Well Jason Bay, welcome to Boston!!! Bay scored both Red Sox runs, got on base 4 times, made 2 nice defensive plays and almost hit a walk off HR in the 12 inning. Trust me Mr. Bay, the days won’t all be like this. Bay just missed a HR in the 12 having to settle for a triple. The A’s then intentionally walked JD Drew to get to Jed Lowery, who left the bases loaded in the 10th. Lowery hit a chopper to Alan Embree that was too high to get and too slow for Bobby Crosby so Lowery beat the throw and Bay scored the winning run. Both starters, the A’s Justin Duchscherer and Tim Wakefield both pitched very solid games. The Sox won 2 – 1. More and more is coming out about Manny Ramirez. Gordon Edes has an absolutely bizarre account of Manny’s last Red Sox actions.
The California Angels beat the NY Yankees 1 – 0 in the Bronx. Torri Hunter continued an amazing stretch of offense for him, getting the game winning hit against Mo Rivera in the 9th inning. The win put the Angels 12 1/2 games uop in the AL West and the Yanks 5 games back of Tampa in the AL East.
With the Manny Ramirez show heading west to Los Angeles, The LA Dodgers played NL West leading Arizona Diamondbacks. Chan Ho Park gave up the 1 – 0 lead in the 7th inning with a HR to Tony Clark and a Steven Drew double, and Manny grounded into a 6-4-3 double play in the 9th, to give Arizona a 2 – 1 win. Arizona is now 3 games up on LA in the west.
Pedro Martinez returned to the mound for the Mets Friday night against the Houston Astros. Pedro went 5 good inning allowing 5 hits and 3 solo home runs. The Huston Astros loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th and pinch hitter and former Red Sox 2nd baseman Mark Loretta launched a grand slam off reliever Aaron Heilman, leading the Astros to the 7 – 4 win over the Mets.
The Philadelphia Phillies missed an opportunity to increase their lead over the Mets, losing to the St Louis Cardinals 6 – 3. Cole Hamels got beat up and former Phillie Kyle Lohse took a no hitter into the 5th and finished with 6 strong innings. The Phillies stayed 1 game up on the Mets.
The Milwaukee Brewers’ offense came to life against the hapless Atlanta Braves in a 9 – 0 win. The win keeps the Brew Crew 3 games back of the Cubs.
Tampa stays 3 games up on the Sox by beating Detroit 5 – 2.
Jeff Karstens paid immediate dividends for the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitching 6 strong inning leading to a shutout of the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs. They beat the Cubs 3 – 0.
Another newcomer, Ken Griffey Jr., helped keep the Chicago White Sox 1/2 game up on the Minnesota Twins, with 2 hits and 2 RBIs and beating the KC Royals 4 – 2.
The Twins kept pace by beating Cleveland 4 -1.
NFL
Steve Smith went Muhammad Ali on Panthers CB Ken Lucas during practice on Friday. The Panthers are weighing disciplinary actions.
ESPN reports, shocker, Todd Sauerbrun suspended from the NFL a second time.
NBA
Ron Artest attempts to smooth things over with Yao.
The law claims another NBA player, Josh Howard arrested for street racing.
Don Nelson wins big arbitration case against Mark Cuban.
Paul Pierce still says he is “the best player in the world“.
SHOCKER!!! College Football
Georgia got 22 1st place votes to take the pre-season poll. The Top 5 teams are Georgia, USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Florida.
The Maine Sports Blog 