Day 160: Now THIS is Fun Red Sox Baseball!

Didn't I say just a few days ago what a fan I was of pitchers' duels? Just kidding... I think I like these big offensive attacks much better. They're waaaay more fun to watch. And the come from behind wins are even better! After that 20-4 drubbing of the Tigers last week, I thought for sure the Red Sox would hit a dry streak. I was petrified that they used up all their runs for the week in that one game. 

I was wrong.

In the past four games, the Red Sox bats have been hot... so hot, in fact, that my Aunt Jean says you could fry an egg on them! I would have to agree. The Sox have scored 54 runs in the last four days—34 runs in the first three games of their current series with the Yankees. But none of these wins has been easy.

The first game of the series with the Yankees on Thursday night was a bit of a challenge. The Sox had a 7-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning when the Yankees exploded for six runs and took an 8-7 lead. When I went to bed, it was the top of the ninth, Mariano Rivera was on the mound for the save and I felt pretty confident that the Sox would lose. Last year, they would've have lost for sure. So imagine my surprise when I woke up and I found just the opposite had happened. Boston tied it up in the ninth and then won it in the 10th, 9-8.

Friday night, the tables were turned. The Yankees were up 8-3 going into the seventh inning. This is about the time I awoke from my couch slumber. So Mike Carp walked to load the bases and Dustin Pedroia singled to cut the deficit to 8-4. And that brought up Mike Napoli who floated one out to right field that looked easily catchable, but just cleared the fence for a grand salami and a tie game. The Sox scored four more in the eighth to put the game out of reach and win 12-8.

I think today's game was the most stressful of all. After five innings, the Sox bats had staked John Lackey to a 12-3 lead—the most run support he's gotten all year. But the Yankees chipped away and cut the deficit to 12-9 with four runs in the sixth and two in the eighth. I couldn't bare the thought of Lackey not getting this win after the string of shit luck he's had this season so I almost couldn't watch. With an insurance run in the ninth and an uneventful last at bat for the Yanks, the Sox squeaked out game three, 13-9.

As it stands right now, the Red Sox now have an eight game lead in the AL East. The Tampa Bay Rays' game is currently in progress so this can go a half game either way by morning. Ohmygodohmygod I'm totally hyperventilating at the prospect of the Sox finally making it back to the post season... I just don't want to jinx it so I won't get too excited just yet. But you've heard that song and dance before.

This team has been so much fun to watch, I hope I get to do so right through the month of October.

Day 159: Football is Back, Bitches!

Football, football, football! It's that football time of year. Fall is right around the corner, the air is crisp and cool... well maybe it wasn't exactly crisp or cool in Denver last night, but crisp air is coming soon! The first game of the NFL season customarily features the reigning Super Bowl Champs as hosts, so Thursday night saw the *gag* Baltimore Ravens *vomit* take on the Denver Broncos.

There was just one problem. The game wasn't in Baltimore. Seems the NFL... the king of all sports... couldn't strong arm the Orioles into moving their scheduled night game back a few hours, and the city of Baltimore wouldn't allow the two teams to play at the same time due to their close proximity. What a shit show that would've been. But really Orioles? This is football—they play one game a week.

So the NFL moved the game to Denver and then plastered the stadium with giant Joe Flacco faces. If there was ever a reason for the Broncos to go out and kick some Raven ass, this was it. Fans were incensed. Peyton and the boys needed to show them exactly whose house they were in. Plus, they were looking for revenge from the loss the Ravens handed them in the divisional round of last year's playoffs. The cards were stacked against Baltimore from the get-go.

After a 33 minute weather delay due to a lightening storm in the area, the two teams took the field. Baltimore struck first about halfway through the first quarter and surprisingly the Ravens held a 17-14 lead at the half. The Broncos opened the second half with a touchdown to take a 21-17 lead and never looked back. The final score: 49-27. *whip cracking sound*

As much as I hate to admit it, Peyton Manning was awesome. His stats were astounding—he went 27-for-42 for 462 yards, seven touchdown passes, no interceptions and a QB rating of 141.1. That seven touchdown performance ties a league record and hasn't been done since 1969. Of the six quarterbacks who have ever accomplished that feat, Manning is one of just two that did it without a pick.

Our old friend Wuss Wes Welker held his own last night. He caught nine passes—the most of any Broncos receivers—for 67 yards and he scored two touchdowns. However... Welker did muff a punt at his the Denver four yard line which lead to an easy Ravens score. So that made me snicker a bit. And it also raised the question as to why he even attempted to catch the ball and didn't just let it bounce into the end zone for a touchback. Maybe he thought *twitch* Bill Belichick would *twitch* yell at him if he didn't *twitch* try to catch it. Snap out of it Wuss Wes...

Now it's time to bring on the Patriots! Bring on Tom Brady and Danny Amendola and Vince Wilfork. Bring on the snacks and beer and comfy spot on the couch. And bring on a rain shower at about 1pm so I don't feel guilty about not being outside on a beautiful day. I can't wait for Sunday!

Day 158: Boston Bats Come Up Seriously Big.

I totally was going to write a post about football tonight with it being the opening night of the season and all. And about how ridiculously excited I am to have a valid reason to lounge around on the couch all afternoon on Sunday and eat food that's really, really bad for me. I was going to write about being in a football pool which makes every single game of the weekend critical and intriguing... not just the Patriots game.

And then last night happened.

Wednesday night's rubber match between the Red Sox and Tigers exploded into a storm of runs. Twenty, to be exact. Yes, 2-0. No pitcher on the Tigers' staff was safe. If you didn't read yesterday's post, I mentioned that while I love a nice pitchers' duel, I also love it when "balls are just flying out of the park and the bases are always busy." DO THE RED SOX HAVE MY HOUSE BUGGED? MY COMPUTER? It's like they knew... Oh. Em. Gee. Are they reading this blog?

So much happened in the 20-4 ass whooping that I'm not sure where to start. It's hard to believe that the Red Sox actually trailed in this game... for like a half a second. What's a better way to summarize than with a few bulleted highlights.

• The Red Sox scored in every inning except the first, with their most production coming in the sixth when they scored eight runs.
• David Ortiz had a monster night going 3-for-5 with two home runs, three runs scored and four RBIs and also hit his 2,000 hit.
• Will Middlebrooks also had a helluva night going 3-for-5 with grand slam, two runs scored and four RBIs.
• Jacoby Ellsbury, Daniel Nava, Mike Napoli, Ryan Lavarnway and Stephen Drew all hit home runs.
• The eight home runs for the Sox ties a franchise record.
• Ten different players drove in runs for the Sox.
• How pissed must John Lackey be that they can't score all those runs for one of his starts?

I'm sure I wasn't the only one yelling at the television for them to stop scoring runs and save some for the weekend series against the Yankees. I swear if they get shut out at any point over the next four games, I'm going to blame their greedy run scoring against the Tigers. And I'm going to be super pissed.

But damn, it was fun!! Let's do it again soon... like tonight.

Day 157: Jon Lester Shows Up Max Scherzer in Classic Duel.

If you had asked me to predict the outcome of this three-game series between the Red Sox and Tigers, I would definitely have anticipated a loss in the game two Lester v. Scherzer matchup. Max Scherzer has been nothing short of brilliant this season, coming into Tuesday night's game with a Major League leading 19-1 record — a shoo-in for the AL Cy Young. Lester has been good, better lately, but clearly in over his head in this matchup.

Well, it's a good thing I'm not making predictions for a living. I'd be living in a box under a bridge because I suck. It's also a good thing that I didn't have any money riding on this one. We actually got just the opposite — a classic pitchers' duel between the top two teams in the American League. A preview, perhaps, of the ALCS?

Jon Lester's last 10 games have been an improvement over the first half of the season. He has given up more than three earned runs just once and his ERA since July 13 is a pretty skimpy 2.59. Scherzer, on the other hand, has been nearly unbeatable with a season ERA of 2.88. And when the Tigers struck first, scoring a run in the second, I thought that was all it would take.

In the bottom of the fifth, all that changed. After Mike Carp led off the inning with a strike out, Jonny Gomes followed with one of his two hits of the night. (He was the only Red Sox batter to have multiple hits.) Next Stephen Drew bashed a ground-rule double into right-center forcing Gomes to stop at third. David Ross struck out, but then Will Middlebrooks slapped a single up the middle to score two and take the lead.

And then the nail biting starts... with four frames left for the Tigers to attempt a comeback, I nearly chewed off the entire tips of my fingers. But both Lester and the bullpen thwarted any and all efforts by the Tigers' bats, and then it was time for closer Koji Uehara's. I'm loving this guy. I love his fire and enthusiasm, and of course, his strikeouts. He put down the Tigers 1-2-3, striking out the last two guys, for his 17th save of the season.

I love a game when balls are just flying out of the park and the bases are always busy, but a pitchers' duel like this one is just as fun!

Day 156: Everything's Bigger in Texas... Including High School Football Finishes!

Remember the television show Friday Night Lights? This show was a great mix of football heroics with a dash of steamy romance and a heaping spoonful of high school angst. So naturally it's one of my all-time favorites and I often miss watching the Dillon Panthers of West Texas with their fiery leader, Coach Eric Taylor and the rugged yet boozy fullback, Tim Riggins. Thank heavens for Netflix, that's all I can say. (FYI: All five seasons are streaming on Netflix...)

High school football is just getting started around the country and already in this young season is a play worthy of one you could only see on a television show. It could've been Brian "Smash" Williams ducking and weaving through a sea of opposing players, all of whom just wanting to crush him. But it wasn't made for television... it was, however, made in Texas.

"Everything's bigger in Texas." Isn't that the saying? Evidently that saying pertains to high school football plays—and this play is going to be a hard one to beat! Yahoo! Sports Prep Rally did a pretty damn good job of setting up the scenario.

The video you see below, which was brought to Prep Rally's attention by the good folks at Bob's Blitz, comes from a game between Copperas Cove (Tx.) High and A&M Consolidated (Tx.) High, a highly-ranked grudge match between well respected Class 5A Texas squads. With Copperas Cove holding a 41-38 lead with just one second left on the clock, the Bulldogs decided that the best way to seal a huge early season home victory was to use a squib kick on the ensuing kickoff.  

That was an enormous mistake. 

Instead of a clean, quiet conclusion, what ensued was the freak kickoff return to end all kickoff returns. Tigers running back Brandon Jackson fielded the squib cleanly and cut up field ... then cut back again and eventually appeared cornered. That's when he shoveled the ball off to fellow running back Derrick Dick, who had no problem taking the ball the rest of the way to the end zone.  

No time left, six points A&M Consolidated, 44-41 victory, Tigers.

Watch and just try not to be in awe of this play... and try not to think of what the coach of the losing team had to say in that locker room after the game. Special teams might be doing a few more suicide drills in the next practice.

Day 155: Red Sox Complete Weekend Sweep of White Sox

I love a nice weekend series sweep. Especially when the team breathing down your neck in second place is having some troubles, falling farther behind in the standings. But that's none of my business and I won't talk badly about them risking some sort of jinx. It's no secret the Chicago White Sox are struggling this year—they're 23 games back, dead last in the AL Central so the Red Sox needed to take advantage of their woes.

The Red Sox never trailed in the three-game series, scoring early and often to give themselves the best chance possible of taking all three games. The pitching was excellent with the starters combining for nine earned runs total. This needs to continue to happen as the head into the final stretch.

Friday night's game was Ryan Dempster's first start since he was suspended for rightfully plunking Alex Rodriguez on August 18th. It appears the extra days of rest were just what he needed for his seventh win of the season. He gave up just three earned runs on five hits over 6.1 innings. And while the bats were relatively quiet—only six total hits in the 4-3 win—hitters were patient and drew seven walks. Koji Uehara remains steadfast in the closer roll pitching a 1-2-3 ninth for his 15th save.

Jake Peavy continues to prove his worth by allowing just two runs in the 7-2 win on Saturday. The Sox bats exploded for 15 hits with seven of the nine starters having at least two hits. It could've been a lot worse for the White Sox—Boston left 11 men on base. I love games like this when the base paths are busy and the pitching is stingy.

The series finale on Sunday was a real back and forth see-saw battle, and although the Red Sox never fell behind, Chicago nipped at their heels for most of the latter half of the game. Luckily, Boston held on for a 7-6 win and now enjoy a five and a half game lead on the second place Tampa Bay Rays. This game was a real nail biter and the Red Sox needed six pitchers to get the job done—including another 1-2-3 ninth from Uehara for his 16th save.

The Red Sox have 24 games remaining, including today's game which is still in progress (and not looking very promising.) Nineteen of those games are within their division and include a three-game series in Tampa. So needless to say, September is going to be a challenge.

Day 154: Ding, Dong, Tebow's Gone.

Well... the great Tim Tebow experiment of 2013 is finally over. And guess what... it failed. But then again, we kind of all had the feeling it would, didn't we? At least if the Patriots insisted on keeping him at quarterback—a position he clearly has no business playing judging from his career 47.9% completion percentage. To give you a point of reference, Tom Brady has the 6th highest completion percentage among active QBs at 63.7%.

Tebow is a pretty solid guy. I mean at 6-2, 236 he's not a lot smaller than former Patriots tight end, Aaron Hernandez... and we know he's not going to be catching any passes this fall. So why didn't they try to groom him into something other than a third string quarterback? He has rushed before, he could probably catch a pass... so was it Tebow's decision to continue down the path of QB? Or did he ask Coach Belichick to give him a chance somewhere else on the field?

The former Heisman Trophy winner and National Champion from Florida just had too much going against him. His ball release is too slow which makes him an easy target for hungry linebackers. When he does get a pass off, it's wobbly and incredibly inaccurate, often times falling short of the intended receiver. And sure, he can scramble his way out of almost any situation, but most scrambling quarterbacks can also throw too.

Seeing Tebow's troubles makes me really appreciate what Tom Brady does. The way he drops back for a pass, and within a matter of seconds, sees the field, his options, the coverage, makes a decision and either throws to a receiver or throws it away. If the great Bill Belichick couldn't fix this kid, I'm not sure anyone can.

So where will Tebow end up? Does he try his luck north of the border? Arena league? At 26, is his short career in the NFL kaput? Like with all he's done in the NFL and his life leading up to this point, Tim Tebow took his release with dignity and class. He posted the following tweets(s):

"I would like to thank Mr. Kraft, Coach Belichick, Coach McDaniels and the entire Patriots organization for giving me the opportunity to be part of such a classy organization. I pray for nothing but the best for you all. I will remain in relentless pursuit of continuing my lifelong dream of being an NFL quarterback."

I've never been a big Tebow fan, but I wish him well in his pursuit and hope he finds a home somewhere. I'm just glad it won't be with the Patriots.