Monday Morning Quick Hitters

The Boston Red Sox lost to the Chicago White Sox at Fenway 4 – 2.

CC Sebathia was robbed of a no-hitter by a Pittsburgh score keeper on Sunday. The Brewers beat the Pirates 7 – 0. The Brew Crew are back to 4 1/2 games back of the Cubbies.

The Philadelphia Phillies kept pace with the New York Mets, who beat the Marlins 6 – 2, by beating the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs 5 -3.

The Minnesota Twins beat up on the Oakland A’s 12 – 4. The Twins stay 1/2 game back of the White Sox.

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost Jeff Kent for the rest of the season, but beat up on NL West division leading Arizona Diamondbacks 8 – 1. The Dodgers are 2 1/2 games back.

The NBA Player’s Association has suspended OJ Mayo’s former agent for a year.

Georgia loses important piece for the season.

Monday Morning Quick Hitters

Clay Buchholz had another poor performance, losing to the Chicago White Sox 6 – 5.

The California Angels finished off a sweep of the New York Yankees with a 4 – 3 win.

The Minnesota Twins lost to the KC Royals 5 – 4 in 12 innings and also lost a game in the standings to the Chicago White Sox, now 1/2 game down.

A late inning rally got the Philadelphia Phillies over the Pittsburgh Pirates 6 – 3.

The NL East stayed tight Sunday, as the Florida Marlins stayed away from a sweep, and beat the New York Mets 8 – 2. The Mets are 2 games back of the Phils and the Marlins are 2 1/2 games back.

Former Portland Sea Dog Ryan Dempster dominated the St Louis Cardinals on the way to a 6 – 2 win. The Cubbies are now 4 games up on the Brewers and 7 up on the Cardinals.

Gabe Kapler, through 12 innings was 0 – 6 with 2 Ks and 6 LOB, but leading off the 13th, Kapler beat the Nationals wioth a walkoff HR. The Brewers beat the Nationals 5 – 4.

Arizona D-Backs pitcher Brandon Webb dominated on the mound and also added 2 RBIs on the way to beating the Atlanta Braves 6 – 1.

The LA Dodgers blow another save against the San Francisco Giants, losing to the Giants 5 – 4. The Dodgers are now 1 1/2 game back of the D-Backs.

Kyle Busch continued his absolute dominance in the NASCAR.

Michael Phelps won an improbable 2nd Gold in the 4×100 Men’s Freestyle. Trailing on the final turn, Jason Lezak, swimming anchor, swam the fastest leg in Olympic relay history, beating the world record holder to win the Gold.

Approximately 1 billion (insert Dr Evil joke here) people watched USA Basketball put away an early challenge from China, and finally beating them in prelim action, 101 – 70.

Nadal struggles to a 3 set win in Olympic tennis.

Seems the rain from home has followed Maine’s Olympic rowers.

Sunday Morning Quick Hitters

The Boston Red Sox continued their mastery over the AL Central, beating the White Sox 6 – 2. The win give the BoSox an 18 – 7 record against the AL Central. Chicago lost Jose Contreras for the rest of the season while he was trying to cover 1st on a Jacoby Ellsbury grounder.

The California Angels pounded the New York Yankees once again. Vlad Guerrero triggered a 8 run 8th inning with a HR starting the onslaught. The Angels won 11 – 4.

Tampa Bay came back again, beating the Seattle Mariners in 11 innings 8 – 7. The Rays tied their franchise record for total wins, 70. The Rays stayed 3 1/2 games up on Boston.

The Minnesota Twins took sole possession of 1st place with their 7 – 3 win over the KC Royals. Francisco Liriano looked very good again in his 2nd start back from the DL. The Twins are 1/2 game up on the Pale Hose in the AL Central.

Philadelphia Phillies starter Brett Myers did not like being told “boom…Outta Here” by manager Charlie Manual after 7 2/3 strong inning, arguing with his skipper on the mound and in the dugout during the Phillies 4 – 2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. All seemed calm after the game from all parties.

The New York Mets used huge rookie contributions to stay within 1 game of NL East leaders, the Philadelphia Phillies. Mets outfielder Daniel Murphy ( pinch hit 2 run HR) and starter Brian Stokes (5 2/3 innings, 6 Ks) helped the Mets to the 8 – 6 win over the Florida Marlins.

The St Louis Cardinals playoff hopes got a slight bit brighter with their 12 – 3 win over the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs. Troy Glauss, who was previously hitless against the Cubbies, hit 2 HRs and had 5 RBIs. St Louis’ win puts them 6 games behind the Cubs.

The Milwaukee Brewers gained a game in the standings by beating the Washington Nationals 6 -0. The win marks the 1st time since 1992 that the Brewers has back to back complete game shutouts by their pitching staff. The Brewers are now 4 games behind the Cubs.

The Arizona Diamondback’s playoff push may have taken a monstrous blow Saturday. 2nd Baseman Orlando Hudson broke his wrist attempting a tag. Hudson could be gone for the year. The Atlanta Braves used a 7 run 6th inning to top the D-Backs 11 – 4.

The Los Angeles Dodgers missed a golden opportunity to take sole possession of 1st place in the NL West Saturday, losing to the San Francisco Giants 3 – 2 in 10 innings. Jeff Kent gave the Dodgers the lead with a solo HR in the top of the 10th. Captain Fake Tan aka Jonathan Broxton quickly blew that lead when he had a wild throw home on a squibber, loaded the bases and allowed a line drive through the drawn in infield for a blown save. Manny “I Love LA” Ramirez had 3 more hits for the Dodgers. The win came on the Giants 50th Anniversary in San Francisco which Barry Bonds attended.

Michael Phelps won, what is likely the 1st of many Gold Medals setting a blazing world record of 4:03.84 in the 400M Individual Medley (IM consists of all 4 swimming strokes, freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly).

The Men’s Volleyball team overcomes shock and sadness to win their 1st match of the Olympics.

Dara Torres became the oldest competitor in Olympic swimming to win a medal, when at age 41, the US 4×100 freestyle team took home silver. Torres won her 10th Olympic Medal in her 5th Olympic competition.

US sprinter Tyson Gay feels good in 1st full workout in Beijing.

Denver Broncos linebacker Louis Green was carted off the field in a violent collision in the 1st quarter of Denver’s 19 – 16 loss to the Houston Texans.

Multi-year Multi-Million dollar RB Ryan Gran has a hamstring injury that is causing concern for the Packers.

Brett Favre was a huge hit in his 1st practice with the Jets.

Sports Vortex guest Paul Kuharsky has a nice story on David Garrard and his 1st full off season as starting QB.

The Los Angeles Lakers signed their 2nd round draft pick Sun Yue, who is currently playing for the Chinese Olympic Basketball Team.

Sunday Morning Quick Hitters – AKA The Last Canadian Roundup

Time to come back home! My last post from the Great White North.

The New York Yankees have the 2nd longest post All Star win streak in the last 20 years, 8 games. Andy Pettitte looked outstanding and minus Big Papi and JD Drew, the Sox bats stayed dormant. Justin Masterson came into a 4 – 2 game and the Yankees blew the doors open. With hits from Jeter, Abreu and A-Rod, the game got out of hand. Masterson, who has spent considerable time in the minors working on being a reliever, failed to throw any fastballs in that stretch, and Yankee hitters waited and teed off. Yanks win 10 – 3, moving them 1 game back of the Sox and 3 games back of Tampa Bay.

Ryan Braun, again, powers the Brew Crew to its 9th win in 10 games. Braun’s 4 RBI combined with Bill Hall’s RBI single in the 8th inning, helped beat the Astros 6 – 4. The win moved the Brewers into a tie with the Cubs for 1st place in the NL Central.

Speaking of the Cubbies, The Florida Marlins own The Chicago Cubs, winning 12 of their last 13 meetings. Jeremy Hermida accounted for all 3 runs, with the Marlins winning 3 – 2. Rich Harden, who has pitches great since moving from the A’s, is still winless in a Cubs uniform.

The California Angels are running away with the AL West. Torii Hunter went 4 – 4 with 4 RBIs and 5 runs scored to power the Angels over the Orioles 11 – 6. The win puts the Angels 10 1/2 games up on the Rangers.

The Philadelphia Phillies gave up 9 runs in the 4th inning and still won the game. Mark Teixeira homered to end Atlanta’s scoring in the 4th put up zeros the rest of the way. The Phillies put up 7 of their own in the 7th spurred by Greg Dobbs pinch hit 3 run HR. The Phils win 10 – 9 to stay 1 game behind the Mets.

St Louis blew another late lead, but Albert Pujols saved the day in the 14th. Pujols had 5 hits including the HR in the 14 to beat the Mets 10 – 8.

Other Scores : The Dodgers blanked the Nats 6 -0. LA stays 1 game back of Arizona. TB Rays and Carl Crawford beat the KC Royals 5 – 3, to stay 2 games up on the Red Sox.

Serves you right for not intercepting those 2 passes in the 4th quarter of the non-existant Super Bowl 42. Asante Samuel is hurt for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The New England Patriots added even more depth to the RB position, snapping up Lamont Jordan after his release. Jordan will compete for touches, but the NFL proves you can never have too many RBs.

A Blog’s Resurrection-Semi Daily Postings and thoughts Start Today!

On a Monday in which the headlines were not all about Mike Vick’s kennel club and Tim Donaghy’s penchant for picking overs, I thought it might be time to bring the blog back to semi-regularity and respectability. The MLB Trade deadline is tomorrow, I will be posting links to the sites that first report the trades if you need more info than what I post here. Also news out of Boston that the Celtics and T-Wolves yelled “clear” and electric-chest-paddled the Kevin Garnett trade talks back to life. MLB trade stuff first.

Mark Teixeira is going to be a member of the Atlanta Braves. The trade consists of Teixeira and reliever Ron Mahay going to the Braves for Jarrod Saltalamacchia(that is way easier to spell than Mientkiewicz) and three minor league prospects, two of which are pitchers. The Fort Worth Star Telegram reported this first (amazingly beating ESPN to the punch, lol) http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/185662.html, so they get the credit here. Probably the best deal Texas could make at this point, as they probably didn’t want to send Teixeira to the Angels and face him 19 times a year.

Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe is reporting that the Red Sox and White Sox are preparing to swap Wily Mo Pena and probably a minor league pitcher (although there is rumor that Manny Delcarmen could be involved) to the ChiSox for Jermaine Dye. Details can be found here –http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2007/07/dye_chances_pre.html
Still not sure what this does for Boston. Dye isn’t a real strong bench player type, and it almost admits that signing JD Drew this offseason hasn’t worked out. It makes me wonder if the Sox may have a deal in place to move Coco Crisp for a bullpen arm, and they are planning on moving Drew to center, putting Dye in right and calling up Ellsbury to be the 4th outfielder. That is just speculation on my part, but keep in mind when the Red Sox make trades, they are usually trading for one thing to replace something else they haven’t traded yet. (Update 7-30-2007 3:23 pm est-Edes is now saying that the Red Sox cooled on the deal once Kenny Williams insistance on Delcarmen or Justin Masterson didn’t die down, so this one looks like it is on the back burner for now).

So far not alot of other deals that are close, other than the Eric Gagne sweepstakes (supposedly the Yankees are the front-runners, but only if Texas stops demanding Melky Cabrera). I haven’t seen much to any Griffey or Dunn rumors. Kyle Lohse and Jose Contreras don’t really get my blood boiling all that much either. It would be nice to see the Yankees get rid of Kyle (I call him “specs”)Farnsworth in another addition by subtraction move.

On to the NBA, where although not a ton of stuff has been reported so far today , but yesterday(and this morning) draftexpress.com (http://draftexpress.com/blogs.php?blogid=8) broke the news that Kevin Garnett may have changed his mind about not coming to Boston after all, and that the Celts and Wolves were close to a deal that would send Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair (and presumably his collection of assorted handguns) and Gerald Green to the Wolves for Garnett. Brian Scalabrine and next year’s first rounder have been mentioned as well, as Garnett has a trade kicker in his contract that will bring his total cap figure this year to over 23 million. Reasons for the change of heart haven’t been explained but something tells me the Celtics draft night exodus of Wally Szczerbiak might have changed KG’s mind about heading to Beantown. I hope Michael Wilbon doesn’t write another article about Boston’s penchant for racism that gets KG to change his mind again, because this would be a really good thing basketball here in the northeast. I also find it extremely coincidental that this news comes over a week and half after the Tim Donaghy scandal and that there really hasn’t been any other transaction news during that time. Convenient for the NBA? Probably. I also think that if the Celtics make a triumphant return to the NBA Finals it might help those sorry NBA Finals ratings last spring. Think a Celtics/Suns finals might get some people interested in the NBA again?