Sooze from Babes Love Baseball sent me over this video and not being a Yankees fan, I felt it was my duty to share it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://youtube.com/browse?&session=Gviyr26aFEfzdbqFOKe_CXlaHLq_BYUaPxx5TmgzIWK0INAEc2IK_VrnjnEJFWzB6H_r71EOY6bntU6kYwxQNYCtCNK7XJEBERtHfjOHgqLVdjRaOabUc24p5cHLqoqYnENSSLGILNjQzPqoNXio8CS8UabXhZXDMrGJDkIdyXdEBRj6ggHaG2uQ3pAbqKKVjRO9WNHBNIVwWwQqy3cr4KTSFJXbdGW0w_r-sYgBhY2zm24xt_PuT7zlvv1aAejw[/youtube]
Something I didn’t realize but I wrote my 1,000th post earlier today. Unfortunately, it was to bring you the news about the death of Josh Hancock, the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher who died in a car accident on Sunday.
Back when I started this in November 2005, I never thought I’d ever build up a loyal reader base. I got started blogging because a friend, Lucie, told me I should express my thoughts. So I did, and that’s when Random Thoughts got it’s start over at Blogger. Over time, I made many changes to the design of the site and at times I got bored with doing it, so the posts were few and far between. Then once the end of summer started to roll around, I was writing more and more. Now I am writing about four to seven posts a day. Then came the switch to where I am now using WordPress on my own domain.
A few weeks ago, I had decided I wanted to change the name from Random Thoughts. So after thinking, I came up with the current name, SOX & Dawgs. The reason I chose this name was because 85% of the posts were about my two favorite teams, the Boston Red Sox and UCONN Huskies.
Some of my articles have been featured on Deadspin, Vizuble and I have had numerous blogs link to my site as well. It has even led to doing a radio show with fellow bloggers, Anthony and Jason. That is something I enjoy so much doing on a weekly basis. Yeah occasionally just like when I am writing, I don’t really want to do it. But once you get started, you start to get excited about it and keep going.
I just want to thank everyone for their support and thank you very much for reading my rants and thoughts and analysis of the teams I love.
Alex Cora’s hot bat and two run homer in the fifth inning propelled the Red Sox past the reeling Yankees on Sunday afternoon by the final score of 7-3. Cora also had a RBI groundout in the third inning.
Julian Tavarez pitched ok for the Red Sox today. He actually breezed through the first two innings but ran into trouble in the third inning. He walked Hip hip Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano to lead off the inning. . The light hitting Doug Mientkiewicz was at the plate with the intentions of laying down a bunt but a passed ball by Jason Varitek allowed the runners to move up one base. Mientkiewicz then proceeded to hit a three run homer to give the Yankees their lead.
Big Papi had gotten the Sox on the board first with a monster home run to the upper deck in right field. Then Cora’s two run homer in the fifth inning gave them the lead for good. Cora then hit a triple in the seventh inning and was brought home on a Julio Lugo sacrifice fly. Manny closed out the scoring for the Sox with a bomb in the eighth inning.
The bullpen was again solid for the Red Sox today. The only blemish came when Mike Timlin gave up a home run to Derek Jeter. Jonathan Papelbon came into finish the game off in the 9th to remain perfect in April save chances in his career.
I would have to think that we will see Tavarez back in the pen very soon with his struggles again today. Even though he got the win, he wasn’t that good. The plan is for Jon Lester to make a start for Pawtucket on Wednesday but I have to wonder if maybe the Red Sox recall him from his rehabilitation assignment and have him take Tavarez’s spot in the rotation.
I guess the even bigger question that comes out of this series is how long Joe Torre will have his job in New York. I really don’t think that the blame can be placed solely on him. As I said yesterday, I really think GM Brian Cashman is at-fault for this. He is the one who assembled the rotation without any one to support them if an injury or two happened. The Red Sox ,on the other hand, have Lester, Kyle Snyder and Devern Hansack who can fill in if an injury takes place.
Notes: Mike Lowell’s hitting streak ended at 14 games after his 0-for in the game. Manny hit his 50th career home run against the Yankees becoming the 5th player to do so.
In breaking NFL news on day 2 of the NFL draft, the Patriots and Raiders have reached an agreement in principle that would send Randy Moss to the Patriots for a 4th round draft choice.
The deal is contingent upon Moss passing a physical exam but according to the article, it seems like that is a mere formality. Moss would more than likely restructure his current contract and could receive an extension of it as well. He is set to make $9.75 million this season and $11.25 million next year.
The Packers had been in discussions with the Raiders as well in their efforts to get Brett Favre a much needed weapon. But it seems as though the Patriots won that battle.
The Patriots have been very active in the free agent market this year already signing Donte Stallworth and Kelley Washington at wide receiver and acquiring Wes Walker from the Dolphins via a trade. The Moss signing gives the Patriots nine wide receivers on their roster.
This is a great move for us Patriots fans. It gives QB Tom Brady a bona-fide weapon now at wide receiver. Can you say Super Bowl contender?
Hat tip to Steve for the tip.
Did Saturday’s win save Joe Torre’s job? Or is it going to take more than one win to save it? Only George Steinbrenner knows this answer. But should Torre be held responsible? Or should GM Brian Cashman be made the scapegoat because he’s the one who assembled the 2007 team.
Before Saturday’s eventual win over the Red Sox, Cashman and Torre addressed the media.
Brian Cashman:
“Right now, it’s definitely frustrating with what’s going on, and we understand anything could happen because of it,” said general manager Brian Cashman, who noted all decisions lie in the hands of principal owner George Steinbrenner
“The owner has the final decision on everything,” Cashman said. “It’s his team.”
Joe Torre:
“This is my responsibility,” Torre said. “I don’t want to pawn off and say, ‘It’s not my fault.’ I’m in charge here. I’m certainly not shying away from any responsibility. If you’re going to enjoy the good times, you’ve certainly got to deal with some potholes.
“I’m not going to throw anybody to the wolves at this point. This is the team and I’m in charge. We have to find a way to get it done. It’s not the fact that you can’t win because this guy can’t play or this guy can’t pitch. We have to find a way to win — that’s my mentality.”
“I understand [Steinbrenner’s] frustrations and obviously the history that goes on here,” Torre said. “But that’s what you understand when you take on this job. As far as everything else, I’m going to do the best I can to please him and make him proud of that ballclub.”
“Hey, I’ve got a job to do,” Torre said. “I certainly don’t go out there and manage to try and keep my job. I manage to try to win ballgames. I’ve been doing it for 20-something years. I’m not comfortable with the fact we’re losing.
“It’s never a comfortable feeling, whether I’m with Yankees or any other team. I can’t concern myself with what might happen. I’ve got to concern myself with what happens on the field and hopefully we can turn this thing around.”
Personally, I don’t think it’s Torre’s fault that his starters can’t get out of the 5th inning (Not including today’s). His starting pitching has been decimated by injuries. He just got Wang back and now he’s going to lose Karstens for an indefinite amount of time. He gets Mussina back on Thursday.
I can only venture a guess that Roger Clemens cell phone is being lit up right now.
Normally on Saturday, I usually go through the MLB transactions on ESPN.com to see what moves have happened in the American League to ensure that my AL only fantasy league is kept up-to-date with the roster moves. While perusing the week’s transactions, I came across this.
Um, Trot Nixon plays in Cleveland now and Curtis Leskanic retired after the 2004 World Series. From what I can find through Google searches, Andy Dominique is no longer in baseball.
I guess the editing folks over at ESPN were a little busy last Sunday getting ready for the NFL draft today.
Another rivalry game, another Red Sox win. Let’s travel around the Boston and New York papers to see what is being said about everything.
Daisuke Matsuzaka:
“If I got into all of the things that happened in the fourth, it would be a very long story and it would sound like a lot of excuses,†Matsuzaka said through translator Masa Hoshino. “So to keep a long story short, I will say there are a few things technically I need to work out.â€
“I wouldn’t say that there’s any personal satisfaction in beating the Yankees,” Matsuzaka said. “But as a team, I’m very, very happy that we won.”
“Even though I’ve studied opposing lineups on DVD and having held pitchers meetings, it’s still different from actually facing them in reality,” Matsuzaka said. “I think that overall I’ve been a little bit too cautious, but I do think that it’s sort of a natural phase that I do need to get over.”
“I don’t think there were too many things I actually did improve upon from my pervious starts, but there are some things that I have been working on,” Matsuzaka said. “The sort of pitching you saw today might be what you see for a few more starts as I get used to the opposing lineups. But that being said, it’s the type of pitching I would like to avoid.”
Kevin Youkilis:
“Tomorrow’s another day,” Youkilis said. “They have a great team here, and it’s no exception this year. We have to keep playing them like this is the last time we play them.
“They can turn it around any time. This is New York. They can turn this around the next day.”
Jason Varitek:
“We’ve got to worry about ourselves and playing good baseball,” said Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek. “[Julio] Lugo had a great night. We were able to stay in there and get our bullpen in the right situation. [Kevin] Youkilis had the big homer. We have to worry about ourselves, not necessarily what they’re doing. We have to worry about ourselves playing good baseball.”
“I’m not sure, because I haven’t been through a full season with him,” said the captain. “I’ve seen him execute better at different times in the spring, even in the season. I saw him execute extremely well tonight, too, at different times. It’s just getting all those things rolling together in one start and he could have a magical start the time he does it.”
Derek Jeter:
“If you’re pushing the panic button now,” Jeter said, “you’re in for a long season.”
“This is the time when you find out how good the team is. We need to bounce back,” Jeter said. “We’ll see how good we are.”
Andy Pettitte:
“It’s embarrassing is what it is,” Pettitte said. “We’ve lost seven in a row; that’s frustrating and disappointing. I had a lead out there and I gave it back to them. It made me sick to my stomach. I probably won’t sleep good tonight.”
“We’re in a horrible skid right now,” Pettitte said. “It’s a joke that I couldn’t go out there and get them six or seven innings when the team needs me to do that.”
“As a starting staff, we’re not doing the job,” Pettitte said. “The reason that we’re struggling is that we’re not pitching.”
“I think everyone’s down and extremely upset,” Pettitte said. “How can you not be? We haven’t won a game in a week.”
Joe Torre:
“We’re much better than this; we have the ability and the capability; we just have to play better,” Torre said. “You hope this was a bottoming out, because this was the worst game we played all week.”
“It was pretty ugly,” Torre said. “We’re going to have to get this thing turned around.”
“We’re proud of our bullpen,” Torre said, “but the most important thing is not having to overuse it. We’ve overused it. I don’t anticipate it’s going to continue to be that way. We feel the starters are going to start taking the ball and running with it.”
“We just can’t sustain anything,” Torre said. “I think offensively we’re used to scoring runs. We just haven’t been able to make them stand up.”
[NY Daily News, Yankees.com, Boston Herald, Red Sox.com, Boston Globe]
In a new feature for SOX & Dawgs, I will give you a look at some of the blogs that I read on a daily basis.
Fellow Red Sox blogger Peter, from Peter’s Red Sox Forever, got an interesting email after he was featured in the Boston Globe.
Deadspin tells us about the Syracuse women’s basketball player who played pregnant all season. For us up here in Huskyland, we all know Geno Auriemma would never stand for this.
Sooze over at Babes Love Baseball has a sweet picture of Torii Hunter.
Jason over at My Baseball Bias has a nice review of Yankees phenom Phillip Hughes first start.
Anthony from the Oriole Post has some nice pictures from the Red Sox-Orioles series.
JD from SporTech Matter wants to know where the Miami Heat have been.
Chad Gramling has an interesting piece about Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd and his Travelling All-Stars.
The Red Sox rode the hot bat of Julio Lugo enroute to a 11-4 victory over the Yankees. Lugo was 3 for 4, with a HR, double and three RBIs. He also stole two bases. Kevin Youkilis chipped in with three RBIs as well.
As far as the pitching went, it was pretty bad for both teams. Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled mightily with his command most of the time. He ran into trouble in the fourth inning when he walked the bases loaded. Hip hip Jorge Posada then hit one off the end of his bat that fell in front of a sliding Manny Ramirez that scored GayRod from third. Matsuzaka then settled down for two batters, striking out Robinson Cano and getting Doug Mientkiewicz to pop out. Johnny “Traitor” Damon then singled to right field, which scored Hideki Matsui and the Giambino. Derek Jeter followed Damon with a single that scored Posada. All in all, the Yankees plated four runs in the inning to go up by two.
The long layoff must have affected Yankees starter Andy Pettitte because he became unraveled in the top of the fifth. He got Dustin Pedroia to fly out to right. Lugo then singled and stole second base before Youkilis singled him over to third base. Big Papi then singled scoring Lugo. Pettitte then walked Manny to load the bases but got J.D. Drew to strike out. He then proceeded to walk Mike Lowell driving in the second run of the inning. With Jason Varitek at the plate, he uncorked a wild pitch that scored Big Papi. Varitek walked ending Pettitte’s night after 102 pitches in 4 2/3 innings. Scott Proctologist came in and got Coco Crisp to fly out to end the inning.
Matsuzaka settled down in the fifth and sixth innings getting all six batters he faced out, including his third strikeout of Cano. Matsuzaka departed after six innings. He gave up five hits, four runs, walked four and struck out seven hitters.
Lugo got the Sox an insurance run in the sixth inning when he hit his first home run in a Sox uniform. He had gone 240 at-bats without a home run. Hat tip to Amalie Benjamin for the information. They added another run when Lugo hit a double that scored Pedroia, putting the Sox up three runs.
Hideki “Darkman” Okajima came in and was very effective again, only allowing a Giambino single. This setup what I thought would be Jonathan Papelbon coming in to finish off the Evil Empire barring any more Red Sox runs. This wasn’t the case though.
Manager Joe Torre brought in his closer, Mariano Rivera, to keep the game close and to get him some work. The Red Sox once again had his number. He did get Drew on a strikeout but then the wheels fell off. Mike Lowell singled, putting his hitting streak at thirteen games. Varitek singled and so did Crisp. Crisp’s single scored Lowell from second base. Crisp then stole second base before Rivera walked Pedroia. This ended Rivera’s night.
Mike Myers, no relation to the man who played Austin Powers, came in and walked Lugo, scoring Tek from third base. At that point, Lugo was a triple short of the cycle. With the infield back, Youk grounded out to Cano at second scoring Coco from third. Big Papi followed him with a single that scored Pedroia providing the final margin of 11-4.
Joel Piñero came in and finished the Yanks off.
All I have to say is that game was ugly. But I am pumped that the Red Sox sent the Yanks to their seventh consecutive loss. I am sure Big Stein won’t take too much more of this. Something needs to be done to that team. Their starters have now failed to get out of the fifth inning yet again.
As far as Dice-K is concerned, he needs to get better command of his pitches. Maybe it was the circus-like atmosphere in New York or the pressure of the rivalry, but he hasn’t looked that good his past two starts. Hopefully, he settles down and pitches like we know he is capable of. He did get the win though.
With the NFL draft set to take place tomorrow and Sunday, everyone looks forward to who the last player in the draft will be. Otherwise known as Mister Irrelevant. Well, I bring you a different Mister Irrelevant.
The Israel Baseball League held it’s draft for it’s inaugural season and with the final pick of the draft, the Modi’in Miracle took 71 year old Sandy Koufax. Koufax last pitched 41 years ago for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Koufax, who is Jewish, refused to pitch in Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on the Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur.
“His selection is a tribute to the esteem with which he is held by everyone associated with this league,” said former big leaguer Art Shamsky, who will manage the Miracle. “It’s been 41 years between starts for him. If he’s rested and ready to take the mound again, we want him on our team.”