Boston Sports Then and Now

Brady’s hair outshines Rams

Since his appearance courtside during the NBA Finals, Tom Brady has drawn a lot of comparisons to Justin Bieber. They say it’s the hair. I’m not sure if that’s the case. I’ve never seen this Bieber kid, but from what I’ve heard, he’s the apple of the eye of every 12-year old girl whose mother thought Nick Carter was “dreamy” and couldn’t wait until marriage.

But last night at the Razor, it seems like Brady’s anti-fro got in his eyes. Or at least it must have seemed that way to the Rams’ secondary, who couldn’t get a read on anything that Brady was doing as he tore them up for over 270 yards and three touchdowns.

It seems the glare had its effect on the Pats’ defense, too, as they found themselves completely unable to stop anything, much less the laser arm of Sam Bradford, as the Rams defeated the Pats, 36-35 on a last-second Josh Brown field goal.

It all leaves one to wonder: Is Bradford the anti-Bieber? And if so, why hasn’t Jive records signed him to a deal?

Didn't he used to be so cute?

Red Sox continue to tread water in soggy Fens

This week at the YMCA, the “Tuna” group completed its first diving classes. The class is comprised mostly of once-members of the 2010 Boston Red Sox, and all 38 players passed with flying colors, although there were a few question marks during the class itself. Dustin Pedroia – once MVP and Rookie of the Year on the baseball diamond – spoke at length prior to the class about how he “invented the laser show” and didn’t “need no newfangled swimming lessons.”
Former Red Sox centerfielder and leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury complained that hitting the water “made [his] tummy hurt,” and some other whiny nonsense.

While the incapacitated version of the 2010 Red Sox were busy learning to swim, their able colleagues spent the week treading water in a rain-soaked Fenway Park against the soon-to-be Oklahoma City Mariners. Or Tornadoes. Well, whatever. Just don’t let the Starbucks guy near them.

Rondo leaves team USA, takes his Red Bull with him

Director of U.S. Basketball operations Jerry Colangelo is currently in talks with representatives from Five-Hour Energy, Monster and the Guys Who Used to Make Surge as he attempts to procure a method for giving his FIBA world championships team some motivation to win after stud point guard and Celtics poster-boy Rajon Rondo unexpectedly left the team, citing family issues. When asked about the circumstances surrounding his departure, Rondo noted that “one, I don’t play with no high-falootin’ Lakers and two, none of those guys are even close to 33. Didn’t Colangelo know I only play with guys who are past their prime?” He went on to amend his earlier statement, saying that “Glen Davis? He ain’t past his prime yet. But dude’s messed up something wicked.”

Colangelo’s attempts to procure another energy provider have not been terribly successful thus far. If talks with the energy beverage companies stay at an impasse, Colangelo has noted that he may pursue a relationship with National Grid because, while it may not give energy to the US team, it will also “knock the power out of those Canadian bastards, eh?” If all else fails, Colangelo has BP listed as his last resort.

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Cross-posted at my personal blog.

When I last checked in for my first reexamination of the list of the keys to the Red Sox’ season that I developed at the tail end of Spring Training, I said that I’d finish up by the end of July. Oops. Here’s hoping at this rate that I can finish up by the end of the season.

Keys 25-21 follow.

25. Bill Hall can field shortstop and second base.

What I said then: Hall is potentially a very interesting inclusion on the roster.

A jack of all trades, Hall has been beyond important to the 2010 Red Sox.

Prior to 2007, the utility man was a full-time shortstop with Milwaukee and fielded the position quite well.  Since, Hall has been moved all around the diamond but has seen virtually no time at a middle infield spot.  If Hall can adequately serve as the backup infielder, he’ll be of immense value to the club because he will kill two birds with one stone (he is also the top right-handed reserve outfielder on the roster).  If not, the club will have to drastically shift its plans and Hall may not last with the team at all.

What I say now: The key here was that Hall needed to provide acceptable defense at shortstop and second base to have a spot on the roster. Indeed, he’s been passable at both spots and has played 37 games at second and five at short (the position occupied by Marco Scutaro, who is tied for the team lead in games played and leads the Red Sox in games started). Hall’s defensive numbers at both spots this season (small sample sizes are worth noting) and over his career (where the samples are large enough to draw some conclusions) back up the idea that he’s at least a decent enough middle infielder. So the Hall-as-utility-man experiment was a success by that standard. What makes it a roaring win, however, is that Hall’s been so capable offensively. Having played almost every position on the diamond this season (including having pitched an inning), his roster spot would have been valuable if only for its versatility. That he’s hit more home runs than Manny Ramirez and Jason Bay combined in 2010 and has provided a solid enough bat to fill in for the injured Dustin Pedroia on a fairly regular basis since the end of June render the Bill Hall acquisition — which saved the Red Sox a pretty penny in trading Casey Kotchman — one of Theo Epstein’s better, more shrewd moves of the 2009-2010 offseason.

24. Contractual situations do not distract impending free agents.

What I said then: Two superstars – Victor Martinez and Josh Beckett — are entering contract years.  Neither player wants to talk extension during the season, and we are but a week away from the season, so it’s starting to look like this may be a big topic for the next 6 or 7 months.  If these two are not extended, the Sox will hope neither situation distracts the individual players or the team at large.  The flip side, of course, is that motivation for a big pay day might just get even more production out of two guys who are already expected to provide quite a bit to the club’s Championship aspirations.

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I knew it was over when I got back from the gym and turned on the Little League World Series.

Like so many hundreds/thousands/millions of others, I’d been fighting the demise of the Red Sox as hard and as long as I could. I fought it through getting swept by Baltimore. Fought it through sweeping at Tampa. Through injuries, an early-summer surge, the All-Star Break, a return to health and, most recently, more injuries.

I watched the Blue Jays rout the Sox on Friday night, a 16-2 shelling that featured a most un-Herculean effort from team ace Jon Lester, thinking much of the time that there was a chance the Sox could still come back.

I watched Dasiuke Matsuzaka give up a 4-1 lead when Lyle Overbay went yard into the right-field bleachers to tie the game at four, and continued to watch into extra innings until Jed Lowrie hit the team’s first walk-off home run of the season, thinking much of the time that there wasn’t a chance the Sox would pull it off.

Despite his game-winning heroics, Jed Lowrie's Red Sox are in a tough spot.

Six games back of Tampa and seven back of the Yankees, these Red Sox are doing nothing but treading water at this point. It’s a fitting place for a team that’s done little but tread water all season.

Speaking of water, the Jays-Sox game was delayed an hour and 44 minutes by rain at Fenway. In that time, the team from Panama manhandled the Saudi Arabians, 13-0 in less than four innings. By the time I turned back to the Red Sox, Buchholz had recorded eight outs and another rain delay was starting.

Almost as if the baseball gods wanted to spare us from watching anymore of it.

Now normally, I’d be excited about a rain delay – more face time for Heidi and Kathryn, a chance for me to get a nap in, all sorts of excitement could arise. But the thought of watching feature pieces on the Red Sox sort of scared me.

Of course, I still watched. After all, the LLWS was over, what else was I going to bide my time with?

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Pedroia and many others have spent significant chunks of the season the DL.

Six weeks left in the baseball season and it is going to be a dog fight. Entering Thursday, the Red Sox were 5.5 games (and more importantly six games in the loss column) behind the Yanks and Rays who are tied.

These patchwork Red Sox are holding on for dear life and have showed the vulnerability recently with late game implosions on their past road trip. The squad has lost Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia, Jason Varitek, Mike Cameron, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, and others to the disabled list this season; many of these players missed a significant chunk of the season.

The Red Sox have used a Major League high 40 players this season.

Can you name them all? I don’t even think I can.

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This wasn’t the win of the year.

Not even close.

That game was two weeks ago tonight, against a gritty Rangers team with a never-say-die attitude.

Then, a week later, Eric Patterson did that thing to Jon Lester’s perfect game and the world fell down around the Red Sox.

The Red Sox’ come-from-way-behind 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon wasn’t about redemption or even keeping hope alive in the probably-but-not-quite-surely lost season. It could be argued that it was for the fans, but really, this one was for the team.

Before the 4:10 PM first pitch, few Red Sox felt truly safe about their place on the team, or if they’d end the day employed by the same franchise they started it with.

You’d have thought getting to game time and still having a nameplate in the home team’s clubhouse at Fenway Park would have been a sigh of relief.

But then, they started playing baseball.

And as the Red Sox so often did in July, they got men on base and left them there. They got behind early and struggled to claw back, or to even claw at all. Ryan Kalish, making his MLB debut after being called up earlier in the day, tried his best to energize the team, leading off the third with a single, but nobody seemed to care enough about the kid to bring him around.

Miguel Cabrera teed off on a Matsuzaka fastball in the first inning, sending it into orbit somewhere over Interstate 90. Daisuke, apparently enjoying the cool late-July weather, made it a point to spend as much time as he could on the mound and not in the dugout.

It looked like we were in for another what-can’t-you-do-for-me effort from the Sox. But then, the unthinkable happened. Leading off the seventh, Beltre legged out an infield single by less than a cleat’s length to get on. Hall singled and moved him around, but got thrown out stretching.

Then the kid came up.

Ryan Kalish went 2-for-4 in his MLB debut, picking up an RBI and scoring a run in the Red Sox' crucial 7th inning Saturday.

Kalish welcomed Brad Thomas to the game with a bloop single to right, scoring Beltre. Ryan Perry came in for Thomas, and Darnell McDonald doubled Kalish home. Suddenly, a 4-run defecit was a manageable 2-run hole.

Then Ortiz, who had been pressing all day at the plate, struck out swinging to end the seventh. Atchison – probably the one middle reliever whose name was not mentioned in trade talks – and Okajima retired the side in order in the 8th and 9th, and the home nine had one more chance.

Not only did they not disappoint, they did it with such passion and energy that NESN producers could only curse their luck for not having a game that must have produced ratings.

McDonald hit a sharp grounder to short that Ramon Santiago bobbled before getting to first. Seizing the opportunity, McDonald slid head-first into first base, narrowly beating the throw. After a Scutaro flyout, Lowrie – inserted into the game for Patterson – worked the count full and fouled off an extra pitch for good measure before doubling to the wall in left-center, moving McDonald to third. With Ortiz on-deck and Phil Coke on the mound, Leyland opted to intentionally walk Kevin Youkilis.

Bad idea.

Ortiz, who had been 0-for-8 against Coke with 3 Ks, belted a 2-1 fastball to the same spot Lowrie put a ball two batters before him. McDonald and Lowrie scored easily, and Youkilis slid in behind them as Ortiz touched second, pumped his fists together and let out a whoop.

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