NFL Week 17 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

My internet connection has been flaky this week. I couldn't get online to post anything last week. I would have predicted the Jaguars to prevail 24-20 over the Patriots and cover the spread. Scout's honor. I'm taking two losses for last week.

Last week: The Pats used a spread offense to dominate the time of possesion against the Jaguars. Maurice Jones-Drew made Tully Banta-Cain and Tedy Bruschi look foolish at times. The Pats had just enough to hold off the Jaguars in the end.

Season record: 8-7 straight up, 4-9-2 against the spread.

Week 17 Favorite: Tennessee (-3.5)

The Pats need help from Miami (facing the Colts) to secure the #3 seed in the AFC. They know they will be playing next week at home. They simply don't know who their opponent will be. They really don't have a lot to play for today other than pride. I think the Patriots present a more difficult challange to the Titans than some of the teams the Titans have suprised in recent weeeks. Tennessee is fighting to make the playoffs. I like the Patriots to win today and keep my straight-up record above .500.

Prediction: Patriots 17, Titans 13

Wily Mo versus Big Papi

I was bored tonight because there was nothing on TV. I started comparing David Ortiz's stats to Wily Mo's. I looked as far back as the three years prior to joining the Sox since they both played a similar amount in the three prior years and had about the same relative Major League service. I was curious to see if I could find similar trends that would lead me to think Wily Mo Pena could someday be as dangerous at the plate as Señor Octubre.

Here are the raw numbers. Sorry for the lame embedded image; Blogger sucks at formatting charts and tables and doesn't allow users to paste tables:

A few stats jumped out at me. WMP really had a power decrease this year as evidenced by his HR% (HR/AB*100). He dropped from the 6-7% range down to just under 4% this year. His wrist injury probably contributed to that, but the drop is worth noting.

Ortiz stayed at a fairly consistent HR rate, but dipped to slightly under 5% in 2002, a year in which his plate discipline was worse as seen by a higher AB-per-walk ratio. I believe he was also recovering from wrist and knee surgeries in 2002, but I haven't been able to track down the surgery dates yet. Big Papi has been rocking at about 7% HR or better since joining the Sox. Wily Mo has shown the same potential as evidence by his HR rate in his two final seasons in Cincinnati.

Both players also earned an RBI between 15 and 20% of the time (RBI/AB*100) before joining the Sox. Ortiz jumped to 22% or more every year since he arrived in Boston. This again bodes well for Wily Mo.

The bad news is that Ortiz, who had a reputation as a player with a hole in his swing, was much more disciplined at the plate. He was drawing walks at a rate of about one per every 7.5 ABs. WMP draws walks at half that rate, or about one per every 14.5 ABs.

Ortiz also had a much lower strikeout rate before joining the Red Sox. Ortiz would strikeout about 20% of the time (K/AB*100). Wily Mo Pena strikes out nearly 33% of the time.

The universally accepted theory is that Red Sox staff fixed the hole in David Ortiz's swing which resulted in his increased productivity. Fixing the hole in his swing may have increased Ortiz's HR rate, but he also improved his plate discipline since joining the Sox while maintaining a consistent strikeout rate. These factors combined have yielded the amazing results we've given witness to over the last four seasons.

Wily Mo needs to seriously reduce his strikeout rate to become a more productive hitter. The slight uptick in his batting average was nice this year but his lack of power rendered it less effective. His homerun and RBI rates are good enough to provide middle-of-the-order power, but his walk and strikeout rates are poor enough to keep him batting 6th or lower in the lineup. For Wily Mo to turn the corner he needs to reach for the stars, not swing for them.

NFL Week 15 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: The Dolphins whipped the Pats by a score of 21-0. The Pats looked terrible. Brady had no time to throw and took a number of hits. The running game was lost without Maroney. Simply an awful game last week. The Patriots are clearly a flawed team this year.

Season record: 7-6 straight up, 4-7-2 against the spread.

Week 15 Favorite: New England (-12)

The Patriots looked terrible last week. They struggled against the Lions the week before. I don't expect them to dominate today. If the offensive line plays as poorly as they did in Miami, Mario Williams may actually look like a #1 overall draft pick today.

I think the Pats win today but they once again struggle with an inferior opponent.

Prediction: Patriots 20, Texans 13

Konichiwa Matsuzaka-san!

The Red Sox completed a deal with Japanese right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka-san at the 11th hour yesterday. I haven't been this excited about the Sox acquiring a pitcher since the Duke obtained Pedro Martinez before the 1998 season. Theo and Company did a brilliant job staring down the devil (agent Scott Boras) in the high stakes poker game of negotiations and forcing him to fold. I think the deal is a great one for the Sox; Matsuzaka-san is under contract for six years at a reasonable salary. In fact, his salary is in line with the extension the Sox gave Josh Beckett last year. I think that the Red Sox and Scott Boras were both wrong in how they viewed the $51.1 million that the Red Sox posted for the rights to Matsuzaka-san. Boras was wrong to think that the posting amount should in any way correlate to the player's salary. The Sox were wrong to view the posting fee as part of the contract offered to the player. I think that the posting fee needs to be completely disregarded as soon as the winning bid is announced. The Sox are going to pay Daisuke Matsuzaka-san more than any Japanese baseball player ever and more than any untested foreign player. That's a great deal for the player and considering that the average annual value is less than $9 million it's also a great deal for the Red Sox.

Daisuke-san may or may not need a new nickname. I think his current nickname of "Monster" is fine. It works well considering that he'll be pitching his home games in Fenway Park with the "Green Monster" at his back. I seriously don't want people or the press to call him "D-Mat". I hate the "first initial, hyphen, first syllable of last name" nicknames. They aren't real nicknames. I hate "A-Rod", "I-Rod", "A-Gon", "T-Mac", "J-Wil", and every other iteration. If you hear someone refer to Daisuke-san as "D-Mat", please punch them in the mouth for me. For now I'm sticking with either "Monster", or "Pedro 2: Electric Boogaloo". I think I prefer the former.

The good news for Johnny Damon fans is that their home jerseys, with #18 on the back, are now a hot item again. I'm trying to locate a Seibu Lions #18 jersey. Nike appears to manufacture the uniforms for Nippon Baseball, but they don't seem to sell them stateside. It's too bad because the jerseys are nice and Nike is missing out on a revenue stream. I wonder if they are barred from selling the jerseys in the U.S. because they aren't the official jersey manufacturer of Major League Baseball. Any way you slice it, I think Seibu Lions jerseys would be big sellers in the New England area right now.

Northshore Dragons win Super Bowl III

Congratulations to the Northshore Dragons, DFFL Super Bowl III Champions! After a grueling regular season the Dragons made it to the "Chip" without the benefit of a bye. The Dragons were an expansion team this year and used speed and athleticism to win it all.

Alright, so the handsome devil in the Oakleys is me! It was great playing with everyone this year, my first in the DFFL. I can't wait to defend the title next year.

Mingo, Shizz, Keith, Moose, Fred, MD, Gene, Rambo V, Tubbz, Brandon, Bo, Gabby, Dustin, and Ray, thanks for a great season!

NFL Week 14 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: The Lions certainly put a scare into the Patriots last week. The Pats looked sloppy while committing a number of stupid penalties. Thankfully Tom Brady is still Tom Brady and he led a fourth quarter touchdown drive that gave the Pats a 28-21 win.

Season record: 7-5 straight up, 4-6-2 against the spread.

Week 14 Favorite: New England (-3.5)

The Dolphins have been playing better football lately. Joey Harrington has settled in at quarterback. The Dolphins' defense always seems to give New England trouble. I think this game could be a trap game for the Patriots. However, their incredible sloppy play last week makes me think they will be extra focused and determined to play clean football this week. For that reason I think the Pats win a game that will play out not too dissimilar from the Bears game two weeks ago. I think the Pats get the early lead and keep the Dolphins at bay.

Prediction: Patriots 27, Dolphins 17

A Traveshamockery! - Update

I'm pissed that the jackholes who vote in the AP and USA Today Coach's polls have elevated Florida over Michigan. Now Florida is going to play Ohio State (and get destroyed) in the National Championship game. It's a travesty, sham, and a mockery that the morons who vote would penalize Michigan for being idle. Florida was not impressive last night against Arkansas. That didn't stop CBS' commentators from slurping Florida and the SEC. Way to kiss ass to the conference you are in bed with, CBS.

Michigan had a more difficult road schedule this year, playing at Notre Dame, at Penn State, and at Ohio State. Three of Florida's four toughest games were played at the Swamp. The Big Ten conference plays more difficult out-of-conference games than the SEC. Michigan has better athletes on both the offensive and defensive lines. Florida won't even be able to stay close to Ohio State in January. I don't care what Florida coach Urban Meyer thinks.

At least ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski has some common sense.

The NCAA needs a division I playoff. The top four, or preferably, eight, teams should play in December and January. There would be no controversy and some of the top athletes would be better prepared for the longer NFL season. The BCS system has failed repeatedly; LSU, Auburn, and now Michigan, among others, have all been screwed over by the system.

I also think the Coach's poll should be abolished. Michigan was screwed over in the Coach's poll in 1997. The Wolverines were ranked #1 in both polls and beat a very good Washington State team led by Ryan Leaf. Nebraska, which also finished an undefeated season, leapfrogged the Wolverines in the final Coach's poll once coach-turned-senator Tom Osborne announced his retirement. The obvious swing in votes were driven by the same type of idiots who voted Florida over Michigan this week.

I for one, hope that the NCAA gets it right sooner rather than later.


Update: ESPN's Pat Forde also has a little common sense.

Go Blue! And NFL Week 13 - Pats Prediction

First of all, let me congratulate the University of Michigan Wolverines on earning a trip to the national championship game in January. The UCLA Bruins beat #2 ranked USC today virtually ensuring the Wolverines a rematch against Ohio State on a neutral field. I was of the opinion before the Ohio State - Michigan game that they should play again for all the marbles if the game was close. The game and the events following have done nothing to change my opinion. I don't think that USC or Florida played as difficult a road schedule as Michigan did this year. The Wolverines were the most worthy opponent in my mind before UCLA's assist today. I'm confident that the two polls will get it right, especially if Arkansas continues to hang tight with Florida. Michigan should get a rematch. GO BLUE!

Pats Prediction:

Last week: The game played out pretty much as I predicted. It was even more physical than I expected and had more turnovers than I would have liked. It was certainly fun to watch, though.

I hope that Junior Seau will at least give serious consideration to playing with the Pats again next year. He's been better than I expected this year. It was tough watching the replays of his leg being snapped last Sunday.

I thought the turf looked nice. The playing surface appeared level and even throughout. I'd like to see FieldTurf in person some day. I played an ultimate disc scrimmage at Wentworth's turf field (not FieldTurf) and it was like brillo against the skin - not pretty.

Season record: 6-5 straight up, 3-6-2 against the spread.

Week 13 Favorite: New England (-14)

The Lions still stink. Matt Millen hasn't shown that he has what it takes to guide them to even mediocrity. That said, I still think any double digit spread is difficult to bet with. I think New England should win easily. I just don't think they will win by as many points as Vegas does.

Prediction: Patriots 27, Lions 17

Grading My 2006 Red Sox Predictions

My predictions for the 2006 Red Sox were posted back in April. I'm overdue to review my predictions against the actual stats. Predictions are in black. Actual numbers are in red. The grades in red are my personal assessment of my predictions, not my grades for the type of season the player had.

I completely missed the mark with my predicted win total of 98 and the division crown. The Sox finished with 86 wins and a third place finish in the A.L. East. I certainly didn't think they would completely tank the way they did down the stretch. The team trotted out more journeymen prospect type players the last two months of the season than many cellar dweller teams. Grade: C-

Hitters
Crisp: .310 (.264) 14 (8) HR 61 (36) RBI 32 (22) SB
In my mind Crisp never fully recovered from his broken finger in April. The off-season surgery on the finger would seem to confirm my suspicions. Having broken my knuckle, I know that Crisp was at least playing with pain in the hand when he returned last year. Grade: C

Loretta: .301 (.285) 11 (5) HR 78 (59) RBI
Loretta was the epitome of professional. He was fairly consistent at the plate although he did have some ups and downs. He was steady in the field all year. He will be missed next year. Grade: C+

Ortiz: .317 (.287) 43 (54) HR 141 (137) RBI
Ortiz had another MVP-caliber season, finishing third in the MVP voting. He set a new Red Sox single season record for homeruns. His HR and RBI totals were awesome. His batting average suffered a little from the numerous defensive shifts he faced when at the plate. Grade: B

Ramirez: .276 (.321) 34 (35) HR 118 (102) RBI
Ramirez seemed to prove that his troubles early in the 2005 season were a fluke; he had no problems hitting for his usual high average this year. He phoned in the end of the season, though, or his power numbers would be even higher. Grade: B-

Nixon: .272 (.268) 18 (8) HR 102 (52) RBI
Nixon, a true Red Sox dirt dog, saw his numbers fall into the toilet this year much like the content at Boston Dirt Dogs. Injuries once again plagued Trot and crippled his production. Thanks for the memories, Trot. Grade: D+

Varitek: .289 (.238) 15 (12) HR 94 (55) RBI
Varitek's numbers fell off a cliff this year. Yes, he spent some time on the DL. I hope the numbers are more reflective of injury and/or an off season than of old age catching up to a catcher in his 30's. Grade: D

Lowell: .264 (.284) 23 (20) HR 87 (80) RBI
Lowell had a nice bounce-back season at the plate. It's too bad that his extra-base hits dropped off as the season wore on and that he couldn't bat fifth to protect Ortiz and Manny. His defense was phenomenal and he deserved the Gold Glove. He had a higher fielding percentage and more chances than Eric Chavez, so his one more error should not have been the difference in winning or losing the award. Sadly, the Gold Glove means less than a Grammy award these days as the voting is a complete joke. Grade: B

Youkilis: .271 (.279) 12 (13) HR 76 (72) RBI
Youkilis was on base at a hearty .381 clip. He led the league in pitches per plate appearance. He was great with runners in scoring position and even better with runners in scoring position and two outs. He hit everywhere he was asked to in the order. He was a pleasant defensive surprise at first base. A solid season landed him the Hank and Sandy Most Valuable Jewish Player Award. Grade: A-

Gonzalez: .247 (.255) 10 (9) HR 52 (50) RBI
Gonzalez was exactly as advertised: excellent defense with no bat. He actually had a higher batting average most of the season, but played hurt late in the year and his BA tanked. He was even more deserving of a Gold Glove than Lowell. The fact that Jeter won the award illustrates the total incompetence of the voters. Grade: A

Pena: .239 (.301) 14 (11) HR 34 (42) RBI
I though Wily Mo made strides at the plate this year. He had a huge hole in his swing in April that he seemed to correct later in the year. He still strikes out a lot but he's a monster when he connects solidly. A defensive liability, he could be the everyday center fielder, with Crisp in left, if (when?) Manny is traded this off-season. Grade: C+

Pedroia: .286 (.191) 1 (2) HR 18 (7) RBI
The would-be starting second baseman for the 2007 Red Sox looked overmatched at the plate in a brief call up this year. I hope he looks better next year if the Sox don't bring Loretta back. Grade: C-

Pitchers
Easily the downfall of the 2006 Red Sox season. We didn't have enough pitching in the end. It seems like everyone was either hurt or stinking up the joint. Schilling's starts used to provide a sense of comfort but last year he allowed too many big innings late in games. Beckett never seemed to let Varitek call games and relied too much on his fastball. Wakefield stunk when Bard was catching him, didn't do a lot better with Mirabelli, and spent time on the DL. Tubby took a shot to the knee and missed most of the season before returning in time to be traded. Matt Clement disappeared. Keith Foulke was as bad as expected early in the year. Foulke's shaky start did open the door for the one bright spot of the staff, Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon was excellent before hurting his shoulder. He set a new Red Sox rookie record for saves and had an E.R.A. under 1.00. Jon Lester impressed before his season was shut down. I hope that he is able to fully treat his cancer and lead a fulfilling life. Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarman were disappointing but showed brief flashes.

Schilling: 20-7 (15-7) 3.62 (3.97) ERA Grade: B-
Wakefield: 14-12 (7-11) 4.53 (4.63) ERA Grade: C
Beckett: 20-8 (16-11) 3.44 (5.01) ERA Grade: C-
Clement: 16-10 (5-5) 3.98 (6.61) ERA Grade: D
Wells: 9-9 (2-3) 4.47 (4.98) ERA Grade: D+
Papelbon: 7-3 (4-2) 3.16 (0.92) ERA 14 (35) S 1 (6) BS Grade: D+
Foulke: 2-5 (3-1) 3.88 (4.35) ERA 11 (0) S 4 (0) BS Grade: C
Hansen: 2-1 (2-2) 2.74 (6.63) ERA 10 (0) S 2 (2) BS Grade: C-

NFL Week 12 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: The Pats put a whuppin' on a lower tier team (the Packers) last week. The 35-0 score demonstrated a perfectly executed gameplan for the good guys. Green Bay wasn't even in the game. I hope they continue to fire on all cylinders today.

Season record: 5-5 straight up, 3-6-1 against the spread.

Week 12 Favorite: New England (-4)

The Bears have feasted on lesser teams in the NFC this year. They haven't beaten anyone who impresses me. The Vikings, with whom the Bears struggled, are not as good as they looked a month ago. Rex Grossman has terrible mechanics, especially under pressure. The Bears should have lost on Monday night to the Cardinals this year. Ricky Manning, Jr.'s suspension comes at a bad time for Chicago.

Brady is 19-1 on turf in his career. He will now be playing his home games on FieldTurf. The Pats have the horses on defense to pressure Grossman. They also have enough on offensive to attack the Bears on the ground and in the air. I think the Pats will take an early lead and keep Chicago at bay today.

Prediction: Patriots 20, Bears 17

NFL Week 11 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: I can't figure out the Patriots this year. For the second straight week they abandoned the run against a team with a poor run defense. I've heard people defend the team by saying they are adjusting to the defense, but I don't buy that excuse. I don't care if the Colts or Jets put 8 guys in the box - run the damn ball! The Jets beat the Pats 17-14 last week, dropping New England to 2-3 at home. For the first time in four years the Patriots lost two games in a row. Let's all hope that the new FieldTurf improves the Pats' chances at home rest of the year.

Season record: 4-5 straight up, 2-6-1 against the spread.

Week 9 Favorite: New England (-6)

I hope that Patriots can continue their success on the road this year (4-0). I honestly don't know what to expect today, though. I hope (think?) they will play with a purpose today and get a much needed win before playing the Bears at home next week.

Prediction: Patriots 27, Packers 20

NFL Week 10 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: The Colts beat the Pats legitimately this year. Brady had terrible numbers with 4 INTs, but played better than that. Three of the four INTs were tipped. Kevin Faulk cost the Pats a chance to tie the game when he couldn't hold onto a short pass over the middle. The Colts managed a 27-20 victory. At least Vinatieri missed two field goals.

Season record: 4-4 straight up, 1-6-1 against the spread.

Week 9 Favorite: New England (-10.5)

I have no doubt that the Pats will beat the Jets today. I don't think they will cover the spread, though. A ten point spread in the NFL is a lot to ask any team. Mangini has proven to be a pretty good coach this year, but the Jets don't yet have the talent to match the Patriots. Belichick needs to redeem himself after screwing up the gameplan in the second half against the Colts last week.

Prediction: Patriots 24, Jets 16

NFL Week 9 - Pat's Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: Wow. The Pats beatdown the Vikings in Minnesota. I heard a caller on WEEI last Friday afternoon say that the score would be 31-10 in favor of the Pats because the Vikings had no chance to keep up with the Pats. That guy was a lot closer than I was. The final score was actually 31-7. New England’s game plan was simply brilliant. Score another one for Bill Belichick and his staff. A tough 0-2 week for me, although I'm happy to be wrong.

Season record: 4-3 straight up, 1-5-1 against the spread.

Week 9 Favorite: New England (-3)

Strangely enough the Colts don’t scare me this week. Facing a defense that is allowing a whopping 5.2 yards per carry I could probably hold my own as the featured back in the Patriot’s offense this week. I expect the Pats to come out throwing the football because everyone thinks they will pound the ball on the ground. After they knock the Colts back on their heels with the aerial attack I expect them to unleash Dillon and Maroney. I think Belichick can (and will) coach circles around the very overrated Tony Dungy. Dungy and Brian Billick are two coaches who were erroniously granted “genious” status because of the schemes and personnel they had as coordinators. In addition to the gameplans in place Peyton Manning has never beaten the Pats in a meaningful game. He can have last year’s victory; it was a hollow win against a depleted Patriots team without Harrison and Seymour among others. I think the Pats will control the clock and the game without much trouble.

Prediction: Patriots 34, Colts 24

NFL Week 8 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: Oops. My bye week lasted an extra week. Blame it on my flag football league, the DFFL, which plays on Sunday mornings and business travel. I went to Philly and back for a site audit on the 20th and was slightly frazzled all weekend. I hate flying to Philly or Newark because the return flights to Boston never leave on time. I forgot to post the Pats Prediction last Saturday and I don’t have the chance to do so on Sunday mornings. By the time I get home the 1PM games are underway.

I’m not even sure what the spread was for last week’s game. I’m going to guess that the spread was between 4 and 10 points and that the Patriots were favored.

Here’s where you have to trust me; I am an Eagle Scout, after all. I would have taken the points last week, but said that the Patriots would prevail. The Bills’ defense gives Brady trouble (they did have three sacks) and the Pats were on the road. I still felt, correctly, that the Pats were a far better team than Buffalo. The Bills need at least one more year to be contenders in the AFC East. They need to shore up the offensive line, get a possesion receiver, and let Losman progress naturally for the remainder of this season. I would not have expected the blowout, though.

Season record: 4-2 straight up, 1-4-1 against the spread.

Week 8 Favorite: New England (-2.5)

The Monday night game this week scares me a little bit. The Vikings are a very good team. They aren’t truly a great team yet because they have let a couple of games slip away. They do play very well at home and the Metrodome is a very loud stadium. If this game were being played in New England, I would pick the Patriots outright. This game isn’t being played in New England and I have a hard time predicting the outcome. I can see several possibly scenarios: a low scoring defensive game (favoring the Vikes), a high scoring shootout (favoring the Pats), or something in the middle. I’m hedging my bets on this one and predicting something in the middle, a game that could really go either way.

Prediction: Vikings 24, Patriots 23.

Shame on "the U"

The brawl that occurred between the University of Miami and Florida
International University football teams last Saturday night was a
black eye on the face of college athletics. The brawl was so raucaus
and nasty that it was more like a broken nose with the complimentary
pair of black eyes. Not surprisingly, the melee resulted in 31
players receiving at least a one game suspension.

FIU did the honorable thing and held its players accountable for their
actions. Some of the FIU players received increased suspensions, were
kicked off the team, or had their scholarships revoked.

Meanwhile, "the U" took the low road and maintained its much deserved
public image of a university more interested in coddling thug football
players than in preparing the youth of America for life after college.
Miami President Donna Shalala should be ashamed and embarrassed by her
actions this week.

Shalala failed to take any significant action after the brawl. In
fact, the only action she took was to avoid watching the tape of the
incident. How can the head of a major university do her job by
sticking her head in the sand? Shalala caved to boosters and the
football program when she decided to ignore the problem.

At an absolute minimum Shalala should have expelled the player who was
swinging his helmet at FIU player's heads and Brandon Merriweather,
the defensive captain, who was stomping on at least two prone FIU
players with his cleats.

Donna Shalala is a joke of a leader and should be fired. Head Coach
Larry Coker should follow her out the door. Miami needs to start at
the top with this housecleaning.

NFL Week 5 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: Bengals were favored by 6. I said the Bengals would beat the Pats 30 - 20. I was very happy to not only be wrong, but to be way off base. The final score was 38 - 13 New England.

I would like to thank my wife for helping the Patriots win in Cincinnati last week. She left the room and the Pats scored their first touchdown. She fell asleep for 10 minutes and the Pats scored their second touchdown. She went for a walk with my mother and the Pats scored 24 unanswered points in the second half.

Season record: 2-2 straight up, 1-3 against the spread.

Week 4 Favorite: New England (-10)

Prediction: Pats 27, Miami 20.

Miami looks terrible so far this year. If Culpepper sits in favor of Harrington this week, the Dolphins offense might actually be better than it has been to date. The last time a team that wasn't playing well faced the Patriots was the loss to Denver at home. I'm not convinced that the game will be a cakewalk today. I'll take the points but the Pats will win.

Money Can't Buy Me Love...

...and it can't buy George Steinbrenner a championship. All $200+ million dollars of Georgie Porgie's payroll couldn't buy the 27th world championship for the New York Yankees.

Celebrate tonight, but do it safely. It's always a good day when the Yankees lose and it's always a great day when they are elminated from the playoffs. Good luck Tigers fans.

NFL Week 4 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: Pats were favored by 7. I said New England would beat Denver 31 - 27. The actual outcome was 17 - 7 Broncos.

Season record: 2-1 straight up, 1-2 against the spread.

Week 4 Favorite: Cincinnati (-6)

Prediction: Bengals 30, Pats 20.

The Bengals are rolling offensively. They can run the ball and have one of the best passing offenses in football. They are ball hawks on defense. This is my first predicted New England defeat of the season.

Don't get me wrong, I'm completely rooting for the Pats, but my head says the Bengals are too good, especialy at home, for the Pats this week.

NFL Week 3 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last week: Pats favored by 6.5 points. I said 24 - 20 Pats over the Jets. The actual score was 24 - 17 New England.

Season record: 2-0 Straight Up, 0-2 Against the Spread

Week 2 Favorite: New England (-7)

Prediction: 31 - 27 New England over Denver


Mike Shannahan has had success against the Patriots in the past so I expect this game to be a high scoring affair. Jake Plummer has really struggled this year and has had difficulty against Bill Belichick in the past. I think the net result is another Patriots victory. I'm glad that Pats get to face Denver at home and I'm glad it's early in the season before Denver has put everything together. This was a game I indentified on the schedule that could be a loss.

NFL Week 2 - Pats Prediction

Pats Prediction:

Last Week: Pats favored by 10 points. I said 27 - 13 New England over Buffalo. The actual score was 19 - 17 New England.

Season Record: 1-0 Straight Up, 0-1 Against the Spread

Week 2 Favorite: New England (-6.5)

Prediction: 24 - 20 Pats over Jets

A Close Shave, A Pruned Branch

The Buffalo Bills defense came to play yesterday. So much for my predicted score this week. I'm now officially 1-0 straight up and 0-1 against the spread. The more predicitions I make the happier I am that I'm not a gambler.

Both teams played a sloppy game yesterday. Losman looked rattled and confused. Brady looked just plain bad at times. I don't know how much of Brady's trouble stemmed from poor offensive line play, but his fourth quarter interception was a poorly thrown ball no matter what Phil Simms says. Watson beat the safety and should have made a huge gain on the play. The ball simply didn't travel far enough; it was short and to the inside and the safety made the easy play.

Deion Branch was traded to Seattle today for a 1st round draft pick. It will be interesting to see what the Patriots do with two first round picks next year. I'm actually surprised they managed to get a first round pick. I think the Seahawks made a knee-jerk reaction to their poor play yesterday. Start rooting for the Seahawks opponents this year. There is a streak of Super Bowl losers (the last six or so) failing to make the playoffs the following year. I hope it continues.

I still think Branch's agent, Jason Chayut, is a complete idiot. Branch and all parties involved would have been happier if he could have agreed to an extension with the Patriots. Now Branch stands to be exposed as a top 25 to top 35 receiver. It seems Chayut has convinced Branch that he's a top 10 receiver. In reality Branch is probably somewhere in the 15-25 range. He should have accepted one of the Patriots' offers.

NFL Week 1 - Pats Prediction

The NFL season shifts into high gear tomorrow at 1PM. I can't wait!

I'm also playing flag football tomorrow morning in an organized league. I can't wait to start the first game of the season. I don't know how I'll sleep tonight.

I decided to predict the Patriots results each week straight up and also to include the spread. This will give me two chances to be right (or wrong) each week. I'll use Bodog.com for the spread on Saturdays unless otherwise noted.

Pats Prediction:

Last Week: N/A

Week 1 Favorite: New England (-10)

Prediction: 27 - 13 New England over Buffalo

So, as you can see, I'm predicting New England straight up and I'm predicting they cover the spread. I'll keep track of the two results separately for the season.

I'm Ready For Some Football

Since I'm ultra-confident that I'll successfully defend my Fantasy Football crown this season, I figure I'm well qualified to predict the outcome of the NFL season. Here's my prediction by division. Wild card winners for each conference are in italics and have a * after the name.

AFC EAST
12-4 New England Patriots
10-6 Miami Dolphins *
5-11 Buffalo Bills
2-14 New York Jets

The Pats could go 14-2 this year. I don't buy into the Miami hype, but they do have a relatively favorable schedule. The Bills and Jets are awful.

AFC NORTH
11-5 Cincinnati Bengals
9-7 Baltimore Ravens
8-8 Pittsburgh Steelers
7-9 Cleveland Browns

The AFC North could have a dogfight at the top of the division as the Bengals, Steelers, and Steve McNair-led Ravens team all have a shot at the division. I think injuries to McNair and Roethlisberger will derail the Ravens and Steelers, though.

AFC SOUTH
12-4 Indianapolis Colts
8-8 Jacksonville Jaguars
6-10 Houston Texans
4-12 Tennessee Titans

The Colts run away with the division. The Texans make a baby step forward. The Vince Young era begins in Tennessee.

AFC WEST
10-6 San Diego Chargers
10-6 Kansas City Chiefs *
9-7 Denver Broncos
5-11 Oakland Raiders

The Chargers ride their defense and LT to the division title. Likewise, the Chiefs ride LJ and an improved defense to the playoffs. Broncos fans get to see Jay Cutler a little earlier than they had hoped.

NFC EAST
10-6 Philadelphia Eagles
9-7 Dallas Cowboys *
7-9 New York Giants
6-10 Washington Redskins

The Eagles got rid of clubhouse cancer Terrell Owens and can't possibly get hit with the injury bug as hard as they were last year. Meanwhile the afformentioned T.O. behaves enough during his first year in Dallas to earn a playoff berth. The overrated and overhyped Giants and Redskins fall by the wayside.

NFC NORTH
9-7 Chicago Bears
8-8 Minnesota Vikings
6-10 Detroit Lions
6-10 Green Bay Packers

The worst division in football allows the Bears defense to once again rise to the top of the division. Brett Favre will wish he had retired.

NFC SOUTH
11-5 Carolina Panthers
9-7 Tampa Bay Buccanears
8-8 Atlanta Falcons
6-10 New Orleans Saints

The Panthers are very good team but I don't think they will completely outdistance themselves from the pack. The Buccanears are the tough-luck team in the NFC. Michael Vick and Reggie Bush compete for highlight reel plays, but not for the playoffs.

NFC WEST
11-5 Seattle Seahawks
10-6 St. Louis Rams *
7-9 Arizona Cardinals
5-11 San Francisco 49's

The Seahawks lost guard Steve Hutchinson to the Vikes, but they still have a great offense led by Hasselbeck and Alexander to compliment a top-notch defense that added some key players this off-season. The Rams have the talent to be a very good team this year. The Cardinals don't have the offensive line or defense to get to the next level yet. Good luck, Alex Smith.


I like the Pats over the Colts in the AFC Championship Game.

I think the Panthers beat the Seahawks in an NFC Championship Game rematch.

I think the Pats will beat the Panthers in Miami in February in some really important game.

We're Not Dead Yet

I can't even count the number of times that I planned to write a column titled "R.I.P. 2006 Red Sox Season" in the last two weeks. I'm an optimist, I think it helps me get through life on a relatively even keel. So when I thought the season was over for the Sox, you know the team was in dire straights. After two great pitching performances in a row, first Freddy Kreuger and now Kason Gaba-gaba-hey, the team is not only clinging to their slim playoff chances, but is showing a glimmer of hope. The return of Varitek this week is huge. Getting Papi, Nixon, and Gonzalez back into the lineup doesn't hurt, either. Hopefully Papelbon and Schilling won't be on the mend for too long.

I'm planning to write my NFL season preview tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Pats Prediction

Good thing it's only the pre-season as I failed to post a Pats Prediction last week. I had gone to see the Brockton Rox game last Saturday and forget to throw up a score before I left in the afternoon.

Here is tonight's prediction:

24 - 20 Pats over Redskins

Both teams have potential top 10 defenses but the Skins will really miss having Clinton Portis tonight.


I was in Toronto this week for business so I didn't post anything. I managed to see the Blue Jays play the Athletics on Tuesday. I'll post pictures and details soon.

Rotten Apple, Good Music

I'm definitely not an Apple person; I hate Macs and find them totally unnecessary. I like the internet image that shows a series of baby toys and the Mac one-button mouse with the tagline, "Macs, simple computers for simple people". Several years ago Macs served a purpose in graphical design and computer animation but those days are long gone. The new television commercials showing a middle-aged guy in a tweed jacket as a PC and a young punk as a Mac are clever but they work against Apple. Consumers sympathize with the PC and recognize the "Mac" as representative of its fanbase, smarmy spoiled loyalists.

The one thing that Apple has done right is the iPod. It's a wonderfully designed device. The execution is nearly, if not totally, flawless. The device is compact, simple to operate with one hand, and intuitive. I never read the manual for my iPod; I charged the battery and simply started using it. I am a manual-reading kind of guy, too. I'll spend the time to read the manual for even basic devices just to ensure that I have learned all the little tips and tricks. The iPod didn't require any reading.

Many detractors don't like the iPod because of the forced association with iTunes. Until today I never understood what the fuss was about. I installed iTunes a couple of years ago without any trouble and had not updated the software since. I read about the changes that Apple continually implemented in the digital rights management (DRM) of later versions of iTunes and I avoided all updates like the plague. As a result, I had no complaints. I could purchase music cheaply and easily without going to the store and subsequently burn music CDs for the car or stereo and then rip them back to MP3 format if I need to edit the files for ringtones or other purposes. The DRM had little effect on my music and use of it.

Today I wanted to purchase the new single from the Killers, "When You Were Young". I decided to pre-order the new album since "Hot Fuss" was so good and the new single is great. I heard the new single on the radio yesterday and immediately recognized the artist as the Killers.

When I tried to pre-order the new CD, "Sam's Town" iTunes forced me to upgrade to version 6. I was happily running version 4.7, thank you very much. I begrudgingly went to upgrade my iTunes version and was forced to install Quicktime 7(.1?), too. I'm sick of Apple's pathetic attempts to force the use of Quicktime upon iTunes users and iTunes upon Quicktime users. The only time I ever use Quicktime is if I want to view movie trailers at the Quicktime website. It's totally useless otherwise. Windows Media Player 9 and 10 support High Definition and offer more versatility.

After waiting 15 minutes for the Quicktime portion of the install to complete I shut down the install operation. I had to relaunch Windows and run the entire install again. Way to not piss me off, Apple. If you're going to bundle your crappy software, at least make sure the installation configuration is robust enough to work on PCs. In case you haven't heard, Apple, PCs dominate the market.

Time will tell if the new version of iTunes will really muck up my DRM and use of the software.

I've got my Killers single now and I'll have to wait until October 3rd for the rest of the CD.

I did buy the Angels and Airwaves (AvA) CD, "We Don't Need to Whisper" that I mentioned a few weeks ago. Simply put, this CD is one of the best I've ever heard. I'd be remiss to not mention it and explain it.

I don't for a second believe that "We Don't Need to Whisper" will be, or should be, universally praised and loved as much I love it. I understand the difference between something that will sell 10 million copies and something that might achieve a gold record. The beauty of this CD is that for those people who enjoy the genre of music it should really resonate. It struck a major chord with me.

Tom DeLonge clearly spent months crafting the CD. The major themes are repeated lyrically, as is the case on many a CD, but also musically, sort of like a movie score. There are hints of melodies that are contained in multiple songs. The end result is that the whole CD is simply brilliant. I can't remember another CD that made my spine tingle so much on the first listen.

Again, Tom isn't the world's best singer. The music isn't the most complicated or technically adept. The hooks are incredible though, and the emotion shines through.

I would recommend that anyone who likes alternative rock, rock, power-pop-punk, or similar check out the website at http://www.angelsandairwaves.com/ . You can watch the videos for "The Adventure" and "Do It For Me Now" at the site. If you enter the main site you can listen to "The Adventure" and "It Hurts". For some reason, the "Enter the Site" link will spawn new windows to clothing sites Tom is affiliated with. Click it a few times and you'll get into the site.

If you like the three songs you can hear on the site do yourself a huge favor and pick up the CD (even if you have to use iTunes).

I Like Mike... One Way More Than the Other

I watched a little bit of the Monday Night Football game on ESPN this week. I wanted to see how Tony Kornheiser would do in the booth. While he's not as bad as Dennis Miller, he's not a whole lot better. He seemed tentative to me and he didn't add anything substantive to the broadcast.

I'm actually somewhat annoyed, nay, peeved, that ESPN broke up the Mike Patrick - Paul Maguire - Joe Theismann combination. I really liked those guys as a team. I like Mike Patrick's voice and I have no problems with his calm and excited tones. Paul and Joe provided a "point-counterpoint" type of argument during games while sharing their experience and opinions.

I'm not a fan of Mike Tirico. I don't like his voice; he's too excitable and not even-keeled. He also seems to always have an agenda. I'm not convinced that he's a totally neutral observer.

Another MNF bummer is that Hank Williams Jr. is still going to provide his annoying pregame introduction song. I was hoping that he would be lost in the transition to ESPN. He's going to incorporate all kinds of different guest stars this year. >sarcasm< Woo hoo! >/sarcasm<

The Pats didn't quite live up to my lofty pre-season expectations ("Oh, a sarcasm detector, that's a real useful invention!"), but they did some things well. I was very pleased to see a Corey Dillon reminiscent of the 2004 version. He looks healthy again and appears ready to be a bruiser for the Pats. Laurence Maroney looked awesome last week. He reminded me of St. Louis' Steven Jackson, displaying speed and power (and dreds). I coveted Jackson in the draft a couple years ago, so I hope Maroney is even better.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

It's a Friday night party!

The NFL pre-season continues tonight as the Patriots face the Atlanta Falcons at 8PM on CBS. This is the first pre-season game for the Pats. They should provide a pleasant distraction from the suddenly pathetic Red Sox.

I was happy to find that the St. Louis / Indianapolis game was broadcast in HD on FOX last night. FOX has been showing Saturday baseball games in 16:9 standard-definition. The baseball games look absolutely terrible. I figured FOX might try to pull the same garbage on the fans during the NFL pre-season.

I have no idea if the game is in high-definition on CBS tonight. I hope so.

The NFL pre-season signals the start of many fantasy football leagues. I must admit that the NFL.com fantasy football commercials are pretty funny. I've seen two and they were both memorable. In the first ad one guy is telling the new player that kickers are drafted early and that running backs aren't important because you can always trade for one. He ends by telling the new guy that he's the new guy's friend. In the second ad a guy is trying to draft WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, but he can't pronounce "Hoosh-man-za-da".

And now for a new feature at Digital Sox, the "Pats Prediction". I will predict the outcome of every Patriots game this year.

Pats Prediction:
20 - 13 Pats over Falcons

Brady leads the team to a TD in his only series and the Falcons don't do much until Matt Schaub enters the game. Beyond that, nobody really cares as long as no one gets hurt.

Come On Baby, Light My Fire

The Sox dropped a game they should have won last night. That makes
four straight losses to the D-Rays and Royals, also commonly known as
"the two worst teams in the American League".

The losses are tough enough on their own merit. What bothers me more
than losing games against very bad teams is that no one on the Sox
seems to really care. Even Schilling commented on the fact that the
team maintains a very even keel. That was a positive in Schilling's
eyes.

Well, the laid back approach isn't working.

It's time for someone to light a fire under the Sox' collective backside.

On any other team that guy would be the manager. GL2:EB is too much of
a player's manager, though. By not chewing out the team he's affirming
his nickname (Grady Little 2: Electric Boogaloo, for the uninitiated).

In the absence of a fiery, gutsy manager, the Captain should seize the
opportunity to contribute from the DL. Varitek could light the much
needed fire behind closed doors and get the team pointed in the right
direction.

Be the guy who popped Slappy McPurplelips in the kisser when it was necessary.

We need that passion.

Moblogging, Mo Problems

Rejoice, rejoice, for this is my first ever moblog (mobile blog). I
just got the very awesome Cingular 8125 smartphone. It really is a
great cellphone and a great PDA. More on the phone at a later date.

I want to rant about Shaw's tonight. I enjoy the finer things in life
(at least when time allows). I don't ask much of this world (most of
the time). I only want three things from my grocery store.

1. The ability to redeem bottles and cans.

2. The ability to cash in my loose change.

3. The ability to buy fresh food.

Shaw's managed to pull an 0-fer tonight.

The bottle redemption machine wouldn't take the beer bottles from the
anniversary party we just had for my in-laws. At first I thought that
maybe it was a Crudweiser machine because it said that Sam Adams'
bottles weren't accepted. When it didn't take Crud Light bottles I
knew that Shaw's was starting to piss me off.

Then I dumped my jar of coins onto the sorting tray of the Coinstar
machine. I look up at the screen and notice it says the machine is not
ready for service and please see a manager. As I'm picking up my
change an employee walks by and says the machine is "closed". What.
The. Hell.

So I'm buying my groceries and I'm nearly finished when I pick up some
cottage cheese. I happen to see that said cottage cheese expired FOUR
DAYS AGO!

I used to like my local Shaw's, but now I'm not so certain.

Holy Jet Lag, Batman!

We made it home safely yesterday after taking a red-eye flight to New York and then to Boston. I've never been so jet lagged in my life. Between the heat and humidity (and a hotel without air conditioning) and not getting any sleep overnight yesterday my body doesn't know which way is up. Hopefully by Friday or Saturday I will have recovered.

Comic-Con was fun; we can say we did it and we survived. Just as I suspected, I definitely rank pretty low on the geek scale at Comic-Con. I saw more costumes that I didn't recognize than ones I actually did.



*** Possible "Lost" Season 3 spoilers below. Read at your own risk. Skip to the next set of asteriks to avoid. ***





The "Lost" Q&A session was my highlight of the event. Some quick tidbits:

• Damon Lindleof said that Desmond returns in Season 3 and implied that Locke is alive and well.
• Lindleof also said that Season 3 has a twist in the middle that will blow your mind. By implication from earlier questions I gathered that the twist involves the perceived passage of time on the island.
• Kate will choose her man in the first pod of new episodes, which the producers call a sort of mini-series to start the season.
• The outside world (Penny et al.) will continue to play in a role going forward.
• The show seems planned for about 4 seasons. I had read that J.J. Abrams planned for 7, so this was news to me. The producers hope that ABC doesn't make them drag the show on indefinitely because they don't want to tap dance; they have a planned overall story arc.

.

.

.

*** END OF SPOILERS ***

The second best part of the show for me was a tie between the Lionsgate films presentation and a demonstration by Lucasarts.

Lucasarts has been working on a new Indiana Jones game and a new Star Wars game. Both utilize two amazing new technologies. The first involves the artificial intelligence of the enemy. The AI is no longer scripted, but programmed to follow behaviors. As a result, the game is never the same twice. During a demo of the Indy game the bad guys never fell or reacted the same way twice. They tried to approach Indy and were staggered or thrown realistically and uniquely when hit or tossed.

The second technology that Lucasarts demonstrated involved the behavior of materials. If memory serves me correct, the name was "Digital Molecular Modeling". DMM allows materials to bend or break realistically. The demo showed thin wood, thick wood, soft metal, stone, glass, ice, crystal, graphite, and rubber objects all behave appropriately in a Star Wars themed location. The way that wood and glass break is unique depending on where and how the materials are struck. Soft metal gradually deforms while rubber is reflexive and returns to form.

One cool part of the demo had Storm Troopers spawn while being thrown at a wooden ceiling beam. Some, but not many, were able to grab onto the wood with one or both hands to prevent from falling. At one point a Storm Trooper holding the beam with one hand grabbed a fellow Storm Trooper with his free hand. The extra weight caused him to slip from the beam as the beam itself splintered and broke under their combined weight. Even the Lucasarts guys had never seen that happen before.

A brief video of gameplay from the new Star Wars game showed the DMM coupled with the AI. It was amazing. The Storm Troopers would react uniquely to the Jedi shown in the video. When the Jedi used the Force to push the Storm Troopers off the ledge several loose items on the ledge were also pushed over and one Storm Trooper lost his helmet. Then a different Jedi character was shown Force lifting three Storm Troopers and slamming them into the ground. Several small items were also lifted and slammed with the STs. One ST even lost hold of his weapon and tried to reach for it while both he and the gun were suspended in the air. The last part of the video showed a male Jedi lift a single ST and throw him against a large outcropped structure on a wall. The ST grabbed onto the structure to prevent from falling. The Jedi than Force pulled the ST sideways, eventually ripping the entire outcropping and ST from the wall.

Sadly both games are only in development for "Next Generation" consoles at the moment. Looks like you'll need an X-Box 360 or PS3 to play.

Lionsgate previewed several horror movies and a movie called "Crank". "Crank" stars Jason Statham as a hitman who has been injected with a poison. He has only 90 minutes to find out who injected him. Somehow his adrenaline level is involved, but it was not discussed during the panel. I believe he needs to maintain a high level to prevent the poison from taking effect. It was shot in HD and looks very cool.

The other Lionsgate film I'm excited about is "Saw III". A clip was shown at the end of the presentation that was most likely too graphic to receive an "R" rating. In the clip a man who was born into a privileged life yet has spent most of his life in chains in prison is forced to remove about a dozen bull ring style piercings from his body in 90 seconds. The three-to-four inch rings are pierced through his arms, legs, back, Achilles heels, and lower lip/jaw. It was brutal watching and listening to him struggle to save his life. It was more reminiscent of the first "Saw" than the sequel.

Tobin Bell, the actor who plays Jigsaw in the "Saw" movies, sounds just like the character he plays. I had previously assumed he used a deep, throaty, scary voice for the character in the films. It turns out that is his normal voice. If you had his cell phone number, he would scare the crap out of you.

Vacation

Here's my last post before leaving for San Diego tomorrow. We're going to the annual Comic-Con for the first time. It should be a blast. I'm most excited about "Family Guy" on Friday and "Lost" and "Spiderman 3" on Saturday. It should be fun going to a place where my level of geekiness only ranks about a 2 on a 10 scale.

I'm thinking of trying to start some shi* between the Star Wars and Star Trek fans.

The Sox eked out a win against the lowly Royals last night. Mirabelli should have walked on a 3-1 pitch, but a lousy call by plate ump Jim Joyce allowed him the opportunity to hit a game-tying 3-run homer. Thanks Jim!

I saw an interesting short article on Josh Beckett today. The author of "Feeding the Monster" reiterates what we all know about Beckett by now.

I saw Rotoworld questioned Jason Varitek's ability to call a decent game this year. I found the timing sort of interesting seeing that I just praised Varitek's defensive and leadership abilities in my "Mid-Season Musings" post. It made me realize that I'm not really in a position to evaluate Varitek's overall worth and that maybe he can't call a good game. I've always read and heard good things about him and would be a little surprised if he had suddenly become significantly worse than the last few years. I personally still have to think that the health of the starting pitching (and subsequently the quality of pitching) has had a big impact on the result this year as opposed to Varitek's abilities. The article on Beckett above would certainly seem to explain his troubles.



Now for something completely different. I had the chance to play Southers Marsh Golf Club last week. The course was easily one of the best manicured courses I've ever had the chance to play. It has been voted the best golf course in Plymouth four years in-a-row. It also has been voted the best burger in Plymouth. I certainly cannot disagree on either count. I wouldn't mind playing the course again this year, hopefully closer to the cranberry harvest to see the full color of the course.


Lastly, be sure to check out "What If" on NESN at 6PM on Thursday night. NESN has used computer statistical analysis to determine the outcome of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS if Grady Little had removed Pedro. It should be a very interesting program. I've got the DVR set to record it.

Ch-ch-ch-change

I enabled email posting to my blog today.  This is my first attempt to send an email to Blogger as a post.  Keep your cyber-fingers crossed.  There's really no reason for me to do this, but in theory I could post from remote locations with only email access and not internet access.  I could also use other devices, like cellphones or PDAs, to post.

 

I also enabled the ability for readers to email posts to other people.  The link is at the bottom of each post, near the "comments" link.

 

Finally, I decided to write about life in general.  Yes, I want to write about the Sox and the Pats, but as I've said before, I don't want to rehash games.  Anyone can watch Sports Center or Sports Desk or read the Globe or the Herald.  If I can't say anything unique, or at least present it differently, I'd rather not say it.

 

On that note, I ate lunch at Ruby Tuesday's today.  As of today they have pared down their menu.  I was somewhat disappointed to discover that they only offered about a dozen types of burgers now.  Gone were many of the combinations containing bison meat.  They still offer bison, but it's a simple bacon and American cheese offering.

 

I didn't ask, but I'm hoping that Ruby T's would still make some of the old combinations.  I almost asked to have a bison burger with bacon, cheddar, and some blue cheese on top.  I settled for the smokehouse burger (beef, onion strings, BBQ sauce, cheddar, and bacon). 

 

I also think that Ruby T's needs to pay a royalty to the Rolling Stones so that motion sensors can be installed at the doors.  They would be the one-way directional sensors that detected when customers left the building.  As the customer leaves, the outdoor speaks would play the line, "Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday...".

Mid-Season Musings

Some thoughts from the last few days in sports and the Sox at the unofficial midpoint of the season...

The Sox need pitching help, both a starter and a reliever in my opinion, but given the lack of quality arms available I hope they don't mortgage the future by trading any solid prospects this year. I think the Sox pitching is good enough to make the playoffs and even win the World Series this year, but I think they would be able to bury the Yanks and Jays with some help.

I think a healthy Matt "Meltdown" Clement with his head screwed on straight could be the necessary addition to the rotation. He doesn't have to be amazing, just eat up some innings at the back of the rotation and keep games close, giving the Sox a chance to win.

Julian Tavarez has been hit or miss all year. He could be an asset down the stretch if he strings together some good outings.

Rudy Seanez is worthless. Throw him out with the garbage.

While we're talking about worthless garbage, dump Willie Harris A.S.A.P. He's the worst pinch runner I've ever seen; he's costing the Sox valuable outs and potential runs.

I think that Timlin, Delcarmen, and Papelbon are very solid. I think that Hansen is getting there, but he's still not quite a completely reliable set-up man. Part of the problem may be that Francona pushes him past 3-outs at a time, to which he's seemingly getting more comfortable with. It's the multiple inning appearances that are hurting his numbers.

Varitek should bat in the 8th spot until (hopefully) he heats up. Since Lowell has shown he can't bat 5th either, Nixon and Pena should platoon in the number five spot.

It will be nice to have Pena back (no more Willie!).

Maybe Gonzalez should bat 8th and Tek 9th for while. There's no shame in that. Tek brings a lot to the table as team captain and catcher of the staff even if he's not bringing a lot to the plate this year.


Other topics:

I hate the ESPN baseball power rankings. Whoever does them is a total suck-up and Yankee kiss-ass. I've felt this way for years and it's going to take a lot to change my mind.

How does Michelle Wie suffer from heatstroke? Didn't she grow up in hot and humid (and reportedly beautiful) Hawaii?

Barry Bonds is going to prison, Barry Bonds is going to prison! Ring the bells! Sing it with me, "Barry's going to prison!". It's only a matter of time now. It will be funny for that @$$hole to worry about his @$$hole, if you catch my drift.

I heard one of the guys on ESPN News pronounce Hanley Ramirez's first name "AHN-lay".

I heard the song "The Adventure" by Angels and Airwaves on the radio. I thought it was Blink-182. Turns out the band is fronted by Tom Delonge of Blink fame. Sounds like it could be a great CD.

We'll be heading to the Comic-Con International in San Diego on Wednesday. It should be fun. I can't wait for the presentation by the producers of the show "Lost".

Red Is Better Than White

The Red Sox handled the White Sox on the road this weekend but they couldn't finish the job yesterday. The good guys won the first two games of the series relatively easily before failing to put away the defending champs on Sunday.

Jermaine "Why Won't You" Dye hit a game-tying homerun in the bottom of the 9th off Jonathan Papelbon with two outs. The Sox then managed to score twice in the 11th inning but missed two key opportunities in the bottom of the inning. First, "Why Won't You" Dye failed to touch third base when returning to second base on a flyout. The Red Sox didn't notice and failed to appeal. The miscue gave the White Sox another opportunity to tie the game. The next batter hit a potential double-play ball but A.J. "the Punk" Pierzynski slid well outside the baseline with both arms raised. His actions helped the runner beat the throw. Had the Red Sox completed the second half of the double-play, the game would have been over. Rudy "How Am I Still Pitching In the Major Leagues This Year" Seanez didn't have enough gas in the tank to get through the 19th inning.

Winning the series against the White Sox was a nice pickup after tanking against the Devils Rays earlier in the week. I still don't understand how the D-Rays can play the Sox so well, but fold against the Yanks. The D-Rays at least came back from a 5-0 deficit to win Sunday.

Red Hot Sox

The title says "Sox", you pervert.

The Sox are absolutely smoking, having won 14 of their last 15 games. They won 12 in row before conceding defeat to the Marlins on Friday night. They threw Jason Johnson on the mound against Dontrelle Willis, the Marlins' ace, in what could only be viewed as a blatant waving of the white surrender flag. I assume that management was hoping Willis would have an off night and the Sox offense would overcome any deficit that Johnson would create. Well, Johnson was as bad as advertised early, allowing five runs in the first two innings. The Sox didn't recover and lost for the first time in two weeks. They did go on to win the last two games of the series. In doing so they managed to tie the all time best mark in interleague play for a season at 16-2.

The NESN broadcast tonight is stuttering as if the frame rate is not what it should be. In the past I had assumed that my Motorola 6412 had simply become too warm. Turns out it's only NESN that's the problem. I just checked my incoming signal strength and found that NESN was only "Fair". ESPN HD, on the other hand, was "Good" and had twice the signal-to-noise ratio. Come on, NESN, don't play me like that. Boost your signal strength. I haven't yet attempted to correlate the problem with the location of the team or the weather conditions. It's perfectly clear and warm here, though.

Yes, I think Schilling was snubbed by Ozzie Guillen in not being elected to the All-Star game. However, I think Francisco Liriano was a bigger Guillen snub. I'm also shocked that Nomar was not chosen for the NL team. Both Liriano and Nomar are eligible to voted in by the fans in the MLB Final Vote.

I would like to propose that in the future the managers of the All-Star game are only allowed to add a single player from their own team. That would ensure that fan and player balloting accounted for the primary selections and the managers would be mostly responsible for electing the representatives from crummy teams. It would also remove much of the nepotism that Guillen and Joe Torre are so found of. I would also hope that baseball either drops the stupid rule calling for each team to be represented, or better yet, finds a way to increase the parity among the big and small market teams.

A Perfect Ten

The Sox won their 10th game in a row last night. Lester pitched out of two difficult bases loaded jams in the fourth and fifth innings. His record now stands at 3-0 with an E.R.A. of 2.95. His batting average against is around .221 and he's averaging more than one strikeout per inning. If he cuts down on his walks, he won't be in as many jams. I definitely think that the kid is here to stay; he would have to have a Clement-like meltdown to be sent back to Pawtucket. I actually have more confidence in Lester right now that I've ever had with Clement. I think Lester will be fine down the stretch and in the playoffs.

Coupled with a Yankee loss the Jedi/Rebel Forces now have a three-and-a-half game lead over the Evil Empire.

We all know that the Yankees are the Evil Empire in the galaxy of baseball. The role of the Sox was never clearly identified. I think that historically the Red Sox would equate to simply an average band of Rebel Forces. Now that the ghosts of the past have been vanquished the case could be made that they play a more prominent role in the galaxy of baseball.

Here in an image I created in 2003 during the ALCS. I think that Clemens and Nomar came out the best.

I don't want to preach in this corner of cyberspace, but I will take a quick moment to stand on my virtual soapbox. I hate and abhor three types of people in this world: child molesters/abusers, wife-beaters, and drunk-drivers. I'm glad that the local and national media did not let the Philadelphia Phillies sweep the Brett Myers incident under the rug. Myers was seen assaulting his wife on Boylston Street in Boston last week. He is a foot taller and weighs twice that of his wife. What he did has no place in our society. The Phillies did not handle the incident correctly this weekend. Thanks to the media it appears that they may be taking steps in the right direction.

*steps down*

I was glad that Sox fans applauded Pedro yesterday. It was a classy move by the Sox to show the highlight clips and a classy move by the fans to show so much love and respect. Yes, Pedro was my favorite Sox player through my college years and beyond. No, I don't condone his actions when he left (it's never okay to agree verbally to a contract with a team only to have your agent leverage your verbal agreement against another team to get more money/years). Pedro didn't pull a Damon here; he didn't say that he could never play for the Yankees and then run to them. Pedro simply used the Sox to get a better contract from the Mets. His Koufaxian career has been like a comet, incredibly bright, but short-lived. He deserves to be remembered as one of the best, if not, the best, pitcher in Red Sox history.

The moron running Boston Dirt Dogs had been planning, nay, hoping and praying for, a boo-fest for Pedro for weeks. I'm glad the fans were smarter than him. Once he sold-out to Boston.com his content went from uber-fan who believed every rumor to be stone-cold truth to a simply rehashing the daily headlines and pushing his opinion on the rest of us. I liked him more when he still cared about the team and not the money. The only content worthwhile on his site these days are the custom illustrations.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Commissioner, Peter Gammons, and his family.

Walk This Way

Big Papi, the greatest clutch hitter in the history of the Boston Red Sox, did it again. Ortizzle hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th inning yesterday to give the Red Sox their 9th consecutive victory. Ortiz beat the Phillies with walk-off hits in back-to-back games to close out the three game series. That gives him three walk-off hits in the last 15 days. Somewhere, ARod is crying.

Kevin Youkilis scored the winning run and had a hit that was just as important yesterday. His game-tying double with two outs kept the Sox hopes alive and gave Big Papi a chance. I hope that Youk gets his due.

Craig Hansen got his first victory of the year after allowing an inherited run to score in the top of the 12th inning. Why does GL2:EB insist on bringing Hansen into games with runners on base? Let the kid cut his teeth with clean innings. Then if he gives up a hit, he's not giving up a run at the same time. He needs to gain the confidence that Papelbon possesses. Giving up runs every time out won't help him.

Bill Simmons wrote a piece about Papelbon for ESPN the Mag. I totally agree with his sentiment; my head says that Papelbon should be a starter next year, but my heart says he should remain the closer.

The Sports Guy somehow decided that Papelbon's nickname is "Paps". I think that sounds like a gynecological procedure. Simmons has had nickname issues ever since he moved to L.A. I don't know if he has faulty sources or if he's just too far out of touch with the east cost, but he misspells "Youk" and used to misspell "Big Papi". Someone needs to tell him to simply stop using nicknames altogether.

My last post was #50. So pop open the champagne (or better yet, a beer), but drink responsibly.

I Heard That You Missed Me

I suppose that I'm obligated to explain the dearth of posts here for the last month or so. The simple truth is really multi-faceted.

1. I've been crazy busy at work.
2. The Sox went through a funk and seemingly everyone had the injury bug.
3. Feedster claims that they were going to add Digital Sox to the list of Sox blogs on Boston.com. It hasn't happened yet.
4. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to capture thoughts and ideas and save them to write about at a convenient time.
5. I want to put the necessary time and effort into blogging so that I can write creatively and really find my voice. I don't want to simply rehash news or data that you can find on any website or blog.

Without giving away too much detail I will say that I currently work for a large consumer products company that is based in Boston. At least it was for the last ninety years or so. They "merged" with an even larger consumer products company based in Cincinnati. As a result I will be helping provide "the best a man can get" for only 5 more business days. Trying to launch three SKUs (possibly four), transition a chemical business, clean out your lab and desk, and find a new job is not all it's cracked up to be. A short while ago I was either taking a quick 15-minutes to post in the morning or leaving work on time and posting as soon as I got home. That hasn't happened for a while.

The Sox were starting to bum me out with the yearly June swoon. I certainly have become accustomed to it, but I've never attempted to blog through it in the past. The fact that the injury bug had seemingly bitten the team didn't help the matter. Sure, I poked fun at it with this post but frustrations with work made it difficult to blog about. I am by no means a fair weather Sox fan. I bleed Red Sox red through-and-through. I don't believe that real Sox fans could ever be fair weather fans given the history of the team. I watch way too many innings on NESN every year (at least according to my wonderful wife). Thankfully, the team has righted the ship and currently have an eight game winning streak.

I submitted my blog to Feedster to submit to Boston.com's list of fan blogs during Spring Training. At the start of the season I was blogging almost every day. Feedster said they would be submitting my blog to the list. I haven't seen it yet. It was sort of disheartening knowing that I could have increased readership by being added to the list at Boston.com but that nothing was happening on that front.

I have to figure out how to save "seeds" of posts. I can always type a few sentences and save the post as a draft but for some silly reason Blogger will treat the date of creation of the draft as the post date no matter when the draft is actually finished and posted. This might work, but I don't know how it would handle posts that are seemingly out-of-order chronologically. Maybe I can start using my PDA or saving drafts in GMail or something. I'm open to suggestions.

I like using creative metaphors and analogies. I enjoy carefully crafting pieces. Sites like Blogspot make bloggers a dime a dozen. I want to be different if only in quality, not necessarily content. I want to put the effort into posting that results in a blog I can be proud of.

The good news is that I will have a lot more time in July to post. I will be starting a new job August 1st and will have to reevaluate the blogging situation at that time. In the interim I will be attempting to post 5 or 6 times a week in July, save for the trip to San Diego we'll be taking.

Back to the Sox. Today they try to win their 9th straight game. They haven't made an error in almost two weeks. They are 10-1 against the National League so far this year. If they lose today, it will probably be because I jinxed them and the team made three errors. Let me apologize right now if that happens.

He Ain't Pretty No More

Steelers' QB Ben Roethlisberger crashed his motorcycle on June 12th in Pittsburgh. While I don't ever wish harm on anyone, I think that Big Ben might have been the victim of some much needed karmic retribution. You see, Mr. Roethlisberger is a big, fat liar. In July 2005 he was interviewed about riding motorcycles by ESPN's Andrea Kremer. How many times did his proverbial pants catch on fire? At least three by my count. And everyone knows that it's three strikes and you're out.

Here are his own words compared to the facts.


Roethlisberger: But when you're riding a Harley or a chopper and you're riding with a group of people and you're not on the highway and you're cruising, you're relaxing. I don't think its as much of a risk as people make it out to be.

Strike 1: LIAR! Benny-boy was riding solo.


Roethlisberger: I think it can be a risk. It depends on how you ride. I don't ride a sport bike. If I'm riding a sport bike and trying to do tricks, and going 200 miles down the highway, that's probably pretty stupid... I ride a Harley and a chopper.

Strike 2: LIAR! He was riding a black 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa, a "large, racing-style bike".


ESPN: I assume you have your license?
Roethlisberger: Yes.

Strike 3: LIAR! Roethlisberger did not have license. That means he was required to wear a helmet and will face a whopping $388 in fines. He should be thrown in jail.


Roethlisberger is lucky to be alive. Helmet or no, he's lucky that he only scrambled his face and not his brains.

Riske Business

Ugh... The bullpen is decimated right now. Timlin went on the DL over the weekend which could cripple the Sox for a few weeks. After climbing back against the Jays last night and tying the game on a three run Varitek homerun David Riske promptly gives up the go-ahead run. I don't know why GL2:EB put Riske in that situation in only his second appearance of the season. Foulke and Papelbon were available last night. Bill James would have sent Papelbon into the game in the 8th inning. Is there any chance the Sox can hire James to be the manager?

Coco Crisp made an early return to team on Sunday. In fact, Sunday marked his Fenway debut. He's 3-for-9 since his return with a homerun. Soon enough he'll be batting leadoff again.

Wakefield was brilliant on Sunday throwing eight shutout innings. The bullpen nearly blew the 5-0 lead in the 9th inning. Certainly Mirabelli's inability to catch a 3rd strike, resulting in the Sox having to get four outs, didn't help the cause.

It was great to see the Sox complete a four game sweep of the Devil Rays over the weekend. It was even nicer to beat Scott Kazmir for a change. Papi dealt the killer blow with a three run double off the center field wall.

Injuries have hit hard this week. It looks like Clement might be feeling the effects of the line drive he took off the leg last week. Wells is going to miss his scheduled start tonight. Wily Mo joins Timlin on the DL. Keep your fingers crossed boys and girls.

Early Retirement

Tubby just took a line drive off his bad knee tonight. I'm betting that his career is now over.

I was hit in the knee by a baseball-sized rock thrown by a friend (I know, some friend!) back in my Little League days. I missed my next game because I couldn't run on the bad leg. Tubby has no cartilage in his right knee and was hit by a baseball traveling a lot faster than the rock that hit me. I can't see him returning.

It's a shame considering the rehab he required just to play this year and then the rehab required after his season debut. We need pitching. As good as Wily Mo plays, we could really use Bronson right now (see yesterday's closing paragraph).

Where's Jack Bauer When You Need Him?

"Slit his throat. Cut deep to sever the vocal chords and carotid artery." - 24's Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer is brutally efficient counter-terrorist agent. He saves the world 24-hours at a time without eating or using the bathroom. He's not afraid to torture, maim, or kill you to get critical information or to prevent disaster.

The Red Sox could have used a bit of Jack Bauer last night. The Yankees were licking their wounds with Posada and Damon on the bench nursing injuries. Randy Johnson was ineffective as advertised yesterday. Yet somehow the Red Sox could not finish off the Yankees and managed to lose the game.

Matt (insert nickname pertaining to "mental", "meltdown", or simply, "overpaid") Clement demonstrated exactly why GL2:EB skipped him in the rotation last week so Clement could avoid the Yanks. Look at how many times Papelbon has been hit by or has deflected the baseball coming off the bat and still made the play. Clement made no attempt to field the ball after getting hit in the leg last night.

I was okay with the Arroyo trade when it happened. I think I've changed my mind. Even if Bronson had an E.R.A. of 7.50 right now and didn't have a win to his name, I would still trade Clement to get him back on the team.

Rubberized

Tim Wakefield and Doug Mirabelli looked an awful lot like Tim Wakefield and Josh Bard last night. Ironically, as the game started I thought about how much more comfortable I feel having Mirabelli back in his familiar role of personal backstop to Wake. In the 6th inning last night Wakefield fell apart and Mirabelli was charged with three passed balls. The Yanks took advantage and held on for the 7-5 victory.

The ever more ugly (as a person and a visage) and ever less effective Randy Johnson faces up-and-down Matt Clement tonight in the rubber match of the series. The oddsmakers favor the Sox in this game and I'm not going to disagree. I think RJ is totally washed up and will retire after this season. He's a thrower, not a pitcher.

Wily Mo Pena is scheduled to return to the Sox lineup tonight. I think I would have gouged out one of my eyes if I had to suffer through three straight nights of Willie Harris. I understand and agree with the decision to leave Adam Stern in Pawtucket; he needs to get at bats and playing to continue to develop. I don't, however, understand how or why the Sox can't get a better backup outfielder in the short term. I suppose the problem will resolve itself when Coco returns from the DL.

10-4 Good Buddy

Or 9-5. Either way, the Yanks got it handed to them by the Sox once again last night. Schilling was excellent. This was the first game since Schilling threw 133 pitches against the Indians that he actually looked dominant. He had been scuffling a little bit since that outing. The Sox are now 4-1 against NY this year.

Patrick Hruby wrote a great piece on the number of homeruns that Bonds* would have hit without steroids. He discusses the key factors influenced by Barry's chemical intake and their affect on homerun output. It's a good read for stat-heads and casual fans alike.

Wanted: A Starting Pitcher

Must be able to throw 80-120 quality pitches every 5th day. Pitches should include a fastball between 88 and 100 MPH. Fastball in the 92-97 MPH range preferred. Must also possess at least two other quality pitches. Preferred pitches include 90-93 MPH slider, 82-86 MPH curveball (either a 12-6 break or 1-7 break), and a changeup in the 76-80 MPH range. Additional pitches, such a sinker or knuckleball, are also welcome. Applicants must possess excellent command of all pitches (see Greg Maddux). Applicants without excellent command must possess the ability to vary speeds and throw pitches with excellent movement (see Pedro Martinez).

Benefits include:

• the opportunity to reach the playoffs.
• a good chance to win a World Series ring.
• excellent run support.
• a very good bullpen.
• lots of media coverage and exposure.
• the opportunity to sign multiple endorsement deals.
• a great team physician, Dr. Bill Morgan, oops an adequate team physician

Serious applicants only. Relocation packages available. To inquire, call Theo Epstein, General Manager and Executive Vice President of the Boston Red Sox.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I hope that people in this area have made more progress building their respective arks than I have. I feel fortunate to live where I do as I have been relatively unaffected by the near constant rains of the last 10 days. The sunshine on Wednesday and Thursday was wonderful and the temperature was perfect. I finally got to play a round of golf this year. I feel for those individuals who have to deal with flooding and water damage. Stay dry and stay safe.

The Sox have had a quiet week so far. They have only played three games, going 2-1 against the Orioles. They had an off day yesterday and had two games rained out last weekend. Tonight they start a three game series in Philadelphia.

There has been a lot of jibber-jabber by the talking heads inside the radio and TV regarding the lineups that the Sox will or should use against the Phillies. If you believe D&C on WEEI, Youk will sit tonight as Ortiz plays first, then Youk will play 3rd as Lowell sits on Saturday, and finally Ortiz will rest on Sunday as Youk moves back to 1st base.

I disagree with the notion that Ortiz is a complete liability in the field. Big Papi should have dispelled that notion by his play in the 2004 World Series. I do agree that he's a big downgrade defensively from the stellar play of Kevin Youkilis, but he's not a disaster waiting to happen. I think that the rotating lineup is the best bet for this weekend. When the Sox travel to Atlanta and Florida later in the season the health of the team could dictate the lineups. Having a healthy team is a blessing that leads to healthy debate.

I was discussing the impact of the eventual return of Coco Crisp to the Sox lineup with a friend the other day. If Loretta had not broken out of his slump, Youkilis would have been well suited in the #2 spot behind Crisp. Loretta has been on fire lately, though, and I think he's better suited to move runners over with sac bunts and to protect runners when the hit-and-run is called. As it stands now, we figured that Youk would be best suited at #6, as opposed to #7, #8, or #9. His high average and on-base percentage would help keep innings alive and drive in runs behind the big bats in the order. I'd like to see the impact he could have at #6.