The Red Sox and Yankees got a nice Christmas gift from MLB as they were both hit with bills for the luxury tax that was established back in 2003.

The Red Sox were given a $6.06 million bill while the Yankees were handed a $23.88 million bill. This was the fifth straight year the Yankees have had to pay the tax, all totaled to a tune of $121.6 million. How many World Championships has it bought them? Zero, zip, zilch, nada.

This was the Red Sox fourth straight season paying the MLB tax man but they have only had to pay $13.86 million over that time. How many championships has it bought? Two, one in 2004 and one last season (2007).

The Red Sox 2007 salaries were listed at $163.1 million while the Yankees were at $207.7 million. The cap last year was $155 million. Since they were both over for at least the 4th time, they were taxed at 40% of the amount over the limit.

Only three teams in the history of the luxury tax have had to pay, the Red Sox, Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim back in 2004.

Bud wants the money to him by January 31, 2008.

Time for another round:

The Philadelphia Phillies signed free agent outfielder So Taguchi to a one-year contract. The 38-year old who led all National League pinch-hitters with a .406 average had played for the St. Louis Cardinals for five seasons and played in two World Series.

The Phils also added former Detroit pitcher Chad Durbin who signed a one-year deal and former Milwaukee outfielder Geoff Jenkins who inked a two-year pact.

The Seattle Mariners one year after not wanting to give Gil Meche $55 million over five years pony up $50 over 4 seasons for Carlos Silva. Something tells me Josh Beckett is severely underpaid.

The Texas Rangers and the Cincinnati Reds made a trade that gives the Rangers some more outfield help and the Reds much needed pitching. Cincinnati sent 2007 feel good story Josh Hamilton to Texas for one of the Rangers top pitching prospects Edinson Volquez and a secondary player pitcher Danny Herrera.

The Rangers in an effort to revamp their lineup also got first baseman Ben Broussard from Seattle for some minor leaguers.

The Rangers had been interested in Phillies starter Freddy Garcia but have back away from the deal. They remain interested in the Angels Bartolo Colon and Houston’s Jason Jennings. The New York Mets have apparently expressed some interest in Garcia.

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David Ortiz was at the Patriots game on Sunday along with Curt Schilling, Kevin Youkilis and John Henry and they brought along the World Series trophies as they were honored before the game.

Johan Santana and Ortiz were teammates since the 2000 season back in Minnesota and remain good friends to this day. Ortiz came over to the Red Sox after he was released by the Twins around Christmas time in 2002. The Sox snatched him up in January 2003.

During the game, Big Papi was asked about his good buddy, Johan Santana, and the prospects of him being traded to Boston.

“No,” Ortiz said when asked if he thought his good friend, Santana, would be traded to the Red Sox. “I was (following it) for a minute, but I guess they stopped. They don’t want him to go. (Minnesota) already gave Boston too many good things already. Me, and now Santana? No way.”

“Hell yeah,” Ortiz said when asked if he was excited at the prospect of calling Santana a teammate again. “What do you think? That’s a whole lot less trouble for me.”

It wasn’t big trouble for him back in 2006 during the WBC when he homered off his pal.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcGHBADHvB4[/youtube]

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2nd year point guard Rajon Rondo led the Boston Celtics to their NBA best 22nd win of the year as they beat the Orlando Magic 103-91 Sunday night in front of 18,624 at the TD BankNorth Garden.

Rondo, the former Kentucky Wildcat, matched his career high with 23 points. He also had 4 steals, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. Paul Pierce had 24 points and Kevin Garnett had 21 to go along with 12 boards and Ray Allen, the final member of the Parquet Posse, added 22 points as the Celtics had four players with 20 points or more for the first time in 8 years.

The Celtics led by as many as 20 points in the game but twice the Magic, who are one of the teams to beat the Green this season, cut the Boston lead to 10 in the final quarter.

Orlando was paced by Dwight Howard, who had 23 points and 14 boards, Hedo Turkoglu, who had 19 points, and Rashard Lewis who chipped in with 15 points. The loss was Orlando’s 7th in the last 9 games.

The Celtics will leave for a four game western trip that starts the day after Christmas. Wednesday they play the Kings in Sacramento then face the Seattle SuperSonics on Thursday, the Utah Jazz on Saturday and finish up in LA against the Lakers on Sunday night.

The Result

Even though the New England Patriots won 28-7 it was a tale of two halves. In the first half the New England Patriots dominated and jumped out to a 28-0 half time lead on 3 Tom Brady touchdown passes, two to Randy Moss and one to Jabar Gaffney and a 59-yard run for a score by Laurence Maroney. The Patriots had 4 scores on 5 drives and one kneel down just before the half. The defense played well and they were rolling. Even CBS put up a graphic saying they had outscored Miami 70-7 in the first half this season.

The Dolphins just looked awful with a bunch of three and outs and other drives that went nowhere and they even got stopped on downs in the red zone.Then in the second half it appeared as though the Patriots offense didn’t give a damn and gave up. It was the first half in a game this year that they didn’t score a point, they were anemic. Brady threw a pair of interceptions and fumbled once and the whole offense except for Laurence Maroney just went into a funk. It almost appeared as if they were trying much too hard to help Brady and Moss set or tie the TD pass and reception records.

If it wasn’t for the defense, who still had some chinks, and a poor opponent they very possibly could have lost the game or been in a dogfight. I’m not sure if it’s the physical strain of the season getting them or the mental drain of an undefeated, perfect season. Either way this team needs to get its collective head out of its collective ass so they can be clicking on all cylinders come playoff time. It won’t do them any good to run the table in the regular season and not finish holding the Lombardi Trophy at season’s end.

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

• NE – Brady 11 yard pass to Moss – kick good – Patriots 7-0

2nd Quarter

• NE – Brady 1 yard pass to Moss – kick good – Patriots 14-0
• NE- Maroney 59 yard run – kick good – Patriots 21-0
• NE – Brady 48 yard pass to Gaffney – kick good – Patriots 28-0

3rd Quarter

• MIA – Lemon 21 yard pass to Camarillo – kick good – Patriots 28-7

4th Quarter

• None

Offensive Player of the Game

Patriots running back Laurence Maroney had a career high 156 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. He also set his career long twice first with a 51 yard carry and then again on the 59 yard touchdown run.

Defensive Player of the Game

Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi had 7 tackles and 2 assists.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

Third down conversion pass to Jabar Gaffney on opening drive for 1st down at MIA 18.

Laurence Maroney’s 51 yard run to get the ball deep into MIA territory and set up the second TD.

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Here’s a look at the always-convoluted NFL Playoff picture.

In the AFC the New England Patriots have clinched AFC East, the top seed and home field advantage. They will have a first round bye along with the Indianapolis Colts who have clinched the AFC South and #2 seed in the conference.

The San Diego Chargers have clinched the AFC West, the Pittsburgh Steelers can clinch the AFC North with a loss by the Cleveland Browns to Cincinnati today. The Steelers will be in the playoffs if Tennessee loses or ties.

The Cleveland Browns can clinch a playoff berth with win or Tennessee Titans loss or Cleveland tie and Tennessee tie. The Jacksonville Jaguars can clinch a playoff berth with win or tie or Tennessee Titans loss or tie or Cleveland Browns loss.

Tennessee needs a bunch of help that right now is so far fetched it’s not worth getting into.

Everyone else in the conference has been eliminated.

In the NFC Dallas has clinched the NFC East and a first round bye and can clinch home field advantage with a Green Bay loss to Chicago. The Packers have clinched the NFC North and a first round bye.

The Seattle Seahawks have won the NFC West and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have clinched the NFC South.

The New York Giants can clinch a playoff berth with a win or tie or Washington Redskins loss or tie or New Orleans Saints loss or tie. The Minnesota Vikings can clinch a playoff berth with a win and a New Orleans Saints loss or a tie.

Washington and New Orleans are still alive but need some help, much like Tennessee in the AFC.

Everyone else in the conference has been eliminated.

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At least this time, we are hearing it straight from Roger Clemens himself.

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Thank you Stanford for beating the evil bitch and her band of orange clad minions.  It was a battle between two good players, Tennessee’s Candace Parker and Stanford’s Candice Wiggins, and two storied programs.  But most of all it will give the UConn women the Number 1 ranking for the first time since February 23, 2004.  To put that in perspective it is the season before this years seniors joined the program.  So this will be the first number one ranking since Diana Taurasi graduated.

To quote Stanford head coach Tara VanDeveer:

“Today Candice is spelled with an ‘i’.”

If your a Dolphins fan look out ESPN’s Chris Mortensen is making predictions and he says don’t be surprised to see Chad Pennington in Miami next year because Bill Parcells drafted him.  Using that flawed logic I suppose you might also see Rodney Hampton in the backfield too.  The only saving grace for Miami fans is Mort has been correct only about 4% of the time this year.

I found this online earlier today on the Southern Miss-Cincinnati Bowl Game from yesterday:

“….I had dinner with my dad tonight.  He asked, ‘who was that lead announcer…HE was awful’.  I tried for a 1/2 hour, but I could not convince him that “HE” was a woman.  Pam Ward is simply dreadful”. 

Things have been relatively quiet lately on news coming out of Beantown involving the Boston Red Sox. In today’s Boston Herald, Rob Bradford brings up something very interesting about the end of the 2008 season.

Why is he looking ahead? Well, the Red Sox will have some big questions to answer. Jason Varitek will be a free agent at the end of the year, Curt Schilling will be retiring and Manny Ramirez could be a free agent if the Red Sox decide not to exercise their $20 million option.

Let’s start with Ramirez’ sudden love for life with the Red Sox, which was on display for at least a few to see immediately following his recent Duck Boat ride. Who would have envisioned the slugger finishing up his latest championship parade, pointing to the retired Sox numbers along the outside of Fenway Park wall and making it clear that he not only wanted to retire a Red Sox, but hoped to have his own number immortalized at Fenway.

If Manny puts up good numbers next year and given who could be on the free agent market at the end of 2008, I definitely think the Red Sox will pickup the option. As far as Varitek goes, since they really have no one who is ready to handle the day-to-day duties behind the plate for the Sox, I could see the Red Sox offering him a 2-year deal. They don’t like to give long-term contracts to older veterans as we know, but after all he is the “Captain” of the Red Sox and it just wouldn’t be the same without him behind the plate.

If the Red Sox were to make a deal with the Twins for Santana, Schilling’s potential replacement could be part of the trade depending on the proposal the Twins were to accept. Either way, the Red Sox will still be in good shape due to the fact that Theo Epstein and company have put together a strong farm system.

In case you were wondering, Kevin Youkilis has already grown back the goatee as evidenced by this picture.

No bluffing on this deal [Boston Herald]

Perry cuts to the chase [Boston Globe]