By Evan MacDonald, YawkeyTalkies Correspondent
With the season less than 40 games from the finish mark, most teams in the majors have their identity by now. The New York Yankees, for example, are a slugging team with some big-name starters and a shaky bullpen. The Los Angeles Angels are a small-ball outfit with a strong pitching staff.
The Boston Red Sox? Well, they remain as bipolar as they come.
Early in the season, the Red Sox relied on strong pitching and a rock-solid bullpen to pull the load. When Daisuke Matsuzaka went on the disabled list and Brad Penny and Jon Lester struggled, the offense did most of the heavy lifting. When the offense went into a funk, Lester and Josh Beckett combined to scrape together wins for a faltering ballclub.
The Red Sox have been able to sustain a number of slumps and injuries, but at this point in the season it’s a bit unnerving to be unsure of what your team can do. Until Wednesday, when Tim Wakefield came back from injury with seven strong innings against the Chicago White Sox, the Fenway Faithful weren’t even sure who would be the third starter if the Red Sox were to make the playoffs.
Pitching, [...]

By Evan MacDonald, Yawkeytalkies correspondent.
When the regular season begins Sept. 14 against Buffalo, many members of the New England Patriots will be entering critical seasons in their careers.
Tom Brady, of course, will be scrutinized heavily as he makes his comeback from a knee injury that ended his season back in week one last year. Vince Wilfork will be playing for a new contract, and rookies such as Patrick Chung will be working their tails off to produce in Coach Bill Belichick’s system.
But of all the players on the roster, perhaps no one will be under more pressure than Laurence Maroney.
The fourth-year running back has been inconsistent throughout his career. He showed flashes of greatness during his 2006 rookie season, but since then has been mediocre at best. Furthermore, he has struggled with injuries – having played in only 30 of a possible 48 regular season games since joining the Patriots.
It’s safe to say, heading into the season, that 2009 could be a put-up-or-shut-up campaign for Maroney.
The Patriots selected the former University of Minnesota star with the 21st pick in the 2006 draft, hoping he would grow into the team’s feature back. Splitting time with veteran Corey Dillon, he had a [...]

By Evan McDonald, Yawkeytalkies correspondent.
Apologies from New England to the other 31 NFL clubs. Tom Brady is back and healthy as the quarterback of the Patriots after recovering from major knee surgery, and if his Aug. 13 debut in Philadelphia was any indication, the Patriots should return to the zenith of the NFL ranks once again this season.
Of course, it was only the first exhibition of the season, but hopes have to be high following the Patriots’ 27-25 victory over the Eagles in Philadelphia. Brady was at the helm for two Patriots scoring drives, and eased the fears of everyone who thought he might have a lot of trouble regaining his Hall of Fame-caliber form.
As I watched the game, three things struck me as extremely important. Here they are, in no particular order.
1. The pass rush: Anyone who watched a Patriots game last year knows the team had some difficulties pressuring opposing quarterbacks. The Pats had 31 sacks last season, tied for the 14th best total in the league. That’s nothing to scoff at, but it’s a far cry from [...]

By Evan McDonald, Yawkeytalkies correspondent.
With our beloved slugger David Ortiz the most recent name released from the 2003 steroids list, two of our writers each give their own opinion on the steroids issue. Evan McDonald believes the punsihment for testing positive should be a lifetime ban.
On August 8 at Yankee Stadium, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz took the podium to address his name being on the infamous list of 104 names who reportedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. But a funny thing happened while Big Papi was on the proverbial witness stand. Somehow, we were all left with more questions than we started with.
When Ortiz and Michael Weiner, director of the Player’s Association, talked, it was more than just the normal damage control associated with these types of murky situations. Instead, the two cast some major doubts onto the validity of the list itself. Weiner said a player’s inclusion on the list did not necessarily mean a positive test result, and that the number of players on the list may not actually be 104. In fact, it may be 96, 83, or any other number (he conveniently failed to say how or why this was possible).
But if [...]

By Ian Tasso, Yawkeytalkies correspondent.
 

With our beloved slugger David Ortiz the most recent name released from the 2003 steroids list, two of our writers each give their own opinion on the steroids issue. Ian Tasso believes the list of names from 2003 of players that tested positive should be released, so baseball fans can move on.
It would be easy to sit here and discuss on how I believe Big Papi when he says he never knowingly took steroids. It would be easy for me to sit here and talk about how it doesn’t hurt to know the centerpiece of two World Championships has been linked to performance enhancing drugs. And it would be easy to just brush aside the fact that 2004 means slightly less thanks to recent steroid allegations.
But sometimes life just isn’t that easy.
July 30, 2009 was a dark day for baseball, and it was an even darker day for Red Sox Nation. On that fateful Thursday afternoon, two of Boston’s heroes were linked to steroid use back in the 2003 season, forever tainting Boston’s two World Championships whether the Fenway Faithful would like to admit it or not.
Being a member of the Nation, believe me when I [...]

By Ian Tasso, YawkeyTalkies correspondent.
It wasn’t supposed to happen. It couldn’t happen. But on September 7, 2008, it did happen.
On that fateful Sunday afternoon, the very same date back in 1998 that Mark McGwire infamously tied* the single season Home Run record, Kansas City Chief’s safety Bernard Pollard took it upon himself to ruin the hopes and dreams of New England Patriots fans everywhere. And with one fateful charge through the center of the Patriots’ offensive line, he did just that; diving to the ground and taking perennial Pro Bowler and 2008 NFL MVP Tom Brady’s left knee with him.
Days later, Brady was diagnosed with a torn ACL and MCL, being placed on injured reserve for the remainder of the 2009 season. The Patriots finished with an 11-5 record, missing the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.
But that was then, and this is now. Brady has since had surgery performed on his knee, repairing the two torn tendons. After months of rehab, it has been announced countless times that Brady will indeed be ready for the 2009 season, taking the field under center as he normally does.
But the question on everybody’s mind is: How effective will Brady actually [...]