John Farrell gets emphatically tossed by Home plate umpire Bob Davidson

It was wild, frustrating night for the Sox last night in Oakland, fortunately few Boston fans saw the extra innings loss due to the 9pm ET start. In case you were one of the lucky ones (aka asleep before 12:30am), the Globe’s Amalie Benjamin breaks down what happened.

Fortunately, the Sox are getting some key players back after their mid-summer DL purgatory. Buchholz and Beckett return this week, and should help the Red Sox earn some much needed wins against the dregs of the AL West. (ESPN Boston)

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Harvard basketball stand out Jeremy Lin, who our own Jeremy Bernfeld witnessed in a Harvard destruction of BC, has signed with his hometown Golden State Warriors. Given an opportunity by the Dallas Mavericks during summer league play in Las Vegas, Lin impressed scouts all over the league with his abilities. The 6’3″ guard received interest from the Lakers, Mavs and GS, but thanks to a weak lineup, GS could offer the strongest chance for Lin to make an NBA roster. (ESPN)

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With the Sox gallivanting around the west coast, the Fenway Park grounds crew would normally enjoy a few relaxed days of calmly clipping grass and watering the mound, but not this week.

The outfield at Fenway Park a few weeks ago.

Tonight, Fenway will transform into a soccer stadium and will host Celtic FC (Scotland) and Sporting FC (Portugal). The two storied clubs have failed to sellout Fenway park as of the morning of the game, but that may have more to do with the $40 price tag on the cheapest seat in the house. NESN coverage begins at 7:30pm and the game starts at 8. And remember it’s ‘Celtic’ not ‘Celtics,’ though some green C’s gear would be passable. (Long article by SI.com) (Pictures and details at Boston.com)

Despite their jump into second place in the three-headed AL East playoff race, this past weekend was traumatic for Red Sox fans.  First, Dustin Pedroia went down with an ankle injury after fouling a ball off his foot.  He was seen in a walking boot and on crutches after the game, and is expected to be sidelined at least a month. Pedroia was immediantly placed on the 15-day DL and will be replaced by either Angel Sanchez from Pawtucket,newly acquired Eric Patterson from Oakland, or Jed Lowrie (remember him?) from the dead.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Sox will also likely lose Victor Martinez who yesterday fractured his thumb, and was replaced in the fourth inning.  Early reports say Martinez won’t be out nearly as long, possibly missing a DL stint altogether, but a broken thumb is a broken thumb.  Throw Clay Buchholz’s hyper extended knee into the pot and one might assume the Red Sox could be staring an unpleasant future square in the face.

I personally don’t buy it.

So far this season, several contributors have missed significant playing time: Mike Cameron, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Lowell, Jeremy Hermida, and Josh Beckett to name a few, yet the team strongly sits at the top of nearly every offensive category.  Boston has been scorching hot as of late after a slow start to the season, winning seven of their last 10 games. All the while chugging along with journeymen (Darnell McDonald, Bill Hall) and emergency call-ups (Daniel Nava) to keep the ship afloat.  They’ve done nothing but exceed everybody’s expectations and play extremely competent baseball.

The 2010 Red Sox certainly are an interesting bunch. As of today, they could win the World Series or miss the playoffs by five games and it wouldn’t surprise me.

Traditional defensive powers like Italy, while home of European champion Inter Milan, have suffered from a lack of scoring and a reliance on aging veterans. England and France provided more entertainment off the pitch than on, and neither could keep up with more offensive-minded teams. Emphasis on team. The big name players comprising England, Italy and France might light up scoreboards in the EPL, Serie A and various other European leagues, but when forced to compete alongside their fellow superstars, they fell flat. Perhaps a better coach could have united them, but it may just be their nature to take things upon themselves for better or worse. In international play that nearly always falls to the worse side. See you in Rio.

As for the teams remaining in wintry South Africa, there are a few stand outs. The most exciting teams remaining in the hunt are Germany, Netherlands, Argentina, and shockingly Uruguay. A few others have potential to pique my viewing interest, but we’ll discuss that when they show up.

Here are the match-ups this week that you must not miss:

Brazil-Chile (later today) – High potential for some bad blood between these two South American teams. While Brazil has traditionally dominated the series, look for Chile to come out flying. The defensive strategy utilized by Dunga might frustrate the Chileans for a little while, but La Roja have the ability to score against anyone. Kaka and breakout performer Elano will need to play up to expectations in order to earn the right to face the Dutch in the round of 8.

Spain-Portugal (Tuesday 2:30pm) – Another derby match, this time between the electrifying Iberian nations. Portugal has forgotten about their qualifying troubles to find their way through the group of death, but you never know which C. Ronaldo will show up. Same goes for Torres and Spain. The Euro 2008 champs are looking to avoid another early World Cup exit.

Argentina-Germany (Saturday 10am)– Two of my favorite teams to watch in this tournament. Both eased through tough opponents in the round of 16, and would be extremely disappointed to lose this game. Missing captain Michael Ballack has not hindered Germany, and may have helped welcome a new era of talented young players onto the team. Özil and Thomas Müller have shined for the squad, not to mention the international specialist Lukas Podolski. As for Argentina, a stifled Messi failed to distract the team from scoring at will against Mexico, and we could be in for a goal fest.

Ryan Westmoreland playing for the Lowell Spinners

Regardless of the outcome, the next time Ryan Westmoreland steps into the batter’s box will be a vctory.

The Sox prospect underwent brain surgey in March to remove a cavernous malformation–basically, unwanted matter attached to his brain stem.  Even more basically: very, very bad news.

But yesterday, Westmoreland spoke to the media about his on-going recovery.  He was buoyed by his improving health, and in this outstanding piece from the Providence Journal’s Daniel Barbarisi, says he still harbors dreams of playing at Fenway.

Baseball is the most individually challenging of team sports and personal mental ability is as prized in a baseball player as most physical attributes are in athletes of other bents.   As this terrific piece from SI details, baseball is a mental game.

Westmoreland is only 20 years old and, thanks to life-saving brain surgery, has the rest of his life to lead.  That in itself is incredible.  Should he ever suit up for the Sox, that would be a miracle.

While Westmoreland still has a long way to go in his recovery, and his physical gifts will need major improvement, there’s no question that he won’t be lacking the important mental fortitude it takes to play baseball for a living.

Again, the two great reads:

ProJo on Westmoreland’s recovery

SI on mental illness in baseball

With a win against Algeria in Pretoria this morning (10am ESPN) the U.S. is guaranteed a slot in the knockout round of the World Cup, regardless of the England-Slovenia result.  To combat collusion between teams who don’t want to see a rival advance (especially important because the first tie-breaker is goal differential) the final group games are played simultaneously.

Heading into today’s action Group C standings look like this:

1. Slovenia (1-0-1) 7 points GD: 1
2. England (0-0-2) 2 points  GD: 0
3. USA (0-0-2) 2 points GD: 0
4. Algeria (0-1-1) 1 point GD: -1

There are plenty of complicated scenarios in which the U.S. can finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the group.  (For all of them, click Yahoo here)

Most importantly: with a win, the U.S. advances. With a loss, Landon & Co. make an early exit.

In years past, the mere fact that the U.S. is in the strong position of controlling its own destiny would have been considered a victory for soccer in this country.  This year, however, without a victory today the World Cup will be considered a loss.

A win today would surely rank among the most important victories in the history not only of U.S. soccer, but in U.S. sport.  The U.S. has never been a “soccer playing nation” and has a history of lucky breakthroughs allowing the team to advance. (Here, from SI.) A victory today, however, will prove a lot.

1. Spain or England will not win it (see what I did there), and thus renew their status as the favorites that never win. Both teams have been known for their mid tournament collapses even after entering as heavy favorites, and (at least) one team will keep up their streak. Spain may have quenched some championship thirst with their Euro 2008 victory, but no matter how highly you rate European soccer, Euro is not the World Cup. Nothing but total victory will satisfy either country.

2. There will be absurdly hot Brazilian, Spanish, Dutch, and South African women in the stands.  Just picture those women who you see accompanying rich season ticket holders in US arenas, and then imagine making an allstar team, or shall we say, a national team of the hottest.  There you have the US conglomerate.  Now imagine all other countries are doing the same and sending them to one tournament to sluttily cheer on their homelands.  TV cameramen, keep it on a swivel.

3. Diego Maradona and Crazy Ray (Raymond Domenech) will be fired by their teams after the tournament following disappointing showings. For Maradona, it’s not hard to have a disappointing showing considering Messi may be the world’s best player and Argentina is expected to get to the final (at least in Argentina). As for Domenech, his fate may have been sealed by a poor (and totally lucky/rigged) qualifying campaign and nearly unyielding grumbles from French players. Both coaches have no clue what they are doing, and it is doubtful that their teams will be able to bail them out.

4. Bob Bradley will show less emotion than Jim Caldwell. It’s a given that the USMNT coach has a tough order trying to please the millions of fair weather fans in the US, and being a favorite for the round of 16 will only compound that pressure. While US fans aren’t making Che Guevara style posters of his stoic face like they did with Bruce Arena, his cerebral approach has already brought the yanks to new levels in international soccer.

5. Sportscenter anchors will pretend to know what is going on, but will flub every foreign name during highlights. With every game getting a live ESPN crew, the studio wont even have their soccer specialists in the next room to coach them, and it will show. My advice to the Bristol staff: play 2 hours of Fifa 10 everyday for the next month, oh, and actually watch the games.

6. A team from Africa will not win it all. Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) represented the best opportunity until EPL single season scoring record holder Didier Drogba went down with a broken arm against Japan in a friendly. Though he may still play, it is likely that the Chelsea striker will lack the physical force that he needs to be effective. Cameroon and superstar Samuel Eto’o now hold the reigns to Africa’s chances, but similar to Ivory Coast, a hard group will dash their hopes early.

7. North Korea and New Zealand will fight for the worst goal differential in losing all 3 of their games. With Brazil, Portugal and Cote d’Ivoire fighting for the goal differential tie breaker, my bet is on North Korea, which should give up more than 10 goals in 3 games. New Zealand may be one of the worst qualifiers of all time (remember the format went from 24 to 32 teams just 3 world cups ago in 1998), but their easier group will help them.

8. There will be vuvuzuelas.  You will hate them.  It will be 10. in. the. morning.

9. Announcers will bend over backwards (no pun intended) to not mention the cuckolding English stars John Terry and Ashley Cole.  While the English tabloids love this stuff, ESPN does not.  Just think of it as the anti-Brett Favre topic.  The totally British broadcasting crews will surely be aware of the story, but don’t expect more than a “former captain, John Terry” comment.

and lastly,

10. You will love every second of every game.

David Beckham, injured

Actually the soothing British tones of the ESPN (and EA Sport’s Fifa 2010) announcer will be present during the World Cup broadcast in 3 days. As for the other names you may have been excited to see, well it’s not looking good.

The injury bug has plagued many countries’ preparations for South Africa, and a slew of the world’s biggest names will join the vuvuzelas in the stands instead of their teammates on the field. Unfortunately, this means the story of the finals 3 days before the opener is the players that will not contribute to the quest for world cup glory. Joining the casualties most recently is Portugal’s Nani, who injured his collar bone during training on Friday. As for clubs watching their investments collapse into anguished heaps, Chelsea takes the cake as the hardest hit with nearly half their starting squad picking up injuries before the tournament starts.

For those keeping score, the following players will not appear:

Rio Ferdinand (England)
David Beckham (England)
John Obi Mikel (Nigeria)
Charlie Davies (USA)
Michael Essien (Ghana)
Jose Boswinga (Portugal)
Nani (Portugal)
Michael Ballack (Germany)
Ronaldinho (Brazil, not chosen)
Javier Zanneti (Argentina, not chosen)
Lassana Diarra (France, not chosen)

And these players may or may not appear, but certainly will not be 100%:

Didier Drogba (Cote d’Ivoire)
Arjen Robben (Netherlands)
Oguchi Onyewu (USA)
Jozy Altidore (USA)
Humberto Suazo (Chile)

Here’s to hoping this list will not grow in the next couple days.

In other sad news from L.A. the winningest coach in basketball history, 99-year old John Wooden is apparently in grave condition in an L.A. hospital, according to the L.A. Times.

The oil spill in the Gulf is real, people. Check out this depressing Washing Post cover.  I can watch 3D television, shower on a plane, and watch streaming episodes of Jersey Shore, but we can’t stop millions of tons of oil from destroying the planet.  If you’re not outraged click here (via @RichardDeitsch).

Time to hoard canned goods and start boiling the hot molten lava like in Terminator 2: we’re developing technology so your computer can get to know you better. You’re telling me the robots haven’t already won?  Cool quick read from Time on how Pandora/Netflix/Etc. work.

Oh yeah, Sports!  Oakland beat the Sox 9-8 at Fenway in yesterday’s day game after receiving a little help from Sox third-base coach Tim Bogar, writes the Herald’s Michael Silverman.  Manny Delcarmen’s been a little lucky this year, the luck ran out yesterday, writes the Globe’s Amalie Benjamin.

Paul Pierce is jacked up. Are you?

Do I see a clean Gulf of Mexico, side pony-tails, or smoking in the Garden?   Whatever strange thing you see, we’ve traveled back in time.

The Celtics visit L.A. tonight to kick-off the NBA Finals.  Lakers-Celtics, here we go again.  As Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don’t Lie writes, everyone’s looking forward to this series.

Whether you remember 2008, 1987, or 1959, you’ve seen this before.  Basketball’s two most storied franchises squaring off with nothing but the littered bodies of conference opponents strewn around them.  This marks the 12th time these two franchises (not teams because it includes the Minnesota Lakers) have met in the league finals.  So far, Boston owns the series 9-2, thanks mostly to a (super)man who’s last name is sufficient: Russell.

Kobe, Pierce, Gasol, Garnett, Artest, Allen, this series features basketball’s A-list as much as Hollywood’s.  Should be a great match-up, a heavy-weight title fight with both sides in contention.  We’ll look more at the history later, but let’s get this down on “paper” (so old-school around here) before the series gets underway.

As the National Post’s Eric Koreen points out, history is important but this series is unique.

Celtics win in six games and bring the title back to Boston.  They’ve got just the right mix of new-school energy and old-school tenacity and their length actually matches up fairly well against the Lakers.  They won’t panic when Kobe hits huge shots (he will) and will suffocate Gasol and Artest while depending on Rondo to lead the offense.  The thought here is that Boston steals Game 1, loses Game 2 in OT, takes games three and four at home, gets rocked in game five, and closes it out in six.

What do you think of the Celtic’s chances?  Post your predictions in the comments.  New to M+JLS? Click here to start proving your life’s worth.

Starter Clay Buchholz Shines Again

Starting pitching comes through again! Sox relief had pitched only 6 innings in their last 5 games going into Tampa, and they looked fresh in 3 innings last night. Papelbon conintued to sit with the lack of a save opportunity, but Bard and Okajima shut down the 7th, 8th and 9th with no hits or even base runners allowed. On the offensive side of the plate, Big Papi and Youk continued their fiery May play with a home run each. Recap: ESPN.

Ellsbury staying in center field even after Cameron returns, according to ESPN Boston.  It just feels better this way.

After taking 2 of 3 from last year’s runner-up Phillies, the Red Sox might not feel burdened by their inter-league schedule, but Joe Sheehan explains why they unfairly are. SI.com

For those of you that didn’t grow up going to Texas Rangers games, you missed out on hearing the greatest/cockiest entrance music ever. I’ll never forget Juan Gonzalez stepping up to the plate to Darth Vadar’s theme song every game. Just unreal. I guess the Sox choices are pretty good too: The Globe.

In other news, the Celtics lost game 4, and return to the cougar capital of the world tomorrow for game 5.

UPDATE: Sox on the front of SI.com, as Tom Verducci breaks down Dice-K’s impact.