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5803. wabbit - 10/19/2007 3:39:06 PM  Behind some great pitching by Josh Beckett, the Red Sox downed the Indians, 7-1, Thursday night in Game 5 of the ALCS. Beckett added another superb start to an already Hall of Fame-caliber postseason portfolio by shutting down the Indians for the second time in this series. With Beckett's gem, the Sox staved off postseason elimination and sent the ALCS back to Boston for Game 6 on Saturday. If these guys keep this up, a deciding Game 7 is scheduled for Sunday. A World Series berth awaits the winner. This ALCS is now the first of the 2007 postseason series to go more than one game past the minimum. Four of the series, in fact, have been sweeps, including the National League Championship Series between the Rockies, now the NL champs, and Diamondbacks. After a 7-3 Cleveland victory on Tuesday put the Indians up three games to one, things looked awfully bleak for this series, too. But Beckett, rumored to be struggling with a stiff back after an abbreviated six-inning, 80-pitch win in Game 1 of the ALCS, was instead his dominating self, throwing eight innings of five-hit ball, punching pitches up to the plate at 97 mph and baffling the Indians' hitters with knee-breaking curves and a devastating splitter. Beckett, a 20-game winner during the regular season and one of the leading contenders for the AL's Cy Young Award, struck out 11 batters. In his three October starts this year, he is now 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA. In eight career postseason starts, Beckett is 5-2 with a 1.75 ERA. Oh, and about Cleveland getting country singer Danielle Peck, an old flame of Beckett's, to sing at Jacobs Field...if they were trying to get in Beckett's head, they failed. His take was, "I don't get paid to make those [expletive] decisions. She's a friend of mine. That doesn't bother me at all. Thanks for flying one of my friends to the game so she could watch it for free."
Kevin Youkilis popped a home run off of Cleveland's suddenly vulnerable ace, C.C. Sabathia, in the first inning and a strange, windblown -- and probably poorly played -- triple off Sabathia later in the game. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia, in an awful series slump, had a pair of hits and a walk. Ortiz drove in a couple of runs.
Seems I'm not the only person in Boston who is fed up with Manny being Manny. Nothing a cattle prod couldn't sort out, though. After failing to slide on a play at the plate that resulted in the final out of Boston's first inning, Ramirez knocked in a run with a near homer in the third on a controversial umpiring call. Ramirez's hit appeared to bounce off the yellow line on top of the right field wall, which is why the umpires didn't call it a home run; the ground rules state the ball has to clear the yellow line. But Manny stood at home plate admiring his hit, instead of actually running the bases. He earns how much a year, and he can't bother to make any effort to run if he thinks there is any chance he's either hit a home run or a certain out. And that attitude has backfired on him several times. Luckily it didn't cost the Red Sox the game this time, but for crying out loud, it's the ALCS, pull your head out and make some effort for a change. I stand by what I said about this lump a couple years ago, he should have been traded, but nobody else wanted him, not with his attitude and that salary. At least I'm certain there is no way he'll be resigned when his contract is up in a couple more years. I don't care how many home runs he hits, he's a drag. How about this...Manny gets NO pay for the entire series, and ticket prices can be lowered at Fenway.
5804. jexster - 10/19/2007 6:05:12 PM I think Boston's gonna take it. But ya gotta be for the Second Tier team... 5805. wabbit - 10/19/2007 8:38:59 PM We in the Nation appreciate your optimism, Jexster. We wish we could all share it with a clear conscious, but when all is said and done, it is the Red Sox...
At this point, I'm just hoping we get to a seventh game. 5806. jexster - 10/21/2007 4:56:46 PM You got it..But LSU sure don't - defense that is - overrated
But they sure make games exciting to watch...3 OT's last weekend, that Florida game
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Demetrius Byrd waved up at the press box, hoping LSU offensive coordinator Gary Crowton had seen what he saw.
With time expiring on LSU's national title hopes, Byrd wanted a chance to beat the lone defender on his side of the field.
"Then I got in the huddle and that was the play call, and I knew I just had to go out there and make a play on it," Byrd said
With a second to spare, Byrd hauled in Matt Flynn's 22-yard fade to the back of the end zone, lifting fifth-ranked LSU to a 30-24 victory over No. 18 Auburn on Saturday night.
5807. wabbit - 10/21/2007 5:55:09 PM  I'm not a big fan of blow-out scores, even when my teams wins. What I did like about last night's ACLS game was that hitters who had been struggling got hits and RBI's, and the pitchers held up. Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew drove in five runs, backing yet another postseason gem from Curt Schilling on Saturday night as Boston battered the Cleveland Indians 12-2 to tie the AL championship series at three games apiece. Schilling improved his career postseason record to 10-2, allowing two runs and six hits in seven innings. Even Eric Gagne, the former star closer booed off the mound in previous postseason appearances, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
It's a big sports weekend here. Although they aren't in MA, the Patriots are playing in Florida and should be able to beat the winless Miami Dolphins, even without tight end Benjamin Watson and running back Sammy Morris. The Bruins beat the NY Rangers 1-0 Saturday in a game that was moved up to 4pm. Goalie Manny Fernandez, making his home debut as a Bruin, stopped every puck that came his way in the Bruins' 1-0 shootout victory - 25 shots in regulation, one in overtime, and two in the shootout against Shanahan and Jagr (Drury shot wide). It was the first shutout for Fernandez - and the Bruins - this season and the puckstopper's 14th of his career. The Bruins (5-2-0) earned their first win over the Rangers since March 4, 2004. Phil Kessel scored the lone goal for Boston. more NHL scores
The 43rd Head of the Charles Regatta is also going on now. It is the world's largest two-day rowing event, first held on October 16, 1965.
5808. jexster - 10/21/2007 6:00:20 PM Now comes the FUN part! Aces as relievers! Can't wait to see when Beckett comes in 5809. wabbit - 10/21/2007 6:20:16 PM Exactly right, and you know Beckett is just itching to get in a few innings tonight. If our hitting holds up, I like our chances. 5810. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 10/21/2007 7:00:34 PM Man-childs, all!
Don't count chickens though--heartache is the ever present Sawx flipside. 5811. wabbit - 10/21/2007 7:44:41 PM True, true.
The Patriots are another story. Fifteen seconds into the 2nd quarter and they are up 21-7. 5812. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 10/22/2007 6:16:51 AM Cleveland crumbles--Go SAWKS!!!! 5813. wabbit - 10/22/2007 3:57:44 PM  South Africa won its second Rugby World Cup by beating defending champion England 15-6 Saturday in a final where all the points came on penalty kicks. Percy Montgomery was 4-for-4 on kicks for South Africa, Francois Steyn added another, and Jonny Wilkinson had two for Britain. Wilkinson kicked England to victory in the 2003 final in Sydney, but didn't receive enough chances at Stade de France. The Springboks also kicked for all their points in their previous championship, on home soil in 1995. South Africa, which went unbeaten and averaged almost 44 points in six wins to reach the final, had demolished England 36-0 in pool play 36 days beforehand. Though the English looked much better Saturday, they never appeared close to becoming the first champion to retain the William Webb Ellis Cup.
Roger Federer should have seen it coming. One by one, David Nalbandian was picking off the best that tennis has to offer. Nalbandian beat Federer 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 Sunday to win the Madrid Masters. On his way to the final against the world's top-ranked player, Nalbandian also defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Novak Djokovic. The Argentine broke Federer three times and became the second player this year to beat the top three players en route to winning a title. Djokovic did it in Montreal in August, culminating his run with a victory over Federer. Boris Becker had done it 13 years earlier. Federer fell to 6-4 in finals this season. He was playing in his first tournament since winning his fourth straight U.S. Open six weeks ago. This was Federer's first loss on indoor hard courts since Nalbandian rallied to win at the Masters Cup in China nearly two years ago. The 25th-ranked Nalbandian, a former Wimbledon finalist once ranked No. 3, won his first title since the Estoril Open in May 2006.
Canadian Mike Weir won for the first time since early in the 2004 season, shooting a 2-under 68 on Sunday for a one-stroke victory over Australia's Mark Hensby in the Fry's Electronics Open. Weir secured the win with a 6-foot par putt after hitting his approach on the par-4 18th into a greenside bunker. The 2003 Masters champion took the lead with a birdie on the par-4 15th, rolling a chip shot to a foot, then held off Hensby over the final three holes on a warm, blustery day at Grayhawk Golf Club. Weir finished at 14-under 266 for his eighth PGA Tour victory, and first since the 2004 Nissan Open, a span of 87 starts.
Suzann Pettersen was prepared for another challenging round in the cold and wind. The Norwegian star ended up holding yet another trophy Sunday without even hitting a shot. Pettersen won the Hana Bank KOLON Championship for her fourth LPGA Tour victory of the year when high wind and unplayable conditions on the putting surfaces forced tournament officials to call off the final round at Mauna Ocean resort. Japan's Miho Koga shot a 6-under 66 on Sunday for a four-stroke victory over American star Paula Creamer in the Masters GC Ladies. Koga finished with a 9-under 207 total on the Masters Golf Club course. Creamer, the 2005 winner in the Japan LPGA event, closed with a 70. Second-round leader Momoko Ueda had a 76 to finish nine strokes back.
5814. wabbit - 10/22/2007 3:58:09 PM  Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are awfully good. Flawless at the start and off the bench, Brady threw a team-record six touchdown passes to help the unbeaten Patriots rout the winless Miami Dolphins 49-28. With his team comfortably ahead, Brady came out early in the fourth quarter, then re-entered and threw for New England's final score. His TD total exceeded his career high of five, set last week against Dallas. The Patriots, who led 42-7 at halftime, improved to 7-0 for the first time in their 48-year history. Brady completed his first 11 passes for 220 yards and four scores, including throws of 35 and 50 yards to Randy Moss. His other touchdown passes covered 14 and 16 yards to Wes Welker, 30 to Donte Stallworth and 2 to Kyle Brady. Brady has 27 touchdown passes after seven games and is on pace for 61. The NFL record is 49 set by Peyton Manning in 2004. The drubbing was the biggest downer yet for the Dolphins, who fell to 0-7 for the first time in their 42 seasons. They next play the New York Giants in London.
The Denver Broncos took the city's minds off the Colorado Rockies for a few hours Sunday night. Rookie Tim Crowder had a 50-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown, Jay Cutler threw three TD passes and the Broncos (3-3), coming off their worst home loss in 41 years, looked nothing like the troubled team that had lost playmakers on both sides of the ball and whose season was threatening to unravel before the leaves had finished falling. Suddenly able to get to the passer despite Champ Bailey (thigh) missing a game for just the third time in his career and fellow Pro Bowl cornerback Dre' Bly injuring his right shoulder on a first-half interception, the Broncos forced three turnovers and sacked Ben Roethlisberger four times. Bly stayed in the game and broke up several of Big Ben's passes. The Steelers (4-2), who had allowed just five touchdowns all season, surrendered four, including Cutler's throws of 15 yards to Brandon Stokley and 1 yard each to Tony Scheffler and Cecil Sapp. Elam, who has the game-winner in all three of the Broncos' wins so far, nailed his kick to cap a seven-play, 49-yard drive that covered the final 1:10 after Pittsburgh had rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to tie it.
With Vince Young on the sidelines, the Tennessee Titans couldn't finish drives. With the day Rob Bironas had, it didn't matter. Bironas kicked an NFL-record eight field goals, including the game-winner as time expired, to lead the Titans to a 38-36 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday. Backup Kerry Collins led the offense while Young missed playing in his hometown because of a strained quadriceps. Collins didn't make many mistakes, but the offense couldn't capitalize in the red zone, ushering Bironas into the record book. The record-setting kick foiled a spirited comeback by the Texans (3-4), who scored 29 points in the fourth quarter, capped by a 53-yard touchdown pass from Sage Rosenfels to Andre' Davis to take a 36-35 lead with 57 seconds to play. The Titans (4-2) faced a third-and-10 at their 37 when Collins found Roydell Williams on a 46-yard pass that set up the winning kick.
NFL scores
5815. wabbit - 10/22/2007 3:58:58 PM  For the second time in four years, the formerly folding Red Sox are headed to the Series, courtesy of an 11-2 win over the Indians in Game 7 of the ALCS. The score is deceptive, it was a game and a series that, as late as the seventh inning Sunday, really could have gone in either direction. And then Dustin Pedroia took control with a game-defining two-run home run, putting an exclamation point to a personal postseason comeback and sealing another postseason bounceback for the Sox. Surely he's the AL Rookie of the Year.
The Indians, who won 96 games this season, had a 3-1 lead in the ALCS after Game 4 in Cleveland last Tuesday and looked, with their two big-name pitchers ready to go, poised to pounce. But after a seven-run fifth inning in Game 4, the Indians' offense collapsed in a shuddering heap, scoring just five runs in its final 30 innings. A 3-1 lead shrunk to 3-2 on a Game 5 gem by Boston's Josh Beckett, the ALCS Most Valuable Player, and Saturday night the Sox tied the series with a 12-2 blowout. Sunday, with controversy swirling around the Indians off the field (news reports revealed that Game 4 hero Paul Byrd had used human growth hormone), the Sox held a slim 3-2 lead when the game turned in the seventh. Pedroia wiggled his way into making a difference in both halves of the inning.
Dice-K pitched three great innings, then two less so, but held on for five. Okey-Dokey pitched his usual two great innings, then started off badly in the eighth, when the heater came to the mound. Papelbon simply blew pitches past batters, then got to do the Riverdance after CoCo Crisp made the final two outs of the game.
Colorado outscored Boston 20-5 in winning two of three during an interleague series at Fenway in June. The Red Sox did even better in winning the last three games against Indians, outscoring them 30-5 in that span. The Sox have only a couple of days to blow out this win before they settle down to business again, hosting the surprising Rockies in Game 1 of the World Series here on Wednesday night. They started their pre-Series soiree in grand fashion late Sunday, partying on the field at Fenway well past midnight, carrying around the AL trophy and generally enjoying another series win that, just four days ago, seemed almost impossible.
5816. wabbit - 10/25/2007 3:26:38 PM So much for the shadow of the Bambino.
I sure hope the Red Sox get this kind of hitting behind the pitchers who really need it, like Schilling and Dice-K. Josh Beckett can hold his own quite nicely, thank you.
 If the long layoff didn't hurt their hitting, it seems the pitching for the Rockies got rusty. I would have thought the pitchers would gain by having some extra time off, but it doesn't appear to have worked that way for Colorado. Or maybe the Sox just had an extraordinary day. The Red Sox crushed the Rockies in the opening game of the World Series, 13-1. This win matches the Red Sox Series winning streak of five games for the first time since 1915-16.
All kinds of records were set: most runs scored by a team and the largest margin of victory in the opening game of the World Series (the 1932 NY Yankees and 1996 Braves scored 12 runs each in their openers); the most extra-base hits by a team in a WS (8 doubles and a home run - the 1906 Chicago White Sox and 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates also had eight doubles); the 12 combined doubles were a Series record; first pitcher to strike out the first three batters (and actually, he got the fourth as well); first lead-off hitter to hit a home run, a rookie no less, and on the second pitch! Franklin Morales was called for the first Series balk since David Weathers of the Yankees in 1996.
Morales got just two outs and was charged with seven runs for a 94.50 Series ERA. With 64 post-season RBIs, Manny Ramirez moved ahead of David Justice for second all-time behind Bernie Williams (80). The only Red Sox player to not get an RBI was Mike Lowell, but he hit and got a couple walks, so he was on base and able to score. 11 of 13 runs were scored with two outs. I don't know if that's a record, but damn!
The Rockies had a horrible day. Credit Beckett for keeping their hitters out of the game, but the Rockies' pitching was something else. Starting pitcher Jeff Francis gave up the most baserunners (13) by a Game 1 starter since 1982 (Bob Forsch). Morales gave up more runs (seven) without getting three outs than any relief pitcher in postseason history. Ryan Speier became the first pitcher to walk in a run three times in the same World Series game. The biggest stat for them was the fifth inning, when with two outs, Rockies pitchers faced 23 batters with a chance to end an inning and succeeded in retiring the batter only four of those times. That's a two-out OBP of .826.
And how classy were the Red Sox after the game? "I executed just enough pitches today to survive," Beckett said. "That's a good lineup over there. You can tell how hungry they are."
"This is a tough series and a tough team," Youkilis said. "There's a reason why they're here."
The Rockies are a class organization as well."It's a big loss, Game 1 of the World Series," Todd Helton said. "But knowing the heart of this team, we'll come back tomorrow."
'Nuff said. GO SOX!!5817. wabbit - 10/25/2007 4:25:34 PM Ok, not quite enough said.
Fox Sports sucks. Yaz threw out the first pitch, but did we get to see that? Did we get to see any of the 1967 team? NO. We got to see the Fox talking heads yapping away and a two second shot of Yaz. Boring. I'd much prefer to have our local guys doing the play-by-play. But for crying out loud, at least give us Yaz! 5818. jexster - 10/25/2007 4:35:40 PM I hate the Talking Heads. If I had a radio, I'd tune into Joe Morgan and Jon Miller and turn down the sound.
I've hated Buck and McCarver for years 5819. jexster - 10/25/2007 4:53:05 PM Every time players haul out the canned "class act" I wanna hurl
Translated - "We beat the piss out of them and if we don't let that go to our heads, they're out in four"
"They pounded us like a drum and are likely to do so again. I hope they don't take it on our field" 5820. wabbit - 10/25/2007 5:12:38 PM That's a no-win situation, jexster, as you've just proved. If they came out and said "We beat the piss out of them", they'd hear about how arrogant they are. As it is, both these teams are low on the egomaniac quotient, and nobody on the Sox team expects to see this kind of game again during this series. It was an anomaly and everyone knows that. You don't beat your chest over that.
I wish I could say the same for some fans. I'm sick of hearing people crow and rave about the pounding the other team got, and about how great such-and-such a team is, how much their opponents suck, etc., especially between Boston and New York. It's a game, people, get a grip. Rooting for the home team is one thing...claiming to hate the other team is ridiculous. 5821. jexster - 10/25/2007 7:17:49 PM So you aren't a typical Sox fan?
GREAT..my faith in Boston restored ;) 5822. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 10/25/2007 8:10:34 PM It's the built-in serendipity of bassaball!
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