You’ve all seen the video where Lebron James makes a series of fullcourt shots. If you haven’t, here it is.

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We all know that video was fake. Well on Saturday, Lebron was fooling around at practice and decided to try another fullcourt shot. This is what happened.

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WOW!!

Technorati: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

I had already thought out the first paragraph of the post here before the sixth inning happened.

Jon Lester pitching well on his rehab assignment has turned out to be a good thing for the Red Sox and Julian Tavarez. The better Lester throws, the better Tavarez pitches.

J.D. Drew’s hit in the 8th inning brought home the tying run and Mike Lowell singled in the go ahead run at the time, as the Red Sox came back to win 6-5 over the Texas Rangers. It was the first sweep of the Rangers by the Red Sox in Arlington since August of 1973.

Julian Tavarez pitched well for 5 innings but he struggled through the sixth inning when he gave up four runs.

He started off the inning by walking Kenny Lofton and then gave up a single to Michael Young. Mark Teixiera came up and blasted a 3 run homer to right field tying the game at 3. Tavarez then got Sammy Sosa to ground out to Lowell at third. Noted Red Sox killer, Frank Catalanotto came to the plate and laced a single to right and advanced to second on a Marlon Byrd single. Catalanotto came around to score on an Ian Kinsler single, putting the Rangers up 4-3. Tavarez got Gerald Laird to fly out and was then replaced by J.C. Romero, who got Ramon Vazquez to ground out to end the inning.

Tavarez went 5 2/3 innings, gave up 6 hits, 4 runs, walked 1 and struck out 6.

The Sox had gotten their 3 runs in the 4th inning.

Drew broke an 0 for 17 hitless streak with a single to lead off the inning. Lowell followed him with a single, advancing Drew to second. Jason Varitek then cleared the bases with a home run to right field giving the Sox a 3-0 lead.

The 7th inning brought a pitching change for the Rangers as Kameron Loe was replaced by Joaquin Benoit. Loe didn’t pitch all that bad. The only real damage was the Varitek home run. Loe went 6 innings, gave up 7 hits, 3 runs, walked 1 and struck out 2. He only threw 85 pitches. Surprisingly, Benoit pitched well, retiring the side in order.

Defense and Joel Piñero’s effort out of the bullpen was the key to the home half of the 7th inning. Lofton led off with a double and then Young grounded out to shortstop. Romero walked Teixiera and was greeted with a seat on the bench, replaced by Piñero. He got Sosa to strike out. Catalanotto then laced a shot to the gap in right-center that was caught by a diving Coco Crisp.

Shockingly, Benoit didn’t come out to pitch the 8th inning after a successful inning before. He was replaced by Rangers setup man, Akinori Otsuka, who struggled mightily.

Kevin Youkilis led off the inning with an infield single. Otsuka got Manny to strikeout but Youk got to second on the strikeout with a stolen base. This set the stage for the struggling Drew. He didn’t disappoint the Fenway Faithful in Arlington as lined a single to right field, scoring Youk and tying the game at 4. Drew advanced to second on throw home by Sosa. Lowell followed him with a single to left field that scored the go-ahead run (Drew) at the time, making it 5-4 Sox. Otsuka got Varitek and Hinske to end the inning but not before the damage was done.

Piñero was brillant in the 8th inning as well. He sandwiched strikeouts of Byrd and Laird around a Kinsler ground out.

Rangers manager, Ron Washington, brought his closer, Eric Gagne in to keep the game close. He got into quite a battle with Dustin Pedroia. Gagne got two quick strikes on Pedroia, then threw him two balls. Pedroia then fouled off 7 pitches before taking a Gagne fastball and planting it in the left field seats. As it turned out, the Sox would need this run.

Terry Francona brought Hideki “Darkman” Okajima in to close the game out because Jonathan Papelbon wasn’t available today.

Victor Diaz, pinch-hitting for Vazquez, led off with a single. Darkman then got Nelson Cruz, who had pinch-hit for Lofton, to fly out to Coco in center. Young then hit a shot up the middle that Darkman knocked down but his only play was to first. This allowed Diaz to get to second. Teixiera continued his hot streak with a single to left that scored Diaz, getting the Rangers within a run at 6-5. Darkman then settled down and got Sosa to fly out ending the game.

The save was his third of the year and gave Piñero his first win in a Red Sox uniform.

Boxscore

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My Uncle Jock sent me the link to a video that I just watched. With it being Memorial Day weekend, I think there’s no better time to share the story and the video.

Back on April 25th, 1976, Rick Monday was playing center field for the Chicago Cubs when he noticed two protesters trying to burn a flag in left-center at Dodger Stadium. He made a mad dash towards the protesters and grabbed the flag before they were able to burn it.

“I was angry when I saw them start to do something to the flag, and I’m glad that I happened to be geographically close enough to do something about it.”

“What those people were doing, and their concept of what they were trying to do was wrong. That feeling was very strongly reinforced by six years in the United States Marine Corps Reserves.”

Last year, the Baseball Hall of Fame named it one of Baseball’s Top 100 moments of all-time.

You can see the video by clicking here. (Video will popup in a new window)

Thanks to my Uncle Jock for sharing this.

Technorati: Rick Monday, Baseball Hall of Fame, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs

How great is it to wake up in the morning and see this?

The Yankees in a tie for 3rd place, 11.5 games back. Does it get any better than this?

Any questions? I didn’t think so.

Technorati: Boston Red Sox, NY Yankees