Bill Koch's New England Patriots fan blog

It was 3:15 a.m. here on the East Coast, 12:15 a.m. in sunny California, when New York Mets manager Willie Randolph learned he was out of a job.

Mets general manager Omar Minaya apparently didn't make a cross-country flight for nothing, but he did let Randolph travel 3,000 miles from home before finally deciding to end the months of speculation about Randolph's job status -- after a win, no less, over the L.A. Angels.

And so ends a disgraceful chapter of baseball history in New York, one that could end in a total collapse of the what will always be the city's No. 2 team. The Mets have assured themselves back page headlines ahead of the rival Yankees for the next few days, but this wasn't what they had in mind. Minaya's midnight firing of his manager couldn't come off any worse for fans of the club, the media members who cover the team or potential candidates to replace Randolph on a long-term basis. Bench coach Jerry Manuel takes over for now, his performance likely to be rated on a game-by-game basis.

Continue reading "Who would want Mets job after this?"

No one will ever confuse Kobe Bryant with Michael Jordan again.
Thursday night's Game 4 of the NBA Finals sealed Kobe's fate as a just another great player in the league's history who couldn't achieve supernova status. There's no way that Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson or anybody in that conversation would have allowed his team to blow a 24-point lead at home in a must-win game, but Kobe and his Los Angeles Lakers did just that in a crushing 97-91 loss to the Boston Celtics at Staples Center.
This series is as good as over. Banner 17 is halfway up to the rafters at the TD Banknorth Garden, the product of a game that will go down with all the other great ones in Celtics' lore. Boston outscored the Lakers 31-15 in the third quarter and finally overcame Los Angeles in the fourth with 4:07 to play, the product of a desperate effort by Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and key performances by role players like James Posey (18 points) and Eddie House (filling in for injured point guards Rajon Rondo and Sam Cassell). 

Continue reading "Celtics choke out Kobe, Lakers"

A few select knuckleheads are in the sporting headlines today. The prospect of taking a few cheap shots at them is much too rich for me to pass up, as any loyal readers of this blog know, and I don't want to disappoint anyone. So, without further delay, and since Game 4 of the NBA Finals is approaching quickly, here are the three objects of my scorn and ridicule.

--Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey, New York Giants

These two guys deserve each other, and Eli Manning doesn't deserve to be tortured by either of them anymore. Burress and Shockey both showed up to Giants' minicamp this week under their own little storm clouds. Burress is unhappy with the 6-year, $25-million contract he signed three years ago and wants a new deal. Shockey is ticked that he's been involved in trade talks throughout the offseason, a divorce that started before the Super Bowl last year when he broke his leg and missed the postseason.

Continue reading "This sports trio not the hat trick you want"

The Boston Celtics losing Game 3 to the Los Angeles Lakers last night wasn't a big surprise.
How Boston lost the game might be the true shock this morning, because the NBA's running joke for a long time is how the league will do anything to boost television revenues, cater to big markets and avoid sweeps in key series. That joke isn't so funny after Tim Donaghy's shocking allegations of game-fixing, a procession of questionable calls he says affected the outcome of the 2002 playoff series between Sacramento and the Lakers. 
We all knew that Los Angeles was going to get to the free throw line at will after Boston took 28 more shots than the Lakers at the stripe in Game 2. We all knew that Kobe Bryant was going to be allowed to be more aggressive on the offensive end, driving into the paint and drawing foul after foul. We all knew that Los Angeles would be more physical on defense and body up on Paul Pierce with no fear of the referee's whistle getting in the way. That's how the NBA works.

Continue reading "Game 4 the true chance for Celtics"

Congratulations are in order for Ken Griffey Jr. today after he became the sixth player in Major League Baseball history to hit 600 career home runs with his blast off Florida's Mark Hendrickson last night.
Junior's first-inning homer to right field added another milestone to what has been a legendary career, one that has had some of the shine taken off of it thanks to his turbulent time in Cincinnati. It's easy to forget just how great this guy was during the 1990s after watching this diminished version of Griffey struggle through his late 30s, his career derailed by injuries and hurt feelings.
It was Griffey, not Barry Bonds, who was supposed to challenge Hank Aaron's title as baseball's Home Run King. The Kid was voted baseball's Player of the Decade in the 1990s despite Bonds winning all of those MVP awards in Pittsburgh. Griffey's combination of speed, power and grace in the outfield made him the game's marquee player and his highlight reel full of spectacular catches still plays when his career is being discussed.

Continue reading "Griffey joins the 600 club"

There's not enough Kleenex for all of the crying coming out of the Los Angeles Lakers after two games of the NBA Finals.
The Fighting Kobes find themselves down 2-0 to the Boston Celtics after another defeat on Sunday night, a 108-102 loss at TD Banknorth Garden. The fact that the Lakers cut out 22 points from their 24-point deficit in the fourth quarter doesn't matter. Los Angeles was badly outplayed for most of the second half and deserve to be behind in the series as it shifts to Hollywood for Game 3.
And stop right now if you want to point to the disparity in free throws in the series. Boston had 38 attempts from the line in Game 2, 28 more than Los Angeles, but even Kevin Garnett was taking his chances to go to the basket and pick up some cheap fouls against what has truly been a soft Lakers' defensive effort. Paul Pierce hasn't been shy either and Rajon Rondo is killing Derek Fisher with his quickness, getting into the paint at will and setting up dunks for Leon Powe (21 points, 6-for-7 from the field in Game 2), Kendrick Perkins and the rest of Boston's secondary offensive options. Aggressive teams get those calls. The Lakers have done nothing but take jump shots for two games.

Continue reading "Celtics two wins away from more Lakers tears"

Who can blame Kevin Youkilis for hating Manny Ramirez?
Don't laugh. It's a serious question. I was hoping that Youkilis would knock the dreadlocks off Ramirez's head during their little scuffle in the Red Sox dugout this week. Maybe that would be what it takes for Ramirez to wake up from his career-long slumber and realize that he doesn't walk on water just because he can hit a baseball better than anyone else on his own team.
It seems that some of Boston's players have a problem with the way Youkilis reacts following a bad at-bat. A clubhouse mole confessed to ESPNdeportes.com this week that several players have complained about Youkilis antics, to the point where he's been told to tone it down on several occasions. We've all seen the way The Greek God of Walks comes stomping back to the dugout, sweat pouring off his bald head. Youkilis is good for slamming his bat or helmet at least twice a game, shoving his Louisville model into the bat rack and spiking his headgear on the bench or steps.

Continue reading "Ramirez acting like Red Sox villian"

The debate isn't over whether or not Thursday night was a great one for the Boston Celtics -- it was. Boston's 98-88 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals woke up the echoes of the Celtics' ghosts gone by.

But which part of Thursday night's festivities was the best? That's where the discussion can begin, along with what Boston needs to continue throughout this series to add Banner 17 to the TD Banknorth Garden rafters.

First, we'll get to the Paul Pierce saga. I was watching the game in a crowded bar that serves $5 pitchers of beer while the Red Sox are playing. Needless to say, there were plenty of people who were well on their way to a morning headache by the time the Celtics game started just after 9 p.m. on the east coast. That's quite a difficult type of crowd to quiet down, even with the police outside ready to bust someone for drunk and disorderly conduct, but you could have heard a pin drop when Pierce fell to the floor and clutched his right knee, writhing in pain along the baseline. Pierce had to be carried off the floor and was taken to the locker room in a wheelchair, Boston's chance to win the finals rolling away with him.

Continue reading "Glory days return for Celtics"

Is moving Joba Chamberlain into the starting rotation another classic example of robbing Peter to pay Paul?
The New York Yankees certainly hope not, because this could be the move that defines the rest of their season.
I'll apologize right now for the Biblical reference, but it was the only analogy I could make after a night of very little sleep. The fact is that New York has languished through the first two months of the season playing .500 baseball, its 28-29 mark coming into Tuesday condemning the Yankees to fourth place in the American League East. New York's dominant line-up is showing signs of coming around, but its pitching staff is the chief concern thus far and Chamberlain's debut tonight against Toronto seems to be a desperate throw of the dice.
According to manager Joe Girardi, Chamberlain will be limited to 65-70 pitches as the Yankees continue to stretch him out at the Major League level. New York doesn't want to send Chamberlain to Scranton and leave him in Triple-A for three or four starts to get his workload up to 85-90 pitches. The Yankees figure that a little bit of Chamberlain is better than a full serving of anything else that they have in the minors, an idea that's hard to disagree with when you take into account Chamberlain's numbers as a reliever.

Continue reading "Joba had better rule for Yankees tonight"

You know that the Boston Celtics are back in the big picture when the Red Sox are changing game times to avoid a conflict with Causeway Street.
The first pitch at Fenway Park will be at 6:05 Thursday night, one hour before the usual start thanks to what the Celtics did in Detroit on Friday night. Boston closed out the Eastern Conference finals with an 89-81 win over the Pistons to put The Hub in a time machine and bring it back to better days -- the 1980s to be exact, when the Celtics' dynasty ruled the NBA.
It's been 21 years since Boston has played in The Finals, and in all that time the Celtics' league-record 16 titles still stands tall as the target for every other franchise. Boston's quest for Banner 17 starts Thursday at 8:30 and the opening tap can't get here soon enough.

Continue reading "Celtics ready to party like it's 1987"