A-Rod Wins AL MVP Award

As if there was any doubt about the Most Valuable Player in the American League, New York Yankees' 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez took the award in a nearly unanimous vote last week. Rodriguez (right) had a career year, even for a player as accomplished as him, slugging 54 home runs, driving in 156 while scoring 143 runs, all tops in the league. Rodriguez also batted a solid .314, tied for 13th in the league, and swiped 24 bases. Finishing a distant second in the voting was Detroit's Magglio Ordonez, who led the majors with a .363 batting average. Rodriguez, who opted out of a long-term contract with the Yankees during the World Series, has resumed talks with the club after testing the free agency waters on the advice of his long-time agent, Scott Boras. The Yankees are only interested in negotiating with Rodriguez and not Boras at this time though any word of a breakthrough or deal has yet to be announced.

That's a Wrap: Red Sox Sweep Series

Boston 4 Colorado 3 - The Boston Red Sox completed their second World Series sweep in 4 years, topping the Colorado Rockies, 4 games to none, to capture the 2007 Championship. Boston, in their last trip to the World Series in 2004, bested the St. Louis Cardinals by the same margin. Outside of Boston, the remainder of the baseball universe hopes sweeping the fall classic doesn't become a habit. Sunday night's affair went along the same lines as the previous three games, with Colorado failing to generate any offense against Boston's starter, Jon Lester, who cruised through 5 2/3 innings without allowing a Colorado run. Lester (right) allowed three hits, walked three and struck out three in a commanding performance, similar to the other three Boston starters, Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka, each of whom worked into at least the 6th inning and earned a win. By the time Lester left the game, the Red Sox had established a 2-0 lead, and expanded it to 3-0 on Mike Lowell's solo homer in the 7th. Lowell, who batted .375 over the course of the four games, was named MVP of the series. Colorado got one back in the bottom of the 7th on Brad Hawpe's solo shot to right, but Bobby Kielty homered in Boston's half of the 8th to make it 4-1.

Glendale Golfs Manitoba
Glendale Manitoba Golf Winnipeg Golfs.
www.glendalegolfs.com

Mike Timlin got the last out in the seventh and the first out in the bottom of the 8th inning, but after Garrett Atkins tightened the score to 4-3 with a 2-run blast off Hideki Okajima, closer Jonathan Papelbon came on to get the final five outs and clinch the sweep and send the title back to Boston. Papelbon was magnificent in his closer role, earning saves in games 2, 3, and 4, while allowing no earned runs and only 2 hits and no walks, while fanning 3 in 4 1/3 innings overall. Though the Rockies didn't win a game, they came close in games 2 and 4, losing both of them by a single run, but Boston's starters were much better and their bullpen a lot more effective than Colorado's. In the hitting department it was no contest. Boston batted a cumulative 47-141 (.333) in the four games, while the Rockies managed only 29 hits in 133 at-bats for a disappointing .218 batting average. Colorado led the National League with a .280 team batting average during the regular season. Boston's starters were the story, however, allowing just 4 earned runs in 23 1/3 innings for a combined ERA of 1.55 in their four starts. Series MVP Lowell (right), was the ultimate hitting star in the middle of Boston's potent lineup going 6-for-16 with 3 doubles, a home run, 4 RBI and 6 runs scored. He was the only player from either squad to score at least one run in each game. Boston has now won 8 straight World Series games and finished 2007 by winning seven straight through the playoffs and series. Their post-season record for 2007 was 11-3, having swept the Angels in the ALDS and taking 4 of 7 from the Indians in the ALCS. Boston outscored Colorado 29-10. In the AL Championship Series they scored 51 runs to Cleveland's 32, and outscored the Angels 19-4 in the ALDS, for a cumulative post-season score of 94-46. Spring training begins in just over four months.

Hey, Rockies, It's OVER!

Boston 10 Colorado 5 - The Boston Red Sox took a commanding 3-0 lead in the World Series on Saturday - a lead that has never been overcome. Of the 22 teams that have established the same margin, 19 have won game 4. None have lost four straight. So it would appear, that after winning 21 of 22 games to get to the World Series, the Colorado Rockies have run into a buzzsaw of a team in Boston. The Red Sox have outscored Colorado 25-7 in the three games and unless their pitching and hitting goes completely into limbo, they are going to be the 2007 champs. In Saturday's game, the Sox got on the board early, with 6 runs in a fateful third inning, highlighted by Daisuke Matsuzaka's (right) two-run single. Matsuzaka also kept the Rockies at bay from the mound, hurling shutout ball over 5 innings, before walking Todd Helton and Garrett Atkins with one out in the 6th. Reliever Jose Lopez came in and immediately gave up run-scoring singles to Brad Hawpe and Yorvit Torreabla before getting out of the inning. Lopez allowed a pair of singles in the 7th and was replaced on the mound by Hideki Okajima, who was immediately blasted by Matt Holliday's three-run homer. All of a sudden it was 6-5, but that was as close as the Rockies would get. Boston put up 3 more in the 8th and another run in the 9th. Jonathan Papelbon came on with 2 outs in the 8th and put the Rockies to rest, but not before allowing a two-out triple by Hawpe.

Glendale Golfs Manitoba
Glendale Manitoba Golf Winnipeg Golfs.
www.glendalegolfs.com

As exciting as the Rockies made it - for half an inning - this game was, like the others before it, all about Boston. Jacoby Ellsbury, who won't technically be a rookie until next season, made the most of his promotion to the leadoff spot in the lineup with 3 doubles and a single in 5 at-bats, scoring twice and driving in a pair. Boston's other rookie, Dustin Pedroia, was 3-5 with a double and two RBI. Game four is Sunday night, with first pitch scheduled for 8:29. After Saturday's world series record, 4 hour and 19 minute marathon, viewers and fans hope that starters Jon Lester (Boston) and Aaron Cook (Colorado) throw plenty of strikes.

WORLD SERIES: Boston Takes Game 2; Rockies on Life Support

Boston 2 Colorado 1 - In game one, it was Boston's booming bats that sent the Rockies back to their hotel rooms 13-1 losers. On Thursday, it was their pitching, specifically, starter Curt Schilling (right), middle reliever Hideki Okajima and closer Jonathan Papelbon. The Rockies got on the board in the top of the first, on a hit batsman (Wily Taveras), Matt Holliday's first of four hits, and a groundout by Todd Helton. That was it. Other than Holliday, the Rockies only got one more hit off Schilling, who worked 5 1/3 innings for the win on 4 hits, striking out four and walking two. Okajima came on and set down seven straight batters, turning the ball over to Papelbon with 2 out in the eighth. Lights out. Papelbon allowed just a scratch single by Holliday and struck out two of the other four batters he faced.

Fish , Hunt Ducks and Waterfowl Lake Manitoba Narrows
Golf, Fish Walleye , Fall Duck Hunting at Resort Lake Manitoba Narrows Home Cottage Lot.

fishlakemanitobanarrows.com

Colorado has scored only 2 runs in 2 games and that's obviously not getting the job done. The team that won 21 of their last 22 games and seven straight in the playoffs has run into a powerhouse American League team that is making them look like Double-A rookies. The series shifts to Denver for Game 3 on Saturday night. Starters are Daisuke Matsuzaka for Boston and Josh Fogg for Colorado. It's a must win situation for the Rockies, as coming back from a 3-0 deficit against the Red Sox would be next to impossible. As it stands, the series may already be over. Boston looks very, very solid right now.