My thoughts on the upcoming ALCS

Courtesy of Chowdaheadz.com

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Chavez Ravine has become "Mannyland"

Image courtesy of Boston.com

The original Red Sox Christmas present has just walked out the door; taking with him two others in a three-way trade with the Dodgers and the Pirates. the guy in return - Pirates OF Jason Bay. Not a big name but a solid occasional All-Star who's been in the NL all of his career. I had to let this whole idea of this trade sink in before commenting on it.

At first, I thought that the Sox gave up too much. Moss has shown brief flashes of being a solid player for years to come. Hansen, though, has gone from closer savior to 8th inning setup man with closer-quality to a BP pitcher. And while Manny was not hitting his usual .340, 30+, 70+, he was still a feared hitter and great protection for Big Papi. At best, they come away a wash on the deal; at worse, there are now bigger holes in both the batting order, less options from the bench and a dire lack of arms in the 'pen.

But after sleeping on it and reading some organizational insight from The Globe's Nick Carfaldo, it was apparent that this move was for the future good of the team. Manny definitely wanted out of Boston (based on his numerous quotables) and decided to hold his breath until he got his way. At least Bay is on the hook for one more year and is a total and direct opposite of a malcontent. In terms of fielding and base-running, Bay will be a solid upgrade; albeit not as adventurous or lackadaisical as the once patroller of The Wall's front lawn.

It's very hard to see a future 1st ballot HOF go to the Red Sox - Left Coast Division but it was obvious it will be the best for all in involved. The Sox can now concentrate on completing in the very tough AL playoff race, The Pirates start their perpetual Building for the Future (which they been doing since 1993) and the Dodgers get a solid clean-up hitter with so many quirks that the only place he could fit in is one where fantasy and reality are in constant flux.

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Your Random Facts for May 5

Like Rajon, still shaking the cobwebs out from yesterday's blowout and a pre-Cinco De Mayo party. So, here's your random facts for today:

1. Friday's predictions went 0 fer 2 with the Celts taking all seven games to beat the Hawks and Iron Man not quite doing as well as I thought but the film might still make it to #1 all-time for the first week of May if the weekend figures are recalculated according to Variety.
2. Best Quote of all time - "It's kind of freaky knowing you're diving into somebody's grandpa," said center fielder Coco Crisp (from The Boston Globe's article on fans who want their ashes spread at Fenway with the main subject sharing a first name with yours truly.)

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Your 5 Random Facts for April 28th

Here's to kissing in a new idea. Let me know if you like it in the comments section.

1. Iron Man is gonna be the hit that the trailers are making it out to be judging by the critical love the movie is getting. Rotten Tomatoes has the movie at 86% fresh (which would be higher if Kirk Honeycutt's "marvel-ous" review from the Hollywood Reporter was counted).
2. That old man who is accused of kidnapping his daughter for 24 years over in Austria is on serious sicko.
3. John Clayton needs to get more familiar with a dictionary if he thinks that the Patriots are losers on the first day of this year's NFL Draft. From where I'm sitting, paying less for a top-quality player in a deep LB pool is a good thing.
4. The Sox were swept by the Rays is more indicative of how much better the team from Tampa is right now than the offensive slump that the Sox are in.
5. Kellogg's has cornering the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls tie-in stuff with swag such as an adventure spoon, a canteen, a search light, and for $11.99 (plus token), the Raiders of the Lost Ark DVD in Widescreen format, no less. Click here to find all of the merch available.
   

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Sox win the series but lose the curse

The Beantown Nine won the rubber game against the Yanks tonight by the score of 8-5 but they possibly lost the New Yankee Stadium curse. The alleged shirt that was dropped in the foundation for the new stadium was located and extracted by the construction company that is responsible for doing the work on the stadium. It was reported that it took about five hours to unearth the shirt from two feet of concrete. Here's some footage courtesy of NECN:

Man, you got to love this rivalry for this sole reason, other than seeing the Steinbrenners pay Union weekend overtime wages just to find a piece of interred clothing. Maybe the curse wasn't something that would ever happen but you know that Yankees management couldn't take a chance for the infamous shirt to become a possible redux of the now World Famous curse, The Curse of the Bambino. This curse is only second to The Curse of Being Vanilla Ice.

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Red Sox get their rings and the shutout

The tired nine from Beantown had their season opener today in Fenway. Not only did they get their 2007 World Series rings but they got back to .500 for the 2008 season with a 5-0 shutout over the oddly slumping Detroit Tigers. The Tigers, who were picked by many to be the AL Central Division winners, are now 0-7. For those who do not know anything about baseball, that is not good. Other highlights from the game:

• Billy Buck (Bill Buckner) threw out the first pitch and seemed to be poised to put the past behind him; hopefully, the media can help by not replaying that same friggin play (that grounder from Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the Mets) every time they have the opportunity. Show some restrain, you dolts.
• Danny Ainge and Bill Russell (Celtics), Tedy Bruschi (Patriots), and Bobby Orr (Bruins) along with various other players from the Boston sports organizations brought their World Championship hardware for the celebration.
• Red Sox legendary Johnny Pesky raised the World Series pennant with a little help from Big Papi.

If you want the in-game details or more info on the celebration, you can hit the Boston Globe website.

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Red Sox players are stand up guys for BoSox staff

Breaking news just this after noon as the Boston Red Sox players unanimously agreed to boycott today's final spring training game and refuse to board their charter plane to Japan based on the fact that MLB withdrew a $40K stipend to the team's coaching and training staff.


However, this brouhaha might be over as soon as it began as it appears that there is a settlement in the works, according to the Boston Globe:

The Boston Red Sox have returned to the field for their spring training
game, now scheduled to begin an hour late amid a boycott over pay dispute for
their Japan trip. The players had refused to play the final spring
training game in Florida and threatened to boycott their flight to Japan for
their season openers unless their coaches and other staff are paid for the trip.
There has been some type of settlement in the coaches dispute or at least
progress made. We'll have more as news comes out.

It must be good for the MLBPA to see its members take such a positive public stand; especially since the union has been taking a beating from all of the non-preventative action they took about the league's steroids epidemic.

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"Just drivin around in John Voight's car.."

"It isn't the end of the world that I'm selling my car."

Are you in the market for a formerly-owned car and don't care what may or may not have happened in it? Have approximately $50 grand laying around that's looking for a good home? Lastly, are you an eBay member in good standing? Well sir or madam, I've got the opportunity of a lifetime for you. It seems that due to the recent success of selling his BBQ grill on the eBay, Manny Ramirez has decided to part with his '06 Chrysler 300M STR8 using the internet auction warehouse according to Jerry Nasif, the person who is handling the car sale for the Red Sox slugger.

The car comes standard with the following added features: 22-inch rims, chrome as far as the eye can see and a customer grill. Plus, Nasif says that Manny will throw in "a trunk full of autographed items, a jersey, bat and ball, four tickets to a future Red Sox game and a meet-and-greet with Manny to talk about the car." But no word on who's gonns pay for the gas.

Are you worried about a high starting bid and a expensive reserve? Fuggetaboutit. "...Nasif said he will start the bidding at $5,000 and won’t set a reserve. But he expects the ride to sell for something in the neighborhood of $50,000..."“It’s probably worth around $35,000,” he said. “But we’ll get an extra $10,000 or so because it was Manny’s.”" Because, as you know, celebrity is all about the Benjamins.

Are you scared about seeing tons of fake bids in order to artifically raise the price of this wonderous piece of American machinery? Fuggetaboutit. "We are only working with bidders who have 100 percent positive feedback on eBay,” Nasif said. “That way people can’t just register to bid on this.” So, too bad for those eBayers who have been screwed by a vindictive seller who gave you a negative becuase you were one day late with your payment.

In other words, for those of you who have the disposable cash and the eBay cred, this car is practically yours for the taking. Then you will really know what is like for Manny to be Manny. At least when he's driving; not running the base paths.

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Prepare for the Backlash

I know that I might be blowing this all out of proportion but to hear that the Red Sox have been declared by anyone, much less USA Today, as "America's Team" must be a sign of the Apocalypse. Seriously, to have this moniker attached to any sports team is akin to being called overrated or overhyped. While the times that I spent chronicling some of my feelings on the Sox when I was writing my comic book column (Preachin' from the Longbox for those who have a short memory or haven't read the sidebar) during the 2004 season was like being a part of something bigger than yourself; almost like you were attuned to the power cosmic and knew that this was going to be the year.

But once they won the World Series, the sports fans' equivalent of blood sucking leeches, otherwise known as the"casual" fan, began their life-draining attachment to my team. It's not that I have this inane idea that they are my team and my team alone. But to see the plethora of Sox merch on people who didn't suffer the '78, '86 or even the '03 heartbreaks is revolting.

Luckily for me, the USA Today idea seems to have fallen flat. One of the online repsonses to the article showed a link to a recent Harris poll that shows the Yanks as still secure in their #1 ranking since 2003. One cause for concern is that the Sox have steadily grown in popularity from #6 in '03 to #3 in '07. Although if it means a few more World Series crowns, I'll take being called "America's Team".

Newsfeed: USA Today
Other Links: Harris Poll

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Image of the Day for 08-13-08

Image courtesy of Rueters via Boston.com/sports

Eric Gagne, recently acquired by the Sox, has decided to blow up any chance of Boston of keeping their lead in the AL East. He has proven that there is no lead that he cannot give up as he done so twice since coming to the Sox. He's gone from a "Fireman" (baseball term for saving games) to an Arsonist proven by his egregiously bad 16.20 ERA in four appearances for the Red Hose. Based on those facts, I will now only refer this guy only as "Gagme".

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Image of the Day for 08-06-07

Photo coutesy of NESN

Red Sox OF Coco Crisp gets sideswiped on his way out to the field by the hard driving Seattle Moose. Crisp also was hit by a pitch during the game, which Boston won 9-2.

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It's all New England, all the time at the Worldwide Leader

With all the crap that was being dredged up like barbaric mongrel fights, gambling scandals, steroids use, and rampant doping, a day like today is what the sports world needed; at least in the New England region of that world. And thankfully, ESPN has covered it all for you. Here's the short list:

• Jeff Chadiha writes about how Adalius Thomas is the one, not Randy Moss, who will determine the fate of the Patriots' season since the defense lost the AFC Championship last year by giving up a 21-3 lead and Thomas plays a position where the Pats are becoming pretty long in the tooth. Wow, that's very insightful. I bet anyone who watched that same game in January (especially in the fourth quarter) would've never noticed that one. Sorry, you might think that this load of sarcasm is unwarranted but really, who couldn't see that the biggest free agent out there this past off-season would be a key ingredient. I'm sorry but I think that even with my limited writing abilities, I could've written that column.
• Right before the close of the trading deadline, the Red Sox pick up former stud closer now set-up guy Eric Gagne from the Rangers' fire sale for mere junk. This acquisition comes right on the heels of dumping Joel Pineiro to the Cards for the always used "Minor League Player To Be Named Later". Right now, the Yanks are wondering what it will be like to be home for the bulk of October.
• And who could forget the biggest trade in history (outside of video games) that involves only one player from one side and five players plus two draft picks from another? Yes, this may be the year that I plunk down the money for a KG jersey. And there is already speculation that a team with the hydra head of Pierce-Allen-Garnett and a bunch of 10-day contracts from the NBADL still might not be enough to win the Eastern Conference championship. Are they for real? If the Cavs could win it with basically just LeBron (finally taking over in most of the games that he plays), the Celtics should borrow an old line from their Yawkey Way brethren and say, "Why Not Us?" And I would agree since Detroit is one year older with an embattled coach, Miami is just old, the Wizards will never play D and Cleveland will suffer a sophomore slump this upcoming year. This lull of power in the Eastern Conference is primed for a Boston renaissance. Mark my words, people.

Sorry fans of in other regions of the nation and the world, today, the sun rises and sets on the six collective states that comprise New England. And as a former Maine townie, this comes from the heart - Go TEAMS!

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A Fanatic Medley - July 23, 2007

Rather than do one long ass post, I've decided to mash-up a "Fanatic Medley" of the news items that caught my eye over the past weekend and something that is upcoming this week:

• Boston won the Battle of the Soxes as the Red ones swept the White ones from Chicago. That certainly makes up for the stumbling that they did against the lowly Royals. The downside to this three game win streak (if there is such a thing) is the Yanks practically destroyed the Rays and kept pace with the surging Sox. This AL East pennant isn't going to come easily. Tonight, Jon Lester, 11 months removed from being treated for anaplastic large cell lymphoma, is on the mound and if there a dry eye in Fenway, they're a heartless bastard. Not everyone needs to be a Red Sox fan but for tonight, everybody should be a Jon Lester fan.
• On the DVD front, The Secrets of Isis - The Complete Series comes out tomorrow and from what I hear, the transfer from the film to DVD was not cleaned up and unfortunately shows its age. Normally, the idea of a grainy or poppy transfer would scare the hell out of me but since this old Filmation classic is finally seeing a DVD release, I'm not going to hesitate buying this one.
• One of the more recent additions to the DC Comics library has been the releasing of Showcase trades. These books offer a huge value for consumers with a list price of around $17 for over 500 pages of classic black and white content. One of these Showcase books that was released at the beginning of the month was Showcase Presents: Batgirl, Vol. 1. Heidi over at Comics Fairplay gave it a glowing review stating "The Showcase Presents: Batgirl collection is a perfect addition to any collection. If you catch it on your retailer’s shelf grab a copy. It is worth the price of admission to relive the glory days of one of the most daring heroines in DC’s annals."

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