We'll know a lot more about BC football after tonight

Boston College (#2 in all the polls) travels to ACC foe, no. 8 Virginia Tech in a game that will in all likelihood show whether BC is a contender or a pretender in 2997. If they survive this test, they could very well find themselves in the BCS Championship, assuming they take care of four winnable ACC games to wrap up the regular season.

The Eagles have looked very good at times this season but they also haven't played any legitimate teams or in real tough environments. Tonight should be another story. The Hokies are playing well after getting blown out by LSU in week two. They have the typical Virginia Tech traits: stout defense and outstanding special teams. Their offense is shaky but they have a good running back (Brandon Ore) and enough play-making receivers to make some noise.Lane Stadium is always cited as one of the toughest places to play in college football. Virginia Tech is 13-2 all-time on Thursday nights (both losses though have come to BC, including one last season).

It's put up or shut up time for BC. They've snuck up on most people nationally, who haven't seen many of their games. The general consensus is that they're an overrated team that has profited from a crazy rash of upsets in college football and a soft schedule thus far. This game could do a million different ways, it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Rockies fail to show up in game one

It can't be that easy? Right? The Sox continued their torrid play from Games 5-7 vs. Cleveland and just decimated the Rockies, 13-1 in game one of the 2007 World Series. The Rockies looked every bit like the team that had eight days off, not the one that reeled off 21 wins in its last 22 games. Beckett is clearly the best pitcher in MLB as we speak. He went seven dominant innings last night, giving up six hits, one earned run and striking out nine.

The offensive tone was set by leadoff man Dustin Pedroia, who belted the second pitch he saw just over the lip of the Monster. The Sox scored two more in the first then both teams had one in the second. Two in the fourth and seven in the fifth officially made this a laugher for the home team. So many hitters for the Sox-Pedroia, Youk, Ortiz, Manny-are all currently locked in. It's something to behold as everyone looked dangerous last night. Ortiz and Manny led the way with three hits and two RBIS apiece. Lugo even had three hits, Varitek and Drew each had two hits and two RBIs while Pedroia (two RBIs) and Youk (two hits, three runs, RBI) are on fire.

Rockies starter Jeff Francis didn't have a puncher's chance against that lineup. A soft-throwing lefty, he didn't hit his spots at all and was gone after four innings (six earned runs). The Rockies bullpen which had been one of the team's biggest strengths in its great October run was awful last night. Morales gave up seven earned runs and Speier walked three straight batters with the bases loaded. Every at bat from the Red Sox seemed like a hitting clinic. They weren't swinging at any balls and fouling off tough pitches before putting the fat pitches in play (usually where the Rockies defense wasn't). All told, they had 17 hits and 8 walks.

Still, going in everyone picked the Sox to win game one. Nobody was going to beat Beckett, who now has 35 strikeouts and two walks, going 4-0 in the 2007 playoffs. Just filthy numbers for this stud. Regardless, let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's only one game. If the Rockies take game two (like the Indians did in the ALCS), it makes things much more complicated since the next three would be at Coors Field in Denver. The away team in the league championship series and World Series is only looking to get a game before they head home. If the Sox win tonight, a sweep is a very real possibility but if they lose we could have ourselves a series. It's Ubaldo Jimenez, a 23-year-old rookie who throws 100 mph vs. Schilling. In its last four games, the BoSox have outscored opponents 43-6.

We're going back to the World Series

Three years after breaking 86 years of misery, the Boston Red Sox find themselves back in the World Series. No comeback will ever top the 2004 ALCS but the 2007 Red Sox submitted a pretty nice comeback of their own. Down 3-1 to the Cleveland Indians, Boston roared back, winning the last three by a combined score of 30-5.

Game 7 actually was pretty tight for a while. The Sox scored single runs in the first three innings off Indians starter Jake Westbrook but it could have been much worse as they grounded into three double plays (they set a playoff record with 14). Dice-K came out and retired the first eight men he faced. The Tribe struck back with a run in the fourth and one in the fifth to cut the lead to one. Dice-K left after five (two runs, six hits, three strikeouts) and gave way to Okajima, who pitched two scoreless innings of his own. The Indians squandered its chance when the 3rd base coach held Lofton on what would have been the tying run. Blake grounded into a double play on the next at bat.

Pedroia was the hero of the night as he hit a two-run homer into the monster seats in the seventh. He followed that with a three-run double in the eighth. Youk knocked him in with a bomb off the Coke bottles. Game over. Papelbon pitched the final two innings for the save.

This had to be the most predictable comeback in Red Sox history. They just seemed to have nothing going right in games 3-4. The Indians are a worthy team but they're too young and inexperienced in the playoffs to get the job done in the ALCS. Once Beckett won and the series shifted back to Boston, they were cooked. Their bats were silenced and the bullpen was taxed. Plus, Carmona and Sabathia produced zero wins between them in the series.

Beckett deservedly received the ALCS MVP but it also could have gone to Youkilis, who is smoking the ball or Manny. The World Series starts Wednesday at Fenway. Who knows what to expect from the Rockies? They're legit and they have that absurd run but predicting what'll happen in the World Series is nearly impossible. Beckett will start on normal rest in game one.

Brady's six-pack drowns hapless Dolphins

All you need to know about the Patriots game against the Dolphins is that it was 42-7 at the half. Read that again. The Patriots have become that dominant high school football team that simply rolls over the competition. Have you ever seen an NFL team look this dominant through seven games?

Brady tossed a career-high six touchdowns: two to Moss, two to Welker (former Dolphin), one to Stallworth and one to Kyle Brady. The two Moss touchdowns (giving him 10 on the season) will be what people remember from this cake-walk. They were both jump balls. Brady just threw it up there while Moss outjumped/outmaneuvered multiple Miami DB's. Just crazy. Guess nobody should have doubted Moss. I think it's safe to say he still has something left in the tank. Art Shell saying he doesn't have the legs and skills anymore will go down as one of the great errors in judgment in recent memory. Still the funniest play of the game had to be the kick-off after Miami scored its first TD. They did a short kick which Willie Andrews promptly returned 70 yards for a score.


Matt Cassell actually saw the field in the fourth but promptly threw a pick-6 to Jason Taylor. Tom Brady went in one last time and drove the Pats quickly down the field. In case you had forgotten how unstoppable this team was. Brady has 27 touchdowns in seven games. His career-high for a season is 28. You had to feel bad for the Dolphins in this one; Trent Green is out for the rest of the season (maybe forever) and yesterday Ronnie Brown (their only offensive threat) tore his ACL. He's out for the rest of the season. So New England is not only beating teams, they're taking out players.


The defense gave up some garbage time touchdowns but who could blame them for a little lapse in the second half? They knew it was over. Maroney made a short cameo: carrying it six times in the first half before never seeing the field again. Who knows if he was pulled because of the groin injury or maybe it was just saving him from getting hurt when the game was decided. Hopefully Lawrence is alright since Morris (broken collarbone) seems to be out for a while longer and Faulk, Evans and Eckel cannot carry the load. When the weather starts getting bad, the Pats will need some semblance of a running game to grind the clock in playoff games. But that's something to worry about for another day. Let's bask in this win a little longer. The Redskins come into Foxboro on Sunday in what could be a decent game. The Skins have a good defense, up and coming QB and nice running backs. Unfortunately, their coach is 89-year old Joe Gibbs.


The Colts held serve against the Jaguars tonight so now it's only two weeks until the expected showdown on unbeaten teams: Pats at Colts. ESPN is already creaming itself over that one.

game #172

Get your cliche book ready, it all comes down to this game sports fans. After 162 regular season games and nine playoff games, the Sox and Indians face-off tonight in a do-or-die game seven at Fenway. The Sox rolled over the Tribe, 12-2 last night in a game that didn't even seem that close. J.D. Drew was the hero (no joke) as he hit a first inning grand slam and later added another RBI. It was 10-1 Boston after three innings, meaning they took all the intrigue out of this one. Carmona couldn't get out of the third inning and the Indians bullpen that had been so dominant suddenly looks tired and very vulnerable. The only lineup change was Ellsbury (finally!) played for Crisp. Hopefully the rookie gets back out there tonight.


It's like I said a few days ago, playoff series can change in the blink of an eye. The Sox were dead in the water, down 3-1 while Cleveland had all the momentum in the world. However, the Indians failed to slay the Red Sox while they were down. Instead they've been pounded the last two games as Boston's lineup looks fearsome top to bottom while most every Indian outside of Victor Martinez looks to have no confidence at the plate. Travis Hafner might as well just take game seven off, he's of no use to the Tribe at this point.


Schilling shook off some early shakiness (a solo shot by Martinez) and went seven innings, giving up both runs on six hits and striking out five. As usual with Schill, he didn't walk anyone. He got a great ovation from the Fenway crowd when he walked back to the dugout after the seventh. You hope for his sake, he gets another chance to pitch (in the World Series) before his Sox career is likely over. Looks doubtful that the club will bring him back after this season but that's a matter for another day. Game two of the ALCS was a hiccup for Big Schill, last night he proved once more that he lives for the big moment. You can love him or hate him but you have to give the guy credit: he's the greatest big game pitcher of his generation.


Dice-K gets the ball tonight against Jake Westbrook. Common sense says that Westbrook, who pitched well and won in game three can't possibly repeat that performance. He's just not that good and the Sox have simply worn out much better pitchers-Sabathia and Carmona. While it would be great to see Dice-K pitch well tonight, the thing the Sox have going is that they can call on a host of pitchers-Wakefield, Beckett, Okajima, Papelbon, et. all to relieve Matsuzaka as soon as he shows he's done/doesn't have anything. I'm not a betting man but you have to like the Sox' chances tonight. They seem to have everything going in their favor at the moment but you can never what will happen in huge situations like this one. Should be a dandy.

They're shipping up to Boston (whoooooaaaaaaa)!

In the playoffs, things change quickly. The Sox rolled in game one vs. Cleveland and looked poised to win game two after Manny and Lowell went back-to-back. Things turned in game two as the Indians came back and finally won in 11 innings. They beat Dice-K on Monday and knocked around Wakefield and Delcarmen on Tuesday to go up three games to one.
I would have written a blog before last night's game but I forgot/didn't want to jinx things/was too depressed. Now, after watching Beckett pitch another gem, the series is coming back to Boston for the last two games (if necessary). After last night, I think you can say without a shadow of a doubt that Josh Beckett is the most dominant starting pitcher in baseball right now. It's not even close really. Who else is up there? Peavy, Webb, Zambrano, Hamels, Wang, Sabathia, Carmona? Those guys all had solid regular seasons but almost all of them have faltered in the playoffs while Beckett has been just filthy (1.17 ERA in three postseason starts). Don't forget, he was also the only 20-game winner in baseball this year. If he doesn't win the Cy Young this year, it's a joke.

Sabathia has had three straight bad starts in the playoffs (one against the Yankees and two vs. the Sox). What's the deal with him? Not a good clubhouse spread? Or maybe that's the problem, it's really good and he is daydreaming about all the food he is going to dominate when he hits the showers. Whatever the case, ole' C.C. hasn't done anything special when it's counted. He throws hard but he's lost his control and he also doesn't seem to have secondary pitches to lean on. Major league hitters will eventually catch up to a fastball, no matter how hard it is.
Youkilis got things started with a solo homer in the first but Cleveland came back with one in the bottom of the first to tie it up. It was the first time all series that the Sox had scored first. Still, things didn't look promising as the Sox couldn't get any bounces to go their way: Manny missed hitting another home run by inches and Lowell hit a sure double that just went foul. The Sox finally scored two in the top of the seventh off Sabathia, who was shaky all night but somehow managed to make it to the seventh. Pedroia hit a double then Youk got a triple that Sizemore and Gutierrez misplayed in the outfield. Boston added three in the eighth to make the final score, 7-1.

The key to game obviously was Beckett, who went eight innings and only allowed five hits while striking out 11-which tied a playoff career high. The other most important factor was that Pedroia had two hits and Youk had two hits while Kielty, Varitek, Lugo and Drew all had a hit. Our lineup had been seriously exposed in the series as nobody outside of Youk, Ortiz, Manny or Lowell-to a lesser degree-could do anything. Drew, Crisp, Lugo and Varitek have pretty much been automatic outs. The media and fans freaked out about Francona pitching Dice-K (who had no shot) in game 4 over Beckett. The other main concern was not shaking up the lineup which had completely fallen apart. Ellsbury had played so well in limited time, why not throw him in there? He's not much of a drop-off defensively from Coco.

We'll have to wait and see 'til game six if stubbornly loyal Tito changes anything. It's Schilling against Carmona on Saturday night (a rematch of game 2) at Fenway. Should be a classic. Schilling didn't have much last time out so odds are that won't happen again. Oddly enough, you'd have to say the pressure lies on the Indians now. They're a great team and they proved that by jumping out the 3-1 lead. However, you get the feeling that they were playing over their heads a bit during the three game win-streak while the Sox were barely treading water. We're not unbeatable but I think we resemble last night's performance more than the garbage on display in game 3 and 4. The bottom line is that the Sox need a starting pitcher other than Beckett to last longer than 4.2 innings. If we can decent outings out of Schilling and Dice-K (holding my breath) in a possible game seven, then you have to like our chances. No question, Cleveland did not want to come back to Fenway for another game(s). Tomorrow night should be fun, first pitch is at 8:21 pm.

Cleveland rocks indeed

After Beckett shutdown the Indians in Game 1, what bias Sox fan didn't see the Sox rolling in five games? Well it ain't going down like that son. The Indians outlasted the Sox on Saturday night, putting up seven in the painful 11th inning at Fenway against a bunch of ineffective Sox relievers. The Indians proceeded to beat Dice-K and the BoSox, 4-2 on Monday to go up 2-1 in the series.

Things have turned so quickly. Tomorrow night: Tim Wakefield vs. Paul Byrd is basically a must-win for Boston. Down 3-1 to the Indians and having to beat Carmona and Sabathia again is nearly impossible. Nobody knows what to expect from Wakefield, who has had cortisone shots in his back and been very erratic since he was on fire for most of the year (17 wins).

Manny and Ortiz got on base all ten times they came up on Friday. Manny hit a two-run homer on Saturday followed by Lowell's solo shot. Everything was lined up for the Sox to go up 2-0 heading to Cleveland. Schilling for once just couldn't deliver in the big game. Jhonny Peralta cranked a three-run bomb off him and Sizemore hit a solo home run too. Once it gets to extra innings, anything can happen. All our good relievers had been used by the time Gagne began to blow the game.

The Sox couldn't capitalize on their opportunities in game three. They loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning but Varitek popped out and Crisp somehow grounded into a double play. Stuff like that seems to always come back and bite teams in the playoffs. Kenny Lofton (I'm serious) hit a two-run bomb off Dice-K, who predictably was nothing special. He didn't make it thru the fifth as the Indians simply waited him out-the strategy the Sox used for C.C. and Fausto.

There's nothing else to say, gotta win tomorrow or our chances will plummet. This is a very solid Indians team. They do everything and have no glaring weaknesses plus they play great at home. Come on Wakefield, the knuckle ball better be dancing tomorrow night at the Jake.