Please Welcome Back Greech to TSH

OKAY, I would like to take a quick second to apologize to our Faithful fans…To Sean: sorry we left, but cheer up buddy, we’re back! To Felisa: hey, what time is it there? Time to read TSH again! To Hemi: hey pal, how about those C’s?! Get ready for a Celts like turnaround from TSH. To Timmy: Ked, ya, ked, our web logs back dude!!. To Dannys Mom and Dad: sorry Danny snores so loud. To Sharon: Thanks for never giving up in us. To Sammy: thank you for all your kind words. To everyone else I forgot, or didn’t make up, welcome back to the poorly constructed thoughts of Greech and Danno Mac.

It’s been a while now, nearly a month, but you can’t seem to turn on the TV or radio without hearing something about it. First the talk was all about the shock of one of the greatest upsets in Superbowl history (congrats to all the bandwagon NY Giants and Eli Fans) , next it was all the pundits saying how Belichick is a poor sports becuase he ran off the field before the game was over (which he did, but there was 1 second left and the guys got man boobs. I think the least we can do is give him a 1 second head start to the locker room after arguably the biggest loss in professional sports ), then it was more talk about the time the Patriots didnt follow NFL protocall when videotaping the other teams coaching staff (I was never a big fan of "videogate" "spygate" or even "watergate"), followed by some guy named Matt Walsh claiming he had a video of the Rams before Superbowl XXVI (Danny: that is roman numeral for 36), then Willie Andrew getting caught with ½ pound of Lawrence’s finest bud, then there was talk about retiring players, players leaving, ex players bad mouthing the team, recently Kevin Faulk was busted trying to sneak in a video camera…ummm, I mean 2 blunts into a Lil Wayne show, and just yesterday we released one of our most productive, when healthy, defensive players, Rosie Colvin. To put things simply: The month the Pats are having is very closely rivaling the roll Britney Spears is currently on (over/under 5.5 months before she pulls a Ledger. Any takers?)

This isn’t to say that Dan Shaughnessy will be writing “The Last Night of the Patriots Dynasty” anytime soon, but this is definitely a string of rather large chinks in the Pat’s armor. Some of these things can be easily fixed; I have a feeling that Rosie will be coming back to the Pats, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Pats make a run at former corner back, Ty Law, who was recently release from the Chiefs (and whom I also recently saw at the Celts-Cavs game, and from the looks of it I think he’s been enjoying those chicken fingers baskets they have at the Garden a little too much). We also look poised to re-sign Randy Moss, and from people I know who are “well connected”, apparently the only thing holding up the deal is a clause he wants in his contract that would make it mandatory that Willie Andrews and Kevin Faulk invite him to any and all concerts/parties/functions they attend while on the Patriots. We also hold San Fran’s pick in the draft (#7), and with a decent chance no difference makers will be left at line backer, I’m thinking that we trade the pick for a package of lower picks, and then let Belichick and Pioli work their magic. I’m also hoping that our offensive line takes up the Debbie and Roger Clemens work out regime so they don’t get tossed around like 4^th grade girls next year.

So what if our season ended worse than the season finale of The Sopranos, there is no question that when the odds come out the Pats will still be the favorites to win it all. While that may not be consolation for what happened a month ago, its still hope, and we and as we all know, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

As always, thanks for skimming, and if you actually read this entire rambling, well the least I can do is buy you a beer. Send us any thought/questions/comments you might have to TheSportsHub@gmail.com

Red Sox Preview: Part 1, The Infield

They're all down in Fort Myers and I'm officially 100% geared up for baseball season. I'm looking to do this in 3 parts. One part will be the Pitching Staff, one part will be the Outfield/DH/Bench/Minor Leaguers we'll potentially see, and this post will deal with the infield. As a head's up, I have really high expectations for the Sox this year, so the predictions might be a litttttllllleeeee too positive. Deal with it.

Let's get to it. We'll start off at first base and work our way around:

1B, Kevin Youkilis: Youk has shown without a doubt that he's one of the most valuable players on the Sox. He's officially a Gold Glove defender and plays a flawless first base. You can fully expect that to continue this year. He's an on-base machine. He's not what one would call "fast" or "speedy" but he runs the bases well and definitely is far from being a liability on the basepaths. And don't forget about that inside the park homer...he can move when he needs to.

He also has shown from time to time he can provide some pop. I expect the offensive numbers to rise a little in 2008. Basically as long as he doesn't shave the goatee I'm expecting a repeat of the Gold Glove along with 15-20 HR, 70-80 RBI, .300+ avg., .400+ OBP. If the goatee goes, I say we trade him.

2B, Dustin Pedroia: Pedroia started off slow last year to the point that everyone in New England was calling for Alex Cora to become the starter. Tito stuck with him and lo and behold, the Rookie of the Year Award came to Boston. Pedroia gained more and more confidence each and every time he set foot on the field. I see absolutely no reason why that will change this year.

In addition to his offense, Pedroia played a phenomenal second base in the field. He handles the position as well as anyone else in the league. I'm not sure his number will stay quite as high as last year, so I'll say we're looking at .305/.375 (more confidence=more free swinging and less walks)/10 -12 HR/40-45 2Bs/50-60 RBI/90+ runs. On top of that I give him 10 BU girl hook-ups, 3 from Northeastern, and a total of $2700 worth of alcohol given away to fans during the AL East Division Championship celebration at Game On!

SS, Julio Lugo: Lugo dealt with a lot more scrutiny than he deserved last year. His contract alone had Boston expecting too much out of him. Bottom line is Lugo is not a top of the line shortstop. He's a good defensive player with a decent bat and a tendency to strike out or hit into double plays to kill rallies. I'm still waiting for the official numbers but I'm 99% sure that Lugo, along with Tek and Crisp at the bottom of the order, accounted for more rally killing double plays than any tandem in the history of the sport at any level of competition. It became a forgone conclusion that with a runner on, and 1 out, the triple threat was guaranteed to end the inning immediately on a routine DP. Luckily, one member of the triple threat won't be playing in Boston this year (Crisp, we'll get to him in Part 2 or 3 depending on how I structure this).

My advice to all of Boston is to keep the expectations low for Lugo. If you pound it into your head that he's gonna give you a solid defensive effort along with .240/.300/10 HR/30 2B/ 35-40 SB, then everyone will be a lot happier. Besides, it's pretty rare that Boston has a legitimate threat to steal bases. In my lifetime I can only remember 1 year of Rickey Henderson, 1/2 year of Johnny Damon, 1 month of David Roberts (October 2004, DUH), and the 2007 season of Lugo as times when the Sox actually had a threat on the bases. As long as Lugo keeps the SBs and Runs up, I'm happy.

3B, Mike Lowell: Can this guy possibly do any more in Boston?? Let's think back...he was the throw-in piece for the Beckett deal and went on to put up great numbers. We all chalked it up us his last hurrah and he went on to win the World Series MVP and was undoubtedly the Sox MVP for 2007, and led to a "Re-Sign Lowell" chant after the last out of the World Series...IN COLORADO!! Is there any way in hell he can possibly do it again?

Well I'm not taking any chances. 2 years in a row and I expected him to fall off the Earth and put up awful numbers, and both years he's made me and everyone else look like an ass. So I'm taking one for the team here and sabotaging my own personal predictions for the good of Red Sox Nation.... .200 avg/.270 OBP/4 HR/ 30 RBI and in addition to that he makes more errors than Griecci made for the 1995 Bedford Blue Jays (Hint: GREECH MADE A LOT OF ERRORS THAT YEAR).

C, Jason Varitek/Doug Mirabelli: We all have to be honest and admit to ourselves that Tek's offensive outbursts are long gone. I'm not even gonna bother with numbers because Tek is not there to put up the numbers. He's there to lead the team on and off the field, bottom line. His job is to keep the pitchers on point, help the young arms develop, and keep everyone on the level in the clubhouse. As long as he does that, I have no problem with the low offensive numbers. I really do hope he can cut down on those rally-killing double plays though.

OK I'll humor myself and everyone else. Tek puts up .235/.310/12 HR/15 2B/ 60 RBI. It won't be anything too flashy, but with our lineup it'll get the job done.

And now on to the most important issue...Doug Mirabelli.

I had a conversation with a TSH Favorite, Felisa, of "Asian Chick Who Talks Sports" and it led to a perfect plan to save the Red Sox about $700,000. Drop Dougie and sign Danny Mac as Wakefield's Personal Catcher. Let's think about this. From what Mirabelli accomplishes, all you really need to do is:

- Hit .200 (I'll probably miss this mark, but hey, Mirabelli barely hits .200 so what's the difference).
- 3-5 HR (I'm going out on a limb and saying with the short porch in Fenway I can match this with a little luck and a few windy days. Also, I'm not signed yet so I could jump on the juice for a month and bulk up.)
- Catch the knuckle ball (when I used to pitch I threw a knuck...I think through experience I could pick this up quickly)
- Be fat and slow (DONE AND DONE)
- Get a police escort to the stadium (Dougie's was from Logan to Boston after a last minute trade. I'd prefer mine to happen for a Thursday afternoon game after I spent a night at McMurphy's with the Guitar Dudes.)

Bottom line...the Sox save $700,000 which they can use as some kinda extra cash for when we need to re-sign Manny in the offseason. Just give the extra $700,000 to Manny for Ritalin or something.

So that's the infield according to Danny Mac for ya.

Coming later this week/early next week (depending on when I'm motivated again) is Parts 2 and 3 which will cover the pitching staff and the outfield/DH/Bench/Pawtucket guys. Also, we'll be starting a petition through this site to get Theo's attention and get me signed on as Wakefield's Personal Catcher. Please show your support with the comment section and send along your good words to thesportshub@gmail.com

Welcome to 2008

I guess we forgot to tell all 5 of our readers that The Sports Hub actually takes the winter off just like MLB. We had our Winter Meetings, and Greech actually went down to the Dominican for TSH's version of Winter Ball...the blogging convention of Santo Domingo.

Since pitchers and catchers have reported, I guess it's time for us to restart the Hub. Since we last left you the Pats gave away a perfect season, the Mitchell Report came out, Clemens went to Congress, Sean attempted to give up texting, Johan Santana became a Met, and the Gauntlet came back to MTV. I guess I'll just throw together a random thoughts type of deal to catch up to the present:

-I'm over the Pats. I actually got over it about 2 days after the game when I realized pitchers and catchers were heading to Fort Myers. Bottom line is they choked away the perfect season. Plenty of chances to beat the Giants but they couldn't do it. I'm still not ready to live in a world where Eli Manning has a Super Bowl MVP, but I'm adapting day by day.

-The Mitchell Report came out and Jose Canseco wasn't happy with it. If you told me 10 years ago that Jose Canseco would be the man that exposed baseball's steroid problem, then complained about the investigation because it wasn't thorough enough, I just would have you-tubed the video of the homerun that bounced off his head and used that as Exhibit A as to why he's a moron. Now, I really don't know what to think of him. Someone replace John Kruk on Baseball Tonight with Canseco just to mix things up. OK I'm not sure where I was going with that; I guess I just hate Kruk and hope they fire him.

-Can someone find a way to get Harold Reynolds back in my everyday life during baseball season?

-Looks like Curt Schilling won't be available for a while and to tell you the truth I'm not even the least bit worried. Let's say we get him healthy by July. He's 10 times more valuable down the stretch than he is in April. Plus, we have plenty of arms to fill his role. Between Clay Buccholz and Julian Tavarez, I'm pretty sure we have 2 guys that are more than capable 5-starters.

-Everything I've read this winter says Manny Ramirez has been an absolute animal this winter with his workouts. A motivated Manny could be scary for the rest of baseball. If this guy comes into camp with an actual desire to play and keeps his concentration all year I think any stat line is possible. He could easily hit .400, 80 HR, 200 RBI. Of course, this is all assuming he doesn't get distracted by a beachball out in the bleachers because then all bets are off.

-Now onto more important things; The Gauntlet returned to MTV. Not sure who's watched it yet, but if Congress can investigate MLB they seriously need to start looking into a potential friendship between Brad, Danny, and Brian McNamee because those two had a more dramatic increase in size than anything that Barry Bonds ever did.

You're going to have to forgive me here. I'm already out of ideas. Let's just call this my first day of Spring Training. I'm working my way back into writer's shape. Give me a couple of weeks and I'll be back in shape and ready to go.

I'll have to work on some preseason predictions that we can look back at in October and say "wow, wtf was Danny thinking??"

So welcome back to the Hub. 2008 is the year we take off, guaranteed. As soon as Greech gets casted on Real World and stars in the next Inferno, we have a plan to expose the Challenges as Performance Enhancing Drug havens. Plus, I really think he could hook up with the smoking hot Asian girl Jamie...

Until next time, feel free to hit us up at thesportshub@gmail.com