Early in the season, the Red Sox have answered their critics in terms of offensive production. Top 10 in runs (82) and Top 5 in HRs (24). No, it’s been their pitching and defense, their supposed strengths that have let them down early on this season. They have a team ERA of 4.70 and have already made 14 errors. All of their starters, excluding Clay Buchholz (2.70) have ERAs in the 5s or higher. Beckett posts a 5.26, Lester posts a 6.23, Lackey a 5.09, and Wakefield a 5.40. Wakefield now moves to the ‘pen with the impending return of Daisuke Matsuzaka to the rotation on Saturday.

The bullpen has also been extremely inconsistent. Lights out one night, blowing up another. Atchison needs to go, plain and simple. Schoeneweis just can’t get it done anymore either. Drop those two and put Michael Bowden and Dustin Richardson or Alan Embree into the ‘pen.

Catchers have struggled throwing out baserunners, no more evident than when Texas stole 9 bases off the Sox. Victor Martinez’s struggles are going to hurt his chances of the Sox re-signing him and him getting a quality deal on the open-market. Look for the Sox to let Ortiz go and make V-Mart the full-time DH.

One bright spot this season has been the resurgence of Jason Varitek offensively. He’s already hit 4 HRs and driven in 8. Perhaps him not playing everyday will keep him fresher and make him able to produce on a more consistent basis. One thing’s for sure though, the Sox need a catcher who can defend, manage the running game, call a quality game, and hit. Luis Exposito may be their best bet, but he’s a few years away from being MLB-ready.

Sox need to get their pitching sorted out, be more consistent defensively, and get key people off the DL, and hopefully they’ll start making a run back towards the top of the standing as the summer progresses. For all the promise with the changes this off-season, 4th place and 5.5 games out of first place is not where I envisioned this team as we head into May.

The Celtics hold a 3-1 series lead over the Heat and they look to close them out on Tuesday. Pierce hit a clutch buzzer-beat to win Game 3. Celtics couldn’t match that effort in Game 4 as Dwayne “Flash” Wade just took over and dominated the Celtics all game long.

Tuukka Rask and Miro Satan helped the Bruins defeat the Buffalo Sabres 4 games to 2 to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals

The Bruins, who struggled all season long at home, won all 3 games at home in the series against the Buffalo Sabres, as the 6th-seeded Bruins knocked the #3 Sabres out of the playoffs in 6 games. David Krejci, Mark Recchi, and Miro Satan led the way offensively for the B’s. The story of the series was goaltending however. Don’t be misled by some of the scores, the goaltending on both sides was absolutely phenomenal especially in Game 4 where the Bruins won 3-2 in Double OT. Tuukka Rask and Ryan Miller kept their teams in the games time and again and for the most part, the goals they let in, they really had no chance of saving. Nice to see a young goaltender like Rask face the pressure of the NHL playoffs and excel. He took over the #1 job from Tim Thomas and the team has played much more solid in front of him. He’s calm in net and his team plays that way in front of him. With the solid play of Rask, and impending return of Marc Savard, the Bruins could be a serious threat to make the Stanley Cup Finals out of the East. The Bruins wait for the Canadiens/Capitals series to conclude to find out their Semi-Final opponent. If the Habs win the series, the B’s play the Flyers. If the Caps win, B’s play the defending Stanley Cup Champs, the Penguins. Either series would be a tough challenge, but the B’s showed they can get it done, beating the best goalie in the world in 6 games.

If the Sox can turn it around, and the Bruins and Celts continue to play strong and hot in the playoffs, this could conceivably be a year that Boston wins all 4 major sports titles and truly live up to our name of Title Town USA.

We apologize about the lack of posts recently, school and work tend to get in the way of things sometimes it seems.

First off, congratulations to the New Orleans Saints and the city of New Orleans on the Super Bowl victory. Manning may very well be the top-QB in the NFL, but I’ll take our 3 rings and Brady any day.

Bruins went into a winter hibernation, losing 10-straight before recently turning it around before the Olympic Break, winners of their last 4 and points in their last 6. Tuuka Rask was in net for all 6 of those games. His calm and composed demeanor radiates off of him, making his teammates play the same way in front of him. In contrast, Tim Thomas is constantly looking like a fish out of water and his teammates play nervous and tentative in front of him. It’s a hard pill to swallow, having a $5mm a year back-up goalie, but if the Bruins want to win, they NEED to turn the reigns over completely to Tuuka Rask. In hockey, you turn to the hot-goalie and that has been Tuuka all season long. For the most part, he has kept his team in every game that he has played in, which is all one can ask of their goalie. Tim Thomas played out of his mind last season, winning the Vezina Tropy in the process. But this season, he’s showing why he was a journeyman for all of those years. Fortunately for the Bruins, the Eastern Conference is wide-open this year and their losing streak didn’t hurt them too much in the standings, as they now sit in 7th place following their 4-game winning streak to end the first-half. They have to play like they have been the past 6 games and stay healthy and I think this team could be a sleeper come playoff time.

The Celtics are at the half-way of their season and needless to say, they have been a bit disappointing. Garnett can’t seem to stay healthy and there have been talks about trading away Ray Allen. One bright spot is Paul Pierce winning the 3-point contest during the All-Star weekend. He wanted to be in the competition and he did not disappoint. Also of note from the All-Star festivities, is the continuing downfall of the Slam Dunk contest. I truly believe that Lebron James could bring it back to where it was in its hayday. Back to the Celtics, another bright-spot is the continuing development of Rajon Rondo, whose play this season garnered him an All-Star selection. If the Celts want to compete for a title this season, they’re going to have make a move.

It’s almost baseball season! Pitchers and catchers officially report tomorrow and position players later in the week. The team improved tremendously defensively in the off-season with the acquisitions of Adrian Beltre, Marco Scutaro, and Mike Cameron. With Jacoby Ellsbury shifting to Left Field, the Sox have an outfield that will cover a lot of ground and not too many balls are going to drop in. Beltre at Third Base will give the Sox a gold-glover and will allow Kevin Youkilis to play 1B full-time. The strength of the team will definitely be the starting pitching with a rotation of Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Tim Wakefield waiting in the wings. Not too many positional battles will be going on this year besides the fight for the 4th outfield spot and the bullpen. Mike Lowell needs to show he’s healthy and will be able to contribute to a team so the Sox can deal him. Jed Lowrie is fighting for a job as well with Bill Hall as the team’s utility-man. One guy to keep an eye on this Spring is Casey Kelly and how fares against some higher, tougher competition. Sox open up the regular season against the Yankees at Fenway Park on April 4th. Here’s hoping to for another solid season from the Sox and hopefully we’ll be seeing them in Soxtober once again.

Some interesting reports on the news wire today that are worth noting:

Red Sox:

Nick Cafardo reports that the Red Sox worked in an option to Lackey’s contract that would pay him the league minimum at the end of his contract, should he miss time due to an elbow injury (a pre-existing condition)

WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports that the Red Sox may still be considering signing Jason Bay.This report comes one day after the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman suggested that Jason Bay or Matt Holliday could “fall into the Red Sox’ lap.”

The Globe 10.0 discusses the Mike Lowell situation

Patriots:
ESPNBoston.com’s Mike Reiss has an updated injury report for the upcoming game against the Jaguars

The Boston Globe’s Tony Massarotti has five burning questions for the 2009 Patriots

Fred Taylor commented on the possibility of the Jaguars moving to LA

Tom Brady indicated the Patriots are still in search of an identity on offense

Celtics

Paul Pierce is out with a knee infection

Bruce Bowen breaks down the Celtics-Magic matchup

Bill Simmons expects plenty of NBA trades this season

Bruins

The Globe 10.0 debates the goalie situation in Boston

PG Rajon Rondo

News this morning is that the Celtics and fourt-year player Rajon Rondo have come to an agreement on a five-year contract extension.  Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports that the deal is worth at least $55 million, citing Rondo’s agent, Bill Duffy in the article.

Had the Celtics not come to an agreement by today’s deadline for extensions for players on the 4th (and final) year of their rookie contract, Rondo would have become a restricted free agent next summer.  If he became a restricted free agent, the Celtics would have had the right to match any offer made to Rondo.

Today, on Jeff’s sports talk show on WBRS 100.1 FM, former Celtics beat writer Peter May called into the show to talk about the Celtics and commented on other NBA topics.

Tonight I went to the TD Garden (is that the offical name yet?, whatever, it will be soon) for an event that honored a few Boston sports figures.

The program for tonight’s “The Tradition” event was as follows:

Masters of Ceremones: Dale Arnold and Michael Holley (of WEEI’s “The Dale and Holley Show”)

Ken Hodge (Award presented by Milt Schmidt)

Sam Jones (Award presented by Aubre Jones and Bill Russell)

Nancy Kerrigan (Award presented by Jerry Solomon)

Jack Parker and Jerry York (Award presented by Mike Lynch)

Troy Brown (Award presented by Bill Belichick)

Curt Schilling (Award presented by Dr. William Morgan)
Prior to the presentations, there was a period of time where people at the event enjoyed some food and drink and mingled with one another.  I had the pleasure of attending this event with Jan Volk, who, among other things, was the GM of the Celtics from 1984 to 1997 and also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at The Sports Museum, the organization that put the event together.

I had the opportunity to meet several people, including John Havlicek, Tommy Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, and Sam Jones, among others.  Each had a different story to tell and it was nice to get a chance to see a little bit of each person’s personality.  This was sort of cool for me to meet some of these people, but the presentations themselves were quite entertaining.

The presentations opened with a slight recap of this decade in Boston sports.  A video tribute of the championships won by the Patriots (3), Red Sox (2), Celtics (1), BC Eagles (2 NCAA National titles in Ice Hockey), and the BU Terries (1 National title in Ice Hockey).  It truly was a nice tribute even though I knew about each one of those championships and, in the case of the professional championships, I was either present in person (for the Celtics), or was watching on television with the rest of New England. Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of the good times.  I always enjoy video of players and coaches celebrating victories and especially championships because it just looks like it was a lot of fun when it happened.  On top of that, I remember how I felt the night the Boston teams won their respective championships and the video tributes just put me back in that zone.

Then, each presentation occurred in the order mentioned above.  The presenter announced the award and then the recipient came onto the stage and had a medal put around their neck.  Followed by that, the presenter(s), recipient, and both Arnold and Holley sat down and the audience heard some stories about the athletes.  Some of those were quite interesting.

Sam Jones and Bill Russell played together and have won 21 championships combined, the only two players in sports who have won that many championships.  A story they told was about Jones making the team after he was drafted.  Jones was the only member of those teams to be drafted out of a Division II basketball program and make the team (and then win 10 championships).  The story goes that Red Auerbach asked Russell about Jones and Russell responded with “Well I don’t know all of ‘em!,” referring to black players, since at that time, there really weren’t too many opportunities for black athletes.  It turned out Jones made the team and he says he was told he made the team because “Russell needed someone to talk to” and Jones’ response to this person was to tell Russell “Thank you very much.” Needless to say, it was very entertaining.

During Troy Brown’s presentation, Belichick said some very good things about Brown, and they talked about Brown playing DB for the Patriots for some time as well.  The team went into a game and Belichick says he remembers saying to Romeo Crennell that they’d be OK as long as they didn’t lose another corner during the game.  Then next thing you know, Asante Samuel was injured on the second play of the game.  Belichick recalls looking at Crennell and saying “You’ve got to be kidding me!”  Then it was time for Troy Brown to enter on the defensive side and wouldn’t you know it, he played the position pretty well for the rest of the year.  I think the most interesting moment though was when Brown made a statement that left Belichick absolutely speechless.  Brown talked about why he was a champion and gave a lot of credit to Belichick for it, saying it took the great coaching and leadership of Belichick to make everything that happened late in his career possible.  Belichick really had no response for that.

Schilling’s presentation was interesting, as his presenter was the doctor who performed the surgeries on Schilling’s ankle during the 2004 season.  Schilling revealed that he was getting injections in his ankle almost every game during the season because of pain that was caused by a known condition in his ankle.  If Schilling altered his delivery, he knew he would lose a few miles on his fastball so he continued to pitch through the pain all season long, and ultimately shortening his career in the process.  He put it all over the top with the procedures on his ankle during the post season that allowed him to pitch in Game 6 of the ALCS and in the World Series.  The most telling thing Schilling said was that he did what he thought everyone else in the locker room would have done if they were in his position (in reference to procedures on his ankle).  Many in Boston might refer to what Schilling did as heroic, but he never will.

All in all it was good night and extremely entertaining.  Was it worth the $150 admission? I haven’t decided yet, but I would probably go again next year, so I guess that means I have decided.

The Celtics and Bruins are hitting the links and the Pats are about two months from the start of training camp, so it’s basically all-Sox, all-the-time.

(Sorry, the prospect of a Lebron vs. Kobe finals matchup doesn’t do it for me…not to get too sidetracked here, but can you imagine watching ESPN for those two weeks during the finals?  Not interested in a Lebron-Kobe love-fest; too predictable. )

As I was saying, it’s all about the Sox.

Thirty-nine games into the season, at 23-16 this is a solid start, considering the number of injuries the team has had to deal with.  So, without further ado, here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from the first 1/4 of the 2009 season.

The Good

* Jason Bay…Manny who? Boston knew they would be getting a better defender when they swapped Manny for Bay in a three-team deal at the trading deadline last season, but Bay has actually been Manny-esque with the bat.  Hovering around .300, Bay leads the team in HR (11) and RBI (40). He has also come up “clutch” in several big spots already this season, arguably none bigger than his 9th inning, game-tying 2-run HR off Mariano Rivera in the first meeting this season between the Sox and Yanks back on 4/24.

* The bullpen…save for the jettisoned Javy Lopez, this may be the deepest pen Theo has assembled during his tenure here.  Papelbon does his usual lights-out job at anchoring the pen, but the guys who set up for him are top-notch as well.  Ramon Ramirez for Coco Crisp…looks like a theft to me.  Already with four wins, Ramirez sports an ERA of 0.86 and has surrendered only 9 hits in 21 innings of work.  Delcarmen, Saito, and Okajima (especially as of late) continue to provide quality relief.  Add Masterson back into the mix and this pen is stacked.

The only concern remains is this pen over-exerted?  It certainly wasn’t last night (8 innings from Wakefield) but Ramirez and Okajima already have appeared in half of the team’s games and are on pace for around 80 appearances.  What is now the team’s biggest strength could become a liability with too much wear-and-tear.

* Wakefield…The elder statesman is pitching like it is 1995 (16-8, 2.95 ERA that season).  If his last outing against the Angels was a cause for concern (4.2 IP, 11 H, 7 ER) he certainly quieted his critics with an absolute gem last night against the first-place Blue Jays.  Just 97 pitches to get through 8 innings and he allowed only one ER while scattering five hits…just what the Sox needed after returning from a tough West Coast trip.

The Bad

* The Aces (Beckett and Lester)…Lester has allowed 76 base runners in 47 IP.  Opponents have hit 10 HR against the southpaw.  His ERA is well-north of 6 (6.51).  So far he kind of looks like a left-handed version of  Pat Rapp.

Beckett’s not much better.  79 base runners in 47.2 IP; 5.85 ERA…dare I say Mark Portugal?

The problem here has been consistency.  A few great innings marred by one terrible frame.  The feeling, here at least, is that both will turn it around and post sub-4 ERAs.  Beckett may have turned the corner with his last start vs. Seattle (7 IP, 2 ER)  But for now, Sox fans are left to wonder, and especially about Lester.  Is his performace the result of fatigue?  His innings jumped from 63 in 2007 to 210 last year (postseason not included).  Verducci effect? Time will tell.

To state the obvious, the bottom line is that the Sox will need both to pitch at ace level if the team wants to return to the World Series.

* Dice-K…nine runs in 6.1 IP…and the team spent 50 million just to talk to him?  Hey, it could be worse; ask the Yanks about Wang.  Sidelined since April 15, Dice-K has pitched well in his rehab outings with the Paw Sox and is slated to return to the big league club this Friday.  The team can only hope that he will return to form after this hiatus.  The fact the team is 23-16 without Dice-K and with pedestrian performances from Beckett and Lester is a testament to this team’s depth.

The Ugly

* Nick Green’s defense…Entering last night’s game he was more than serviceable at the plate, hitting .302 with 1 HR/13 RBI.  That’s not the problem since it’s hard to expect that Jed Lowrie would have topped these numbers.  But the defense is a different story.  GrEEEEEEEEn has committed eight errors at shortstop and has started to become a defensive liability.   No error was more costly than his blunder against Seattle late in the game last Sunday.  When Julio Lugo is the better defensive option,…well, how should I put it?  It’s like saying that if Brian Scalabrine can’t go tonight, the Celtics have no chance at winning.

* BIG PAPI…Big Papi hasn’t hit a HR since George W. Bush was in the White House.  But, honestly it feels like he hasn’t hit a HR since Daddy Bush’s term.  He was 0-3 with a walk in his return to the line-up last night vs. Toronto, lowering his average to just .203.  The power and production simply isn’t there right now.  How long he remains in the number three hole remains to be seen.  Big Papi has done more for this franchise than was ever expected of him when he was signed as a free agent from the Twins in 2003.  But, if this anemic production continues, the Sox will need to add another bat.  Yes, they could use some pop, but just having somebody get on base would be a start.  With Youkilis (an omission from the good category, as is Pedroia), Bay, Drew, and Lowell hitting behind Ortiz, a below-average number three hitter will continue to take away RBI opportunities from the heart of the lineup.

IN SHORT…There’s a lot to be excited about, but for now the performances of Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, and Ortiz may just determine how far this team can go.  These four players may just make or break the summer in Boston.

Pierce, Allen, and KG look on as the Celtics fall

The Celtics fell to the Magic by a wide margin, as the Magic shot very well from the floor and the Celtics were unable to get anything going on either end of the floor.  There were stretches, though, where we thought this might be a game.  The Magic had double-digit leads in the first half and took a 10-point lead to the locker room at halftime.  The Celtics went back and forth with the Magic for much of the 3rd quarter and a late run at the end, including at long two-pointer by Rondo at the buzzer made it a 5-point game at the end of 3 – Magic 66, Celtics 61.

Another comeback was not in the cards tonight, as the Magic came out strong in the fourth quarter, ballooning their lead up to 13; 74-61.  The Celtics never really got back into the game, a three here, a steal there, and there was life in the Garden, but the defense wasn’t up to the task of shutting down Orlando.  The Magic ended up blowing the game open as the C’s had to take quixk shots early in the shot clock to have a chance of making a historic comeback.  Stan Van Gundy keeps his job and the Magic go on to Cleveland, where they face an extremely well rested Cleveland team that has played just 8 games in the last month or so, while Orlando has played 13.  The Celtics are left wondering, “what if we had Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe?”

It was a good season for the Celtics, especially because of the injuries they had to deal with starting in February (when KG went down).  This team won 62 games, 62.  They had no business playing that well without their best defensive weapon.  They were led by Paul Pierce night-in and night-out, who was the go-to guy down the stretch, putting the team on his back and winning games in crunch time.  As a result of the heroics, Pierce didn’t have much left for the playoffs and it showed.  He really only had one game where he was an elite player, Game 3 vs. Cleveland.  He was just OK in both playoff series, much of it was because of the defense, but his lack of energy didn’t help.  Ray Allen had his moments, Rajon Rondo was a stud against Chicago, and we saw an impressive arsenal fom Glen Davis, not to mention the nights we cheered “E-DDIE!” at the Garden, or watched Brian Scalabrine play after sufferring three concussions.  These guys played their hearts out and gave us the greatest first-round playoff series of all-time.

The Celtics can go into the offseason with their heads held high, regardless of the blown lead in Game 6.  Perhaps it’s a good thing not to be subject to the creaming Cleveland would have given them.  We all wanted them to win tonight, but in the end, Orlando was the better team this series.

Here’s to 2009-10!

Ray Allen Shooting

The Celtics and Magic square off tonight for the final time this season.  Winner goes to Cleveland, loser waits until next year.  It’s the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, it’s Game 7.  It’s Paul Pierce and Dwight Howard.  There’s no Kevin Garnett.

The Celtics should have already lost this series, but two Magic collapses allowed the Celtics to take a 3-2 lead in the series, before a collapse of their own, allowing the Magic to force tonight’s Game 7.

If the Magic win tonight, they’ll move on and everyone will talk about Dwight Howard and whoever performs well tonight.  If that happens, Celtics fans and the media will talk about how far this team went without their defensive stopper and last year’s finalist for the league MVP, Kevin Garnett.  The Celtics are playing with house money, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want a win in Beantown. If the Celtics win, the talk will be about how many games it will take Cleveland to win the series, 5? 6?  The talk in Orlando will be about Stan Van Gundy, the fall guy.  Stan Van Gundy might be coaching for his job tonight.  Is he up to the task?  We’ll find out tonight.

Keys to the Game:

Celtics – The Celtics need Ray Allen to come out of his slump and just have an average Ray Allen performance, about 18 points and a respectable shooting percentage.  At the same time, Rajon Rondo needs to take it to the rim and make good decisions.  When he attacks the basket, someone is always open.  If Doc Rivers finally figures out that he should go with a small lineup for portions of this game, it could be trouble for the Magic.  A lineup with Perkins, Pierce, Allen, House, and Rondo could wreak havoc on the offensive end because it will be tough for the Magic to double Pierce when Allen and House are waiting in the wings, just waiting to take the open three.  On the defensive end, Turkoglu may cause problems for Allen, but Pierce would probably have better luck against Lewis than Big Baby Davis or Brian Scalabrine.  Pierce is obviously a smaller player, but a better perimeter defender, and a quicker defender, than either Baby or Scal.

Magic – For one thing, the Magic need to use Lewis as much as possible.  He causes a matchup problem for the Celtics, no matter who is playing him.  They need Dwight Howard to be the same Dwight he was in Game 6 — crashing the boards on both ends and being a force down low.  If the Magic play the type of defense they played in the second half of Game 6, they’re blowing out the C’s tonight.

Prediction:

Well, call it a homer prediction, call it a biased fan, I’m taking the Celtics tonight.  It’s going to be a difficult task, especially since Orlando has not shot poorly two games in a row during this series (they were terrible in Game 6).  But, it’s a pressure game in Boston, a place where Orlando almost blew a 28 point lead in Game 1, and did blow a 14 point lead with just over 8 minutes to play in the 4th quarter in Game 5.  The Magic have shown they are unable to hold leads, while Boston plays better at home, Rondo especially.