Smoltz redeems himself against Orioles

UPDATE: I wrote this post before the end outcome of the Red Sox/Orioles game and after what happened last night, this is the last time I'm writing a post before the end of a game.

After giving up four first inning runs against the Washington Nationals on June 25, John Smoltz rightly redeemed himself tonight against the Baltimore Orioles before his outing was cut short due to an hour and 11 minute rain delay at Camden Yards.

Smoltz pitched four innings deep until the tarp had to be pulled in the bottom of the fifth. He gave up 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts as his earned run average dropped from 9.00 to 6.00.

He could have easily kept going, but why risk another injury just for a 'W' in the personal win column. Smoltz would rather have the team win as some Red Sox fans noted.

So with his second start under his belt, it's more safe to say that Sox fans should be relieved that Smoltz came out shining tonight and also got some major run support, courtesy of a Kevin Youkilis home run in the first and Jacoby Ellsbury going yard in the fourth. And who would have thought that Julio Lugo started the whole rally batting leadoff?

Now with Smoltz in the rotation mix (for now) this could possible one of the most deadliest current rotations in the major league; Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield, Brad Penny, and Smoltz.

That's pretty ridiculous and what's more ridiculous is Clay Buchholz eating up innings down in Triple A Pawtucket, but that's a whole other discussion.

Lowell to 15-day DL; good thing Ortiz is back

Boston we might have a problem.

Today, the Red Sox placed Mike Lowell to the 15-day disabled list due to a right hip strain and called up infielder Jeff Bailey for the Pawtucket Red Sox. The move was reported on the PawSox Twitter page. 

(Isn't Twitter awesome?)

Bailey has been inserted in the nine hole tonight against the Baltimore Orioles and will play first base with Kevin Youkilis at third. 

Lowell has had some discomfort in his hip, the same that required surgery in the offseason. Now 35-years-old is this a cause for concern? Player position wise, Boston has multiple solutions since Youkilis is very versatile and can play at each corner, but Francona and fans rather see him at 1B (gold glove winner and all).

Some skeptics are saying Lowell could be "done," but let's not rush to judge. After all it could be the same scenario like it was for David Ortiz except he didn't go to the DL.

Lowell has done well thus far in 2009. He's batting .282 with 10 home runs and 41 runs-bated-in, and has 18 doubles, but isn't favoring in grounding into double plays (15).

It's a blessing that Ortiz is back to being Ortiz power wise because if both him and Lowell were out it could be devastating for the Sox. 

Right now it looks to be a day by day process, but pose Lowell won't come back as a healthy Mike Lowell? Then what? Make general manager Theo Epstein make a move? Would the Sox really have to make a move?

Keeping you posted.

Wakefield is an All-Star in Boston's eyes

He's got a knuckleball that floats like a butterfly, but stings like a bee.

He might be one of the most underrated pitchers of his kind in the game today, but the Boston Red Sox know how lucky they are and how valuable Tim Wakefield really is. 

Pitching his 17th season in the big leagues, Wakefield has already tied his last year mark in wins (10) as the mid-season break closes in.

The 42-year-old is the longest current member on the Sox with 15 years of service as both a starter and reliever, but has never been named to the All-Star team. In those 15 years, Wakefield has hit double digit figures in wins (174 total) 11 times and established a career high of 17 in 1998.

In Boston he's proudly won two World Series rings.

So far this season Wakefield is 10-3 with a 4.18 earned run average, in 15 starts, has pitched two complete games, struck out 50 batters and allowed 44 runs in 94 2/3 innings.

He's closing in on another milestone of 2,000 career strikeouts (1,957), which is predicted to hit on September 8 against Baltimore according to MLB's Milestone Tracker.

Isn't this guy deserving enough to be picked to the American League All-Star roster? Yes, he's "only" a knuckleball pitcher, that might be the case as to why he's never been voted in or flat out picked only because he doesn't throw a 99 mile per hour fastball.

The stereotypes of knuckleball pitchers really needs to be brushed off. Give the guy a break and at least give add an All-Star Game to his resume. Wakefield isn't getting any younger and who knows exactly when he'll ever retire, but retire with some "pop" still left in the tank.

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 12)

It's been all about pitching this week as Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield earned their ninth and 10th wins respectively against the Atlanta Braves. Jon Lester evened out his record to 6-6, looking more like his dominating self.

On the power side, David Ortiz hit three home runs this week, and no one will forget Nick Green's "amazingness" wrapping the ball around Pesky's Pole for the walk off home run on Father's Day to beat the Braves a week ago.

The Boston Red Sox look to sweep the Braves this afternoon to wrap up interleague play for the season. Boston is 11-8 so far in interleague action. 

Sunday June 21 - Saturday June 27

Week record: 5-1

Overall record: 46-28

AL East standing: 1st, 4.0 games ahead of New York

Runs scored: 31

Opponents' runs scored: 22

Home runs: 7; David Ortiz (3), Nick Green (1), Jason Bay (1), Jason Varitek (1), Rocco Baldelli (1)

Games left: 88

Weeks left: 15

Legendary sports columnist Garry Brown retires after 59 years

This article is also published on Sox and Dawgs as a guest contributor.

Today marks an end of an era in Western Massachusetts.

Garry Brown, known for his creative and entertaining, "Hitting to all Fields" column is retiring after 59 solid years of sports reporting for The Springfield Republican.

He doesn't hold the record for the longest employee at the paper, but does amongst the editorial department. That honor goes to Al Santaniello a mailroom supervisor who started working there when he was 14 and left when he was 78.

Brown, 78, kicked off his journalism career at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts and obtained a degree in English in 1955. At AIC, he covered the colleges' sports teams for its school newspaper, "The Yellow Jacket."

At 18-years-old, Brown landed a full-time job as a sportswriter at The Morning Union in 1950, which later became The Daily News, The Union-News, and finally The Republican. He wound up leaving school, but was convinced to go back and earn his degree.

It was a good choice as Brown eventually returned to his alma mater to become a journalism professor in the 1970s and 1980s.

Brown's duties consisted as many. He covered high school sports, college, the Boston Red Sox, Springfield Falcons, and the Springfield Indians, a minor league hockey affiliate which no longer exists. He's also copy-edited, served as sports editor, and later would become a noted columnist.

Though he is retiring, he's said that he'd keep continuing his "Hitting to all Fields," column, which appears every Tuesday.

Brown is married to Mary (Bukowski) Brown who he met at AIC and have been together for 57 years. He is the proud father of three children, Melissa, Peter, and Paul and four grandchildren.

Editor's note: Information was obtained through email and American International College's Alumni Page. This was also linked on masslive.com for its final salute to Brown.

What were you expecting, a no-hitter?

AP photo

Calm down Red Sox Nation.

So John Smoltz didn't pitch a no-hitter after not pitching in almost a year.

And he wasn't lined up for his first win of the season either, however after his first inning blunder of allowing four runs, Smoltz calmed down and pitched back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth, showing he did had control at the end against the Washington Nationals.

Smoltz threw 92 pitches, gave up seven hits (two for extra bases), five runs, a walk, and five strikeouts (he struck out the side in the fifth). That's not horrendous, but fans really wouldn't like to see that kind of an outing again. The sad part is that fans would take this over Daisuke Matsuzaka any day.

It's not the end of the world, it's really only the beginning. 

John Smoltz is back, he'll get his groove, he'll be lethal, and everyone hopes for big things to come by this.

Smoltz could be key factor in October

John Smoltz, a living pitching legend, is finally making his debut with the Boston Red Sox tomorrow night as they go for the "sweepage" over the Washington Nationals.

Smoltz was signed in the offseason with General Manager Theo Epstein knowing he'd be on rehab and not pitch until June, strengthening his arm back up after having right shoulder surgery in March.

He spent his entire 20-year career with the Atlanta Braves as a starter mostly and then dominant closer from 2002-2004.

Tomorrow's start will say a lot and it's actually better that his first start is against a National League ball club, since that's the only league he's ever pitched in. So with Smoltz in the mix, how big is this for the Red Sox?

It's definitely good timing with Daisuke Matsuzaka out with shoulder problems of his own, so right there Smoltz can take his spot easily in the rotation. But what about when Dice-K returns? That is a whole other discussion about a six-man rotation, but lets jump to October for a second.

Smoltz is a big time veteran with plenty of playoff experience. He's pitched in 10 National League Division Series, nine National League Championship Series, and five World Series. His all-time playoff record is 15-4 with a 2.65 ERA, four saves, 207 innings pitched, 61 earned runs and 194 strikeouts, but only has one World Series ring to show for it. With those numbers you'd think it'd be more.

How big of a factor can Smoltz's core experience play out come late September and October? Not trying to jump the gun, but it could be deadly and this could very well be a key reason the Red Sox will be and are a huge threat to every team in the entire league.

Hats off to John Smoltz, looking forward to tomorrow night's game.

AL East breakdown; Red Sox are strong contenders

As the Major League Baseball season is creeping towards the halfway point in a few weeks, division standings are becoming more important by the day.

In the Boston Globe's baseball preview, all of the Boston Red Sox reporters wrote their predictions on where each team would finish in each division in both leagues and also who would win the 2009 World Series.

It's still early, but it might be almost safe to say that Tony Massarotti and Adam Kilgore will both be dead wrong as they said the Tampa Bay Rays would return to face the Chicago Cubs. For the record, everyone who consists of Dan Shaughnessy, Bob Ryan, Amalie Benjamin, Chad Finn, Kilgore, and Mazz, said that the Cubs would make it to the World Series.

Interesting.

As far as the Red Sox, everyone but Mazz said they'd win the American League East. He picked the Sox for the Wild Card and the Rays for the division. 

Ryan and Finn said the Yankees would grab the Wild Card.

Ok that's a safe bet, but of course Sox fans would love to see them miss the playoffs for two consecutive seasons. 

The point of all of this? Boston has its biggest cushion sitting five games above the Yankees and the Toronto in the standings. The Rays are seven games behind and the Baltimore Orioles, well no one really cares about them anymore. The Sox also have the second best record in the MLB behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (47-24). 

Despite of some pitching woes, it never beats to have too many arms and the Red Sox have proven the case once again this season.

Globe, Guild reach new proposed deal

After the big union vote two weeks ago, The Boston Globe and Boston Newspaper Guild have come to new terms on a new deal that is very similar from the last one that was voted down.

Details of the new agreement include a far less pay cut than the initial 23 percent imposed. Freeze the pension plan, five days of unpaid furloughs, and eliminate lifetime job guarantees, which is about 170 employees. 

One significant change from the original deal is the pay cut.  Instead of 8.4 % it's been decreased to 5.94 % pending the vote.

The new proposal will be voted on Monday July 20th.

If this is passed the current imposed 23% pay cut will be reimbursed to the employees in a lump-sum payment, which was reported this morning on NECN's Good Morning Live.

The union members are getting a second chance. Hopefully this time it'll be a done deal.

Nationals; destination for Sox and Yanks 'rejects'

Those poor Washington Nationals. 

Is it safe to say that everyone should feel sorry for them?

Buried in the midst of the National League East, the Nationals sit in last place not only in their division, but the entire league with a 20-48 record.

Skimming up and down the 25-ma roster, there are a lot of familiar faces, if you're a Boston Red Sox or a New York Yankees fan.

For starters for Red Sox Nation, there's relief pitcher Julian Tavarez. He was valuable in 2007, thrown in as a fifth starter (7-11, 5.15 ERA), but he was no Brad Penny. He spent two and a quarter seasons in Boston compiling a 12-16 record in 29 starts.

Next on the list is familiar friend, catcher Josh Bard. In 2006, Bard failed miserably trying to catch knuckleballer Tim Wakefield and was shipped back out to San Diego so the Sox could re-acquire Doug Mirabelli. No one will ever forget that state police escort from the airport to make it to Fenway on time for Wakefield's start.

One not so familiar face is Willie Harris who also served a short stint in Beantown in 2006. Harris was a utility outfielder and played in 47 games, but only got 45 at bats. He hit a measly .156, struck out 11 times, had seven hits (two for extra bases), and knocked in a run. There's no doubt fans miss him.

For Yankees fans, remember first baseman Nick Johnson? Of course you do, but maybe not anymore because of that new $22.5 million man by the name of Mark Teixeira. Johnson was suppose to be the next big thing, but it never turned out that way. He spent three seasons in the Bronx from 2001-2003 and got dished out to the Montreal Expos, part of a three-player deal for pitcher Javier Vazquez. Then the Expos moved down to DC in 2005 and he's been with the club ever since.

And last, but not least there's relief pitcher Ron Villone. Red Sox fans love this guy only because the Sox have always rocked him and he is winless against them (0-3). Villone has played on 12 different teams in his 15 year career and he spent two of them with the Yankees from 2006-2007. And Villone never really had the right stuff to be a Yankee as he went 3-3 with a 5.04 ERA in '06 and 0-0 with a 4.25 ERA in '07.

So there it is. Those poor Washington Nationals. 

Brad Penny - Steal of the Offseason

This article is also posted on Sox & Dawgs. Many thanks to Ian Bethune for letting me contribute to his blog.

Way back in December of 2008, Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein was in the mood for pitcher shopping, but he wasn't interested in pouring out boat loads of cash to acquire any big ticket guys like CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. 

Instead, Epstein looked to Brad Penny, a free agent from the Los Angeles Dodgers who suffered a plague of injuries in his shoulder and was limited to 19 starts. He compiled a 6-9 record and a 6.27 ERA after coming off back-to-back 16 win seasons.

The deal? Penny got a one-year contract worth $5 million along with an added bonus if he performed well. 

Who knew the former teammate of Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell would prove to be a steal?

Penny, who goes to the mound tonight for the Sox, has compiled a 6-2 record and 4.94 ERA, a statistic that has declined in every start but one since April 28. He is coming off his best start on June 17 against the New York Yankees, pitching five innings while giving up 3 hits, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts, and no runs to earn the win.

And now with Daisuke Matsuzaka having more pitching and shoulder issues (thanks again WBC) this only gives Penny more of a chance to shine and prove he belongs in the Boston rotation with Beckett, Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield, and soon to be John Smoltz.

Theo Epstein has almost proved his genius abilities once again. 

Meanwhile in the Bronx, Sabathia has put up fair numbers (6-4, 3.71 ERA, 102 IP, 85 hits, 45 runs, 8 HR, 31 BB, 70 K), but Burnett (5-4, 4.24 ERA, 87 IP, 81 hits, 44 runs, 13 HR,  44 BB, 82 K) not so much.

BUWB new member of The Bleacher Report

Thanks to the Boston Red Sox having an off-day, I was able to do some more digging and become a new member of "The Bleacher Report," which is another community for sports journalists and bloggers covering the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, college football and basketball, NASCAR, fantasy sports, and well you pretty much get the drift.

Check out my profile and become a fan.

The profile will import all of my feeds from this blog.

Nick Green: 'I didn't know it was a walk-off'

It wasn't the "Mother's Day Miracle," as NESN's Tom Caron stated after the game, but this was just as sweet.

Don Orsillo didn't even get the chance to introduce the new Atlanta Braves pitcher (Jeff Bennett) as Nick Green was all over Bennett's first pitch and shot it around Pesky's Pole for the 6-5 walk-off win.

Green has two walk-off home runs in his career (his last came as a member of the Atlanta Braves, where he beat Boston in 2004) and when NESN's Heidi Watney interviewed him right after he said, "I didn't know it was a walk-off."

Who couldn't be happier for this kid? In spring training Green was just trying to battle for a spot on the 25-man roster. When Jed Lowrie went down with a wrist injury and Julio Lugo with a bad right-knee, this gave Green a chance to really show his stuff and has he ever.

Every month Green has improved at his new shortstop position. In April he had five errors in 65 chances, May; three errors in 61 chances, and June so far Green's got one error in 62 opportunities.

On offense Green is batting .293 with four home runs and 25 runs-batted-in, which is powerful enough for a shortstop.

So, what about Julio Lugo?

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 11)

It's been one interesting week in Beantown. The Boston Red Sox celebrated its 500th straight sellout on Wednesday with a 6-1 win over the Florida Marlins, while the next night they lost in a rain shortened game that shouldn't have been played at all.

Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled once again on Friday, had an MRI, and it's been reported he has some weakness in his shoulder. Oh and now he's been placed on the DL, which is looking more like the 60-day one.

This afternoon Boston is looking to take two out of three over the Atlanta Braves. 

Sunday June 14 - Saturday June 20

Week record: 3-3

Overall record: 41-27

AL East standing: 1st, 3.0 games ahead of New York

Runs scored: 26

Opponents' runs scored: 24

Home runs: 7; Rocco Baldelli (1), Nick Green (1), Josh Beckett (1), David Ortiz (1), Jacoby Ellsbury (1), Kevin Youkilis (1), Jason Bay (1) 

Note: I think this is the first week where no one had multiple home runs

Games left: 94

Weeks left: 16

Bring back Buchholz NOW!!!

If tonight's disaster of a pitching performance wasn't a clear enough eye-opener answer, then no one knows what is.

Boston Red Sox fans are becoming more angry each time that Daisuke Matsuzaka takes the mound and more and more frustrated when he cannot throw strikes, walks the bases loaded, walks in runs, and not giving his team a chance to win.

The bases loaded 0 outs without giving up any runs days are over and tonight proved it.

Matsuzaka was charged with six runs, all earned, in 4 + innings tonight and when Terry Francona came out of that dugout and called out Justin Masterson you could hear some boos from the crowd as Dice-K exited.

After tonight's 9-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves Matsuzaka is 1-5 with an 8.23 ERA in eight starts.

..........................................................................................

Meanwhile down in Pawtucket, there's a pitcher that has clearly proved himself worthy of coming back to the big leagues and that kid's name is Clay Buchholz.

Buchholz has been thriving with the PawSox with a 5-0 record and astounding 1.90 ERA in 12 games. In 71 innings pitched he's given up 42 hits (seven of those home runs), 16 runs, and 65 strikeouts.

Six-man rotation? How about designating Dice-K for assignment and calling up Buchholz to finally give him another chance to prove himself and shine in the big leagues. Red Sox fans cannot take this anymore!

Papelbon's peeved about Yankee rumors

Someone that you don't want to mess with on the Boston Red Sox besides Josh Beckett is Jonathan Papelbon, but someone out there just had to push his buttons.

There have been rumors flying recently about Paps wanting to leave after his contract expires and go pitch for the New York Yankees and from the "sound" of this press meeting today around his locker in the Sox clubhouse, he isn't too happy about the reports.

From Extra Bases:

"I don't want to go (expletive) play for the Yankees," he said. "I've been on a team for the past five years that's been in first place more than any other (expletive) team otherwise. Why would I want to leave?"

Who can blame him especially if it's plain not true?

"For me, I want to go to a place where I'm happy," he said. "For me, the only thing that's important is that, A - it's like a family and B - I have manager and a GM that's going to protect me, and I know that here."

However at the bottom of the post the blogger wrote this one-liner as a kicker...

In an interview on Sirius XM radio yesterday, Papelbon said that "not only the Bronx, but everywhere is a possibility" for him to play when his contract expires.

Did the blogger just dish it to Papelbon? I'm not sure who looks like the bigger [fill in the blank] right now.

Here's a collection of blogs that the "rumors" have been reported on just to name a few:

The Scores Report

Sliding Into Home

A Die Hard Yankees Fan

Full of Sports

Surviving Grady

After washout loss, Red Sox ready to move forward against Braves

After last night's frustrating loss (a game that shouldn't have been played at all) it's time to look forward as the Boston Red Sox host the Atlanta Braves for the next three games at Fenway Park.

The Braves are currently sitting in second to last place in the National League East with a 31-34 record, something that just seems backwards after a very dominating run in the 1990s and early to mid 2000s, but with no World Series Championships to show for it. The last time the Braves won was when they were the Milwaukee Braves in 1957.

The middle game is the pick of the series when Derek Lowe returns to Fenway Park since winning his World Series ring in 2004. He'll face Josh Beckett who's recently been his old Josh Beckett self.

Lowe enters with a 7-4 record and 4.08 ERA while Beckett has a 7-3 record and 4.15 ERA, a number that has been creeping down.

Tonight no one knows what to expect from Dice-K, but Sox fans are praying that it'll be at least a decent outing lasting six innings +.

I guess we'll just have to see.

Red Sox celebrate 500th sellout and 40th win

The Boston Red Sox celebrated its 500th consecutive sellout and its 40th win as they beat the Florida Marlins tonight, 6-1. 

Brad Penny is now 6-2 this season as he pitched five innings deep giving up a run on three hits, four walks, and three strikeouts.

Jacoby Ellsbury committed his first major league error in 554 chances (232 games), but redeemed himself later in the seventh inning as he jacked his third home run of the season. He also had a stolen base giving him a total of 28.

On a random observation it seems like Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis have switched spots recently as Pedroia went 3 for 5 tonight with three runs-batted-in and also had two steals to make 12 on the season. 

Youkilis on the other hand had a miserable tonight going 0 for 4 with three Ks and left five runners on base.

What's up with that?

Check out our new sports apparel links

Alright calm down. You're probably thinking we got creative and joined the bandwagon in making Batter-up with Bruno t-shirts, hats, cups, and magnets.

Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's not exactly what this post is about.

Here on the blog we added a new links section called, "Sports apparel," under the Blogroll section, which features other websites' merchandise that hope you readers would like to check out.

As of right now we only have two sites, Chowdaheadz (Boston sports) and My Air Shoes (Air Jordan sneaker, Nike, Adias, and Converse). 

If you happen to be reading this post and would like to link your sports apparel website here please don't hesitate to contact me.

Happy shopping!

Longmeadow middle school chorus to sing National Anthem at Fenway Park

The Longmeadow Middle School eighth-grade chorus known as "Ensemble 7:45" will be singing the National Anthem on Thursday, June 18 at Fenway Park as the Boston Red Sox take on the Florida Marlins.

This is the first time a group from Longmeadow, Mass. will be singing at the ballpark. Longmeadow High School vocal teacher, Kayla Werlin previously sang "God Bless America," at Fenway.

“I am incredibly proud of the group and the work they have put into this and every other performance opportunity we have had this year,” said chorus director Michael L. Smith. “The students come in, sometimes four days a week, at 7:30 a.m.-7:40 a.m. in the morning to work on high school-level music. It is great that this dedication will rewarded with a fun day in Boston and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sing at one of America's great baseball shrines.”

Check out the full story in today's Springfield Republican or just keep on reading as I posted the full story below.

By AMANDA BRUNO

LONGMEADOW - It's the dream of every diehard Boston Red Sox fan to step foot onto the historic grass at Fenway Park.

Well, that dream is about to come true for 22 Williams Middle School eighth-graders who are receiving the opportunity of a lifetime.

The school's chorus, known as "Ensemble 7:45," has been chosen to sing the national anthem at Fenway Park on Thursday as the Red Sox take on the Florida Marlins.

The "7:45" in the name stands for 7:45 a.m., which is the time the group rehearses before school. Longmeadow High School vocal teacher Kayla Werlin previously sang "God Bless America" at Fenway, but this will be the first time a group from Longmeadow will be singing at the park.

Chorus director Michael L. Smith is ecstatic that Ensemble 7:45 was selected out of so many others.

"I am incredibly proud of the group and the work they have put into this and every other performance opportunity we have had this year," he said. "The students come in, sometimes four days a week, at 7:30 a.m.-7:40 a.m. in the morning to work on high school-level music. It is great that this dedication will be rewarded with a fun day in Boston and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sing at one of America's great baseball shrines."

In order for the group to be considered for the opportunity, Smith recorded and sent in an audition CD to Dan Lyons, manager of entertainment and special events operations, and was then contacted with the great news.

Chorus member Shane Coughlin, 14, has been to Fenway Park at least 10 times, but said he's never done anything like this before.

"It's really incredible because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and sports-wise it's so symbolic. It's Fenway Park, America's most beloved ballpark," said the 14-year-old who's been singing for three years and also plays the bass and trumpet. "We're not used to performing in front of a huge crowd, we're so used to little concerts not singing to 38,000 people."

Ensemble 7:45 will arrive at Fenway at 10:30 a.m. to rehearse in an empty ballpark and try to adjust to a five-second echo. They will then enjoy the rest of the afternoon touring the North End of Boston and walking the Freedom Trail before coming back to make their debut. Afterwards they'll enjoy the game from the grandstand section.

Welcome back Big Papi!?

I really think David Ortiz is finally coming out of his sucking groove and more into his clutch one.

Ortiz launched another solo shot home run (his fifth of the season) and also a two-out, two-run single in the bottom half of the fourth inning tonight in part of an eight run attack on the Florida Marlins at Fenway Park as the Boston Red Sox beat the Fish, 8-2.

Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield earned his team-high (who'd a thunk that in April?) ninth win improving his record to 9-3 (Josh Beckett is in second at 7-3).

In his last 10 games, Papi has raised his batting average from .188 to .210, slugged four home runs, drove in eight runs, and banged out 10 hits.

Now perhaps the question isn't so much now adding another big bat to the Red Sox lineup if Ortiz can keep his offensive power up.

Photo by Bill Greene, Globe Staff

BUWB ranked #16 sports news blog on blogged.com

I randomly discovered today while doing some google searching that Batter-up with Bruno (BUWB; yeah I know the abbreviation looks kinda weird, but it's a long name) is ranked no. 16 under Sports News Blogs on blogged.com under the editor's rating.

That's pretty exciting stuff right there however I still don't believe this blog is attracting the right amount of readers it potentially could.

Hhhhmmm.

How diehard are you? Topic: craziness

Sorry, no video this week, but I was fishing through my photos and this caught my eye.

This is my college room door covered with Boston Globe cuts outs and duct taped sayings that I put on the back of my Boston Red Sox T-shirts during the entire 2007 playoffs.

Every game is accounted for with the tape. You may able to figure it out what sayings go together and when I wore them during which specific games during each series (hhmm sounds like a good contest idea).

Below the word "LIFE" is the number 4 that decided to roll over and not stick well. And the last word below "CAPT" that also got cut off is "ROOK."

Miraculously when I had to eventually took it all down (I believe I did it before the start of the 2008 season) I did not rip off any of the paint. 

Just another crazy tactic I did in my college dorm room.

Can you beat me? Bring it!

Globe buyers uncovered; cuts trying to be blocked

It's been reported that three businessmen with local roots are interested in buying The Boston Globe from the New York Times Company. Ironically, one of the buyers is a former Globe executive and member of the family that sold the paper back in 1993. 

The three men are Stephen Pagliuca, a private equity executive and Boston Celtics co-owner, Jack Connors the cofounder of a major advertising firm and chairman of Partners HealthCare, and Stephen Taylor the former Globe exec. 

However the Globe reports that whether these men will make bids is not known and it could possibly be delayed after the standoff between the Times Co. and the Boston Newspaper Guild has subsided.

The Guild and Globe managers along with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) plan to meet this week in attempts to block the 23 percent pay cut.

Globe showing its tough times at sports banquet

Every year The Boston Globe hold its annual All-Scholastic Banquet at the Boston Marriott in Quincy to recognize all of the Globe high school All-Scholastics for the entire school year. 

Well this year was a lot different.

Because of the tough times and 23 percent pay cuts, the "banquet" was held at the Globe headquarters in Dorchester and it was referred to as the "Scholar-Athlete Awards" only in which 14 athletes received $3,000 college scholarships. 

Pretty much it appears that the banquet was cut by more than 23%.

School's editor Bob Holmes even made a joke about the Globe's tough times.

"Our female athlete of the year has been at the Globe for All-Scholastic pictures so many times I think she qualifies for our pension plan and as we've all read that may or may not be a good thing," said Holmes in his next introduction of the Will McDonough Female Athlete-of-the-Year.

The members in the audience got a good chuckle. It was pretty funny, but unfortunately it's really not a laughing matter. 

Here's the article Holmes wrote about the ceremony, which usually a co-op would write.

Check out the video produced by the Globe's/boston's Chris Forsberg above.

Julio Lugo hating on Nick Green?

So the Boston Red Sox Julio Lugo is having his best series this season against the Philadelphia Phillies currently batting 5 for 6 with a walk, but will this be enough to keep the overly high paid shortstop as the starter?

Nick Green has gone 2 for 2 with a solo home run in the second inning as him and Rocco Baldelli went back-to-back to take a 2-1 lead.

NESN showed flashes of Lugo in the dugout giving almost "death looks" to someone (Green purhaps?). 

Is 5 for 6 not good enough for you? No Lugo wants to have those five hits be grand slams.

Get over it Lugo we like Green better. And why not? Green has a wall named after him at Fenway (not exactly, but you know what I mean). What do you have?

This just in: Dave Roberts loves to see manufactured runs

During the top half of the second inning against the Philadelphia Phillies, former Boston Red Sox outfielder Dave Roberts talked about how he'd rather see runs manufactured than a home run.

Roberts will take a single, walk/sac bunt, steal, and sacrifice fly any day of the week.

NESN commentator Don Orsillo noticed how his new Jerry Remy fill-in buddies like seeing what they used to do in the big leagues. Dennis Eckersley loves seeing "high cheese," which in his lingo means a high fastball and of course every Red Sox fan remembers Roberts and the steal of the century.

Ah, good times in the NESN broadcast booth. Wish I could have recorded that, but unfortunately I don't have that feature on my DirecTV service. 

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 10)

It was another great week played out by the Boston Red Sox. The Sox swept the New York Yankees to go 8-0 against them this season, David Ortiz popped two home runs in a week, and today they are going for another three-game sweepage over the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. 

This is the second week Boston has gone 5-1 and they are 9-2 to open up the month of June.

Sunday June 7 - Saturday June 13

Week record: 5-1

Overall record: 38-24

AL East standing: 1st, 3.0 games ahead of New York

Runs scored: 36

Opponents' runs scored: 22

Home runs: 10; David Ortiz (2), Kevin Youkilis (2), Mark Kotsay (1), Nick Green (1), Mike Lowell (1), J.D. Drew (1), Jacoby Ellsbury (1), Jason Bay (1)

Games left: 100

Weeks left: 17

Blogs with Balls live reports

Can't be at Blogs with Balls in New York City today?

Yeah, I'm one of them unfortunately too.

The Dugout Sports Show is broadcasting the event live all day so if you want to tune in and hear what's going on then do so.

Girardi wants Penny suspended for A-Rod hit

You kidding me?

ESPN.com reported that New York Yankees manager Joe Giradi wants Boston Red Sox pitcher Brad Penny to be suspended for "intentionally" hitting Alex Rodriguez in the back during the first inning in Thursday's game in which the Sox won 4-3.

From the New York Post:

"I do [think it was intentional]," said Girardi. "Penny's control was pretty good. We hit [Jason] Bay [Tuesday]. I always feel if it's intentional, [the pitcher] should be suspended. I didn't care for him hitting him in that situation. That's my opinion, I am not 100 percent sure."

Boston led 1-0 until catcher Francisco Cervelli blasted an RBI double in the seventh inning to the Green Monster to tie up the ballgame.

Then later in the inning A-Rod finally came up big with a two out single to drive in two more insurance runs.

The Red Sox would rally in the bottom half of the eighth to take a 4-3 lead and Jonathan Papelbon came in to close the deal going 1-2-3 before A-Rod could get another at-bat.

Well guess what A-Rod?

Yeah, that's right.

Thanks to Fenway West for Twittering the initial news.

Eighth straight; Red Sox come back to beat Yanks

This was simply the best game of the series, if not the whole season series.

David Ortiz hit a home run to make it 1-0 Red Sox.

Brad Penny pitched six innings and allowed no runs.

A-Rod finally came through for the New York Yankees to make it 3-1.

C.C. Sabathia was dominant all the way up until the 8th inning and Joe Girardi decided to leave him in there too long. And guess what? It cost them big time.

Out of my predictions (see below post) it turned out to be a pitcher's duel.

Thanks to late solid defense by Rocco Baldelli, Nick Green, and Kevin Youkilis, the Boston Red Sox came from behind to beat the Yanks 4-3 while Jonathan Papelbon got his 16th save of the season.

Boston is now 8-0 and completed its third sweepage over New York this season. It's the longest streak since 1912.

Let the celebration begin in Beantown and the rioting and destruction begin in the Big Apple.

Red Sox vs. Yankees pre-game cast

Just testing my webcam out. Let me know if this would be something you'd like to see once and a while here on the blog.

Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees Game 3 (series 3)

Red Sox hold on as Papelbon earns his 15th save

It was scary towards the end, but Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon shined as the Boston Red Sox held on to beat the New York Yankees 6-5 at Fenway Park last night. The Red Sox are now 7-0 vs. the Yankees this season, which might be the first time in history.

The last night the Sox went 6-0 vs. New York in a season was 1912.

Tim Wakefield had a decent outing going six innings, allowing three runs, three walks, eight hits (including a home run), and two strikeouts. 

Boston chased Chien-Ming Wang out of the game in the top of the third inning as he was touched for four runs, three walks, and six hits (including a home run). His ERA is now at 14.34, ouch.

Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis both went deep for their 10th home runs of the season.

Tomorrow night it's C.C Sabathia vs. Brad Penny in the series finale. 

Boston Newspaper Guild files labor complaint

The Boston Newspaper Guild filed a labor complaint arguing there were unfair labor practices against the company yesterday.

The complaint was filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Guild leaders have asked to seek a court order to block the New York Times Company from imposing the 23% pay cut while the case is being litigated.

The pay cut is suppose to be in effect starting Sunday, June 14.

Also in the mix, a group of Boston Globe reporters have written a letter to N.Y. Times Co. chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. pleading for him to step in and lift the vote for the pay cuts. You can read a copy of the letter here.

Sulzberger recently responded to the letter saying that there is nothing he can do about the cuts and there is no other alternative left but to forgo the cuts.

What a mess.

This is what happens when you vote no for a 10.6% pay cut, you get a 23% pay cut instead. Everyone knew the consequences, but some people decided to vote no anyways thinking they would win a lawsuit battle in court, which right now is not going to happen unfortunately, or at least any time soon.

Yes it is unfair that management isn't forgoing a 23% cut, it's ridiculously unfair.

The irony here? 

The Boston Newspaper Guild is the union that put together the "Save The Boston Globe petition," and the "Save The Boston Globe Rally," but they are also the ones who in the end got screwed.

Maybe whoever buys the Globe will be the savour, we only hope so anyways. 

NY Times not closing Globe, but seeking to sell it

Got news in my inbox this morning that the New York Times is now serious is selling the Boston Globe, AFTER the Boston Newspaper Guild vote, which turned out to be tragic, ending with all employees receiving a 23% pay cut.

The Time has hired Goldman Sachs, which is also the same Wall Street investment bank that was hired to sell off the 17.5% stake in the Boston Red Sox. 

There are reports of two potential bidders, but they remain anonymous. 

Apparently this has been going on weeks before the planned June 8 vote according to Keith O'Brien's article in today's Globe and would accept bid no matter which way the Guild voted.

Read more in O'Briens article.

This is not a good time to be a Globe employee. 

BecKKKKKKKKett dominates again; BoSox 6-0 vs. Yankees this season

It was another brilliant performance displayed by Josh Beckett who is clearly back to being his old self along with lefty Jon Lester.

Now all the Boston Red Sox need is Dice-K to come around sometime soon.

Beckett dazzled through six innings allowing one hit, no runs, two walks, and fanning eight batters while the bullpen continued to shutdown the New York Yankees bats with Manny Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez, and Daniel Bard only allowing one hit combined, no runs, no walks, and one strikeout.

David Ortiz hit his third home run of the season and received yet another curtain call and Nick Green (2) also went deep for Boston.

In Alex Rodriguez's debut to Fenway, the shortstop went 0 for 4, with a strikeout and leaving two men on base. Derek Jeter went 0 for 3 with a walk, Mark Teixeira was 0 for 2 with two walks, and Johnny Damon went hitless (0-4) with a strikeout and leaving two runners on as well, which is always a beauty.

The Red Sox are now 6-0 against the Yankees this season, the first time since 1912. Tim Wakefield takes the hill tomorrow as he'll pitch against Chien-Ming Wang. 

Phone in your opinion about the Globe cuts

After the devastating news about The Boston Globe last night it's been complete chaos and I'm sure the company is divided in half by the outcome of the vote. 

Well for regular everyday people, The Globe has created a hotline for them to call and voice their opinion about the recent vote and financial issues of the newspaper.

Editors will listen to the messages and play selected ones on boston.com.

So tempting right now.

Read the full description below. 

From boston.com:

What do you think of The Boston Globe's financial issues and the union vote? Did the union do the right thing or should they have accepted the deal?  Share your observations, thoughts, and more. Leave a message on the recording and Boston.com may play your message later today. Here's how: 1) Call 617-929-8219 and leave your comments on the voice mail after the prompt. 2) An editor will review your call and, if selected, play it on Boston.com. Please remember to include some essential details: Your first name and town you're from Your opinion 3) It's that simple. Thanks for calling.

Dan Totten addresses media video

Tidbit from Robert Gavin's story:

This is a quote from his story from a real Globe employee. I'm just going to post it on here and you can think what you want to think.

Key code: A no vote = 23% pay cut; A yes vote = 10.6% pay cut.

Musset Valentine, a circulation clerk, and father of four, said he voted no because he could not afford the cuts.

“I don’t like the way the New York Times has treated us,” Valentine said. “We’ve had no raises in years, and I have a wife and kids in the house. I can’t vote yes.” 

Globe union rejects cuts

Breaking News from boston.com:

The Boston Newspaper Guild rejected a package of major concessions that included $10 million in wage and benefit cuts. The vote went down 277-265 in favor of no cuts. 

The New York Times has said it will impose a 23% pay cut on all Globe employees in order to keep operating the newspaper.

W-O-W.

Note: If the yes votes came through it would have only been a 10.6% pay cut. See below post for those details.

Here's the story updated minutes ago (10:01 p.m.)

It's Do or Die for The Boston Globe

After about two and a half months of first reporting about this, members of The Boston Globe's biggest union, (Boston Newspaper Guild) are currently voting whether or not to accept massive pay cut or their jobs. Voting will continue until 8 p.m. tonight.

NECN reported that workers are voting for a 10.6 percent pay cut, end of lifetime job guarantees, and cuts in pension, 401k, and health care. If the voters say no then everyone will receive a 23% slash across the board.

Six other unions, including the drivers' union, Teamsters Local 259, which ratified its contract by a vote of 89 to 69 yesterday morning, have approved concessions worth about $10 million.

Every news van in the Boston area has been reported over at the Globe all day as well as Boston Herald reporters hunting down Globe workers who are willing to talk to its rival newspaper.

Guild President Dan Totten is expected to announce the results of the vote at 10 p.m. tonight according to Christine McConville of the Herald. 

If you want something more upbeat to read about the Globe and its glory days, here's a piece from the Sports Illustrated vault that has been circulated this past week about the greatest sports staff ever in the 1970s. 

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 9)

No complaints this week as the Boston Red Sox got its offense and pitching into gear to finish the week a half game above the New York Yankees. 

The Sox swept the Detroit Tigers and are looking to take two out of three over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

Sunday May 31 - Saturday June 6

Week record: 5-1

Overall record: 33-23

AL East standing: 1st, 0.5 game lead over New York

Runs scored: 38

Opponents' runs scored: 17

Home runs: 8; Kevin Youkilis (2), Jason Bay (2), Dustin Pedroia (1), J.D. Drew (1), Mike Lowell (1), David Ortiz (1)

Games left: 106

Weeks left: 18

Lester back to his 2007 form

It looks like that bad karma has diminished and Jon Lester is back to his dominant 2007 form.

Lester took a no-hitter into the top of the seventh inning as he retired the first 19 batters before giving up a double to Michael Young with one out as the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 8-1.

A week ago I wrote a post entitled, Bad Karmah for Lestah? that talked about why the lefty was struggling. Since then the cancer survivor has gone 2-0 while giving up three runs and five hits in 15 innings pitched and fanning 23 batters.

To make things even better, David Ortiz popped his second home run of the season, which like the first one, was also a solo shot.

Photo from mlb.com

Yardbarker.com gets complete overhaul

I discovered today while checking up my page on Yardbarker.com that the entire website got a complete overhaul. 

I'm getting flashbacks of when Facebook.com completely redid its website and everyone complained how horrible and confusing it was and that applications were missing on pages.

A lot of people are already in a uproar about the new design. 

I can understand for revamping the site, but the old way just made more sense. The point of "barking up" articles has disappeared since points no longer count on the new site. That's not cool.

And now just reading through the MLB page (and all others), it appears bloggers are competing with regular websites. Under the Red Sox team page there's countless stories from newspaper websites like boston.com, miamiherald.com, and dallasnews.com. Also Sports Illustrated and Sporting News are in the mix that were not present before the change.

That alone is going to make it harder for people to find out about your blog (that has no connection with a newspaper or magazine).

I thought Yardbarker was for regular, everyday sports fanatics, to have their own network and connect and share stories with other bloggers? Now we have to compete against the hard news media now?

Much needed sweepage

The Boston Red Sox took good care of the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

After going 4-6 in their previous 10 games, the Red Sox got the offense rolling on to a three-game sweep of the Tigers. 

Next on the schedule are the first place (surprise, surprise) Texas Rangers in the AL West who are a game off in the win column to match Boston's record of 32-22. Should be a good series at the Fens.

Since Terry Francona shuffled up the lineup in the series finale in Toronto, it's been good times.

Batting Ellsbury eighth doesn't quite look right (he batted seventh today), but how can you complain with the results?

Lets see how the lineup pans out the next three days. Every year it's always the same with the Rangers, "they don't have pitching." It's up to Boston to put that statement up to the test.

Papelbon pulls a Dice-K

Jonathan Papelbon wanted to make things interesting last night in Detroit.

Interesting as in giving up three singles to load the bases with no outs then strikeout the side to secure the 5-1 victory over the Tigers.

The Boston Red Sox closer threw 35 pitches including an 11-pitch at-bat to Josh Anderson before striking him out.

This isn't the first time this season Paps has given Sox fans a near heart attack on their couches. The others were in Anaheim, at Fenway vs. the Mets, Minnesota, and now Detroit (did I miss any?).

Photo from SI.com

Papelbon better start finding his command quicker and stop trying to throw fastballs by everyone. All hitters aren't aggressive, meaning they aren't going to swing at everything.

From Amalie Benjamin's game story in The Boston Globe Papelbon is quoted as:

"I just really basically tried to get my fastball command back," Papelbon said. "I was kind of falling behind hitters there."

Really? Is everything OK? You're not Daisuke Matsuzaka, seriously.

How diehard are you? Topic: collectibles

Sorry for missing last week. Here's a new fresh topic.

Red Sox need to bloom in June

So today marks June 1, the first "unofficial" day of summer (Father's Day is technically the first day) and the Boston Red Sox are sitting in second place in the AL East with a 29-22 record, which is only a half game behind the New York Yankees who are 29-21.

After starting off the year 2-6 Boston's bats boomed its way to an 11-game win streak and ended the month of April at 14-8.

May wasn't the greatest however as the Sox finished a mere game above .500 at 15-14 thanks to a dominant pitching performance by Jon Lester and four home runs to power the offense past the slumping Toronto Blue Jays.

Now it's June, a month that could show a lot about this current club. Interleague play will be in the mix with the Marlins and Braves coming to Fenway while the Sox will travel to the defending World Series champion Phillies. Boston will also fly down to face the Nationals.

The trade deadline is July 31, but it doesn't mean anything can happen in June. Theo Epstein is really going to have to look deep into the David Ortiz situation. Do the Sox need a power bat to fill in the vacant hole?

And also will Josh Beckett, Dice-K, and Lester become the same consistent go-to guys out on the mound?

It's almost a miracle right now that the Red Sox are only a half game back in the standings, but how long can that continue if the pitching doesn't turn into its true form?

A million questions marks and hopefully most will be answered.

Bring on the June swoon.