Before we begin, I’d like to take a moment of silence for the city of Seattle. I can’t imagine what they’re going through.

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Done. Okay. On to baseball! It’s always a good day when we beat the Yankees. When we beat the Yankees with a Jon Lester complete game shut out? Lets just say the Rays series stings a bit less (no pun intended) And Tek got a hit. Yay! All is right in my world tonight, and I can start praying for a Tampa Bay meltdown…probably not going to happen, but hey, its something we can hope for.

Congrats to Dustin Pedroia (or, D.P. as we lovingly call him) on extending his hitting streak to 11 games. J.D. was Mr. June…could Dustin be Mr. July? Don’t know. We also find out how many of the boys will be taking the field for the All-Star game. Probably a lot. And Tito gets to run the show. I feel like this is just torture for the Yankees, and its sadistic, but I love watching them get tortured.

And who doesn’t love Lester? I mean, how can you not? He’s one of those players who you have a grudging respect for even if you hate their team (like my relationship with Jeter. Respect him. Great player. I’d love him if he played for anyone else, but I can’t hate him. He’s too much of a class act.) Lester is one of those guys that you just have to love. I think this is Lester’s year. I mean, he’s got the no-no, two complete game shut-outs…could we add a ring to this to top it all off? I think so.

Here’s to Beckett and the Fourth of July! Happy Independence Day, y’all! (What, I may like the Sox, but I’m still a southerner) Shouldn’t we automatically win on the 4th since Boston was like, huge in winning this whole Independence thing? Ya know, Paul Revere, Boston Tea Party, Boston Massacre…isn’t there some karma from that or something?

And I’ll leave you with a few thoughts.

–Burn Notice is a great show. Check it out! (It has the line: “Guns make you stupid. But Duct tape? Duct tape makes you smart.”)

-Jacoby Ellsbury is like the Speedy Gonzales of Baseball. No joke.

-One of the issues facing the Sox at the end of the year is Jason Varitek’s free agency. Normally, I am against falling in love with a player and thus not letting them go when it’s time, but removing Tek is like taking away the soul of the team, a great defensive player, and an almost coach. How stupid would you have to be to trade the Captain? The guy who manages games better than any other catcher in the league? (Note: I fully believe the Sox will re-sign Tek, but this is just me getting out my two cent)

-A sweep of the Yanks would be great. Really, really, really great.

One final thing: this is from March, but it’s too funny to pass up. Look up “Mike Lowell’s Dancing With the All-Stars”. This isi from March but it still makes me laugh. There should be four videos that go along with these three pictures, along with mentions of Nutrisystem, being turned on, and the ownership of a particular shirt.

Our pitching staff single-handedly lost last night’s game. Dustin Pedroia did everything he could to keep the sweep from happening, Dice-K did great, and then…Manny D forgets to cover 1st. We let the Rays load the bases so that slugger B.J. Upton (who is a very nice guy – I graduated with his little brother) can step up to the plate. All we had to do was maintain the lead so Pap can come in and keep us from getting swept by the Rays.

Oh well, it’s only the beginning of July. And as insider to baseball, Cal Ripkin said “It still hinges upon Boston and New York. Tampa Bay is going to play a role in the Wild Card and in the division title down the stretch, but I think New York and Boston have too much experience and too much talent and those players will start stepping up. This is about gathering momentum and believing in yourself down the stretch.”

Which is exactly what I’ve been saying. The Rays are good, no denying that, but when it comes to the post-season, their lack of experience is going to hurt. So now the two-way battle for first in the AL East has become a 3-way. The Boston-Yankees battle has now become a Boston-Yankees-DEVIL Rays hate triangle.

I gotta say, as any good sports fan, I’m worried. But then I’m not, because we’ve been here before, we’ll get back to the top.

Yankees got crushed. Sox won a heart-stopping-last-minute victory against the D-Backs. If only the stupid Rays had lost, my life would be complete. They’re still a game back, but…eh. All I gotta say is we have to play sharp on the 30th.

Without Tek’s RBI last night, I don’t know where we’d be, but hopefully this can rally the Sox into getting their offensive mojo back. I mean, how cool would it be to get Papi back swinging hard and combining that with an already hot offense?

Good news all around: Youk is fine. He played last night, and they think he may be able to get in the batters box tonight. Papi is going to take a few shots off the tee (the baseball kind) today, which is always good. Schill’s surgery went well, and he hopes to pitch again (yay!)

Also, congrats to Chris Smith on his first Major League W.

Alright, Transplanters and Homeboys alike, listen up: GET GOING ON THE ALL-STAR VOTING! We’ve slowed down and now Tek is out of first and some of our leads are dwindling. AND a YANKEE has the most votes! This is not allowable. Get online and vote 25 times! It’s tedious, but I tell you what, it takes like, five minutes max to get all 25 in, so is it really that hard?

Vote HERE for our boys.

There are so many of us, we can really control this voting, but we gotta vote! Come on, how much would the Yanks hate us if the All-Star game played in their stomping grounds featured mostly Sox players?????????

What are you waiting for? VOTE!

Here’s a little snippit from the Sports Guy after the so-called $14 million grand slam against the Indians last year, with regards to J.D. Drew: (you can read the entire column here)

(Or tomorrow. Or the day after that …)

James R. from Chapel Hill, N.C.: J.D. Drew is up with the bases loaded and two outs. Fox should just go to commercial now to make a few extra bucks.

Emilt from West Lafayette, Ind., and Boston: OH, MY GOD!!!!! J.D. DREW JUST HIT A GRAND SLAM!!!!!!!!!! OH, MY GOD! OH, MY GOD! OH, MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ian from Tallahassee, Fla.: Is it too late to pretend we were saying, “Drewwwwwwww” all year long?

Matty from Newburyport, Mass.: I just bet my buddy $1 million that J.D. would strike out. I’m not even mad.

Michael S. from Weehawken, N.J.: Do I hear “Winter Wonderland” being played in Hell?

Zack R. from Chicago: Seriously? Are you kidding me? J.D. Drew hitting a grand slam in an important playoff game is as likely as Casey Affleck getting a starring role in a major motion picture. I don’t think that just happened.

Tom from Philly: How many J.D. Drew jerseys just got ordered in Boston? Did you place your order? How awkward was the David Ortiz and Drew high-five after his grand slam? I think either that was the first time they met or the first time J.D. drove him home this season.

Matt from Malden, Mass.: FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!

John from Charlottesville, Va.: How many more grand slams does J.D. have to hit before all is forgiven?

Andy W. from Collegeville, Pa.: And with one swing of the bat, 20 million people around this country simultaneously forgave J.D. Drew …

Rory from Boston: Did that really just happen? I called my brother to make sure, but I need a third opinion.

Dan G. from Baltimore: Everyone is watching the Sox in their dorm rooms right now, and after J.D. Drew just hit that home run, 40 half-drunk college kids opened their doors and wandered into the hallway wondering if the world was going to end or they were more drunk that they thought. It was unbelievable.

That’s from a Sports Guys World post by Bill Simmons last year. Such is the cynical Boston Sports World we live in. This is now an apology to Mr. Drew:

J.D. Drew, we love you

You are like a dream come true

For all those years we boo-ed and hissed

You had something we all missed

Now I take this time to say

How sorry we are for acting this way

You are no longer our biggest joke

(remember the Nation are emotional folk)

and we are very proud to say

That your RBI-hitting way

And all the ways you play the game

make you a Red Sox player worthy of Fame

JD Drew’s been huge in the City of Brotherly Hate (how can they possibly boo JD?) and here’s to a great year!

Wohoo.

Boston won. Heck yes.

Can we just discuss how great this is? Can we discuss how terrible the Lakers played? How amazing were the C’s?

131-92. That’s terrible.

I went to a sports bar to watch the final game, and it just kills me that I can’t be in Beantown to watch the Duck Boats roll by. Rondo played out of his mind, Ray-Ray made threes like they were facing elimination, KG was absolutely fierce, and Paulie was all heart. I think the best moment was KG hugging Bill Russell, who earlier in the season told KG he could have one of his rings if Kevin never won one of his own, and you hear KG telling Bill “I got one of my own. I got one of my own. I hope we made you proud.”

I tihnk you did, Kevin. I think you did.

Here’s a look back at the Big Three (who apparently need a new name, since “Big Three” isn’t creative enough)

In other news, lets talk Sox for a minute. Currently the Red Sox are without Manny, Papi, Dice-K and now Colon…

…and they’re winning.

Go figure