We’re trying a new segment today on WGS—unless it’s horrendous, in which case the author will be beaten mercilessly, in public, and then exiled out of the city via catapult. It’s called Ask the Doc.
You see, whenever I have a question concerning an injury to a local athlete, there’s only one guy I turn to: Dr. Eric Fornari, Orthopedic Surgery Resident at Tufts Medical Center. Dr. Fornari was lucky enough to have been matched with me as a roommate freshman year of college, and in the 10 years since has risen through the medical ranks to emerge as the Jacoby Ellsbury of local orthopedics—only a lot slower and uglier.
My conversations with Dr. Fornari always leave me feeling more knowledgeable about the injury at hand, and hopefully they’ll do the same for you. It’s not the vague reports of "day-to-day" that come from the Sox front office, but it’s also in a language that I can understand (which is saying a lot). So as injuries arise, Dr. Fornari will try to give us some better insight on what it all means. Today’s injury is Josh Beckett, but first, a weak disclaimer from the Doc.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed below are solely those of a young, though rather competent, Orthopedic Surgery resident, and should not be interpreted as anything more. However, if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact my editor.
Doc, What the hell’s wrong with Josh Beckett?
With less than 40 games left in the season, talking heads will soon be clamoring about Most Valuable Player candidates. And since I own a head and I like to talk, I’m going to start clamoring about Kevin Youkilis. Without denigrating the accomplishments of other players (since that’s bush league and boring), I’m simply going to state the case for why the Red Sox first baseman should be able to garner loads of top 5 votes from Major League Baseball writers.
Given his production and versatility (both in the lineup and in the field), as well as the team’s position in the standings, Youkilis has to be considered one of the top 10 candidates for American League MVP right now. In no particular order, here are the other candidates, based on a combination of their stats and their team’s success:
Josh Hamilton — .300/.365/.543, with 28 home runs and 114 RBIs. Texas is 15.5 games back of LAA and 10.5 back of the Sox in the Wild Card.
Ian Kinsler — .319/.375/.517, with 102 runs, 71 RBIs and 28 steals. Texas is 15.5 games back of LAA and 10.5 back of the Red Sox in the Wild Card
Milton Bradley — .316/.442/.583, with 20 home runs and 62 RBIs. Texas is 15.5 games back of LAA and 10.5 back of the Red Sox in the Wild Card
Carlos Quentin – .293/.395/.586, with 35 home runs and 96 RBIs. CWS lead Central Division by 1 game over MIN.
I refuse to write an "Are You Worried Yet" column about the Red Sox right now. First of all, it’s too early. Secondly, I think boston.com already has the market cornered on asking people if they’re worried about stupid things…"The Pats are 0-2 in the preseason! Are you worried they might miss the Playoffs!?! Vote now!!"
So yeah, not going to do that. Although what I AM going to do is probably just as lame. I’ll just be less direct in my lameness… and here’s my question:
So if we’re not worried about the Sox yet… How long before we have to START worrying? At what point do we have to stop making excuses and work up the courage to stand up and admit: "There is a very good chance my Boston Red Sox are going lose the AL East to the Tampa Bay Rays. Yes. That’s right. The Tampa. Bay. Effing. Rays."?
Now this isn’t going to be a reactionary, off-the-cuff brain fart, conceived while the Sox were getting swept this weekend. The Blue Jays series didn’t bother me that much. After all, Roy Halladay could shutout the American Dreams at this point—he’s the filthiest pitcher in baseball—and even though yesterday was gross, I’m more likely to chalk it up as just a really bad day for a really good pitcher than as a sign that the ship’s about to spring a leak the size of Tony Gwynn.
In his weekly interview with Comcast SportsNet, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon tells Gary Tanguay and Greg Dickerson about the difference in the clubhouse, and also comments on Ramirez’s most recent "Manny Being Manny" episode where the former left fielder for the Sox was delayed in taking the field for Joe Torre’s Dodgers. Cinco Ocho also talks about the crazy high scoring game against the Rangers.
Check back on WickedGoodSports.com later this week as Papelbon tells us some of the Olympics events he would like to see and who on the Sox would contend for a gold medal.
The pool to choose from is every Red Sox player of the last 20 years. Your mission? Construct the most devastating and efficient five-man bar brawl team imagination can buy. Who’s on your squad? Here’s one potential roster.
Mike Greenwell
When a guy reaches a level of badass where he routinely spends his time beating the piss out of alligators, he’s coming to war with me. You can’t teach that sort of maneuvering, intensity and feistiness.
And for some ridiculous reason, I can’t picture Greenwell in a bar fight without him wearing Van Damme’s outfit from the famous Kickboxer dance scene.
I’m pretty sure the Gator still wears this kind of crap around town down in Florida.
Julian Tavarez
Tavarez is without a doubt the "Escalator Guy" of any bar fight.
Escalator Guy is the kid who sees one his buddies talking trash with some meathead at the bar, and even though, if he left it alone, the scene would probably fizzle without any bloodshed, Escalator Guy gets too fired up, grabs the bridge from under the pool table and smashes it over someone’s head. Insanity ensues. That’s Julian.
Why do you want Escalator Guy on your side? Because if he’s not, then he’s on the other side, and pool cues hurt.
As an added bonus, it’ll be pretty intimidating for the other crew when they think they’re fighting against the bad guy from Last of the Mohicans.
Despite the contentious way he left Boston, Manny Ramirez said he had nothing but love for Red Sox fans. It was a respectful nod to a fan base whose support for him was more or less constant, at least until it became obvious that Ramirez — jogging to first in 5.7 seconds during a no-hit bid, etc. — was more concerned with getting traded than playing the game respectfully. Still, our good memories of him will always outweigh the bad, no?
Unless, of course, he signs with the freaking Yankees next year.
Seriously, does anyone care about Johnny Damon anymore? He could get hit by a bus and I wouldn’t shed a single tear. Harsh? Perhaps, but he started it — by signing with the Yankees. According to a story by George King of the New York Post, Ramirez would consider doing the same thing after this season. Why? To "get back at the Red Sox."
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Having successfully orchestrated his divorce from Boston and his landing in with the Dodgers, Manny Ramirez would like to make life miserable for the Red Sox during the next few seasons. According to people who have spoken to the eccentric outfielder since he was dealt to L.A. on July 31, Ramirez wants to sign a free-agent deal with the New York Yankees this offseason and get 19 chances a year to punish Boston.
"He wants to play for the Yankees so he can get at the Red Sox," a close friend of Ramirez’s told The Post.
Patriots 15 - Ravens 16
Wow that was bad
Horrible even.
Circumstances prevent a putting a positive spin on the recap of the game here, so if you’re a diehard Pats fan wanting to know what happened, here’s the scoop: The Pats have a lot of work to get ready for the season opener. Or at least they do when the backups are running the show.
Ok, that’s not really fair to say, it was just one game. Yes, an ugly one. Surprisingly the Patriots almost found a way to win despite turning the ball over 5 times.
Thursday night was all about the Ravens looking like they played their first string against the Patriots second, third and fourth string units. No Tom Brady, no Randy Moss, no Wes Welker, no Matt Light, no Sammy Morris resulted in the Patriots having no rhythm.
Even with the first team offensive line the Patriots looked pedestrian at best, and downright horrible at worst. It looked worse than a bad Steve Grogan day when the offensive line was sick with the flu. It was ugly, it was humbling, it was a glimpse into the future without Tom Brady and it hurt to watch.
If Tom Brady gets hurt this team is in real trouble. The coaches know that, which is why the game was all about evaluating the backups. The future – based upon observations from the game – lies in Kevin O’Connell, Matt Gutierrez and LaMont Jordan on offense. It also lies in Jerod Mayo, Shawn Crable and Pierre Woods on defense. Of those six players, four were NOT on the team last season.
Key Matchup:
Saturday night’s tilt between Red Sox starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and White Sox starting pitcher Jose Contreras (elbow) should be an epic battle of control or lack thereof. In one career start against Chicago, “Dice-K” got roughed up for three earned runs on two hits in five innings of work. He also walked six batters en route to the loss. But as evidenced by his 12-2 record this season, the past is the past and Dice-K is maturing. On the road this season, Matsuzaka is 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA and a .158 opponents’ batting average in 45 innings of work. Matsuzaka has finally adopted the form that saw him garner so much praise upon his arrival in the United States. His only flaw is his inability to realize that this isn’t Japan anymore and players here aren’t going to swing at the stuff that made him look like a god overseas. The Sox are on a roll as of late and Matsuzaka has been one of their main catalysts. He’s a great pitcher that is only scratching the surface of what he could do in Major League Baseball.
I’ve been waiting for this day like its xmas…speaking of which its #2 of my Top 5 games I’m looking forward to..here goes..
#1 Opening Night..
Banner #17 gets raised, rings get handed out, LeBron is in town…need i say more??
#2 Lakers on XMas
Once again the whole country will be watching Celts-Lakers….want to see lakers w/ Kobe, Gasol AND Bynum
#3 Nov 4th vs the Rockets
Big three of Artest, Yao and McGrady (could be early preview of the finals
#4 Nov 23 vs Toronto
Will Jermaine O’Neal be healthy? Dying to see Bosh/O’Neal duo
#5 Nov 21 KG WONT miss this return to ‘Sota
I very much want to see the combo of Al and Kevin Love
Quirks in the schedule…back to back road games BEFORE the All Star Game (in Phoenix this year)..then off to Utah for west coast trip….Dont see new look Philly until Dec 23rd….MLK Day usually spent in NY vs Knicks..this year its part of a national tv triple header at home vs the Suns….how bout this for a dbl header? Celts-TWolves @ Noon on Feb 1st….followed by Pats vs whomever @ 6 (Super Bowl Sunday if you hadnt realized) look at the stretch in March starting w/ the Heat in Miami on the 11th…followed by 6 road games in 10 days (Spurs, Orlando, Atl among others) tough tough stretch…but when your the champs, it aint easy!!!
Mohegan Sun’s Sports Tonight wants you to decide the verdict of this "Wicked Good Argument". Tune-in at 6:30 and 10pm weeknights to see Gary Tanguay, Michael Felger, and our guests opinions on the argument below.
In this edition, we debate which part of the following duos is more important to the success of the pairing. Cast your vote below. If you’ve got more to say, leave us a comment at the bottom of the page.
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