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Poker Legend Phil Hellmuth had a rough day on Sunday. He was taking an UltimateBet.com sponsored NASCAR for a spin in the parking lot at the Rio when he crashed it into in a poll. Things would get worse for Hellmuth as he was eliminated from the World Series of Poker on day 1D (Monday) before the dinner break.

One of the baseball blogs I frequent on a regular basis is 38cliches.com, it’s a blog devoted to the downfall of the Red Sox radio broadcast. Downfall you say? Well 38cliches is a big fan of Jerry Trupiano who called Sox games for many seasons with Joe Castiglione. “Trup”, who was known for his “way back” calls on HR’s and even some near misses, didn’t have his contract renewed after the 2006 season. The Sox and WRKO replaced him with ESPN announcer Dave O’Brien, who in my opinion does a great job. BUT when “Obie” is gone due to his ESPN commitments he is replaced with former Red Sox and Padres PR guy, Glenn Geffner. Here is where the broadcast falls off.

Geffner you see is very amateurish in his calls of the game before him. He relies heavily on the media stats he used to once create and has no camaraderie at all with Joe. In fact in a lot of cases it seems as if Joe just tunes him out. Geffner, who is referred to in 38cliches.com as “3×5”, just cannot function in the broadcast booth and the broadcast suffers immensely in the days when O’Brien is absent.

Now that I’ve laid the ground work, let’s get on to the basis of this post. With three days off for the All-Star break , Castiglione has decided to take a little extra time off and will not be on the air when the Sox resume the season with a four game series against their AL East foe Toronto. Instead we be hearing O’Brien call the games with Geffner. Like I said personally I love “Obie” calling the games with Joe, Geffner I can do with out. It should be interesting to see how O’Brien meshes with Geffner if at all for four days. Geffner hasn’t learned anything from sitting next to Joe for half a season so I hold little hope he will learn something from Dave in four days.

I just hope Castiglione isn’t using this time off to contemplate retirement or leaving the post he has held for 20 years. It would surely be tragic if he decided to leave the broadcast because Double L (Sox CEO Larry Lucchino) continually force-feeds him Geffner and his 3×5 note cards on a regular basis.

During today’s Phillies-Rockies game in the 7th inning, it started to rain so the grounds crew came out to put the tarp on the field. Things were going smoothly until the wind came. I’ll let the video do the rest of the talking. Hit play to watch.

To me this is a classy move by the Phillies players and even the umpires. This is not a common site you see the in the majors. Players helping put the tarp on the field. To put themselves at risk to help out the grounds crew is an unbelievable thing to do.

I’ve been in that situation too many times. I’ll be honest I hated the tarp pull, mainly because for my last 3 or so years of working in Minor League Baseball in New Haven, I was the most hated guy in the front office. Why? Because unless the umpires called for the tarp, the general manager usually relied on me to make the decision of whether or not to put the tarp on the field. So that meant many of the front office people had to stay around after the game and wait for me and my two or three man crew to finish the field before the tarp pull. Or having to make that call on someone’s day off to get their butt to the park to help pull tarp. If you met anyone who has ever worked in the minors and they tell you they have pulled tarp before and enjoyed it, I call BS. It is the worst thing possible.

I have had that happen more than once to me what happened today in Colorado. I’ve seen people get dragged like the grounds crew member did or even pulled up in the air. I’ve seen people get hurt because the wind has taken the tarp and pulled their shoulders out. That is why I say it is very commendable what the Phillies players did. A lot of these guys have million dollar contracts but didn’t care today.

So as a former groundskeeper/grounds crew member, a big hats off to the Philadelphia Phillies players and the umpires for helping the members of the Rockies grounds crew.

The Boston Red Sox came into Detroit hoping to win at least 2 of 3 games but instead they were swept out of the Motor City by the Tigers. The Tigers got homeruns from Gary Sheffield, Marcus Thames and Carlos Guillen off of Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka enroute to a 6-5 victory in front of a packed house at Comerica Park.

After Nate Robertson set down the Bosox in order in the 1st inning, the Tigers pounced on Dice-K to grab an early lead. In just three pitches, Matsuzaka had gotten two outs as Curtis Granderson and Thames both flew out. The fourth pitch was a fastball left up in the zone that Sheffield planted into the seats for a 1-0 lead. Matsuzaka then walked Sean Casey but got Guillen to ground out ending the inning.

Robertson had some wildness in the 3rd inning. Jeff Bailey led off with a fly out. Robertson proceeded to walk Julio Lugo and Lugo stole second and went to third on a throwing error by catcher Mike Rabelo with Covelli Crisp at the plate. Crisp worked a walk and Robertson’s wildness continued as he walked Dustin Pedroia to load the bases for David Ortiz. Robertson grazed Big Papi with a pitch forcing in Lugo to tie the game at 1. This was the first time the Red Sox had scored in 14 â…” innings. Mike Lowell followed with a sacrifice fly bringing in Crisp to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. With the switch-hitting Jason Varitek at the plate, AL All-Star manager decided to walk him to face the lefty J.D. Drew. The move payed off as Robertson got Drew to ground out ending the inning.

The Tigers struck again in the 3rd inning. After Matsuzaka had gotten Granderson to fly out, Thames absolutely crushed a ball to centerfield for a solo homerun. The tale of the tape had it at 440 feet. The homerun seemed to unnerve the Japanese import as Sheffield roped a double and went to third on wild pitch with Casey at the plate. Casey brought home Sheff with a single making it 3-2 Tigers. Guillen then took a Matsuzaka fastball and put it into the first rows of seats in rightfield, giving the Tigers a 5-2 lead. Matsuzaka settled down after this getting Craig Monroe and Rabelo out, ending the 4-run 3rd inning for the Tigers.

Wily Mo Peña led off the 4th inning with a huge blast to left center that was a homerun until Granderson did his Spiderman impression, climbing the wall and taking the homerun away. When he came back down with the ball, it was snowconed in his glove. Bailey flew out to Granderson in a more conventional way for the second out. Lugo followed with a single, one of 3 hits on the day for him but Crisp grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the 4th.

The home squad would push another run across the plate in their half of the 4th inning. After Omar Infante lined out to start the inning, Brandon Inge reached on an infield single. Granderson got Inge to third on a double to deep right. Thames hit a grounder to Lugo at short who went home with the throw to get Inge at the plate. Sheff followed with a ground rule double to left scoring Granderson, making it 6-2 Tigers. Matsuzaka got Casey to strike out swinging ending the inning.

Matsuzaka pitched the 5th for the Sox and that would be the last inning he pitched due to a high pitch count. Matsuzaka threw 90 pitches, giving up 10 hits, 6 runs, 1 walk and just 4 strikeouts.

Robertson had an easy 5th and 6th inning but ran into some trouble in the 7th. Bailey led off with a homerun for his first hit in the big leagues. Lugo followed with a homerun of his own to make it 6-4 Tigers. Robertson regained his composure for a second and got Crisp to groundout. Pedroia followed with a grounder to Guillen at short that he booted for his 16th error of the season. Macay McBride came in for Robertson and uncorked a wild pitch moving Pedroia to second with Big Papi at the plate. McBride ended up walking Big Papi and was given the hook by Leyland. Jose Capellan came in for McBride and got Lowell and Varitek to fly out.

Mike Timlin had taken over for Dice-K in the 6th and pitched two outstanding innings. He faced just the minimum six batters.

Drew led off the 8th inning for the Red Sox with a walk off of Capellan. Wily Mo struck out for the 1st out of the inning bringing Bailey to the plate. But instead, Francona had a different idea as he brought Manny off the bench to pinch-hit. With Manny at the plate, Francona also wanted to put a hit-and-run on to keep themselves out of a double play. Capellan checked Drew at first but threw the ball away allowing Drew to get all the way to third base. Manny ended up striking out on a very questionable third strike call from the home plate umpire. Lugo’s third hit of the game, a double, brought in Drew with the final run for the Red Sox. Zach Miner relieved Capellan and got Coco to strikeout ending Boston’s chances in the inning.

Todd Jones had some trouble with the Sox in the 9th inning. Pedroia led off the inning with a single. Jones settled back down and got Big Papi to strikeout and Lowell to fly out. Varitek followed with a single and Pedroia went to third on an error by Monroe. Jones got Drew to foul out to Inge at third base for the final out of the game. It was Jones’ 22nd save of the season.

The unofficial 1st half of the season is over and I am sure this is not the way the Red Sox wanted it to end. However, they do have the best record in baseball right now. As a matter of fact, the top 5 records in MLB are from the American League. The Sox will need this break as Kevin Youkilis and everyone else could use it. For the 6 All-Stars, it’s off to San Francisco for three days.

The Red Sox return home to play the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night. Tim Wakefield will take the hill for the Sox and be opposed by Jays ace Roy Halladay.

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The ESPN Sports Nation Hummer poll today on the front page has a UConn feel to it. Phoenix Mercury All-Star and former UConn All-American Diana Taurasi is listed as a finalist for the “Hummer, Like Nothing Else” Award for the 2007 ESPY’s. She has an up hill climb as the only woman and is against Lebron James, LaDainian Tomlinson, Michael Phelps and Kendric Smith.

Vote for Diana. If someone has to win this award I’d love to see it be a former Husky.

Texas Gal at Ladies… presents her July 4th hotties. (For the female readers)

If your interested in seeing your team’s chances of making the MLB playoffs, check out this site.

Dan at Red Sox Monster brings us two different videos. One is a drunken Sox fan doing an Anthony Hopkins impression. And the second is Bohemian Soxsody.

Jason from My Baseball Bias is only 60% addicted to blogging. I am 90% addicted to it.

With Leather brings us a video about drinking and dunking.

Winning the Turnover Battle has an interview with Alice (the Snorg girl).

Mondesi’s House has look at Pittsburgh Pirates II: The Movie.

This video from Awful Announcing is an oldie but a goodie.

Larry Brown Sports found some information that some Giants fan rigged the voting for Barry Bonds to get into the All-Star Game.

Yankees Chick is not a big fan of the All-Star Game.

Sooze from Babes Love Baseball is in love with Justin Morneau.

I know y’all are expecting a video from Fitzy at the Townie News. Well folks, he didn’t have one posted as he is working on an extra large Sox review for the first half. He did however detail his visit to Fenway on July 4th.

It’s official. Hideki “Darkman” Okajima will be joining his 5 Red Sox teammates in San Francisco next week for the All-Star Game as the fans have selected him as the AL representative in the final vote. Okajima received 4.3 million votes in winning. Chris Young of the Padres won the NL voting.

Great job on the voting Red Sox Nation and Red Sox International.

The Russian city of Sochi was awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics by the International Olympic Committee today in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Sochi beat out PyeongChang, South Korea and Salzbur, Austria for the right to host the Winter Games. PyeongChang had been the favorite to win. Salzbur had been knocked out in the first round of secret balloting.

This will be the first time in the history of the Olympics that Russia has hosted a Winter Olympics. Russia has won the most winter medals in Olympic history with over 600 medals.

Sochi is a Russian resort city on the Black Sea located in southern Russia. Some events will take place in the Caucasus Mountain Range. Sochi will also build 4 ice venues as well as part of $12 billion infrastructure that will be funded by the Russian Government.

Sochi bid leader Dmitry Chernyshenko told Reuters: “We are happy and satisfied and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the IOC.”

Now Sochi must go from an bidding to organizing committee and get the construction and planning going for the Games.

On a beautiful July 4th matinée game at Fenway, it was Mike Lowell’s 2-run homer and some solid hitting from the bench players that led to a 7-5 win over the slumping Devil Rays. The loss was the D’Rays 10th consecutive. Wakefield went 6â…“ innings for his 9th win. Jonathan Papelbon worked the 9th inning for his 20th save. Lowell’s homerun was one of his 2 hits on the day to go along with 2 RBI.

The local nine waisted no time getting a run on the scoreboard. Coco Crisp led off with a triple down the right field line off of Rays starter Edwin Jackson. One of the aforementioned bench players or as they like to be known, “I-75 Crew”, Alex Cora, brought in Crisp with a perfectly executed safety squeeze. Big Papi continued his slumping ways with a strikeout. J.D. Drew, batting in the 4th spot with Manny off today, roped a double to deep center but Mike Lowell was unable to bring him in as he lined out to Carlos Peña at first.

After working out of a mini-jam in the 1st inning, Wakefield served up a gopher ball with 2 outs in the second. After getting Delmon Young and Ty Wigginton to fly out, Raul “I am not your ” Casanova took a Wakefield knuckler the opposite way into the Green Monster seats to tie the game at 1.

In the 3rd inning, Wakefield allowed a single to Carl Crawford, his first of three hits. Crawford would go to second on wild pitch from Wake but would go no further as Brendan Harris would foul out, Peña would walk and Greg Norton struck out swinging. He had an easier 4th inning as he set the D’Rays down in order.

Jackson had settled down and worked a perfect 2nd and 3rd innings. However in the 4th inning, he ran into a bit of trouble. Big Papi led off with a single. Drew proceeded to strikeout and Lowell followed that with a single, moving Papi to second base. Jackson would get Eric Hinske to strikeout bringing “the Kid”, Jacoby Ellsbury, to the plate. Ellsbury got his first career RBI when he hit a double to deep center bringing in Papi, making it 2-1 Sox. Lowell would go to third on the play. Wake’s personal catcher, Doug Mirabelli followed the “Kid’s” double with a 2-run single of his own, giving the Sox a 4-1 lead. Julio Lugo, 0-3 on the day, flew out ending the inning.

The Boys from Beantown got to Jackson for 3 more runs in the 5th inning. Coco led off with a fly out. Cora lined a double to rightfield for his second extra base hit of the game. Papi flew out for the second out. The Sox then had some fun with two outs. Cora moved to third on a Jackson wild pitch and came around to score when Drew smacked a double to left. Lowell put a Jackson offering into the Green Monster seats for a 2-run homer and a commanding 7-1 lead for the Red Sox.

Wake had a relatively easy 5th and 6th innings, allowing just a single to Crawford. However in the 7th inning, the seams came unglued. Wigginton and Casanova started the 7th off with singles. Wake would get Dustan Mohr to strikeout. Akinori Iwamura then hit a single loading up the bases for the D’Rays and chasing Wake from the game. Javier Lopez came into face the lefty Crawford and was rudely met with a double from Crawford. The double brought in Wigginton and Casanova, cutting the Sox lead to 7-3. Lopez got Harris to strikeout. C. Peña hit a 2-run single plating both Iwamura and Crawford, making it 7-5 Sox. 3 of the 4 runs scored were charged to Wakefield. Jonny Gomes came into pinch-hit for Greg Norton and Manny Delcarmen would relieve Lopez. Delcarmen got Gomes to strikeout looking on a fastball.

Wake went 6â…“ innings, allowing 7 hits, 4 runs, and 2 walks. He struck out 2 on 90 pitches.

Neither team could muster up any offense the rest of the game as both bullpens remained strong. Delcarmen had a good 8th inning and looks like he’s on his way to being the righty setup man with his velocity and command. Papelbon worked a 1-2-3 9th inning for his 20th save in 21 chances.

The local nine will go for the sweep of the D’Rays tomorrow night as Josh Beckett takes the hill for a chance at his 12th win. Gametime is 7:05 PM and the game will be broadcast locally on NESN.

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