In the finest Red Sox tradition their bats were once again shut down by a pitching prospect recently up from the minors. How many times has this happened over the years? Does it happen to all teams? Actually….Sean McAdam has the answers for us. He tells us that after last night, the Red Sox are now 0-6 against rookie starters they’ve never faced before. Gordon Edes says that Scott Kazmir and the Devils Rays took the fun out of Fenway last night. Michael Silverman looks at Pedro getting outdueled by Kazmir. Steven Krasner says the Red Sox offense has suddenly dried up in the last two games. Paul Doyle also has the 0-6 stat and wonders if the Sox are looking ahead to the weekend already. David Borges and Garry Brown have the remaining game stories from Fenway Park.
Lenny Megliola says last night was a downer for Sox fans, yet he says they’re all inexplicably pulled in anyway.
There is thinking like that now because once more Sox fans have been suckered in, swayed, brainwashed, hypnotized into believing that This Is The Year. You would have thought that the fans would be more guarded than ever after last October's colossal nervous breakdown.
Thanks, Lenny, I like being labeled a mindless imbecile. Matt Kalman and Paul Harber have a look at the dazzling performance by the 20 year old Kazmir. Ron Indrisano says that Pedro was just off a little bit last night and it cost him the game against the hot Kazmir. Steve Buckley says Pedro was the victim of zero run support, but he’s also tips his cap to Kazmir. Kalman and Harber must’ve kept running into each other last night as they both also submit articles on Lou Piniella. Kalman talks to him about the AL Race, while Harber talks to Lou about managing the lowly Rays with the Sox and Yankees in the same division.
Steve Buckley (subscription only) has an article on Theo Epstein, who is not ready to look ahead and say that his team is in the playoffs, but acknowledges that there is a different atmosphere around the ballpark and in the front offices. But Buckley says the postseason preparations…scouting reports, rosters, etc is indeed earnestly underway. Howard Bryant (subscription only) says that the Yankees and Red Sox are having a hard time concentrating on their present opponents because they can’t wait to get it on this weekend.
Edes notebook looks at Doug Mientkiewicz who has had a season of frustration, capped off by his recent sickness. Silverman’s notebook looks at Bill Mueller’s knee hurting again. Krasner’s notebook has more on the same subject. Doyle’s notebook says that the Sox will not be flipping their rotation for the upcoming Yankees series. Brown’s notebook says that Sox will not go with a four man rotation through the final weeks of the season as some other teams might do. Borges’ notebook looks at Adam Hyzdu being named PawSox player of the year.
A few player updates on the Patriots this morning. Tom Curran has a look at Joe Andruzzi, who is a steady presence and leader on the offensive line. Alan Greenberg has the weekly status update on Rosevelt Colvin, who recently passed the one year mark on his injury. Michael Felger has an update and look at Ty Law and his injury and quest to be ready and on the field for Sunday. The other subject this week is of course the heat of Arizona. Michael Parente says it seems to be an annual question…the Patriots playing somewhere (usually Miami) in the heat and how it will effect them. Glen Farley looks at the Patriots preparations for the desert heat. Christopher Price says the Pats are the kings of cold weather football, we’ll see what they can do in the desert now. Shira Springer addresses the heat and the early travel day for the Patriots.
Chris Kennedy says the Patriots will be facing a lot of unknowns in this trip West. Eric McHugh looks at the Patriot Offense and its search to find an identity for itself. Jonathan Comey loves satellite TV, and has observations and power rankings from around the NFL in his weekly Wednesday morning QB column. Felger’s notebook says that the status of Kevin Faulk for Sunday is still unknown at this point. Curran’s notebook has Bill Belichick a little displeased with the state of his kicking game.
The Globe’s Ron Borges made his weekly appearance on the Eddie Andelman show on 1510 yesterday and had his usual objective thoughts on the Patriots. Among his comments:
1) The Patriots could swap in Jeff Fisher as head coach instead of Bill Belichick and not lose much. (No doubt Fisher is a very good coach, but he hasn’t won it all, even with All World Steve McNair)
2) Eddie asked him if Belichick takes the Patriots to the next three Super Bowls, will Borges think he’s a better coach than Bill Parcells. Borges’ answer: No.
He thinks Super Bowl victories don’t necessary mean a great coach. He asked who was a better coach, George Seifert with two Super Bowl Rings or Don Shula with none. Borges had to be reminded that Shula won two Super Bowls. This is similar to Borges’ Sunday notes column this week when he was comparing Mike Martz to Mike Sherman, and said that the only difference was that Martz had led the Rams to a Super Bowl title. Really? When? Or does Borges really think that the Rams won Super Bowl 36?
Interestingly, SI recently polled 354 current and former players on who was the best coach in the NFL. (Players were NOT allowed to vote for their own head coach.) Leading the pack was Belichick at 45%. The next highest was Parcells at 9%. (Fisher didn’t make the list.) In a list of who would you most like to play for, Belichick tied for second at 10%. Tony Dungy was first at 19%.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell and Kevin Paul Dupont look at the impending NHL lockout, set to happen tonight at midnight. The actual announcement of the lockout will probably be this afternoon.
A hearty “Welcome back” to the Boston Radio Watch website. The site had been knocked out in July due to a server fire, but now has a new home and new URL.
NESN has Red Sox/Devil Rays at 7:00. (ESPN2 Nationally) Media columnist John Molori will be among the guests on CN8’s SportsPulse at 10:00. ESPN has Cardinals/Astros at 8:00. At 11:00 on NESN Dan Shaughnessy and John Valentin join host Bob Lobel on Wednesday’s edition of Sportsplus to preview the Red Sox-Yankees series as well as the Ryder Cup.
Boston Sports Media Watch 