Archive for the ‘Red Sox’ Category

Sports Guy Retires from ESPN the Magazine

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

In a magazine article posted online on Tuesday, When it’s time to walk away, Bill “the Sports Guy” Simmons announced his retirement from ESPN the Magazine. The announcement came in an article devoted to his father, Dr. Bill Simmons, AKA the Sports Dad, who recently retired as a school superintendent after 30 years in that position.

“I’m retiring from this space in ESPN The Magazine after seven happy years” writes Simmons. “Like my father and his superintendency, The Magazine was never an ideal match for me — I hate advance deadlines and word counts — and yet, I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out. It’s just time for me to try some new things, that’s all.” While not implicitly stated in the article, Simmons cleared up that he will continue to post at ESPN.com on the Sports Guy Twitter Page “Just an FYI (some people seem confused): I only gave up my mag column. Moved all my eggs into the ESPN.com basket for now.” His content will still be at ESPN’s the Sports Guys World.

The Sports Guy is one of the earliest “celebrities” whose career was made possible by the Internet. He started posting at his own site in the 1990s and gained a loyal audience in New England, probably due to his loyal support of all Boston sports teams, especially the Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots. Simmons, reporting as an outsider, could did not have the access the local sportswriters had to athletes, and used his space to blast both athletes and reporters. Simmons in knows for mixing humor as well as plenty of pop culture references into his writing. Simmons’ audience grew, and eventually his column was bought out by ESPN seven years ago. Since then he has been writing a monthly article for ESPN the Magazine as well as longer, sometimes less-polished articles for ESPN’s Page Two. After the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 2004 Simmons penned his first novel, “Now I Can Die in Peace.” Earlier this year he published his second book, “The Book of Basketball.” The book is billed as the definitive history of basketball and at close to 1,000 pages just might be.

Simmons can also be credited with as being an early adopter of the podcast as a medium. The Bill Simmons podcasts are among the web’s most popular, and he has gotten some huge names to chat with him. Over the years he has welcomed Best selling Author Macolm Gladwell (Outliers), NBA Commissioners David Stern, Mavs owner and rich guy Mark Cuban and most recently chatted with the Timberwolves Kevin Love. Simmons is also good friend with Late Night TV host Jimmy Kimmel as well as his former partner in crime Adam Corolla. In fact Simmons wrote on Jimmy Kimmel Live when the show first debuted.

Most recently Simmons has jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, and the Bill Simmons Twitter Page claims no less than 473,767 followers. Often discounted as not a “true professional” Simmons’ unique style has made him one of the most widely read sports writers in the world and is a classic example of a person rising to the top of their professional while going against the establishment. While he will be missed by readers of ESPN the Magazine, fans will be able to continue to read his stuff at ESPN.com

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Red Sox take first game of Yankees series

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Well the hits keep coming for the Yankees, as they lost the first game of the most recent series against the Red Sox 7-0, to bring extend the Red Sox’s domination in the season matchup to 6-0. While Red Sox fans aren’t ready to proclaim themselves the supreme commanders of the Bombers, the win was a big one for the Sox. Josh Beckett continued his dominating form of late, allowing just one hit over six innings. David Ortiz went deep for just the third time of the year to put the Sox up by two, and the Sox went on to tack on two more runs of the Yankee’s AJ Burnett. This was the second time Burnett has faced off against Beckett, and while both pitchers struggled in the first game, this time it was the MVP of their 2003 World Series team that was dominating.

As Yankee players were quick to point out, there is still a ton of baseball to be played, plus the win merely tied the Sox with the Yankees for first place atop the AL East. “You don’t want to be 0-6 against your rival,” Joe Girardi told ESPN,  “But we are still tied for first place.” Red Sox fans are fully aware of the standings and as of yet are not makign their World Series plans.

Next up in tonights game, the Red Sox will send Tim Wakefield to the mound, while the Yankees send Chien Ming Wang to pitch for just the second time since his stint on the DL. Wang did not look great in his first start againts the Texas Rangers, but he has been an elite pitcher in the past and he knows this game is pretty big for the Yankees. Tonight could show us quite a bit about Big Papi’s status, as Ortiz is batting .444 againts Wang in 36 at bats, including two home runs and 11 RBI. Mark Kotsay and Dustin Pedroia are the only other Sox with averages above .300, with .33 and .313 respectively.

The last game of the series might be the ebst chance the Yankees have to win, as ace CC Sabathia will be going againts the Sox’s fifth starter in Brad Penny. The Red Sox are hitting just .219 as a team againts Sabathia, with Kevin Youkilis’s .429 in seven at bats leadin the team. The next highest are Kotsay and Mike Lowell, both with .286 in 14 and seven at bats. As a team the Yankees are hitting .270 of Wake in a total of 474 ABs. We will see if Girardi decides to start Angel Berroa, as he is batting .500 of Wake in 12 ABs. Melky Cabrera is at .455 in 11 ABs, and Robinson Cano is at .324 in 37. Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter are the other two players with averaes over .300 with .317 and .313. Alex Rodriguez has a .276 average in 76 at bats with seven home runs, while Mark Teixeira is at .207 in 29 AB’s with one homer.

There is still a lot of baseball to be played but it looks like right now the Red Sox have the Yankees number. Its going to be very interesting to see how this trend keeps up over the rest of the season.

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Red Sox visit New York for quick two game series

Monday, May 4th, 2009

The Boston Red Sox will travel to New York for the first time of the 2009 MLB season in what should be a solid two games of baseball. We all know the Red Sox were able to sweep the Yankees during their visit to Fenway a few weeks ago in an embarrassing series for the Yankees that saw Jacoby Ellsbury steal home off Andy Pettite. You know the Yankees and Yankee fans are hoping to get some payback on their hated rival. The showdown between the Red Sox and CC Sabathia will have to wait once again, as he is not schedule to face Boston in the short two-game series.

The Red Sox need Josh Beckett to return to form againts the Yankees Tuesday night

The Red Sox need Josh Beckett to return to form againts the Yankees Tuesday night

The first game of the Yankees Red Sox series will see Phil Hughes vs Jon Lester in a battle between the homegrown pitchers. This will be the Red Sox’s first time facing Hughes this year. Hughes was called up from AAA to fill in for Chien Ming Wang, who pitched terribly in his first three outings and was sent to the DL then the minors. It will be fun to see how the Red Sox are able to deal with Hughes. The Sox offense has not been stellar of late, and they are coming out of Tampa Bay after loosing three of four games. The Yankees lost to the Angels on Saturday and their Sunday game was postponed due to rain. Before that the Yankees had won four in a row, but before that had lost four in a row, three of those loses coming against the Sox.

The second and final game of the series will see Joba Chamberlain against Josh Beckett. Joba is 1-0 with a 3.13 era while the Red Sox ace is 2-2 and has a whopping 7.22 era. Josh has gotten rocked in his last two starts, going 4.2 innings and giving up seven runs in his start against the Rays, and going five innings and giving up eight runs to the Yankees, Red Sox fans are hoping Beckett will get back to his old self again, while the Yankees need Joba to keep doing what he has been doing.

Wile a short series, this will be a telling series on a few fronts. We will get to see if the Yankees can manage to fill the New Yankee Stadium for a series against their hated rival. This start is also very important for Josh Beckett, who needs to return to form if the Red Sox hope to beat out tough Yankees and Rays teams in the eastern division.

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