BTSOC

Welcome back, sports fans! That's right, your favorite sports blog has finally made a return. I know, you all probably hate us right now for not listening to your fan mail. Your copious letters pleading for our return have finally convinced us that we ought to make a comeback. The USPS has also asked us to send their thanks, as your letter writing campaign actually made up 42% of their budget over the past 3 years. Impressive, folks. Damn impressive. Without further ado, let's dive right in.

I think this offseason can be summed up by this short story: When the Redsox ownership came to address the team in spring training, they got a standing ovation from the players. Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Bobby Jenks. These guys aren't all-star selections, but just a few of the names currently being sewn on the Red Sox road grays. But first, let's take a little trip down memory lane back to November 2010. Here we find Victor Martinez leaving for the comeback city, Detroit, MI. Red Sox fans are panicking. We've lost the thump in an already thump-less lineup. Adrian Beltre is 31 years old and looking for a mega-deal, while only posting all-star numbers in both of his walk years. We're looking at a tough choice on Papi's option.

Then WHAM! Adrian Gonzalez comes to the Red Sox. Trade of the decade. This might be the happiest baseball moment since seeing Pap throw his glove into the Colorado air in '07. That is, until 11:30 on a work night, when I can't sleep and decide to check Twitter only to read that Carl Crawford, ye of 40,000 steals against the Red Sox, will now be playing 81 games in front of the Green Monster. We stole the stealer from under the feat of the Angels, Rangers, Yankees, and whoever else might have tried to come to the table.

I won't dwell on the other signings, but I will dwell on this point: for how awesome of an offseason the Red Sox had, the Yankees had the exact opposite. A drawn-out, ugly contract negotiation with Mr. Yankee himself, losing Cliff Lee to the Phillies (which may be my actual favorite moment of the entire offseason, including Gonzo/Crawford), and then making a string of signings that would put together a pretty awesome team, if this was still 2005. I'm looking at you, Bartolo Colon. As a fellow blogger put it, don't you think Brian Cashman has the funniest recently dialed list right now? The agents for Andruw Jones, Eric Chavez, quickly followed by his psychiatrist, no doubt. Not to mention the angry text messages from Hank. You know they're there.

Now, all this said, winning the post season is as useful as teeth in a hockey player's mouth. But you gotta think that the injury gods will smile on this year's squad. You wanna know what's driving health care costs up? Probably the 2010 Red Sox team.

Before I close, there are two final things that need to be discussed. For one, I need to come out of the closet... I'm now a hockey fan. The bug has finally bitten me. For those who are skeptical, on the fence, go to a game. You won't regret it.

And finally, BTSOC. To return to our absence for nearly a thousand days, I'd say that's Beyond The Scope of this Course.

-Flig

random thoughts in my head quickly more thought things tomorrow or the next day

Blogging…what an interesting event it is..

Now mind you I am never going to be able to do this for money, or maybe never even do this and complete grammatically correct sentences. But I am doing this right now….so pat stops bugging me…….

Now that is pat is all wrapped in the upcoming baseball season…not much else is happening in our room…well almost nothing else…zing!

Well as he gears up for baseball this is a very exciting time for myself as well, not only it is time for another baseball season where my heart can be broken, but it is almost time for hockeys second season.

Yes that’s right im going to talk some hockey on this blog before I get to the phillies….suck it fligs…

Ok flash back to last year…the flyers sucked….its like they ripped out my heart stabbed it and then replaced it with a pig heart so I could survive…but not love…having the worst team in the league is nothing new to us Philadelphia fan yet it does not make it any easier

I had to stop watching hockey and just walk away, it was too hard to watch a team that didn’t even have a chance every night…pat imagine the red sox soo bad you couldn’t even watch them, I know its hard but just imagine its too painful to watch, that was the spring of my freshman year. Growing up I had a hockey team that was good enough that I have always expirenced playoff hockey in my memory. Yes I know im spoiled but get over it.

Anyway come summer Mr. Gm made some amazing moves that had me excited about hockey again. And let me tell you I have enjoyed the season even with the 10 game losing streak, every game seems to bring something different. Now I don’t expect a Stanley cup this year but I hope for one in the near future……please….

Ok now onto what pat will probably skip down to first….BASEBALL

The phillies on paper are just as good as they are last year, I do not think the rowand subtraction can hurt this team that much in the long run, however there are a few things that scare me about this team.

1. Pitching- Our starting rotation all have their problems. Hamels-Health, Myers-Consistency, Moyer-Age, Kendrick- can he do it again? I guess the best scenario at this point is for I guess eaton to give us 3-4 quality starts in April have a horrible one leading to Kris Benson coming back healthy. I think if Benson can come back healthy and effectively they will be a ok in my book
2. Pitching the bullpen edition- A lot right now relies on the knee and brain of brad lidge, I think the phillies made the right move in acquiring him, however I still have mixed thoughts. I think the combo of him Gordon and Romero could be if all clicking a highly effective end of the bullpen.
3. Pat Burrell- The phillies hopes could rest on which pat burrell we see, the one from the end of the seasons, or the one from the first half. Due to t-shirt rules I must cheer for him in the opening week of the season. I think he might be on track this year and if the theory of adrain beltre holds through in this pat burrell contract year anything can happen….

Well that’s all for now hopefully I will still be alive after the concert and I will blog again I must formulate more thoughts I was unprepared

Until next time

POOOOP

No Worries

It's become a dead and beaten horse that the Red Sox have stood pat this offseason. We didn't make any real big moves except to resign some key parts to last year's team. Now, in most cases that would be a problem, a la White Sox of 2006. No big moves, no big trophies. But I'm not worried about us for a bunch of reasons.

Reason Number One: Our young guys. Last year we did not get a full season's worth of production out of Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, or Clay Bucholz. With the loss of Curt Schilling, it opens up room in the rotation for Lester and Bucholz to make an impact. With the emergence of Ellsbury, it creates a position battle (something a team can only benefit from) in CF. We've also got a young IF, Jed Lowrie knocking on the door ready to make an impact at the big league level. He's a shortstop, and that brings me to my next point.

Reason Number Two: Drew and Lugo can't really get any worse. Both had pretty crappy seasons by anybody's standards, but both also picked it up big time in the second half. Lugo batted close to .300 after the break, and Drew went on quite a streak the last month and a half, and into the playoffs (see October 26th). This year, if Lugo continues to suck it up, Lowrie should be ready to make the leap, and we've also got Kielty all season long (i'm assuming he makes it out of camp due to a Coco trade) to spell the injury prone Drew (don't look at my hammies for too long! they might be strained from reflecting all that light into your retinas!!)

Reason Number Three: Theo does all the little things. What GM is better at making little moves that pan out real big. David Ortiz off of wavers, Bill Mueller signed as a free agent, Bobby Kielty given a minor league deal. This year, Theo picks up Sean Casey, a career .300+ hitter to spell Youk and Lowell. He grabs Bartolo Colon off the scrap heap to help us out sans Schilling. Apparently we might get Freddy Garcia for the same reason. And Coco might even land us an arm out of (reportedly) Chicago for the back end of the rotation. I think Theo has finally learned his lesson from the Whiffy Mo Pena trade that you can never have too much pitching. Hopefully, Schilling is able to come back around August so he's ready for domination in October.

Reason Number Four: The Yankees didn't do Jack Squat either. This is probably the most comforting thing in my mind. The Yankees did even less than we did. They're pinning their hopes on a rotation with three guys in it that have never pitched 200 major league innings, let alone 200 innings in a season at any level. They've got two left-fielders and no first basemen. Bobby Abreu is afraid of walls. Derek Jeter has been statistically proven to be just about the worst defensive shortstop ever. And there's no way that Jorge has a year like last year. Then there's that one other thing. Mr. Mitchell sure did put a huge old elephant in the corner of the Yankees clubhouse. Although I do have to say that Andy Pettite couldn't have handled this situation with more class or poise. But still, may the fallout from the Mitchell report have precipitous effects on the Yankees records.

Finally, can I just say that I love watching local announcers? I've got the YES network on, watching the Yanks and Phils. So far, they've talked about the Iron Pigs ("Why do they call them pigs? I can' understand the Iron part, I think."), loud Philly fans ("Just listen to him! Stretching his larnyx like that. It's amazing."), and now they just zoomed in on the concession stand menu checking out the prices. The only way this could get better is if John Madden hops into the booth. Wait, it just did get a little better. As the game ends in a tie the announcer says "It's been an afternoon of kissing your sister!"

And as a parting word, I'd just like to say welcome to our newest nation member. I think you'll enjoy us, Hank. Please use those Monster seat tickets, we'd LOVE to see you there!

A Triumphant Return

That's right sports fans welcome back to everyone's favorite sports blog, At least we're not oranges. In case you were wondering why it's taken so long I'd like to explain. As you know, the TV writers were on strike for several weeks. What is not widely known is that our own bloggers union, "Writers who reference obscure citrus jokes - local 141" walked away from the table months ago. We've made our piece now, and I won't bore you with the details but let's just say we're glad Senator Mitchell didn't have subpoena power over us either. (And I will have you know it only took me two tries to spell the word subpoena.)

Speaking of all this steroid mess, I think it's time we started laughing about it. Like this case: Jack Cust was named in the Mitchell Report. Jack Cust denied what was said. Jack Cust is 2-2, both dingers and one being a grand salami. It's the little things in life that count.

But on a more serious note, I'd like us all to sit back and consider the feelings of the Clemens children right now. Not only is their dad being investigated by the entire federal government, but their mom got a boob job. As a guy who went through middle school, I can only imagine what awkward, juvenile, and yet incredibly hilarious jokes must have been made. No wonder Roger keeps getting a tired groin.

And I think through all of this, if you listen closely, you can hear Barry Bonds laughing.

But now onto happier things. My World Champion Boston Red Sox are looking good in early ST action. That's right, they're the world champions. Again. These words aren't meant to be cocky, they're just fun to say. This time of year is such a tease. I'm sitting in the winter wonderland of PA while my favorite team is hundreds of miles away in a sub tropical climate golfing and playing baseball. Soon, they'll be taking their pony show to the Far East and can I just say that unleashing Manny Ramirez on the Japanese may cause them to fall into socio-economic chaos. I'm talking Godzilla-type panics. And this won't only hurt the Japanese, but there's no way Manny comes out of there unharmed! He's going to think he's on a different planet. Or maybe he just won't show up. I truly believe that it was a democratic conspiracy keeping Manny away from the Red Sox trip to the White House. They didn't want anyone around who could make Dubya look like a fricken genius.

So as ST doesn't give me much to write about, and my blogging skills are quite obviously a little rusty, I'm going to wrap this up here. I have to get up early tomorrow to secure the ever elusive Iron Pigs tickets. That is, if I can find the stadium.

This Is All I Have In Me

I was at the game last night. Scoring those 5 runs was probably the most exciting moment in my life. Seeing Wily Mo Pena actually hit a breaking ball was like seeing Jesus walk on water. Thinking back on it, any game where Wily Mo is the hero can't be a good sign. Lugo's bunt was amazing. I don't think I've ever loved that guy more than that one moment, and that's saying a lot because I put him on my list of bums who can't hack it in Boston a while ago. I'm also starting to think that Gagne is damaged goods. He's pitched horribly everytime we've brought him in. J.D. Drew is a bum, too, because he should have given up his body to block that ball. The pretty boy didnt want to hurt his fragile body, I guess. But the real idiot award goes to Francona. Why bring in a righty to face lefties, a lefty to face righties, and leave your best arm sitting in the pen? I'm so demoralized right now.

Go Sox.

755*

Barry finally hit it. The all-time home run record is one of the most important records in all of sports. As a fan, I felt that I had to witness that piece of history being made, and to tell the truth, I smiled when I saw the ball go out of the park. But when I think back on it, I wasn't happy that Barry was breaking the record; I was happy that I was watching the record being broken. It's true that without steroids Barry would never have been able to do what he's done, but it's also true that without steroids he still would have been a lock for the Hall of Fame. The very fact that we have to wonder and question if his pursuit was fair tarnishes the glory of the moment. Yes, I was happy as I watched Bonds round the bases, but all I could think was how I wished he had done it like Hank had. I liken the ceremony to what's said about the loser in a Presidential race. The comment is often made that if the losing candidate had carried himself the way he did in his concession speech, he would have won the race by a landslide. If Barry Bonds had let us into his life, had showed he was a real, emotional person like he did after breaking the record, I think people would have gotten behind him. Even with the allegations of steroids if Barry Bonds had been a guy you could root for, a bit more of the glory would be restored to his achievement.

Not only has Bonds tarnished one of the greatest records of all time, but he's tarnished the pursuit of it. Alex Rodriguez has the best shot of any player to break whatever record Bonds sets, and now he's going to have to answer the same questions that Bonds is being asked. Jose Canseco has already hinted at allegations he may throw at A-Rod that perhaps he isn't as natural as we all seem. Whether this is just a ploy to make more money or not will remain to be seen, but it is sad for baseball that it's greatest players will have this monkey on their backs for the foreseeable future. I think a lot of things about A-Rod and many of them aren't nice, but you can't deny he's one of the best in the game and no matter what anyone says, I have a real hard time believing that he's a juicer. So questions aside, I hope in 10 years or so I'm watching this record breaking achievement one more time.

Now onto the regular stuff...

I've come to the conclusion that no matter how good or how bad the season begins, I'm always going to be worried by August. I'm still confidant that we're going to win the division, but I'm still worried. The Yankees are now only six games back, thanks to a brilliant comeback last night, and this time of year the Yankees always scare me. They really might find a way into the playoffs this year, and once you're in October you might as well forget the regular season even happened, because it's literally a whole new ballgame.

But just for a second let's talk about that comeback. I kind of see the Angels series as a spiderweb that you walk into in the woods. It sticks you and holds you down for a while, and even though you get out of it, it took a hard fight and you feel tired and disgusted afterwards. We blew so many chances to make a statement against the team that we're going to end up facing in October. Last night when I went to bed, the Angels had just gone up 6-5 and they still had two men on with only 1 out. I was disgusted. I hate going to bed with that feeling, but I couldn't bare to stay awake, lose more sleep, and only perpetuate that horrible feeling in my belly. When I woke up and checked the score, I really had a hard time believing it for a second. We really had some tremendous plays from the usual cast: Petey, Youk, and Lowell. We really should start calling Pedroia "Little Papi" with how clutch some of his play has been this season. That tie-breaking solo shot was HUGE! But then again, so was the fact that Garrett Anderson was playing left. With Vlady getting the night to rest his legs at DH, Reggie Willits was put into right. That kid is a gamer and I'm sure he would have found a way to get two inches higher and rob Petey of that home run. Anyway, I think last night was the perfect example of how good the trade for Frenchy really was. Having him at the back end of the pen allowed Okie to come in and hold down the fort. There were seven important outs we had to get before even getting to Pap, and I don't know if we could have done it without Gagne. Now if we can get Manny and Papi to start hitting with the rest of the team? Say hello to the World Series.













*Without steroids

Bonjour, Monsieur Gagne

This was quite possibly one of the most boring trade deadlines ever. There was so much hype for so long, and now that it's over there were really only four teams that did anything significant. While some of you may accuse me as being a "homer" I'm crediting the Red Sox with the best move the trade deadline, although Atlanta comes in at a close second. We didn't really lose too much in this trade. As much as I love Kason Gabbard and as sad as it made me to see him go, I realize that it was a great move. This guy already has four elbow surgeries under his belt and only projects to be a back end of the rotation kind of pitcher. With several great pitching prospects in the pipeline (Bucholz, Bowden, and Masterson), losing Gabbard is definitely not a long term problem. David Murphy, while good defensively, may never play better than your average major-leaguer, and it's not like the Sox are short on outfield prospects with Jacoby Ellsbury and Brandon Moss only a year or so away from the bigs. The real piece in this deal for Texas was Engel Beltre, who scouts have compared to Ken Griffey, Jr. and Barry Bonds. Although, he's four or five years away from the majors so there's plenty of time for his stock to plummet. But now that we've talked about what the Rangers got, let's salivate over the fact that we now have three of the best bullpen arms in the majors in our bullpen. It really sounds like some sort of bad, baseball comedy with a Deep South Redneck being setup by an uber-cool, yet French-Canadian hurler and a ninja-like Japanese lefty. The unintentional comedy that these three guys bring to the fold is surely too much to bare, but what really counts is that all three are lights out, and the Red Sox have now made every game a six inning contest. Even Julian Tavarez might be able to thrive in this starting rotation, not that we need him, because the second biggest trade we made this summer was a Mr. Curt Schilling traded from the Disabled List for Lefty Lopez (sent to the minors), who will surely be back at some point with the alternately lights out and decrepit Mike Timlin still trolling around the Boston bullpen. Seriously, I dare someone to try and beat us. We have the best rotation in baseball, especially now with Schilling coming back. We have the best bullpen in baseball. We have one of the best lineups in baseball, because even now when not all our cylinders are firing, we're still sitting pretty atop the AL East. We've also proven we're better than all the other post-season bound AL teams. Detroit doesn't have the bullpen to get us, the Angels don't have the hitters to get by our rotation, and Cleveland doesn't have enough pitching, either in their bullpen or their rotation, to hold us down. The only team that scares me is the Yankees, and it's not because of the surge they're in right now, it's just because I'm a Red Sox fan and they're the Yankees and no matter our records, lineups, pitchers, or circumstances, those games are never predictable.

The team I award second place in the deadline deals to is Atlanta. They really earn a close second, because they failed to improve their rotation which will be the reason they don't make it to the end of October, unless they get performances not seen since Jeff Weaver forgot he was Jeff Weaver and thought he was Jered Weaver. There were some starters that were available, or at least one that was but I'll get to that eventually. Adding Dotel and Tex were huge moves. Atlanta now has arguably the best lineup in the NL East (reason to argue, the Mets if they're all every healthy at the same time), and one of the best bullpens in the entire National League, but I don't know if anyone is getting past the Padres starters. The NL will be very interesting to watch come October. I think the Padres are guaranteed a spot in the NLCS, with the other going to either the Cubbies or Atlanta. I think I like Chicago a little better than Atlanta in that matchup, since they seem like a more complete team (i.e. they're afraid of Lou Piniella like Whiffy Mo Pena is afraid of hitting singles), but San Diego's rotation really does scare me, from the standpoint of any NL lineup.

The third place award, which I'm renaming the "Oh Shit!" award goes to the Philadelphia Phillies. The perennial stretch run failures seemed to take a huge loss when Utley went down with a broken hand. In a very un-Pat Gillick move, the Phillie's GM traded for Tad Iguchi to replace Utley. Tad isn't the player that Utley is, but he's a clear step above any bench player that KFC Charlie could have thrown in there for the month, or so, that Chase will be out. Surprisingly, and I swear I'm not making this up, Manuel speaks Japanese, and it is hoped that will help Tad's transition onto the team. Stop laughing, and keep reading. I swear it, he really does speak Japanese. Add to the Tad trade the acquisition of Kyle Lohse. This is the pitcher I was hinting at with Atlanta, but I am glad to see the Phillies make a move to bolster the real part of their team that was in need of help: the starting rotation. They have offense, a good enough bullpen, but the Phillies rotation was holding them back all season. This isn't to say it still won't hold them back, but despite the lack of virtually any starters at the deadline, at least they didn't just stand pat. Sadly, the injury bug has been all over the Phillies like Manuel is all over a bucket of Original Recipe as the Flyin' Hawaiin Shane Victorino and speedy Michael Bourn have both gone down. I really think the Phillies season is over. I mean, even without all the injuries, any team that relies on Pat Burrel to carry them for a month is not a team I would ever put an ounce of faith in.

But I'm not quite done analyzing the Phillies just yet. If we look back on some of Pat Gillick's trades over the past few years, we see an interesting trend. Aaron Rowand, Tad Iguchi, and Freddy Garcia, all mediocre players, were all traded for by the Phillies. What else do these players have in common? That's right, they all won the 2005 World Series. Perhaps Gillick thinks that by adding World Series winners to his team, he can win one too. If I read in Truth and Rumors that Gillick has been showing interest in So Taguchi, Preston Wilson, Aaron Miles, or any other such players, I promise you I will find Pat Gillick and fire him. I'm not sure if he'll listen, but I think if I sound official enough and yell loud enough, he'll do anything I say. I'll just wear a White Sox 2005 World Series Champions t-shirt.