I may not be a Yankees fan but I am a fan of baseball and it’s history. With that being said, a big congratulations goes out to Joe Torre on his 2000th win as a manager. He is only the 10th manager to win 2000 games in their careers. He joins Connie Mack, John McGraw, Tony LaRussa, Sparky Anderson, Bucky Harris, Joe McCarthy, Bobby Cox, Walt Alston, and Leo Durocher in the exclusive club.

I dare anyone to go to a McDonald’s or any fast food place and try this. If your not laughing at the end of this, I question your sense of humor.

[myspace]http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1495838652[/myspace]

Hat tip to my West Haven friend Christa (She’s a Mets fan so she’s cool).

Here’s a video making it’s way around the blogosphere today involving Julian Tavarez and some Yankees fans.

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

Hat tip to Red Sox Monster for the find.

And that’s another 5-4-3 double play for the Red Sox. That was a familiar sound out of Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy’s mouths on Wednesday night as the Red Sox suffered their 4th straight defeat, losing to Oakland 3-2.

Tim Wakefield pitched well on Wednesday night but one bad inning did him in. That seems to be a recurring theme this season.

The A’s got to Wake for 3 runs in the 4th inning. Nick Swisher led off the inning, grounding out to Youk at first. Wake then gave up a double to the red-hot Eric Chavez. Before Dan Johnson grounded out, Chavez went to third on a passed ball by Doug Mirabelli. With two outs now, Shannon Stewart drew a walk and Jack Cust ripped a double, scoring Chavez. Bobby Crosby followed that with a single that scored both Stewart and Cust, giving them a 3-0 lead.

That’s all the runs the A’s would manage.

Meanwhile, the Sox had their chances numerous times.

With two outs in the first, David Ortiz and Manny both drew walks. Kevin Youkilis stranded them on base when he struck out swinging.

The second inning brought the first of three 5-4-3 double plays. Mike Lowell led off a groundout. Wily Mo Peña reached on an infield single and Mirabell promptly grounded into the double play.

More of the same in the 4th inning. Big Papi led off with a strikeout. Manny stayed hot with a single, his first of two hits on the night. Youk singled, advancing Manny to second base. Lowell then grounded into the second 5-4-3 double play, ending another threat.

Guess what happened in the 5th inning? The last of the 5-4-3 double plays. Wily Mo led off with a strikeout. Mirabelli singled and Coco grounded into the double play.

The Sox finally struck for 2 runs in the 7th inning. Manny led off with a double and scored on Youk triple, cutting the deficit to 3-1. Lowell struck out and Wily Mo brought in Youk with a groundout to second, making it 3-2. Mirabelli then singled but Coco hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

The Sox managed a hit in the 8th and a walk in the 9th, but that was it. The 8th inning probably brought the most fireworks when Terry Francona decided he didn’t like a high strike call on Dustin Pedroia from home plate umpire Dan Lasagna Iassogna. Tito got into his face and let him have it. That’s the first time, I’ve ever seen him that fired up.

Wake pitched really well tonight compared to his previous 4 starts. He went 6 2/3 innings, gave up 3 runs, walked 2 and struck out 8.

Curt Schilling takes the mound for the Sox on Thursday as he looks to put this 4 game losing streak to bed. He will be opposed by Joe Blanton.

I came across this last night and I found it highly entertaining. Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are doing a duel blog. Here is the description from the blog.

Throughout the 2007 WNBA season, these two longtime friends, teammates, roommates, competitors and fellow fun-loving troublemakers will exchange correspondence in this “Buddy Blog.” They will talk about anything and everything that comes to mind, all the while keeping each other up on how the other is doing in their travels and the march towards the Playoffs. And thanks to either kindness or dumbness, they have decided to share their letters with the world…

So if you’re a UCONN fan, Taurasi or Bird fan or just a WNBA fan in general, check it out. I have included it in my blogroll on the side, look for “The Buddy Blog”.

Former Red Sox pitchers Lenny DiNardo and Alan Embree played a big part helping the Oakland A’s defeat the Boston Red Sox 2-0 on Tuesday night. Eric Chavez homered for the second night in a row and Nick Swisher added an RBI double for the only runs of the night. The loss was the third in a row for the Red Sox and the first time they have lost 3 games in a row all season. It was also their 5th loss in six games.

I’ll be honest. I passed out during the game. I was exhausted from staying up late watching Monday night’s game. I woke up around 2 am and just caught what I missed on MLB.tv.

I thought Daisuke Matuszaka pitched really well. He went 7 innings, allowed 7 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and he struckout 8. A much better outing for him compared to his last start against the Indians.

Unfortunately for him, the Sox hitters couldn’t take advantage of 6 walks from DiNardo. They only managed 3 hits, 2 off DiNardo. The Red Sox also hit into 4 double plays and had another when Coco Crisp was doubled off first.

Dustin Pedroia lost his 14 game hitting streak and J.D. Drew sat out the game with a lefty on the mound.

I have to ask this. Did we really spend $70 million dollars so that Drew can only play against righties? For about a 1/4 of the cost, we could have kept Trot Nixon out there.

Anyways, here is a link to the game story. These West coast games are tough but I will do my best to provide a story for you to read.

Only in independent baseball would you ever see this.

That’s right. The Long Beach Armada, who play in the Golden Baseball League, have decided to change their name to Long Beach Armada of Los Angeles of California of the United States of North America Including Barrow, Alaska. Otherwise known as LBALACUSNAIBA.

“In order to better reach the larger Armada Nation, we felt compelled to lengthen the name to incorporate all our fans stretching from the warm beaches of Los Angeles to the frigid beaches of the Artic Circle,” Golden Baseball League CEO Dave Kaval stated. “Our inspiration was Arte Moreno’s brilliant marketing gambit of positioning the Anaheim Angeles as an LA team. Being a real Los Angeles county team, we too wanted to extend our reach as far north as possible.”

The team was in the news last year when Jose Canseco played for them.

I’d hate to be a radio announcer or public address announcer in that league.

Terry Francona barely squeaked by with 31% of the votes in the heated Before They Were Managers Round of the Rookie Card Playoffs. Tony La Russa, whose card was chiseled out of stone in 1904, came in second with 23% of the tallies while Joe Torre’s 1962 Topps All-Star got him only 17%. Willie Randolph was on his tail with 16% and everyone’s favorite Venezuelan hothead, Ozzie Guillen rounded out last place with 13% of the votes.

This brings us to the inevitable Slugger Round. We have some oldies and some goodies for you, including a pre-ganja Manny Ramirez, Mags before his hair was so long and luxurious, the Big Hurt copping a feel applying the tag, Cool Hand Konerko and my very first poster as a baseball-loving child, Junior himself. Who doesn’t have and cherish this card?!

Vote for your favorite current player’s rookie card.

You can vote here or head over to Babes Love Baseball to vote.

After a long night of traveling to the left coast, the last person the Red Sox wanted to see was Dan Haren and his miniscule ERA. Haren was strong for 7 2/3 innings but it was a walk-off homerun from Eric Chavez that won the game for the A’s in the bottom of the 11th, as the A’s won 5-4.

Kyle Synder had retired the first two batters of the inning before the walk-off homer for Chavez. Santiago Casilla got the win in relief for the A’s and Synder took the loss.

The Red Sox got to Haren for a run in the 1st inning. After Haren retired the first batters he faced, David Ortiz hit a pitch out of the ballpark to give the Sox an early lead.

That lead lasted til the bottom of the 2nd when the A’s struck for 2 runs. Bobby Crosby walked to lead off the inning and went to third on a single by Mark Kotsay. Both runners scored when Mark Ellis hit a triple to center field that Wily Mo Peña misplayed. No error was given as the ball spun away from Wily Mo. Tavarez then retired the next three batters but left the field down a run at 2-1.

Ellis led off the 4th inning with a line drive homerun to left, giving the A’s a 3-1 lead. The HR gave him 3 rbi in 2 at-bats. Tavarez settled down to get the next two hitters and then allowed a two out double to Travis Buck, in which he broke Buck’s bat. He got Nick Swisher to line out to right ending the threat.

Haren had retired 14 batters in a row before he walked Big Papi to lead off the 6th. But he got Manny to strikeout swinging for his 5th strikeout of the night.

Meanwhile, Tavarez got Kotsay to fly out to Manny and then allowed a double to Ellis, his third hit of the night. He then got Kendall to fly out to deep center. Kendall was the last batter he faced as Brendan Donnelly came in and retired Shannon Stewart on a grounder to Youk at third.

Tavarez’ pitching line: 5 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. He threw 107 pitches.

The Red Sox struck for another run in the 7th. After Haren retired Youk and J.D. Drew, Wily Mo launched a Haren splitter into the seats, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

Oakland got to Joel Piñero for a run in the 8th. Eric Chavez walked to lead off the inning. Piñero then retired Crosby on a fly out. With Kotsay at the plate, Chavez stole second before Kotsay walked. Ellis then grounded into a fielder’s choice at third but a throwing error by Youk allowed Kotsay to be safe at second. Kendall followed that with a sacrifice fly scoring Chavez to put the A’s up 4-2.

The Sox managed to get to Alan Embree in the 9th for two runs. Big Papi led off the inning with a double. Manny then took strike 3 looking for the first out. Youk grounded out to short, moving Papi over to third. Jason Varitek, pinch hitting for Drew, hit a single over Swisher’s head to bring in Papi and cut the deficit to 4-3. Coco Crisp came in to run for Varitek. Wily Mo then crushed a ball to deep center and Coco, who was off running on the pitch, came around to score to the tie game up at 4. Embree got Mirabelli to fly out to end the inning. But the damage was done as Embree was charged with a blown save.

Oakland threatened in the bottom of 9th loading up the bases with no outs. Piñero walked Buck to lead off the inning and Swisher reached on a Hinske error. Buck advanced to third on the play. J.C. Romero came in and relieved Piñero and promptly walked Dan Johnson. He then got Chavez, who doesn’t hit lefties all that well, to strikeout. Crosby hit a ball to Youk at third who threw home to Mirabelli for an out, who then threw Hinske at first for the inning ending double play.

The Sox mounted a threat of their own in the 10th but couldn’t score. Mike Lowell, who was pinch hitting for Hinske, popped out to second. Pedroia came up with a chance to extend his hitting streak to 14. He didn’t disappoint his 65 or so family members and friends, as he lined a single to right. Julio Lugo, who had come in for Alex Cora in the 8th, struck out swinging, bringing Big Papi to the plate. Big Papi took a Ron Flores offering to deep center that missed a home run by a foot but the not so fleet of foot Pedroia was thrown out by about 10 feet at the plate. I guess that will settle the debate of who is faster, Pedroia or Youkilis.

Romero started out the 10th by retiring Kotsay but allowed a single to Ellis. Jack Cust pinch-hit for Kendall and drew a walk. Kyle Snyder came in for Romero and he retired Stewart but both runners moved up a base. Buck checked his swing and the ball went to Youk at first, who threw to Synder and they barely got Buck at first.

Continue reading →

Normally when the Red Sox bring in Hideki “Darkman” Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon come into the game, good things happen for them. Unfortunately Sunday night was not one of those nights as the Yanks got to each them for a run and went on to defeat the Red Sox 6-5 in a game that ended in a light rain.

Darkman came in to pitch in the 8th inning and faced his countryman, Hideki Matsui, to lead off. Matsui lined a single to right and came around to score when Robinson Cano crushed a ball into the triangle for a triple, scoring Matsui to tie the game at 5.

Papelbon was in for the 9th and retired the first two hitters he faced, Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu. With two strikes on him, AROD took a Papelbon offering and planted it in the Yanks bullpen giving the Yanks a 6-5 lead.

The Red Sox brought their big bats to the plate in the 9th inning against Mariano Rivera but were unable to score. David Ortiz crushed a ball to right field but didn’t get enough as Bobby Abreu caught it on the warning track. Rivera then struck out Manny on a cutter. Rivera then hit Youk on a ball that rode up and in on him. Mike Lowell came to the plate with a chance to be a hero but was struck out by Mariano to end the game.

The Yanks got to Beckett for a run in the second inning. A hip hip Jorge Posada double, a Matsui single and a single to shallow center by Josh Phelps, who was playing first due to Doug Mientkiewicz’s injury, brought in Posada giving them a lead of 1-0.

The score remained the same until the 5th inning when the Yankees tacked on 3 more runs against Beckett.

Phelps led off with a single and advanced to second on a Melky Cabrera single. After Damon flew out, Derek Jeter grounded into a fielder’s choice that got Phelps at third. Abreu drew a walk to load them up for AROD. AROD then hit a ball that Lowell barehanded and he tried to throw out AROD at first but the throw was low and hit Youk in the knee causing it to get away. This brought in Melky and DJ giving the Yanks a 3-0 lead. Posada followed that up with a single to score Abreu from third to make it 4-0 Yanks.

The Sox wasted no time getting the runs back as they struck for 5 runs in their half of the 5th inning.

Jason Varitek led off the inning with a single and went to second on a Wily Mo Peña single. They both moved over a base on a Coco Crisp single. With the bases loaded and no outs, Julio Lugo struck out. Dustin Pedroia then extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double that cleared the bases, cutting the Yanks lead to one. Big Papi then lined a single to Abreu in right field that Abreu misplayed and Papi got to third on the error. Pedroia had scored tying the game up. This also chased Pettitte from the game.

Luis Vizcaino came in to replace Pettitte and he intentionally walked the first batter he faced, Manny, to set up a double play. Unfortunately for the Yanks, it didn’t work out that way as Youk hit a long flyball to center that scored Pedroia, giving the Sox a 5-4 lead.

Beckett’s line: 6 1/3 innings, 8 hits, 4 runs (all earned), 3 walks and 5 strikeouts.

The Sox now head out to the left coast for a 7 game road trip that starts in Oakland on Monday. Surprisingly, the Red Sox don’t have an off day and probably won’t arrive in Oakland til 9 am east coast time. Julian Tavarez takes the hill for the Sox.