Everyone has done it. I wake up multiple times a week, afraid I may have lost an arm. While sleeping, your arm gets caught underneath your body and the circulation gets cut off, you wake up in a daze, move positions and the feeling comes back. You fall back asleep and wake up good as new, although, when this happens to Josh Beckett and he pitches like shit it’s breaking news.

As Red Sox Nation collectively holds our breath, Beckett is not looking like the ace starting pitcher we all came to know and love from the past 2 years. In his last start (2 1/3 innings, 8 runs, 8 hits against Toronto) he felt a tingling feeling in his pinky and ring finger, and Tito had said that had something to do with his location, and we are all hoping the same.

Apparently this tingly feeling had come from Beckett sleeping on his arm the wrong way the night before, yet he told redsox.com writer Ian Browne that it is something he had been dealing with off and on this season but he had no idea what it was, or where it was coming from.

Now with his next start pushed back until Tuesday against the Yankees in New York, the Bronx Bombers are licking their lips hoping Beckett is not right and they can slip back into the playoff picture, as their window is getting more slim while the days pass.

The problem with his feeling seems to be minor, but with multi-million dollar investments, you can never be too cautious. However, with the Red Sox playoff berth far from a sure thing, we can be sure to all be biting our nails as the rest of the season and our starting pitching dilemma transpires.

Buchholz Looking to Right his Pitching Wrong

It is no secret that young phenom Clay Buchholz is not having the year that everyone expect. It is not his fault, however, that he is not living up to the hype given off of last year’s no-no in his second major league start. It’s tough to forget such a milestone for fans like us. But the season can still be saved for Buchholz.

Pitching coach John Farrell and Clay have seemed to find a flaw in the young guy’s mechanics which may be causing his pitches to drift over the plate and contributed to his 6.35 ERA and 90 hits in 73 and 2/3 innings, including 11 home runs over that time.

Texas Gal over in Center Field turned us on to the idea that Buchholz has been “drifting” in delivery, as show through the PitchFX diagrams in her post. Hopefully with this new light bulb over Clay’s head he will return to his form and help the Sox finished the sweep over the Orioles, more for the kid’s confidence than the team.

Wakefield Plays a Little Toss

After spending 10 days on the DL, Tim Wakefield has got the ball back in his hand and played catch with pitching coach John Farrell for the first time since going on the disabled list with tightness in the back of his right shoulder. The Sawx are hoping after a few more side sessions Wake will be ready to take back to the mound.

Colon to Pitch for Pawtucket this Week

After leaving his third rehab start for the PawSox after one inning with a case of the stomach bug, Bartolo Colon will continue his trail back to Fenway this week against Syracuse Chiefs. David Pauley is listed as the probable starter for tonight on the PawSox website, but Colon could end up getting the start.

Last week, millions of households witnessed the Winchester, MA native and Olympian gymnast, Alicia Sacramone, and her struggles in Beijing.

After a horrific fall on the balance beam (which might have cost the U.S. a gold medal), she was inevitably robbed of a medal by the Olympic judges during the vault competition. Sacramone completed two clean attempts while China’s Cheng Fei made a costly(?) error by landing on her knees while attempting her second vault jump.

Apparently a gymnast can now earn a bronze medal even with a fall, as Cheng Fei captured the bronze medal due to the “difficulty of her vaults.”

Alicia, you were robbed, and that sucks.

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So why am I writing about Sacramone and women’s gymnastics? Well, for one, I was one who was caught up in the drama that is the Olympic judging. Also, Alicia is not your ordinary gymnast. What makes her different?

• She’s a Bostonian — got to love that.
• She can knock you out — check out this video.
• She’s not your typical China-doll, 4′5″, 80lb gymnast.
• She’s an Ivy-league college student (lots of gymnasts are barely 18).
• Let’s face it: she’s easy on the eyes.

Sacramone earned a silver medal with her U.S. teammates and was robbed of a bronze. Not too shabby at all.

So how do I tie this in with the Red Sox?

I’m not sure if Jed Lowrie is single, but he’s just a few years older and also attended a sort of prestige school (Stanford), so the two of them have something in common.

Jed, you might want to take a look into that.

Title Town - Boston

It’s funny. You remember very few details about your own life. But as sports fans, you’ll always remember exactly where you were when your team won a championship.

I’ve had the pleasure of viewing a nice video from Mack Media Productions called “Title Town”. It’s also a very nice refresher from some level-headed people, unlike the fellas over at ESPN who call Valdosta, Georgia as Titletown. We all know who the real title town is. Starting with the Cinderella Patriots in ‘01, reversing the curse with our Lansdowne 9 in ‘04, and culminating with our boys in Green taking down the Lakers in June, Boston IS Title Town.

As Boston sports fans, we’ve hit the jackpot in this decade. We are on one helluva ride, and we won’t even realize it until its over. Thanks to the guys at Mack Media Productions, I took a couple minutes to smile and remember “damn, we’re lucky”. Do the people in Valdosta say that? Probably not.

Thanks again fellas. Check out this great video….

I want to preface this blog by saying I think John Farrell is a great pitching coach, and could easily be a successful manager, but…..

Sunday night, Sox are winning big. Lester seems to be struggling through the 5th inning, especially after giving up a soft chopper down the third base line to Derek Jeter. Bases now loaded with Bobby Abreau coming up. But wait, John Farrell steps out of the dugout to talk to his left hander. It must have been a great pep talk, because Lester went ahead and walked in a run with 5 pitches. What could he have possibly said to mess up his control that bad? Hold that thought…

Monday night, Sox are down one, looking to escape a big inning. The Halos have men on first and third, I believe, and Dice-K is starting to get rocked. The righty Justin Masterson is warming in the pen, but instead of Tito making his way out to replace the Dice Man, its Farrell again. Pacing towards the mound to ’settle his pitcher down’… Three pitches later, Torii Hunter cracks a back breaking three run bomb that landed somewhere near the Boulevard in Lowell.

2 nights. 2 failed mound visits. Luckily, Lester was able to calm himself down and get out of the inning, securing the win for the Lansdowne 9. Dice K, on the other hand, was not so lucky. He picked up the loss after getting pulled in favor of Masterson once Torii Hunter did his trademark bat flip and crossed home.

Here’s my question to you… What could Farrell possibly be saying to make matters worse on the mound for an already struggling pitcher?!! Please leave your comments below….

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, fans around the world, mark this day on your calendars, Monday, June 30, 2008, the last day of the month of June and the Tampa Bay Rays are the best team in Major League Baseball. You heard correct…with their 49-32 record, and .605 win percentage, the Rays not only have the best record in the AL East, they have the best record in baseball. To be a winning team, you must dominate at home while maintaining .500 on the road. The Rays are 30-13 at Tropicana Field and 19-19 on the road, certainly a recipe for success. Honestly, would anybody ever believe that the Rays would one day be the best team in baseball? Maybe not, but it’s true, damn true. I guess being the worst team in baseball for the past decade and receiving great prospects eventually pays off.

The 2008 Rays seem poised to prove naysayers wrong; they want to make it known that they are legit, and quite honestly, I’m starting to believe. This bad-ass Rays baseball team has shown more heart and more cohones than any of their previous ballclubs, and it all started in Spring training with the New York Yankees. This team doesn’t take any s@!t from anyone.

So as the Rays head into a three game series with our Red Sox you have to sit and wonder what this drama-filled series is going to culminate into. Will it end with the Rays taking the series and increasing their .5 game lead ahead of the Sox? Or will the Sox prove that they are the better team and claim they are the best in baseball?

Whatever the case may be, look to see some fireworks over at the ‘Trop the next few days. Their is certainly no love-loss between the two clubs, unfortunately, Coco Crisp won’t see any action as he is in the middle of serving his suspension. One has to wonder how things would boil over if he were to play. Still, Jonathan Papelbon stirred this series up even more when he went on Comcast Sportsnet and talked about the brawl:

(h/t to Comcast Sportsnet New England for the video)

What is Papelbon going to do about it? We’ll have to wait and see….should be an interesting series. To further stir it up James Shields will be the starting pitcher for the Rays tonight. Matt Garza, who’s coming off a 1-hitter performance and dominant lefty Scott Kazmir will also take the hill against the Sox during the series.

This IS baseball!
I love it!