Wow, what was once a sure bet that the Red Sox would make the playoffs has turned into a disaster as the Rays have fought to within two games of Boston in the A.L. Wild Card race.
Tampa Bay has done this by sweeping the Red Sox last week in Florida and then taking 3-of-4 this weekend at Fenway Park. The Red Sox are reeling and if they do make the playoffs it looks like it will be due only to the Rays running out of time.
Watching this series showed the Red Sox biggest problem - their weak pitching staff. Even in their lone win, Josh Beckett only went six innings. The Rays have better pitching and that takes the pressure off the rest of their team.
The Red Sox close the season with seven games with the Orioles and three games in New York against the Yankees. The Rays finish up with seven games versus the Yankees and three with the Blue Jays.
That schedule does favor the Red Sox but with the likes of Kyle Weiland starting games in a playoff race does not give me great hope. I do think they will hold on but things are not looking good for the Sox...
The landscape of college sports is once again changing. Following the decision by Texas A&M to bolt the Big 12 for the SEC, Syracuse and Pittsburgh have announced they will depart the Big East for the ACC with fellow Big East member UConn looking to also jump to the ACC.
While Texas A&M's jump to the SEC and the rumored move of Texas and Oklahoma to the Pac-12 are focused around football, the ACC's newest additions will make them the best basketball conference in the country.
Syracuse and Pittsburgh will join North Carolina and Duke at the top of the ACC hoop hierarchy and if UConn were to also join (along with a school like Louisville?) then the ACC would surpass the Big East as the dominant power in college hoops...
It's sad that the Big East is on the verge of falling apart on the same weekend that Dave Gavitt, the great Providence hoop coach and founder of the Big East, passed away at the age of 73.
Gavitt was the President of the Celtics in the early 1990's and was the de facto general manager of USA Basketball when the one and only Dream Team grabbed the Gold Medal at the 1992 Olympics but he will forever be remembered for making a handful of colleges in the Northeast into a force in college basketball...
Enjoy Matt Ryan tonight...
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