Alex Kreitman - Stealing signs

We’re approaching the halfway point in the 2008 Major League Baseball season and who would’ve guessed or predicted that the Tampa Bay Rays would be in first place in the always competitive American League East.

Not me and not anyone.

I don’t know if it was dropping the word “Devil” from the Mascot name or what, but these Tampa Bay guys are really lighting it up against the toughest competition. But if the Rays are to be a serious contender come September then they must learn to beat their division rivals, the Red Sox.

The Rays swept the Sox during their first meeting which seemed like ages ago, but have been swept in the last two series giving Boston a 3-6 edge on the season. Tampa Bay is 5-5 against the third-place New York Yankees.

Money has been the name of the game in the A.L. East for awhile now, with Boston’s payroll at just over $133 million and New York’s at a little over $209 million. Toronto comes up shy of $100 million and Baltimore’s is around $67 million, but the Rays come in at just under $44 million, way lower than their competition.

So what gives?

The Rays own the best record in the entire league and have 49 wins, second to only the Sox. A few other clubs also have 49. But Tampa Bay is having success with its youngsters. It has been developing a tremendous farm system through its tough times at the Major League level. While the Rays have been sucking, the Durham Bulls and other minor league squads have had success.

Another big test though comes tonight when the Rays play host to the second-place Red Sox. Tampa Bay needs to win the series here to make a statement heading into the All-Star break. Look for tensions to be high since last time out is when Coco Crisp got into it with pitcher James Shields. The benches cleared and a major brawl ensued. Look for some fireworks in response to that. I wouldn’t be surprised if Crisp got beaned once or twice in the series.

Shields pitches tonight in the comfort of Tropicana Field. But I don’t know if he’ll be too comfortable there since most road venues are havens for visiting Sox fans. We Bostonians travel well to support our guys. Look for a lot of boos tonight.

You can watch Wednesday night’s game on ESPN. I wish I could watch, but I just moved and won’t have cable.

I grew up idolizing Ken Griffey Jr. I can remember my brother and me gawking at his unbelievable catches over the fence and the bone-crushing home runs he hit out of the old Kingdome in Seattle.

That seems like ages ago and in some ways it was. I was just a kid then and so was Griffey, hitting his first homer as a teenager. Griffey is 38 now and finally reached the 600 home run mark Monday afternoon.

As Griffey came up in the majors I had no doubt he’d break Hank Aaron’s home run record and Roger Maris’ single-season mark. He’s done neither. He skyrocketed to 300 homers, then 400 and 450, but after that his career slowed. Griffey battled injuries for much of his 30’s which has kept him from reaching his potential.

But by reaching 600 Griffey is back on the radar and national stage where he belongs. I’ve felt bad for Griffey during his quest for 600 because he’s received such little attention. This man survived the steroid era without using or being accused. He truly is one of the greatest to ever play the game. But somehow along the way his name got lost in the shuffle of needles and syringes.

We forgot a man who brought entertainment and amazement to the ball field night after night and was clean while doing it. Why don’t we hold Griffey in higher regard? We should. 600 is special and he’s the first in a long time to do it without a question mark or even though of an asterisk next to his name. I applaud Griffey and hope he stays healthy and can reach more milestones.

Of course I have to discuss the NBA Finals again because I’m counting down the hours until tonight’s Game 3. Today I’d like to talk about how Phil Jackson isn’t as good of a coach as everyone thinks. For this I will give one recent piece of evidence to support this wild claim.

Boston’s Leon Powe had the game of his life Sunday and dominated the Lakers, driving through the line and dunking of the Lakers defense over and over. His name is pronounced Po. After the game, Jackson was asked about Powe’s performance and Jackson referred to him as Pow, totally mispronouncing his name.

How do you not know the name of a player on the opposite team in the NBA Finals? That right there says to me that the Jackson’s Lakers aren’t prepared. Lucky for L.A. the players know his name. Jackson is just foolish for getting that name wrong. I hope Powe comes back and has another monster Game 3 and shoves it in Jackson’s face.

Also, Jackson is one of the greatest coaches all-time, resume wise, but he’s won with superstars. Every team he’s had has been filled with studs. I mean who couldn’t win championships with Michael Jordan? There’s no coaching involved on that team. Then Kobe Bryant and Shaq put together, it’s the same story. This is the weakest Laker team and I honestly don’t think coaching plays much of a role. I think it’s all Bryant all the time with this squad. Kobe has devloped as more a of a leader and I think his performance impacts the team. He is the reason the Lakers are in the finals, not Jackson. He’s just a name with a legacy.

The Boston Celtics took Game One of the NBA Finals from the L.A. Lakers on Thursday night, but not without a scare.

After starting the third quarter red hot, Paul Pierce came down awkwardly with teammate Kendrick Perkins and hit the floor in pain. Pierce remained on the ground for several minutes and had to be carried off the court by teammates and trainers. Pierce was examined in the locker room and about 15 minutes later, walked back out onto the court on his own power. The entire TD Bank North crowd erupted. Click here for game highlights.

Any sports fans, except if you’re rooting for the Lakers, had to think that re-entrance was awesome. It was exciting and dramatic, but what made it even more special is that just minutes after returning, Pierce hit two back-to-back 3’s that put the Celtics on top, pretty much for good.

After the first game I feel confident that Boston will win the series. The Big Three dominated the game, especially Kevin Garnett. He looked unbeatable in the paint and his jump shot is lights out. He’s one of the best jump shooters for a big man in NBA history.

Also, Kobe Bryant didn’t look sharp. He missed tons of shots, mostly because he wasn’t used to the swarming defense of Pierce and James Posey. The shots he did make were because he’s one of the best. He made a few jumpers that I thought he’d hit the ceiling he jumped so high over everyone.

It was an exciting start to the series though and I’m so pumped that the finals are back in Boston.

I hate to dedicate an entire blog to Boston sports, OK no I don’t, but the Red Sox made headlines last night too. Perhaps trying to steal the spotlight from the Celtics, the Sox were involved in a bench-clearing brawl against the Tampa Bay Rays. Click here to watch.

First off, I need to back up my boy Coco Crisp who started the altercation by charging the mound after being intentionally hit by a pitch. With that said, I wished he hadn’t charged the mound and he was out of line by doing so. I’m still going to back him up though and say he had some reason to charge the mound and definitely had reason to be upset, especially after.

As Crisp arrived to the mound, pitcher Scott Shields swung, but Crisp dodged the punch and the two went at it. Then Rays players Johnny Gomes and Carl Crawford jumped on the pile, apparently clawing and scratching at Crisp and pulling his hair.

It was an ugly brawl and I doubt the bad blood is over. Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees are also not the closest of friends. I applaud the Rays though for sticking up to the bullies. They’ve been the bottom of the A.L. East since their existence, but are now standing up and fighting back. Maybe it’d seem like they did a better job standing up for themselves if they didn’t play so dirty and they actually won a few games during the series. The Sox swept the Rays to retake first place.

Kasey Kahne won Sunday’ Coca-Cola 600 and Greg Biffle finished second. Sound familiar? It should.

The pair finished first and second in last week’s All-Star race, also at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte. What are the odds?

If you really think about this it seems unlikely that the same two drivers would finish first and second in consecutive weeks at the same tracks. I guess they just have the track mastered and their pit crews did nice work in keeping their cars ready.

I had a great week in my fantasy NASCAR league even though I didn’t start either driver. Instead I started Dale Earnhardt Jr. who finished fifth and Kyle Busch who ended up third, both good finishes in terms of points for my league. My picks helped me leapfrog from third to first place.

A recurring issue in Major League Baseball has come to the front of conversations around the diamond this season. That’s the issue of instant replay and whether or not baseball should adopt it.

My opinion is that the league absolutely should. It is a shame when we’ve seen several incorrect calls made about home runs. Was it over the wall was it not? Why not just use instant replay to make sure it’s right. Teams are losing games over these bad calls. I don’t want it to be used for everything, but I think fair and foul balls and home run is a good line to draw.

I hope commissioner Bud Selig hurries up and gets this done. I don’t want to have to see any more blown calls that decide games.

I attended Elon University’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show viewing party Monday and it was pretty cool watching the seeds unveiled on ESPN.

Of course the room erupted when Elon was announced as the No. 3 seed in the Cary region, hosted by the North Carolina Tar Heels, but not as loud as you’d think.

The vibe was that the Phoenix wanted to go elsewhere, somewhere more exotic and exciting, but it’ll settle for Cary. And one would have to think Elon would be disappointed in a No. 2 seed seeing that it won the regular season and conference tournament titles. But, either way, it stands a good shot at making some noise since it beat the top seed in the region 2-0 earlier this year in Cary.

Elon opens with UNC Wilmington, the No. 2 seed on Friday at 2 p.m. The Phoenix split the season series with the Seahawks 1-1 with each team winning on the road.

I have to admit I got a little emotional last night when I turned on ESPN.

I don’t like to think of myself as a softy, but whenever there is something really genuine and heartwarming in sports, I tend to get a little mushy. That happened Monday night.

Cancer survivor Jon Lester pitched a no-hitter for the Boston Red Sox against the Kansas City Royals. When I saw manager Terry Francona embrace Lester as the celebration ensued around them, I just about lost it with a gigantic fist pump tied in. I was so happy for him. It was one of those happy-sad moments, similar to when the Sox beat the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS and then went on to win the World Series.

Those moments don’t happen often but when they do I’m a sucker for them.

Lester’s story is a special one. At the end of the 2006 season Lester, 22, was diagnosed with a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer in the blood. Lester began treatment immediately and doctors weren’t sure he would survive the disease let alone pitch again.

At such a young age Lester was a bright young star coming up with the Red Sox. Teams begged for him to be included in trade packages, but the Sox wouldn’t budge. Then when the cancer struck it was sad to see someone with so much ahead of them have to suffer through such a horrible disease. But Lester was strong.

As baseball went on without him, Lester battled cancer. Then the news came that he had beaten the big C and would be ready to pitch again for the 2007 season, but the Red Sox didn’t want to rush him back.

But Monday night that feel-good story got even better. Lester tossed the 18th no-hitter in Red Sox history and the fourth caught by catcher Jason Varitek, a modern-day record.

The compliments and emotions were flying after the game from teammates and coaches. Francona said Lester is like a son to him and spoke of how proud he is. I think we all are, and we’re all extremely happy for the youngster to have found life again.

Being pushed down by a deadly disease Lester rose up and knocked down the horrible condition. He’s back on top of the world and his strength and perseverance should be admired by all. Because in such a remarkable and heartwarming case, there’s no sense in shedding some emotion for something so wonderful.

After taking over the top spot in the Southern Conference last weekend, Elon University has lost three straight games.

The Phoenix (28-11 overall, 12-3 conference) lost to Western Carolina, High Point and Coastal Carolina, matching its longest losing streak of the season.

This isn’t the best time for Elon to be entering what might its toughest three-game set of the year with a trip to Charleston, SC on tap. Elon begins a series with College of Charleston on Friday.

The Cougars have owned the SoCon in recent years except in 2006 when the Phoenix claimed the regular season crown. College of Charleston did go on to win the conference tournament.

College of Charleston (25-12, 8-4) is coming off a three-game sweep last weekend against Furman and for the first time in a long time, it was the Cougars doing the sweeping. The Paladins took three straight in a major upset. Elon swept Furman earlier this year.

The rest of the season has a lot of road work for the Phoenix, but the competition isn’t all that stiff after College of Charleston. Leaving with a series victory this weekend is crucial for Elon’s hopes at winning another regular season conference title.

Elon plays host to Wake Forest next week at Latham Park in non-conference action which would indeed be a resume builder after taking a hit with the loss to 14-22 High Point on Tuesday.

If Elon can finish strong, an at-large big in the NCAA Tournament is a strong possibility.

While on the subject of baseball, my favorite sport, I should mention Thursday night’s marathon. The Colorado Rockies defeated the San Diego Padres in 22 innings. What a long game, but the more impressive part is the score, especially since neither team scored a run until the 14^th inning.

The game didn’t end until 1:21 a.m. and was the longest game in the majors in 15 years. Petco Park was nearly empty when the game finally ended after 6 hours and 16 minutes.

I can only imagine how horrible it must feel to lose a game after 22 innings. But it must feel just as good to win.

I hate that I do this, but every Sunday I pull for Tiger Woods.

I know he’s always the favorite and he’s the best golfer in the world and everyone else pulls for him, but I just have to.

I like the guy and I enjoy watching him play and win. I like nothing better than seeing him creep up the leaderboard on Sunday. This time, that didn’t really happen.

Sure, he crept up the leaderboard, but he really never contended.

All the talk leading up to The Masters was about Woods finally completing the grand slam, winning all four majors in the same year. But losing the first makes the rest of the season almost pointless. I know there will be great golf tournaments, awesome shots and exciting finishes, but in April, we already know there won’t be a grand slam. Tiger finished second.

But I do have to credit Trevor Immelman because he stayed on top of the leaderboard for most of the tournament and never caved under pressure. Even with windy conditions Sunday, he never slipped far enough down for Woods to catch him. Her also lucked out that Woods only shot even-par, but he didn’t blow up, which makes him deserving of the green jacket.

I was able to sneak out for a round of my own Sunday. I hit up Indian Valley Golf Course for a round of 18. I’m trying to get out on the course more often to improve my game and it seems to be working.

I shot an 87 yesterday which is a good score for me. A few years ago I used to flirt with 100, but now I seem to be flirting with 90.  Basically, I’m keeping the ball in play and hitting it straight. The biggest accomplishment for me yesterday was avoiding the blowup hole.

I always seem to have at least one blowup hole. Usually a hole in which I throw a club, curse loudly, get really pissed off and of course finish with an 8 or worse. But Sunday I didn’t have that and my worst score was a double-bogey 6. I had five of those, mixed in with a lot of pars and bogeys. I missed three birdie putts by inches, so I feel like a left a few strokes out there. Hopefully next time out I can get those putts to drop.

The Red Sox and Yankees closed out their first series of the series with my beloved Sox taking a 2-1 series victory. New York took Game 1 on Friday night, but Boston fought back to take the last two.

It wasn’t a super exciting series, but still had some good story lines. New York’s prize pitcher Phil Hughes choked last night, getting the early boot in the third inning after allowing what seemed like 10 runs, but was more like seven.

Hughes, pitching in his first game at Fenway Park was obviously nervous for the rivalry. A-Rod stunk, going 0-for-4.

The rivalry took on a new twist last week after it was discovered that a construction worker working on the new Yankee Stadium buried a Red Sox jersey in concrete in the new stadium.

Saturday, the Yankees had the jersey dug up. It took five hours to remove the David Ortiz jersey that Gino Castignoli, a longtime Red Sox fan planted there to supposedly start a curse against the Yankees. Click here to watch video.

To me it’s kind of a funny story, but the part that is ridiculous is that the Yankees are now talking to the New York district attorney about filing criminal charges against Castignolli. Filing charges would be ridiculous.

This was a harmless prank. There are plenty of people out there doing much worse things that it is so unnecessary to waste the DA’s time with this. This man isn’t a criminal; he’s just a diehard fan like me. Granted, I wouldn’t go to his extremes, but either way, it didn’t hurt anyone, just laugh it off and let it be.

I think the Yanks are just bitter that they seem to be on the short end of the rivalry these days.

I spent Tuesday from 2-5:30 p.m. with heads phones glued to my ears because it was the home opener for the Boston Red Sox.

I had to balance work and the Red Sox because it’s like my religion.

The Fenway Park opener is like a holiday back home in Boston and every year it is one of the biggest regular season games of the year, next to any Yankees game of course.

Bostonians skip work, miss school and the city basically shuts down during the nine-inning affair because it’s that big of a deal.

I remember back as a kid in elementary school we’d wear Red Sox gear to school and watch the game while eating popcorn and snacks instead of doing math problems or reading. It was great.

This year’s game was no different, well, except for the first pitch.

Bill Bucker, the long-time hated former Red Sox first baseman threw out the first pitch. In case you’ve been asleep the last 22 years, Bucker is the guy who let the 1986 World Series championship slip through Boston’s grasp. With two outs in the ninth of Game 6 he let a slow ground ball go through his legs which allowed the winning run to score for the New York Mets.

The Mets would go on to win Game 7 and capture the Series. Buckner would forever be hated in Boston for keeping the Curse alive.

But not really forever.

On Tuesday, Buckner walked across the green Fenway grass and to the pitcher’s mound. The entire journey must’ve seemed like an eternity for Buckner. But then as he walked, he received a standing ovation. He must’ve been ecstatic.

Never did I ever think I’d see the day when Bill Buckner would receive a warm reception, let alone a standing ovation in Boston. But with the curse in the past, we have no reason to hate him anymore. The error was a mistake anyone could have made, but he made it, and suffered the rest of his life because of it.

He spent the last 22 years dealing with one play, one error, and one simple mistake with huge consequences.

Buckner cried a lot Tuesday and they were tears of joy. He must’ve been thrilled to finally have his life back. Boston fans will always remember the 86′ Series, but we won’t hate on Buckner any longer.

It was a wonderful site to see during the 2008 home opener and I will remember that day as vividly as I recall the highlights from that horrible October night in Shea Stadium.

I left work Monday night and rushed home to catch some opening day baseball.

The Red Sox weren’t playing and the weather was awful, cold and rainy, but I had to watch a few innings anyway.

Lucky for baseball fans, there was some great action on the first day. I turned on ESPN2 and watched the end of the Milwaukee Brewers at the Chicago Cubs.

Opening Day at Wrigley Field is border line more special than the opener at Fenway Park. I said border line, not is is mors special, because it isn’t. Either way, it’s still great. The game was tied 0-0 going into the ninth inning when Cubs closer Kerry Wood, let up three runs in the top of the ninth, putting the Cubbies in a big hole.

That didn’t matter. The Brewers new closer, Eric “I stink” Gagne blew the lead and allowed a game-tying three-run home run to Cubs rookie sensation Kosuke Fukudome. It was awesome and Wrigley was electric.

He blasted the homer to left-center field and completed a great afternoon in his MLB debut. He’s also the first Japanese player to ever wear a Cubs uniform.

Unfortunately, the Cubs blew the lead in the 10th, I know what a downer, but it was still a great game. Chicago skipper Lou Pinella even agreed it was a good ball game, despite taking the defeat.

I hope the rest of the season carries as much excitement as that one NL Central game did for me. I love baseball season. The Sox play tonight in their regular-season opener on U.S. soil. They play the Oakland A’s on the West coast.

I found out today that I’m still alive in my March Madness office pool. That means I’ve still got a shot in every pool I’m in. I have UCLA beating North Carolina in the final and if that happens or maybe even if just UCLA wins, I’m looking good. I’m the only one in my office pool with UCLA winning which would be huge because I could use the cash.

Check out everything you need to know about the Final Four at our special section. The section will be updated every day leading up to this weekend’s games. Read up on each team and the tournament history.

With a lull in the sports week as the NCAA Tournament takes a breather, Major League Baseball took center stage. Well, not really.The Boston Red Sox met the Oakland Athletics in Japan to begin the 2008 regular season at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

As a diehard fan I rose early to catch the first pitch, but was outraged to find that it wasn’t on. The game aired on ESPN2, but my cable provider DIRECTV was having technical difficulties that lasted for several hours on that channel.

I was so disappointed. I had been looking forward to watching Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch in front of his hometown fans.

Red Sox opening day for Boston fans is like a holiday. Many skip work and devote an entire day to the event. With the early morning first pitch, Bostonians didn’t have to miss a day at the office, but that doesn’t mean they still didn’t go all out.

Fans packed Boston bars to watch the game with breakfast specials on tap. I wish I could’ve been there for that. My friend Ben told me that fans in his hometown of Portland, Maine attended bars in similar fashion.

The home opener is even a bigger deal. It’s like a religion. I can remember as a grade schooler watching the game during class. Teachers would put the game on and all the work got put on hold. We’d all wear our Red Sox apparel to school and drink soda and eat popcorn. That still hasn’t changed. Now I just shuffle the soda out and roll in some beer.

Even though I couldn’t watch the game at home, that didn’t mean I was giving up. I tried to crawl back to bed for a few extra Z’s, but that didn’t really happen. I decided to head into the office and flip on the game, knowing that it would be on since we don’t have DIRECTV at work.

I got in just in time to see the end. The Red Sox relinquished a slim lead and trailed 4-3. Boston tied it up in the top of the ninth with a solo home run by Brandon Moss, a fill in for J.D. Drew who left with a sore back. Then in the top of the 10th, Manny Ramirez blasted a double to center field that drove in two runs.

Jonathan Papelbon looked shaky in the bottom half of the 10th, but still pulled it together to pick up the save as the Sox won 6-5.

All in all it was an excellent opener. I didn’t get to see much of it, but the end score made my morning. I’ll go for round two Wednesday when the Sox meet the A’s again at 6 a.m. Hopefully the cable company will get their act together, otherwise there could be consequences.