contract to replace Pete Mackanin who took over when Jerry Narron was fired midway through the season.

The Reds are the first team to fill a managerial hole with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals still looking and the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees still unsure about what route they want to take.

Baker, who worked for ESPN this past season, last managed in 2006 with Chicago. In his fourth and final season in the Second City, the Cubs finished last in the NL Central. Lou Piniella replaced him this season and the Cubs won the division title.

Baker took over the Cubs in 2003 and had the club five outs from going to the World Series when Steve Bartman interfered with Moises Alou on foul ball down the left field line in Wrigley. That turned the tide and the Cubs lost that game and the next one to Florida who beat New York for the championship.

Baker followed up in 2004 with another winning season even though they didn’t make the playoffs. It was Chicago’s first back-to-back winning years in more than three decades. After two losing seasons Baker’s contract expired and Piniella was hired.

Prior to coming to the Cubs, Baker managed the San Francisco Giants for ten seasons and led them to the 2002 National League pennant. The Giants lost to the Anaheim Angels in seven games in the World Series. With the Giants, Baker won two division titles and got the World Series as a wild card. Baker won 103 games in his first season as Giants skipper in 1993 and won 90 or more games four other times and twice Baker led squads have won 89 games in a season.

In addition to managing Baker was a fine major league player having played 19 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s and he hit .278 with 242 HR’s and 1013 RBI.

His career managerial record is 1162-1041 for a .527 winning percentage.