Maranacook Softball Best Team in the State
The Maranacook Black Bears softball team has posted a 14-0 mark with only two games to go in the season. They hold the #1 spot in the Western Maine class “B” healpoint standings. The Black Bears are lead by star pitcher Sarah Maxwell and ms. automatic Heidi Shaw behind the plate. Not only can they play their positions well, but they are the top two hitters on the team as well.
Do not make a mistake thinking the Black Bears are only a defensive team they also can score runs and put lots of pressure on their opponents every game. Everyone in the lineup one through nine finds a way to get on base and all nine position players in the field are solid with their glove.
Hermon Boys Defeat MDI to Lock Up the #5 seed
Last night, the Hawks of Hermon got off to a slow start in the first quarter scoring only three points, but after the huge DUNK by Andy Ball in the second quarter of the contest they never looked back. The Hawks went onto win 54-43 on their homecourt to lock up the #5 seed in Eastern Maine class “B” Boys Basketball healpoint standings. They face Mattanawcook at home on Wednesday, February 11th for a chance to play at the Bangor Auditorium and possibly make a run to the Eastern Maine Finals. Their leading scorer was Andy Ball scoring 15 points. Kevin Tarr and Taylor Gross chipped in with 14 apiece to pace the Hawks over the MDI Trojans. Colton Gross added five, Aaron Jellison with four and Alex Pederson with a bucket also contributed to the Hawks scoring column.
The Hawks are coming off a .500 season from a year ago, losing to Camden Hills in the preliminary playoff round to this year winning 14 games. The Hawks also have a new coach Mark Reed, who stresses defense. The first week of practices this season he did not let his team touch a basketball. The Offense will come, but you need good defense to win a championship. A huge turn around from last season going 9-10 and this year going 14-4.
Let's Go Hawks
Celtics Continue to Roll winning their 16th straight game
The Boston Celtics took their 15th game winning streak into Atlanta last night and survived a scare winning 88-85 over the Hawks. This game was similar to the playoff series last season when the Hawks beat the C’s three straight games in Atlanta to force a game seven. The C’s destroyed them in game seven to eliminate the Hawks from the playoffs. After the early second quarter lead 28-26, the Celtics trailed the entire game but the final four minutes to beat the Hawks. Kevin Garnett led the C’s with 18 points and ten of his 18 points came in the fourth shooting a perfect five-five from the field. Paul Pierce added 18 as well to put the young Hawks away. Joe Johnson was the high point man for the Hawks netting 20 to led all scorers.
Pedroia Snatched the MVP
The hot hitting Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia wins the American League most valuable player award. He is one of the only second baseman in this century to get the award. After only being in the league for two years, this is a pretty big accomplishment for Pedroia. The last Red Sox player to get this award was Mo Vaughn in 1995. The 2007 rookie of the year led the the league in doubles and tied for the league in hits.
BCS standings getting messy
The BCS standings every year come down to the top two teams in college football to play for the BCS championship game. Saturday night, the #1 team in the country Texas got knocked off by underrated Texas Tech (#7) in Lubbock, Texas. They refused to try a field goal that could have potentially won the game; being only down by one point at the time. In the final seconds of the game, Graham Harrell (Quarterback), the hopeful Heisman Trophy Winner threw a ball to Senior wideout Michael Crabtree for the winning score. Texas Tech Red Raiders won the game 39-33 in one of the best games this season. Thousands of fans rushed the field and gathered with the team to celebrate their victory.
In the latest polls Texas Tech is ranked number two in the nation; only behind the Alabama Crimson Tide. They jumped up from number seven to two with the victory. Do you think Texas Tech will run the table and make it all the way to the BCS Championship game (National Championship)?
Red Sox Survive in Series
The Boson Red Sox have came back in American League Championship Series (ALCS) before, but this is one of the most historical victories of all time. In game 5 of the ALCS they were trailing 7-0 against the Rays going into the bottom of the 7th innning with seven outs left when the Sox caught fire. Pedroia started the rally in the 7th with two outs and runners on the corners; when he delivered a single that jump started the high powered offense. Following that big clutch hit Big Papi (David Ortiz) delivered a three run homerun into the right field corner by Pesky Pole that cut the lead to 7-4. The fenway faithful went absolutely nuts and the Red Sox were right back in the game and two batters ago they thought their season was over.
Papelbon in his second inning of work shut down the homerun hitting Rays in the 8th and then stepped in Jason Bay in the bottom of the 8th. The Tampa Rays bullpen struggled walking Bay and next to the plate was J.D. Drew. Drew smashed a crucial two run homerun in the 8th that cut the lead to 7-6 still with no outs in the inning. Three batters later Mark Kotsay came up and smashed a double to deep center just out of the reach of B.J. Upton the Rays center fielder. Dan Wheeler was really rattled at this time and Coco Crisp stepped to the plate the potential winning run. He had a great ten pitch at bat fouling off five or six pitches and finally delivering the game tying single. Announcers said this is one of best postseason at bats of all time; although he tried to strech it into a double and was thrown out at second. At the end of eight innings of play the game was knotted at 7-7.
In the top of the 9th Justin Masterson came out of the bullpen trying to put up a goose egg to give the Red Sox one final chance to put the Rays away. He put two men on base for the homerun hitting Carlos Pena and managed to get him to hit into a double to end the inning. The Red Sox had two men out with no one on base and Youkilis hit a single and a one base error by Longoria that allowed him to get to second base. Jason Bay was up and they intentionally walked him putting men on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. J.D. Drew stepped up to the plate and delivered a huge walk off single with a 3-1 count that allowed Youkilis to come around to score and send the series back to Tampa.
The Red Sox play game 6 tonight in Tampa at the Trop looking force a game 7. Beckett is trying to get his first victory of this year’s postseason and pitch them onto game 7.
Do you think the Red Sox will come back like they have in past and go onto win the World Series?
Red Sox onto ALCS to face Rays
The Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angles Angels in game four of the American League Divison Series on Monday night 3-2. Red Sox are set to take on the Rays in Tampa on Friday night at 8:37 p.m in game one of American League Championship Series. They beat the Angels three games to one in a five game series.
The Red Sox are trying to defend their title winning last year in the World Series against the Colorado Rockies. Since then they have added a left fielder in Jason Bay and a full-time starter Jacoby Ellsbury in center field. Everyone knows that the Red Sox are dangerous in the playoffs.
Do you think the Red Sox will defend their title this year?
Rays Head to Boston for Crucial Divison Series
The Boston Red Sox have been on a tear as of late winning seven of their last ten games. They are led by first baseman Kevin Youklis and second baseman Dustin Pedroia, both candidates for winning the American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Pedroia is hitting an outstanding .330 and Youk is batting .314 for the dangerous Red Sox.
Tampa has been on a losing streak only winning five of their last ten games. They have lost three straight games and have to go to Fenway Park to face the Red Sox. The Rays only lead the Red Sox by one and half games in the A.L. East division. The young Rays will be lucky if they win a game in Boston, especially with the pitching they have to face all three nights. Game one of the series is Lester (13-5), game two is Matsuzaka (16-2) and in final game of the series Tampa has to face Josh Beckett (12-9). It is going to be difficult especially when Tampa still has 14 away games and only seven at the Trop. (Tropicana field is their home field in Tampa, Florida).
Do you think the Rays have a chance to win the American League East Pennant?
The Red Sox will win the American League East Pennant!
The current standings in the American League East are as follows: Tampa Bay Rays in first followed by the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays, and finally the last place New York Yankees. The Rays are in first by one and a half games over the Red Sox, nine and a half over the Blue Jays, and 10 games over the Yankees.
The Rays will not stay in first place for long because of the very tough schedule ahead of them. They play the Red Sox six more times, the Yankees three and the Minnesota Twins four. Also, they are very inexperienced and have never been in a pennant race before. Tampa has 14 away games and seven home left in September, so that could cause a little trouble for the young Rays. They still have two major injuries. Left fielder Carl Crawford and third baseman Evan Longoria are both all-stars. These are huge losses to their team.
The Red Sox should win every series the rest of the season. Dustin Pedroia is having an MVP season batting .330 leading the American League in batting average. Also Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Sean Casey came back from injuries on Friday, which is going to be a huge lift. One major reason that the Sox are going to win the division is that the pitching is doing really well. Matsuzaka and Lester are the Red Sox leading pitchers with combined records of 29-7. The bullpen is anchored with Okie Dokie and Papelbon, the Irish dancer. Papelbon is one of the top three closers in all of baseball. The Red Sox also have the best home record in all of baseball 48-19.
The Yankees are not going to make the playoffs. Their pitching is way too inconsistent and they also have a key injury that has effected them. Staring catcher Jorge Posada is out for the season. The Yanks have lost his great bat from the lineup and they miss him very much. Also, they are leaving a lot of men in on base and failing to drive in the runners. They are lacking clutch hitting this season since their big play makers Jeter and A-Rod are struggling at the plate with runners on base.
Red Sox Struggling On The Road
The Boston Red Sox are one of the worst teams in baseball away from Fenway Park. In there last 10 games on the road, they are only 3-7. They are 21-29 on the road this season. Their bullpen has blown the last few series for them. Not having David Ortiz in the lineup has a huge effect on losses decided by 2 runs or less because he is one of the best clutch hitters in Red Sox history. Once Ortiz is back in the lineup after the All-Star break, I predict the Red Sox will storm back into first place flying past the Tampa Bay Rays. The Red Sox cannot wait to come back to Fenway tonight to face the Minnesota Twins. Daisuke Matsuzaka is looking to earn his 10th victory of the season. Go Sox!!!!!!
Colon Looking Great in 2008
Bartolo Colon pitched a great game late Monday night in Seattle after being injury prone over the past few years. In his second start of the 2008 MLB season, Colon looked like he did two years ago when he won the Cy Young award. Colon was 1-0 coming into this start. He pitched seven strong innings giving up only one earned run and five hits to get his second consecutive victory as a member of the Boston Red Sox.
Colon is the 2005 Cy Young winner playing with the Los Angles Angels. He has been injured for the past three seasons and was picked up by the Boston Red Sox right before the start of the 2008-2009 season. Colon has the experience to be a great pitcher and potentially dominate the American League East divison. His injuries could effect his performance, but if he makes a full comeback, the Red Sox will have made the best pickup in recent MLB history.
Do you think Bartolo Colon will win more than 10 games this season?
Red Sox Rapper and Papelbon River Dancer
Check out the following videos from the 2008 Hermon High School’ “Mr. Hermon” competition. In the talent portion of the event, Ryan performed as a Red Sox Rapper. There was also a required dance. Ryan danced with Vicki McLaughlin, a Hermon High teacher. They danced the River Dance made popular by Jonathan Papelbon during the Red Sox run to the 2007 World Series. You probably don’t want to know what happened during the “Pick Your Fate” part of the competion (Fear Factor Smoothies).
Ryan went on to win and become “Mr. Hermon 2008″. We all know that there is no bigger Red Sox fan than Ryan. It was only fitting for him to choose to perform these tunes. And you thought that Ryan was just a sports fan and blogger. Check him out on video. More video may be coming soon!
Ryan Kimball Red Sox Rapper
Ryan Kimball & Vicki McLaughlin River Dancers Extraordinaire
Red Sox Don’t Stoop to Retaliate
I presume that most everyone watching the Thursday April 17 night game between the Red Sox and Yankees felt a bit of an adrenaline surge when the Yankee pitcher threw a pitch directly behind Manny Ramirez’s head after Manny hit two homeruns and singled in his first 4 at-bats. The television announcers familiar with the foolishness of the tit for tat antics of baseball’s boys of summer kept all of us wondering for innings if Beckett or his relief team would bean A-Rod or Jeter. If I was A-Rod, Jeter, or any other Yankee player, I would be angry at my team’s pitcher who threw dangerously behind a player knowing that I might be getting beaned in my next at-bat. When are the players going to realize that a baseball can kill. If death or permanent damage ever results knowing it’s not an accident, I predict the Congress and world opinion to come pouncing. The Commissioner of baseball
I am impressed that the reigning world champions showed the class they did (thanks Beckett and Papelbon!). They could have ignited an old rivalry making Yankee-Red Sox encounters even more nasty while further embarrassing a game that can’t seem to shake off the “steroid era”. I place the blame firmly on MLB leadership and the player’s union for the awkward way that steroid news has come forth can be placed. They had plenty of time to be at least a little bit proactive. Instead, they let Jose Conseco take the lead. At least someone want to make sure the truth comes out evnetually even though he is riding the wave all the way to the bank.
UMaine Cheerleaders Headed to NCAA National Championships
Yes, cheering is a sport requiring strength, stamina, and hundreds of hours of practice and workouts. My big sister Lauren was a great gymnast and she is the best cheerleader ever. Check her out! She spends most of the time in the front middle during dance portions and flying and tumbling the rest of the time. Our whole family is very proud of her amazing commitment to her team. Early morning workouts, college courses, working with 2-3 year-olds, and late night cheering practices are more than most people could ever handle. Go get ‘em Laur! You are the best!
