What Is Happening...

John Lackey is absolute garbage. Jon Lester just went down with a back injury following in the footsteps of Clay Buchholz a few weeks ago. Jonathan Papelbon may be the most overrated closer in recent memory. JD Drew seems like he forgot how to play baseball. Kevin Youkilis seems to have the most obscure injuries every 3rd game forcing him to miss a game or two in any given week.

Jon Lester had a no-hitter going into the 5th inning, but didn't take the mound. He left with a left lat strain, taking away any elbow room that was to be had on the disabled list.

In the ninth inning. Papelbon came in, gave up a moonshot to Jose Bautista, his 28th dinger of the season, and had to be bailed out by a Darnell McDonald cannon from left field to home plate to gun out Edwin Encarnacion for the final out. Very questionable call at the plate, as Varitek appeared to miss the tag high as Encarnacion swung his right leg around like a horseshoe around a stake.

Either way, Tim Wakefield and the Sox are taking on Ricky Romero and the Blue Jays, who the Sox have had success off of already this season, tonight at 7:10.

Go Sox.

Sox Finally Rid of Interleague

Taking 2 out of 3 from the Houston Astros, the Red Sox are rid of the dreaded Interleague Play for another season. No more Papi at first base, no more Gonzo in right, life with a DH will once again reign supreme.

Josh Beckett spun another gem today, going 8 innings, giving up 5 hits, one run and striking out a season-high 11.

The Sox are going back home for a 7-game homestand before the Mid-Summer Classic. The Bash Brothers, David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez will get the nod to start for the American League, with Josh Beckett and Jacoby Ellsbury rounding out representatives for Boston.

Birthday Shout-Out(s)

Happy 182nd day of the year, and some extra happy to these fine people born July 1st.

Carmella DeCesare(above)
Liv Tyler
Greg Pattillo
Jarome Iginla
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Sufjan Stevens
Missy Elliot
Princess Diana
Carl Lewis
Dan Aykroyd
Terrence Mann - but not James Earl Jones from 'Field of Dreams'
Sydney Pollack
Estee Lauder

Weekender's Top iPod Jams

It's happening. It's that type of day where I realize, "wow, I've done absolutely nothing lately, I should start blogging" then continue to go on a blogging rampage. I tend to be a bit streaky, but I keep my average around .300.

Anywho, here are some songs that I dig that I think you guys should dig to.

Lockout x2

First the NFL, now the NBA.

The NFL Lockout is currently in its 111th day of existence. Seems ridiculous, right? Since every day on Sportscenter the amount of coverage they give it makes it seem like we're still in Week 1.

But you might as well kick off your shoes, fluff up the pillows and get comfy, boys and girls, because we're gonna' be here a lot longer than that.

The owners want a 50-50 split of the revenue, down from the 57% the players receive now. The owners want a hard salary cap in the league, causing some players' contracts to suffer. Basically the owners are like those asshole kids in the grocery store who point to every box of cereal and every can of Spaghetti-o's "Ma, I want this one!"

The players feel like the owners are exaggerating their numbers and how much money has been lost in the league, and feel like things are fine the way they are right now.

Of course, here it is, July 1st. The owners cost are significantly down, being that the league is out of season, and can essentially kick back and relax atop their piles of money until almost October. The ball is in the union's backcourt, and who knew the owners could run a full-court press this well?

And by the way, you know this thing is going to be good when they have a legitimate logo for it (picture at the top).

We're Halfway There...

Baseball has reached the midway point of the grueling 162-game season, and with that, I figure this is my blog, I'm going to make a few predictions. Kind of like a "if the season were to end today..." sorta' thing. Off we go.

Postseason baseball is one of the most amazing things on this planet, other than postseason hockey and Reese's Klondike bars. From the American League, I would give the division titles to the Red Sox, Tigers and Rangers, with the Yankees falling just short of the AL East and snagging the Wild Card spot. I think when the Red Sox return to full health again, they will roll just as good as they have under those circumstances. The Tigers, led by Verlander and Cabrera will keep it close, but squeak by in the Central, and the AL West winner is like the idiot kid brother that is there because Mom made the other three bring him along, even though the Rangers did make it to the Fall Classic last year, no big deal.

For the National League: The Phillies will run away with the East, the Brewers' bats will stay hot enough in the Central, and the Posey-less Giants will take the West, with the Braves securing another playoff berth, their first without Bobby Cox at the helm.

For the awards, I think the MVP honors should belong to Adrian Gonzalez of the Red Sox, and Matt Kemp of the Dodgers. Gonzalez is leading the majors in home runs and RBI while sitting in the driver's seat of Boston's offense, and shows no signs of slowing down. Milwaukee's Ryan Braun may have a better case given the team he plays for, but over the past few years Matt Kemp has been stomping doors down making himself a household name on a subpar ball club. Kemp is in the NL's top 6 in batting average, runs, RBI, stolen bases and leads the league in home runs with 22, all despite playing in a 10-games under .500 bankrupt organization.

As far as the Cy Young awards go, there's no need to even argue. Justin Verlander of the Tigers and Roy Halladay with the Phillies. Both have 10 wins, 120+ strikeouts, ERAs under 2.40, and WHIPs under 1.05. Game, set, match.

Disagree if you want, but stick around til October and let's see what happens.

YOU WON A MILLION BUCKS! YOU WON A MILLION BUCKS! YOU WON A MILLION BUCKS!

For a second there, Drew seems way more excited that she is. Just the pure astonishment when she gets it on the first guess, then the clock check before he loses his mind and starts pointing at her yelling. Amazing. And if that Million Dollar Spectacular isn't enough for you, here's two more classic moments.

Wait til 0:48...and don't let the confetti scare you like it does him.


Lastly, it all goes down at 0:40. Next time I do anything worth celebrating, my moves are going to be eerily similar to his.

Sox Pull the E-Brake -- Stop Skid vs Phillies

Terry Francona earned his 700th victory with the Boston Red Sox this afternoon in Citizen's Bank Park, as the Sox beat down the Phillies, 5-2.

Boston finished the month of June with a 16-9 record, after starting out 12-2 but now stumbling into July. Mike Cameron was designated for assignment before the game, with Yamaico Navarro getting the call to the Show. The infielder was called up to give the Sox some breathing room while Kevin Youkilis heals up from a foul ball off the foot the other night.

Jon Lester was lights out, going 7 innings with 2 hits, 2 walks, no runs allowed and 5 K's. His battery mate Jason Varitek led the offense with 2 solo home runs, batting 5th today in an always-confusing interleague lineup.

Sox are traveling to Houston to take on the Astros, last place in the NL Central with a 28-53 record. Given the way they've played against the Pirates and Padres, the Sox could be in for another struggle, but hopefully they can start out July like they did June and stay hot this summer.

Craigslist Post of the Day

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Craigslist post of the day:
(Click the image for a bigger picture)

I'm sure all the other people trying to get tickets are just as pissed as I am on this. I guess I should have seen the insanity brewing a mile away.

Whatever. While I'm burning on it, how the hell are companies like AceTicket and StubHub still in business???? I thought scalping was illegal. Oh well.

Here's to getting wasted watching the game on a big ass TV.

Q Man

Believe In Boston

"Religion Is A Lot Like A Credit Card..."

Meet Kyle Kinane, stand-up comedian. I understand the video is 14 minutes long, but trust me, stick with it.

First off, he's absolutely right, now that I think of it. Grab life by the horns, sure, but keep it above the belt, and I think you'll be fine every time. And as far as religion is concerned, isn't that the argument of every pretentious 20-something year old who just discovered its cool to disown religion? Classic.

Finally, the pizza bit is absolutely hilarious. The whole time he was talking about it, I tried to imagine a pizza that big, and its absolutely ridiculous that someone actually makes that. 4 and a half feet by 4 and a half feet. What do you do with that? Imagine how many people could eat that one piece, and how many people would be assholes and snatch up the crust pieces so you're left with the greasy floppy middle pieces? I guess not that it would matter, since there's 18 feet of crust pieces, really...

Thanks to Bill for the link.

NO NEED TO SHAVE TONIGHT, BOYS!! BRUINS WIN, 1-0!!!

Stanley Cup Finals, here we come. The Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning played one of the best games of hockey I have seen in my entire life, battling the entire game until Nathan Horton netted his third game-winning goal of the Playoffs with 7 minutes to go in the 3rd period, slamming the door closed on Tampa Bay's hopes.

This game saw some big hits, unbelievable goaltending, and Steve Stamkos getting his nose beat in by a Johnny Boychuk slapshot...only to come back 15 mintues later.

The series ended at 21 goals apiece in the 7 games for both Boston and Tampa Bay. The Eastern Conference Finals may have been some of the best hockey in the NHL this season.

Tim Thomas had 24 saves in net, posting another clean sheet, his second of the series, but the even more impressive stat was 41-year-old Dwayne Roloson making a baffling 37 saves. For 60 minutes of hockey, zero penalties were committed, much to the delight of Boston for many reasons.

Horton's goal was assisted by Andrew Ference and David Krejci. Both teams played 110% the entire game, with the Bruins kicking it up to about 170% with about 10 minutes remaining in the tilt.

Next stop: Vancouver, Wednesday night. Tough task ahead with the Canucks. They've had a lot of time off, but are still the best hockey team in the NHL as far as the record is concerned. If you thought this hockey was good, wait til the Stanley Cup Finals. Damn...

LET'S GO B'S!!!

Best Bathroom Graffiti?

Thanks to Aaron Fatato for the photo.

I mean, there isn't much to say about this photograph. You just have the basic two elements to any bathroom graffiti to ponder.

Who goes into a bathroom that's not in a school building, ready to go with a permanent marker? and

Who felt so strongly about their opinion of Toy Story 2 they needed to post it very high up in a bathroom stall? I mean, out of the three, it is the weakest link. It still got its 100% on Rottentomatoes.com, but then again, what animated movie these days doesn't? Serious bias going on. Anyway, to the man who wrote this...I commend you.

Breaking News: Buster Posey Most Likely Done For 2011 Season

Last night in a 12-inning thriller at AT&T Park in San Francisco, the Marlins trumped the Giants, 7-6. But there was no shaving cream pie laid out for the Fish after the game.

In the top of the 12th, Scott Cousins of the Marlins was rounding third base heading into home as the go-ahead run. The throw beat him, but his collision with Giants catcher Buster Posey jostled the ball loose--and also a bone in Posey's left leg.

Almost down to his knees, once the collision came in, Posey was held from flipping backwards because his foot was caught of the ground as all of his weight fell back, snapping a bone around his shin/ankle area. He suffered a broken bone, and will most likely miss the remainder of the season.

The Twins are sans starting catcher Joe Mauer, and their record this season sits at a dismal 16-32. What will happen to the Giants without their former Rookie of the Year, World Series winning catcher for the remainder of 2011?

The other part to this story is Posey's agent, Jeff Berry has the ball rolling on opening up communication with MLB On-Field Operations leader Joe Torre on home-plate collisions.

From a fan standpoint, if you get rid of home plate collisions, that takes away so much from the game. Baseball is the least physical game of the major sports, and stripping it entirely of any contact would be disastrous. I can understand the argument, because according to the Sports Science clip they showed on the 5:00 Sportscenter, a runner charing home plate can impact with roughly 3,000 pounds of force.

Either way, for the Giants to stay afloat, it is going to take a lot. Losing an offensive leader, nevermind a catcher, is going to be tough. The Giants are up 2.5 games in their division, and if they want to hold onto that lead, they will have to play smarter baseball, and look for those players who are ready to step up and lead the charge.

Barry Bonds...Wow.

(Photo:Stow Family)

Back on Opening Day in Chavez Ravine outside of Dodger Stadium, a man named Bryan Stow, a Giants fan was practically beaten within an inch of his life and suffered a traumatic brain injury at the hands on two Dodgers fans.

The only motive behind the assault was that Stow was a Giants fan, and his two attackers were supporters of the rival team, the Dodgers.

The incident took place in front of Stow's wife and his two children, ages 8 and 12. Several players have contributed money to a foundation they have set up to help Stow and his family, and to hopefully send a message about fan violence in sports. One player went above and beyond much to the shock of the media and the public.

It was announced today that Barry Bonds has pledged to pay for Stow's children's college education. Bonds and the Stow family had met previously, but felt it appropriate to wait until a little more dust settled on the situation. The Stow family are still in the middle of a lawsuit with the Dodgers, and Los Angeles police are still tracking down one of the attackers, but the selflessness showed by Bonds is truly a pleasant surprise.

I mean, I still think Barry Bonds is a cheating bastard who took advantage of his teammates, the fans and the game of baseball itself, but this move by him was one of the classiest things I have seen in a while. Other Giants players have given money to the Stow family, and have supported the fight against fan violence, but a pledge like this has to put the Stow family at ease, and make at least one part of their lives easier, which I'm sure is more appreciated than we could know.

All Bolts, No Nuts

Don't think you can come into Boston for Game 7 and beat the B's. It happened 2 years ago when Carolina did it in overtime, and it happened last year when Philadelphia won, but no one really remembers what happened in that series, I think something to do with a referee scandal, or something? No one is quite sure.

We've already beat Montreal in 7, and we swept Philly. Yeah, Tampa Bay's fast. The Bruins still put up 4 goals on Dwayne Roloson, including a hat-trick from David Krejci.

Tomorrow night--8pm--TD Garden--Lightning vs Bruins. Keep that Chara-on-Lecavalier match-up, work out this practice running the penalty kill formations, and play some physical hockey. The Bruins are the hardest hitting team in the NHL, and still have yet to truly show it. Either way, this is going to be an absolutely amazing, ridiculously fast hockey game.

Let's Go B's.

How Strong Are You?! TOO STRONG!

Fresh off their 14-2 smackdown (with Bobby Flay) of the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red Sox got up early and never looked back against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

In Wednesday's game at Cleveland, the Sox thumped 4 home runs with the bats of Dustin Pedroia, Carl Crawford, David Ortiz, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Crawford finished the day a triple away from the cycle and ended up 4-4, whereas every other player on the team had at least 2 hits besides Jed Lowrie who finished 0-5, and received a day off on Thursday.

(LIVE)Their second afternoon game in a row, and their first of a three game series in Detroit, the Red Sox jumped out with 5 runs in the 2nd inning, with a lot of credit due to Jacoby Ellsbury's 3-run jack.

The Sox should just play day games more often, apparently, as they have now scored 14 runs thus far, with the game in the top of the eighth.

Vartiek flies out to retire the side. I think I'm going to close the book on this one. I know our bullpen is bad, so I won't say that the Tigers just have one run. Crawford, over the past two games is 8-9, with 4 singles, a double, 2 triples and a home run. He is hitting .330 in the month of April, an unbelievable turnaround for him, and just what Sox fans have been looking for. No need for a fourth walk-off hit when your team wins by double-digits.

And as I say that, into a rain delay we go. Well no matter what happens, the team with the most wins in professional sports in the month of May has won their third game in a row over the Detroit Tigers.

Tomorrow, Tim Wakefield will take on a surging Rick Porcello at 7:05pm.

Bitch I got a degree!

Gotta say this is exactly how I feel after getting my degree right now. Pointing at people ordering them to do my bidding and telling any nay sayers that "I can do whatever I want". Bitch I got a degree I'm tossing people in headlocks all day and threatening citizens arrests to whom ever I please.

Where does this lady get off talking about her constitutional rights and shit, lady show me a degree and maybe I'll give you the time of day. Also who the fuck is this street doctor? is that like Newarks version of a witch doctor? I think the real story here revolves around this shady character. He was probably patrolling for albino's, come on people think out side the box, get a degree, then call me.

This leads me to an interesting question I have been mulling around in my head lately. Should I carry my degree with me everywhere and just rub it in everyones face? listen, I know a degree in political science is next to worthless, that being said, did I earn the right of douche-baggery after spending 4 years and copious amounts of money to get this piece of paper? I think so.

Game 6 Tonight -- B's vs Bolts

Get ready for some great hockey. The Vancouver Canucks clinched the Western Conference Championship in a double-overtime thriller, and are awaiting an opponent.

As the great Kevin Millar said before Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS when the Red Sox trailed the Yankees 0-3, "Don't let us win one." Boom, Sox go on to be World Champions.

The Bruins are hungry, and pissed off after the Lightning players threw a hissy fit right after the final horn in Game 5.

Let's Go B's.

Sox Finally Trump Tribe, 4-2

Jason Varitek threw out two runners and hit his first home run of the year, Adrian Gonzalez continued his tear, and Beckett pitched 6 innings striking out as many batters. For the first time in 2011, the Red Sox have beaten the Cleveland Indians, 4-2.

Splitting their second series of the year, the teams completed their two game series Tuesday night from Progressive Field in Cleveland.

For Varitek, this was his first home run in 117 at-bats, dating back almost a full year to May 30, 2010. Gonzalez's average dropped to .340, so he's doing absolutely miserable in his first season with Boston.

The Sox travel to Detroit tomorrow for an awkward Wednesday afternoon game at 12:05. The Sox have gone 8-2 over their last 10, and now sit in 2nd place in the AL East with a record of 26-22, after starting their season 2-10.