Opening Day Is Coming!

About time for one of my favorite days of the year - Opening Day of Red Sox baseball.  Please excuse this little selfish indulgence.

Most Memorable Sports Moment #1

I realized the other day as I scrolled down my blog that I hadn't finished this series I started and in the process, left out the most important sports moment. With no further delay here it is:

Red Sox Defeat Yankees in the 2004 ALCS
That's right. No doubt the biggest moment I have experienced as a sports fan was the improbable comeback in the 2004 ALCS. One year earlier, I was in a hotel in Atlanta when Aaron Boone become infamous and put the Red Sox out of the playoffs. I watched anxiously most of the 2004 season believing that with the addition of Curt Schilling, the Red Sox could finally do it. I suffered through the predictable summer swoon that hits the Sox every year. I saw them fight back from behind the Yankees to secure the Wild Card. I watched the Division series with the Angels and saw Schilling's injury. I saw Big Papi begin his incredible Red Sox run with the game winning shot over the Green Monster securing their place in the ALCS.

Then, here came the Yankees. Every Red Sox fan believed that the Sox would have deliverance from the curse of the Bambino and revenge for the Boone hr a year before. However, those hopes were dashed and talk of the curse began again as the Yankees dominated the Red Sox in the first three games. Schilling looked hurt in game 1 and got shelled. The Sox lost 10-7. Game 2 was a pitcher's duel that Sox ace Pedro Martinez eventually lost. Game 3 was a humiliating loss of 19-8 in which the Yankees looked like the Bronx Bombers of old. It was official. The Yankees were going to win and go to the World Series. No team in history had ever come back from 3 games down in a best-of-seven series. I remember talking with my brother after game 3 and both of us couldn't believe it. We talked about how the Sox couldn't catch a break and how the Yankees got them all. We thought maybe the Sox would win game 4, but surely would lose game 5 or 6. The Yankees were just too good.

Then, the impossible became possible. Game 4 saw the Yankees in command throughout. The Sox took a 3-2 lead in the 5th, but lost it when the Yankees scored 2 in the 6th. Nothing happened until the ninth and the Yankees brought in the most dominant closer in playoff history - Mariano Rivera. Rivera walked Kevin Millar to start the inning and Dave Roberts was brought in to run for Millar. The biggest moment of the series was when Roberts stole second. Bill Mueller drove in Roberts to tie the game and Big Papi hit another walk-off, two-run home run in the 11th. Sox fans were excited, but still realistic that they were down 3-1.

Game 5 was another classic with the Yankees taking a 4-2 lead on a bases loaded hit by Jeter. Big Papi did it again with a single in the 10th and the Sox won again. Momentum was starting to shift and everyone began to believe. My brother and I were on the phone all night asking "Can they really do this?" Game 6 was one of the most incredible pitching performances ever with Curt Schilling pitching with a torn tendon sheath that was sewn to his right ankle to prevent it from moving but caused tremendous pain. On sheer will and adrenaline, he shut down the Yankees and the Sox won 4-2 to tie the series.

Game 7 in the Bronx was supposed to be a classic dramtic game, but the Sox struck early with hr's by Ortiz and Johnny Damon. The Sox cruised and won 10-3 never really being challenged. It was the most incredible feeling and event I had ever witnessed. The Red Sox had done the impossible, and done it against the Yankees - the evil empire. It ushered in the Red Sox as the most dominant team of the decade, reversed the curse of the Bambino, and propelled the Red Sox to the first World Series in 86 years. No matter what, this will probably be the greatest moment as a baseball fan I will ever experience. I know I have not been a lifer Sox fan. I had not endured personally all those years of frustration. However, on a cold night in October, I saw the impossible happen. Greatest Sports Moment #1 - Red Sox Comeback Against Yankees.

Gearing Up for the Postseason

Pardon the diversion from anything mildly constructive to the Kingdom of God and allow me one of my many divulgences into my love for sports. I watched last night's Red Sox/Angels game last night on ESPN. I commented to my wife that with Paul Byrd pitching, I actually figured this might be a loss last night, but it turned out to be one of the more exciting games of the year for the Sox and a reminder that it's almost playoff time. Seems like every year the Red Sox begin the playoffs with the Angels. I hope for much of the same outcome as the past few years. I believe I would put the Red Sox potential pitching lineup of Beckett, Lester, Dice K, and a combination of Bucholz and Wakefied up against anybody. The Sox bullpen of strong, young arms topped off with Wagner and Papelbon should be a great advantage for them too. Being 6.5 up in the Wild Card with 18 to go is a good feeling.

On a side note, before some circumstances prevented out plans from becoming a reality, my brother and I were planning on being in Boston with our wives this week and would have been at the last 2 games at Fewway. Would have been great ones!

Go Red Sox!

Manny being Manny..but not in Boston

Well, it finally happened. Manny Ramirez has finally worn out his welcome in Boston and in the process has joined the likes of Nomar and Pedro as guys who whined their way out of Boston long after their performance had dropped and they were living off past performance. What has Nomar provided the Cubs and Dodgers since he left? What has Pedro brought the Mets?

I will say that I was a Manny fan. I loved some of his antics, like going into the green monster and even some of his defensive miscues. When he performed, he was one of the top hitters in the game, maybe the best right handed hitter. However, Manny has hurt the Red Sox this year with his comments. He has divided the clubhouse and forced the hand of Theo Epstein. I think this will significantly hurt the Red Sox chances to make the playoffs. For these reasons, I am very disappointed and can no longer root for Manny. Not because he is no longer with the Sox, but because he has shown that he doesn't play the game for the right reasons. He is more concerned with listening to super-agent-and-possible-demon Scott Boras than with being the player he could be.

Here are some of the cold hard facts:
The Red Sox paid a lot of money and got probably the best years of Manny's baseball life. His Red Sox Stats - 245 HR's, 868 RBI's. However, he hit 20 hr's last year and 20 so far this year. Well off his pace. His RBI's - 88 last year and 68 so far this year. Way below past performance. His slugging percentage the last two years is 100 points lower. Manny has shown he is not the same hitter. Maybe its motivation. Maybe its getting older. Who knows.
Manny was a big boost for David Ortiz, but a big distraction with a lot of other players. He also lacks character. The Red Sox are better in the long run building a team off players like J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, and Jacoby Ellsbury. These are guys who are interested in being well compensated, but are more interested in playing baseball to the best of their ability.
The Red Sox were going to lose Ramirez at the end of the season anyway because his option was too much for his declined stats. The Sox are looking past this season and got a guy with similar stats for less money. One guy who called WEEI in Boston this afternoon said that basically the Red Sox gave up Brandon Moss (a fifth outfielder) and Craig Hansen (an underperforming bullpen pitcher) and two future draft picks (which they would have received when Manny walked) for Jason Bay for the next 2 years. For now, it looks liket the Sox gave up too much to get rid of a cancer. However, it's better than what they got for letting Pedro walk. In '04, Sox fans griped when they gave up beloved (and periennal whiner) Nomar for Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. But it helped them win the first world series in 86 years. I don't think that will happen this year, but who knows.

I hope that Jason Bay will pan out. Time will tell. For now, the Sox will move on. We will no longer hear the phrase "Manny being Manny" at Fenway Park. They are still one of the best teams in baseball. They have proven to be the most successful team in the game over the last 5 years. I hope that trend continues.

Curses...Foiled Again (Why are the Yankees sweating the Red Sox so much lately)

Yankees Unearth Hidden Red Sox Jersey from New Stadium

NEW YORK — A construction worker's bid to curse the New York Yankees by planting a Boston Red Sox jersey in their new stadium was foiled Sunday when the home team removed the offending shirt from its burial spot.

After locating the shirt in a service corridor behind what will be a restaurant in the new Yankee Stadium, construction workers jackhammered through the concrete Sunday and pulled it out.

The team said it learned that a Sox-rooting construction worker had buried a shirt in the new Bronx stadium, which will open next year across the street from the current ballpark, from a report in the New York Post on Friday.

Yankees President Randy Levine said team officials at first considered leaving the shirt where it was.

"The first thought was, you know, it's never a good thing to be buried in cement when you're in New York," Levine said. "But then we decided, why reward somebody who had really bad motives and was trying to do a really bad thing?"

On Saturday, construction workers who remembered the employee, Gino Castignoli, phoned in tips about the shirt's location.

"We had anonymous people come tell us where it was, and we were able to find it," said Frank Gramarossa, a project executive with Turner Construction, the general contractor on the site.

It took about five hours of drilling Saturday to locate the shirt under 2 feet of concrete, he said.

On Sunday, Levine and Yankees CEO Lonn Trost watched as Gramarossa and foreman Rich Corrado finished the job and pulled the shirt from the rubble.

In shreds from the jackhammers, the shirt still bore the letters "Red Sox" on the front. It was a David Ortiz jersey, No. 34.

Trost said the Yankees had discussed possible criminal charges against Castignoli with the district attorney's office.

"We will take appropriate action since fortunately we do know the name of the individual," he said.

A woman who answered the phone at Castignoli's home in the Bronx on Sunday said he was not there.

A spokesman for Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson said Sunday he did not know whether any criminal charges might apply.

Levine said the shirt would be cleaned up and sent to the Jimmy Fund, a charity affiliated with Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Along with that, New York will send a Yankees Universe T-shirt, which is sold to benefit Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

"Hopefully the Jimmy Fund will auction it off and we'll take the act that was a very, very bad act and turn it into something beautiful," he said.

'Nuff Said

The Evil Empire Attempts to Strike Back...(or why Hank Steinbrenner should learn to shut his mouth)

Alright boys and girls. Time to get back to writing. I was thinking a lot this week what I could write about. Been real busy getting little league baseball and soccer going for Nathan and Drew, catching up on work after being out a week, and clearing things off the honey-do list. Then I wake up this morning and watch SportsCenter and see this following quote from Hank Steinbrenner:

"Red Sox Nation?" Hank says. "What a bunch of [expletive] that is. That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans. Go anywhere in America and you won't see Red Sox hats and jackets, you'll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We're going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order."

Alright, never mind the fact that Hank Steinbrenner is a fat, obnoxious nobody who has ridden the coattails of his windbag father and now takes over the reigns of the best team money can buy. It's already an established fact that the Yankees are the "Evil Empire". That would make old papa George "Darth Sidious" and Hank would be "Darth Maul". (Let's not forget that Darth Maul ended up chopped in half and falling down a dark hole.)

I will give credit where credit is due. At the end of the 90's, the Yankees won 3 of 4 World Series and were the most dominant team around. They also have won many more World Series titles than any other team (a feat they like to talk a lot about). However, they have also consistently spent astronomically more for talent than any other team in baseball and have nothing to show for it this century. King George has finally learned not to run down the farm system and pay for overpriced traitors like Judas Demon (Johnny Damon). While the Yankees are falling down, look who has won 2 World Series in 4 years. Look who unseeded them as the top team in the AL East last year. Look who has more young home grown talent on the field and is beating them with a bunch of kids. The Boston Red Sox. The Rebellion has finally begin to take over and that has Darth George and Hank Maul upset. So what is their reaction, deny the greatness and the depth of the New World Order - The Red Sox Nation.

Go ahead Hank - be ignorant of the truth. It probably is true that the Yankees still sell more apparel than the Red Sox. Lots of people love the Yankees. The Raiders used to sell more than any football team and they suck! However, don't deny the fact that the Red Sox have an army of volunteers and it's growing everyday. I live in Birmingham and I see as many Red Sox hats around the park here as I do the Evil Empire.

And about this ESPN has created the Red Sox Nation thing - come on! The Yankees are almost always one of the first highlights during the baseball season - even when they suck! The media is madly in love with Darth George and his legion of soldiers, Derek "watch me stick out my butt" Jeter, Alex "I cheat on my wife with an exotic dancer" Rodriguez, Joba "I can't pitch with all these flies" Chamberlin, Jason "I sucked ever since they made me stop doing 'roids" Giambi, Johnny "I'm a traitor for money" Damon, and Roger "I got jacked up on 'roids, no I didn't" Clemmens.

The Red Sox dominated last season, they will probably dominate you this season. However, you'll have enough money to buy all the players you want and soon you will win the division and then choke in the playoffs just like you have done every other year this century.

Go Sox!