Byrd and Boston Soar to Win, but Brady’s Knee is a Big Loss

The Red Sox won. The Rays lost. The Patriots won. I should be jubilant and obnoxiously happy as a write this, but as it stands, I have almost no joy.

According to wire reports from Yahoo and another site (both citing anonymous sources “close” to the Patriots) say Tom Brady has a torn ACL and will be out for the season. However, this is not from the Patriots as of yet, and could be the same “sources” who told the Boston Herald about the Ram’s walk-through being taped, which we all now know was wrong and unsubstantiated. There is no need to panic. I, for one, will not trust a report until it is coming from Bill B or Tommy or someone who I actually can see who said it. How can they know? He doesn’t have an MRI until tomorrow! So unless you have MRI-vision, oh “sources” of Yahoo, then how can you possibly know? Or are you going on the expertise of the Jets players (who are in Miami currently), who watched the play on TV and said he had a torn ACL?

Too much speculation. I remain optimistic until the official word has come down.

Okay, on to baseball.

Papi ended a 19-game homer-less streak. Yay. Lots to smile about here.

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David Ortiz after hitting a 2-run homer. Image found here

Varitek’s average has stayed in the high 220s for over two weeks now. That’s good news for him, it meas he’s probably closer to his old hitting self.

Ellsbury hit one and walked once (a totally clutch RBI hit with 2-out), Youk is back, Coco had an amazing night, and Byrd and co held the Rangers to 7 scoreless innings. The Rays, White Sox, Twins and Yankees all won, which does nothing but help the Sox in their wild card/AL east race.

PS…anyone notice that the Rays have dropped the past 3 games? They come to Fenway for a three game series, probable pitchers: Lester vs. Jackson. The Sox are hitting .308 against Jackson while the Rays are hitting just .250 against Lester. Should be an interesting game, especially with the AL East now squarely on the line and the Rays coming in having lost three, while the Sox come in having won the rubber match against Texas.

Bring on the Rays. God, if you can hear me, please, let Tommy be okay and let the Rays lose this next series.

Hey, God cares about sports too!

And The Hits Go On

After a few games one-hit wonder one run squeaks, the Sox let it all go for Wednesday’s game against the Twins. Final score? 18-5. Score in the first inning? 0-3. Yeah. We all got worried, and then, it was like someone flipped a switch.

Tek got some great hits. Maybe he’s coming out of his slump to go on a hot streak. (Being a catcher myself, it is really hard to concentrate on anything but catching, so working out of a batting slump along with being a game manager…its really, really hard. So I’ve been rooting for him) The best part? His hits were RBI singles.

tek.jpgAnd if that weren’t enough, Jacoby got 4 hits, Manny, Youk and Casey got three (including Youk hitting a homer) The Sox had 23 hits, 10 for extra bases. Jeez.

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And this wasn’t the Mariners we were beating here, its the Twins. The Twins who came to Fenway winning 19 of their last 25 games. Why can’t we play like this against Tampa Bay? Maybe we can now. Maybe it won’t matter, if the Rays continue the slump they are on. The Sox are 1.5 games back on the Rays, hanging around and making things difficult for the young team.

Congrats to the All-Stars. I think Mikey should be at third, but that’s a rant for another day…and Cheers to the Nation for giving J.D. Drew one of the biggest voting boosts in the history of the All-Star game. Nice. We’ve got seven, eight if you count the skipper, I think that’s a fitting way to end the days of Yankee Stadium – filling it with Red Sox players. 🙂

This may sound terrible, but I need Evan Longoria to suck it up from now on and I need Jacoby to have the season of his life from now on. I want him to win Rookie of the Year, but as long as everyone is in love with Longoria, that’s not going to happen. I’m not saying this out of spite for the Rays, I want Jacoby to be the Rookie of the Year, and anyone who stands in the way of that goal is the enemy.

Clay Buchholz is back after his stint in the minors, and since he had such a strong few games in Pawtucket, spending that time to work on his mechanics, we’ll be getting a really good pitcher back who can take out the O’s.

Final thoughts: Manny is always going to be Manny. It’s how life is. But this? I feel like we could have a highlight reel of Manny’s antics and never mention how good a slugger he is. I mean, you have the catch, give a fan a high five, and still get the double play highlight, his often confused base-running, or this:

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Manny has climbed into the Monster before. But the cell phone? Oh well, its just Manny being Manny.