SOS! Emergency! Panic on the streets of London, er, Boston.!

It’s Marathon Monday in Beantown. Usually, that’s a joyous day. It’s still early on in the season and no matter how the Sox are doing, there’s something about that day that always feels special. Maybe it’s the 11:00 am baseball game. Maybe it’s the streets being filled with the world’s greatest long-distance runners. Whatever it is, Marathon Monday is almost always a joyous time in the Bay State. Except for today.

Over the weekend, Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine called out 3B Kevin Youkilis, arguably the fan base’s favorite player, as being not “physically or emotionally into the game.” Today, Kevin Youkilis might be able to catch the Marathon, as he’s not in Valentine’s lineup. And now, the team’s 2B Dustin Pedroia has said (of his Manager), ““I don’t know what Bobby’s trying to do. But that’s not how we go about our stuff here.” And so an already unpopular manager, in a town not exactly brimming over with patience, only 9 games into his tenure, finds himself in no-man’s land. The Red Sox may have a three game winning streak coming into today’s game against Tampa Bay, but it looks like the length of the Valentine administration may resemble more of a sprint than a marathon in Boston.

Start Snitching

Former Saints LB Scott Fujita is one of the senior members of the NFL’s Players Association (the union representing the NFL’s players). Fujita now plays for the Cleveland Browns. It turns out that Scott Fujita provided the NFLPA with an exclusive look at the videos and audio at the center of the Saints’ “Bountygate” program before they went public. Some had already drawn the conclusion that Fujita (because of his position on the NFLPA) was the so-called snitch. With the revelation that Fujita had access to the videos before the story went public, that speculation will only increase.

I Went to a Hockey Game and a Boxing Match Broke Out

I didn’t actually go to a hockey game yesterday. And neither did about 20,000 people in Philadelphia yesterday. In Game 3 of the NHL’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals match between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers, the team from Eastern PA took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Best-of-7 series. But yesterday’s game will long be remembered for a list of numbers:

12 total goals (Philly won 8-4)

38 penalties

158 combined penalty minutes (for reference sake, there are 60 minutes in a regulation hockey game)

3 ejections in the FIRST PERIOD

1 fight involving Sidney Crosby who has missed most of the past 2 seasons with concussion-related medical issues

Your Daily Washington Nationals Update

A new feature to this email! The Nationals wrapped up a four game series with the Cincinnati Reds yesterday, falling in extra innings to the Reds 8-5. The game was the third of the four game series to go to extra frames. Former National League MVP Joey Votto gave the Reds a 7-5 lead in the top of the 11^th inning when he lined a double to left field, scoring Drew Stubbs and Zack Cozart. Scott Rolen added an RBI single, scoring Votto. The Nats were unable to score in the bottom of the 11^th.

That said, Washington is still 7-3, atop the NL East. They begin a four game series with the Houston Astros tonight down at the Navy Yard. Stephen Strasburg will face Kyle Weiland, who may or may not be the former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots.

Game of the Day

Philadelphia Phillies @ San Francisco Giants (10:15 p.m./MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV). Roy Halladay opposes Tim Lincecum. Timmy hasn’t been Timmy so far (0-1, 12.91 ERA, 2.22 WHIP). Roy has been Roy (2-0, 0.60 ERA, 0.53 WHIP). This will be a huge game for Lincecum, who many believe is hiding an arm injury. Another rough outing and the Giants season could be in serious trouble early on.

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