Round One Goes to the Bronx Buttheads

The Yanks beat the Sox 9-5 last night. So what?

Let's see the Yankees beat Schilling and Beckett. Then they'll have something to talk about.

I can't help but feel like the Sox find the Yankees to be a let down this year. It seems like the Sox haven't faced the Yankees with the same fire they have shown against the Tigers, Braves, and Indians this year. Francona threw our 4, 5, and 1 starters against the Yanks 1, 2, and 3 starters during the last series. If he hadn't decided to hold Freddy Kreugar out of this weekend set, we would have faced the top of the Yankee rotation with our 4, 5, 1 starters again.

I want to crush the Yankees on Saturday and Sunday. I want to step on their collective throat, hold their head under the water, keep the pillow pressed firmly to their face. If the Sox can take the series, they will have increased their lead against New York to 14.5-games. If the Sox manage to win only a single game, the Yanks will have only improved by a single game in the standings. We need to embarrass the Yankees.



And for something completely different, here's my first round NBA mock draft. I don't follow the NBA draft, let alone the NBA, with the same vigor I did four or five years ago. It became too hard to keep up with high schoolers and foreign prospects. I don't even follow college hoops until March Madness rolls around these days. I was pleased with my first round NFL mock draft this year. I have no sense of how good or bad my NBA mock could really be. It was simply a nice waste of five minutes.

A-Rod Likes She-Males, Is Anyone Surprised?

The New York Daily News had the following quote yesterday:

A petite stripper at the Hustler Club said A-Rod "likes the she-male, muscular type. They brought me up to the champagne room one time. I spun around once and that was it. I'm not his type."

I'm not in the least surprised. In fact, when I saw the "Stray-Rod" cover of the New York Post, I thought A-Rod was with a tranny. I have said that A-Rod is probably bisexual for years.

I don't care about anyone's sexually orientation, publicly or privately. I simply find it humorous that A-Rod continues to be a foil for fan backlash no matter what he does. He has no sense of sportsmanship and, apparently, no sense of loyalty to either his team or his wife.

The "Slappy McPurplelips" incident in the 2004 playoffs was simply the tip of the iceberg. A-Rod's latest infraction was yelling "mine" while rounding the bases in Toronto two nights ago. The video on YouTube clearly shows that A-Fraud purses his lips to make an "mmm" sound at the beginning of his shout.

MLB Official Rules:

2.00 Definition of Terms

INTERFERENCE (a) Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play. If the umpire declares the batter, batter- runner, or a runner out for interference.

Rule 8.08 (b) Any runner is out when he intentionally interferes with a thrown ball; or hinders a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball.

Here's hoping for a Red Sox sweep this weekend.

Break Out the Crystal Ball

It's time for my 2007 MLB predictions.

A.L. East
1. Boston - The best rotation in the division, arguably the best closer, and a potent lineup will propel the Sox to the top of the division and back into the playoffs.

2. Toronto - The Jays are poised to surprise (some) people and make a run at the division with good starting pitching and a great bullpen.

3. New York - The Yankees rotation is simply not good enough to win this division, no matter how good the lineup is.

4. Tampa Bay - The Rays are good enough to finish ahead of the Orioles but don't have any young pitching to compliment their young and talented lineup.

5. Baltimore - Not enough of anything to make much noise in the competitive A.L. East.

A.L. Central
1. Chicago - The White Sox rebound from a post-World Series hangover to win the Central.

2. Cleveland (A.L. WC) - The Indians bounce back in a big way in 2007 and win the American League Wild Card.

3. Minnesota - Without Liriano the Twins don't enough pitching to make the playoffs in what is probably the strongest division in baseball.

4. Detroit - The Tigers fall back to reality in a big way after spending most of last year as everyone's darling.

5. Kansas City - Once again the Royals are just going through the motions.

A.L. West
1. Los Angeles / Anaheim - The Angels will probably be the division winner with the fewest wins in the A.L.

2. Oakland - The A's should have a chance again to win the division playing by the "Moneyball" rules as long as their rotation stays healthy.

3. Texas - The Rangers still haven't figured out that they need good pitchers to make the playoffs.

4. Seattle - At least Ichiro will have the chance to showcase his talent before hitting free agency.

N.L. East
1. New York - The Mets rotation doesn't scare me in a good way, but it does scare me a little in a bad way.

2. Atlanta (N.L. WC) - The Braves return the playoffs but the don't quite win another division title after their incredible streak was ended last year.

3. Philadelphia - Ryan Howard and Chase Utley give Philly fans hope for the future.

4. Florida - The still very young Marlins team will probably win fewer games than last year, especially without Joe Girardi at the helm.

5. Washington - The Nats are stuck in neutral.

N.L. Central
1. St. Louis - The Cards should be able to earn the chance to defend their title, but this weak division is really up for grabs.

2. Cincinnati - It could be a good year to be a baseball fan in Ohio between the Reds and Indians.

3. Chicago - Without a healthy Prior and Wood the Cubbies will be watching the playoffs from home even after spending big this offseason.

4. Houston - The Astros won't make the playoffs with or without Roger Clemens.

5. Milwaukee - At least Ben Sheets is getting better with age and is under contract for the next few years.

6. Pittsburgh - Last season's N.L. batting champ played for the Pirates. Yay!

N.L. West
1. Los Angeles - Nomar, Grady, Billy, and all of the former Red Sox on the "Red Sox West" try to get fans in L.A. to appreciate baseball.

2. San Diego - The Padres compete with the Dodgers for the division title and the most former Red Sox players.

3. Arizona - Reacquiring Randy Johnson should help the Diamondbacks out of the N.L. West basement.

4. San Francisco - A declining Barry Zito should see a statistical uptick by switching to the N.L., but a declining Barry Bonds should be spending his nights in jail.

5. Colorado - The Rockies should have traded Todd Helton when they could still get value for him.


Playoffs

Red Sox over Indians
Angels over White Sox

Red Sox over Angels in the ALCS

Mets over Cardinals
Dodgers over Braves

Dodgers over Mets in the NLC

Red Sox over Dodger in the World Series


Awards
A.L. Cy Young - Roy Halladay
A.L. MVP - David Ortiz
N.L. Cy Young - Roy Oswalt
N.L. MVP - David Wright