Mayoral sports gaffe

Boston is a rabid sports town.  The fans obsess about the local teams and are currently enthralled with the Boston Bruins playoff collapse, the Celtics success versus the Cavaliers and the struggling Red Sox.  On Monday, the Bruins unveiled a statue of Bobby Orr commemorating his Stanley Cup winning goal in 1970.

Boston’s five term mayor Thomas Menino spoke at the unveiling about Boston sports teams and embarassed himself with two major gaffes.  You can see video clip below.

Continue reading Mayoral sports gaffe

Josh Beckett

I have been meaning to post for a few days now and wanted to vent briefly.  As everyone knows, the Red Sox are currently embroiled in the ALCS and are struggling;  my frustration relates to pitching.

Josh Beckett is renowned for being a big game pitcher.  Last year in the playoffs, he was outstanding and dominated.  My frustration is that he has been the opposite this year.  His performance has been mediocre at best and I believe that he bears the majority of responsibility for the loss on Saturday night.

Continue reading Josh Beckett

ALDS Game 3

The game last night was an odd one.  The Red Sox had their ace in Josh Beckett on the mound, but his performance was only average.  It seemed like he could never get it going and just keep missing.  Other aspects of his game also were weak like when when he missed the base on a simple run to cover first.  Had he made that play, he would have avoided the 2 run homer that tied the game in the same inning.

Even with his poor pitching performance, the Red Sox tied the game, but it seemed like it took a monumental effort to do so.  The other frustration with the game is that with such a short outing, the Sox were forced to go to the bullpen early which is not good especially if they are needed tonight.

Tonight is game 4 and we are back to Jon Lester.  It is ironic that this young guy who the Red Sox were talking about trading last spring is currently the Red Sox’s best pitcher.  Who would have thought?  Lester’s story is an inspirational one with him having overcome cancer early in his career.

Red Sox and the ALDS

Kudos to the Sox on winning the first game of the ALDS.  The Angels are a great team and so many folks were thinking that the Red Sox would lose the series.  Clearly they still could; however, the Red Sox started the series on a high note and created momentum.  The pressure is now on the Angels in game 2 since they need to win at least one game at LA.  For the Red Sox, they only needed one game in LA and so a loss tonight is not devastating.

I am currently watching game 2 and the Sox are ahead in the 4th inning; it looks to be a tough game regardless; I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

My frustration with these games is that they are on so late that it is hard to stay up and watch the entire thing.   I understand that it is on late because of the west coast, but it is bothersome nonetheless.  I wonder how this impacts ratings since it affects all viewers in the east.  Likewise, when the games come to Fenway, I wonder how the earlier start time will affect ratings.

ALDS Preview

Tonight is the first ALDS game in the series between the Angels and the Red Sox.  The challenge is that the Angels dominated the Red Sox during the regular season and had the most wins of any team in the regular season.  From a distance, it appears that the Sox will have little chance, and truthfully, I think that they will have a tough time winning the series.  That said, the series is winnable.

IMO, the big thing that the Red Sox have to do is produce on offense.  Their pitching staff is good, but they need to create run support to protect their pitchers and allow them to pitch deeper into games.  We really need to look for David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youklis, Mike Lowell and ideally JD Drew to step up on offensive.  If they cannot do this, it will be a long and painful series.