During this series with Minnesota, Boston won the first game 1-0. They rallied back from a three-run deficit to win the second game, and they had the blowout in the third game to cap the sweep. I know that one good series doesn’t make a season, but this could be a turning point for the Sox. They beat a very good team three times, in three very different ways. Boston is finally getting healthy, and this could be when we see the real Red Sox show up.

Thefoulline.com Quick Hits:

• Boston is 34-10 playing at Fenway and 21-29 on the road. Home field is going to be more important than ever this postseason.
• Some guy named Clay Buchholz is starting for Boston Friday night. I hope that he can do as well as some of the other young pitchers the Red Sox have used this year.
• Congrats to Evan Longoria for making the All Star team. It’s well deserved and is sure to be the first of many during his career.
• Speaking of the All Star game… Imagine, if you will, the 9th inning, the AL up by one run. Francona goes to the bullpen, the last All Star game in Yankee Stadium… and out comes Jonathan Papelbon. It won’t happen. But it would be awesome to stick it to the entire state of New York.
• Dustin Pedroia needs to be in the running for the MVP of the league.
• Vernon Wells of the Toronto Blue Jays is injured again and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. It’s time for Toronto to concede the season and look towards next year.
• After dropping three in a row, and losing 13-2 to Cleveland as I write this, you know that the Rays are counting the minutes to the All Star break so they can regroup. This is just a bump in the road. They’ll be competitive all year long.
• Is A-Rod dating Madonna really newsworthy? Would this even be in the paper if the Yankees were relevant?

Teams are ranked in order of win/loss record:

YankeeHaters

After a crushing defeat to the Boston Braves this past week, confidence is running high for team YankeeHater. It feels good to finally beat a McLaughlin. I’ll need to avenge my other loss to The Showstoppers in a couple of weeks to really correct the universe, but a five-game lead in the West Division all but assures me a playoff berth.

Love Boat Captains

LBC made a big splash in the trade market this week, dealing Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb for the always dangerous Albert Pujols. This team needed to improve their offense before the playoffs started, and she might need to make one more deal to add some more punch to her sometimes anemic offensive. Whether she makes another move or not, she’s playoff bound.

Boston Braves

After a humiliating defeat by the YankeeHaters and currently in the midst of a two-game losing streak, the Boston Braves are reeling. But this team has the players to turn this thing around and make a solid push to playoffs. Soriano and Oswalt should rejoin his team soon to add a boost.

The Showstoppers

A six-game winning streak? Is that even possible? The Showstoppers are chewing up teams and spitting them out right now. They have a tough game this week against the up-and-down Lessthanzero, and there is a three-way tie for first in the East Division. Of the three teams, The Showstoppers may be the most playoff ready.

SarasotaRedRays, Chickenheads, LessthanZero

These three teams have had an up-and-down season and are currently on the outside looking in. SRR has really struggled as of late, losing four games in a row. These guys may have peaked too early in the season, but they have the players to turn it around. Chickenheads is proving to be a legitimate threat, winning three in a row. They may have finally found the right combination to make a push towards the playoffs. LessthanZero is the one team of these three that can play spoiler. They’re a wild-card that has the potential to knock off the big boys. The injury bug has hit these guys recently, but they still can still make a big run at any time.

MyBestefforts, Bostonbad boys, Roger’s syringe

Thanks for playing. Three of the nicest owners in the league. Unfortunately, they fell behind the eight ball early in the season and have been unable to recover, although I still have hope that they can beat up on the McLaughlins before the playoffs start.

It was announced this morning that the Milwaukee Brewers have already made a huge splash in the trade market with the acquisition of C.C. Sabathia. And when I say it was a huge move, I mean gigantic. And when I say gigantic, I mean FAT.

Have you seen Chocolate Cake Sabathia lately? This dude gets fatter every time I see him. What was Brewers GM Doug Melvin thinking, bringing him to the land of bratwurst, cheese curds and dark beer? That’s like sending a diabetic to work for Willy Wonka. This part-time rental is not going to end well.

Sabathia is a great regular-season pitcher, with 19 wins and a Cy Young Award in 2007. But when Chunk-Butt pitches in October, his ERA climbs to an abysmal 7.17. Combine that with fellow lard-ass and big-game blower Eric Gagne closing games, and it’s good night Milwaukee.

My only question is this: Which will be higher, C.C.’s ERA, or his cholesterol?

Although I’d like to make the team entirely of Red Sox players, I’m going to try to be as impartial as possible, which means there may be a Ray or a Yankee on the team. Ugh!

American League

Catcher: Joe Mauer
Pencil him in for the next ten years.

First Base: Justin Morneau
This was a close race between Youkilis and Morneau. Both players have similar numbers. I just think Morneau is better.

Second Base: Dustin Pedroia
This guy is a great hitter and an under-appreciated defender. His defense gives him a slight edge over Ian Kinsler.

Third base: Alex Rodriguez
After a controversial week in the tabloids, this selection should soothe the Material Girl’s pain.

Shortstop: Michael Young
Sorry, Jeter. I know that this is the last year in Yankee Stadium, but Young is better than you.

Outfield: Josh Hamilton, Grady Sizemore, Carlos Quinton
There have been some great performances by AL outfielders during the first half of the season. These three have been the best.

Designated Hitter: Milton Bradley
Even with one arm, I think Big Papi should be the DH. But I’m afraid that Bradley will hunt me down and beat me to a pulp if he’s not picked.

Starting Pitcher: Cliff Lee
11-1, 2.26 ERA. Lee has been the biggest pitching surprise in the league.

Reserves:
Dioner Navarro C
Kevin Youkilis 1B
Ian Kinsler 2B
Brian Roberts 2B
Evan Longoria 3B
Derek Jeter SS
B.J. Upton OF
Nick Markakis OF
Ichiro Suzuki OF
J.D. Drew OF
Roy Halladay SP
Ervin Santana SP
James Shields SP
Justin Duchscherer SP
Joe Saunders SP
Gavin Floyd SP
Jon Lester SP
Jonathan Papelbon RP
Francisco Rodriguez RP
Mariano Rivera RP

National League

Catcher: Russell Martin
Martin is in a class by himself. Easily the best catcher in baseball.

First Base: Lance Berkman
After an amazing first half, Berkman is the NL MVP.

Second Base: Chase Utley
24 ding-dongs on the season so far. He has carried the Phillies.

Third base: Larry Jones
Grown men shouldn’t be called Chipper, even when they hit close to .400.

Shortstop: Hanley Ramirez
This guy makes the game look easy. He’s a lock for the next ten years.

Designated Hitter: Ryan Howard
I like that this guy will either strikeout or go yard. There is no in-between.

Outfield: Nate McLouth, Carlos Beltran, Ryan Braun
These three aren’t the biggest names in the National League, but they’ve been carrying their respective teams.

Starting Pitcher: Tim Lincecum
This kid weighs 120 pounds and throws 98 MPH. The fact that he’s 10-1 and is the lone bright spot on the Giants also helps.

Reserves:
Geovany Soto C
Brian McCann C
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Derrek Lee 1B
Dan Uggla 2B
David Wright 3B
Jose Reyes SS
Miguel Tejada SS
Carlos Lee OF
Pat Burrell OF
Matt Holliday OF
Edinson Volquez SP
Brandon Webb SP
Dan Haren SP
Cole Hamels SP
Ben Sheets SP
Ryan Dempster SP
Kerry Wood RP
Jose Valverde RP
Brad Lidge RP

So there you have it, the official thefoulline.com 2008 All Star Team.

The birds are singing, and things seem to be OK.

After watching the Red Sox get out-hit, out-pitched, outplayed and out-cheered the last three nights, I wasn’t so sure that was going to happen. But here we are - it’s a new day and we have the damn Yankees to focus on.

There’s a lot of baseball left to played. Let’s turn this thing around.

Thefoulline.com quick hits

• After receiving threats in the mail a few days ago, Sox players avoided fans in the stands like they had the ebola virus (with David Aardsma being the exception, but I think he may have a few screws loose anyway).
• Walking into the game last night and seeing ex-Sox player Bill Lee in attendance signing autographs I thought was going to be a good omen. It wasn’t.
• Evan Longoria is a great ballplayer, but after watching him interact with the young fans in the crowd, I think he is an even better person. Within two years, this guy is going to be the most popular player in baseball.
• With Terry Francona picking the reserves for the All-Star Game, I think Longoria just secured a spot on the roster.
• Funny observation of the night: The Red Sox coaches warm up as if they are playing that night. I watched as Brad Mills and Luis Alicea played some long toss before the game. After watching the Sox bullpen implode last night, they could have used them.
• Three games, three dumb moves by Francona. Game 1: Not pinch hitting Sean Casey for Lugo in the 9th inning. Game 2: Having the ice-cold Jason Varitek pinch hit. Game 3: Keeping Craig Hansen in the game too long and having him walk half the Rays lineup.
• Bonus dumb move from Game 3: Having the above mentioned Varitek do a hit and run with the slowest guy on the team standing on first base. It was a recipe for failure.
• Manny sucks.
• What a relief, Boston has four games against the Yankees.
• 3 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay Rays feels like 100 right now.
• Thanks to the Rays fan who jump started my truck in the parking lot after the game. I take back some of the bad stuff I’ve said about their kind in the past.

What’s that, there are still 80 games left to be played?? Are you sure? I was listening to Sports Radio 620 WDAE this morning and according to them, this season is over.

On Tampa’s Ron and Ian show this morning these guys could not say enough about how the Rays are going to kill the Sox this week, and how Boston is a bunch of chumps. These are the same guys that predicted during the pre-season that the Rays would finish below .500. What I don’t understand is how the Rays will win the World Series and still finish with a losing record.

Could this be yet another Florida newspaper/talk show/news reporter jumping on the Rays bandwagon? This is nothing new for this area. After all, the same thing already happened when the Bucs and Lightning were suddenly contenders, so why not jump on the Rays’ wagon? What I find really funny is last year the Tampa Tribune and St. Pete Times had absolutely zero Rays coverage. It was difficult to even find the box score. Now these sports sections are all Rays, all the time.

I wonder what they are going to replace this section with when September rolls around. Oh, I know, the Buccaneers will be getting ready to start their season. Crisis averted.

Everyone loves a winner. This is evident by every Tom, Dick and Harry that is suddenly a “lifelong” Rays fan. Some of these fans can even tell you the names of a a few of the Devil Rays that were on the team last year.

But a true fan follows their team and voices their support regardless of their record.

I look forward to seeing and hearing how this all plays out in the Tampa media when Thursday rolls around, and once again the Rays are looking up at the Red Sox.

After a career that has spanned 17 years and included 3 World Series titles, 6 All Star Games, 11 postseason wins, countless opinions, and one bloody sock, Curt Schilling may have thrown his last pitch in a Major League uniform.

But it wasn’t supposed to end like this.

Guys like Schilling don’t just walk away from the game with an injury. They’re supposed to walk off the field for the last time during the seventh game of the World Series, to an adoring crowd and a standing ovation.

A lot has been said over the years about Schilling’s history of having an opinion on pretty much every subject. Words like egomaniac, self-indulgent, and blowhard have often preceded his name, but I always took Schilling’s view on things with a grain of salt. I couldn’t care less who he thought should be our next President. I cared about his pitching. And when it mattered, there have been few pitchers over the years that could elevate their game the way Curt Schilling did.

Schilling will always be remembered by Red Sox Nation for the bloody sock game during the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees, and for the leadership he showed in helping the Red Sox win their first World Series in 86 years. Those games were obviously incredible and will never be forgotten, but the Schilling game that stands out for me was in 2005. Keith Foulke had gone down with an injury, and suddenly Boston was in need of a closer. Schilling putting the team ahead of himself, volunteering to work out of the bullpen for his first time in fourteen years. Of course, the experiment didn’t last, and Schilling got shelled. But he put the team ahead of his personal statistics, and my opinion of him changed that day.

I don’t think Curt Schilling has the career numbers to make it to the Hall of Fame. He never won the Cy Young award and hasn’t won 300 games, both of which tend to be the main criteria for induction. But if there is a wing in Cooperstown that rewards heart, determination, and leadership, then Schilling would be in on the first ballot.

And who knows, we may one day see #38 join the list along side 1 4 8 9 27 42.

In no particular order:

THE GOOD

Boston Braves
These guys have a knack for finding obscure pitchers and getting quality starts from them (i.e. Kyle Lohse). Plus, this outfield puts up a thousand points a week. He’s dialed in. He has a pretty good match-up this week against the SarasotaRedRays. I don’t see BB relinquishing first place of the East Division anytime soon.

YankeeHaters
One of these days I’m going to figure out which pitchers to start each week. I left Johan Santana and Felix Hernandez on the bench and paid for it with a closer game than I anticipated. This week I have a really tough game against the surging Showstoppers. This will be the game of the week. I really don’t want to lose to another McLaughlin. “Shake and Bake” Matt!

Love Boat Captains
The losing streak is over! LBC is getting some good points from her Boston connection in Ellsbury and Youkilis, and her pitching staff has returned to form. Now that the kinks have been worked out, look for this chick to make a run at taking out the Boston Braves.

THE (NOT SO) BAD

The Showstoppers
This team is the real deal. They are putting up a load of points and dominating their opponents. Now that they’re over .500, can they continue this stretch? I’m guessing that the McLaughlins have set up a war room at their house and are figuring out how to take out the competition. The trash talking may go up a notch this week as The Showstoppers take on the Yankeehaters.

SarasotaRedRays
SRR has lost three in a row and is clinging to its playoff hopes. They face another tough team this week in the Boston Braves. Will SRR play like the team from a month ago, or are they going to fade into mediocrity? This is an important week for these guys.

Lessthanzero
I know I’ve said it before, but these guys are much better than their 5-6 record. They once again put up 400+ points in a crushing defeat to the Bostonbad boys. When they’re on their game, no one is going to beat them. Consistency is the key for this team.

MyBestEfforts
Despite his best efforts, he was unable to stop the Showstoppers this week. MBE has been fighting the injury bug all year but is still putting up decent numbers. With the return of Jake Peavy and Ryan Doumit, MBE may be on the cusp of putting it all together.

THE UGLY

Bostonbad boys
Chipper Jones missing a few games and a poor performance from his pitching staff led to another losing week for BBB. Maybe the return of Dice K this week will turn this team’s luck around, but with a tough game against the LBC, there is a better chance that a monkey will fly out of my butt. LBC by 100.

Chickenheads
This team has some of the biggest names in baseball on the roster, including A-Rod, Pujols, Mauer, and Beltran, as well as some of the most disappointing pitchers in the league in Brad Penny and Brett Myers. If this team would play to its potential they could be tough, but it may be too little too late at this point.

Roger’s Syringe
Dylan had bigger fish to fry this week than fantasy baseball, as he and his Dad won the prestigious Charlotte County Father-Son golf tournament. Congrats Hamiltons, and good luck this week against MyBestefforts.

Good luck to all the teams this week (except The Showstoppers)!

Despite the large amount of stress that this could cause, it’s refreshing to see that the Rays have been able to keep their sense of humor. I was reading the newspaper the other day and came across this quote from Rays pitcher and part-time comedian James Shields, referring to Coco Crisp charging the mound during their game last week: “If he wants to come out and charge the mound, he’s going to feel the wrath. That’s just bottom line. If he wants to go cry about it, that’s fine.”

After closer examination of the brawl, I noticed a few things. First, Shields threw the worst punch that I’ve ever seen. He really should look at what he’s swinging at. Secondly, when involved in a fight, you really should take your baseball glove off.

Now I’m not a boxing expert, but when Shields missed his punch by six inches, was that the “unleashing of the wrath?” His punch did nothing more than dry out Coco’s contact lenses from the wind blowing by.

These two teams meet again June 30th at Sam’s Wholesale Warehouse… I mean Tropicana Field. It’s going to be an exciting series that should provide some fireworks. Let’s hope that with all the bad blood between these teams, that they will sell this place out (for the the 12th time… ever).

I’ll definitely be there along with the other 20,000+ Red Sox fans.

I just hope Shields will keep his wrath contained.

With that being said, 3rd base coach DeMarlo Hale body slamming James Shields was awesome.

Thefoulline.com Quick Hits:

• I would trade Coco Crisp for James Shields/Jonny Gomes any day of the week.
• The Red Sox are a close-knit team, but you have to figure if anyone is going to fight in the Sox dugout, it’s going to be Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez. Youk is an intense, hardworking, blue-collar player. Manny is a naturally talented, lazy idiot. I’d be surprised if this was the first fight between the two.
• With Manny’s contract up at the end of this season, I think Boston should make a serious run at Colorado Rockies Matt Holliday. He’s younger than Manny, would have a comparable salary, can play left field, and would absolutely destroy Fenway Park.
• Please, please, please…. let’s hope Jacoby Ellsbury didn’t break his wrist in last night’s game. If he did, the Sox are in big trouble. Ellsbury has been doing a great job as Boston’s table-setter.
• After last night’s basebrawl game, the Rays are now neck-and-neck with the Yankees as public enemy number one at thefoulline.com
• Jonny Gomes, Carl Crawford, and Akinori Iwamura are a bunch of punks. These three are the biggest cheap-shot artists I have ever seen. Punching Coco when he was being he held down by Dioner Navarro was cowardly. These three should receive longer suspensions than both Coco and Shields.
• I have to mention Joba Chamberlain’s performance the other night at Yankee stadium: 2.1 innings, 148 pitches, 4 walks, 55,000 dejected fans, one foolish looking owner. Question: If a guy is playing great in the set-up role, why mess with that? Answer: Hank Steinbrenner is a friggin moron.
• I hope the Rays enjoyed their 22 days in first place of the American League East. It will be the last time they sniff first for the rest of the year.