I’d like to introduce the new weekly feature here at SOX & Dawgs, Musings From the College Hardwood. This weekly feature will bring you the men’s and women’s top 25 polls along with the news from around the Division I campuses in the country. It will more than likely run on Mondays once the college basketball season gets underway.
Hope you enjoy.
Get used to that sight pictured up above Red Sox Nation. Red Sox pitchers will be batting for the next two games definitely and in an if necessary game 5. Daisuke Matsuzaka was 0 for 4 at the plate this season and Jon Lester didn’t have any at-bats. Basically if you’re the 8th hitter in the Red Sox lineup you might see an intentional walk or two since the pitcher will be batting behind you in the game. This will more than likely happen if there is a runner on base when the 8th place hitter comes up.
Terry Francona hasn’t completely settled on his lineup just yet for tonight’s game, but he did state yesterday that David Ortiz will play first base and Mike Lowell will play third. This means that Kevin Youkilis will find himself on the bench, at least to start the game. It does hurt the Red Sox a little bit when you have to take your #2 hitter out of the lineup. But I am not sure it makes a difference with the way the Red Sox are rolling right now.
Speaking of Matsuzaka, he will become the first Japanese-born starting pitcher to start a World Series game. Hideki Okajima was the first Japanese player to pitch in a World Series with his appearance in Game 2. We will need Matsuzaka to give us at least 6 good innings tonight and have the bullpen do the rest of the work. I fully expect the crowd to be a rowdy one and it should be a great game. So before college football starts, let’s take a look at the headlines from the Boston area and Denver media along with Curt Schilling on this rainy morning in Red Sox Nation.
Up 2-0 and a mile high [38 Pitches]
Time for Rockies to pull plug on humidor [Yahoo Sports]
Matsuzaka tries to become a trophy pitcher [Boston Globe]
FBI opens investigation into ‘attack’ on Rockies ticket system [Denver Post]
Behind Dice-K, Red Sox seek Mile High clubbing [Boston Herald]
If gyroball exists, it is no match against Coors Field [Rocky Mountain News]
With Humidor, It’s Coors Light [Hartford Courant]
Coors Field: It’s bigger and smaller than Fenway [Pro Jo]
Drew has gone from fans’ target to a hit [Boston Globe]
Rox look to reclaim offense [Denver Post]
Chance presents itself [Boston Herald]
Faith in purple reduced to hope [Rocky Mountain News]
The Shift Is On For Shaken Rockies [Hartford Courant]
Red Sox Nation migrates west [Pro Jo]
For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News websites.
Super sexy Texy from Center Field shows us what it’s like to be Matt Holliday.
The very elegant and beautiful Yankees Chick wants Joe Girardi to be the manager of the Yankees.
Succulent Sooze from Babes Love Baseball gives us a Jeff Reardon update.
The sexiest USC fan on the planet, Gridiron Goddess, has her college football picks for the week.
The Starter Wife over at Ladies… found a picture of Lego Matt Holliday.
Dan from Red Sox Monster shows you why CapeCast is using witchcraft.
The Fanhouse shows you why you shouldn’t fight Zdeno Chara from the Boston Bruins.
Roto-World has the greatest Jonathan Papelbon story ever told.
Richie Rich from Home Run Derby has Jimmy Kimmel’s PSA for Red Sox fans.
Anthony from the Oriole Post has some of his favorite photos up from the 2007 season.
We Are the Postmen tells you why Eduardo Perez is worse than Emmitt Smith.
The Big Lead tells us Michael Strahan is dating Eddie Murphy’s ex.
And last but certainly not least, Fitzy from the Townie News has his latest “Wicked Pissah” webcast, a World Series preview.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5eElCz0ZWuc[/youtube]
And on one other front, Anthony from the Oriole Post is hard at work getting a website together for our radio show, The Hits Keep Coming… Once it’s done, we will make an announcement.
Anthony Alvino, the driver in the Carlee Wines hit-and-run on the campus of UConn, pleaded no contest on Friday to charges of misconduct with a motor vehicle and evading responsibility. He will be sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison.
Wines died on January 22nd, two days after the car Alvino was driving struck her. Alvino had been drinking along with two other people in the car. His girlfriend, Michelle Hall, told him to run. Alvino was not a UConn student and had been on campus visiting Hall.
The plea agreement he struck with the district attorney calls for a sentence of 10 years in prison, with the last 6 years being suspended. He will also have five years of probation upon leaving prison.
Personally, I think he should have gotten a lot more than that. What kind of message does that send to the students of UConn? That you can drink and drive, run from the scene after hitting someone and kill them? He should have been made an example of for his stupidity of leaving the scene of an accident. He needs to take responsibility for his actions. Our justice system is what it is and I am sure the Wines’ family is not happy with this decision.
We all remember the three ALCS games in Cleveland and how the crowd incessantly twirled those damn white towels. No matter what was going on it was a twirl fest. In the NLCS it was the same thing in Colorado. 50,000 nitwits twirling the white towels and no doubt it will happen in Colorado again for the World Series as the Rockies “pink hats” try to twirl the team back into contention. I am hoping they twirl those towels so fast that all levitate like helicopters and disappear.
But what you may not know was that last night prior to Game 2 DHL, the delivery company that uses Kenny Lofton in their commercials, handed out 35,000 yellow towels with their logo on them to fans entering Fenway Park. I don’t know 
about you but I never even saw one getting twirled or even used as a napkin to mop up the clam chowder drippings. Hell I didn’t even know they gave out towels until this afternoon when the guys on WEEI’s “The Big Show” mentioned it on the air. If you were at Fenway last night, I personally want to thank you for doing your part in making Red Sox fans look less like the asshats they’ve been accused of becoming. As you’ve heard many coaches say over time “you need to act like you’ve been there”. So thanks again for leaving the twirling to the crowd of bandwagon jumpers at Coors Field.
“You want to know what I really felt? It was disgusting. What does he think?” Stringer said. “This was a woman first. He has no right to put her down, and then think it’s ok for me to put her down but it’s not alright for a white man to put her down. What are you talking about? She is a human being and as a female, and in particular as a black female, I took tremendous offense to that”.
Those are words of Rutgers women’s basketball head coach C. Vivian Stringer who weighed in on the Isaiah Thomas sexual harassment trial. Thomas and his employer, MSG, were found to have created a hostile work environment and had a large financial judgement handed down against them with MSG having to pay the entire amount of damages.
While I totally agree that sexual harassment has no business in the work place since when is C. Vivian Stringer the moral compass for America? Because her Rutgers team was called a “bunch of nappy headed ho’s” by former WFAN morning man Don Imus every time something like this happens and gains notoriety the media, local and/or national is going to run to Stringer for comment?
Do us all a favor and leave Stringer and Rutgers women out of it. They’ve dealt with enough they don’t need to be America’s expert witnesses too. On the other side, Stringer should have said, “”I have no comment it doesn’t concern me or my team”. But for some reason she feels the need for the limelight. Maybe it comes from being in the shadows of UConn’s Geno Auriemma and Tennessee’s Pat Summitt and she feels she’ll take any publicity she can get. You know they say “any publicity is good publicity” but the athletic director or the president at Rutgers need to grow some stones and tell her enough is enough. You had your say when it concerned your team and our university but now is the time to keep quiet and coach basketball.
The entire interview conducted by Doris Burke can be seen next week on ESPN’s E:60.
Last night during last night’s Game 2 of the World Series, Jonathan Papelbon broke down the moves to his Irish Jig.
And I know by now, you have seen the videos but here they are again for you to enjoy.
[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCMPJkOAFy]
This Week
The New England Patriots host the Washington Redskins in an interconference match up on Sunday afternoon at 4:15 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA. The Patriots are 3-0 at home and 1-0 against the NFC this season. The Redskins are 1-1 on the road and 1-0 against the AFC.
Here are the rosters for the Redskins and Patriots.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo Sports is Patriots -16.5. The over/under is 47.5.
My prediction is Patriots 41, Redskins, 14. Give the points and take the over. I am 7-0 against the spread and have called the over/under six out of seven times.
Tickets
The game is reported as a sell out.
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check ticket availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from the American Weather Service.
Click for stadium directions, parking information, parking map, specific MBTA train times for this game and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
FOX is televising the game, it is a regional broadcast. The play-by-play duties will be handled Kenny Albert with Troy Aikman doing game analysis. You can check here to see if you are getting the game from FOX and look for your local FOX Station.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresch and the pregame show at 1 p.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
Check this out for the low down on the Patriots Rock Radio Network and stations in your area.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots radio call is available on Channel 130, the Redskins radio call is available on Channel 107.
The game will also be broadcast nationally by Sports USA Radio Network. Eli Gold will call the play-by-play and Tim Pernetti will handle the analyis of the game.
In the postseason, great pitching usually will win you a ballgame. Last night, the Red Sox got that exactly. A strong outing by Curt Schilling and spectacular work from Hidkei Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon out of the bullpen kept the score the same. The Rockies bullpen was equal to the task last night but their offense couldn’t do anything against the Sox pitching. The Sox now head to Denver up 2 games in this best of 7 series. So while you’re enjoying the last day of the work week for many, check out the headlines from the Denver and Boston area media along with the thoughts of Kevin Youkilis.
Keeping a good thing going [Yooooouuuuukkkkk]
Sky is the limit [Boston Globe]
Sox can play grind-it-out baseball [Denver Post]
Fresh Okie a big factor [Boston Herald]
Rockies have remembered how to lose [Rocky Mountain News]
First Pickoff Comes At Right Time [Hartford Courant]
Sox’ Okajima plays his role to perfection [Pro Jo]
Daughter’s illness gives Hurdle perspective [Boston Globe]
Apodaca marvels at Sox [Denver Post]
In Pedroia family, mom certainly knows best [Boston Herald]
Rocks need big shakeup — and fast [Rocky Mountain News]
Lowell Thinking About Now [Hartford Courant]
Playing by the numbers puts Sox on top [Pro Jo]
For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News websites.
Last night, Beckett’s pitching and the offense was the story of the game. Tonight, it was all about the pitching. Curt Schilling gave the Red Sox 5â…“ strong innings and the combination of Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon finished it off giving the Red Sox a 2-1 victory in Game 2 of the World Series. The Sox now head to Denver with a 2-0 lead, with the next three games in Denver. The third game is an if necessary game right now with the Sox having the 2-0 lead.
Wily Taveras led off the 1st for the Rox tonight and was grazed with a Schilling fastball for a hit-by-pitch. Schilling then got the struggling Kaz Matsui to fly out to Jacoby Ellsbury in center for the first out. With Taveras running on the pitch, Matt Holliday hit a shot down the third base line that Mike Lowell got a glove on. Schilling was late covering the bag and Lowell’s throw went by Schilling allowing Holliday to get to second on the error by Lowell. Todd Helton gave the Rox a 1-0 lead as he grounded out to Kevin Youkilis at first. Schilling got out of the first with a ground out by Garrett Atkins.
The Sox got their first look at Ubaldo Jiménez and went down very quietly in the bottom of the 1st. Jiménez got fly ball outs off the bats of Dustin Pedroia and Youkilis. He finished the inning by getting David Ortiz to ground out.
Brad Hawpe, who struck out four times last night, started things off in the 2nd with a lead-off single. Schilling got his first strikeout of the night by way of National League Rookie of the Year candidate, Troy Tulowitzki. The inning ended as Yorvit Torrealba grounded into a 6-3 double play.