Category: Boston

Belichick Refuses to Mention the Jets by Name. Shoe-in for Hater of the Year.

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Yahoo – Belichick and the Patriots are practicing with the Texans this week and the Patriots coach was asked about his long relationship with Texans assistant head coach Romeo Crennel during the press conference. “Well, Romeo and I started together at the Giants in special teams, so he and I coached special teams together and then we coached defensively together through 1990,” Belichick said in comments distributed by the team. “We worked at the Patriots together, then another team, and then back with the Patriots in 2001. I’ve relied on him through the years, both with our team when I worked with him, but even at times outside when we could help each other and it wasn’t a conflict in competitiveness.”

How can you not love a man with this much hate in his heart? A guy thats won FIVE Super Bowls while his former employer has literally become the worst team in the league.

Doesn’t matter. If you’ve got hate in your heart, let it out. Bill still feels like the Jets mistreated him one way or another so whats a bigger fuck you than not even mentioning your name? Its like when people ask about an old ex-girlfriend from college and you just pretend like you can’t even remember her name. Ultimate disrespect.

Even if you think Bill should be over the whole Parcells/Jets situation, you can’t argue that Mangini and the Jets fucked him pretty good in 2007 by creating the whole Spygate scandal. That shit will never die for Belichick.

Some people may call that petty. I call that an insatiable, burning desire to crush your enemies. Thats the kind of general I want to follow into battle.

Time to Make the Donuts: Red Sox Get a Walk Off Win Over the Cardinals

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Mookie Betts doing Mookie Betts things last night in a walkoff win over the Cardinals. Just battling and grinding with 2 outs in the 9th before smoking a 3-2 pitch off the wall to knock in 2 runs and get the walk off win.

What made this all the sweeter was witnessing the Cardinals have an absolute meltdown in the 9th inning over some pretty minor shit. Just wilting under the pressure of the Sox mounting a comeback in the bottom of the 9th.

Molina snapped in the 9th when the home plate umpire called time after reliever John Brebbia held onto the ball for what felt like 10 seconds. Literally yelling in the ump’s face, all while the Cardinals are still up by 1 in the 9th inning. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny comes out to argue and ends up getting ejected. Less than 5 minutes later the Sox complete the comeback and walk off with the win. Thanks St. Louis!

PS – Nothing beats a walk off win, but don’t think I didn’t notice Jackie Bradley Jr. getting gunned down at the plate. Except Yadier Molina couldn’t handle the throw and JBJ was safe. If Molina handles that cleanly then JBJ is out by a MILE and we’re all yet again roasting the Red Sox for their abysmal base running. Just something to keep an eye on and remember when a gigantic base running error totally fucks them in the playoffs.

Time to Make the Donuts: Red Sox Turned a Triple Play Last Night

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So the Red Sox turned a triple play against the Cardinals last night, their first one in 6 years. Sure having Yadier Molina running in his snowshoes helped, but hey a triple play is a triple play.

The first triple play I can remember watching live was back in like 2006 when Hanley Ramirez turned an unassisted triple play in spring training. It was glorious. He leaped high to snag a line drive, ran over to second and threw to first to grab all 3 outs himself. Then the Sox traded him shortly after and I didn’t get to see him play at Fenway for another 10 years. I’d show you guys, but this one doesn’t seem to be in the interwebs catalogues so you’ll have to take my word for it. This was before Hanley became the defensive liability we know him as today and had to move to third base, then left field and now first base (read: DH). I’ll never forget reading the scouting report on Double-A prospect Hanley Ramirez’s defense at SS: “He’ll make a competent outfielder one day.” Kind of!

I Am Officially Spooked About Dustin Pedroia’s Knee

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NESN – For the second time this month, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has been placed on the 10-day disabled list with left knee inflammation. Pedroia had surgery on the knee last October, but it has been problematic for much of this season. The move back to the DL on Saturday comes just four days after Pedroia was activated. Pedroia served as the designated hitter on Tuesday at Tropicana Field and was out of the lineup on Wednesday and again on Friday following an off-day for the Red Sox.

I feel like this is a story line thats flown under the radar because the Red Sox have been killing it lately. Particularly the guys that have been shuffling around to fill in for Dustin Pedroia like Eduardo Nunez and Rafael Devers have been playing especially well. So people haven’t really seemed too concerned with Pedroia as of late. Except he just went back on the DL with the same knee injury, less than a week after coming off the DL. Four days after being activated to be exact. I am officially spooked.

This all goes back to the first time Pedroia went on the DL and Dave Dombrowski dropped a quote that made me do a double take. He said Pedroia’s knee injury is something that Dustin will have to monitor for “the rest of his career”

After just thinking the injury was related to that dickhead Manny Machado spiking him at second base earlier this year, Dombrowski basically turned me into a frantic soccer mom with one sentence. Whether Dombrowski intentionally revealed that or if it was just a slip of the tongue, you’ve got to seriously wonder what is going on with Pedroia’s knee.

Being a guy thats played through a multitude of injuries over the years, I think people take that for granted. People just expect him to come back and play through injuries regardless of what they are. He is a smaller guy who takes a beating playing his position very aggressively and those little nagging injuries eventually catch up with you and turn into larger debilitating injuries and spawn trips to the DL.

Hopefully its just an instance of one injury flaring up on him and not the beginning of the decline. Especially for a guy who prides himself on being out there (he’s played 135+ games 5 out of the last 6 years) the Red Sox could be forced to more carefully monitor Pedroia’s innings. Remember when Pedey busted his foot, the guy was out at second taking BP ground balls on his knees? He’s signed for 4 more years through 2021 so the Red Sox are going to want to make sure he’s good to go rather than just running him into the ground. In the meantime, doesn’t hurt to have your replacement batting a cool .400

Good Monday Morning Red Sox Nation!

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The Red Sox are 9-1 in August. They’ve won 10 of their last 11 games.  The arrival of Eduardo Nunez and the ascension of Rafael Devers have helped jump start a sluggish offense. Devers’s home run off Chapman in the 9th inning last night was the first home run Chapman allowed to a left handed hitter since 2011, and just the second he has allowed to a lefty in his career. And the pitch was 103 mph. And Devers hit it out to the opposite field. NBD.

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The Sox are also 11-3 since David Price went to the disabled list. Chris Sale did his part again last night, striking out a dozen. Pomeranz got the job done in a a blowout win Saturday. He’s having the best year of his career. And Eduardo Rodriguez deserved a win on Friday night, but the bullpen couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. If/when Price returns, he better have a short leash. This team that was unlikable not even three weeks ago now has an identity and some chemistry. They can’t let Price break that up.

It’s a good Monday morning for Red Sox fans. If John Farrell can brush up on the rule book, this team might be unstoppable.

 

2016 Cy Young Winner and Current 14-Game Loser Rick Porcello Threw an Immaculate Inning Last Night

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After winning the Cy Young last year Rick Porcello has struggled mightily in 2017 with 14 L’s to his name currently. He is gunning for the rare distinction of not only winning 20 games, but also losing 20 games in a season. This guy is a fucking enigma. He undoubtedly is better than his record as he has had the worst run support of any Red Sox starter this year so its definitely not all on him. But, the closer you inch to 20 losses with an ERA approaching 5, the less people really care about the details.

So last night he throws 5 dominant innings before getting knocked around in the 6th. In the bottom of the 5th though Porcello had the uber rare Immaculate Inning, which is getting 9 strikes on 9 pitches to record 3 outs. Do you realize how rare that is? There have been 89 Immaculate Innings pitched all-time compared to 296 no-hitters. Its less common than a NO-HITTER!

So hopefully this Immaculate Porcello shows up in the playoffs and not the 14 (and counting) game loser or the freshly minted Cy Young winner who got lit up in the playoffs last year. An enigma indeed. The Many Faced Pitcher.

 

 

We’re Talking About Patriots Practice

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ESPN – It didn’t take long for one of the newest members of the New England Patriots to make some noise in training camp.

Defensive back Stephon Gilmore, who signed a five-year, $65 million deal with the team in March, tangled with wide receiver and fan favorite Julian Edelman, resulting in the ejection of both players from Tuesday morning’s practice session…

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has a non-negotiable practice rule: No fights. If you do fight, you are ejected.

I like it. Would a team with a Super Bowl hangover get this fired up in practice less than a week into training camp? I don’t think so.

In one corner you’ve got Julian Edelman, the scrappy 7th round draft pick who played his college ball as a QB in the MAC. Two Super Bowl rings haven’t tamed his drive. The 232nd overall pick didn’t make the team, and stay on the team for eight years, without some serious dedication and drive.

In the other corner you’ve got Stephon Gilmore, the new guy who signed a $65 million deal with the Patriots in March. The former first-round pick made his first Pro Bowl last year and is known for his physical play.

According to Mike Reiss’s story:

[T]he fiery wide receiver took exception to Gilmore’s physical play and wrestled him to the ground before coaches and teammates separated the two.

Both players’ helmets were off by the end of the scuffle.

It’s understandable that two guys like this would get into a training-camp scuffle. The scrappy vet versus the physical new guy. I don’t think it’s an issue. I think it’s great to see that Edelman, 31, isn’t slowing down or backing down, and that Gilmore isn’t taking crap from anyone. He might take some 15 yard penalties in the fall, but that’s okay every once in a while.

The Patriots have been so good for so long, it seems like training camp often comes and goes without anything notable happening. I’m hopeful that this is a good sign that this team is still hungry, and will be ready to roll on September 7.

Time to Make the Donuts

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10 years ago today the Boston Celtics traded for Kevin Garnett and completely changed the makeup of the entire franchise. Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Theo Ratliff’s expiring contract, and two first-round picks. Thats what it took to land KG, a guy who’s No. 5 will likely be up in the rafters, and put the Celtics back on the map. A basement dwelling lottery team in the matter of a few weeks acquired both Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and morphed into a 66 win team. All that after only winning 24 games the year before. Thats 42 additional wins for anyone who didn’t bring their calculator. KG was competitive as hell, tough, intense, generally crazy, and the guy came to ball every single night. Probably my favorite Celtics player of all time. CUE THE HIGHLIGHTS