Results tagged “baseball”

Before ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons became one of these most popular sports columnist in the country he was simply known as “The Boston Sports Guy” writing for Digital City Boston (what Bill has described as “AOL’s digital newspaper”). More than a decade later, the Holy Cross/Boston University alum has ventured beyond the sports column and into television; as a former writer for "Jimmy Kimmel Live", documentaries; as executive producer of ESPN’s 30 For 30 series and books; his latest The Book of Basketball just hit shelves this week. more ›

We were already wary of the suffix -tini, and now it's been combined with Twitter. more ›

Harvard Law professor and torture enthusiast Alan Dershowitz ran nearly 700 words in today's Globe about the injustice of the beanball. Using the most recent beaning of ball magnet Kevin Youkilis as a case study, Dershowitz points out the obvious: a team that beans a great hitter—and enrages him to the point where he draws a five game suspension—actually benefits from the infraction. In the case of the Youkilis beaning, Youk sat out for five games, during which the Sox went 1-4, and the offending Tigers' pitcher, Rick Porcello, merely had his next scheduled start pushed back a game. more ›

In the midst of their recent woes, perhaps the Red Sox will be inspired by the Boston Renegades. The Renegades are a team of blind individuals who play beep ball, a form of baseball specially modified for the blind. A special baseball that beeps (and weighs an entire pound!) is used, and payers run toward padded columnar "bases" that beep. Due to varying levels of sightedness, players wear blindfolds on the field to keep things equal. Volunteers are recruited to care for players' guide dogs, and fans are expected to stay silent so players can listen for the beeping balls and bases. A recent Wall Street Journal article explained the sport and profiled some members of the West Coast Dawgs, who recently won the Beep Baseball World Series, where the Renegades placed ninth. more ›

WEEI reports that Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka complained in the Japanese press this week about the Red Sox' training program, citing it as the cause of the shoulder injury that has twice sent him to the disabled list this season. more ›

We can't believe we didn't enter, but somehow the deadline for the essay contest for Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America PAC passed us by. Not to worry, plenty of intrepid folks poured their hearts out on paper, answering the question "What does a free and strong America mean to you?" Some of them even won. Nobody from Massachusetts made the cut, naturally, but a Mainer got honorable mention for writing a poem instead of an essay. Sample stanza: more ›

The Globe enjoyed the Jonas Brothers' concert at the TD Garden last night, and even compared the young group to the Monkees. Now, the Phoenix suggests the teen heartthrobs are playing some pickup baseball (softball?) in Brockton. Can they really wield bats as well as they wield microphones? Is there anything these brothers can't do? more ›

Did you need a reason to wish the Globe to death today? Sports columnist Bob Ryan has one for you: Untrammeled bigotry! Sure, Boston in general and Boston baseball in particular have a proud history of hating just about anything that isn't white and pasty, but those days are behind us, right? Well, no. more ›

Comedian Ira Proctor takes us to Fenway from Thomas Attila Lewis on Vimeo. more ›

Comedian Tyler Boeh at Fenway Park from Thomas Attila Lewis on Vimeo. more ›

Raucous Red Sox bulletin board Sons of Sam Horn has noticed that Lastings Milledge, a once-promising center fielder for the Washington Nationals, remains on the National League All Star ballot even though Milledge has been playing for the Nats' AAA franchise since April. So, naturally, Sons of Sam Horn want you to vote him onto the National League's starting team. Can they pull off an internet stunt on the order of last year's Rickrolling of the Mets (for whom, incidentally, Milledge once played)? Milledge, also known by his hip hop sobriquet L Millz, has been a heartbreaker for this Bostonist, who has drafted him no fewer than three times in his fantasy baseball leagues. more ›

A new twist in the Manny saga! A source close to the suspended slugger says that the banned substance for which he tested positive wasn't steroid-related at all, but a sexual enhancer. more ›

We were among the last stalwarts of the pro-Manny side of last year's big Red Sox controversy, but we can admit when we were wrong. Looks like the Red Sox dodged a bullet, since Manny's now suspended for 50 games for a positive steroid test, according to an ESPN/LA Times report. Manny, hitting .348 for the scorching Dodgers, might blame the test on something his doctor gave him, which doesn't sound fishy at all. We'll let you know more when we know more, and if you're going to link this to David Ortiz' sudden lack of power this season, well, you may not be the only one. more ›

According to NESN, Red Sox commentator Jerry Remy will take an indefinite leave to recover from the cancer surgery he underwent last fall. Remy hopes that his experience with lung cancer will discourage others from smoking. He appreciates fans' concern. more ›

Pitchers and catchers have reported to training camp, which means that baseball season is unofficially under way. Now is as good a time as any to remember the pioneering program of Newton Technical High School, which, in 1911, used baseball to cure insanity. Or, more to the point, the school "put [baseball] to practical use In curing backward minds and incorrigible students." But be warned. "The sane often give manifestation of violent insanity while the Insane seem rational while under the Influence of baseball." Read the whole article here. [Neat Neat Neat] more ›

A weight was lifted from the hearts of the New England bear community today when Red Sox captain and catcher Jason Varitek reluctantly agreed to be paid $5 million to play a game that he is no longer that good at. (Just in case you hadn't heard.) [Boston.com] more ›

Manny Ramirez has been traded to the LA Dodgers, where he can spend his evenings commiserating with the rest of the 2004 Red Sox over the front office shenanigans that brought them to the west coast. more ›

It looks like the Manny Ramirez trade is dead. The latest news has the deal stalled over the Pirates' concerns that they were the pegboy of the Pittsburgh Three-Way. And Bostonist can't help but agree with them. The deal has the Pirates trading away an All-Star caliber left fielder with a monster on base percentage for a bag of magic beans. Insiders also claim that some in the Red Sox front office weren't really down with the deal anyway. But, with all this acrimony and hype, can everything just go back to normal? Surely, that is not how baseball is played. more ›

The National Baseball Hall of Fame is based in Cooperstown, NY, of course, but they've been taking their show on the road. Their traveling exhibition, called "Baseball As America", makes its final stop at the Museum of Science beginning next week, and it's amazing. more ›

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon is hot commodity for advertisers. So it comes as no surprise that Dunkin' Donuts would use him in an advertisement. The ad itself is pretty funny, which is at Center Field (no embed available) because it involves a series of butt-pats: more ›

Nobody around here enjoyed last night very much. more ›

We were confused when we read Dan Shaughnessy's wrap-up of Tuesday's season opener in Japan yesterday afternoon. While we agreed that the return of Red Sox baseball was "fun-filled, action-packed," it felt as Shaughnessy saw something in Japan that we missed back here in the States: title defense from the Sox and "those cardboard cutouts wearing an Oakland Athletics uniform." more ›

Courtesy of Red Sox Monster, we are seeing the Papelbon Jig and Dice-K in a Teletubby costume in a whole new light: more ›

For the 99% of us who can't finagle/afford Red Sox tickets, it's nice to remember that the Cape Cod Baseball League exists just an hour or so south of us. A perennial waystation on the way to the big leagues (Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis are among current Sox who spent time there), the league's free admission, volunteer spirit and small-town feel make a great time machine to the fuzzy golden age of baseball. more ›

Boston's favorite dancing fool has proven that the squeaky wheel really does in fact get the grease. Closer Jonathan Papelbon must have attended the Curt Schilling “How to Use the Media to Your Advantage School." After a week of complaining that he wasn’t being taking care of and how he should get the money he deserved all in the name of baseball, Papelbon got the money he wanted on Thursday afternoon. more ›

Some alleged boneheads should have their Red Sox Nation cards revoked, and we're not talking about Hank Steinbrenner. In a scary incident reported in the Cambridge Chronicle, a man wearing Yankees attire got beat up outside the Cantab Lounge in Central Square early Sunday morning. From the Chronicle: more ›

It's a day that happens only in Boston, as far as we know. Maybe they do it in Milwaukee and Kansas City, but we doubt it; only Red Sox fans are maniacal enough to go out on a cold morning to watch some boxes be loaded in a truck. That's right, it's Truck Day - the day when the Sox equipment heads south for Fort Myers and Spring Training. more ›

Rudy Giuliani might be out of the presidential spotlight, but one of his comments regarding the Boston Red Sox is back to haunt him thanks to the Topps Baseball Card Company. more ›

There are plenty of reasons to like Doc Rivers right now. Twenty-eight reasons, actually. But we wish we could kindly remind Rivers and the Celtics that you have to focus on winning the little games in order for the big games to mean anything. more ›