Carl On The Red Sox and Isiah Thomas'

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East Coast Bias- October 29, 2007

Today's Headlines

- Sox Sweep, Changes in the Bronx

- NFL Rundown

- College Football Rundown



On today's show we start with the World Series and the domination by the Red Sox. We wrapup the week that was in the NFL and finish strong with our College Football Rundown highlighting the best games of Saturday. Look for the ECB NBA Preview Show this Thursday followed by our second mailbag!

Also, check out this wild finish to the Trinity vs. Millsaps College Football game.

Boston Red Sox Sweep The Colorado Rockies

The Red Sox won their second World Series crown in four years, sweeping the Rockies with a 4-3 win in Game 4. Jon Lester tossed shutout ball into the sixth inning and gave up just three hits on his way to his first career playoff win. Take into consideration that this kid was undergoing chemotherapy at this time last year for cancer.

Rookies Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury played phenomenal ball all series, especially Ellsbury who ended hitting .438 in the series. What a thrill it must be for them and the two Japanese stars, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima, to accomplish something in their first years that some veterans never get to celebrate, a World Series crown.

Third baseman Mike Lowell took MVP honors after hitting .400 in the Series with four RBIs, three walks and six runs scored. After battling back from a 3-1 deficit against Cleveland in the AL Championship Series, Boston won seven straight games to earn the seventh championship in franchise history.

Breaking News: Joe Girardi New Yankees Skipper

The Yankees have officially offered their managerial job to Joe Girardi. He is expected to take the deal that is reportedly worth $6 million over three years.

Girardi caught for the Yankees from 1996-99, served as a bench coach in 2005, then managed the Marlins the following year and was NL Manager of the Year. He was then promptly fired apparently for clashing with owner Jeffrey Loria and other management.

The 43-year-old Girardi turned down the Baltimore Orioles' managerial job last summer, choosing to spend time with his father, who had health problems. Girardi, working as a broadcaster Sunday night for Fox Sports from the World Series in Denver, said he had nothing to announce regarding his status as a manager.

Kobe To Chicago?

According to ESPN's Ric Bucher, the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers are in serious trade talks involving the super-talented Kobe Bryant. The Lakers as of right now are asking for a package that includes Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah, which is more than Chicago is willing to give up.

Negotiations right now are however at a stand still. Even if the Bulls agreed to trade Deng, Gordon, Thomas, and Noah to the Lakers for Bryant, Kobe has said he would use his no trade clause to block it. He believes getting rid of that many players would leave the Bulls without enough pieces for a championsip run.

So the pre-madonna wants out of Los Angeles but wants to play on a contender? The Lakers are not going to settle for 30 cents on the dollar Kobe. You know you are the best player in the league, the fans know you're the best player in the league and the players know you're the best player in the league. Whatever team you go to will be gutted because you're so good. The Lakersare realists and will not trade you for spare parts.

Daisuke Takes The Mound With Sox Up Two

The Boston Red Sox are on a roll, having won 5 in a row and owning a 2-0 World Series lead over the Colorado Rockies. After Thursday's game in which the Red Sox won a pitcher's duel 2 - 1, the series is moving to Colorado.

Tonight, Daisuke Matsuzaka will be taking the hill against the Rockies Josh Fogg. Since there is no designated hitter in the National League, Boston's manager Terry Francona decided that he will move David Ortiz to first despite a bad knee while regular first baseman Kevin Youkilis is benched; Mike Lowell remains at third.

Bad news for the Rockies, 27 of 34 previous teams to open 2-0 at home have gone on to win the Series. "If we win, the opponent might be like, 'Damn, we're done," Ortiz said. "And if we lose, that might give them some hope. It is a big game."

The NBA Is Upon Us!

Be sure to check out the podcast this coming Monday as myself and Jason breakdown what is going to happen this NBA season in our ECB NBA Preview. We will also provide you, our listeners, with our "expert" NFL picks for week 9.

Looking forward to talking to you guys once again and guess what? We're bringing back the mailbag! Yes, enough people actually enjoy us to the point where they e-mail us. Weird huh?

Edit: Due to more scheduling conflicts we have unfortunately pushed back our podcast to Monday.

Red Sox End Rockies Win Streak

Josh Beckett struck out the first four batters he faced and Dustin Pedroia hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first in route to a rout of the Rockies. While the three runs scored in the first inning were enough to win it, Boston piled on the runs in the fifth inning with seven runs

Jeff Francis, who pitched on 12 days rest fell behind 3-0 in the first inning and was finished after four. To say he looked rusty would be an understatement. Francis gave up six runs and allowed 10 hits. Reliever Franklin Morales in relief got just two outs and was charged with seven runs for a 94.50 ERA.

Beckett struck out the first three batters he faced, making him the the first pitcher to strike out three batters in the top of the first in Game 1 of the World Series since Juan Guzman in 1993 (shudder). Beckett lowered his career postseason ERA to 1.73. The Red Sox are the first team in MLB postseason history to score more than 10 runs in 3 straight games.

Mattingly Favorite For Yankees Job

After four seasons as bench coach, Mattingly was interviewed Tuesday to replace former manager Joe Torre. Yankees broadcaster, and former Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi interviewed a day earlier. First base coach Tony Pena is due to speak with team officials on Wednesday.

Ever since Torre's departure Mattingly has benen considered the leading candidate for the job. Hank Steinbrenner said Monday four or five people will be interviewed, but it is possible the candidates will be limited to Girardi, Pena, and Mattingly. According to ESPN the Magazine's Buster Olney it "is a good bet" that the Yankees will name the team's next manager on Friday.

Drafted in the 19th round in 1979, he batted .307 with 2,153 hits and 1,099 RBIs during a 14-year career diminished by back injuries. He won nine Gold Gloves at first base and the 1985 AL MVP, serving as team captain before his No. 23 was retired by the Yankees in '97.

Red Sox Win ALCS In 7 Games

The Red Sox who were down 3 games to 1 at one point are now on their way to the World Series against the Rockies. This marks the 11th time in MLB history a team has come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-7 series.


The Indians could not shut the door. After grabbing a 3-1 series lead, the Indians never led at any point in Games five, six or seven. Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched five solid innings while Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon each tossed two scoreless innings. In addition to the pitching, rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia added his first career post season home run while driving in five. Boston will hosts Colorado in Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday.

Breaking News: Joe Torre Turns Down Yankees Offer, Era Over

Joe Torre turned down the New York Yankees' offer to return as manager on Thursday.
The Yankees offered Torre a one-year deal with a base salary of $5 million and incentives that would have increased his salary to $8 million based on postseason performance.

- $1 million dollar bonus for reaching ALDS

- $1 million dollar bonus for reaching ALCS

- $1 million dollar bonus for reaching World Series

The Rockies Are In, The Red Sox Look Done, And Kobe's On The Move?

Rockies In The World Series

With their 21st win in 22 games, the Colorado Rockies beat the demoralized Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 in Game 4 Monday night to sweep the NL Championship Series at Coors Field.

The Rockies will be heading to their first World Series in franchise history and have 8 days off before the start of the World Series. NLC MVP Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer that lead to a six-run fourth inning. The only team to sweep a NLCS since it went to a seven game format in 1985 was the Atlanta Braves in 1995.



Red Sox On The Brink

Thanks to a seven run 5th inning the Cleveland Indians are now one game away from reaching the World Series. The Indians are trying to make it back to the World Series for the first time since 1997 and minus the Chiacgo Cubs current streak, have the longest drought of no World Series wins.

C.C. Sabathia will likely be starting for the Indians in Game 5. Sabathia's last start was a short one. He last only 4 1/3 innings giving up 8 earned runs on seven hits. The game is in Cleveland so it would the icing on the cake if the Indians can wrap the series up at home.


Kobe Moving On?

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant has missed the last 3 practices and was rumored to have cleaned out his locker the other day. One team source insisted to ESPN.com that Bryant removed his personal belongings, but Bryant and agent Rob Pelinka told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher that Kobe had "merely cleaned up his locker after Monday's practice, leaving plenty behind."

Everything seemed to be honkey dorey when Bryant showed up on time for Lakers training camp. That aura of tranquility seems to be over now though after coach Phil Jackson has been a "no comment" machine regarding anything asked to him about Kobe and owner Jerry Buss admitting that he is "willing to listen to offers" about Bryant. Could Kobe be gone before the season even begins? Let the soap opera continue....

Cal Loses Heartbreaker to Oregon State

As we mentioned on the podcast, Cal lost 31-28 on a crazy play to end the game. Redshirt freshman Kevin Riley played a great game at quarterback for the Bears, but ended the game with maybe one of the worst mental breakdowns. You gotta feel for the kid after you see this play.

East Coast Bias- October 15, 2007

Today's Headlines

- NFL Rundown

- College Football Rundown

- NLCS and ALCS Review

The Weekly Phil

- Eagles Win 16-9


On today's podcast show we discuss the big games in the NFL and rundown the Top 25 action in the College game. We also get into the exciting MLB postseason games with a review and preview of the NLCS series between the Rockies and D-Backs and the ALCS series between the Indians and Red Sox. And we end the podcast with some Eagles talk following their victory over the Jets in the Weekly Phil.

College Football BCS Rankings - Oct. 14th

BCS Standings

1. Ohio State

2. South Florida

3. Boston College

4. LSU

5. Oklahoma

6. South Carolina

7. Kentucky

8. Arizona State

9. West Virginia

10. Oregon

11. Virginia Tech

12. California

13. Kansas

14. USC

15. Florida

16. Missouri

17. Auburn

18. Hawaii

19. Virginia

20. Georgia

21. Tennessee

22. Texas

23. Cincinnati

24. Texas Tech

25. Michigan

Guess What The Rockies Did Again?

Arizona reliever Jose Valverde walked Willy Taveras with the bases loaded for the winning run. The Rockies have now won 19 of their last 20 games and it doesn't seem like the Rockies can be stopped.

The Rockies are now part of an excluisive club, they joined the 1976 Cincinnatti Reds as the only NL teams to win their first five games in a postseason. Despite only batting .211 the Rockies find themselves up 2-0 in the NLCS and going back home to Colorado.

The next game in the series will be on Sunday. The starting pitchers will be the Diamondbacks Livan Hernandez and the Rockies Josh Fogg. Can the Rockies make it 20 out of 21? All signs right now point to yes.

Breaking News: Mitchell Reports Will Name Names

The 18 month steroid investigation headed up by Senator George Mitchell, according to ESPN.com, will names names of players, including well-known ones. When clubs asked whether they would be given an opportunity to review the report for accuracy, it was learned that they probably wouldn't be able to.

"This is going to be enormous", said one source familiar with the investigation, "It's going to be a huge story when these names come out."

The Rockies Forgot How To Lose, Win 5-1

Thanks to another stellar effort by Jeff Rancis, the Rockies have won.....again. The white-hot Rockies are 18-1 in their last 19 games. Over the course of 6 2/3 innings, Francis only gave up one unearned run and struck out four. The bullpen did its job the rest of the way, allowing only 2 hits. Brad Hawpe provided all the runs Colorado needed going 2 for 3 with two RBIs.

Brandon Webb allowed four runs on seven hits in his six innings. Consequently the Diamondbacks 3-11 this season when Webb gives up 4 or more earned runs. With the exception of Eric Byrnes, no other Arizona player had more than 1 hit and grounded into double plays twice on the night.

Game two is tonight in Arizona starting at the absurd time of 10:18 EST.

Wild, Wild West in the NLCS

Game 1 of the NLCS begins tonight between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks with first pitch at 8:37 EST.

Both teams send their aces to the mound as lefty Jeff Francis goes for the Rockies and last year's Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb goes for the D-Backs. The pitchers were important in their teams NLDS success, combining for 17 K's and 13 innings pitched in their Game 1 victories over the Cubs and Phillies.

It will be interesting to see if the youth can continue to carry the D-Backs past Colorado, as SS Stephen Drew, CF Chris Young, and 3B Mark Reynolds all were key in the 3-game series with

Chicago. As for the Rockies, the Triple H's are what fuel the Colorado power surge. In the 18 games against the D-Backs this season, the Rockies Brad Hawpe, Todd Helton, and Matt Holliday combined for a .350 BA, and had a total of 40 RBI's and 30 walks in the season series. Don't sleep on the should-be Rookie of the Year SS Troy Tulowitzki who has been sensational in the field and with the bat.

The "Dinosaur" Is Back!

With Jake Delhomme going down with a season ending injury and with only 2 quarterbacks on its roster, the Carolina Panthers went out and signed 43 year old Vinny Testaverde. This will be Vinny's sixth NFL team.

Testaverde will backup David Carr, who became the Panthers' number one QB on Monday after it was learned Delhomme would be done for the season. Testaverde could even start as soon as Sunday when Carolina plays Arizona after Carr suffered a back injury in Carolina's win over New Orleans.

Testaverde will turn 44 next month.

ALCS Preview

Boston Red Sox vs. Cleveland Indians

The Red Sox are coming off a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels in which they outscored them 22-4 in 3 games. The Cleveland Indians come into the ALCS after defeating the New York Yankees in 4 games. Both teams have solid pitching but I think this series will come down to how well the lineups produce for their starters.

The Pitching - Both teams have great 1-2 punches in their rotation with the likes of Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling for the Sox, and C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona for the Indians. The Indians bullpen was sixth in ERA during the season (3.75). Rafael Perez, who could be the next K-Rod, and Rafael Betancourt are both solid coming out of the pen for the Indians. The Red Sox bullpen consists of Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima, who both helped the Red Sox to a bullpen ERA of 3.10 during the regular season.

Edge - I have to go with the Red Sox. While the bullpen doesn't have a lot of post season experience minus Papelbon, the starting pitching for the Sox includes a World Series MVP (Beckett) and Curt Schilling, who has been to 3 World Series. Experience in the starting rotation wins out.

The Lineups - The Red Sox lineup includes the likes of David Ortiz (.715 BA and two HRs in the postseason) and Manny Ramirez (.375BA and two HRs). And good news for the Red Sox, Ramirez has a career batting average of .571 (12-for-21) with four HRs and seven RBIs against C.C. Sabathia, the Indians game 1 starter. The Indians lineup consists of the triple threat Grady Sizemore, the big bat of Travis Hafner, and the sweet hitting Victor Martinez. The key to the Indians success though will be their superior speed on the basepaths. If they can move runners around they'll have a big advantage in the series if the games are tight.

Edge - The Red Sox take it again but only because of the recent resurgence of Manny Ramirez's bat. Big Pappi already has his sweet stroke going this post season so if Manny keeps hitting like this, the Indians could be in for a short series.

Shrinkage, Liver Damage, and Bloating: Steroids Are Awesome

In her book, Marion Jones used two pages, bold letters, and red type to exclaim that she had never used steroids and would never use them. In 2004 Jones emphatically declared, "I have never, ever used performance-enhancing drugs." Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now. The three-time Olympic gold medalist pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs. Accordingly, she retired from track and field after the hearing was over.

Many people are asking how she did it, how she kept a lie like this for so long, even after winning all 5 of those medals in 2000. How can someone tell themselves for nearly 7 years that what she took was "flaxseed oil". Hell, she convinced herself to the point that she spent her money to sue Victor Conte, founder and president of Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), for continuously stating that he had saw Jones inject herself with roids.

The Internation Olympic Committee has a statue of limitations for up to eight years regarding circumstances such as this. Marion Jones could possibly be stripped of all her medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics which would include gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 1,600-meter relay and bronze in the long jump and 400-meter relay.

Now, if it wasn't bad enough that she cheated then lied about it, Jones will probably also be prosecuted for her involvement in a check-fraud scheme. During the hearing Marion Jones admitted lying when she told investigators that she knew nothing about Tim Montgomery's scheme to cash millions of dollars worth of stolen or forged checks. In addition to Montgomery, Jones' agent Charles Wells and former coach Olympian Steve Riddick, have all been convicted in the scam. The maximum sentence on each count is five years and a $250,000 fine, for a total of 10 years and $500,000.

The "bodies" are adding up the longer the BALCO investigation goes on. Currently there are over 15 athletes known to have taken and received supplements from BALCO.

• MLB players: Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Benito Santiago, Jeremy Giambi, Bobby Estalella, Armando Rios
• Athletes: Hammer thrower C.J. Hunter (former husband of Marion Jones, sprinters Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Kelli White, middle-distance runner Regina Jacobs, boxer Shane Mosley.
• NFL players: Bill Romanowski, Tyrone Wheatley, Barrett Robbins, Chris Cooper and Dana Stubblefield.

Worth the risk?

Do Or Die For MLB Teams

The Cubs, the Phillies, the Yankees, and the Angels are all now trying to stave off elimination. All of these teams are currently in 0-2 holes and beginning tonight, the Phillies and Cubs begin their attempt to win 3 in a row.

Saturday Games

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Chicago Cubs

A 3 run home run by Chris Young sparked the Diamondbacks to a 8-4 win and a step closer to challenging for the NL Pennant. Doug Davis won his first career postseason game while allowing four runs in 5 2/3 innings and striking out eight. Chicago's Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee have combined to go 4-for-27 through two games in the series. The young and upstart Babybacks could shut the door again on the Cubs who are still looking for their first World Series title since 1908.

Diamondbacks lead 2-0


Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies

A decision to take Kyle Kendrick out of the game after loading the bases proved to a be a costly mistake by Charlie Manuel. Reliever Kyle Lohse came in and served up a grand slam to Kaz Matsui putting the Rockies up for good. The Rockies won the game 10-5 thanks to a great performance from the bullpen (gave up only 1 earned run in 6IP). With the series shifting to Colorado, the Phillies have quite a task ahead of them. The Rockies batted .298 at home, including a staggering .376 BA by Matt Holliday.

Rockies lead 2-0

Sunday Games

Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels

A healthy Manny is a clutch Manny. Thanks to a 3 run walk off home run Manny Ramirez propelled the Red Sox to a 2 game lead in the 5 game series. After a rocky start from Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Red Sox bullpen came in and shut the door going 4 1/3 scoreless innings. Angels pitchers gave up 9 walks including 5 by Cy Young hopeful Kelvim Escobar. Manny Ramirez has 21 post season homers, one shy of Bernie Williams for most all-time.

Red Sox lead 2-0


New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians

The Yankees held a 1-0 lead heading into the 8th inning, then it got all buggy. A swarm of bugs began attacking Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain in the 8th inning and while he didn't want to blame the bugs, they certainly contributed to his 2 wild pitches in the inning. One of those wild pitches led to a Indians run by Grady Sizemore. Indians fans were treated to a win in wild fashion when in the 11th inning Travis Hafner singled in the winning run. The Indians Fausto Carmona pitched 9 solid innings in his post season start. Yankees stadium will be host to the next two games, assuming they last another game.

Indians lead 2-0

MLB Playoffs, Phillies Lose Opener

Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels

Josh Beckett, the 2003 World Series MVP, pitched his 2nd consecutive post season shutout to help the Red Sox take a 1-0 lead on the Angels. David Ortiz added a home run and considering that the Sox are 7-2 in post season games when he homers, the Boston faithful are hoping to see more of them.

After surrendering a lead off single Beckett began his domination of Angels hitters by sitting down 19 in a row. Only one other pitcher besides Beckett has thrown a shutout in the first game of the post season for the Red Sox. The other? Babe Ruth.

Boston leads 1-0

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies

17 game winner Jeff Francis pitched four hit ball on his way to his first post season win and Matt Holliday homered in the top of the 8th to provide a 2 run cushion. Prior to yesterday's game Francis had a paltry 15.12 ERA when pitching against the Phillies.

On the season Chase Utley was batting .332 but looked confused at the plate yesterday, striking out four times. Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell provided all of the Phillies offense when they went back to back in the 5th inning.

Colorado leads 1-0

Arizona Diamonbacks vs. Chicago Cubs

Brandon Webb pitched a gem going seven strong innings while striking out nine. The Cubs Carlos Zambrano also pitched well but only made it through 6 innings and gave up a solo shot to Stephen Drew.

In addition to Drew homering, the young Mark Reynolds homered to give the Babybacks a 1 run lead. Conor Jackson provided a cushion with a sac fly to make the score 3-1.

Arizona leads 1-0

Sorry About The Wait!

We actually did record on Monday! I was just having problems uploading it since we don't have our own server to host our podcasts. Plus, this one was a long one. Hope you guys enjoy and make sure to check back for highlights from the baseball playoffs!

East Coast Bias- October 1, 2007

Today's Headlines

- NFL Rundown

- College Football Rundown

- MLB Playoff Preview

The Weekly Phil

- Eagles Fall; Phillies Fly High


On today's podcast, we review a crazy weekend in the world of sports. We start with the gridiron action in the NFL and then College Football as we rundown the scores and stories of the football weekend. Next, ECB previews the MLB Playoffs with keys for each team advancing to the next round. And finally, we sound the horn for The Weekly Phil where we talk the demise of the Eagles and the rise and playoff berth of the Fightins'.

The Eagles Falter Against the Giants

For a team to score 56 points then only score a paltry 3 points against a New York Giants defense that is ranked almost last in pass defense and points per game is astounding. But the Eagles found a way to do it. The Eagles lost to the Giants 16-3 yesterday in what can be described as nothing less than pathetic.

For once, people weren't screaming at their television wondering what was going wrong with McNabb. People were asking why we wasted a 2nd round draft pick on Winston Justice after seeing him get humiliated by Osi Umenyiora (6 sacks). I knew not having Brian Westbrook for this game was going to make it tough, but I never dreamed that the loss of William (Tra) Thomas was going to be so big.

In addition to not having Westbrook and Thomas, the Eagles defense was without Brian Dawkins and Lito Sheppard as well. The defense however still played well but were having trouble getting pressure on Eli Manning. So don't let the score fool you, this game was DOMINATED by the Giants.

The Eagles are 1-3 and 0-2 in the division. Unless something miraculous happens this season could be a wash, especially considering this part of the schedule was suppose to be the east part. Hopefully this bye week will give our players some rest and we can build off of that.