Where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?

Let's see...A Little Baseball, A Little Football, A Little Hockey & A Little Soccer…

The 2009 Red Sox: Hard to believe, but we’re already one-third of the way through the season. The Sox are in the thick of things in the AL East, despite David Ortiz being in the throes of a Job-like slump. He’s only hit one homer to date, and looks completely flustered. Whether is a matter of age, injury or (something else), he looks like a shell of his former robust-hitting self, now 20 points below the Mendoza Line.

The Sox started off slowly, winning only two of their first eight games. They began the season at home, losing two out of three to the Rays before hitting the West Coast on a six-game swing through Anaheim and Oakland.

It didn’t matter that the weather was more typical of March than April, baseball was back in town and all was right with the world. The Sox started the new year with three games at home with Tampa Bay before heading to California for six games.

Leaving the starting line, the key is to progress with the pack, not to rush too far ahead (unless it’s the ’84 Tigers) or drop like a stone. Playing .500 ball in the opening weeks is perfectly all right. The second key is not to incur any injuries. As we’ll discover, the Sox did come out of the gate poorly and did encounter a couple of key injuries.

After Monday’s opener was called off in the morning due to torrential rains that arrived later in the day, the Sox and Rays got down to business on a cloudy and cool Tuesday afternoon (4/7). The Sox’ ace, Josh Beckett, received the honor of being the Opening Day starter and pitched well, going seven innings while striking out 10. The reigning AL MVP Dustin Pedroia picked up right where he left off by popping a homer into the Monster Seats in his first at bat. The Sox left the bases loaded in the first but Shields got out of the jam by retiring Lowell on a pop fly. The Rays tied the score in the third on Crawford’s sacrifice fly, but the Sox roared back with three runs in the bottom half to go ahead for good. Pedroia walked leading off, moved to third on Youkilis’ single and scored on Drew’s grounder to first. Bay followed with a base hit that drove in Youk and scored on Lowell’s double to the left-center gap. The Sox picked up their fifth run in the bottom of the sixth when Varitek hit a long home run that curled around the foul pole in right. Okajima entered in the eighth for Boston and struggled, hitting Bartlett with a pitch and walking Iwamura. With one out, Oki was relieved by Masterson. The Rays promptly executed a double steal and both runners scored on Longoria’s liner up the middle to make things tight at 5-3. Papelbon came on in the ninth and blew away Navarro and Gross to put a bow on a very happy day of baseball in Boston.

Wednesday night’s game (4/8) was a classic example of why teams from “up north” ought not play at home in early April. It was cold, nasty and the Sox stunk, losing 7-2. Jon Lester got the start against lefty Scott Kazmir, who generally pitches well against Boston. Both pitchers breezed through the first two innings before the Rays tagged Lester for three straight hits and a run before Longoria bailed him out by grounding into a double play.

The Sox tied it in the bottom half when Pedroia doubled and scored on Youkilis’ base hit to right, but the roof caved in on Lester in the fifth. Old friend Gabe Kapler led off with a walk, went to third on Iwamura’s single and scored on Bartlett’s textbook suicide squeeze (somewhere Billy Martin was seen rubbing his hands with glee). With two outs and another runner in, Carlos Peña hit a two-run bomb to center to make it 5-1. In the eighth, Longoria greeted Sox’ newcomer Takashi Saito by crushing one over the wall in center (ugh). Bay doubled in Ortiz to make it 6-2 in the bottom of the eighth, and the Sox had the bases loaded with two outs before Lowrie struck out swinging (double ugh). Javier Lopez entered in relief in the ninth and allowed four straight hits and a run, to cap off the scoring at 7-2. There needs to be someone to serve mop up duty, so it might as well be Lopez. Rocco Baldelli made his first start of the year against his old team and went 1-4 with 2 K’s. The Sox had 9 LOB’s which really hurt, especially in the eighth. But it just wasn’t Lester’s night. He wasn’t at all sharp, so it was an “L” all the way around.

The Sox had a chance to take the rubber game (4/9), but it was too little to late as they wound up on the wrong end of a 4-3 final. Daisuke Matsuzaka started for the Sox and appeared to be suffering from a case of the “WBC Flu”. The Japanese won the tournament for the second consecutive time, and once more, he was the Tournament MVP, but enough is enough. This is not in any way to disparage or diminish the honor of representing one’s country, but the timing of the event does not coincide with the training schedules established by MLB or the players—especially pitchers. The only reason why foreign entities win these events is because the American players compete as if it was a part of their normal spring training. It’s not “serious business” in America, as is the case with some of the Asian and Central American squads. Daisuke is being handsomely compensated by the Red Sox to train and pitch on their terms, not his or Team Japan’s. As a result of having to pitch like it’s October while still in March completely disregards the training regimen established by the club and serves only to disrupt things.

Matt Garza got the call for the Rays, and as Sox fans discovered last year, he’s a tough cookie to face. Matt Joyce homered leading off the second. Longoria hit a two-run homer in the third, and Riggans followed with a solo shot in the fourth. The Sox had hardly a sniff against Garza until the sixth, when Youkilis doubled to the right-center gap and scored on Bay’s triple. Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez pitched clean seventh and eighth innings respectively. Garza was finished after seven (much to everyone’s happiness) and the Sox whittled away at the Rays’ 4-1 lead. Youkilis singled off of Brian Shouse with one out and scored on Lowell’s double. After Okajima got out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth, Varitek led off the bottom half with a homer off of Troy Percival that just made it over the low bullpen wall in right. With two outs, Ortiz walked but Youkilis hit a long fly to center that was tracked down by Kapler near the triangle to end the ballgame. On that sour note, the opening homestand concluded and the team winged west to Anaheim.

…by the time the Sox arrived in Paradise, the baseball world woke up to the news regarding the horribly tragic death of young Angels’ pitcher Nick Adenhart, who was killed along with two other young people when the vehicle in which they were driving was struck by a minivan driven by a drunk who blew through a red light. Adenhart had just finished pitching six innings of scoreless ball hours earlier. His dad had flown in from Maryland just to watch his son pitch. The irony is simply too profound for someone like me to elaborate further. Joe Posnanski is one of America’s most insightful commentators and his thoughts were comforting to anyone trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy.

The Angels wisely postponed their game scheduled for Thursday as everyone tried to come to grips with the deaths of three young people whose futures appeared as limitless as the horizon. Prior to Friday night’s opener (4/10), both teams lined up along their base lines while two Angels’ players stood at the mound holding Adenhart’s #34 jersey high while a solemn, dignified moment of silence was held for the three victims. The public address announcer then respectfully intoned, “Now, let’s play ball.”

Nobody’s heart was in any of it; the players, coaches, announcers, patrons or those watching on television. The Angels were numb, grief stricken. It was also Good Friday Eve, as somber a date of remembrance as there is for Christians worldwide that additionally contributed to a mechanical “show must go on” atmosphere.

On April 14th, they sat in 5th place in the East, 3 ½ games back of the lead, which wasn’t the sort of start they’d anticipated. Matsuzaka had not looked sharp in his first two starts, probably resulting from overwork in the spring World Baseball Classic. On April 15th, the Sox then went on a tear, winning 11 in a row, including a sweep of Baltimore, Minnesota and the Yanks at home. Some of the wins were blowouts, some plug-ugly while others were nail-biters, and by the 27th, they were 13-6 and tied for first.

On the whole, the Sox came back to have a good April at 14-8. Youkilis ended up hitting .395 for the month while Jason Bay was at .324 and Mike Lowell at .310. What was somewhat troubling was the starting pitching, in which Lester, Beckett and Matsuzaka all struggled. Brad Penny was “serviceable”. Though he earned his saves, Jonathan Papelbon did not dominate as in years past. He had location issues and seemed out of sync.

Julio Lugo returned to the lineup about a month in after knee surgery in March. The guy tries his heart out, but has limited range and mobility at short. With Jed Lowrie being out for at least two months after wrist surgery, the well-traveled Nick Green has been the starting shortstop and has hit surprisingly well, but is one of the worst fielders in MLB. It appears that Lugo and the manager just aren’t on the same page. Lugo naturally wants to be the everyday guy, but the manager isn’t buying just yet. So far, Lugo’s been a consummate pro but this could get ugly (as occurred with Jay Payton a few years ago).

The Sox ended up April and began May on a nine-game trip through Cleveland, St. Pete, and the Bronx. In Cleveland, they took two out of three against the hapless Tribe. The key game was a 6-5 extra-innings win on the 29th, where Jonathan Van Every made a great diving catch and hit the game winning homer. In St. Pete, they lost three out of four, including a humiliating 13-0 defeat against Matt Garza (who is rapidly becoming a Red Sox Killah). The Sox rebounded on the final leg of the trip by sweeping the Yanks in their spankin’ new opulent palace which has already gained a reputation as a home run hitter’s paradise.

After a brief five-game homestand (taking three out of five with Cleveland and the Rays), it was back out west again for six with the Angels and Seattle, where they played listlessly and lost four out of six. This team is simply a different bunch on the road, and need to improve in this area to make it to October. On May 17th, they were 22-18, in second place, three games behind Toronto. It was at this stage where the Jays started a lengthy losing streak while the Yankees (with their billion-dollar payroll) began to surge.

After coming home to sweep Toronto, the Sox played an interleague set with the Metropolitans on May 22-24. After losing the opener, we had great seats just above the Sox dugout for Saturday night’s tilt, It was cool and windy and there was a noticeable presence of Mets’ fans in attendance (they actually attempted a “Let’s Go Mets” cheer, but were promptly out-hooted by the home-town crowd). With the Sox going ahead 2-1 in the first, innings 2-8 breezed by scorelessly in about 90 minutes. Papelbon came on in the bottom of the ninth and really had trouble finding the strike zone. He walked Sheffield to start things then served up a two-out gopher ball to backup catcher Omir Santos that just found its way into the first row of the Monster Seats. Ugh. In the series finale, Wakefield again pitched well (raising his record to 6-2), as the Sox blasted the New Yorkers 12-5 and in the process, took a half-game lead over Toronto at 26-18.

The Sox then hit the road for their longest trip of the year, ten games in eleven days through Minnesota, Toronto and Detroit. The four games played against the Twins were the final games to be played by the Sox in the Baggie Dome (SAINTS BE PRAISED!!!). As has been discussed repeatedly in this space in past seasons, it is almost blasphemous that the marvelous game of baseball was played in this awful venue for over 25 years. OK, so they won their only World Titles there in ’87 and ’91 (last winning as the Washington Senators in 1924), and the baseball brains running the organization are among the most highly respected in MLB, but this venue is an abomination; just like the Kingdome and all of the cookie-cutter multipurpose stadiums that were all the rage in the ‘70’s and blown up in the ‘90’s. The Twins will be playing baseball at an actual baseball “park” next year and not a moment too soon. It’s but a shame that Kirby Puckett and the Twins’ longtime PA announcer, Bob Casey, never lived to see the day.

The Sox split the four games with the Twins, including a win in the final game. Home plate umpire Todd Tichenor made a name for himself in the finale by ejecting both catchers and managers in the seventh inning. Francona needs to watch himself, as he required medical attention after arguing Varitek’s ejection and getting tossed for his trouble. For a young man (50) in a high-stress job, it’s best not to get overcome with emotion. At least no pop-ups hit the roof or any other venue-related disasters struck the Red Sox as occurred pretty much every trip in years past. It was on to another part-time indoor venue, f/k/a “SkyDome”, for a weekend set with the Jays. Heading into the series, the manager shuffled the batting order around, dropping Ortiz into the sixth spot (It didn’t produce any positive result).

Toronto’s a great city, and, having been to the park on a day when the roof is open, it’s a great place to watch a game. In the first two games, Lester and Matsuzaka pitched well enough to lose, and the Sox hitters couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag and the Sox lost. Rocco Baldelli hit his first homer of the year in Saturday afternoon’s loss, then hurt his knee after crashing into a wall in right chasing after a fly ball. Everybody’s hoping big things for Rocco, but he’s already done one stint on the DL and it’s looking as if his once promising career will not get back off the ground. In the series finale, Jon Lester finally turned in his first dominant outing of the year as the Sox snuffed out the fading Blue Jays 8-2.

As of May 31st, the Sox were 29-22, a game behind the Yanks. Pedroia was hitting .328, Youkilis (after a DL stint) was hitting .366. Jason Bay was third in the AL with 15 homers and batting .288. Mikey Lowell continued his steady play, batting .308 while Ellsbury was flirting with .300 with 11 stolen bases. Big Papí was hitting .185, with one homer and 11 RBI and a .566 OPS (about .350 points below his career average).

The Sox wrapped up the trip by sweeping the Tigers. Detroit is a Great American City in the throes of economic troubles. It's beyond sad, as the pinheads and bean counters have seemingly forgotten that the Heartbeat of America lies not on Wall Street, but in the former industrial powerhouses like Detroit. It is also a great sports town and the Red Wings and good start of the Tigers have given the folks something good to cheer about. As has been mentioned before, Jim Leyland is a perfect match for Detroit and the Tigers. He typifies what is great about baseball with his low-key, no-nonsense approach to managing a baseball team. He stays in the shadows, making all the right moves to keep his team competitive. The team is the focus, not the manager. Other than the few times we face the Tigers this year, we wish Leyland, the Tigers and the great Detroit fans nothing but the best.

Mark Kotsay was activated from the DL and Jeff “4-A” Bailey was returned to Pawtucket. In the opener (6/2), Daisuke Matsuzaka overcame some early control issues to post his first win of the season, going five innings while allowing six hits. He was aided and abetted by Bay’s two-run shot in the third off of Tiger phenom Rick Porcello and the Sox won 5-1. In another distrurbing outing, Papelbon loaded the bases on consecutive singles in the bottom of the ninth before strking out the next three Tiger hitters to end the ballgame.

In the middle game (6/3), JD Drew hit a two-run homer off of Armando Galarraga and Beckett was dominant, going 7 ⅔, striking out nine as the Sox won 10-5. The Sox exploded for six runs in the eighth, topped off by Ortiz’ bases-clearing double to center. The only troubling part of the game was the failure of Daniel Bard to put a stop to a Tiger rally in the bottom half of the eighth that closed the gap from 10-1 to 10-5. Saito finished things out in the ninth.

The series finale (6/4) was on a picture perfect afternoon in Detroit as Wake got the call against Dontrelle Willis, the former Marlin stud who has yet to recapture the dominant form he displayed in the National League a few seasons ago. The Tigers dusted up Wakefield for a three-spot in the bottom of the second and things weren’t looking so hot for the Sox. Sitting pretty with a three-run lead, the D-Train was felled by control problems in the top half of the third. Ellsbury was hit by a pitch then Lugo, Pedroia, Drew and Youkilis walked. That was it for Willis, as Leyland had seen enough (then got tossed by the home plate umpire for bitching about the strike zone). Jason Bay hit a line drive to left off of reliever Zach Miner that scored two more runs and Youkilis scored on Lowell’s ground out to make it 5-3 Red Sox. Rocco Baldelli knocked in Bay with a single and the Sox were now up by three. That was all the scoring the Sox needed, as Wake went into the seventh to run his record to 7-3 and Masterson, Okajima and Papelbon shut the door (though Papelbon needed a lot of pitches to earn his 14th save).

After 1/3 of the season, the Sox were 32-22, tied for first with the Yanks. The offense is being carried by:

Pedroia .325, .847 OPS
Youkilis 362, 1.142 OPS
Bay .283, 1.023 OPS
Lowell.302, .832 OPS
Ellsbury .312, .729 OPS

Where’s Big Papí? .187, .570 OPS. Were it not for him being “the greatest clutch hitter in Red Sox history”, suffice to say that he’d be grabbing a lot of pine or hacking away elsewhere. He deserves every fair opportunity to determine whether he can regain his once-mighty stroke. The manager and front office have been duly patient, but come deadline time at the end of July, if those numbers remain the same the team will address the lack of production from without.

Condolences are sent out to the family of Dom DiMaggio, who passed away in early May. There may have been other Red Sox players who put up better offensive numbers over a lifetime career, but few, if any, Red Sox players have distinguished themselves with more dignity and class than Dom. Though he will always be in the shadow of his famous older brother, and “The Kid” who played directly to his right, it’s somewhat perplexing why he has not been given Hall of Fame consideration by the Veteran’s Committee. In six of eleven full-time seasons with Boston, he scored more than a hundred runs, played an impeccable centerfield and was a seven-time All-Star, despite having lost three full seasons to military service. In short, he did everything that was expected of a table setter. More importantly, he distinguished himself as the philanthropist and successful businessman after his playing days were over. Bob Ryan's comments last month ("Li'l Professor”) captured the essence of Dom the ballplayer and the man quite well.

Manny: Generally, we don't waste much time commenting on people who refuse to honor their contracts. However, the details of the 50-game suspension he received for violating the terms of MLB's substance-abuse policy strain the bounds of credulity. During his time with the Red Sox, I never suspected that he was PED abuser. Most fans regarded him as a flake, a goofball who possessed a marvelous gift for hitting baseballs, prodigious distances. Maybe he wasn't so dumb, after all. Then again, to have received a positive test for a female fertility drug (which we now know is used by PED abusers to regulate normal testosterone levels while "cycling down" from steroids) is laughable to say the least. What makes his conduct especially egregious is the fact that he was aware of the positive test result and concealed the knowledge from his employers until they were ultimately notified by MLB. Manny hung Joe Torre out to dry and caused great embarrassment to the Dodger organization. Other than the small matter of losing approximately $8 million, Manny will return after a seven-week vacation and the sycophants at ESPN will follow his every move as if nothing ever happened. Baseball remains a wonderful pastime despite the ruinous actions of players like Manny and the inept used-car salesman sitting in the Commissioner’s chair.

Patriots Off-Season and Draft: When last we checked the Patriots they had finished a remarkable 11-5 season but just failed to make the playoffs. With the beautiful weather finally having arrived, last winter seems like ages ago. The team suffered more infrastructure losses at season’s end as GM Scott Pioli left to run the ship in Kansas City and OC Josh McDaniel was hired as the new head coach in Denver, replacing Mike Shanahan. Matt Cassel admirably filled in for Tom Brady for a full season and established himself as a first-string quarterback in the NFL. It just wasn't going to be with the Patriots in 2009. In late February, the team placed a $16 million "franchise tag" on Cassel, though it was no secret he was going to be moved for the best offer. (Not a bad payday for a kid who was most recently a starting quarterback in high school).

Just as the free agency period was about to begin, Belichick wheeled Cassel and fan-favorite Mike Vrabel to Pioli in Kansas City for a second round pick, the 34th overall. Many fans were “shocked” that Cassel/Vrabel only yielded a second-round choice, but Vrabel is no spring chicken and teams appeared to be leery about Cassel’s potential. The Patriots had little or no choice to but to accept Pioli’s offer as they had holes that needed to be filled in free agency and had to clear Cassel’s salary off the books. As of this date, Cassel has yet to re-work his contract to a cap-friendly extension, so hopefully for the Chiefs (and Cassel) it will work out well as $16M is a lot of cake for a one-year experiment. Vrabel will bring veteran leadership to a young Chiefs’ defense and will definitely be missed by Patriots’ fans.

The Patriots were fairly active in the free agency marketplace, though it appears that they did not obtain help in the area that needed it the most: OLB/DE in the 3-4. By the time December rolled around, Adalius Thomas was on IR (again) and Junior Seau and Roosevelt Colvin were brought out of retirement simply to plug the gaping holes. They’re hoping that last year’s 3rd round pick, Shawn Crable (who spent the year on IR) will step up and be ready to play. He’s been watching a lot of film of Willie McGinest, and if he can compete at anywhere of #55’s level, then the Patriots may have discovered a real gem. We’ll find the answers in training camp. If the plan is to move Thomas back to one of the OLB spots, then they needed to replace his ILB spot with a hard hitter beside Jonathan Mayo (who was deservedly named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year). To that end, they brought in a few guys for a look-see before signing Paris Lenon from Detroit (who led the hapless Lions in tackles last year).

The other area of weakness on the defense was in the backfield. After Rodney Harrison hit IR in Week 7, the only veterans from last year (Brandon Meriweather, the well-traveled Deltha O’Neal, James Sanders and Ellis Hobbs) were mixed with rookies Wheatley and Willhite and the results were less than Belichick expected. O’Neal played like he was one step from the glue factory, and Hobbs proved incapable of being more than an effective nickel back. Of all the defensive backs, Sanders was the most noteworthy. Meriweather showed signs of improvement, but is still a work in progress. It’s time for the former #1 pick to fulfill his promise. To fix the problem, the Pats signed veterans Leigh Bodden (Detroit) and Shawn Springs (Washington).

On offense, they signed Fred Taylor from Jacksonville, who will take Lamont Jordan’s spot. This move is reminiscent of the Corey Dillon signing, bringing in a power back with a lot of hard miles to fill a complimentary role. The less-than durable Lawrence Maroney hit the IR with a shoulder injury after only three games, so no one knows what to expect this year. He has to stop dancing into holes and hit them convincingly. 2009 is put-up-or-shut-up time for Maroney.

Belichick also signed two veteran tight ends, Chris Baker (Jets) and Alex Smith (Tampa Bay). While they fill the blocking requirements of the Patriots’ myriad offensive schemes, there’s a question as to Ben Watson’s future. Watson should’ve been the established TE in New England after Daniel Graham left for Denver, but it simply hasn’t come together. The wide receiver corps also picked up a couple of veterans (Joey Galloway and Greg Lewis) who ought to provide some depth and added skill.

However, the best news from the off-season were the reports that Brady has fully recovered from his traumatic knee injury and is raring to go.

In terms of the draft, it seems as if anyone who has access to a keyboard and has watched a few college football games was posting a mock draft. They’re a lot of fun and make for great bedtime reading, but in terms of accuracy there were no armchair general managers who came even close to figuring out what occurs on draft day, especially as regards the Patriots. The television coverage was (as always) highly entertaining and pure fun.

The wheelin’ and dealin’ that went on in Belichick’s “war room” was fast and furious. On Day One, they were sitting at #23, with three additional picks in Round 2. So they:

1. traded the 23rd overall pick to Baltimore for the 26th overall pick (first round) and 162th overall pick (5th round).
2. the 26th overall pick and the 162nd overall pick (5th Round) to the Packers in exchange for the 41st overall pick (2nd round), 73rd overall pick (3rd round) and #83 overall pick (3rd round).
3. traded the 47th overall pick (2nd round), the 124th overall pick (4th round), and the 199th overall pick (6th round) to Oakland for the 40th overall pick (2nd round).

The net result was four picks on the second round that included:

34th Overall: Patrick Chung, S, Oregon: Hits like a truck. Whether Rodney returns or retires, Chung is his replacement.

40th Overall: Ron Brace, DT, Boston College: Groomed to replace Wilfork.

41st Overall: Darius Butler, CB, Connecticut: One of the best CB’s in the NCAA in 2008, simply a steal at #41.

58th Overall: Sebastian Vollmer, OL, Houston: A project to be groomed for RT. The experts (Kiper, et. al) deemed this pick to be a “reach”, but the Patriots scouting staff found something worthwhile in the German national who played club football before moving on to the States.

On Day Two, the machinations continued as the Patriots:

1. traded their 1st of four 3rd round picks (73) to Jacksonville for a 2010 2nd round pick and a 7th round pick this year (232).
2. traded their 3rd round pick (89th overall) to the Tennessee Titans for a second round pick in 2010.
3. traded corner back Ellis Hobbs to the Eagles for two fifth round picks (137th and 141st overall).
4. traded the 137th and 141st overall picks (both fifth rounder picks) to the Baltimore Ravens for the 123rd (fourth round) and 198th (sixth round) overall picks.

They also selected eight additional players, including:
3rd round, 83rd overall: Brandon Tate WR North Carolina: A surprising choice, considering character issues and recovering from a knee injury.
3rd round, 97th overall: Tyrone McKenzie LB South Florida: A great character kid. Unfortunately, Tyrone blew out a knee at the first rookie minicamp and will be watching 2009 from the sidelines.
4th round, 123rd overall: Rich Ohrnberger G Penn State: A B-E-A-S-T
5th round, 170th overall: George Bussey T Louisville: Versatility’s the key here.
6th round, 198th overall: Jake Ingram LS Hawaii: Lonie Paxton left for Denver, so Ingram may be his replacement.
7th round, 232nd overall: Julian Edelman QB Kent State: Great athlete, though drafted as a WR, may possibly be in a “Wildcat” package.
7th round, 234th overall: Darryl Richard DT Georgia Tech

There you have it, a bunch of new faces and names whose futures are completely unknown. The only thing more useless than a mock draft is the instant analysis of the “Winners and Losers” that invariably follows. Whether one, some or all of these picks develop into solid starters is a question that won’t be answered for at least three years. There will inevitably be early-round busts and late-round and UDFA surprises.

Best wishes to Rodney Harrison, who begins a new career in broadcasting. Other than Ronnie Lott and Larry Wilson, it’s hard to remember any safety who hit as hard or was dominant a leader as Harrison. He was a big part of two Super Bowl winners with the Patriots, but had one full season in the last four. He finally decided that it wasn’t worth the risk to his health to continue. He gave everything he had to football and the Patriots, and no one could’ve asked for more.

The Bruins: Okay, so it took a little while to recover from Tim Thomas' bad stop and rebound which led to the winning goal in game seven of overtime of the Eastern conference semifinals with Carolina. What made the goal particularly tough to swallow was seeing Scott Walker picking up the loose puck in front of Thomas and banging in the series winner. It's always tough when the villain wins, especially after he sucker punches one of your team's more important players. Although it was a heartbreaking end, this season shouldn't be defined by a couple of unfortunate moments, especially when we later discovered that seemingly half of the team was injured far beyond the usual playoff bumps and bruises. No excuses though, Carolina beat them fair and square in seven.

Let's not forget how much fun the Bruins were all season long. They were the #1 seed coming out of the East, swept Montreal in Round 1 and that, in and of itself, makes for a successful year. Though hockey in New England will never become as popular as it was in the glory days of Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and the Big Bad Bruins it became relevant again on sports talk radio, and in the community. People were “talkin’ hockey” (not simply us foolish diehards). There was a genuine sense of excitement about the Bruins that people had not felt for a long, long time. Tim Thomas (who signed a long-term extension) is a finalist for the Vezina and Big Z is a finalist for the Norris.

If last season was a “make-or-break” year for GM Peter Chiarelli and Coach Claude Julien, then the management team passed with flying colors. They signed winger Michael Ryder from Montréal on a free agent deal, and after a slow start, chipped in with 27 goals. Phil Kessel topped all goal scorers with 36 (despite missing 12 games) and Marc Savard once again led the team in scoring with 88 points.
Patrice Bergeron scored only eight goals in the regular season, but he progressed steadily throughout the year after coming back from a devastating concussion last season that nearly ended his career. By playoff time, he was kicking ass and taking numbers and pretty much back to form. Milan Lucic’s play dipped a little this year, though he still brought his hard-hitting game to bear ever night.

In seasons past, the B’s generally didn’t have a lot of offensive punch beyond the first line, but in ‘08-09, Julien rolled out four balanced lines. Rookie Blake Wheeler (a former #1 pick of Phoenix) signed as a free agent and popped in 21 goals.

The defense was very good this year, leading the League in fewest goals allowed. Besides Chara, Dennis Wideman stepped up and proved to be worth the exchange for Brad Boyes. Matt Hunwick (a former seventh-round pick from Michigan) became an everyday defenseman before suffering a ruptured spleen in the Playoffs. Aaron Ward (also a Michigan alum) brought a heady veteran presence to the lineup, and when healthy, Brad Ference gave everything he had every night.

The off-season will be very challenging time for the front office, as they attempt to re-sign some of their top players, while remaining under the $56.7 million salary cap. The first step in the process was rewarding RFA David Krejci (22-51-73) with a three-year deal. Retaining Phil Kessel may be another matter, as those in his peer group earn about $6M/year, and there’s no way that the B’s can afford that freight…

Roscoe’s Mid-Year Report:

Our old reprobate football correspondent, Roscoe Twinney, has returned from an extended holiday in the tropics, where he undoubtedly sampled the local flavors, sights and sounds. However he did keep one eye our three favorite clubs and offers the following end of season report for Wrexham and Piacenza, as well as an update for the Revolution and the US Men's National Team.

As usual, there is all sorts of gossip during the transfer window, with Kaka’s move to Real Madrid leading all of the speculation.

There were some thrilling matches in some of the international competitions, especially in the UEFA Champions League Final where Barcelona, led by Messi, Eto’o and Henry completely shut down the mighty Man-U, 2-0. The Mexicana Lega final between Pachuca and UNAM Pumas was also a thriller.

Wrexham: Dragons’ first year relegated to the Blue Square Premier proved to be a disappointment. They finished the year with a record of 18-16-12-66 +16GD, good for 10th place in the BSP. Brian Little was canned early in the year in favor of Wales National coach Dean Saunders. In most years, a mid-table record would’ve been satisfactory, but most fans were hoping for a “one n’ done” in the BSP and a return to the Football League.

One look at the schedule/results shows that the team fizzled down the stretch, going 5-10-5 from February to season’s end. It was recently reported that the club suffered nearly £1M in losses last year. A major redevelopment process of the Racecourse area is in the works and hopefully this will stimulate capital to bring the club back to prosperity.

Piacenza: Biancorossi had another mid-table finish at 14-15-13-55 (10th place), albeit slightly better than last year. They played much better at season’s end, as compared to their floundering early and mid-season performances. Stefano Pioli was let go at season’s end, together with the surprising news that their stalwart captain, Luigi Riccio,won’t be returning next season.

Revs:

Revs are presently at 4-4-3-16, currently tied for third in MLS East. Taylor Twellman (neck injury) didn’t return until Matchday 10, and the results of his absence from the lineup were obvious (earning a measly four points in two months). The story of the year so far is how Coach Nicol and his staff have tried to “make do” with the extended absences of many of the team’s key players (Reis, Albright, Ralston and Twellman). Michael Parkhurst also left for Europe and his absence from the rearguard has been keenly felt. Now that it appears that the team is in reasonably good health, the results are beginning to follow. As always, Shalrie Joseph has gone above and beyond the call, playing well wherever he’s been placed in the XI.

Mar. '09
Sat. 21 San Jose 0 - 1 New England
Sat. 28 New York Red Bulls 1 - 1 New England
Apr. '09
Sat. 4 New England 2 - 1 Dallas
Fri. 17 DC United 1 - 1 New England
Sat. 25 Real Salt Lake 6 - 0 New England
May. '09
Sun. 3 New England 0 - 2 Houston
Sat. 9 Chicago 1 - 1 New England
Sat. 16 New England 1 - 1 Colorado
Sat. 23 Toronto FC 3 - 1 New England
Sat. 30 New England 2 - 1 DC United
Jun. '09
Sun. 7 New England 4 - 0 New York Red Bulls

USMNT: Coach Bradley’s crew began the WCQ process in January and have played satisfactorily to date, save for a regrettable ass-whipping at the hands of the Costa Ricans last week in San José.

Jan. 24 Sweden 3-2 W (Friendly)
Feb. 11 Mexico 2-0 W (WCQ)
March 28 El Salvador 2-2 T (WCQ)
April 1 Trinidad & Tobago 3-0 W (WCQ)
June 3 Costa Rica 1-3 L (WCQ)
June 6 Honduras 2-1 W (WCQ)

Coach Bradley named his 23-man National Team roster and the action heats up in mid-June, as the squad moves on to South Africa for matches with Italy, Brazil and Egypt in the FIFA Confederations Cup. Following the FFC, USMNT comes back home for Gold Cup matches. (All of these matches within a four- week span!). USA! USA!