Don't believe it

What's the worst part of this story:

On Monday night, during a 3-hour edition of Monday Night Raw, Vince McMahon announces that he has "sold" Monday Night Raw to Donald Trump. This is not the first time that Trump has been involved in a WWE story, he was part of the famous "Lose-the-match-lose-your-hair" from Wrestlemania 23 in 2007. So the Donald joining in more WWE fun isn't exactly surprising. But what came after Monday night is.

Apparently, there were enough people that thought this story was real. USA and WWE issued a joint statement saying that Trump did not actually "buy" Monday Night Raw and that it was just a story.

I'm speechless....

The (cautious) return of Papi?

I have been one of the naysayers. I will admit it. When he continually struggled early in the season I was one of those who said, "Papi may be done". He looked old, he looked slow. He couldn't catch up to the fastball and he was pulling almost nothing. All his hits (the very very few he did have) were to left. Even the first home run he hit was off a wide-eyed rookie who was getting killed by the whole line-up that night and allowed 4 home runs in the inning.

But then the Yankees came to town. Papi had two home runs at that point (granted the second barely made it over the wall to hit Pesky's Pole, not exactly one of the signature Ortiz towering right field bombs). He went deep off of A.J. Burnett, but some people even dismissed that one as it was to straight away center (and incidentally not far from my seats) and Burnett was not exactly on his "A" game that night.

Then the next one came off of Sabathia, one of the toughest left handed pitchers in the game and it was a bomb (I saw it in person and Johnny Damon didn't even move a muscle in left field). Suddenly, Ortiz had 4 home runs with 3 in a span of 5 games and he had a 7-game hitting streak thrown in. His batting average wasn't getting over the Mendoza line by much but it was creeping ever slowly higher and some of his hits were actually heading to right field. There was reason for hope.

Last night was finally what every Red Sox fan has been waiting for. A towering right field blast by David Ortiz in what would be the beginning of a watershed 6-run inning (including another 2 RBI hit by Ortiz) that propelled the Sox to an 8-3 victory over the Marlins.

I am not suggesting that the slump is completely behind him. He's still striking out a lot and at times he still seems overmatched by a pitcher with a good hard fastball. But the signs are there. He is driving balls and they are making it out of the ballpark. He may never be a 50 home run guy again but, if he can build on his recent success, there may still be a few clutch hits and/or bombs in Big Papi's arsenal. Red Sox Nation continues to hope.

Sox/Yanks - Does it get any better?

So last night was my first Red Sox/Yankees game at Fenway Park (I saw an ALCS game in 1999 in old Yankee Stadium). I know it seems weird that someone with my lust for Boston sport has somehow missed a Sox/Yanks game but there it is.

It did not start out the best as the weather was less than stellar. The high 50s and constant mist/fog/drizzle made Mrs. Pike and I a little cold and a little wet. There was an usher running around showing people to their seats with a ShamWow in hand to wipe the water off before they sat. With seats in straightaway center there was really nowhere to hide from the wetness.

There were a fair amount of pinstripes in attendance as there always is for this big series and the "Yankees Suck" chat could be heard. If it had been any other team in town I have a feeling the park would have been less than capacity but with the Yanks in town most of the patrons were willing to come out of Game On and the Cask to brave the weather and watch Beckett take the hill.

Once the game started, things began to take a turn for the better. Beckett was clearly sharp as he was pounding the strike zone and keep the Yankee hitters off balance. His counter-part and multi-million dollar free agent, A.J. Burnett was not so lucky. As the bottom of the second started, Lowell walked and the Ortiz drilled a ball to deep center that landed about one row up and 12 seats to our right and the Sox took a quick 2-0 lead. The crowd went nuts and Papi took his third bow of the season. I don't know if the home crowd will make him do a curtain call for every home run he has at home this season but its kinda fun to be there when he does. Only in Boston can a guy with an average below the Mendoza line hit his third home run of the season in June in the second inning and get a curtain call. I love this town.

As the innings wore on and Beckett continued to dominate, Burnett looked lost and would get saddled with his first loss against the Red Sox in his career. For my first Sox/Yanks game at Fenway it was pretty good. A dominant performance by Beckett, Papi hits a home run, A-Rod (or "A-Roid" as the Fenway Faithful lovingly serenaded him with all night) committed an error and with had no hits, Burnett lost against the Sox for the first time after being held back by the Yankees for the sole purpose of ensuring he would pitch against the Sox, and it was a shutout victory. Not bad at all.

And on and on and on....

Congrats to the BC baseball team. Though they were eliminated from the College World Series by Army yesterday no one can really blame them for being a little out of steam for the game considering the marathon that happened Saturday night into Sunday morning. The 25 inning affair against Texas was truly amazing and though they ended on the losing side BC can still hold its head high for participating in that game.

I kept track of the game on the College Sports TV Gametracker online and was simply amazed as the innings piled up. When the game started, the Stanley Cup playoff game had not begun, the NBA playoff game had not begun, the fights on HBO had not begun. As the game wore on, it was almost comical as it began to outlast all the other sporting events of the night that began after it. I called across the apartment to Mrs. Pike, "The BC game has now outlasted the hockey game!", "The BC game has now outlasted the Cintron-Angulo fight!", then the game outlasted Mrs. Pike as she went to bed and there was no more calling out in the apartment. By the time the final out came, it was the last sporting event going on in the US, outlasting even the 11pm college baseball game that aired on ESPNU.

But it wasn't the innings that even made the biggest impression. Austin Wood from Texas and his 13 innings of shut out, almost no-hit, pitching must have been amazing to see. As the game progressed and he was still in there (not to mention BC's Mike Belifiore and his 9 2/3 innings as well) I kept thinking that there had to be some mistake with Gametracker. That this kid who only averaged about 2 innings an outing during the regular season could not possibly have the arm strength to keep going and keep pitching at this pace in this game. It seemed inhuman. But I guess that's why the game continued because the great efforts of all the players involved.

The final run that was scored was almost anticlimatic. Following a lead off walk, the man on base was sacrificed to second, then made third on a wild pitch. The hit that drove him in was barely beyond the dive of the drawn-in second baseman (I saw the play on grainy replay on SportcenterU on ESPNU as ESPN did not have a broadcast team in Austin - which seemed a little weird not to have one with the number one overall seed - but I digress). Had he been playing back, the second basemen probably makes an easy play on that ball and BC gets the second out. They may still be playing today.

BC has much to be proud of. They came in and won a game and took the number one overall seed to extreme lengths in a second game on Texas' home turf. And then they get barely eliminated by a close play at first on a double play (many thought the runner was safe and it should have tied the game). All quibbles aside BC played well and showed that they belonged on the national stage. When they left the field at 2am on Sunday morning, the Texas fans gave them a standing ovation. For their first trip to the postseason in 42 years, they earned every single clap they got.