Where are you, New England?

Holy. Shit.

Yes.

Not that anyone's counting, but that's four in a row against Pittsburgh.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2007....cherish it

Looking back on the Baseball season so far, 2007 might go down as one of the historically best seasons in Major League Baseball.......EVER!!!!

While this season hasn't been overly joyous for myself (Twins fan)......in a historic sense of the accomplishments that have been achieved, this season has it all......

PLAYOFF RACES: All 6 Divisions have good playoff races. The AL East has the Red Sox holding on for dear life, the Evil Empire in chase, and now all the sudden the Blue Jays randomely moved into the Wild Card equation. The AL Central basically has the Tigers and the Indians, with the Twins fading off, yet 2 playoff contenders. The AL West has two teams that are in Playoff Contention, both of whom are realistic World Series contenders, Angels/Mariners. On the other side, in the NL, the East has 3 teams in contention with the Mets leading, the Phillies and the Braves still lurking. The NL Central has the Brew Crew and the Cubs, which is entertaining enough, and the NL West has the D-Backs, who are very hot right now, and 2 other contenders. THESE RACES ARE GOOD!!....ALL OF THEM!!!

Now, for Historic Milestones that we've had the pleasure of witnessing:
3,000 hits - Craig Biggio
500 HR - Big Hurt
500 HR (fastest ever) - A-Roid
300 Wins - Tom Glavine
500 Saves - Trevor Hoffman
600 HR - Sammy Sosa*^
Fastest to 100 HR - Ryan Howard
2 - No-Hitters: Mark Buerhle, Justin Verlander
.....................................oh, and probably the most revered record in all of sports, the ALL-TIME HR Record: Barry Bonds*

---> and these are just SO FAR, think about what else could possibly happen yet:
600 HR - Ken Griffey Jr. (590)
500 HR - Jim Thome (490), Manny Ramirez (489), Gary Sheffield (478)
3000 hits - Barry Bonds* (2915)
3000 K's - Pedro Martinez (2998)
Career Grand Slams: Lou Gehrig (23)....Manny Ramirez (20)

there's a lot more that could be mentioned too, such as Brandon Webb's consecutive scoreless inning streak that is still alive (did I mention the D-Backs are hot?), the opening of a new ballpark in St. Louis, and the Willie Mays All-Star gig, but I don't have enough time to go into that much detail. By the way, Ichiro hit the first 'inside-the-park' HR in All-Star Game history as well....

....so, forgetting about whether Barry Bonds* used "Performace Enhancing Drugs" for a split-second, and forgetting that Bud Selig is a fucking moron...........THIS SEASON IS SWEET!

That's what you get for signing a has-been reliever after his roids wear off

A man named Eric Gagne who once was pretty good with the LA Dodgers contemplates the moon-shot that Baltimore SS Miguel Tejada just hit off of him today. Gagne came in to a 3-3 game and ended up taking the loss for the Boston Red Sox, a newer version of the New York Yankees.

The Red Sox and the Yankees are kind of like the Republicans and the Democrats. They hate each other. They think that each other are scum, and everything that the other one does is stupid and wreckless (the Yankees have a pretty good case with the recent Eric Gagne signing). However, they do not realize what we all reaize: they are basically the same. Right now they provide good entertainment, as the infallible Red Sox continue to stumble, cough, and trip and the "Evil Empire" gains ground. Once 10 games back in the AL East with everyone at ESPN counting them dead (seriously, how are you going to gain 10 games back on a perfect team like Boston??? Don't worry that there's 4 months of baseball left.....) the Yankees are now 4 games back and scoring about 99 runs per game. Their bullpen still sucks and Rivera is vulnerable, but it doesn't matter when the offense is scoring that many runs. Like Adam Morrison once said, the best defense is to score alot of points. Thanks, Boston fans, for giving us another team to hate more than the Yankees: yours.

Eric Gagne has no given up 7 runs in 4 innings pitched. Great bullpen upgrade, Boston.

Meanwhile, going somewhat unnoticed, the Seattle Mariners are currently leading the AL Wild Card along with those Yankees. There's a ton of baseball left, and I, along with everyone outside of their clubhouse, am shocked at where the M's are at. Seriously, our rotation has Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez. Our ace is two games over .500. Our manager insists on putting a slow first baseman that is batting sub-.200 in the 5-hole. He also doesn't know how to manage a bullpen, even if that bullpen is fantastic. Nobody outside of Ichiro, Betancourt and Jones are hitting all that well, and the manager refuses to give Jones alot of playing time. Jones makes me warm. But somehow they are getting it done. Baseball doesn't make sense, just look at the St. Louis Cardinals of 2006 winning the World Series behind the arm of....who?? Jeff Weaver?? These Mariners don't make sense, which is why I believe they will do exactly what doesn't make sense: make the playoffs. But we can't be gettin' swept by teams like Texas. Once again, there's a lot of baseball left.

In all honesty, baseball would be alot more fun if Boston and the Yankees were gone. The AL East would be up for grabs for once and we wouldn't have to hear Sox/Yankees fans. Plus, ESPN would maybe pay attention to someone else in the league. Oh yeah, the Mets.

Beantown Sweep....??

First off.....I apologize for my extended absence from posting on here, but I've been freakishly busy this summer. I'm glad this thing hasn't just totally died yet.

Alright.....stemming from what CowboyDan wrote about the new hatred for Boston, particularly the Red Sox, I would like to add an even scarier thought.....A 3-MAJOR SPORT SWEEP FOR THE BOSTONIANS.....

I've always said that one of my biggest fears in sports would be to see the Yankees/Mets, the Knicks, and the Giants/Jets sweep a year of major sports championships, because frankly, New Yorkers can be pricks when it comes to sports. But in light of Boston trying to move up the list of the most arrogant sports cities in the U.S., I've given thought to how bad my life would suck if BOSTON swept all the championships. And in doing so, its come to my attention that if they had one chance to accomplish such a feat....IT WOULD BE THIS YEAR!!





BASEBALL: If the Red Sox continue to win at a consistent rate, they're one of those teams that can turn it on, and bust through the AL Playoffs and dismantle whatever NL team happens to qualify for the World Series......WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS: Boston Red Sox

BASKETBALL: Apparently, Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers don't feel like using their money on lottery picks for the next 5 years, and decided to go out and sign some veterans, excuse me, ALL-STAR veterans to bolster their new-look roster. I guess signing KG and Ray Ray to go with Paul Pierce seems sort of weird right now, but it won't look so weird in June, when the Celtics upend the LeBron Show in the Eastern Conference Finals......granted, if the Celtics DO make the NBA Finals, they will more than likely lose (badly), but there is always that possibility.......NBA FINALS CHAMPIONS (okay, i know, Eastern Conference Champs.....but for all purposes): Boston Celtics





FOOTBALL: This is presuming a lot, but what other team has been more consistent in winning in the NFL for the last 5 years than the Patriots? To their advantage, they have (and I say this with tongue-in-cheek) one of the best QB's in the league, a freak of nature WR (Randy Moss, you may have forgotten about him) and a mastermind coach that would never have let dropping Atomic Bombs be questioned. And they play in a tougher AFC.........SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS: New England Patriots


OKAY. So there is a lot presuming going on here, but the thought was scary. And in all instances....Possible.......So this is basically just a pre-cautionary warning that the next year could be worse than the Gators taking Football-and-Basketball........(yes, i just said that)

notes on things and things.

Remember earlier in the summer when all three of us were updating this on a semi regular basis? Those were fun times.

I was watching ESPN news a couple nights ago and the Mariners beat the Orioles and the Tigers lost to the Devil Rays and the Mariners took the wild card lead. After they showed highlights of the game they went to the wildcard standings and the anchor was completely shocked and stuttering when he realized that he was about to tell the world that the Mariners were in the AL wild card lead. It was funny. Everyone has just assumed the wild card is going to be the Yankees or someone out of the AL central. While this still might be the case, the Mariners have been playing really really well. Kudos to them. The thing is, I don't really know how they are doing it. I mean, Richie friggin' Sexson is batting cleanup for them, among other problems. Regardless, I was just in Seattle, love the town and the stadium and the fan base, and I hope the Mariners do well. It seems unlikely that they can keep it up, but let's hope they do. Stranger things have happened.

Speaking of being in Seattle, there were lots of Red Sox fans present when I was there. I've always thought Boston was a cool team to root for, like in the Troy O'Leary era, but then they won the world series in 2004 and it's been getting harder and harder to cheer for them. It's gotten to the point where I'm retiring the classic navy/scarlet Boston hat I own until the team and its fans are less assholeish. It was the Eric Gagne signing that vaulted the Red Sox into the sphere of absolute Yankeedom, in my eyes. A few years ago someone in Red Sox management called the Yankees the Evil Empire. It was kinda cool. But now? Check it out, hypocrisy! Seriously. It turns out that Eric Gagne will cost the Red Sox more per inning than Roger Clemens will cost the Yankees. Also, it was very Yankee-ish in that the Red Sox didn't really need Gagne. (They already had the best bullpen in baseball...) They went out and got him because they could and to keep any competition from getting him. Check out other moves that the Socks have made lately (this article was what got me started on this...) After failing to make the playoffs last year, the Sox beefed up with a lot of free agent signings last year, including some at ridiculous prices just because money has become no object to them (J.D. Drew is making $14 million per year for the next 5 years....) and then, in true Yankee fashion, they tried to spend more to compensate when their signings didn't work by going after Jermaine Dye at the trade deadline. It's getting ri-friggin-diculous, guys. Basically, every complaint that I've heard Red Sox fans use about the Yankees and their fans over my entire life can now be applied to the Red Sox and their fans. That arrogant sense of entitlement, the team's overspending, that whole sense of having to make the playoffs every year or else major changes are needed, their fans filling up ballparks in places like Seattle and then starting chants, yeah, it's gotten old. Some will argue that the Yankees still have a larger payroll, however the Yankees have been reducing their payroll the last few years. In addition, their payroll is a little inflated by guys on the tail ends of monster contracts. (see Jason Giambi, Pavano, Johnny Damon, Pettite, and Hideki Matsui making a combined 73 million this year.) Pretty sure the Yankees would be just as well off letting those guys go when their contracts expire, and it seems like Cashman is more than willing to do it. So basically, fuck you, Boston.

This is not to excuse the Yankees from their douchebaggery. They will probably let A-Rod go (to Boston, of course) and then sign Miggy when he's a free agent, and I'll wanna kill myself. Speaking of which...goodness, I love that man. Here's a picture of him being awesome, because I can. I don't think people espn anchors realize how awesome he is. Like, one of the 5 best hitters in baseball, and he's probably 6 years younger than anyone else on the list. Just saying.

Oh, and Bonds has done some notable things recently. I'm sick of constantly hearing about it, but here is one of the better pieces of read.

Not much to blog about?

Hey, check it out, Marlins relievers are blowing games.

humanity advanced still gotta drive

But why not do it in style? Ladies and gentleman, thanks to the brilliance of the folks at EDSBS, I bring you Darren McFadden's ride.