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1 Sox, 0 Rays

Thank God for Dustin Pedroia because I did not want to stay up any longer to be honest. It was 16 innings, 5 hours long and once Papelbon closed the door in the 16th, I could finally go to sleep.

This game shouldn't have gone this long to begin with, 1st the Tampa Bay relievers walked 10 batters, and in the 9th A Gon popped out in a clutch situation and in 10th he grounded out to the shift.

Josh Reddick made a stellar catch in the 10th robbing Justin Ruggiano that certainly would have been an extra base hit.

Josh Beckett and Jeff Niemann both looked great, giving up a combined 3 hits over 8 innings apiece. It's good to see Beckett is over that devastating "knee injury".

Red Sox @ Rays Preview

Thank God that All-Star break is over. I really couldn't care less about the HR Derby, who did and didn't show, or the All-Star game itself, so I am ready for the 2nd half to get going. Tonight be get Andrew Miller against David Price.

Tampa Bay has taken three of the first five games with Boston, one of them coming when David Price won 3-2 at Fenway after allowing two runs in 7 2/3 innings. Price is one of the best left handers in baseball, but is having a little bit of a down year by his standards. He is only 8-7 on the year and has an ERA of 3.70. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I guess we are just spoiled of what he can do.

Miller hasn't lost as a member of the Red Sox. He is 3-0 with a 3.57 ERA, and has been a very nice surprise especially with all the injuries the Sox have had to deal with. The one thing I would like to see from Miller is him getting deeper into games. So far this season he has yet to make it past the 6 innings marker. That can come in time though.

Boston has won six of the last nine meetings in Tampa. Even though they are going against an ace tonight I think Boston will win, as they seem to play up when the chips are stacked against them.

Red Sox win 5-4
Player of the Game: Pedroia
Game starts at 7:10pm

4 Sox, 2 Rays

The good news is that Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Darnell McDonald all knocked in runs and the Red Sox won again. The bad news is that Clay Buchholz left the game in the 5th after giving up 2 hits, 1 run and only threw 81 pitches. Daniel Bard retired all four batters he faced and closer Jonathan Papelbon worked through a ninth-inning jam to earn his 13th save in 14 opportunities.

The Sox got to David Price early as they seemed to have men on bases the 1st couple innings, but he was able to straighten out and only let up 3 earned runs.

I don't know the extent of Buchholz injury but lets hope he's ok, because the Sox can't afford another starter to go on the DL.

Red Sox @ Rays Preview

Lost in all the awesomeness of the Bruins last night was Beckett's almost perfect game. Boston's offense didn't really hit their stride once again last night, and it could be even thougher tonight as Buchholz goes again David Price.

Price is 3-1 with a 2.54 ERA in four starts versus Boston. He is one of the toughest lefties in the majors, and the Sox could have trouble with him tonight. Buchholz has had a hell of a career against the Rays going 3-2 with a 1.81 ERA, and has allowed three earned runs over 25 1/3 innings in his last four starts against the Rays.

Boston seems to play better when they are going against the best pitchers in the MLB. I think that continues tonight, and Sox get it down.

Red Sox win 6-3
Player of the Game: Pedroia
Game starts at 7:10pm

3 Sox, 0 Rays

Tim Thomas wasn't the only person who was shutting down a team last night, Josh Beckett pitched a hell of a game himself, 9 innings, 1 hit and 6 ks. Beckett was spectacular and is making an EARLY case for Cy Young considerations as he dropped his ERA to 1.86. Beckett picked up his sixth win and stuck out six Rays in the win.

Youk hit a 3 run bomb and that was pretty much all that happened. Beckett has been unstoppable.

Red Sox @ Rays Preview

The Sox blew that game last night. They had all the chances in the world, and they blew it. It looked like more of the team we saw in the beginning of the year, then the one we had been seeing recently. Obviously, you can't get too worked up since they are 9-1 in their last 10, but it was annoying.

Tonight, no one will be watching with the Bruins on, but it is a pretty good pitching matchup with Beckett going against Jeremy Hellickson. Hellickson is having a very nice rookie campaign for himself (7-4 with a 3.03 ERA), but he is coming off a rough outing against the Baltimore letting up 5 runs on 7 hits in 5 2/3 innings. The 24 year old has played the Sox once before and won going 5 1/3 innings allowing two runs.

Beckett has been the ace of the Sox staff. He might only have 5 wins, but he has the lowest ERA (2.06) in the MLB. Pretty impressive for a guy we were all worrying about before the season started. He improved to improved to 3-1 with a 1.81 ERA in his last seven starts letting up just 2 runs in 7 innings against the Yankees.

Beckett has been rolling and I don't see the Sox offense making the same mistakes tonight.

Sox win 6-1
Player of the Game: Beckett
Game starts at 7:10pm

4 Rays, 0 Sox

Tim Wakefield has been exceeding expectations since joining the starting rotation. He keeps the game within striking distance and gives the bullpen a decent rest. He went 7 innings and only gave up 2 runs. I don't fully understand why they are replacing him with Andrew Miller next week. Last night we have seen we saw something we haven't seen in a while, the Sox bats go quite. James Shields pitched a masterful game as he went the distance and struck out 5.

This game was pretty boring and was wrapped up in under 2 hours and 30 minutes.

The Sox are 0-3 against the Rays.

Red Sox @ Rays Preview

The Red Sox are 0-2 against the Rays this year, but haven't played them since April, and man have things changed. The Sox are riding a 9 game winning streak in which they are averaging 9.2 runs per game. That's just silly.

The Rays are no pushovers though and tonight it could be very tough to get to 10-0. The Rays have James Shields on the mound and even though his record is 5-4 he has an incredibly impressive ERA of 2.85 and 93 Ks in 94.2 innings. Shields hasn't had much success against the Sox (5-9 with a 5.17 ERA), and the Rays just don't seem to score when he is on the mound (AL-low average 1.19 runs of support at home).

Wake is on the hill for the Sox, and he has been everything they have been looking for in a 5th starter. The ageless knuckleballer is 3-0 with a 4.32 ERA in his last four starts. You really can't ask for much more then that.

Obviously the big story line is it's Crawford's first game back in Tampa. I think he has a strong game, and Ortiz and Gonzalez keep raking.

Red Sox win 7-5
Player of the Game: Ortiz (.364 3 HRs against Shields)
Game starts at 7:10pm

Lightning Strikes In The Meadowlands

Alright kids, if you can pull yourselves away from that awesome Blackhawks-Predators preview you're reading, I've got two things I'd like to talk to you about. The first one has to deal with that oh so irritating presence of thunder and lightning at the Meadowlands. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the Jets have been on national TV twice this year and both times they had to put off their start times because of weather.

Now, for a sport that prides itself on playing in the elements this has raised some irritation both over the decision not to build a roof at the New Meadowlands Stadium and the concern over lightning. These complaints are silly. Lets point out a few things.

A) Retractable roofs are nice, but watching football outside is nicer. As someone who has seen football under a retractable roof just one month ago in Indianapolis, I can attest to the fact that the feeling of being connected to the elements simply isn't there even with the roof open. Also, weren't those images of the Vikings and Jets playing through a rainstorm totally awesome to see in HD?

B) You may want to go to bed and the fans may have places to go so they can be at work in the morning hours, but you can't play through lightning. Why? Well, it's pretty damn dangerous. No that's not a joke. An entire soccer team was killed by lightning in a match in the Congo 12 years ago.

I think it's ok to delay the kickoff. You'll all be a little tired in the morning, but that's the price you pay for being a fan sometimes.

Elsewhere some of you might have noticed this baseball game last night. I was always aware of the fact that the Texas Rangers were one of only three teams to have never appeared in the World Series, along with Washington/Montreal and Seattle, but until last night I hadn't realized that Texas was the only franchise to never even win a postseason series.

In a 40-year history that has included Nolan Ryan, Rafael Palmiero, Juan Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez, you've got to wonder how on Earth that happened. Particularly since the franchise has been run by such able people for large swaths of its history. Apparently all the team really needed was other-worldly ace Cliff Lee and a delightful curly-haired Jewish boy named Ian Kinsler to finally pull off the task against a Rays team that I had winning the World Series until Sports Illustrated got their messy hands involved.

Not that I'm bitter.

It should be interesting to see if Lee can repeat his magic in the next round against his maybe-future teammates in the ALCS, but considering Texas has been to the postseason three times before this year and lost each time -- to the Yankees -- the fates may be against them. The bigger question is just who am I going to be rooting for for the rest of the postseason. And since I've been looking for ways to ignore the Devils' poor start, I've been spending a lot of my free time pondering just that. Though I should note, the Giants and their No. 1-ranked defense have been helping with that.

Well, I will obviously be rooting for the Giants over the Phillies in the NLCS, with little hesitation. As for the AL, I'm pretty ambivalent about this one after discarding my Yankee hatred for a girlfriend five years ago. Let's say I'm rotting for Texas for variety's sake, though I'm sure the Yankees will find some way to win, since they always do. Everyone seems to think we're headed for a Yankees-Phillies World Series again -- and they're probably right, but I'm holding out hope.

Giants-Rangers it is. Oh and hell, let's say the Giants take it in six. At least then I'll have gotten one of my pennant winners right.

NFL Picks Week Five: In Which I Blame Sports Illustrated

See, I thought I made a relatively reasonable and plausible pick for my baseball preview earlier this week when I tabbed the abundantly talented Tampa Bay Rays to win the World Series. I want to make it abundantly clear however that I wouldn't have made that selection had I written it after receiving last week's Sports Illustrated in the mail. SI decided, for its baseball playoff preview, to go with an almost brutally hubristic picture of Rays ace David Price blowing up a piece of bubble gum for its cover. And we all know what that means.

I've discussed the fickle nature of the SI Cover Jinx before. Multiple times. While I wouldn't necessarily claim to fear it in all situations there does seem to be some pretty damning evidence this time around, most notably Price laying an enormous egg in his playoff-opening start against the Rangers Wednesday. On Thursday things, um, didn't get much better.

So yeah, I think it's perfectly reasonable to blame this entirely on the cover artists at Sports Illustrated rather than on my own ineptitude when it comes to predicting baseball games. This may still render my entire playoff preview moot, but at least I was on to something when I said the Giants had good pitching if Tim Lincecum's 14-K effort last night against the Braves is any indication. Basically I'm going to lean on that and ignore the fact that I'm clearly not the baseball prognosticator I thought I was.

I learned yesterday however, that if you thought I was a tremendous baseball brain that would be understandable -- assuming you also thought I had just gone on a months-long eating binge or never lost all that weight in high school. And that's because if you put about 60 more pounds on me and take about a half inch off of my hairline, I'm the spitting image of White Sox Assistant GM Rick Hahn, who just happens to be one of the main candidates for the Mets' vacant GM post. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or disturbed by the almost immediate comparisons brought on by a number of my friends, but if it nets me free tickets I can live with it.

Besides, he's still handsome, right?

Regardless of his appearance, Hahn wouldn't be a bad hire. He was recently named the No. 1 GM prospect in the Majors by Baseball America, and when you look at his educational pedigree of the University of Michigan, Harvard Law School and (cough) the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, you know, he seems like a bright guy. If we're lucky he'll get the job. And maybe he'll join me at Blondie's on the Upper West Side for some Wildcats games.



In other news that I'm sure not nearly enough of you noticed, the NHL season kicked off last night. Surely you've all been reading up on your Blackhawks as they start their title defense. Or at least I hope you have. If any of you bothered to stay up and watch the Oilers open up their season with the Flames in the inaugural Battle of Alberta, you saw one of the most stunning goals to start a career that anyone could hope for when Jordan Eberle netted a totally awesome shorty in the third period.

Of course, Edmonton probably isn't going anywhere this year, but you might want to pay more attention tonight when the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils (I hope) open their campaign against the Dallas Stars tonight in Newark. This will be the first test of whether or not New Jersey's 15-year experiment of signing Ilya Kovalchuk was worth all the anxiety. My guess is it was, but I'm more than a little biased. I didn't put together a full NHL preview for a few reasons, but let's just say I like the Devils' new commitment to offense and their top line of Kovalchuk, Travis Zajac and Zach Parise. I see them taking it all over the equally as potent Canucks in June.

So yeah, the title of this whole entry is about football picks. I haven't much talked about football, but I should probably get on that. Here we go.

Last week: 9-5-0
Season: 28-30-4

NY Giants (+3) over HOUSTON
Jacksonville (-2) over BUFFALO
CINCINNATI (-7) over Tampa Bay
Atlanta (-3) over CLEVELAND
DETROIT (-3) over St. Louis
INDIANAPOLIS (-8) over Kansas City
Green Bay (-3) over WASHINGTON
CAROLINA (+3) over Chicago
BALTIMORE (-7) over Denver
New Orleans (-7) over ARIZONA
Tennessee (+7) over DALLAS
San Diego (-7) over OAKLAND
SAN FRANCISCO (-4) over Philadelphia
NY JETS (-4) over Minnesota

I want to make it clear, not that you'll believe me, that it was entirely unintentional that the Giants were the only NFC East team I picked to win this week. You play the matchups not the rivalries. Or maybe the rivalries. I never claimed to be objective.

Have a good weekend everybody.

Even The Mets Get To Play October Baseball

Ah, October. The leaves are changing color, the temperatures are dropping, college football provides endless entertainment, political races obscure our sense of reality with an endless stream of TV ads and baseball reaches its climax: The postseason.

Now, some of you may be scoffing at my acknowledgment that the Mets are playing baseball in October, because, you know, they aren't playing baseball anymore.

Oh, but God Bless the schedule makers who decided to start baseball season a week late this year. Because of that peculiar delay, the Mets -- and the rest of the Major Leagues -- didn't play their last game until October 3, which, it should be noted, was the 12th anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah, a Bar Mitzvah-versary if you will. And so, because of that scheduling quirk, Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel will always be able to tell people that they took the Mets into October in their last year with the organization. Then again, considering Minaya's legacy it's probably better to have that as his final act than some other instances. As for Manuel, he's probably going to be remembered best for somehow assuming he wasn't going to get fired because he hadn't been told it yet, even though everyone seemed to know it was coming and Joe Torre had already publicly campaigned for his job. That may not be the wisest decision for Torre of course. He should already know what he'd have coming for him in Queens.

Wait, what's that? You don't care and want to hear about the teams that are actually playing?

Ugh. Fine.

So, if you've been paying close attention, there are actually eight other teams in the Major Leagues that matter. Sort of. And they'll be starting play in MLB's annual postseason playoff tournament Wednesday at 1:37 p.m., when Cliff Lee and David Price take the mound in a humdinger of a series opener between the Rangers and Rays at Tropicana Field. Now, I don't want to alarm all of you, but if the Rays wind up winning the World Series it may be less than legitimate. A woman in Florida appears to have cracked the code and blown the doors open on a vast Zionist conspiracy that is causing the Rays to start James Shields in Game 2 Thursday because he's Jewish. Why would this matter? Well, the team's ownership is Jewish and we bastards band together of course. Just listen to the kindly Floridian who's uncovered the scandal. She sounds very sure of herself.

First CNN and now this.

As a Jewish person, I am going to recuse myself from commenting on the nature of our vast conspiracy to get only Jewish pitchers on the mound, but I do think the radio host makes a valid point in that Gabe Kapler is nowhere to be found in tomorrow's starting lineup. Of course, it should be noted that there is also a question as to whether or not Shields is even Jewish, though he certainly fights like one. If he isn't, clearly we Jews aren't as smart as we think when it comes to these conspiracies. It's kind of like how we still claim Sage Rosenfels even though he's raising his kids to be Christian. Essentially what all of this boils down to is that our presumed Jewish conspiracy has officially supplanted what I thought was the most embarrassing thing I had seen this week.

The only thing more embarrassing that you might see this October? Probably how badly my picks fare over the next four weeks. Nonetheless, here we go. If you're impatient, I say Tampa Bay finally wipes the stink of Jose Canseco from its franchise highlights.

ALDS
(1) Tampa Bay over (3) Texas in four games
(2) Minnesota over (4) NY Yankees in five games

NLDS
(1) Philadelphia over (3) Cincinnati in three games
(2) San Francisco over (4) Atlanta in four games

ALCS
(1) Tampa Bay over (2) Minnesota in six games

NLCS
(2) San Francisco over (1) Philadelphia in seven games

2010 World Series
(1) Tampa Bay over (2) San Francisco in six games

I know, it seems peculiar, but for some reason I've got a hunch the Giants could pull off the upset as the only team in the NL with pitching that comes close to matching Philadelphia's. It may just be wishful thinking on my part, but if there's any chance for someone to stop the Phillies from taking a third straight National league Pennant, this would be it. As for the American League, Minnesota has been on fire for the second half despite not having Justin Morneau around. Morneau is out for the postseason, and the Twins have slowed down in the last two weeks, but so have the Yankees, whose pitching seems to be discombobulated. Not that it'll matter, because for the Rays, this is their time. They are talented offensively and in the rotation, have a sharp manager in Joe Maddon and have one last shot to go for it all with Carl Crawford in tow, which means, to me, that all signs point to the Rays winning their first-ever World Championship in front of all 38 of their fans.

It's probably a Jewish conspiracy. We won't know for sure until the franchise moves to Tel Aviv.

Your Completely Incorrect And Only Slightly Biased 2010 Baseball Preview

Sometimes when you're young, Opening Day seems like some far off beacon and you count down the days excitedly until it's here. Other times, you're so preoccupied with life that it kind of sneaks up on you, even though you've been reading stories and watching Spring Training games on TV almost daily. 2010, for me, is most certainly the latter. In fact, it didn't hit me until about three days ago that baseball season was pretty much here. Hockey, college basketball, Israel and life in general have all conspired to keep me in the dark, but after a few moments of contemplation I'm ready.

Maybe.

This is a peculiar season for me because, as a Mets fan, everyone seems to think disaster is going to strike and 81 wins is a pipe dream. A remarkable change in my mind considering this team, which was mostly injured all of last season, has a largely unchanged starting lineup from the one Sports Illustrated picked to win the 2009 World Series. This team reminds me an awful lot of the 2007 New York Giants, who, after a disappointing 2006 season in which they were expected to contend for a Super Bowl, naysayers had finishing 4-12 before they made a remarkable run to the third Super Bowl title in franchise history.

The 2010 Mets, in a sense, seem similar to me. Of course, I'm also a naive wide-eyed optimist. So view it for what you will. I acknowledge that the pitching after Johan Santana doesn't scare a baby, but John Niese showed promise before becoming the umpteenth Met to go down with an injury last year, John Maine and Mike Pelfrey have both shown flashes of being solid Major League pitchers and, who knows, maybe Oliver Perez finally puts it together.

Ok, that last one is a bit of a stretch.

But who knows? It could wind up better than we think. That's why they play the games. I caution you all with the knowledge that I am making my picks as I write this so there's a good chance it will seem ridiculous. And as I always say when I have to write these things, none of you are probably going to remember what I wrote in November anyway. Always the silver lining.

Off we go:

NL East

1. Philadelphia
2. New York Mets
3. Atlanta
4. Florida
5. Washington

Wishful thinking that the Mets will crack second place? Probably. Atlanta could easily take that spot and Florida's talent is not to be trifled with. I would expect to see the Nationals stay in the cellar, but they're finally starting to build the right way. Five years from now, they could be at the top looking down.

NL Central

1. St. Louis
2. Chicago Cubs
3. Milwaukee
4. Cincinnati
5. Houston
6. Pittsburgh

Chicago will probably be the stronger team on paper, but I just can never put faith in the Cubs. Interestingly, I wouldn't be surprised to see the middle of this division -- Milwaukee and Cincinnati -- make some noise. As for the Pirates, I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose 100 games. Again.

NL West
1. Colorado
2. San Francisco *
3. Los Angeles
4. Arizona
5. San Diego

Colorado looks like the most well-rounded team of the lot to me, particularly once Huston Street is healthy, and while the offense is certainly lacking in the Bay, I think a rotation with Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and potential strikeout machine Jonathan Sanchez is just too good not to make the postseason. Of course, if the Dodgers win this division like they're supposed to, I'll look like a fool. I can handle it.

NLDS:
San Francisco over Philadelphia
Colorado over St. Louis

NLCS:
Colorado over San Francisco

AL East
1. New York Yankees
2. Tampa Bay*
3. Boston
4. Toront
5. Baltimore

It really is a shame that the rest of these teams get stuck in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox. I can't really see the Bombers not making the postseason, but with a number of impending free agent contracts, the Rays are loaded with talent and in "win now" mode. They'll have to make waves.

AL Central
1. Minnesota
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Detroit
4. Cleveland
5. Kansas City

The Twins have some obstacles to overcome, particularly with Joe Nathan going down for the year with Tommy John surgery. But the rotation is still strong and the lineup is still talented. And with Joe Mauer locked up and Target Field getting its debut, I suspect the stars will still align for Minnesota -- especially since they can spend money now.

AL West
1. Anaheim - Yeah people. They still play in Anaheim.
2. Texas
3. Seattle
4. Oakland

The Angels look like the clear favorite to me, but I'm awfully interested to see what happens with the Mariners and Rangers, both of whom are intriguing teams that could make a splash. If Cliff Lee gets healthy, Seattle has a nasty top two in their rotation with him and Felix Hernandez. The Rangers meanwhile, once Ian Kinsler gets back, have a lineup that can match anyone's. Well, except Anaheim's.

ALDS:
Tampa Bay over Anaheim
New York Yankees over Minnesota

ALCS:
Tampa Bay over New York Yankees

2010 World Series:
Colorado over Tampa Bay

The Colorado Rockies winning the World Series? Really? It seems odd to me too, but I think it could happen. And while a matchup between them and the Rays is hardly the sexiest thing fans could be seeing, it should be two damn good teams facing off. And if that doesn't excite you, you probably don't like baseball as much as I do. Either way, even if you don't care about the Rockies, at least you probably don't hate them. And unlike some other sporting events going on right now, that in and of itself would be satisfying.

First pitch is in seven hours. Get excited. Just try not to be distracted by Geelong's big showdown with Hawthorn four hours later.