Super sexy Texy over at Center Field has good article about Barry Bonds questioning a fan’s honesty. She also writes over at Ladies…. and tells you what music her and the ladies would have playing when they came to the plate.

Deadspin has a funny video about old people sex from the British Open.

Dan from Red Sox Monster has a great eye for some funny videos. Check out this one about Baby Schilling and another about some crazy Braves fans.

One of my favorite sites, Awful Announcing, was a subject on ESPN Radio with Scott Van Pelt. Will from Deadspin was also interview right after.

The succulent Sooze is helping out at new blog, Epic Carnival, and has a pretty funny video about Barry Bonds. She also has a funny look at a headline from Yahoo Sports on her main site, Babes Love Baseball.

Richie Rich from Home Run Derby didn’t know Peter from Family Guy was an Orioles fan. He is also doing a best Mascot contest from Major League Baseball.

Sam from MetsSox has a look at the impact that Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling will have when they return from the DL.

The Feed has a look at baseball’s unwritten rules.

Yankees Chick shares her on again/off again love for Johnny Demon.

J.D. from SporTech Matter has an interesting fact from Josh Willingham about crapping your pants.

And now boys and girls, your favorite part and mine (at least I hope it’s your’s too), Fitzy from the Townie News has his latest Wicked Pissah webcast. As always, it is NSFW.

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USA Basketball Press Release:

Relying on a balanced scoring attack that saw five American womens score in double digits, the USA Basketball women’s team (1-0) opened its Pan American Games competition Friday afternoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a dominating 95-41 victory over Colombia (0-1).

Played at Rio Multipurpose Arena in front of a largely pro-Colombian crowd, the USA dominated from the start. Dashing out to a 17-4 advantage five minutes into the contest, the U.S. owned a commanding 18 point advantage, 32-14, after the first quarter.

The U.S. continued to roll in the second quarter and extended its lead to a 40 point advantage while taking a 63-23 lead to the locker room at the end of the second quarter.

In charge 78-35 after 30 minutes, Team USA posted its largest advantage – 55 points – in the fourth quarter of the contest and finally settle for the 95-41 victory. out-rebounded Colombia 50 to 27.

The USA shot 52.7 percent in the contest, hitting 39-of-74 field goals, including 11-of-21 3-pointers (.524). Forty-two of the team’s 95 points were scored in the paint and 19 recorded off of turnovers.

Mattee Ajavon (Rutgers / Newark, N.J.) paced the USA scoring with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, Tasha Humphrey (Georgia / Gainsville, Ga.) added 14 points and seven rebounds, Angel McCoughtry (Louisville / Baltimore, Md.) accounted for 12 points, while Charde’ Houston (Connecticut / San Diego, Calif.) recorded a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds and Candace Wiggins (Stanford / San Diego, Calif.), and also posted 10 points. Eleven of the 12 team members scored at least one field goal in the contest, including nine players with five-or-more points.

Alexis Hornbuckle (Tennessee / Charleston, W.Va.) led the squad with four assists and Jayne Appel (Stanford / Pleasant Hill, Calif.) led the team with four blocked shots.

“I think it was a great way for us to come out and start the Pan American Games,” said Humphrey. “I think everybody played well. We really played well as a team offensively and defensively.”

USA head coach Dawn Staley was likewise pleased with her team’s energy and overall performance. “We wanted to get up the floor as much as possible and play in transition and I thought we did that well,” said Staley. “I thought we shared the ball extremely well amongst each other and we played the type of defense that is our staple. We like to pressure the basketball and force you out of what you want to do and I thought our team did that extremely well.”

The United States is fielding the youngest squad in the eight-team tournament pool with an average age of 20.5 years. All 12 players on the American squad are 21 or under. Appel is the youngest player on the team at age 19 and Hornbuckle, the elder stateswoman on the team, will be the first to turn 22 on October 16.

Reflecting on their upcoming game against Argentina, Ajavon added, “From what I hear, they’re [Argentina] a tough team,” said the 21-year-old from Rutgers University. “I’m sure every team here has come to win the gold medal. We’re open-minded and we just want to play hard.”

“We don’t know a whole lot about Argentina. We’re going to scout the game tonight and we’ll be very well prepared for Argentina and the types of things they’ll likely do,” Staley added.

The USA squad will take on Argentina Saturday evening, July 21, at 7:45 p.m. (local time).

Boxscore

Note: Mel Thomas had 7 points off the bench in 17 minutes.

John Mayer made the mistake of wearing a Yankees hat into the heart of Red Sox Nation.

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Barry Bonds has moved even closer to Hank Aaron’s record of 755 homeruns today as he went 3 for 3, with 2 homeruns and 6 RBI. He had been mired in a 0 for 21 slump. With his two homeruns, he now stands at 753 as they head to Milwaukee for three games before returning to San Francisco next week.

The rules for the media in baseball are pretty simple. You can not get autographs from players. It even says so on signs in the clubhouses and dugouts.

“There shall be no seeking of autographs, no touching or removing of equipment or personal items from lockers, and no sampling of players food spreads. Any member of the media who violates these regulations will lose his or her accreditation.”

A Japanese baseball writer had his credentials revoked from the BBWAA after he had Roger Clemens sign a photograph. The writer had given Clemens some photographs from the game which he won his 350th game, thinking Clemens would like the photos.

The writer, Hiroki Homma, didn’t even know he broken the rules and apologized immediately. He did have his season long media pass revoked by the Yankees as well. The Yankees did understand that he didn’t do this on purpose and have been issuing him daily game passes.

With a lot more Japanese reporters now because of the increasing number of Japanese players, they are having to learn a new set of clubhouse etiquette. In Japan, you might see reporters going out to dinner with a player or spending time with a player when the team is on the road. That definitely doesn’t happen here.

It was nice of the Yankees though to understand Homma made an honest mistake. Homma can reapply for his BBWAA credentials next year.

I am sure when the Red Sox saw the Kansas City Royals on the schedule, they thought they would maybe get a sweep, or at least take 2 out of 3 games. Well this was not the case as the Royals were able to get to Julian Tavarez for six runs and beat the Red Sox 6-5 on this balmy Wednesday night to take the series 2 games to 1. The Sox were able to get to Royals starter Odalis Perez for 5 runs but the Royals bullpen held off the Sox. The young bats of Alex Gordon and Billy Butler both had 2 hits and 2 RBI for the Royals while Dustin Pedroia had 3 hits for the Sox.It was a pitcher’s duel sort of in the first three innings. Yo-Yo only allowed 1 hit while Perez allowed 3 hits, including 2 to Pedroia.

The Royals got on the scoreboard first at the Fens in the 4th. Mark Grudzielanek led off the inning with a single off of Yo-Yo and went to second on a Mark Teahen single. Butler moved the runners over a base each with a groundout to Kevin Youkilis at first. Ross Gload brought in Grudzielanek with a sacrifice fly to right field for the first run of the game. Gordon followed with a single bringing Teahen to give the Royals a 2-0 lead. Emil Brown then singled with Gordon moving to second. Yo-Yo got out of the inning by getting Jason Smith to fly out to Manny in left.

The local nine got the runs back and then some in their half of the 4th. Manny led off with a single and Youk worked a walk off of Perez. Lowell followed with a single to load up the bases for Jason Varitek. Varitek brought in the first run on a fielder’s choice with Manny scoring and Lowell out at second. Perez then walked Coco Crisp to reload the bases. The uber-hot Julio Lugo extended his hitting streak to 8 games with a two-run double giving the Red Sox a 3-2 lead. J.D. Drew brought in the fourth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly as Coco scored easily from third. Pedroia ended the inning with a ground out to third on a very close call at first base.

Tavarez imploded in the 5th inning as the Royals regained their 2-run lead. Yo-Yo got the first out of the inning as he got Jason LaRue to ground out to Lowell at third. David DeJesus then reached as he laid down a perfect bunt. Grudzielanek followed with a double to deep leftfield that scored DeJesus all the way from first base, cutting the lead to 4-3. Lowell then committed his 14th error of the season on a Teahen groundball. Yo-Yo then left a slider up in the zone that Butler crushed for a 2-run double giving the Royals the lead back at 5-4. Butler moved over to third on a Gload ground out to second. Butler came around to score on Gordon’s second RBI single of the night, making it 6-4 Royals. That last run chased Yo-Yo from the game as Mike Timlin came into the game. With Brown at the plate, Gordon was thrown out stealing by Varitek ending the inning.

Tavarez went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 9 hits, and 6 runs (4 earned). He didn’t walk anybody and struck out 3 Royals.

Manny got the last run the Red Sox would score in their half of the 5th inning. After Perez got Big Papi out to lead off the inning, Manny followed with a solo homer into the Monster seats. This cut the Royals lead to one at 6-5. Perez finished off the 5th by getting Youk and Lowell on ground ball outs.

Timlin was outstanding again he retired all 6 batters he faced tonight. Former Red Sox pitcher David Riske came in and got the Sox in order in the 6th inning and gave way to Jimmy Gobble in the 7th.

Gobble sandwiched two outs around a Pedroia single before giving way Joakim Soria. Soria came in and walked Manny but got Youk to ground out to second on a great diving stop by Grudzielanek.

Manny Delcarmen pitched the 8th inning and walked Butler to lead off the inning. Esteban German came into run and was retired on a strike’em-throw’em out double play with Gload at the plate. Delcarmen got Gordon to strikeout to end the inning.

The Sox had a chance in the 8th inning. After Soria got the first two outs of the inning, Crisp hit a triple to deep right that missed being a homerun by about a foot and a half. Lugo was unable to to bring Crisp home as he flew out to center.

Jonathan Papelbon came in and worked a 1-2-3 9th inning, getting 2 of 3 via the strikeout. Octavio Dotel came on for the Royals in the 9th and got the first two outs of the inning. Big Papi hit a single off of Dotel that might have been caught had the Royals not been playing deep. Alex Cora came into run for Big Papi setting the stage for Manny. Manny failed to deliver as he popped out to second, giving Dotel a save and the Royals a win and the series.

With the Red Sox losing and the Yankees winning tonight, the lead in the AL East is now down to 7 games. The Sox now turn their hopes to their other Japanese sensation, Daisuke Matuszaka, as he gets the ball against the Chicago White Sox tomorrow night. The White Sox are in town for a 4-game set. The loss also drops the Red Sox record to 3-4 on this 11-game homestand.

Boxscore

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[Hat tip to Sooze for the link]

With their 10-2 loss to the Cardinals on Sunday night, the Philadelphia Phillies became the first American professional sports team to lose 10,000 games.

On a wild and windy day at the Fens, it was a rookie who helped get the Jays past the Red Sox 2-1. That rookie was Jesse Litsch who threw 6 2/3 innings of 1 run ball. Josh Beckett didn’t throw that bad at all either. It was one small bad inning when the Blue Jays were able to tack on 2 runs to the scoreboard. The Sox managed 11 hits in the game but were unable to capitalize off the Jays’ rookie and bullpen. The wind today played havoc with a lot of balls to the outfield as it was gusting up to 25 mph at times while blowing steady at 15-20 mph.

The local nine tried to get a run on the board in the 1st inning with two outs but were unable to do so. After Coco Crisp and Alex Cora grounded out to Royce Clayton at shortstop, David Ortiz laced a single to center off of Litsch. Manny Ramirez followed with a single, moving Big Papi over to third base. Litsch got Kevin Youkilis to fly out ending the threat.

After working a 1-2-3 1st inning in which Manny made an acrobatic catch, Beckett got himself into some trouble in the 2nd after getting the first two outs of the inning. Matt Stairs began the inning with a strikeout and Troy Glaus flied out to rightfield. Lyle Overbay, who was 4 for 17 in his career against Beckett then hit a double off the garage door in center. Aaron Hill brought in Overbay with a double of his own, making it 1-0 Blue Jays. Clayton, making his first appearance of the series, brought in Hill with a single giving the Jays a 2-1 lead. Beckett rebounded to get Jason Phillips on a strikeout but not before the damage was done.

In the 3rd inning, the Sox had another chance to score but were unable to plate anyone. Julio Lugo led off with a single and went to second on a Crisp single. Cora then tried to advance the runners with a bunt but a quick and nimble Litsch got off the mound quickly and was able to throw out Lugo at third base. Litsch then got Big Papi to ground into a 1-6-3 inning-ending double play.

Fast forwarding to the 6th inning, the Bosox were finally able to get a run on the board. Cora led off the inning with a double and came around to score on a Big Papi double, cutting the Blue Jays lead to 2-1. Litsch then got Manny to pop out to second but followed that with a walk to Youk. Lowell then fouled out to Phillips behind the plate, who had to make an acrobatic catch of his own as the wind had some fun with the ball. Eric Hinske then hit a single but Alex Rios unleashed a perfect throw to the plate to nail Big Papi for the third out of the inning.

Going back to the 6th inning, Beckett had retired six batters in a row before Glaus hit a single to left with two outs in the 8th inning. Beckett then walked Overbay but on his 118th pitch of the afternoon, he got Hill to fly out to rightfield.

Beckett went 8 innings, scattering 7 hits and giving up 2 runs. He walked 2 and struck out 8 Blue Jays on the day.

In the final 3 innings, the Sox could manage only 2 hits off the Toronto bullpen. Coco singled in the 7th and Manny in the 8th but they weren’t able to anything else. Accardo worked a perfect nineth for his second save of the series.

Kason Gabbard looks to continue his dominance at Fenway tomorrow night as the Kansas City Royals come to town for a 3-game set. Gametime is 7:05 PM.

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