Sox Are Firing on All Cylinders, Yankees In Their Sights
Boston 8, Fade-a-Rays 5 | Injured Sox Insult Tampa Bay Lack Stays on Track: No Luck Needed for Win No. 9 A Big Blast from David Ortiz Blows It Open AL MVP Adrian Beltre Goes 4-for-4 and Avoids Another Collision Hall of Fame: Second Base Sub Leads the Replacement Killers Oki Choki, Bard Is Bad to the Bone, Pap Steals a Save
"David was ready for a fastball and he got it. It changed the game." -- Tito on Papi's blast
�We had some bad times, what stuck with me was that every day, these guys expect to win. That rubs off on everybody after a while. It did with me. I know people will say these injuries will get to us. But we�re going to expect to win every day no matter who is playing. That�s the way it is with this team. It feels like a family now." -- Darnell McDonald on weathering the storm
Third Time Is the Charm for Pedroia Sox Avoid Being Swept Away
Boston 13, Denver 11 | Pedroia Rescues Sox Does Cano Get 15 Total Bases in One Game? The Quiet Superstar: Beltre Stays Red Hot, Best 3B in AL Can You Even Get a Bag of Balls for Papelbon on July 31? Maybe He Needs to Focus on More Dunkin' Donuts and Used Car Commercials? Stop the Madness: Make Bard the Closer Now
"That was a crazy game. It was mentally draining. I'm just happy we won." -- Dustin Pedroia, the MVP version, is back
Colorado 8, Boston 6 | Rockies Have a Blast So What Exactly Do We Have with John Lackey? 5th Starter? Late June, and the Sox are Led By Nava and McDonald. Who Knew? Jimenez? No Problem. Street, Morales, Belisle, Corpas = Problems Bright Side: V-Mart Swinging a Big Bat
The Rockies May Crumble, the Sox May Stumble, and We've Still Got Clay, So the Battle for First Place Is Here to Stay
Colorado 2, Massachusetts 1 | Sox Can't Mount Much Offense in Loss While You Are Reading This: Your Grandmother Is Beating Mike Lowell to First Base Chacin Redemption: Can Anyone Forgive Scoring Just One Run Off This Kid? Bad News Barmes: A Cheap Win for Colorado Has Us Bad Hopping Mad Life Is Not Fair in the Thin Air: Lester Takes a Rarefied Loss You Just Can't Stop Beltre From Hitting
"My first thought that came to my mind was 'That was sick.' We knew Lowell wasn't running so well, so we were all yelling, 'Take your time and just make a good throw.' And he did." -- Colorado's Ryan Spilborghs
Steve Buckley, Boston Herald column: �'He said he misbehaved at times and that he regrets some of the things he did in Boston,' [Red Sox Spanish Beisbol Network play-by-play announcer Uri] Berenguer said during a break in last night�s 2-0 Red Sox win. �He never said he was sorry, but he did say, �I was dumb.� He said it twice.'�
Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe, On Baseball: "Ramirez Berenguer Saturday that he regretted his trans gressions in Boston. 'There�s no reason I should have behaved that way in Boston,' Ramirez told Berenguer in a 45-minute private conversation in Spanish.
"Berenguer said that Ramirez no longer speaks of retirement, and said that the length of his career will be determined by a higher power. Berenguer said Ramirez has found God, reads the Bible on a daily basis, and quoted scriptures constantly during their conversation."
"...Be glad there's one place in the world
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to go where people know,
People are all the same;
You want to go where everybody knows your name.
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came..."
Along with Their 0-13 Road Losing Streak. Too Bad.
Boston 8 Falling Arizona 5 | Sox Complete Sweep And the Boston Sports Spotlight Is Now Solely on Your Red Sox Hottest Team Beating Up on Bums: 12 Games Over .500, Just 2 Games Back John 'Reggie Cleveland' Lackey Has Somehow Managed 8 Victories Ortiz Is Hitting Like Manny's Back in the Lineup to Protect Him Pap Can't Understand Why He's Not Getting a Save for That
"He looks like the old David. He's taken some ferocious swings." -- Tito on the New Old Big Papi
... Closer to First Place Youk, Pedro Rake on Snakes, Sox Just 3 Games Out
Boston 6, The Immigration State 2 | Sox Stay on Target 8 in a Row and Right Back in the Cy Race for Lester Nice to See Old Orioles Punching Bag Rodrigo Lopez Hasn't Changed A Save So Easy, Even a Caveman Could Get It
"He's just a good player. You wind him up, and let him go play. He'll produce." -- Terry Francona on forgotten Sox superstar Dustin Pedroia
Mayor Menino Confirms 'Rolling Rally' for Manny's Return on Friday... Sort Of
Boston to Celebrate the Triumphant Return of '04 Series MVP Duck Boats Were Already Purchased for Planned Celtics Parade
BOSTON -- The city of Boston will celebrate the return of 2004 Red Sox World Series MVP Manny Ramirez with a "rolling rally" on Friday, Boston Mayor Tom Menino announced today.
Red Sox and Dodger players will ride on World War II-era amphibious duck boats and will take the same route as the 2004 and 2007 championship parades, except they won't go into the Charles River, Menino said.
The rally will begin at noon at Fenway Park and Lansdowne Street, circle Fenway Park, go up Boylston Street to Boston Common and end near City Hall.
Menino did say that Ramirez has "promised to do his now-famous dance routine" at several locations along the route and joked that the length of the parade would be determined by how long Ramirez danced.
"The City of Boston is so excited to have Matty Rodriguez return to the place where he delivered the Stanley Cup to us. And he has to do a dance," Menino said. "He promised the people he would do a dance."
Menino acknowledged that he already paid for the rally for the Celtics before watching last night's pitiful performance. He shifted his attention to Manny this morning. Menino estimated security would cost $500,000, and that Manny would "probably" pick up the tab.
Boston Dirt Dogs will livestream the parade starting at 10 a.m. Friday. -- BDD Parody
Boston 6, Arizona 3 | Buchholz, Sox Good Enough These Aren't Your Father's Diamondbacks: 11 Straight Road Losses Winners Win When Their Winning: Clay Buchholz, 9-4, All-Star Ortiz Is All Washed Up Again, Hits Homer No. 13 Pedroia Finally Starting to Put It All Together Once in a Blue Moon, an Error for Youk Nice, Quiet Save for Papelbon
"That's the last guy I worry about." -- David Ortiz on the Little Pony Laser Show Resurrection
Boston 0, Cleveland Turned It Up to 11 | MasterSonofaGun Ortiz Is 1 for His Last 23! (Just Trying to Fire Him Up Again) Buch Wild, But Bonser and Nelson Really Blew Up the Jake He Never Threw 95 When We Had Him, But I Never Saw Masterson Pitch. Sincerely, Lou Gorman (Get Well Soon Lou) We'll Always Have Those Two One-Out Singles By V-M and JD No Free Pass: Pedroia 0-for -11 for Series, 17-for-101 (.168) Last 25 Games We Had a Pitcher Like That Lobie, Traded Him for V-Mart, Remember? Slam Dunk: Hafner Turned the Whole Game Around 14,022... Not Exactly Progressive
"When you walk that many, you're asking for trouble." -- Red Sox manager Terry Francona ripping Buchholz in the media
"I had no idea what was going on. I feel very blessed to wear this uniform for so long for an organization that believes in me. It's a tribute to never giving up. I'd like to pass that on to somebody on the bubble." -- Tim Wakefield, all class
Youk, Beltre, and the Rest of Your Boston Red Sox Are Virtual No-Shows in This Year's All-Star Vote
The City Made Famous for Putting Sox Players in the All-Star Game Just Gave Up Youk in 4th Place Trailing Morneau by 517,462 Votes? Beltre in 4th Place Trailing Longoria by 1,084,980 Votes? David Ortiz Trailing Vlad Guerrero By 812, 351 Votes? Even The Laser No-Show Is Trailing Cano By 568, 643 V-Mart Trailing Mauer By 1,535,732 Votes? No Red Sox Outfielders in the Top 15? Marco Scutaro? Not Even on the Map Voting Ends July 1, Get Going
... Does It Every Time... Well, Most of the Time, Lately.
Boston 4, Cleveland 1 | Sox Top Punchless Tribe Matsuzaka Is Suddenly a Cutter Above the Rest Sox Starters 8-0, 0.70 ERA in Last 9 Road Starts Double Trouble: Scu Scu Scutaro Stays Red Hot Don't Go Crazy, These Aren't Jim Thome's Indians Stop the Presses: Ortiz Busted Down the Line Old Home is Sweet for Victor
"I feel great seeing the ballpark again, and some ex-teammates, Dice-K did a great job pounding the zone and staying ahead of the hitters.... then he was able to throw his cutter, expand the zone a little bit, he did a great job." -- V-Mart postgame
There's a Shortstop on My Mind, All the Time, Scu Scu Scutaro
Marco Scutaro went 3-for-6 Friday night with a home run (for the second night in a row) and three runs scored, raising his average to .276 on the season.
Used in a Sentence: "Clay Buchholz is currently the ace of the Red Sox staff and the frontrunner to be named starting pitcher for the American League in this year's All-Star Game in Anaheim"
Boston 11, O's 0 | Birds Are Clay Pigeons Clay Ace is 5-0, 0.00 ERA in Last 5 Starts, 9 Straight on the Road 16 Sweet Hits Takes Care of Business at Fenway South Clay Don't Need No Stinkin' Strikouts with These Free Swingers Red Sox Have-to-Be-Named All-Stars Youk, Beltre Stay Red Hot Unless Earl Weaver's in the Dugout, and Palmer's on the Mound, It's the Lame Old O's
Money Talks
(AP)
Galarraga's Legit, Bud's Not
By Ron Sen, BDD contributor, founder of Red Sox Reality Check: Armando Galarraga lost a perfect game lin Detroit, what was the 21st perfect game in major league baseball history. Umpire Jim Joyce called a routine ground out a base hit, as though he were unaware of the historical significance of it all... or just oblivious. Joyce was man enough to acknowledge his mistake, apologizing to the Tiger pitcher after the game.
Commissioner Bud Selig has the power to change the error, using the best interests of baseball clause. What keeps him from doing so? Is it tradition, stupidity, possible testosterone deficiency, or fear of opening Pandora's Box?
Tradition and racism kept generations of African-Americans out of baseball. The tradition argument falls apart when acknowledging baseball's current use of replay for determination of disputed home runs, introduction of the designated hitter, changing the field dimensions by lowering the mound itself, and other revisions that have occurred in baseball.
Stubbornness is hardly unique to Selig. Baseball protests about its integrity, yet dragged its collective feet for years regarding drug testing, maybe because "chicks dig the long ball" and their money rolled in. Perhaps baseball fears interminable delays about the purity of the grand old pastime. Has anybody watched a Red Sox-Yankees game lately? Often it's like watching the last two minutes on an NBA game...in perpetuity. Some wanted to crucify Joe West for his keen sense of the obvious. Enforcing an "indisputable" standard works for the NFL, and managers could be given a finite number of challenges.
Are more nefarious forces at work? I doubt that, but if this were Yankee Stadium, and a right-hander named Phil Hughes had accomplished what Galarraga achieved, does anybody NOT think that Selig would be falling over himself to make things right?
I will always consider Galarraga's effort a perfect game. In fact, if fans wanted it to be so, they could simply vote with their wallets, targeting a future game day, let's say Sunday, to boycott MLB merchandise. Can you imagine owners calling Selig, demanding that he overturn the decision lest they lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue? Would you like to be a fly on the wall for those (expletive deleted) calls?
Baseball has an empowerment clause about the "best interests." Selig has the power to right the wrong that happened in Detroit. Yet ironically only the fans can make that happen. Money talks... keep you wallet in your pocket, and make Selig squirm and Galarraga the legitimate author of perfection.
Oakland 9, Because of Bogar 8 | 18 Hits and They Still Lose Sox Third Base Coach Runs Home Team Right Into the Loss Column Two Guys with Bad Feet: V-Mart and RunDMc Are Just the Guys to Send Hermida and Hall Can't Do It All Et Tu, Manny Del Timlin, Tim Wakuzaka?
"Feel free to re-run my Sveum Old Song and Dance piece with a line-through on Sveum and Bogar's name in its place... cost us a game against TB by getting a guy thrown out at home with nobody out and today he gets laboring V-Mart thrown out at home with nobody out... he can't do the job... it's pretty obvious.... a better throw would have had Victor by 30 feet. Bogar just panics... he forgets the situation, the runner, the on-deck hitter, the score... his mind goes blank. Brutal... I would definitely be getting tased right now if I were at Fenway... What Bogar did to us today was the equivalent of Doc reaching out and stealing the ball from Rondo as he dribbled down the sideline in crunch time." -- Kevin Hench... no one gets more furious about baserunning blunders
(Jonathan Wiggs / Globe Staff)
"Nobody out, two bad decisions and I got two runners thrown out. It's all about results, and obviously both times I was wrong." -- Tim Bogar, doing his best Jim Joyce after costing the Red Sox a win today
"If you watch the Zapruder film you can see secret service agent Tim Bogar Sr. waiving the Kennedy motorcade into Dealy Plaza... Commenting afterward Bogar Sr. said, 'Sure, I could see the guy with the
rifle in the school book depository but he's got to make a perfect shot.' " -- Endangered in Mass.
Boston 6, Oakland 4 | Sox Paced by Ortiz, Dice David Ortiz Continues to Put the Earf on His Shoulders. Sincerely, Randy Moss Can Scutaro Makes Us Forget Jacoby D'Ellsbury in the Leadoff Spot? Darnell McDonald Is No Ken Griffey Jr., But He's Workin' It Everyday No Walk in the Park, But Daisuke Quality-Start Matsuzaka Racks Up a Win Imagine the Bargaining Power the Sox Would Have Over Beckett Now? Pedroia's Still Scuffling, But He Grabs a Big RBI Bard Gettin' Nastier, Nice Save Paps
"My only thought was to dig in and keep battling. Things turned around." -- Matsuzaka, who hung tough for a change
Sox Climb Out of Hole in Second Half to Power Past A's
Boston 9, Oakland 4 | Lackey Lacking, Sox Pick Up Slack Double Trouble: V-Mart Has Career Night, 5-for-5, 4 Doubles So Far, John Lackey Looks Like the Second Coming of Dennis Lamp Holy Dan Duquette: Opponents Hitting .128 vs. Delcarmen, Best Among AL Relievers Sign of the Times: Where's Adrian Beltre's Long-Term Deal Theo? How About Trading for Iron Man Johnny Damon to Play Center Field? Ortiz Is 0-for-June, Release Him Immediately!
"He told me to hang in there, said he was going to take care of me. He did. It was pretty cool." -- John Lackey on Victor Martinez' Herb Brooks speech
Big Papi Hit on All the Right Notes in May. Will We Be Singing the Same Tune in June?
Boston 8, Not Playing Kansas Anymore 1 | May Fly Lester 6-2 and Even Better Than We Thought He Would Be May Big Papi: .363 Ave., 10 Homers, 27 RBIs, 100 Percent Swagger Bottoms Up: 'Tek, Hall, Cam Crank Up the Runs Not for Nothin' But Good Move Not Releasing Varitek and Ortiz Theo I Can't Believe Cameron Just Got His First 2 RBIs. Sincerely Jason Bay Note to Paps: Even Joe Nelson Can Do It
"People started trash talking too early." -- David Ortiz... keep the vendetta going
Buch Stops Here
(Barry Chin / Globe Staff)
Ending Losing Streak is a Feat of Clay
Boston 1, KC Zip | May Fly Clay on Fire: 3-0, 1.32 ERA Last 3 Starts Mike Lowell Drives in the Winner... Sort Of Dustin The-Defense-Never-Rests Pedroia
The "Curt�s Pitch
for ALS" program is a joint effort by Curt and Shonda Schilling and The
ALS Association Mass Chapter to strike out Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig�s Disease.
