Results tagged “bostonredsox”

Down 5-1 after five innings, the Angels scored twice in the eighth and three times in the ninth to pull out a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox for the three-game sweep of the American League Divisional Series. Down 6-5 Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon intentionally walked Torii Hunter to load the bases. Vladimir Guerrero responded by lining a single to center field to score Chone Figgins and Bobby Abreu. This marks the first time the Angels have swept a series, and the first time they have beaten the Red Sox in the postseason exorcising 1986, 2004, 2007 and 2008. The Angels will face either the Minnesota Twins or the New York Yankees.

LA Angels defeat Boston Red Sox 4-3. With the game tied 3-3, Howie Kendrick hit an RBI single in the top of the ninth to give the Halos a 4-3 lead. The question would remain whether the Angels would let a one run lead slip away in the bottom of the ninth. After Kevin Jepsen got Jason Bay to strike out to lead off the bottom of the ninth, closer Brian Fuentes was brought in to face David Ortiz. Contrary to Wednesday night's proceedings, Fuentes would strike Ortiz out. Although Fuentes would give up a single to Mike Lowell, he got pinch hitter Rocco Baldelli to pop up to salvage a game for the Angels.

Houston Rockets defeat LA Lakers 95-80. You've got to be fucking kidding me. Let's take a look at the box score. The Lakers attempted 23 threes in this loss. In game five the Lakers attempted 13. While the Lakers were trailing by 15 in the second quarter it was very frustrating to see them settle for jump shots rather than take it to the hole. In the third quarter they responded well and cut the deficit to two, but then their defense fell apart. They made Luis Scola look like James Worthy while Pau Gasol looked like a big stiff. So let's review. No Tracy McGrady. No Yao Ming. No wins against the Lakers in the regular season. And now we're going to a game seven?

LA Dodgres defeat Philadelphia Phillies 9-2. Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness wrote a post in the morning about James Loney not hitting a homer. On cue, Loney hit his first homer of the season, an Earl Weaver, against Phillies starter Jamie Moyer in the fourth inning that helped the Dodgers break the game open in a five run inning. While it wasn't a steal of home, Matt Kemp scored on a Randy Wolf bunt - not quite a squeeze play but just as effective. Meanwhile the pitching held things together thanks to Wolf's strong six innings giving up an earned run on a Jimmy Rollins solo shot in the second inning. The bullpen didn't completely implode which is all any Dodger fan can hope for.

LA Lakers defeat Houston Rockets 118-78. The start of the game was very touch and go. The Rockets were setting good screens and moving the ball crisply. The was tied 18-18 at the 5:20 mark in the first quarter when the Lakers dropped the hammer. They took advantage of every Houston turnover making this game a complete laugher in the second quarter with the Lakers leading by 25 points at the half. The question would remain whether the Lakers had the killer instinct, and they answered it by going up by 40 points by the end of the third quarter.

LA Lakers defeat Utah Jazz 125-112. All day the talk had been whether the Lakers should tank the game so as to try and avoid the Jazz in the first round. All of that was put to rest as the Lakers made a statement against the short-handed Jazz with a flurry of assists. The 39 assists was the most by a Lakers team at the Staples Center. The starters looked great, the bench looked great. It was just a great showing for a team getting ready for the real season to start. The Lakers 65 wins in the regular season is the third best in franchise history tied with the 1986-1987 team that went on to defeat the Boston Celtics four games to two in the NBA Finals. The Lakers will face the Jazz in the first round of the playoffs.

LA Lakers defeat San Antonio Spurs 102-95. The Lakers started out strong in the first quarter shooting 64%, but the mileage from the road trip started to show in the second half. What was once an 18 point lead dwindled away to just two points with two minutes left in the game. But the Lakers withstood everything the Spurs threw at them giving them a crucial road win. The Lakers have yet to lose to the same opponent twice, and the win gives them their 20th Pacific Division title. They are the first Western Conference team to clinch a playoff spot, and with the Spurs now 8 1/2 games out of first place look to have firm control of the best record in the West.

Boston Red Sox defeat LA Angels 3-2. This was the year the Angels were supposed to get over the hump. They beat the Red Sox eight of nine games in the regular season. The Angels nabbed the highly coveted Mark Teixeira before the trading deadline to provide a power bat to the anemic lineup. The Angels had a dominant rotation that would shut down offenses. Well in the four games against the Red Sox, the Angels couldn't hit worth a lick and made defensive blunders like they were the Florida Marlins infield. Game four was nothing different. Bad plays by Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar gave the Red Sox more outs to play with, and when you do that you're asking for trouble. The only team to win 100 games in the major leagues this season will be making appointments for tee time. Good night Angels, and good night Orange County. Now it's time for some big boy baseball.

LA Dodgers defeat Chicago Cubs 7-2. Derek Lowe made only one mistake to Mark DeRosa in the second inning in his six innings of work, and the Dodgers used the long ball to give the them their second postseason victory since 1988. Things didn't look good for the Dodgers in the third inning when Andre Ethier struck out to end the inning with the bases loaded. But with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, James Loney recovered from swinging at two awful pitches and hit a belt-high change up out to the bleachers. This was the third grand slam in Dodgers history, the last two coming on consecutive days by Ron Cey and Dusty Baker in 1977. In the seventh inning Manny Ramirez dug a homer out of a ball that was no higher than a tee shot and blasted it deep in the bleachers while stumbling out of his shoes. Ramirez leads all hitters in baseball history with his 25th home run in the postseason. The Dodgers lead the best-of-five series 1-0.

LA Dodgers defeats Philadelphia Phillies 7-6. The Dodgers do it again. They comeback from a 6-1 defecit after two innings to tie it 6-6 off of a Jeff Kent two-RBI double in the bottom of the ninth. While they could have shut the door closed, they would go into the ninth inning with a tie game. Jonathan Broxton pitched a perfect ninth inning getting two strikeouts, and a familiar hero came up to bat with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Yes, the Nomar Garciaparra that hit a walkoff homerun in that 4+1 homer game in 2006 came up big again with a line-drive homer that carried ever so delicately into the Dodger bullpen. That walk off homer gave the Dodgers the share of the lead in the Loser's Division, and all is well in Chavez Ravine.

LA Angels defeat Seattle Mariners 7-4. The Angels looked like they would suffer a letdown after their weekend sweep over the Yankees by falling behind the Mariners 3-0. But aided with a Juan Rivera solo shot and Vladamir Guerrero two-run shot in the fifth inning, the Angels came back to show who's king of the AL West. They got three insurance runs in the eighth inning and just continue to steam through any and all comers who stand in their way. Just to show how dominant the Angels are, at the All Star Break they had a six game lead in the division. As of this victory the Angels have a 15 game lead, and at 75-43 have the best record in baseball. In related news, the Angels flagship station AM 830 KLAA (which is owned by the Angels) will be a radio affiliate for Notre Dame Fighting Irish football.

So by now everyone knows the big Dodger news today.

LA Angels defeat Boston Red Sox 9-2. All the Manny Ramirez bull aside, the Angels annihilated the Red Sox in this series. Josh Beckett getting the start for the Red Sox didn't phase Angels hitter any. In 5 1/3 innings the Angels got seven runs off of Beckett on 11 hits. And they did it all with newly acquired Mark Teixeira going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts batting third in the lineup. Make this eight straight games the Angels have defeated the Red Sox, and the second consecutive series the Angels have taken from the Sox.

LA Dodgers defeat San Francisco Giants 2-0. The Dodgers get their major league-leading ninth shutout of the season as they quiet the Giants. Dodger starter Jason Johnson in his first start in two years went six scoreless innings giving up only five hits. On a very strange play in the sixth inning, Fred Lewis bobbled a line drive by Casey Blake into the left field stands, grabbed the ball and got James Loney out at home. However since the ball got bobbled into the stands, it was considered an overthrow allowing Loney to score the second run.

LA Angels over Boston Red Sox 7-5. The Angels crushed Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka to the tune of six runs on seven hits in five plus innings. The small ball team went big ball as Casey Kotchman hit a two-run homer and Torii Hunter hit an Earl Weaver to account for five of the six runs in that fateful sixth inning. The Angels relievers did just enough to get the win for Jered Weaver who went 5 2/3 innings giving up three runs on six hits and three walks. Francisco Rodriguez despite giving up a solo homer to Manny Ramirez notched his 44th save of the season. The Angels have now defeated the Red Sox six consecutive times, the best record and best road record in baseball.

LA Dodgers defeat Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5. While their ninth inning rally eventually stalled on Matt Kemp's pop fly to right field Saturday night, the Dodgers made sure their comeback Sunday afternoon down 4-1 in the ninth inning would not be stopped. In an almost identical situation as Saturday night Matt Kemp came to the plate with a runner on first and two outs in the ninth trailing 4-3, Kemp stayed patient at the plate until he found a pitch he liked. He promptly hit the ball to the left center gap for an RBI double to tie the game. He would score on Andre Ethier's RBI triple for the go-ahead run. This was only the second time this season the Dodgers had won a game when trailing going into the ninth, and if the Dodgers go on to win the division this game will surely be looked at as a turning point in their season.

LA Angels defeat Boston Red Sox 11-3. The Angels came out of the All Star Break making a statement. To everyone who questioned their offense, myself included, they responded by scoring 11 runs on 14 hits. Now the question remains if they can be consistent with their hitting. Angel's starter John Lackey notched his 1000th strikeout and gave up only three runs on five hits in his seven innings. The Angels have now won three of four against the Red Sox this season including two earlier this season at Fenway and now look to be in good shape for the postseason.

LA Dodgers defeat Cincinnati Reds 6-5. It looked like Brad Penny was still suffering from a stiff arm struggling most of his outing giving up five runs on nine hits in six innings. But the Dodgers, with an assist to the poor Red's defense, got him out of the game with a tie. After a single and an error to leadoff hitter Russell Martin and a infield out by Jeff Kent to advance Martin to third in the bottom of the ninth, Red's reliever David Weathers walks both James Loney and Matt Kemp to load the bases. Uber-rookie supreme Blake DeWitt grounds a 2-2 pitch to left-center getting a walk-off RBI single. It's wasn't pretty, but a slump-busting win is a win. Andruw Jones sat out of the game with a "sore knee". The Reds now haven't won a game in Dodger Stadium since July 2005 during the Jim Tracy days.

Arizona Diamondbacks (16-6) defeat LA Dodgers (9-13) 6-4. The good news: the Dodgers scored more than one run. The bad news: the Dodgers still lost. Chad Billingsley (0-4) started off shakily but eventually struck out six of eight consecutive batters. Jeff Kent and Joe Torre were ejected from the game in the top of the ninth for arguing a blown call in the eighth inning when second base umpire Andy Fletcher said Kent was off the base when trying to record an out at second.

LA Lakers defeat Denver Nuggets 122-107. Kobe Bryant showed his MVP colors scoring 49 points to go along with 10 assists. Despite that, the Lakers are starting to play with fire. With a defense as porous as a sieve and complacency of taking bad perimeter shots against a weak zone, the Lakers got away with one. True the Lakers got the win, but it should have been a more dominant showing. It didn't help Lamar Odom scored only four points sitting out most of the second half due to foul trouble. While it might not affect them in this series, these mental lapses can cost them in the second round series against the Utah Jazz. The Lakers lead the series against the Nuggets 2-0.

Cincinnati Reds (9-12) defeat LA Dodgers (8-12) 8-1. After getting 15 hits yesterday, the Dodgers decide to be generous and give up 15 hits. Starter Hong-chih Kuo (0-1) was awful making 80 pitches in 3 2/3 innings giving up five runs. Meanwhile Red's young starter Edinson Volquez (3-0) went seven innings giving up one run on three hits.

LA Lakers defeat San Antonio Spurs 106-85. The Lakers played shoddy defense the first half against the shorthanded Spurs. But then again the Spurs did also which explains the tied score at half. In the second half the Lakers absolutely shut down the Spurs and Tony Parker while keeping up their offensive efficiency. If the Lakers win Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings, the Lakers will be the #1 team in the west. And to think in October Kobe's Escape from LA was at fever pitch.

On Thursday with the enlightened press in tow, Frank McCourt broke ground at the LA Memorial Coliseum to prepare for the March 29 exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox.

A quick Dodger note for everyone. On Saturday at 10:00am, tickets to the Dodgers exhibition game on Saturday, March 29 against the Boston Red Sox at the LA Memorial Coliseum will go on sale.

Former Senate Majority Leader (and current Boston Red Sox director) George Mitchell just announced the results of his 20-month, $20 million investigation into allegations of widespread steroid usage in baseball. The long-awaited, 409-page Mitchell Report (document here) identifies more than 80 current and former players as being linked to using performance-enhancing drugs. While the report casts blame on the lack of institutional control within baseball as much as the players themselves that cheated, what everyone cares about are the names.

The and wonder why James Taylor didn't become a famous actor.

It's such a great shame that Adrienne Shelly's life was cut so tragically short last year. Her last film, may be the greatest DVD title in the history of the universe.

So what has been going on in Dodger land since I last posted? Well a big hearty congrats go to Russell Martin for winning the Silver Slugger Award for National League catchers. Voted by coaches and managers, Martin led the NL catchers in hits, homers, runs, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Only Mike Piazza (from 1993-1998) was the other Dodger catcher to win the award since its inception in 1980....

So did y’all like that World Series game last night? Actually let me correct myself. How did you like half inning of a game? I mean after the first three outs, the rest of the game was quite the bore. The Sox whooped up on the Rox 13-1 last night jumping out to a quick three-run lead in the first inning thanks to pedophile magnet Dustin Pedroia’s lead off homer in the first inning...

The only thing hotter than the Southern Californian fires on the web today is a company in Irvine, who, unfortunately, are being recognized today for something that they probably don't want. The amazing lucky streak of the Colorado Rockies came to a halt today when they released World Series tickets exclusively online - and the site crashed. Paciolan runs the site. So all those ravenous and loyal Rockie fans who unanimously said WTF all...