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Dear Readers,

From all of us here at WAY Back Sports we would like to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

Over the past week we have been experiencing some technical problems with the site. We will be addressing these issues over the next few days. We ask that you bare with us as we update the site. Everything should be up and running again soon!

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Sincerely,

The WAY Back Sports Staff

Crisp Headed to KC

The Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals have completed a trade that will send speedy centerfielder Coco Crisp to the Royals in exchange for right handed relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez. The trade fills a need for both teams as Kansas City has been looking for a speedy leadoff hitter while Boston, with the departure of Mike Timlin and probable move of Justin Masterson back to the starting rotation, was in need of a dependable set up man.

The switch hitting Crisp hit .283 with 7 homers and 41 RBIs in 98 games this season with the Red Sox . He also was 20 for 27 is stolen base attempts. Crisp, who is best known for his spectacular defense, split time in center with rookie Jacoby Ellsbury last season. The trade allows both to assume full time starting roles next season.

Ramirez was 3-2 with a 2.64 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings last season for KC. He will solidify the set up role for closer Jonathan Papelbon that the Red Sox struggled to fill before moving Masterson there for the playoff run. The twenty-seven year old righty had been the setup man for Joakim Soria the past two seasons and was on of the more reliable ones in the game over that period.

Pedroia Wins AL MVP

Boston Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia has been named the American League's Most Valuable Player. He took 16 of 28 first-place votes edging out Minnesota Twin's 1B Dustin Morneau. Pedroia finished 2008 with .376 on-base percentage and .326 batting average, while posting 17 home runs and 83 RBIs in 157 games. Pedroia is the first 2B to win the award since 1959.

Pujols NL MVP

Albert Pujols was named the National League's Most Valuable Player on Monday. This year's award marks the second time Pujols has taken home the honor (2005 was the other). The St. Louis Cardinals power hitting first basemen hit .357 with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs in 148 game this season.

Ryan Howard, Ryan Braun and Manny Rameriez finished 2-4 in voting. Pujols received 18 of 32 first place votes.

Welcome to NY, CC

It has been reported by several sources that today, on the first that that free agents can sign with other teams, that the New York Yankees have offered pitcher CC Sabathia a reported 6 year $140 million dollar contract. The Yankees promised to make a big splash this off season and they seem to be living up to their word. While it has been reported that Sabathia would prefer to stay in the National League, where he can also hit, $140 million will change people's minds pretty quick.

Melrose Out In Tampa

It is just 16 games into the NHL season but already the have the first coaching casualty of the year. Tampa Bay Lightning first year head coach Barry Melrose was fired Friday after seeing his team get out to a 5-7-4 start, good for 4th place in the Southeast Division. The Lightning, who signed several big name veterans over the offseason on top of drafting Steve Stamkos #1 overall in the 2008 draft, had very high expectations coming into the season. Just 14 points in 16 games is not exactly living up to the hype.

Its too bad to see something like this happen to one of the good guys in sports. Melrose was a very well known, well respected analyst for ESPN prior to the Tampa job. With any luck that position will still be his for the taking now that he is unemployed. The bottom line is that while Melrose is well liked and probably did not get a fair chance to turn the team around, something needed to be done to shake things up and unfortunately it was Melrose who fell victim to the chopping block. It will be interesting to see how the Lightning respond to the move. Rick Tocchet will take over as head coach, for the time being.

Yanks Acquire Swisher

The New York Yankees have completed a deal with the Chicago White Sox that will send 1B/OF Nick Swisher to New York in exchange for INF Wilison Betemit and two minor league pitchers: Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez.

Swisher is a candidate to fill the void left at first base left by free agaent Jason Giambi. Should the Yankees sign a player such as Mark Teixeria, Swisher would then add outfield depth.

Cubs-Marlins Make A Deal

The Chicago Cubs have acquired closer Kevin Gregg form the Florida Marlins for minor league pitcher Jose Ceda. Gregg was 7-8 with a 3.41 ERA and 29 saves last season for Florida, but was bothered for a large portion of the season by a knee injury. His nine blown saves were tied for the league lead.

Following the deal the Cubs announced that they will not make an attempt to re-sign now former closer Kerry Wood, meaning that the job is Gregg's to lose. Should he falter the Cubs do have star set-up man Carlos Marmol waiting in the wings.

This trade once again was an example of the Marlins cost cutting. Gregg was Florida's highest-paid player in 2008 at $2.5 million and was eligible for arbitration coming into this season.

Battle for AFC EAST Crown

When the New England Patriots and New York Jets get together you know it is going to be a rock fight. Simply put, the two teams would like nothing better than to beat the pants off their opposition. This time around the rivalry has a little more at stake as both teams stand at 6-3, tied atop a tight AFC East. In a league when every game is tough, being able to get a game in hand on a division opponent is crucial. That is what each team will strive for tonight as they kick off at 8:15 in Foxboro.

The last time these two met was week two in New York. Both were vastly different teams, both with serious question marks at several positions. The most notable question mark was at the quarterback position. It was the first game of the Matt Cassel era for New England. He was efficient in his first game as starter, but certainly far from impressive. Now some eight weeks later Cassel has grown comfterble with the offense and the pressure that goes a long with being a starting quarterback in the NFL. Cassel was not the only quarterback under question in that week two meeting. It was just the second game of the Bret Favre era for New York. Like Cassel, he too was still getting acclimated with a new offense. Unlike Cassel, however, Favre brought with him his track record and winning reputation greater than any other quarterback in the NFL. Favre, however, was less than impressive in that week two match-up, but once again, like Cassel has grown much more comfortable under center in the weeks since and now leads one of the more explosive offenses in the AFC. The Jets are averaging 32.1 points per game since that week two loss, and their 255 points lead the AFC.

While the quarterback position certainly will be an important one in tonight's match-up, perhaps the biggest difference maker for each team could be the running game. For the Jets it will be Thomas Jones and his AFC leading 750 rushing yards. Jones has been unstoppable as of late. He racked up 149 rushing yards including three touchdowns in last week's showdown with the St.Louis Rams. His counterpart this week will be BenJarvus Green-Ellis who has gone from the practice squad (6th) on the New England depth chart all the way to #1 thanks to injuries to pretty much every player to line up in the Patriots backfield this season. Once again the Pats have found a diamond in the ruff in Green-Ellis who last week rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown in New England's victory over the Buffalo Bills.

By the way, did I mention that these two teams hate eachother? Countless numbers of personnel have jumped ship from one side to the other over the years. Whether it be stealing a coach from the other side (Pats with Belichick, Jets with Mangini) or simply other players (the Jets signed former Patriots CB Ty Law this week), no two teams in the NFL want to beat eachother more. And don't forget the SpyGate saga that was created last year, which all began when Jets coach Eric Mangini accused the Patriots of stealing signal calls. It resulted in months of controversy and has to have left a sour taste in the mouths of Patriots coaches and players alike.

Tonight will certainly be a game to watch. After this game one team will have sole possession of first place in the AFC East for the first time in weeks. Who will it be? In just a few hours we will find out...