Mariano Rivera’s casual 1992 card dominated the competition in the Pitchers Duel Round of the Rookie Card Playoffs with 42% of the votes. Was it his chilled-out lean and pressed dockers? Whatever it was, he moves onto the Final Round.

Curt Schilling’s mustache came in second with 29%, John Smoltz somehow made third place with 13%, Trevor Hoffman managed only 10% of the tallies and poor old Tom Glavine accumulated just 6%.

This brings us straight to the Fan Favorites Round. So, look around and choose the current player’s card you like best. Once again, your favoritism may be based on whatever floats your boat.

It could be the look on Torii Hunter’s face or that Vlad is about as slim as an iPod. Do you think Ji-
Jim Thome knew of the self-cleaning oven back then? And I’m pretty sure the only thing that could possibly make Joe Mauer any dorkier would be some braces with headgear. Mike Piazza’s card… totally speaks for itself.

You can vote below or you can head over to see my lovely and talented co-host, Sooze, over at Babes Love Baseball.

In front of another packed house at Fenway Park Chase Field, Randy Johnson struck out 9 Red Sox batters in out-dueling his counterpart from Japan as the Diamondbacks were able to pull out a 5-1 victory. The win for the Diamondbacks helped them avoid being swept by the boys from Beantown.

It was a tough trip for the Sox as they went 3-4 on the 7 game trip, including losing 3 in a row to the A’s to start the trip.

The game was close (2-1) until the 8th inning when the normally dependable Red Sox bullpen imploded.

Brendan Donnelly gave up a single to Conor Jackson to lead off the inning. Terry Francona then made the call to the bullpen for Javier Lopez, who came into face a lefty, Stephen Drew. Drew drew a walk from Lopez and Francona once again made a visit to the mound. He decided to bring in Mike Timlin, who was activated from the DL on Saturday.

Timlin, in words that are safe to read, sucked. Carlos Quentin layed down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Timlin decided to throw like a pansy and threw the ball over Kevin Youkilis’ head, allowing both Jackson and Drew to score, making it 4-1 D’backs. Quentin got all the way to third on the error by Timlin. Quentin would come around to score on a Chris Young single, providing the final margin of victory.

The game started out as a battle of the strikeouts. Through the first three innings, the Big Unit struck out 6 Red Sox batters while Dice-K struck out 3 D’backs.

The Sox finally got to Johnson for their only run in the 4th inning. Manny drew a lead off walk and came around to score on a Mike Lowell double. Johnson did strike out two more Sox batters bring his strikeout total to 8 in just 4 innings of work.

Arizona managed a run in their half of the 4th even though Dice-K struck out 3 batters in the inning. Orlando Hudson drew a lead-off walk and Chad Tracy, 3 strikeouts on the day, was retired via the strikeout. Before Jackson drew a walk, Hudson stole second base. Drew then hit a single, bringing in Hudson to tie the game at 1. Quentin then grounded a ball to Lowell at third base, which he booted for his 11th error of the season. Lowell’s error loaded up the bases for Chris Synder. Dice-K got out of further trouble by getting Synder and Johnson to strikeout.

In the 6th, the D’backs would score the eventual game winning run. Jackson led off the inning with a walk. After Drew flied out to Manny in left, Quentin smashed a double to deep center, scoring Jackson and giving the D’backs a 2-1 lead.

Dice-K pitched very well for the Sox and kept the Red Sox in the game. Unfortunately for him, his teammates only scraped together 4 hits off of Johnson and 6 total in the game.

Dice-K’s line: 6 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks and 9 strikeouts. Big Unit’s line: 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 3 walks and 9 strikeouts.

I guess the biggest question is did the Red Sox make the right decision in letting J.C. Romero go when they activated Timlin? They could have sent down Lopez to see how Timlin would do. I was surprised to see Timlin in a close game but then again, I am not the manager.

The Sox are off on Monday and return home to host the Colorado Rockies for a 3 game set. Tim Wakefield takes the hill for the Sox as they look to reestablish their lead in the AL East. It is now down to 9.5 games, as the Yanks have won their last 6 ballgames.

Steve sent this in to me to add.

During today’s game WRKO’s Joe Castiglione said of Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Brynes is that “he plays the game like his hair is on fire”. I think the understated Glenn Geffner nodded in agreement.

All I have to say this is pretty darn funny. I am sure Curt Schilling is enjoying this one immensely.

Put this game on your blog Create your own More games

Hat tip to Dan over at Red Sox Monster for the find.

Are you shocked.? Look at the picture below. The Red Sox won the game 4-3 in 10 innings but somehow Mike Lowell drove in Big Papi in the 11th inning.

Game story to follow shortly.

As you may or may not have heard, the Tennessee Volunteers have dropped the UCONN women from their basketball schedule. I know this comes as a shock to everyone here in Huskyland as well as in Knoxville.

Two years ago, Pat Summitt had this to say about the rivalry:

“This is not always been, in my opinion, a rivalry that’s healthy and enjoyable,” she said. “And it’s not about the wins and losses. In the big picture, it’s been good for, in my opinion, both programs and the game. That’s why I’ve decided to continue it from our side.”

Back in January, Summitt added this:

“Whether you are playing at Tennessee or here in Hartford, it is an environment that is the biggest stage in women?s basketball in the regular season,” Summitt said. “It is exciting, and when you play against an opponent like Connecticut, you learn a lot because they are obviously very talented, very well coached.

The Tennessee sports information director said that they can’t comment on the situation until late July per the SEC. Tennessee women’s athletic director Joan Cronin released this statement:

“Tennessee has elected not to renew its series with the University of Connecticut. The Lady Vol basketball team will continue to enjoy its rivalry games with teams from the Big East, the ACC, the Big 12, the Pac-10 and other conferences. Year in and year out, we pride ourselves on the strength of schedule we play and our RPI.”

Former UCONN women’s great and current ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo weighed in as well.

“No matter who they schedule to fill that spot, it’s not going to matter,”

“I’m tremendously disappointed, as somebody who was part of the start of it, as a fan, as someone who’s had a chance to cover it. It’s bad for the game that it’s not being played anymore. It’s the one game casual sports fans were attracted to. It’s a shame all the way around. I don’t know what the reasons are, but whatever they are, they’re not good ones.”

“I can’t imagine it’s for financial reasons. If it’s for personal reasons on either side, that’s just bad, and it’s bad for the game.”

Geno Auriemma hasn’t commented publicly on the situation nor has Pat Summitt. I’d have to guess that Geno isn’t probably thrilled with this. ESPN isn’t happy either. They just got back the rights to the game from CBS for this season.

“We’re disappointed,” ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said. “It’s been an annual highlight, a great thing for the sport.”

Jeff Jacobs has an excellent column about this over at the Hartford Courant.

[Information from the Hartford Courant, New Haven Register, and Knoxville News was used in this post. No animals were harmed either.]

Amalie Benjamin from Extra Bases overheard a strange interview in the Oakland clubhouse after the game on Thursday.

Sooze and Lizzy from the ever popular Babes Love Baseball went under the bleachers with Carlos Zambrano.

Jason over at My Baseball Bias stayed up late Thursday night and wrote about some great fights in boxing.

SPORTSByBROOKS wants to be like Elton Brand.

J.D. from SporTech Matter talks about Dwayne Wade being a good guy on and off the court.

Will over at Deadspin stayed up for 24 hrs researching his new book.

Anthony from the Oriole Post has a few ideas of how the Orioles can make things better for the fans.

Cork over at Rays Index talks about David Price and years of cheesy headlines.

Jeff from Sox and Pinstripes says it’s time for the Red Sox to pull the plug on Joel Piñero.

Yankees Chick says it’s a good thing the Giambino has a lot of free time.

With Leather has some updates on Amanda Beard and her Playboy spread.

And your favorite part of the salute and mine.

Fitzy from the Townie News brings you his weekly “Wicked Pissah” webcast. He filmed this before Schilling’s gem on Thursday. As always, the video is NSFW.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-nzKXYZNY[/youtube]

Julio Lugo had a lead-off homerun to start the game and J.D. Drew added 2 homeruns and 7 rbi’s in support of Josh Beckett, as the Sox beat the Diamondbacks 10-3 on Friday night. It was a complete turnaround from the Oakland series as the bats came alive.

For Drew you have to wonder if it was facing National League pitching again or just the friendly face of his younger brother, Stephen, who is the shortstop for the Diamondbacks. Whatever it was, I hope this is the start of him breaking out of his slump. He was 3 for 5 tonight, with the two home runs. He started out the game with 17 rbi and finished the night up at 24 rbi.

Even though Lugo had just the one hit, it was the lead-off homerun, off of Doug Davis, which got the runs started for the Sox the hot Arizona night. Manny almost added a homerun of his own when he crushed a ball that went foul. He was retired via the strikeout.

Beckett cruised through the first two innings, retiring 3 of the 6 batters he faced on strikeouts.

The Red Sox struck for 3 runs in the 3rd inning when Drew hit the first of his two homeruns. Lugo led off the inning with a walk. Oddly, Davis threw a pitch behind him. I’m not sure as to why because Lugo didn’t showboat or watch the homerun. Davis then retired Dustin Pedroia and Big Papi. Manny followed the outs with a single and came around to score when Drew crushed the homerun 414 feet (wall was 413 feet away). The HR gave the Sox a 4-0 lead. It was his first homerun since April 22nd.

Arizona managed to get a run back in their half of the 3rd inning. Alberto Callaspo led off with a single and went to second on a Chris Synder single. Julio Lugo ended up tagging out Callaspo at second when he never threw the ball back to Beckett and Callaspo never called time when he got up to dust himself off. Davis sacrificed Synder to second and he came around on an Eric Byrnes single, cutting the deficit to 3 runs at 4-1.

The Red Sox got that run right back in the 4th for Beckett. After Beckett and Lugo made the first two outs of the inning, Pedroia drew a walk and went to second on a Big Papi single. Manny drove in Pedroia with a single giving the Red Sox their 4 run lead back.

Beckett was still cruising right along as he set down all nine batters he faced in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings, 3 via the strikeout again.

The Sox gave Beckett an 8 run cushion to work with after scoring 4 runs in the 6th inning. After a Lugo groundout, Pedroia reached on an infield single. Big Papi got Pedroia to third base on a double to right. Pedroia scored on a bad throw from the right fielder Byrnes. Manny got hit by a Edgar Gonzalez fastball in the wrist. He was ok and remained in the game at the time. He was replaced by Eric Hinske in the 7th inning. Drew brought them both home with his second 3 run homer of the game, making it 9-1.

Arizona managed a run of their own in the 7th inning. Orlando Hudson led off with a double and went to third on a Conor Jackson groundout. Stephen Drew grounded into a fielder’s choice to Beckett that scored Hudson when Jason Varitek dropped the ball in a rundown with Hudson.

Drew added his 7th rbi of the game when he drove in Hinske with a double. Hinske had gotten on with 2 outs on a single. This made the score 10-2.

Beckett allowed a homerun to pinch-hitter Miguel Montero in the 8th for the final run of the game. Beckett was outstanding again as he went 8 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 runs (2 earned) and he struck out 8 Diamondbacks on an economical 93 pitches. The win was his 9th of the season. The last Red Sox pitcher to win his first nine decisions was some guy named Roger Clemens. Jose Contreras was the last pitcher in MLB to win his first nine decisions.

Julian Tavarez looks to keep the ship floating in the right direction as he takes the hill against Micah Owings on Saturday night. Mike Timlin is set to return from the DL and a corresponding roster move has to be made.

UCONN’s very own Lawrence Day, a senior catcher for the Huskies, is your Mister Irrelevant for the MLB draft. He was selected with the 1,453 pick in the 50th round by the New York Yankees.

You can see more about Day over at UConnHuskies.com

Also, UCONN pitcher, Jim Tarsi was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 12th round.

I was just over at UConnHuskies.com and saw this. I can’t believe that the Pat Summitt doesn’t want to play us anymore. Is she scared because of the incoming recruiting class or something. I am just shocked. Maybe the players are a little happier about this.

“After sending a contract signed by the University of Connecticut to the University of Tennessee earlier this year for the next two games of our women’s basketball series (2007-08 and 2008-09), we were notified by their athletic administration that the Tennessee women’s basketball program would not be signing this contract and has made the decision to terminate the series between our institutions.

We are disappointed for UConn fans, Tennessee fans and women’s basketball fans in general who look forward to this annual event featuring the greatest women’s basketball rivalry in the nation, as recently selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).

We are pleased to maintain our outstanding relationship with the Southeastern Conference as we will be playing two of their member institutions during each of the next two seasons. We have finalized a two-game extension with LSU, a 2007 NCAA Final Four participant. In addition, earlier this year we signed a two-year contract with South Carolina.”

Hopefully, there will be more about this in the morning but Jim Calhoun, UCONN’s Men’s Basketball Coach said this on a TV broadcast here in Connecticut tonight.

“Tennessee and UConn clearly, clearly are the best two coaches in women’s college basketball and that is the best game every single year,” he said. “To give it up over some, I’m sure, small detail, is ridiculous. In my opinion, the game should be played every year.”

In another heated Rookie Card Playoffs race, Manny Ramirez’s New Edition 1992 card pulled through in the Slugger Round with 44% of the votes.

He edged out Ken Griffey, Jr. with 37% and Cool Hand Konerko, who accumulated 13% of the votes. Frank Thomas’ reach-around managed just 5% while Magglio Ordonez’s lack of locks accumulated only 3% of the tallies.

This brings us to the sixth set of Round One, the Pitcher’s Duel. The winning card will move onto the final Round, where only one will emerge the glorious victor: the Rookie Card Champion of the World.

Check out these hurlers’ first years in the big leagues and choose your favorite. Once again, you may base your favoritism on absolutely anything.

Maybe the bewildered look on Tom Glavine’s face has you chuckling and we know you love the smug mug on Curt Schilling (some things never change!) How about the relaxed lean of Mariano Rivera or those legs on The Hoff?! And some of us may feel nostalgic when looking at the last future Hall Of Famer, John Smoltz.

Vote for your favorite current player’s rookie card.

You can vote here or head over to see my beautiful and talented co-host, Sooze, at Babes Love Baseball to vote.