Our Endless Season : East Coast Bias At Its Best!

The Boston Bruins wrote the book on heartbreaking losses

2011-06-05T10:29:00.022-05:00

I honestly don't know how many ways I can express the same thought I've had and written down numerous times in the last few years: the Boston Bruins find new and different ways to lose games (and series). It's just what they do. The higher the stakes, the bigger the tragically epic failure.

So while last night's 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals was heartbreaking, I can't say it was surprising. At all. If anything, you almost have to step back and appreciate the carnage since there's nothing like a Bruins flop (ever since the Red Sox got their shit together in 2004) to get the blood boiling in this day and age.

After giving up the winning goal with 18.5 seconds in Game 1, the B's outdid themselves by blowing a 2-1 lead, hanging on for overtime but then losing in 11 seconds (the second fastest goal in playoff overtime history).

Much like the B's always remind you of their inadequacies, the NHL always seems to rear its ugly, deformed head at the worst times. Canucks forward Alex Burrows bit Patrice Bergeron in Game 1 but the NHL didn't suspend him or even fine him. Would you believe that he was Vancouver's best player last night, scoring two goals and having an assist?

So yeah, seeing that lowlife be the one to get the winning goal, putting Vancouver two wins away from its first Stanley Cup in its forty year history is about as painful an ending as any Hollywood hack could concoct for Game 2.

Handing out the blame pie for the OT goal is hard to do. Andrew Ference (who for some reason was out there to start overtime) started off the terrible play by putting the puck off the boards, right to Vancouver. Tim Thomas (30 saves) was the bigger goat though as the came flying way out of control and not only took himself but Zdeno Chara out of position too as Burrows faked a shot, whipped around the net and stuffed it in. When you blame Thomas though, you also must realize that Boston wouldn't be anywhere near the Stanley Cup finals without him. He's the best goaltender in the world right now but like Bill Belichick or anyone else, just because he's great doesn't make him bulletproof when it comes to criticism.

This was a game that the Bruins had to win. They sleepwalked through the first period with Burrows scoring a weak power-play goal (his eighth goal of the playoffs) from Chris Higgins and Sami Salo at 12:12. The shot appeared to handcuff Thomas as it squirted through his body and over the goal-line.

Boston responded with its best period of the first two games in the second. Its two most invisible forwards stepped up: Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi. Lucic tied it at one with his fourth goal of the playoffs at 9:00 from Johnny Boychuk and David Krejci. It was a simple play as Lucic went to the net (what a concept!) and was able to put in the rebound past Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo (28 saves).

A Mark Recchi power-play goal was one of the most unlikely scenarios (he hadn't scored one since January, really) entering the game but there he was, getting it done at 11:35 (his third of the playoffs). He tipped in a wrist shot by Chara, Patrice Bergeron also assisted. The goal still doesn't justify Claude Julien sticking with him for all this time when he hasn't shown a pulse on the power-play but I digress.

Vancouver predictably came out on fire in the third period since they realized the importance of the game for their side. Thomas held the fort for a while but it was only a matter of time before the Canucks tied it up. Daniel Sedin came out of witness protection to score his ninth of the playoffs at 9:37 after a sweet feed from Burrows. Alex Edler had the second assist.

I was at a bar for the game and I can admit that I had barely settled in for overtime before it was over (I'm sure most people had the same reaction). It was over before it began and the craziest part was that Boston actually won the opening face-off!

Game 3 is tomorrow night at TD Garden and needless to say, it's a must-win for the B's. Lose and they'll be swept, no question. Win and they can make this somewhat interesting. They've proven through the first two games that they can play with Vancouver. The problem is that the Canucks have stepped up when they needed to while the Bruins have choked badly in two huge spots.

It's about time: J.D. Drew hits his first walk-off hit for the Red Sox (in the 14th inning)

2011-06-05T09:51:00.025-05:00

It's only fitting that a game that goes 14 innings (the longest Boston Red Sox game of the season), complete with a four-run lead blown in the ninth and having two players ejected, that J.D. Drew delivered the first walk-off hit of his Red Sox career.

Things were going well for Boston (32-26) as they went into the bottom of the ninth up 7-3 yesterday afternoon at Fenway Park on the Oakland A's (27-32).

Then closer Jonathan Papelbon started giving up hits in a non-save situation like he always does and before you knew it, he was tossed along with catcher Jason Varitek for arguing balls and strikes.

Oakland tied it up at 7 in the ninth and both teams scored a run in the 11th before Drew (2 hits, 2 RBIs) drove in Carl Crawford (4 hits, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) in the 14th for the winning run.

Alfredo Aceves (3-1) was the unsung hero and turned out to be the winner as he went the last four innings for the Red Sox. He allowed one earned run on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

It's hard to remember since this game went five hours and 17 minutes but this started out as a tasty pitching matchup between A's stud Trevor Cahill and Red Sox ace Josh Beckett. As usual, that's not how the game unfolded.

Cahill went seven innings but he allowed five earned runs on eight hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

Beckett went six innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

Things got off to a good start for Boston as Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo homer (his 11th of the season) in the first. Drew added an RBI single, driving in Crawford in the fifth, for a 2-0 lead.

Josh Willingham tied it up in the sixth with a two-run single in the sixth. The Red Sox responded with three runs. Dustin Pedroia had an RBI single, Kevin Youkilis had an RBI double and Crawford had an RBI single in the frame.

Cliff Pennington drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh but Crawford's two-run double in the eighth made it 7-3 good guys.

You knew something was up in the ninth when Pedroia let a routine grounder go through his legs, scoring a run. Pennington had an RBI double and Conor Jackson tied it with an RBI single as Papelbon melted down literally and figuratively (the first ejection of his career).

Ryan Sweeney put Oakland ahead with a sacrifice fly in the 11th but Jacoby Ellsbury (4 hits, 2 steals) tied it with an RBI double which knocked in Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Boston goes for the sweep today but I wouldn't bet on them since John Lackey returns from the DL and his rehab stint in the minors. He faces Oakland lefty Brett Anderson, who is good and typically gives the Red Sox trouble.

Canucks score with 18.5 second left, take Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals 1-0 over the Bruins

2011-06-02T13:11:00.025-05:00

I was getting set for overtime in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals last night at the Rogers Centre. I was going to crack another Sam Summer with my buddy, tweet my overtime winners for both teams to ESPN's John Bucigross and pray that the Bruins could find a way to steal it.

Ryan Kesler, Jannik Hansen and Raffi Torres had other plans though as they teamed up for a goal with 18.5 seconds left in regulation en route to a 1-0 Vancouver win over Boston.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (33 saves) deserved better since he played outstanding, particularly in the third period when the B's started to skate in quicksand and the ice tilted towards the Canucks. The winning goal wasn't his fault at all either as it was the result of a misplay by defenseman Johnny Boychuk, a great pass by Kesler to start the play, Hansen's pass to Torres and his professional finish.

Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo is a Gold medal winner as we all know and one of the NHL's best but he's prone to giving up weak goals and juicy rebounds. Not last night. He had 36 saves which is a little misleading since Boston only had a handful of great chances.

Since they're so heavily favored and carry the weight of Canada on their shoulders, a loss in Game 1 for the Canucks would have been huge. The pressure would have mounted and who knows how they would react? Now, I'll say that the Bruins need to win Game 2 or else this series might not go past five games.

Two subplots to come out of Game 1: Alexandre Burrows clearly bit Patrice Bergeron's finger in a scrum after the first period ended. We'll have to see if the NHL comes down hard on him or looks the other way during its showcase series. 2) Dan Hamhuis left in the second period with an injury after flipping Milan Lucic near the boards. He's one of Vancouver's top two defensemen so his loss would be a big one.

The Rogers Arena crowd was pumped during the pregame but the B's (and refs) systematically took them out of it. There were a ton of penalties on both sides but each team went 0 for 6 on their power plays.

The good news is that Boston's penalty kill was awesome but they won't keep that up if they continually put Vancouver's lethal power play (28%) on the ice. Ditto for the Bruins' pathetic power play which has now dipped to 7% in the playoffs. They had a four-minute advantage in the first period that they couldn't cash in on despite nine shots and a 5 on 3 in the second period that didn't give them anything tangible except a partial breakaway by the Canucks.

There's an extra day off before the pivotal Game 2 on Saturday night. I have faith that Thomas will play great again but the real question is if the Bruins can solve Luongo and stay out of the penalty box?

White Sox sweep the Red Sox at Fenway Park

2011-06-02T12:46:00.019-05:00

For the life of me I can't figure out why, since they're not particularly good, but you can't dispute the ironclad fact that the Chicago White Sox own Fenway Park right now.

After polishing the Boston Red Sox off yesterday afternoon 7-4 for a three-game series sweep, Chicago (27-31) won its seventh straight at Fenway. They're 13-2 against Boston (30-26) in their last 15 games and 9-1 since the start of last season. What do you want me to do, call the White Sox my daddy? (Pedro Martinez reference).

A 3-0 lead for the home team didn't mean much as Tim Wakefield (6 innings, 4 earned runs, 7 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts) and the Boston bullpen melted down in a rare midweek afternoon game.

Gavin Floyd (6-5) was shaky at first but he settled down and got the win. He went 6.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits with a walk and a strikeout.

The Red Sox put up three in the second inning as Jed Lowrie drove in David Ortiz with a ground-rule double and Jarrod Saltalamacchia knocked in two with a single.

Brent Lillibridge got an RBI double in the fourth to pull Chicago within 3-1 before the White Sox tied it in the fifth. Alexei Ramirez (3 hits, 3 run) drove in a run with a ground out before Carlos Quentin hit an RBI double. Wakefield could have got out of the inning on a clear out on the basepaths by Juan Pierre but that's not how the goober umpire saw it. Instead, Quentin got the hit and Boston spiraled out of control.

Lillibridge hit a solo homer in the sixth but Ortiz answered with his 13th of the season in the bottom of the frame to tie it at four.

It was the Paul Konerko show from there as he had an RBI double in the seventh which scored Ramirez and then a two-run bomb (scoring Ramirez) in the ninth off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon.

White Sox closer Sergio Santos got a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout for his ninth save of the season.

Matt Albers (1-3) was charged with the loss after giving up three hits (including Konerko's double). He has come back to Earth after a great start in his Red Sox career.

Some scary stuff too as Rich Hill threw a pitch and then came out with an elbow injury. Dice-K is going to be out for the entire season with Tommy John surgery but nobody cares about that. Hill was a local guy that had found himself this season with Boston. Hope he's OK. Plus, he was the Red Sox' only lefty in the bullpen. Hideki Okajima is in Pawtucket but he has nothing left at this point. Theo Epstein is going to have to get some more reliable bullpen options.

The Red Sox are grateful to have a day off today after going for almost three straight weeks without one (and no, the last three days don't count). The Oakland A's come to town this weekend for a three-game set.

Should I tell the Red Sox that the White Sox are terrible?

2011-06-01T12:23:00.025-05:00

The summer weather is finally here but with the Boston Bruins in their first Stanley Cup finals in 21 years, the Boston Red Sox have a few more weeks of anonymity before everybody starts paying more attention to their games.

It's a good thing that nobody cares right now since the Red Sox (30-25) aren't playing very well at the moment. Boston dropped its third straight game overall, 10-7 last night at Fenway Park to the Chicago White Sox (26-31).

As long as Ozzie Guillen has been manager of the White Sox, they've always had lineups that could put up big numbers since they hit bombs. The lack of starting pitching and shaky bullpens has made them an afterthought in the crappy American League Central, making them miss the playoffs the last few seasons.

I don't expect Chicago to do much this season either but they look like they're about to sweep the Red Sox at Fenway which would be pretty embarrassing.

Alfredo Aceves (2-1) for Boston last night and he didn't have it after excelling in his first two spot starts. In five innings, he was knocked around for eight runs (six earned) on eight hits with three walks and a strikeout.

Journeyman Phil Humber (4-3) started for Chicago and he continued his surprisingly good season. He went 7.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

For the second straight, the White Sox got out to a quick start and never looked back from there. They put up four runs in the second and one in the third for an early 5-0 lead. Gordon Beckham (3 hits) had an RBI single in the second, Brett Morel followed with a fielder's choice, Alexei Ramirez (4 hits, 3 RBIs) had an RBI single and A.J. Pierzynski added a ground-rule double.

Jason Varitek got the Red Sox on the board with a solo homer in the second, his second of the season.

Ramirez had another RBI single in the fourth before the White Sox put up three in the sixth on an RBI single by Juan Pierre, RBI double by Carlos Quentin and sacrifice fly by Paul Konerko.

The Red Sox added some runs in garbage time to make it close but Chris Sale came on to strike out Adrian Gonzalez on three pitches for his second save of the season.

Drew Sutton had an RBI single in the eighth and David Ortiz hit a three-run homer (his 12th of the season). Josh Reddick added a sacrifice fly in the ninth and Sutton had an RBI double.

Scott Atchison gave up two earned runs on four hits in relief. Bobby Jenks made his first appearance since May 1 and threw a scoreless eighth despite giving up two hits. Dan Wheeler had a scoreless ninth where he worked around a walk and a hit.

Tim Wakefield starts this afternoon against Gavin Floyd in the series finale. The Red Sox need a win before they have tomorrow off. Gotta get back to the roll they were on for most of May now that June is here.

Red Sox honor the troops and veterans on Memorial Day by laying down to the White Sox

2011-05-31T12:21:00.020-05:00

Boston (30-24) came home last night for the start of a homestand against the Chicago White Sox (25-31) at Fenway Park and they lost again, 7-3.

A two-game losing streak is hardly news in baseball, the streakiest of all sports, but more puzzling was Jon Lester's latest struggles. Lester (7-2) had an seven-game win streak snapped but that was deceiving since he hadn't pitched well in his last few starts but still picked up wins.

Last night, he threw a season-high 127 pitches but only went 5.2 innings, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts.

The White Sox were bolstered by Jake Peavy (2-0) who many moons and shoulder surgeries ago used to be one of baseball's best pitchers. The hard drinking, dippin' good old boy went seven innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts.

Chicago loaded the bases in the first inning and A.J. Pierzynski (2 hits) came through with a two-run single up the middle.

Boston got a run back in the first as Adrian Gonzalez (2 hits) crushed his tenth homer of the season, a solo shot into the Red Sox bullpen.

Providence, RI native Paul Konerko (2 hits) smacked a solo homer over the Monster in the third for a 3-1 White Sox lead.

Dustin Pedroia tied it up in the third with a two-run single of his own.

That's as close as the Red Sox would get through as Alexei Ramirez (2 hits) knocked Lester out of the game with a bloop two-run double in the sixth. The next batter, Carlos Quentin, added a two-run single off Dan Wheeler and that was it.

Alfredo Aceves goes for his third straight solid start tonight as he takes on Phil Humber.

Hell yes! WOOOOOOOOOO! Bruins reach their first Stanley Cup finals since 1990

2011-05-28T10:59:00.018-05:00

I never played a day of organized hockey in my life so I'm not going to sit here and claim that the Boston Bruins have been my everything since I strapped on a pair of skates.

However, I will say that as I've gotten older and the three other Boston professional sports teams have all won championships in the last decade, the Bruins have become the last place for a real fan existence that you can find in this town. Up until now, the B's haven't been trendy, they always let their fans down and they are one of the most frustrating franchises in sports.

Well no more complaining from me or other true Bruins fans as they won the Eastern Conference finals last night by virtue of a scintillating 1-0 Game 7 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden.

Boston is back in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1990 and they'll get it started on Wednesday in Vancouver against the Canucks.

It's only fitting that their epic series was capped off with one of their greatest wins in franchise history. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas made 24 saves for his second shutout of the series and Nathan Horton had the game-winner at 12:27 of the third period (his eighth of the playoffs) to send the Garden into delirium.

People hate on soccer when it's 0-0 but it's hard to picture a hockey game being much more exciting even though both teams failed to score a goal for over 52 minutes of regulation. Unlike the NBA where the refs have to be front and center all the time, the NHL refs assigned to the game last night stayed out of the way and didn't call a single penalty (first time that's happened in 20 years)!

When Milan Lucic was stuffed on a breakaway on the first period, it was clear that Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson (37 saves) was sharp and it would probably be a very low scoring game.

Kudos to Tampa Bay for playing their asses off. Star Steven Stamkos took a Johnny Boychuk slap shot right off his nose in the second period and he only missed a few minutes of action. His face was disgusting but I have a new found respect for him since he sucked it up and got right back out there.

Andrew Ference started the goal with a long breakout pass to David Krejci. Dangerous David put a perfect backhand pass right between Roloson, a pair of Tampa Bay defensemen and on Horton's stick. All he had to do was redirect it in.

The Bruins will be heavy underdogs against the Canucks, who rolled through the Western Conference, but they wouldn't want it any other way. It's been clear in the postseason that this is a different Bruins team. They're not the choke artists of the past as they proved again and again (beating Montreal in a Game 7 overtime, sweeping the Flyers, beating Tampa Bay in another Game 7).

I'm not making any predictions but I think it's going to be a really good series. You have to remember that Vancouver has never won a Stanley Cup in their 40 years of existence (a longer drought than the B's by a year) so it's not like Boston's facing Detroit or something. The Bruins have Thomas, Zdeno Chara and a team full of guys that know their roles and don't get rattled.

Hockey in June! Pinch me.

Call me a jerk but I honestly hope Dice-K and Lackey never return

2011-05-28T10:43:00.018-05:00

When did the 2011 Boston Red Sox become such a wagon?

Holy shit, they've won 12 out of their last 14 games after a tidy 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers last night at Comerica Park.

As I said yesterday about Alfredo Aceves, spot starter Tim Wakefield (2-1) is doing an excellent job and at this point, I hope John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka never return. It's much more satisfying to watch two guys with low expectations succeed as opposed to overpaid bums that were never good fits here anyways.

The Red Sox (29-22) are also alone in the American League East after the Yankees lost last night in Seattle. The Tigers (25-25) haven't shown much of a pulse yet against Boston this season, falling to 0-4.

Wakefield went seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Detroit's Rick Porcello (4-3) only lasted three innings as he allowed six earned runs on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, stolen base) gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the first as he scored on wild pitch by Porcello.

Miguel Cabrera tied it up in the first with an RBI single which scored Austin Jackson. The Tigers took their only lead of the game in the second when Jhonny Peralta hit a bomb (solo) off Wakefield.

Any thoughts of a win for the miserable people in Detroit was quickly extinguished as the Red Sox hung five runs on Porcello in the third. Ellsbury hit a solo homer (his sixth), Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run double and Carl Crawford hit a two-run homer (his fourth of the season).

Daniel Bard threw a scoreless 1-2-3 eighth on six pitches but Peralta hit an RBI double off Jonathan Papelbon (non-save situation) in the ninth but who cares?

Clay Buchholz takes the mound tonight for Boston against Detroit rookie lefthander Andy Oliver (who was called up when Phil Coke rolled his ankle the other night). Good luck to you guy, Red Sox are mashing right now.

Alfredo Aceves is better than John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka, true story my friends

2011-05-27T12:39:00.011-05:00

Baseball is a funny game. When you're a big market team like the Boston Red Sox you can afford terrible hiccups in free agency like John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka and then you luck out with a scrap heap pickup like Alfredo Aceves.

I'm not exactly sure about his medical history, I assume the New York Yankees let him go because he had an arm issue or something but whatever the reason, I'm psyched that he's crossed over to their bitter rivals.

Yesterday afternoon, he submitted his second good start in a row after being added to the rotation (for the injured Lackey and Dice-K). The Red Sox (28-22) won their 11th game out of their last 13 and it was another laugher, 14-1 in the series opener at Detroit's (25-24) Comerica Park.

Aceves (2-0) went six innings, allowing five hits, one earned run with two walks and six strikeouts in a game that was called off after 7.5 innings because of rain.

Max Scherzer (6-2) entered as one of the AL's top pitchers so far this season but he left with a bruised ego as the Red Sox put up 14+ runs in the second straight game for the first time since 1998. Scherzer lasted only two innings, allowing seven hits, seven earned runs with two walks and a strikeout.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 runs, 2 walks) had the most memorable hit, a three-run homer (his fifth bomb of the season). Moved up to the No. 6 spot, Carl Crawford continued to erase his terrible start. He went 4 for 5 with two triples, three RBIs and two runs.

Recent callups Josh Reddick (3 hits, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) and Drew Sutton (2 hits, 2 RBIs, 2 runs) also had big days that no doubt they'll be telling their grandkids or bums at the homeless shelter about in a few years.

Tim Wakefield (Boston's other substitute in the rotation) starts tonight against Tigers youngster Rick Porcello.

Can I please trademark "It's never easy with the Boston Bruins"?

2011-05-26T13:03:00.039-05:00

Before the Eastern Conference finals started between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning a few weeks back, I felt that either way the series was going the distance (seven games).

Still I take no joy in knowing that I was right since the B's should have ended this series already. Tampa Bay won 5-4 at the St. Pete Times Forum last night to tie it up at 3 and send the teams back to the TD Garden tomorrow night for Game 7 and a shot in the Stanley Cup finals against the Vancouver Canucks (starting next Wednesday).

Last night's outcome couldn't be more simply defined: Tampa Bay's power play was 3 of 4 while Boston was 1 of 5. The gamesmanship from Lightning head coach Guy Boucher before Game 6 is irrelevant since the B's had more opportunities and also earned the first three power plays of the game so end of discussion.

I would love to dump on the Bruins for losing since it might make me feel temporarily better but they don't deserve it. They actually showed a ton of heart (rare for them) as they battled back from a 5-3 deficit in the third period and essentially ran out of time as Tampa Bay switched roles with Boston and hung on for dear life.

The loss wasted a hat trick by David Krejci along with a big boy game by his linemates Milan Lucic (1 goal, 1 assist) and Nathan Horton (2 assists). Unfortunately, the Lightning received similar primetime performances from Martin St. Louis (2 goals, 1 assist), Steven Stamkos (1 goal, 2 assists) and Vincent Lecavalier (2 assists).

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (21 saves) continued his trick or treat series with another rough outing. Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson (16 saves) didn't do much and looked extremely shaky as well but hey, he came out on top.

Besides the power play struggles for Boston, which everyone in New England could point out (including my dog and cat at this point), the much more unreported nightmare has been the Bruins' propensity to give up both early and late goals in periods. Two times last night, Tampa Bay scored with 36 seconds or less into a frame. That's simply unacceptable at any time, especially now with so much at stake.

Teddy Purcell made it 1-0 Tampa Bay 36 seconds into Game 6, scoring his fifth of the playoffs assisted by Lecavalier. Before Bruins fans could freak out too much, Lucic had scored his third of the playoffs (at 7:09 from Horton and Johnny Boychuk) and Krejci potted his eighth of the playoffs (at 16:30 off a nice feed from Daniel Paille of all people).

All the effort and hard work in the first was quickly wiped out in the second as the Lightning got a pair of power play goals. St. Louis tied it up at 7:55 (from Lecavalier and Stamkos) and Purcell scored his second at 13:35 (from Steve Downie and Brett Clark).

Boston always seems to play better from behind so a one-goal deficit wasn't the end of the world, particularly since they were on the road (where they're more mentally tough for some unknown reason).

Stamkos scored (his sixth of the postseason, from Eric Brewer and St. Louis) another power play goal, 34 seconds into the third and that seemed like game over.

Krejci wouldn't let the B's go down so quietly as he cut it to 4-3 at 9:46 on the power play (!). Horton and Tomas Kaberle had the assists.

Before you could even get too excited though, Boston made sure to punch you in the gut one more time as St. Louis scored the game-winner 29 seconds later. Downie and Stamkos assisted on a play that was a complete fail by so many Bruins. Boychuk pinched in offensive zone and got caught up ice, Thomas over committed and came out too far and Ference didn't cut off the cross ice feed. Yuck.

Boucher was still in a gift giving mood and he let Krejci get his hat trick (Boston's first in the playoffs since Cam Neely in 1991) at 13:28 from Lucic and Kaberle. However, the Bruins couldn't find the tying goal and are forced to play one more deciding game.

I don't care if you have tickets to Game 7, no sane Bruins fan (an oxymoron) wanted it to happen. Boston survived Game 7 against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round but in the last three seasons they've departed the playoffs with brutal Game 7 losses. The last two were particularly unforgivable since they were on home ice.

Tomorrow night will answer many questions regarding head coach Claude Julien's legacy along with the leaders of the team: Thomas, Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron to name a few. If the Bruins lose, it's time to shake things up since this group will have maxed out and they won't go any further with a coach as stubborn and simple-minded as Julien.

Red Sox take a dump on the Cleveland Indians, leave town with a series win

2011-05-26T12:29:00.021-05:00

I was all set to watch the series finale yesterday afternoon between the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. However, when I flipped the game on the radio (while I was on the computer), I listened in amazement as they hung seven on Indians (30-16) starter Mitch Talbot in the first inning, en route to a 14-2 ass kicking.

Thanks to the blowout, I felt comfortable going to the gym and catching bits and pieces of the game when I could. The Red Sox (27-22) won the series and their 10th game out of their last 12 thanks to a season-high 20 hit attack including four homers and six doubles.

Jon Lester (7-1) was the lucky recipient of the ridiculous output from his offense. Lester threw six scoreless innings, allowing three hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. After a couple subpar outings in a row, it was nice to see him be lights out once again.

Talbot (1-1) deserves some sympathy since he was making his first start off the DL, against a red-hot team, but thems the breaks sometimes. In three innings, he allowed 12 hits, eight earned runs with two walks and a strikeout.

Carl Crawford led the Red Sox, going 4 for 4 in his best game so far in an underwhelming season in Boston. He had a homer, two doubles, three runs and two RBIs. Jacoby Ellsbury (2 walks) and Drew Sutton (2 runs) had three hits while Dustin Pedroia (3 RBIs), Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia (3 RBIs) and Mike Cameron all had two hits.

Pedroia, Ortiz and Saltalamacchia had the other homers in this joke of a game.

Boston travels to Detroit for a four-game series beginning with an afternoon game today. Alfredo Aceves takes on Max Scherzer.

Red Sox finally top the world beating Indians

2011-05-25T11:12:00.025-05:00

After four tries in 2011, the Boston Red Sox (26-22) finally beat the Cleveland Indians (30-16) 4-2 last night at Progressive Field.

Josh Beckett (4-1) picked up his first regular season win in Cleveland (who could ever forget his legendary start there in the 2007 playoffs?) after 6.2 innings. He allowed five hits, one earned run with three walks and six strikeouts.

Fausto Carmona (3-5) went eight innings for the Indians but he allowed five hits, four earned runs with one walk and seven strikeouts.

The unlikeliest of heroes stepped up at the plate for Boston as Jason Varitek hit a two-run homer, his first in almost a year (May 30, 2010).

Jonathan Papelbon gave up a solo homer to Travis Buck in the ninth but recovered to get his ninth save of the season.

Some Amish guy named Ezequiel Carrera gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the second which scored Buck.

Jed Lowrie tied it up in the third with a sacrifice fly which drove in Carl Crawford. The Red Sox went ahead for good later in the frame on Adrian Gonzalez's RBI double (scoring Jacoby Ellsbury).

Varitek's two-run bomb in the seventh plated David Ortiz.

Jon Lester takes on Mitch Talbot this afternoon in the series finale.

Black and Gold are getting it done

2011-05-24T14:16:00.005-05:00

At times in the last few years as I got into the team more and more, I honestly never thought the Boston Bruins would reach this point in my entire life.

They are on the cusp of the Stanley Cup finals (for the first time in 21 years) after last night's 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

As everyone knows, closing out a team is the toughest part (especially for this franchise) but don't you have the feeling that this year is different?

The B's are up 3-2 in the series thanks to another outstanding performance from goaltender Tim Thomas (33 saves). He made the save of the season (which really shouldn't surprise you if you've watched him for years) on Lightning scumbag Steve Downie which left Downie pouting alone on the bench after the game had long ended. Strange cat.

Tampa Bay gave Mike Smith (17 saves) his first career playoff start and he wasn't good or bad. The two goals that he gave up were impossible to stop by anyone while Boston added an empty-netter to close it out.

The crazy part about the win was that the Lightning came out flying in the first period while the Bruins seemed to be stuck in the locker room, on the tarmac at Logan Airport or at some other undisclosed location.

Simon Gagne gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead 1:09 into regulation after a 2-on-1 break from Steven Stamkos. Andrew Ference got caught up ice and Gagne was able to pot his fifth of the playoffs. If I had been in Boston at the time, I might have jumped off the Tobin Bridge but thankfully the Bruins always always play better from behind as everybody knows at this point.

Thomas held the fort for the rest of the period and his teammates finally woke up from their zombie-like slumber near the end of the frame as they got engaged physically and put four (4!) shots on Smith.

Nathan Horton was one of the only Bruins that was emotionally into it from the start (and that caused two stupid penalties on him) but he tied it up at 4:24 of the second period on a sublime one-timer. Horton's seventh of the playoffs (called by Ryan before the game started) featured a great backhand assist from Milan Lucic and Krejci had the second helper.

Brad Marchand (or as my girlfriend mistakenly called him-The Marshmallow Man) scored the game-winner at 15:56 after an even sweeter feed from Patrice Bergeron. Stationed along the boards, Bergeron whipped a forehand pass to Marchand, who skated past Martin St. Louis and tipped it past Smith (for his sixth of the playoffs). Zdeno Chara had the second assist as he started the play by holding the puck in Tampa Bay's zone.

Thomas made a huge save (helped out by the post) on Adam Hall early in the third period and then came the bananas stop on Downie which barely left the roof on the Garden.

Rich Peverley (second of the playoffs) put it away with an empty-netter at 19:47 of the third period, assisted by Chris Kelly.

So here we are. One more win and the Bruins will get to a place that nobody and I mean nobody predicted they would find themselves this postseason or maybe ever again. Game 6 is tomorrow night in Tampa Bay and Lightning part-time serial killer and head coach Guy Boucher has already announced that Dwayne Roloson is the starter again in between the pipes. It could be some gamesmanship from the Butcher, we shall see. If it's true, advantage Bruins.

Nothing is ever easy for this team or this franchise but for God's sakes, get it over tomorrow night. I don't want to see them in another Game 7 with a trip to the Stanley Cup finals on the line.

Cleveland rocks (or so I've been told)

2011-05-24T13:49:00.005-05:00

Sooner or later in 2011, the Cleveland Indians will come back to Earth. Right? Maybe not for MLB's surprise top team.

For the fourth time this season in four games at Cleveland's Progressive Field, the Indians (30-15) beat the Red Sox (25-22). Last night, the Tribe rallied for a 3-2 win as Daniel Bard (1-4) once again failed to get the job done.

Bard deserves blame since he you know, threw the pitches. However, Red Sox manager Terry Francona should get some heat too since he had Bard face Asdrubal Cabrera (who was 5 for 5 on Sunday and had hit a solo homer earlier last night) with first base open and a struggling Shin-Soo Choo up next.

Cabrera hit an RBI double off Bard which scored Michael Brantley (who had tied it with an RBI single) with the winning run in the eighth.

Indians closer Chris Perez worked around two hits in the ninth to get his 13th save of the season. Carl Crawford ended the game by grounding into a double play.

Clay Buchholz started for Boston and yet again, he shut down the opposition enough to earn a win. He went 7.1 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs and two walks with four strikeouts. He was pulled after 94 pitches since he threw an obscene 127 in his last start.

Former Red Sox pitcher Justin Masteron (who went to Cleveland in the Victor Martinez trade on July 31, 2009) continued to baffle his old team. He also got a no decision but he pitched well. He went 7.2 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts.

Dustin Pedroia gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the third with an RBI single that scored Crawford.

Cabrera tied it up with his 10th homer of the season in the fourth inning.

Crawford answered with just his second homer of the season-solo of course-in the fifth.

Tonight figures to be another pitcher's duel as Josh Beckett opposes Fausto Carmona.

Tim Wakefield: your grandparents' favorite Red Sox player

2011-05-23T12:16:00.015-05:00

I'd say the weekend series against the Chicago Cubs was a success for the Boston Red Sox.

Sure, a nightmare of an eighth inning on Saturday night prevented them from getting the sweep but Friday's blowout win (15-5) and last night's tidy 5-1 win at Fenway Park proved that the Red Sox (25-21) are built to win any type of game. On the other side, the Cubs (20-25) are not very good at all as this weekend proved and it's going to be another long season, not that they're drunken fans will really notice.

Tim Wakefield (1-1) helped Boston win its eighth game in its last nine tries, his first victory of 2011. The oldest player in MLB went 6.2 innings, allowing four hits and one earned run with three strikeouts.

With Matt Garza scratched from the start with elbow trouble, the Cubs had to rely on a shaky bullpen, led by some bum named James Russell (1-5). He went four innings, allowing seven hits, three earned runs, one walk with two strikeouts before turning it over to three other scrubs and Kerry Wood.

Adrian Gonzalez continued to be the best hitter in baseball not named Jose Bautista as he went 4 for 4 with a double and two runs scored. Dustin Pedroia added two hits and a run, David Ortiz had two hits and Kevin Youkilis added a two-run triple.

The Red Sox scored twice in the fourth on RBI sacrifice flies by Jed Lowrie and Mike Cameron (who shouldn't have a job in baseball anymore) which scored Gonzalez and Youkilis respectively.

Saltalamacchia crushed his third homer in four games (yes even he has started to hit, a sure sign of the Apocalypse) in the fifth, his third of the season for a 3-0 Boston lead.

Jeff Baker's RBI double in the seventh spoiled Wakefield's unlikely shutout bid, scoring Starlin Castro.

Youkilis hit his two-run triple off Wood in the seventh to the triangle in center. Pedroia and Gonzalez scored on the play.

After getting two games off, Daniel Bard looked refreshed and worked out of the seventh and got a clean eighth, finishing with two strikeouts.

Jonathan Papelbon allowed a hit but struck out two in the ninth during the non-save situation.

What better place for the Red Sox to go than Cleveland? The Indians are the best team in baseball right now and they swept Boston in the first week of April. This three-game set could serve to show how far the Red Sox have come from that disastrous start and April in general. Clay Buchholz opposes former Red Sox Justin Masterson tonight. I'd be shocked if Cleveland sweeps Boston again.

Claude Julien's Boston Bruins: Blowing 3-0 leads for life

2011-05-21T23:33:00.030-05:00

I can't explain why but no lead ever seems safe when you're a Boston Bruins fan. A three-goal lead in hockey should be analogous to a three-touchdown lead in football or 20-point lead in basketball.

Still, the B's have found themselves on top 3-0 last postseason in Game 7 in the Flyers (how'd that one end?) and this afternoon against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals and in both cases, they have lost. I can never recall a team in any sport that was so good playing from behind and yet so consistently terrible playing with a lead. It's insane.

What is it about three-goal leads with the Bruins? That doesn't even count the Game 2 win against Tampa Bay where Boston went up 6-3 but barely survived for a 6-5 win.

Today's 5-3 win by the Lightning, notice they scored five unanswered goals, was a considerable nut shot to the Stanley Cup hopes of the Bruins and their long suffering fans.

Perhaps we should have known the sky would soon fall (it was Judgement Day after all) as Boston quieted the St. Pete Times Forum crowd with a trio of goals in the first period. There wasn't a strong one in the bunch as Patrice Bergeron scored an unassisted goal at 11:47 after a terrible Tomas Kaberle style giveaway behind Tampa Bay's goal.

The B's went up 2-0 on an even stranger goal as Michael Ryder skated in on a 2-on-1, waited too long to pass it but was beyond lucky to have the puck deflect off a Lightning defenseman and behind goaltender Dwayne Roloson (6 saves). Chris Kelly and Kaberle assisted on Ryder's fifth of the playoffs.

The dream first period was closed out with an unassisted shorthanded goal by Bergeron at 17:58. His long shot went right through Roloson's five hole (he would be pulled after the first period).

We all should have known that there was way too much time left for the Lightning and their potent offense. They're not the Bruins, they wouldn't go out that quietly. As Boston retreated back into their defensive shell (thanks Claude), Teddy Purcell scored a quick pair of goals (at 6:55 and 7:58) to pull Tampa Bay within 3-2.

Neither was Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas' (32 saves) fault as they came directly from snipe city. Purcell undressed Adam McQuaid on the first one with a toe drag then scored on a low backhander that Thomas couldn't reach. Simon Gagne assisted on that one.

Mattias Ohlund and Vincent Lecavalier assisted on Purcell's fourth of the playoffs which was a high shot over Thomas's blocker side.

Most coaches would probably call a timeout at that point since the team was in full meltdown mode but not Julien. Nope, best to play it out at that point and see what you're rattled team can do.

To nobody's surprise, Bergenheim tied it up at 10:53 (his 10th of the playoffs) off a rebound from Domenic Moore. Safe to say the Lightning didn't look back from there. A timeout there would have made sense too but no dice. Clearly, Claude doesn't need timeouts. I mean, who could argue with his results?

At this point, if I was a smarter man I would have gone outside and enjoyed the beautiful day (the first in weeks) but no I'm a dumb ass Bruins fan. I knew that they weren't coming out of this one with a win but I sat there like a goon and watch them piss down their leg as always.

The best I can say is that at least they didn't prolong the agony and send it to overtime. Simon Gagne had the game-winner as he scored his fourth of the playoffs at 6:54 from Ryan Malone. Still plenty of time left in the frame but who thought the B's had a prayer at that point? They continued to skate their lane while the conveyor belt of four lines rolled out and not really do much of anything (which could be said of the final two periods) and Martin St. Louis closed it out with an empty net goal at 19:23 (his eighth of the playoffs) from Gagne and Victor Hedman.

Mike Smith (21 saves) played the final two periods and didn't allow a goal but I honestly can't think of one above average save that he had to make. Boston didn't test him at all (and why would you with a goaltender that just got thrown in there?) but regardless, he should get the start in Game 5.

We have Sunday to cry about this latest choke job but then it's back to business on Monday as the teams return to Boston for Game 5 at TD Garden. Who knows what to expect from the Bruins? They could have a short memory and play well or they could have an emotional hangover (helped by their rightly paranoid crowd) and they'll lose again, which will probably signal their demise. So yeah Game 5 is important but good luck guessing what is going to happen.

Tim Thomas restores some order in the Eastern Conference finals

2011-05-20T12:34:00.017-05:00

After scoring five goals in both Game 1 and Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Tampa Bay Lightning's potent offense was due for a letdown. Likewise, the defensively strong Boston Bruins couldn't possibly play any worse in their own end.

Some order was restored to the hockey universe last night in Game 3 at the St. Pete Times Forum as Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (31 saves) shut out the Lightning 2-0, helping Boston grab the all-important 2-1 lead (and wrestle back the home-ice advantage they lost in Game 1).

If you watched the B's all season, the team that skated last night was a much closer resemblance than the frauds that showed up in Game 1 and 2. Yes they won Game 2, but they're not going to win many games playing run and gun hockey with a team as talented offensively as the Lightning.

David Krejci popped a goal 1:09 into regulation and from there, Boston improved to 7-0 in the playoffs when they score first. Milan Lucic and Johnny Boychuk had the assists on Krejci's team-high seventh of the postseason. A defensive breakdown by Tampa Bay allowed Krejci to camp in front of goaltender Dwayne Roloson (23 saves) and wait him out (he took a Thomas-esque dive) before shoveling a backhander in.

After a scoreless and truthfully dull second period (which plays exactly into Claude Julien and the Bruins' paws), Andrew Ference scored his second of the playoffs at 8:12 of the third period. Michael Ryder and Chris Kelly had the assists to a goal which was originally given to Tyler Seguin (who didn't come even close to tipping it). There was tons of traffic in front of Roloson and he stopped it but the puck had just enough steam on it to trickle over the goal line in slow motion.

Thomas had to make a couple great saves but other than that, Tampa Bay was pretty quiet even when they were down two goals.

Game 4 is tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 p.m. and I don't have to be a genius like Lightning head coach Guy Boucher to tell you that it's the biggest game of the series. If the B's win, they'll be one game away from the Stanley Cup finals (!). If they lose, Tampa Bay is right back into it and they will have forgotten their struggles in Game 2 and 3.

Sorry Justin Verlander, even you cannot stop the Boston Red Sox right now

2011-05-20T12:08:00.018-05:00

Another game, another win for the Boston Red Sox. Carl Crawford continues to toil at the bottom of the lineup but he still delivered his third walkoff hit in May as Boston beat Detroit 4-3 last night at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox (23-20) have won a season-high six in a row thanks to contributions from everybody: great starting pitching, timely hitting, excellent relief and plain old luck.

The Tigers (22-21) came into Boston hot but left after a two-game sweep with interleague play starting for everybody this weekend.

A pitcher's duel between Detroit ace Justin Verlander and Red Sox stud Josh Beckett was overshadowed by Crawford's heroics. With the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, Crawford (2 hits) crushed a single over the head of Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson which plated pinch runner Darnell McDonald. Detroit porn star and reliever Al Alburquerque (0-1) was charged with the loss.

Neither starter got a decision as Verlander went eight innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs with nine strikeouts. Beckett departed after six innings (with a stiff neck, man baseball players are warriors), five hits, one earned run, two walks and three strikeouts.

Andy Dirks (what is with these names?) gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the second.

J.D. Drew tied it up in the bottom of the second with a sacrifice fly which scored Kevin Youkilis.

Things looked to be turning in Boston's favor as Drew hit a solo homer in the fourth and David Ortiz (3 hits, quietly having a very solid season) followed with a solo shot of his own in the seventh.

Matt Albers got a scoreless seventh (1 hit, 2 strikeouts) but Detroit hit a pair of solo homers off Daniel Bard in the eighth. Brennan Boesch and Miguel Cabrera did the honors.

No worries though, the Red Sox are finding every possible way to win right now and this time, it didn't even take extra innings. Just another ho hum walkoff.

The Chicago Cubs come to Fenway for a three-game series which kicks off tonight. It's the first time since the 1918 World Series (remember that classic?) that the Cubbies have been to Boston. I can feel the collective boners from all the baseball nerds across the world. It promises to be a memorable weekend in Boston.

Red Sox are finally getting used to this winning thing

2011-05-19T13:08:00.012-05:00

Rain, mist or fog can't stop the Boston Red Sox right now as they won their fifth straight game last night, 1-0 against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park.

Clay Buchholz got a no-decision but he had his fourth straight superb start for Boston (22-20). He went seven scoreless innings with a season-high 127 pitches. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out seven.

Phil Coke was the unlikely Detroit (22-20) pitcher that matched Buchholz pitch for pitch. He also went seven scoreless innings, gave up three hits, one walk and struck out four.

It was a weird night with terrible weather, including a 26-minute rain dealy in the eighth inning, so it makes perfect sense that Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia came up with the biggest hit of the game.

After Carl Crawford walked in the eighth, Saltalamacchia delivered with an RBI double which plated the winning run.

Daniel Bard (1-3) picked up his first win of 2011 with a 1-2-3 eighth, including a strikeout.

Jonathan Papelbon gave up a leadoff double to former Red Sox Victor Martinez to start the ninth but settled down to get the last three outs (including two strikeouts) for his eighth save of the season.

Justin Verlander and Josh Beckett is the exquisite pitching matchup tonight in the series finale. It's too bad Bruins-Lightning Game 3 is tonight as well (starting at 8 p.m.) since this could be one of the best games of the year.

Tyler Seguin will give you pants tents for days

2011-05-18T12:11:00.030-05:00

With last night's roller coaster 6-5 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden, the Boston Bruins tied the Eastern Conference finals 1-1 with the series shifting to Florida tomorrow night for Game 3.

If his career pans out, the foremost memory from the win will be rookie Tyler Seguin's absurd four-point night. After sitting out the first two playoff series', he had a goal and assist in Game 1 on Saturday. He doubled that output and better yet, did it all in one period (the second, tying a team record) as Boston turned a 2-1 deficit into a 6-3 lead and then held on for dear life.

It's hard to believe that Boston goaltender Tim Thomas (36 saves) had a good game when he gave up five goals, including a couple soft ones but trust me when I tell you that he made a couple unbelievable stops in the third to secure this vital win.

Lightning goaltender and Stephen King doppleganger Dwayne Roloson (21 saves) came back to Earth like you knew a 41-year-old journeyman eventually would. Like Thomas, he actually made a bunch of solid stops (in the first period) but was done in by a leaky defense in front of him and pulled after the second period.

In a crazy contest, it's only fitting that Boston's beyond dead power play arose from the dead, scored two goals and created numerous other chances. Yeah, it was that kind of night.

Once again, Tampa Bay took an early lead, this time 13 seconds into regulation as Adam Hall (first of the playoffs) took advantage of a shot off the back boards that bounced right to him as he used his backhanded to put in a tough angle shot. Vincent Lecavalier and former Bruin Nate Thompson assisted on that gift.

Nathan Horton (sixth of the playoffs) got the Bruins on the board with their first power-play strike, at 13:58. He tipped in Dennis Seidenberg's shot from the point with Tomas Kaberle picking up the second assist.

The B's absolutely dominated play in the first period (18-11 shot advantage) yet it was a bitter feeling as the Lightning scored another fluky goal with seven seconds left in the frame. Steven Stamkos threw the puck at the net and Martin St. Louis was in front to bat it in past Thomas for his seventh of the playoffs. Lecavalier also assisted on that one.

Yes, the B's almost committed a nightmare of a collapse in the third period as they seemingly couldn't gain control of the puck or do simple things like score into an empty net but hey, they won. With Patrice Bergeron likely to make his return in Game 3, there's much to be excited about.

Given the stakes and setting, I honestly can't think of a better period than the one submitted in the second by Boston (5-1 in a must-win game in the Eastern Conference finals). Therefore, I stand by my delirious Tweet from last night that said "best Bruins period of my life." For 20 minutes, Claude Julien's boring defensive system was thrown into the trash as Seguin and the Bruins' other most talented forwards flew around the rink.

Seguin tied it up 48 seconds into the second after Michael Ryder sprung him for a breakaway. The 19-year-old knows what do in that position and he beat Roloson with a sweet backhander.

At 2:24 Seidenberg found David Krejci with a nice cross-ice feed and Krejci one-timed it for his sixth goal of the playoffs. Horton also assisted on his linemate's tally.

At 6:30 Seguin roofed a forehand shot over Roloson, assisted by Horton and Adam McQuaid. It's not understatement to say the TD Garden went bananas at that point, breaking out the Tyler.....Seguin chant.

Lecavalier (sixth of the playoffs) struck on a Tampa Bay power play to pull the Lightning within 4-3 at 7:48. St. Louis and Stamkos had the assists.

The ghost of Michael Ryder stopped by for a visit late in the second period and it was a pleasant stay as he potted two goals of his own (his third and fourth of the playoffs). He scored on the power play at 16:16 from Seguin (of course) and Kaberle. With 19 seconds left in the second, Ryder jumped on a rebound and scored after Roloson had stopped shots from Chris Kelly and Seguin.

I don't know how to explain it but Boston is just the worst hockey team ever playing with a lead, especially when it's more than one goal. Furthering my point, they were completely lifeless in the third period as Stamkos sniped one over Thomas' shoulder at 3:47 (his fifth of the playoffs) from Victor Hedman and Hall.

The clock seemed to be stuck in slow motion or maybe it was just the Bruins who seemed to be killing an invisible penalty all period. When former Harvard star Dominic Moore put in a rebound (on a play that should have been whistled dead since Thomas' mask came off) at 13:15, it looked like Tampa Bay was going to win this game.

Thankfully for hearts across New England, that didn't happen as the B's managed to hang on despite things like Milan Lucic shooting over an empty net (something you don't see every day).

Last night only proved that this series is probably going to the distance (seven games) either way. Tampa Bay has too much firepower to go down quietly but Boston has better goaltending (usually) and defense (sometimes) with more overall depth. Seguin really is the X factor; if he can continue to produce and Bergeron returns, I like the B's chances to get to their first Stanley Cup final since 1990.

Adrian Gonzalez's first walk-off hit as a member of the Boston Red Sox

2011-05-17T14:01:00.026-05:00

If the Boston Red Sox go anywhere this season, I can guarantee that highlights of last night's improbable victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park will be featured prominently.

Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run double off the Monster in the bottom of the ninth off Orioles closer Kevin Gregg giving Boston (21-20) its fourth straight win, 8-7 over Baltimore (19-21).

The Daisuke Matsuzaka experience was in full effect during a miserable, rainy night. He went 4.1 innings, allowing five hits, five earned runs, seven walks and two strikeouts. I don't know who they could put in his rotation spot but hopefully the Red Sox brass can come up with another fake injury and they can give him a seat next to John Lackey on the disabled list.

The Orioles built up a 6-0 lead with two runs in the first, one in the third, two in the fifth and one in the sixth.

Derrek Lee had an RBI double in the first and Vlad Guerrero (3 hits, 2 runs) drove in a run with a ground out. Matt Wieters had an RBI single in the third, Mark Reynolds had an RBI single in the fifth and J.J. Hardy drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Finally, Adam Jones had an RBI single in the sixth.

After Orioles starter Chris Tillman pitched five scoreless innings, Jed Lowrie (2 hits, 2 runs) got the comeback underway with an RBI double in the sixth. Jason Varitek and Gonzalez added RBI singles in the frame and Kevin Youkilis roped an two-run RBI double to pull the Red Sox within a run at 6-5.

Reynolds hit a solo homer to center off Boston reliever Alfredo Aceves (1-0) in the seventh to give the Orioles a 7-5 lead. It turned out to be the only mistake for Aceves as he went three innings for the win. He allowed two hits and struck out one for his first win with the Red Sox.

Varitek cut it to 7-6 in the seventh with another RBI single.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits) walked and stole second with one out in the ninth against Gregg. Pedroia worked a nine-pitch walk, setting the table for Gonzalez's sweet stroke off the Wall.

Tim Wakefield gets the ball tonight in place of Lackey. The O's counter with young lefty Zach Britton (5-2). Boston looks to sweep the two-game set and continue this stretch of good baseball.

Drew Bledsoe holds the ball for too long, gets sacked and enters the Patriots Hall of Fame

2011-05-17T13:44:00.018-05:00

It's hard to think of a professional athlete in New England that has seen their legacy get tarnished more in the last decade than former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe.

It's ironic because from all accounts, the former No. 1 overall pick is a great guy and he left Foxborough on good terms. What hurt him so much rather than off the field drama was the fact that one of the alltime great quarterbacks in NFL history (Tom Brady) directly followed him and led the Patriots to three Super Bowl wins in four years and four Super Bowls overall (so far).

Still, Bledsoe deserves his share of credit from turning that hopeless franchise from a joke when he joined them in 1993 to a legitimate playoff team year after year when he left (after 2001). It was nice to see the fans respond as they voted Bledsoe into the Patriots Hall of Fame.

The announcement was made yesterday as Bledsoe was the 17th player and 18th member of the team to make the Hall of Fame. Since the new voting process was instituted in 2007, Bledsoe earned the highest percentage of votes (beating former head coach Bill Parcells and defensive lineman Houston Antwine) from fans and also became the first player to get voted in during his first year of eligibility.

Bledsoe will join Jon Morris, who was selected to the hall of fame by the senior selection committee, as the 2011 honorees. Bledsoe and Morris will be inducted in a public ceremony outside The Hall at Patriot Place on Saturday, Sept. 17.

During his nine-year Patriots career, he broke the Patriots' career passing records for attempts (4,518), completions (2,544) and yards (29,657). Bledsoe still holds the Patriots' single-season passing records for attempts (691) and completions (400) and is the only player in franchise history to pass for over 400 yards multiple times (4). He still holds the NFL record for attempts in a season (691 in 1994) and both attempts (70) and completions (45) in a game against Minnesota in 1994 that sparked a seven-game win streak, propelling the Patriots to their first playoff berth in eight years. Bledsoe led the Patriots to the playoffs four times in his first six seasons, helping the team earn back-to-back division titles and three consecutive playoff berths for the first time in franchise history. In 1996, he guided the Patriots to their second AFC Championship in franchise history and a trip to Super Bowl XXXI. Bledsoe is the only quarterback in NFL history with four seasons of at least 600 pass attempts, including three straight from 1994-96 with the Patriots.

They did it! Red Sox reach .500 mark!

2011-05-16T12:00:00.017-05:00

After 40 games in the 2011 season, the Boston Red Sox finally reached the .500 mark with a 7-5 win last night at Yankee Stadium.

It couldn't have come in much better fashion as it enabled the Red Sox (20-20) to not only sweep the three-game series against the Yankees (20-18) but send New York into a tailspin as they've lost their last five games in a row and nine of their last 12.

Jon Lester (5-1) battled through a subpar outing and still managed to give Boston some innings. Are you paying attention John Lackey? Lester went six innings, allowing five hits, four earned runs, four walks with seven strikeouts.

Freddy Garcia (2-3) couldn't match Lester even on a very off-night for one of MLB's best. In 5.1 innings, he allowed six hits, five runs (four earned), two walks and four strikeouts.

The Yankees got out to a 4-1 lead but it wasn't enough to stem the tide of a lost weekend in the Bronx for the Bombers.

Mark Teixeira (2 hits) had an RBI single in the first which drove in Derek Jeter for a 1-0 Yankees lead.

Jed Lowrie tied it in the second with a sacrifice fly which scored Kevin Youkilis.

Andruw Jones hit a solo homer in the second and Curtis Granderson blasted a three-run bomb off Lester in the same frame.

Yankee Stadium continued to be a glorified Little League park (and to think people make fun of Fenway) as Youk tied it in the third with a three-run bomb of his own.

David Ortiz (3 hits) put Boston ahead with a solo shot in the fifth.

Alex Rodriguez made a fielding error on about the easiest play imaginable in the seventh, allowing Youk to score and put the Red Sox up 6-4.

A-Rod atoned for his mistake with an RBI double in the seventh off former Yanks reliever Alfredo Aceves but Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 hits) gave Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon some breathing room with a solo homer in the eighth off the ghost of Joba Chamberlain.

Bard survived two walks to get four outs in the seventh and eighth while Papelbon recorded a 1-2-3 ninth (with a strikeout) for his seventh save of the season.

The Red Sox return home for a seven-game homestand (Orioles, Tigers and Cubs!) in rainy Boston. With only 3.5 games seperating first-place Tampa Bay and last-place Baltimore, it's time to forget about Boston's terrible start. It's a thing of the past and they still have 122 (haha) regular season games left.

They begin with two against Baltimore starting tonight with Daisuke Matsuzaka taking on Chris Tillman. With rain forecasted and the usual Dice-K roller coaster, I would say give your tickets away if you have them and drink heavily or use drugs if you plan on watching this one on TV.

Bruins take the time machine back to Games 1-2 vs. Montreal

2011-05-15T11:24:00.022-05:00

After not having a game for eight days, we were all dying for a taste of the Boston Bruins in the playoffs, especially since the Celtics are now done and the B's had advanced farther than they had in the past 18 years.

In true Bruins form, they completely let everybody down by getting smoked 5-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals last night at TD Garden.

After sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers and winning four of its last five against the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the playoffs, the B's took a trip back to the nightmarish Games 1-2 against the Habs. In those games, Boston routinely gave goals to Montreal with awful turnovers and bad rebounds from Tim Thomas.

Tampa Bay put Game 1 away with a flurry of three goals in a span of 1:25 of the first period. At 11:15, Sean Bergenheim (8th of the playoffs) made it 1-0 as Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg kicked it right to him in front of the net. Totally not Thomas' fault. Dominic Moore and Victor Hedman assisted on that one.

19 seconds later, Brett Clark went from one end of the rink to the other and threw a weak sauce backhander on Thomas (29 saves). It trickled through Thomas for Clark's first goal of the postseason. Completely unforgivable.

Bruins head coach Claude Julien should have called a timeout right then but he waited and things somehow got even worse as Tomas Kaberle coughed up the puck right behind the net and Teddy Purcell stuffed it by Thomas for his second of the playoffs and a shocking 3-0 Lightning lead just 12:40 into the first period.

At 15:59 of the first period, Tyler Seguin cut it to 3-1 with a moment of brilliance, his first career playoff goal in his first playoff game. He was assisted by Michael Ryder and Rich Peverley but Seguin did all the hard work as he dangled past a Tampa Bay defenseman.

Boston put some shots on Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson (31 saves) but they didn't get enough traffic in front or simply shot wide of the net. Plus, Tampa Bay blocked roughly 50 shots.

Marc-Andre Bergeron clinched it for the Lightning with a power-play goal at 13:37 of the third period. His second of the playoffs, it was assisted by Brett Clark and Martin St. Louis.

Simon Gagne added an empty-netter (his third of the season, from Purcell) before Johnny Boychuk (third of the playoffs) got a garbage time goal for the Bruins, from Seguin.

Game 2 is Tuesday night back at TD Garden. I don't think the Bruins could play much worse. Tampa Bay's top offensive players (Steven Stamkos, St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier) were quiet in Game 1 so that'll soon change. Thomas will be better and Boston cannot possibly give Tampa Bay easier goals. It is a must-win since Tampa Bay is better than Montreal and Philadelphia and the B's don't want to be down 2-0 against such a good team with the series headed to their home rink.

Josh Beckett owns the Yankees (at least so far this season)

2011-05-15T11:00:00.018-05:00

It's funny how in a couple days, the New York Yankees have become a complete mess with a legendary player (Jorge Posada) removing himself from the lineup while the Boston Red Sox look like a team that has underachieved so far this season but is built for big things in 2011.

The Red Sox (19-20) shut out the Yankees (20-17) 5-0 last night at Yankee Stadium with Josh Beckett (3-1) outdueling CC Sabathia (3-3) for the second time in a month.

It was the second straight win for Boston in the Bronx and they'll go for the sweep tonight on Sunday Night baseball.

Beckett went six scoreless innings, allowing four hits, two walks with nine strikeouts.

Sabathia matched Beckett for the first four innings before giving up two runs in the fifth and four in the seventh. The big lefty went 6.2 innings, allowing seven hits, six earned runs, three walks with six strikeouts.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, 2 RBIs) got the Red Sox on the board with a two-run double in the fifth.

Boston benefited from a missed strike call on Jason Varitek in the seventh. On the next pitch, he laced an RBI single which scored Mike Cameron. Later in the frame, Adrian Gonzalez hit a three-run homer (his ninth of the season and fourth in his last four games).

Dustin Pedroia added three hits, a run and a stolen base in the win.

Curtis Granderson was the only Yankee with multiple hits. He had two hits and a stolen base.

The two most pleasant surprises in the Boston bullpen continued to get it done. Matt Albers pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth with two strikeouts while Rich Hill threw a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts of his own.

Tonight is the fifth time that the Red Sox have a chance to get to the .500 mark. Jon Lester will take on Freddy Garcia as Boston goes for the three-game sweep.

Beating the Yankees cures all

2011-05-14T11:33:00.019-05:00

After a slow start to his 2011 season, Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz has settled in during May. He's 3-0 so far this month and shows signs that last season wasn't a fluke and likewise he won't be suffering much of a sophomore slump.

Boston (18-20) won 5-4 last night at Yankee Stadium behind another strong outing from Buchholz (4-3), a nice start to an important series against the Yankees.

He went seven innings, allowing five hits, two earned runs, one walk and seven strikeouts.

After his shady stem cell surgery, Yankees (20-16) pitcher Bartolo Colon (2-2) is pitching like it's 2005. He went six innings, allowing five hits, three runs (two earned), three walks and four strikeouts.

I for one am not surprised at all that he's throwing in the upper 90s again. Makes total sense really, haha!

The Red Sox got out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a solo homer by Adrian Gonzalez (eighth of the season) and a ground out by Carl Crawford, which scored Kevin Youkilis.

Russell Martin, that noted Boston killer, tied it with a two-run bomb in the fifth (his seventh of the season). Once again, I'll note that we could have had him for peanuts this season.

Gonzalez put the Red Sox back ahead with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Youkilis followed with a two-run blast (his sixth of the season) off his nemesis Joba Chamberlain.

Daniel Bard came in for the eighth and he was erratic. Curtis Granderson scored on his wild pitch but he survived by only giving up the one run.

Jonathan Papelbon entered in the ninth and also gave up a run, on an RBI single by Granderson (which scored Jeter) but he did enough for his sixth save of the season.

Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits, a run and stolen base in the win.

Josh Beckett and the Red Sox will try to build some momentum as he takes on CC Sabathia tonight in the Bronx. Beautiful scheduling there by MLB, three straight night games. Don't ask me why today isn't an afternoon game, especially with the Bruins-Lightning series starting tonight at 8 p.m. Just Bud being Bud.

You knew this day was coming

2011-05-12T13:55:00.000-05:00

After the Boston Celtics lost the first two games of the 2011 Eastern Conference semifinals to the Miami Heat, you could sense that the championship window was rapidly closing.

The Celts were not going to comeback far enough in the series and barring big changes (namely an infusion of young talent), this team is destined to become the San Antonio Spurs of this season (a formerly great team that craps its pants in the first round of the playoffs).

Boston actually led 87-81 last night in Game 5 at AmericanAirlines Arena but from there, LeBron James and the Heat closed the game and the series on a 16-0 run. The Heat won 97-87 for a 4-1 series win and a berth in the Eastern Conference finals against either the Chicago Bulls or the Atlanta Hawks (Bulls up 3-2 with a chance to close out the Hawks tonight).

Losing the series had nothing to do with the shady NBA referees or the Kendrick Perkins trade. Yes, the Heat got to the line at will but that was because they drove rather than settle for jumpers like the Celtics. And yes, Perk would have made the Celts tougher and better defensively but Miami still would have won in six or seven games.

Dwyane Wade had a game-high 34 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals while LeBron put up 33 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Proverbial third wheel Chris Bosh had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Ray Allen led the C's with 18 points, Kevin Garnett had 15 points and 11 rebounds while Paul Pierce had 12 points. Rajon Rondo was limited to six points and three assists. He rightfully sat at the end of the game since between injury and inability to pose a threat offensively, the Heat didn't even have to cover him.

Delonte West had 10 points off the bench while Jeff Green (9 points), Nenad Krstic (8 points) and Glen Davis (6 points) all had their best games of the series but it didn't matter.

Boston came out strong with a 24-16 lead after the first quarter. They led by 10 points but it was fools gold since that happened for much of the series and the latter part of the season. The Celts didn't have the firepower to step up at the end of games while the Heat got it done when it really mattered most.

The Celts led 49-47 at halftime and 73-71 after three quarters. True to form, Miami owned the fourth quarter (26-14) and sent the Celtics home.

Head coach Doc Rivers said after the game that he's a Celtic and he's leaning toward returning next season. Davis is a free agent and Allen said he'll pick up his option and return. That's all fine and dandy but everyone will be a year older while Derrick Rose and the Bulls improve and the Heat continue to mesh more too.

For the game, Boston shot 49.3% to 46.4% last night. The Heat made 12 more free throws (26-14) and grabbed eight more rebounds (38-30). The C's had two more assists (15-13) and two more blocks (5-3) but the Heat had two more steals (7-5). Eight more turnovers (17-9) absolutely killed Boston along with 10 more fast break points (12-2), 10 more points off turnovers (22-12) and six more points in the paint (36-30) for the Heat.

2011 Boston Red Sox cannot seem to get to the .500 mark to save their lives

2011-05-11T13:03:00.020-05:00

It's going to happen eventually, I hope, but for the time being the Boston Red Sox simply cannot get to the .500 mark let alone jump over it.

For the third time in the 2011 season, they had a chance to get to .500 last night but once again, they fell short in a 7-6 loss in 11 innings at the Rogers Centre.

Jon Lester wasn't right from the start, giving up three runs in the first inning but the Red Sox (17-19) battled back to tie it multiple times, including a ninth-inning run off Blue Jays (16-20) closer Frank Francisco.

Lester struggled through 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits, five earned runs with five walks and five strikeouts. He was done after 114 pitches.

The poor pitching by Boston ruined a great night by its bipolar offense. The Red Sox put up a season-high 16 hits led by Adrian Gonzalez (3 hits, 3 RBIs, 2 runs), David Ortiz (3 hits, 2 runs, RBI), Jacoby Ellsbury (3 hits extending his hit streak to 19 games, stolen base), Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, 2 walks, run, stolen base) and J.D. Drew (2 hits).

Rookie Kyle Drabek (5 innings, 8 hits, 4 earned runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts) didn't give the Blue Jays much but his bullpen was just a hair better than Boston's.

Carl Crawford (10 game hit streak) cut it to 3-1 in the second with an RBI single. A solo homer by Ortiz (fifth of the season) in the fourth and Gonzalez's two-run blast in the fifth gave the Red Sox a 4-3 advantage.

Jose Bautista and J.P. Arencibia had solo homers in the fifth and sixth respectively to put Toronto back ahead 5-4.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia tied it in the eighth with an RBI single.

Rookie David Cooper hit a solo homer in the eighth off Daniel Bard but Gonzalez came through with the clutch homer in the ninth off Francisco to tie it.

With Matt Albers (0-1) on the mound, Rajai Davis singled in the tenth then stole sceond and third base on him and Jason Varitek. Cooper drove Davis home with a deep sacrifice fly to center.

This mini-series ends tonight with John Lackey opposing Jesse Litsch. You know what that means: I won't be watching much since A) Lackey will be shelled as per usual and the Celtics are facing the Heat while Miami has the chance to close out Boston.

It was fun while it lasted

2011-05-10T13:48:00.024-05:00

It doesn't get much more painful than last night's 98-90 overtime loss for the Celtics to the Heat. Miami takes a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals and has a chance to close out the Big 3 tomorrow night in South Beach.

With its home crowd at TD Garden going nuts, Boston had a chance to win it at the end of regulation but a screwed up play led to Paul Pierce's (27 points, 8 rebounds) hopeless fadeaway jumper that rimmed out.

That was the Celtics' season right there and on a bigger scale, it means that a crazy offseason (with tons of roster turnover) is now days away.

Miami dominated in overtime (12-4) as the Celts were out of gas and realized that they were done this season and perhaps for a long time moving forward.

The Heat's Big 3 of LeBron James (game-high 35 points, 14 rebounds), Dwyane Wade (28 points, 9 rebounds) and Chris Bosh (20 points, 12 rebounds) owned the game and they've owned the series as a whole.

Ray Allen had a quiet 17 points while Kevin Garnett was held to seven points (1 for 10 shooting) and 10 rebounds. It was hard to believe that KG was the same guy that had 28 points and 18 rebounds in Boston's Game 3 win. With that guy, the C's had hope. If he plays like he did last night, it's over in Game 5.

Rajon Rondo played and showed more heart but he was undoubtedly affected by his left elbow (which was dislocated then popped back into place on Saturday night). He had 10 points and five assists.

Delonte West has been Boston's only bench player that has stepped up in the pressure cooker that is known as the NBA playoffs. West had 10 points and three steals while Jeff Green (7 points) and Glen Davis (4 points) continued to be enigmas. Green has already established himself as completely unpredictable but what has happened to Big Baby in the playoffs? He was great for most of the regular season but now he's a puddle that can't seem to do anything right.

Nobody else on the Heat put up more than four points but who cares? It's the NBA and this team is showing that three stars and a bunch of bums can get it done (so far).

This was truly a game that the Celtics let slip away as they led 31-28 after the first quarter and as much as 11 in the second quarter before settling into a 53-50 halftime advantage. Boston won the third quarter (20-19) barely but Miami tied it up in the fourth (17-13) when it turned into a tractor pull of a defensive struggle.

For the game, the Heat shot 44.3% to 42.9% for the Celtics. Boston hit two more 3-pointers (5-3) but Miami snatched an unforgivable 17 more rebounds (45-28). The Celts had five more assists (15-10) and six more fast break points (15-9) but the younger, hungrier Heat pounded it inside to the tune of 48-32.

I have tomorrow night off from work so I'm ready to devote my full attention to the Celtics' last gasp effort to try and extend this series. In my heart of hearts, I think if Boston can win Game 5, they can definitely win Game 6 at TD Garden but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Game 5 is all that matters and the Celtics have to prove they can win in Miami before the Heat can start sweating.

Carl Crawford, for the win!

2011-05-10T13:21:00.028-05:00

I think it's time for Carl Crawford to move up in the Red Sox' lineup. He is finally ready to get out of the eighth spot hitter's purgatory. Haha although don't ask me where to put him, maybe fifth?

For the second time on the homestand, he had a walk-off hit to help Boston win. Last night it was an RBI double in the 11th that took care of the Minnesota Twins (12-21) at Fenway Park.

It let the Red Sox (17-18) end the season-high 11 game stay at home 6-5 with their third straight win over the Twins while inching them one game away from .500. Baby steps right?

Josh Beckett was outstanding, throwing seven scoreless innings but he wound up with the no-decision after Jonathan Papelbon blew the save opportunity in the eighth (his first of the season). Beckett allowed six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

Hideki Okajima (1-0) was the unsung hero as he threw a career-high 42 pitches and managed to submit a scoreless 10th and 11th despite allowing two hits and walking two. He also struck out three.

Nick Blackburn was similarly good for Minnesota but he departed with a no-decision as well. He went 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits, one earned run with three walks and five strikeouts.

Adrian Gonzalez (2 hits) continued his excellent play with an RBI single in the fifth that scored Jason Varitek (2 hits) and gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.

Jason Kubel broke his bat but was able to get an RBI single off Papelbon in the eighth which plated Denard Span.

Crawford's RBI double in the 11th was off the Monster and rookie Jose Iglesias (pinch running for Jed Lowrie who walked) raced around and just beat the relay for the exciting win.

Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hit streak to 18 games with a single.

Boston hits the road for two in Toronto then their first visit to Yankee Stadium this season takes place this weekend.

Jon Lester goes up against on Kyle Drabek tonight at the Rogers Centre.

Jacoby Ellsbury & Adrian Gonzalez are on fire

2011-05-09T12:15:00.021-05:00

Despite what the Bill James' and stat geeks of the world will tell you (through 1000 page books and boring websites), baseball is and will always remain a simple game.

To that point, when you have a leadoff hitter that is consistently getting on base and a middle of the lineup bat that is driving guys in, you are going to have a potent offense.

Such is the case right now with the Boston Red Sox, leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez (their No. 3 hitter).

Ellsbury had three hits, a run and a stolen base yesterday afternoon and Gonzalez had a grand 29th birthday with three hits (including a solo homer), two runs and two RBIs as the Red Sox (16-18) beat the Minnesota Twins (12-20) 9-5 at Fenway Park.

After losing the series opener on Friday night (its third loss in a row), Boston has bounced back with back-to-back wins against Minnesota, who is a complete mess at the moment. Much of the Red Sox' spotty success lately has been due to Ellsbury and Gonzalez who are both currently on fire.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-3) was at his frustrating best yesterday as he gave up three runs in the top of the first but settled down to go six innings, allowing only one more run. He gave up five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Connecticut native Carl Pavano (2-4) has had a terrible start to the 2011 season-trust me, I had him on two fantasy teams-and that continued yesterday. In five innings, he allowed ten hits and seven earned runs with a walk. With that, I dumped him from both teams (and yes, I know you care).

The Red Sox banged out a season-high 14 hits with Kevin Youkilis (4 runs, 2 hits) and David Ortiz (2 hits) also recording multiple hits.

Jason Kubel (3 hits, 2 RBIs) had an RBI single to start Minnesota's big first inning. Danny Valenica (3 RBIs, 2 hits) topped that with a two-run single of his own.

J.D. Drew began the Red Sox comeback with an RBI ground out in the second. In the third, Jason Varitek cut it to 3-2 with another RBI ground and Gonzalez delivered an RBI single in the third to tie it at three. Youk's fielder's choice put Boston up 4-3 in the third before Drew came through with an RBI single to cap off the five-run third for Boston.

Valencia's solo homer in the fourth made it 5-4 Red Sox but Gonzalez answered with a solo shot (his fourth of the season) in the fifth over the Monster. A fielder's choice by Drew increased the lead to 7-4 in the same frame.

Jed Lowrie put this one in the win column with a two-run single in the seventh.

The Twins got one more run on Kubel's RBI single in the eighth.

Matt Albers went two innings (giving up three hits and one earned run but striking out three) and Daniel Bard pitched a scoreless ninth.

Josh Beckett faces Nick Blackburn tonight in the series finale. A win here by the Red Sox would cap off a nice 3-1 series. Beckett last started during the rain delayed game against the Angels last Wednesday, so he should be raring to go since he only went 4.1 innings then.

This series is not over, hell Gumby Rondo came back from the dead

2011-05-08T13:08:00.024-05:00

I knew that the Boston Celtics had way too much pride to get swept or go down in flames as badly as they looked in Games 1-2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Miami Heat.

Last night, in Game 3 at TD Garden, the Celts won 97-81 to cut the Heat's series lead to 2-1.

The crazy part was that Boston seemed to be doomed when Rajon Rondo (11 assists) went down with a dislocated elbow in the third quarter after an awkward fall with Dwyane Wade (23 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds). After Rondo was scraped off the parquet, you could feel the crowd and team collectively think "I can't believe this is how it's going to end."

This is the NBA though which loves the drama and Rondo somehow returned to action after the Celtics trainers popped his elbow back in place in the locker room. Paul Pierce's (27 points) wheelchair from the 2008 NBA Finals wasn't even needed.

With Game 4 tomorrow night, it'll be interesting to see how Rondo is feeling after the adrenaline wore off. That elbow is going to be really sore; after he came back last night he was basically playing with one arm (truly bonkers stuff).

Last night will always be remembered for Rondo's truly heroic (I try to never overuse that word either) performance but it also served as Kevin Garenett's resurrection. After playing terrible in Game 1 and o.k. in Game 2, KG (game-high 28 points, 18 rebounds) just eviscerated Chris Bosh (6 points, 5 rebounds) in a matchup that Boston has to win to get by the Heat.

Given the stakes of the contest, it will go down as one of Garnett's best games ever for the Celtics. Similarly, the Celtics defense really stepped up after they looked old and slow in Miami.

LeBron James was basically a non-factor, which is almost impossible to do. He had 15 points, seven rebounds, five blocks and four assists. Mario Chalmers (17 points) and Joel Anthony (12 points, 11 rebounds) actually had the best games for the Heat which is good for those two but not a positive sign for Miami as a whole.

It was the Garnett and Pierce show with a great supporting role by Rondo but Ray Allen also added 15 points. Delonte West played well off the bench with 11 points. Shaquille O'Neal even had a basket in his return after missing over a month of action.

The Celtics got off to a quick start and led 27-21 after the first quarter. The Heat responded with a strong second quarter (25-17) and a 46-44 halftime advantage. Boston played their best quarter of the series (28-15) in the third and kept the lead in double-digits in the fourth (25-20).

For the game, Boston shot 50.0% to 42.5% for Miami. The Celtics hit four more 3-pointers (9-5) and grabbed three more rebounds (39-36). Thanks to Rondo, the Cs had seven more assists (27-20) while the Heat had two more steals (9-7) and five more blocks (9-4). The underrated key to the game was the fact that Boston had a 13-point (18-5) advantage in fast break points. Miami turned into a jump-shooting team and when that happens, they're very beatable.

Game 4 is also a must-win for the Celtics. They need to get the job done again and put all the pressure back on the Heat (who are front-runners as far as we know). Hopefully Rondo can give Boston something since his presence alone makes such a difference for the team.

Another lengthy rain delay but Red Sox decide to win this one

2011-05-08T12:47:00.018-05:00

I don't know when Boston turned into Seattle in terms of rain but this has been a rough stretch for the Red Sox both on the field and with the weather.

They battled another rain delay over two hours (two hours and seven minutes) yesterday afternoon but blanked the Twins 4-0 at Fenway Park thanks to a nice effort from Clay Buchholz.

Buchholz (3-3) started the game and surprisingly returned to the mound in the top of the third after the rain delay ended. He threw five scoreless innings, allowing two hits, one walk and he struck out six.

Minnesota starter Brian Duensing (2-2) was yanked after two innings. He allowed three hits, one earned run, one walk and two strikeouts and picked up the loss despite throwing just 33 pitches.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 RBIs, run), Kevin Youkilis (RBI), Carl Crawford (run) and Marco Scutaro all had two hits in the much-needed win for the Red Sox (15-18), which snapped a three-game losing streak.

Jed Lowrie gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single which drove in Ellsbury.

Youkilis drove in Adrian Gonzalez in the third with an RBI single of his own.

Ellsbury put it out of reach for the Twins with a two-run single in the eighth. Jarrod Saltlamacchia and Crawford scored on the play.

Boston's bullpen came through with four scoreless innings of work. Rich Hill (sixth), Matt Albers (seventh), Daniel Bard (eighth) and Jonathan Papelbon (ninth) combined to allow only one hit with one walk and four strikeouts.

Daisuke Matsuzaka opposes Carl Pavano today in a Mother's Day matinee.

19 years in the making: Bruins sweep the Flyers and move on to Eastern Conference finals vs. Tampa Bay

2011-05-07T13:03:00.032-05:00

For some reason, I was totally confident going into Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers last night.

With a commanding 3-0 lead (just like last year), I felt like this Bruins team was different and the shadow of last season's epic demise was about to get forgotten.

My premonitions couldn't have been more right as the Bruins won 5-1 at TD Garden to sweep the Flyers and erase the demons of last season. It's a new team and a new season, time to move on.

Boston advances on to its first Eastern Conference finals in 19 years and they'll have home-ice advantage against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The final score is misleading since the B's added two empty-net goals but Boston led for a majority of the game and gave their skittish fan base reason to believe that they would get this one done in regulation.

The only bad news (there always seems to be some with this franchise) for the B's is that Patrice Bergeron-their MVP so far (not named Tim Thomas)-suffered a mild concussion on a hit by Philly's Claude Giroux. It looks like he's out for the Tampa Bay series, opening the door for Tyler Seguin to get his first NHL playoff experience.

I am beyond bummed for Bergeron. He has almost had his career ended (twice) with nasty concussions. Nobody deserves that but especially not him. Fingers crossed that he can recover and his career wouldn't be further affected. It makes me sick to think how well he has played in this playoff run and how he's probably done for it no matter how far they go.

With the power-play scoreless streak finally ended in Game 3, the biggest issue facing the Bruins was getting Milan Lucic off his personal goal-less streak. Mission accomplished as Looch put in his first two of the 2011 playoffs and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Lucic gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 12:02 of the first period on some tic-tac-toe passing with linemates Nathan Horton and David Krejci on the power-play. All he had to was redirect it in.

The Flyers showed some fight as Kris Versteeg (1st of the playoffs) tied it up at 13:22 of the second period. Mike Richards assisted on the goal but it was all thanks to Brad Marchand who gave the puck away at center ice, allowing Versteeg to basically walk in alone on Thomas (22 saves).

Right after Bergeron went off with his injury in the beginning of the third period, Johnny Boychuk (2nd of the season) scored what turned out to be the game-winner and series-clincher. Michael Ryder sent it back to Boychuk at the point and the put it up high over Flyers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (22 saves), who got the start for the first time in the series.

Lucic scored his second of the game at 15:03 after a nifty pass in the neutral zone from Horton sprung him. Marchand (5th of the playoffs) scored his empty-netter at 18:04 from Mark Recchi and Rich Peverley while Daniel Paille (2nd of the playoffs) got his at 19:35 from Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton.

Exhale. So yeah, your Boston Bruins are one of the final four teams left in the NHL playoffs. One series win away from the Stanley Cup finals. Eight wins away from breaking a 39-year Stanley Cup drought. Heady stuff.

Don't know too much about the Lightning other than obviously Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier. Goaltender Dwayne Roloson has played well in the postseason but honestly, I haven't seen much of either series (vs. Pittsburgh and Washington). I do remember from the regular season vs. Boston that Tampa Bay plays the slimy style of Montreal. Lots of flopping, diving, crying, whining. Not good. As we saw from the first round vs. the second round, the B's matchup so much better with a team that plays with an edge.

The Eastern Conference finals could start as early as Tuesday night, depending on when the Western Conference semifinals (Vancouver up 3-1 on Nashville and San Jose up 3-1 on Detroit) end, or as late as Saturday. The Hub of hockey is alive and well with plenty of action left for us, what a time to be a Bruins fan.

Cowboy Joe West: ruining baseball one game at a time

2011-05-07T12:21:00.020-05:00

The Boston Red Sox have enough problems on their own without worrying about the biggest clown umpire in MLB.

This does not excuse the fact that they would have lost anyway last night to the Twins but West had to be front and center as usual in Minnesota's (12-18) series-opening 9-2 beatdown of the Red Sox (14-18) at Fenway Park.

Boston manager Terry Francona got ejected in the second inning after arguing a balk call on starter Tim Wakefield (4.1 innings, 9 hits, 8 runs, 6 earned, 4 walks, 1 strikeout) by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Francona went to argue with Hernandez but West planted himself in between the two and even bumped him a few times. It was a strange scene especially considering Francona rarely gets thrown out. Tito was more heated than I think I've ever seen before.

After Wakefield (0-1) had pitched so well on Sunday against the Mariners (the game I was at), he predictably came down to earth in a big way against a Minnesota lineup that was more like a Triple A team.

Somebody named Trevor Plouffe led the Twins with three runs, two hits, an RBI and a walk. Another nobody called Danny Valenica had two runs, two hits and two RBIs while Denard Span (2 hits, 2 RBIs) and Michael Cuddyer (2 runs, 2 hits) also had good games.

Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 15 games but he was the only Red Sox with multiple hits (2).

Twins starter Scott Baker (2-2) went eight innings, allowing seven hits, two earned runs, one walk and eight strikeouts.

Plouffe got the party started for Minnesota with a solo homer off Wakefield in the top of the first. Span made it 3-0 with a two-run single in the second and then Ben Revere (haha really?) scored on Wakefield's disputed balk for a 4-0 Twins lead.

J.D. Drew got Boston on the board with a solo home run in the second and Adrian Gonzalez followed suit with a solo homer in the fourth which cut it to 4-2 Minnesota.

Valencia cranked a two-run double in the fifth and Drew Butera scored on Jed Lowrie's error. To end it, Plouffe scored on a balk by Red Sox reliever Alfredo Aceves (4.2 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts).

Brian Duensing faces Clay Buchholz this afternoon. Buchholz is due for a solid start since he's been so shaky so far this season.

Nothing like John Lackey getting shelled in a game that he has to give the Red Sox innings

2011-05-06T13:17:00.021-05:00

Let me be upfront with the fact that I was never excited about having John Lackey on the Boston Red Sox. I thought he was an overrated product of the AL West that wouldn't do anything in the AL East.

It's not like most fans didn't have these same feelings but who could have expected him to be this much of a disaster?

Yesterday he had one task: give the Red Sox innings since they had lost to the Los Angeles Angels in 13 innings on Wednesday night in a game that ended at 2:45 a.m. Making matters worse, they had an afternoon game for the series finale.

Lackey (4 innings, 10 hits, 8 earned runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout) got completely shelled as the Angels (18-14) won their second straight at Fenway Park, 11-0, and left on a good note.

For the Red Sox (14-17), it capped off a bitter mini-stretch as they lost a brutal contest that took forever and then got blown out.

Los Angeles put up 18 hits in this laugher. Former Red Sox pseudo closer Joel Pineiro (1-0) went 5.2 innings, giving up three hits, four walks and two strikeouts in the easy win.

Erick Aybar led the Angels with four hits, two runs, two stolen bases and an RBI. Peter Bourjos had four runs and three hits while Howie Kendrick put up three hits, two RBIs, a stolen base and a run. If that wasn't enough, Bobby Abreu had three RBIs and two hits with Alberto Callaspo adding two hits and two RBIs.

David Ortiz (3 hits, walk) was the only positive for Boston's neutered lineup that put up three runs in the last 22 innings against the Angels.

Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler were sent to the DL with fake injuries. Rich Hill and Scott Atchison took the Pawtucket shuttle and both made appearances in yesterday's debacle. Atchison was knocked around for seven hits and three earned runs in 3.2 innings but Hill threw 1.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

Lackey's day was over quickly as he gave up three runs in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fifth before Terry Francona mercifully gave him the hook.

Kendrick had an RBI groundout in the third, followed by Callaspo's two-run single. Kendrick, Abreu and Torii Hunter all had RBI singles in the fourth. Then Mark Trumbo hit a two-run bomb off Lackey. Aybar's infield single made it 9-0 against Atchison and Abreu closed out this nightmare with a two-run double in the seventh.

The good news is that the Minnesota Twins limp (six players including Joe Mauer on the DL) into Boston with a four-game series starting tonight. Tim Wakefield gets the spot start since Dice-K pitched in the 13 inning game (he'll start on Sunday) and Scott Baker takes the ball for the Twins.

Nobody will be paying attention since the Bruins are one win away from the Eastern Conference finals (a place they haven't been in 19 years) and the Boston Celtics are fighting for their playoff lives tomorrow night but the Red Sox need to wake up this weekend against a team that's playing even worse than them.

This ain't last year bro, get over it

2011-05-05T13:05:00.032-05:00

Some pink hat Bruins fans or just miserable human beings-namely the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy- love to joke now that the Boston Bruins are up 3-0 on the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second year in a row, that Philly finally has the Bs where they want them.

I'm not going to dignify that with much of a response since it's a different year and a completely overhauled team for Boston. Yes, they had one of the biggest choke jobs in sports history last postseason which completely scarred all of us forever but that was by a fraudulent team (that still should have gotten the job done).

The Bruins' best players in this postseason: Tim Thomas, David Krejci, Brad Marchand, Dennis Seidenberg, Chris Kelly and Nathan Horton were all for one reason or another (poor play, injuries, not on the team) were not playing for Boston last spring.

Zdeno Chara had two goals and an assist last night as the Bruins beat up the Flyers 5-1 at TD Garden to take a 3-0 series lead. Game 4 is tomorrow night back at TD Garden.

This was one over as fast as you can say Big Z (first of the playoffs) as the captain scored 30 seconds into regulation (from Marchand and Patrice Bergeron) and Krejci (fifth of the playoffs) made it 2-0 at 1:01 (with assists to Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton).

Philadelphia took a timeout after Krejci's goal but the damage had been done to goaltender Brian Boucher's (16 saves) already fragile psyche. For the third straight game in the series, he didn't make it through the entire contest as Sergei Bobrovsky (8 saves) entered in the second period.

Thomas (37 saves) continued to be a brick wall in goal and bar none, the best goaltender in the NHL playoffs. He never let the Flyers jump back into it and has completely neutralized their loaded offense.

The Bruins didn't let up when they got the early lead as Daniel Paille (first of the playoffs) and Horton scored in the second period to make it 4-0. Paille's goal at 13:39 was the direct result of a great transition with linemates Gregory Campbell (who had an assist) and Shawn Thornton (who drove to the net). Johnny Boychuck also assisted.

Horton's tally at 15:14 was Boucher's requisite soft as Kim Kardashian's butt goal that he allows each and every game. Krejci and Chara assisted on Horton's fifth of the playoffs that went right through Boucher's five-hole.

Philadelphia defenseman Andrej Maszaros got his team on the board at 16:26 of the second period. Darroll Powe and Daniel Carcillo assisted on Maszaros' strike that was inevitable since they were getting good pressure on Thomas.

Horton and Sean O'Donnell fought early in the second period. It was the first fight of the playoffs (as far as I know) but it was nice to see Horton step up and not give in to the endless cheap shots by the Flyers.

It was in garbage time but confidence-wise moving forward, Boston's last goal was perhaps its most important of the blowout as Chara broke the Bruins' 0-for-30 slump on the power-play in the playoffs. Yes it was on a 5-on-3 but who cares? Now they don't have to hear about that anymore. With assists to Krejci and Seidenberg, Chara fired a laser over Bobrovsky's shoulder.

One of the biggest misconceptions coming into this series was that the big bad Flyers would push around the Bruins. On second thought, not so much. Marchand, Paille, Boychuk, Lucic and Co. were all flying around last night and landing huge hits on Flyers. It was beautiful to see.

I'm not looking too far ahead but I'm very confident that if the Bruins don't win tomorrow night, they'll win in Game 5. The Flyers are just a mess right now while the Bruins have seven of their last eight playoff games including four in overtime. The best thing to do is get this over in Game 4, sweep the Flyers and get ready to face the Tampa Bay Lightning (who swept the Washington Capitals last night) in the Eastern Conference finals, someplace the Bs haven't been since 1992.

Angels beat Red Sox in 13 innings, ending at 2:45 a.m. EST

2011-05-05T12:42:00.025-05:00

It's only fitting that the Los Angeles Angels finally beat the Boston Red Sox in a game that most either didn't see or gave up on watching and went to bed (even on the West Coast).

The Angels (17-14) won 5-3 in 13 innings last night at Fenway Park against the Red Sox (14-16), in a game that didn't end until 2:45 a.m. EST thanks to a lengthy rain delay (two hours and thirty five minutes).

For someone that never goes to bed at a reasonable hour, it was hilarious to watch the game that would never end. I'd like to give props to the die-hard fans that stayed but you had to be insane to stay for the entire game, a meaningless May game against the Angels.

It was bad luck for both starting pitchers since they were both dealing, particularly Los Angeles' Ervin Santana (4 innings, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts). He had a no-hitter going when the game was put on hold in the top of the fifth. That no-hitter continued until Jed Lowrie got a hit in the bottom of the seventh.

Josh Beckett (4.1 innings, 1 hit, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts) was nearly as dominant but he was also lifted since you never bring back a starting pitcher after a rain delay.

It became a contest decided by random bullpens and wouldn't you know that somehow Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-3) would find a way to screw it up as he took the loss in his first MLB relief appearance (1 inning, 3 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk).

Vernon Wells broke the scoreless tie with a two-run bomb off Dan Wheeler in the top of the seventh.

Adrian Gonzalez reached on an infield single in the bottom of the eighth and Jason Varitek scored on the play as Angels reliever Fernando Rodney decided for some reason to flip the ball to his catcher Hank Conger. Too bad it wasn't even close.

Erick Aybar's sacrifice fly scored Wells in the top of the ninth and gave Los Angeles a 3-1 lead.

Boston showed some resiliency as they scored twice in their last at bats against LA's new closer Jordan Walden. Lowrie scored on a throwing error by Conger and then Jacoby Ellsbury delivered with an RBI single that plated Carl Crawford.

Bobby Abreu was the hero for the Angels as he hit a two-run single in the top of the 13th against Matsuzaka, scoring Howie Kendrick and Peter Bourjos.

The fourth and final game of this series has already begun with John Lackey opposing former Red Sox Joel Pineiro. With a 15-2 record the last two seasons against the Angels and 6-1 this year, Boston will try to close out this series on a high note even though they have to be dead tired.

Is this how the Big 3 will go out?

2011-05-04T13:28:00.026-05:00

In my heart of hearts, I knew that the Boston Celtics were on their last legs entering these playoffs but I had hope that they could beat the Miami Heat and then we'll see what happens from there.

Well two games in Miami have gone by and I'm about ready to write the obituaries for Boston's Big 3. The Celtics look old and washed up while the Heat look hungry and way too athletic.

The Heat are up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals after a 102-91 win at AmericanAirlines Arena last night.

Please don't cry to me about the referees, because Boston didn't deserve to win either game. Miami now has won three straight games over the Celtics (including their last regular season meeting) with Game 3 taking place Saturday night at TD Garden.

LeBron James was the star in Game 2 for the Heat with a game-high 35 points and seven rebounds while Dwyane Wade had 28 points and eight rebounds. Even Chris Bosh had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Combined, the Big 3 teamed up for one less point that LeBron. Simply put, that's never going to work if Boston wants to climb out of this hole (which they've never faced in the Big 3 era).

Kevin Garnett had 16 points, Paul Pierce scored 13 points and Ray Allen was held to seven points on 2 of 7 shooting. Rajon Rondo led the Celts with 20 points and 12 assists but they'll never win when he's the leading scorer.

At various points, Pierce (Achilles), Allen (chest) and Rondo (back) all left the game with injuries. This is getting tough to watch.

Boston's bench outscored Miami's 27-12 led by Jeff Green (11 points) and Delonte West (10 points) but it didn't matter since the Heat starters were so much better than the Celtics.

The game was actually tied at 80 in the fourth quarter before Miami went on a 14-0 run to close out the contest and possibly the series.

Miami led 27-26 after the first quarter and 47-42 at halftime. Both teams scored 25 points in the third quarter before the Heat made it happen in the fourth quarter (30-24).

The Heat shot 45.3% to 43.0% for the Celtics. Miami made one more 3-pointer (7-6) and ten more free throws (27-17). The Heat also had six more rebounds (44-38) but Boston had three more assists (18-15). Most telling to the gap in athleticism and defensive intensity, Miami had seven more blocks (9-2).

For all intents and purposes, Game 3 could be the swan song for the Big 3. If they lose, it's clearly over and who knows what next season will bring for the team and head coach Doc Rivers. You have to believe that they will turn out a much better performance in front of the home crowd, with their playoff lives on the line. Then again, this hasn't been the prideful group I knew so far in the first two nightmare games in Miami.

Three aces down, Red Sox are on a roll

2011-05-04T13:07:00.021-05:00

It took a full month for the Boston Red Sox to get on track in 2011 but thankfully baseball seasons are way too long anyways.

For the third straight night they faced an ace last night in Dan Haren. Like Felix Hernandez and Jered Weaver before him, he was decent but he couldn't completely quiet Boston's offense in a 7-3 Red Sox (14-15) win at Fenway Park.

Jon Lester (4-1) showed that his early season struggles seem to be a thing of the past. The ace in Boston's rotation went seven innings, allowing six hits, one earned run with a walk and 11 strikeouts.

Haren (4-2) suffered his second loss to the Red Sox in less than two weeks. He went seven innings, allowing nine hits, four earned runs with eight strikeouts.

Boston's lineup produced double digit hits (12) for the second straight game. Adrian Gonzalez (2 RBIs), David Ortiz, Jed Lowrie, Marco Scutaro (2 RBIs) and Carl Crawford all had two hits in the win.

Mark Trumbo gave the Angels (16-14) their only lead of the game, with a solo homer in the top of the first.

Gonzalez knocked in Jacoby Ellsbury with an RBI single in the sixth and Lowrie put Boston ahead 2-1 with an RBI single later in the frame that scored Gonzalez.

Haren started to falter in the seventh as Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit an RBI double that drove in Crawford.

There's a reason the Red Sox are 15-1 (6-0 this season) in their last 16 games against the Angels since they find every conceivable way to beat them.

Gonzalez's solo homer in the eighth knocked Haren out of the game. Ortiz and Scutaro (two-run) broke it open with homers in the inning as Boston went ahead 7-1.

Jonathan Papelbon came on in a non-save situation and did what every closer has to do in such an event: shit the bed. Erick Aybar had an RBI double and Trumbo had a sacrifice fly.

On the plus side, Daniel Bard had a scoreless eighth on nine pitches.

It's raining now and supposed to rain tonight so we'll see if Josh Beckett vs. Ervin Santana takes place as scheduled.

Tim Thomas shows he's a changed man

2011-05-03T13:27:00.029-05:00

There was absolutely no reason to think the Boston Bruins would win Game 2 last night against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals at the Wells Fargo Center.

Down 1-0 in the series, Philly needed a big effort to even it up and they couldn't have gotten off to a better start as James van Riemsdyk scored 29 seconds into the first period and then at 9:31 on the power-play.

From that point on though, Boston goaltender Tim Thomas (career-high 52 saves) played the best game of his career as he stood on his head and his team rallied for a heart-stopping 3-2 overtime win.

Chris Kelly (4th of the playoffs) and Brad Marchand (4th of the playoffs) tied it up later in the first period and then the teams flew up and down the ice in a scoreless second and third period.

Krejci (4th of the playoffs) got it done at 14:00 of overtime as he one-timed a great feed from Nathan Horton past Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher (32 saves).

van Rimesdyk was a revelation for Philadelphia as he was the most dominant offensive player in the game. I lost count on how many times he had great scoring chances for himself or teammates. His first goal was the result of a 2 on 1 with Claude Giroux. It looked like Giroux whiffed on his shot attempt but it went right to the former UNH star who put it past Thomas. Nikolay Zherdev also assisted on the goal.

The second Philly goal was the fault of Boston's defense, not Thomas. He stopped two shots before van Riemsdyk banged home the rebound. Danny Briere and Kimmo Timonen assisted on the power-play tally, van Rimesdyk's seventh of the postseason.

It makes sense that Boston's two most dependable forwards in the playoffs-not named Patrice Bergeron-combined to knot it at two before the first twenty minutes were up.

Tomas Kaberle's shot was blocked by Boucher, Michael Ryder drove to the net and was stuffed but Boucher couldn't stop Kelly as he swooped by and poked it in at 12:50.

Marchand's goal was a wrist shot from about 35-feet out which in most cases (especially when there's no traffic) should be stopped. Lucky for us, Marchand scored and it was thanks to a tasty pass from Bergeron with Mark Recchi picking up the second assist.

It's hard to imagine there's a hotter team in the NHL right now than the Bruins. They've won six of their last seven games, including a bananas four in overtime.

Game 3 is tomorrow night at TD Garden and needless to say, we don't need a refresher course on what happened last spring when these teams met. Boston dominated Game 1 and stole Game 2 thanks to Thomas' majestic play. Just like the Flyers came out on fire last night, I expect more of the same tomorrow. It's up to the Bruins to weather it all and come out on top, again.

I wish the Red Sox could play the Angels every day

2011-05-03T13:05:00.027-05:00

Jered Weaver entered last night 6-0 with an ERA of 0.99 ERA. That didn't seem to matter as the Red Sox beat their second straight stud starter (Felix Hernandez on Sunday).

After last night's 9-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels (16-13) at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox (13-15) are 5-0 against the Halos this season and 14-1 in their last 15 games.

Clay Buchholz (2-3) went 6.2 innings, allowing eight hits, two earned runs, two walks and two strikeouts in what was his best start of the season (not exactly a high bar).

Weaver (6-1) lasted six innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs, one walk and six strikeouts.

With nine runs and 11 hits, Boston's offense finally performed like it was expected to more regularly in 2011 not once every couple weeks.

Jacoby Ellsbury led the Red Sox with three runs, two hits and two stolen bases. Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz both had two hits and two RBIs while Adrian Gonzalez had three RBIs.

Los Angeles banged out 13 hits which is somewhat misleading since they added three garbage runs in the eighth and ninth.

Maicer Izturis led the Angels with three hits, Bobby Abreu added two hits and two RBIs while Howie Kendrick and Torii Hunter had two hits and Vernon Wells knocked in two runs.

Boston took a 1-0 lead in the first on Youk's RBI single that scored Ellsbury.

The Angels grabbed a 2-1 lead thanks to Abreu. He had an RBI single in the third which plated Izturis and he drove in Erick Aybar in the fifth with a groundout.

Pedroia had the at-bat of the game and the season so far as he battled Weaver for 13 pitches (9 foul balls) before lining a two-run single up the middle in the fifth for a 3-2 Red Sox lead.

Gonzalez delivered his first wall ball of the year, a three-run double off the Monster in the seventh, giving Boston a 6-2 advantage. Youkilis followed him with an RBI double and then Ortiz cranked a two-run homer over the Monster (9-2 Boston).

Wells hit a two-run homer off Dan Wheeler (who is about as Bobby Jenks right now) in the eighth and Izturis had an RBI double in the ninth.

Boston faces its third straight ace tonight as Dan Haren takes on Jon Lester in what should be a nice pitcher's duel.

Heat decide to show up, Celtics basically don't in Gm. 1 of Eastern Conference semifinals

2011-05-02T13:26:00.027-05:00

I was at the Red Sox-Mariners game yesterday afternoon so I wasn't able to watch Game 1 of the Eastern Conference between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat live. Still, this being 2011 I couldn't help myself (even though I was recording it on DVR) and had to check the score on Twitter and my phone plus look at the TVs in the bars on Landsdowne Street as we walked down the street.

I listened to the end of the game on the radio as I drove home, took some time to decompress then finally sat down and watched it. One word comes to mind: yuck.

The Heat rolled to a 99-90 win at AmericanAirlines Arena in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Dwyane Wade had a game-high 38 points but the key in the win was James Jones. The sharpshooter off the bench (the 2011 3-point champion at the All-Star Game) had 25 points. LeBron James had 22 points while Chris Bosh (7 points, 12 rebounds) continued to be one of the biggest frauds in the NBA.

Ray Allen led the Celts with 25 points, Paul Pierce had 19 points and Delonte West had 10 points. Rajon Rondo (8 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds)-who was saddled with three fouls early-and Kevin Garnett (6 points, 8 rebounds) were both basically non-factors. Jermaine O'Neal and Jeff Green each added nine points.

An NBA playoff game wouldn't be complete without WWE style posing and theatrics. Yesterday, that meant Pierce would get booted out of the game in the fourth quarter on a bogus technical. He picked up the first one after jawing with Jones after a foul. A minute later, Wade ran into him on a hard screen and more yelling commenced. Pierce must have said all of George Carlin's seven words as he got tossed.

The first technical (which went to both players) was an easy one. I agree that the second one was completely ridiculous but Pierce has to know better than to go crazy like that for no reason. Boston wasn't going to make a full comeback anyway but seeing their captain get ejected meant it was really over.

The only bright side for the Celtics is that the Heat could never fully put them away when they had countless opportunities to do so. Boston had every reason to get blown out but it just didn't materialize. It was well chronicled that during the regular season, Miami was terrible in the fourth quarter of close games so they should have that hanging over their heads until they change that perception in the playoffs.

Miami led 20-14 after the first quarter and 51-36 at halftime. The Celtics outscored the Heat 26-25 in the third quarter and 28-23 in the fourth quarter.

For the game, Miami shot 47.1% to 42.7% for Boston. The Celtics hit three more 3-pointers (12-9) but the Heat made 12 more free throws (26-14). Surprisingly, Miami made five more blocks (8-3).

Game 2 is tomorrow night and the Celtics have never trailed by two games in playoffs during the Big Three era. Therefore, Game 2 is a telling barometer for what to expect in this series.

Carl Crawford plays for the Red Sox?

2011-05-02T12:48:00.023-05:00

Don't ask me what happened in the month of April, his first with the Boston Red Sox, but Carl Crawford hopefully turned the page yesterday on May 1 as he delivered a 3-2 walkoff win over the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park.

Crawford's (2 hits) RBI single in the bottom of the ninth ensured that the Red Sox (12-15) wouldn't be swept by the Mariners (13-16). Bigger picture, maybe it'll spark some life in the former All-Star and stud with the Rays who is currently hitting .168 and batting eighth for Boston.

On a personal level, it was my first Red Sox game of the 2011 season and I'd like to note that makes two games in a row that I've seen a walkoff win (last July 31 as well) for the home team after not seeing one previously in my life. Baseball!

It was truly bizarro day as for almost six innings, Tim Wakefield was slightly better than 2010 Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez. Thankfully, Bobby Jenks came on for Wakefield in the sixth and cost him a win by coughing up a 2-0 lead by giving up a hit and three walks.

Hernandez went seven innings, allowing six hits, two earned runs, one walk and 10 strikeouts. He didn't factor into the decision despite throwing 111 pitches and getting into a groove late in his outing. More so than almost anyone in baseball, you have to feel bad for Hernandez (to a certain extent) since he's temporarily stuck on a team with a pathetic offense and just an awful 25-man roster.

Called into duty when Clay Buchholz contracted a virus, Wakefield made his first spot start of the season and it was a real good one. He went 5.2 innings, allowing three hits, one earned run, one walk and three strikeouts.

David Ortiz gave Boston a 2-0 lead with an RBI double off the Monster in the bottom of the third. Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) scored on the play.

Seattle tied it up in the top of the sixth as Jenks walked Jack Cust and then Luis Rodriguez with the bases loaded.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Jed Lowrie hit a routine fly ball to right that Ichiro Suzuki lost in the sun. The baseball hit him and Lowrie was able to advance to third on that gift. Marco Scutaro grounded out on the next pitch for the second out but Crawford finally came through with the big hit (which I called, pats self on back).

The unsung heroes for the Red Sox yesterday were Matt Albers and Jonathan Papelbon. Albers pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth with one strikeout. Papelbon (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth with a strikeout in only seven pitches.

The Los Angeles Angels come to Fenway with four games this week, starting tonight as Buchholz pitches against Jered Weaver (who has an ERA of 0.99 but also had his start moved back due to illness). Who's medicine worked better? The world will found out tonight.

Bruins get off to a perfect start in Game 1 vs. Flyers

2011-05-01T10:04:00.024-05:00

In my Black and Gold tinted world, I honestly can't imagine a much better start to the Eastern Conference semifinals against Philadelphia than the one submitted yesterday by the Boston Bruins.

The Bs embarrassed the Flyers 7-3 at the Wells Fargo Center.

The only real advantage Boston has over Philadelphia is in goaltenders but as my buddy who likes the Flyers said, "goaltending in the playoffs is the great equalizer." His name isn't Nostradamus but damn, that was pretty prophetic.

After their offense was shackled up for most of the quarterfinals vs. Montreal, Boston exploded for seven goals with two in the first period, three in the second period and two in the third period.

Brian Boucher (18 saves, 5 goals allowed) got the start between the pipes for the Flyers but he was pulled in the second period for rookie Sergei Bobrovsky (8 saves, 2 goals allowed). Good luck trying to figure out who starts for Philly in Game 2.

Boston goaltender Tim Thomas (31 saves) gave up three goals and had some sketchy moments as he flopped around but the difference between him and the Flyers goalies was immense. Thomas looks like Dominik Hasek compared to those two graduates of Philly's goaltending clown college.

The Bruins power-play carried over its misery from the first round as it went 0 for 5 yesterday with the Flyers committing numerous dumb penalties. In total, Boston is now 0 for 24 on the power play and getting worse by the game if that's possible.

David Krejci's value was underscored in the playoffs last season when he broke his wrist in Game 3 vs. the Flyers. Not saying it was only because of him but we all remember how the next four games went.

Yesterday, Krejci was all over the ice as he scored two goals and had two assists. Brad Marchand added two goals and an assist, Patrice Bergeron notched three assists while Nathan Horton had a goal and assist while Dennis Seidenberg had two assists.

Claude Giroux was the only Flyer with multiple points as he had two assists.

Krejci (2nd of the playoffs) scored 1:52 into the game as he put a backhander past Boucher. Horton and Seidenberg assisted on that one.

Danny Briere (7th of the playoffs) tied it up at 11:02 as Thomas gave a rebound right to him and Horton failed to cover him properly. Braydon Coburn and Ville Leino assisted.

Horton (4th of the playoffs) gave Boston a late lead, scoring with 36 seconds left in the first period. Krejci and Seidenberg assisted as Horton was able to just flip it by Boucher, who helped out by knocking it into the net with his glove.

Boston came out on fire in the second period, pumping in three goals before Philadelphia could respond.

At 2:34, Mark Recchi (2nd of the playoffs) got his own rebound and squeezed it past Boucher. Bergeron and Marchand had the assists.

Krejci tipped in a shot from the point by Adam McQuaid at 15:26 for a 4-1 Bruins lead. Marchand's (2nd of the playoffs) snipe at 17:14 from in close, signaled the end of the day for Boucher. Bergeron and Andrew Ference assisted.

16 seconds later, James van Riemsdyk (5th of the playoffs) stopped the rally with a goal from Sean O'Donnell and Giroux.

Mike Richards' power-play goal (1st of the playoffs) at 13:02 from Kimmo Timonen and Giroux gave the Flyers a glimmer of hope that maybe they could comeback.

Psyche, not happening with their nightmare of a goaltending situation. Marchand snuck to the post and scored again at 14:59 from Bergeron. Then Gregory Campbell (1st of the season) closed it out with his first of the playoffs at 17:39 after a nice pass from Krejci. Daniel Paille also assisted on Campbell's goal.

No doubt about it, the Flyers will play much better in Game 2 tomorrow night. They can't afford to go back to Boston down 0-2 so they'll throw everything they have at the Bruins. Conversely for the Bruins, there's no way they'll perform as well as they did yesterday but if they can somehow manage another win, they'll be in great shape moving forward.

Mariners beat Red Sox for the second night in a row

2011-05-01T09:47:00.016-05:00

After a 6-3 road trip, the Boston Red Sox seemed to have finally turned the page on their horrific start to the 2011 season.

On second thought, maybe not. Now, Boston (11-15) has lost four of its last five games as its offense has gone completely silent yet again.

Last night at Fenway Park, the Mariners (13-15) shut out the Red Sox 2-0.

Seattle starter Doug Fister (2-3) got the win after 5.2 innings of work. He allowed five hits, five walks and four strikeouts.

He was facing an AL West team so John Lackey (2-3) pitched well. He went six innings, allowing seven hits, two earned runs, four walks and three strikeouts.

For the game, Boston went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Still crazy Milton Bradley had an RBI double in the third which scored Ichiro Suzuki (2 hits, 2 walks, 2 steals, run). In the same inning, Bradley was thrown out for arguing a call at first base. Don't ever change Milton.

Jack Wilson drove in Jack Cust with a sacrifice fly in the sixth and that was it.

Closer Brandon League gave up a hit in the ninth but got three outs for his seventh save of the season.

The only positives for the Red Sox was the work by the last two guys in its bullpen: Hideki Okajima and Dan Wheeler. Okajima got five outs with no outs and a strikeout. Wheeler got four outs, allowed one hit and struck out one.

Clay Buchholz was scratched from today's start and Tim Wakefield will oppose Felix Hernandez. Just my luck that I will be in attendance and I get Wakefield. I can't complain though since I get to see King Felix. Boston will try to avoid the sweep.

Red Sox end road trip 6-3 by salvaging a win in Baltimore

2011-04-29T15:25:00.019-05:00

The Boston Red Sox saved some face by averting a sweep in Baltimore last night with a 6-2 win at Camden Yards.

Jon Lester (3-1) continued his certain 2011 Cy Young campaign with his usual eight innings of stellar work. He allowed four hits, two earned runs, three walks and five strikeouts.

Boston (11-13) ended its nine-game road trip 6-3 which is very respectable, especially after they lost the first two against the Orioles (10-13).

The Red Sox' lineup woke up with 13 hits led by leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs), Adrian Gonzalez (3 hits, 2 RBIs), Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, RBI) and David Ortiz (2 hits).

Gonzalez got over the .300 mark with his batting average, it'll be interesting to see if it can stay there for the rest of the season since he seems to have found his groove at the plate.

Orioles starter Brad Bergesen pitched well, going six innings and allowing six hits, two earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts. Relievers Jim Johnson and Mike Gonzalez each coughed up two earned runs to blow the game wide open.

Adrian Gonzalez drove in Ellsbury with an RBI double in the top of the first for a 1-0 Boston lead.

Derrek Lee tied it for Baltimore with an RBI single in the bottom of the first.

Gonzalez made it 2-1 in the top of the third with an RBI single which scored the equally hot Ellsbury.

Vladimir Guerrero knotted it at two with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth.

Boston went ahead on Pedroia's infield single in the seventh (scoring Carl Crawford who had doubled). Jarrod Saltalamacchia added an RBI single in the top of the eighth (scoring Kevin Youkilis) and Ellsbury closed it out with a two-run single which brought home Ortiz and Mike Cameron.

After not being used in a while, Jonathan Papelbon threw a clean ninth inning in the non-save situation.

The Red Sox are home for an 11-game homestand (Mariners, Angels and Twins). It kicks off tonight against Seattle with Daisuke Matsuzaka taking on Jason Vargas.

In Bill we trust (I guess)

2011-04-29T15:13:00.009-05:00

As I get older, thankfully I start to pick up on some patterns surrounding the draft style of my favorite NFL team-the New England Patriots. That keeps me from going insane when they never, ever select who I want.

Head coach Bill Belichick adores stockpiling picks and going for safe choices rather than trading up or reaching for someone that might be more of a question mark.

This has worked handsomely to the tune of say it with me, three Super Bowls in four years. Well guess what? This team hasn't won a playoff game in three seasons so maybe it's time to change things up a bit.

If you're asking Coach Hoodie, the answer is no. The first round of the 2011 NFL draft took place last night at Radio City Music Hall and naive Patriots fans were pumped for two picks (at No. 17 and 28). They blatantly disregarded the fact that New England ALWAYS trades back. Always.

So yes, a bunch of teams ahead of them reached for mediocre quarterbacks, leaving a bunch of defensive ends/outside linebackers (their biggest need) available. Obviously, the Pats ignored that and went with offensive tackle Nate Solder from the University of Colorado.

From all accounts, he's a solid guy and with Matt Light hitting free agency, it makes sense to get his replacement that they can slide to right tackle with Sebastian Vollmer going to left tackle.

That was predictable and so was the next move: trading the 28 pick to the Saints. New Orleans promptly took Mark Ingram-running back from the University of Alabama. The fact that the Saints snagged both Cameron Jordan (DE from Cal) and Ingram was a kick in the pants. Sure, New England got a second round pick and 2012 first round pick for No. 28 but it doesn't matter. Having multiple first round picks just means they'll keep trading forever and ever.

We can't jump off the ledge yet since there's two more days of the draft but for a team desperate for elite talent, gamebreakers, it would be nice to see Belichick and the Patriots take some more risks.

Nathan Horton saves numerous jobs, sends Canadiens back to Clown College

2011-04-28T13:52:00.028-05:00

Given the stakes (Claude Julien, possibly Peter Chiarelli and the nucleus of the team's jobs all on the line), it's hard to remember a more important victory for the down-trodden Bruins franchise than last night.

It was only the first round so we'll hold off on the duck boats (no riots like in Montreal for first round wins) but this win can go a long way in eradicating some terrible history. The 4-3 overtime win by the Bruins in Game 7 over Montreal at TD Garden was Boston's first Game 7 triumph in 17 miserable years.

It's also the first time (0 for 26 previously) that the team had rallied from being down 0-2 in a playoff series. Oh and they also were the first team to advance despite no power-play goals in seven games (0 for 21).

There's still plenty of work to be done (gotta get past this round to save Julien's head) but until the Eastern Conference semifinals start on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia, we have to savor this one. Nothing better than sending the Canadiens home for the summer and not having to see their pathetic brand of hockey anymore.

Just like in Game 5, Horton was the overtime hero as he ripped a slap shot past Montreal goaltender Carey Price (30 saves) 5:43 into OT. Milan Lucic had the primary assist with a nice pass back while Adam McQuaid had the other assist after pinching to keep the puck in the zone.

The Bruins won four of the last five games in the series, including all three overtime contests (Game 4, 5 and 7).

Game 7 couldn't have started any better for Boston as they went up 2-0 just 5:33 into it. Johnny Boychuk (from Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron) and Mark Recchi (from Andrew Ference) did the honors as Boychuk's shot in traffic found the net and Recchi was uncovered right in front of Price before he put a wrist shot over Price's glove hand. It was the first goal of the series for both guys.

As I always say though, nothing is ever easy for the Bruins. So of course they quickly coughed up the lead as Yannick Weber (2nd of the series) cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 9:49 (from Roman Hamrlik and Mike Cammaleri).

Even more painful was the tying goal as Tomas Plekanec (2nd of the series) walked in on a breakaway and beat Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (34 saves) with a shorthanded goal at 5:50 of the second period.

Chris Kelly scored his third of the series at 9:44 of the third period and it looked like maybe it would hold up. Yeah right, a high sticking penalty by Patrice Bergeron with 2:37 left in regulation led to P.K. Subban's second goal of the series. The power-play missile didn't so much go by Thomas as through him. Plekanec and Brian Gionta assisted on the goal that took all the energy out of the Garden.

Could the Bruins collapse again? In another Game 7? Against the Canadiens? Not on this night. Horton got it done and this team can collectively breath an enormous sigh of relief.

Bring on the Flyers, it's time to get some payback for the once-in-a-lifetime collapse the Bs experienced last spring to them in the Eastern Conference semifinals (losing a 3-0 series lead and a 3-0 lead and Game 7). Can't ask for much more than this matchup.

Red Sox lose another game that nobody watches or cares about

2011-04-28T13:29:00.023-05:00

Didn't see more than a few minutes of the Red Sox-Orioles game last night and can't say I missed much.

Baltimore (10-12) beat Boston (10-13) 5-4 at Camden Yards as Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard (0-3) had another bad outing (3 hits) and a comeback went for naught.

Jeremy Guthrie (6 innings, 7 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts) outpitched Josh Beckett (6 innings, 7 hits, 4 earned runs, 4 strikeouts).

Derrek Lee led the Os with three hits while Adam Jones had two hits.

Jacoby Ellsbury had three more hits for Boston from the leadoff spot while Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz had two hits.

The bad Beckett popped up as he gave up back-to-back homers to Luke Scott and Adam Jones in the fourth inning to give Baltimore a 3-0 inning. Beckett did his usual tough guy/Texas bad ass bullshit as he stared down Scott running around the bases (he was mad that Scott flipped his bat, lol). Hey Josh, give it a rest. This isn't Little League, that crap doesn't work.

Brian Roberts' sacrifice fly scored Matt Wieters in the fifth for a 4-0 Orioles lead.

Gonzalez started a rally in the eighth with an RBI single that drove in Ellsbury and then Kevin Youkilis delivered with a three-run bomb to tie it up.

Vlad Guerrero hit an RBI single off Bard in the eighth that scored Lee with the winning run. For the second straight night, Kevin Gregg recorded the save, his fourth of the season.

The Red Sox will try to avoid the series sweep and get some momentum back tonight as Jon Lester takes on Brad Bergesen. It's the last game of Boston's road trip so a win would be doubly nice.

The Bruins will always, always choose the path of most resistance

2011-04-27T12:44:00.017-05:00

Oh man, where do I begin? First, I promise not to whine about the referees too much in last night's Game 6 between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.

Yes, the men in stripes played a huge part in Montreal's 2-1 win but crying about that would overlook the fact that the Bs shot themselves in the foot (0 for 19 on the power play in the series) repeatedly like only they can. Plus, the Canadiens had a goal blown off after an incorrect quick whistle less than four minutes into the game.

The Canadiens scored both of their goals on 5-on-3 advantages. I'd love to bury Boston but they actually played pretty well considering all the joke calls that went against them and bad bounces.

Milan Lucic was given a game misconduct at 4:37 of the second period after stapling Montreal's Jaroslav Spacek into the boards. The hit wasn't all that bad but Spacek turned at the last second and ended up bleeding which in the Bell Centre is the equivalent to murder. There was no reason for Lucic to be kicked out but once that happened, you had to know that the Bruins would probably fall short no matter what they did last night.

After a penalty for too many men on the ice (ugh, again) and slashing on Dennis Seidenberg, Mike Cammaleri gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 10:07 of the first period. P.K. Subban and Tomas Plekanec assisted on Cammaleri's one-timer that left Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (25 saves) with no chance to stop it.

Seidenberg bailed himself out from his earlier penalty by tying it up with a 4-on-4 goal 48 seconds into the second period from Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley. Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (31 saves) didn't cover the post close enough and Seidenberg was able to wrap around the net and squeeze it in.

Shortly after Lucic's game-changing penalty, Patrice Bergeron got a delay of game penalty for putting the puck out of play in his own end. Once again, the Canadiens cashed in (what a concept) as Brian Gionta scored his third goal of the series from Scott Gomez and Cammaleri. Thomas stopped Camalleri's initial one-timer and Gomez's rebound but Gionta got the third rebound past him.

For my money, the most needless penalty call was late in the second period when Nathan Horton barely slashed a Montreal defender before going in on a breakaway. A weak sauce slash negated a breakaway. I could have thrown my TV's remote through the window at that point, it doesn't get much more frustrating.

Predictably the Bruins huffed and puffed in the third period but couldn't find the tying goal against Price and here we are.

Game 7 tonight at TD Garden, exactly what no Bruins fan wanted. When you have a chance to close a team out in the playoffs, you have to do it (ask the Sabres). Boston's last three postseasons have ended with losses in Game 7, including the last two at home.

If you need me, I'll be curled up in the fetal position with my Bruins footie pajamas until 7 p.m.

Orioles young stud snaps Red Sox' five-game win streak

2011-04-27T12:28:00.015-05:00

Strangely enough, Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz is the only member of the rotation not to spin a gem thus far this season.

With his talent and track record last season, Buchholz will turn it around eventually. However, at the moment he is spinning his wheels and Boston is paying the price.

The Red Sox (10-12) started a three-game set at Camden Yards last night and lost 4-1 to the Orioles (9-12). The loss snapped Boston's five-game win streak.

Buchholz (1-3) gave his team innings (6.2) but they weren't exactly quality as he allowed a career-high 12 hits, four earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts.

Orioles rookie Zach Britton (4-1) was much more impressive. In six innings, he allowed five hits, one earned run, two walks and two strikeouts.

Vladimir Guerrero led Baltimore with three hits while Derrek Lee, Matt Wieters and crazy Luke Scott all had two hits apiece.

Boston was limited to six hits in the game with no player notching over one.

The Orioles went ahead 1-0 in the second on a fluky infield single by Wieters that hit the first base bag (Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez waited for it to go foul which is never did) and scored Scott.

Adam Jones' sacrifice fly in the third scored Lee and gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead.

The Red Sox' lone run was produced in the fourth as Kevin Youkilis' sacrifice fly drove in Dustin Pedroia.

Jones added another sacrifice fly (this is putting me to sleep just writing it) that scored Lee.

Finally, Mark Reynolds drove in Guerrero with one more sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Orioles reliever Jim Johnson threw a scoreless seventh and eighth (with two strikeouts) before Kevin Gregg recorded his third save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Josh Beckett takes on Jeremy Guthrie tonight.

Geez, the Red Sox straight up own the Angels

2011-04-25T12:31:00.020-05:00

If the Boston Red Sox played in the American League West, they might set a record for divisional wins in a season. Not that anybody didn't know it already but that division is an absolute cake walk compared to the AL East.

The Red Sox (10-11) continued their victory tour of the West Coast with a 7-0 shutout of the Angels (12-10) yesterday afternoon. The four-game sweep of Los Angeles enabled Boston to continue its hot streak (five straight wins, eight of its last nine) while also posting back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 2007.

John Lackey and Carl Crawford were the heroes in yesterday's lopsided triumph. Lackey (2-2) went eight scoreless innings, allowing six hits with a walk and six strikeouts. Crawford is still a puddle at the plate (he hit eighth on Saturday night) but he did crush his first home run of the season in the sixth, a two-run shot. He also had a single and scored another run so hopefully he can get going sometime soon.

Adrian Gonzalez is heating up too, he had three hits, two RBIs and a run. Even Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, run) and Marco Scutaro (2 hits, 2 runs) had multiple hits in this laugher.

It started early as Boston got three runs in the first off Angels star Matt Palmer (1-1). Gonzalez's RBI double scored Ellsbury, David Ortiz knocked in Gonzalez with an RBI single and Kevin Youkilis scored on Mike Cameron's fielder's choice.

Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly in the fifth plated Scutaro. Lastly, Gonzalez's RBI single in the seventh scored Scutaro and made it 7-0 Red Sox.

The abysmal start is all but forgotten since Boston is only one game under .500 and 3.5 games out of first place. They have today off before beginning a three-game series in Baltimore who is currently struggling big time.

Celtics sweep the Knicks

2011-04-25T12:05:00.026-05:00

Thanks to injuries (to Chauncey Billups and Amare Stoudemire) and their usual lack of defense, the New York Knicks quickly morphed from first-round playoff threat to pushover in the span of a week.

That's what makes yesterday's 101-89 win by the Boston Celtics so meaningful. By sweeping the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the Celts were able to become the only NBA team to sweep a first-round series in 2011.

While the Heat, Bulls, Lakers and Spurs are all still battling, the Cs will have their feet up at home, getting plenty of rest ahead of what should be a war of a series against Miami in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Believe it or not, Boston hadn't swept a first-round series since a crippled Larry Bird was still balling (in 1992 vs. Indiana) so it had been a while.

The Celts were focused yesterday to get the series over with and not have to exert anymore energy. They built a 23-point lead and started to coast before New York made one last desperate run that cut it to four points in the fourth quarter.

From there, Boston settled down by hitting shots and making some stops. Goodnight New York, your fraudulent magical season is over. Have a great summer.

Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with a team-high 26 points and 12 rebounds. Rajon Rondo added 21 points, 12 assists and five rebounds. Ray Allen scored 14 points and Paul Pierce notched 13 points.

The key to the Game 4 win though and moving forward will be the bench trio of Glen Davis (14 points, 5 rebounds), Jeff Green (5 points, 7 rebounds) and Delonte West (2 points, 5 rebounds).

Other than Rondo, Boston's main advantage over Miami lies in their bench. Those three guys need to take their games to another level. Yesterday was as a start in the right direction as Davis started hitting shots again while Green and West were out there for important minutes.

Carmelo Anthony led New York with a game-high 32 points and nine rebounds. Stoudemire added 19 points and 12 rebounds (props to him for playing with a hurt back). Anthony Carter was a spark off the bench with 11 points. Thankfully Knicks head coach Mike Dantoni is a clown and playing Carter over the underwhelming and out of position Toney Douglas didn't click in his mind until crunch time of the elimination game. Good job Mike.

Boston led 29-23 after the first quarter and 55-38 at halftime. Like in Game 3, the Celtics really didn't give MSG much to cheer about, effectively taking out the crowd that was desperate for something to cheer about. The Knicks started their comeback with a big third quarter (34-27) before they fell short in the fourth (19-17 Boston).

For the game, the Celtics shot 49.4% to 34.1% for the Knicks. New York made five more 3-pointers (8-3) and three more free throws (21-18). Boston grabbed 11 more rebounds (53-42), five more assists (24-19) and two more steals (6-4).

Now let's all sit back and root for the Philadelphia 76ers to keep winning. The Eastern Conference semifinals won't begin until probably next Sunday at the earliest.

Dice-K wishes you a Happy Easter

2011-04-24T12:28:00.016-05:00

I didn't get to see much of the Boston Red Sox game last night against the Los Angeles Angels but I had a good excuse since the Bruins beat the Canadiens in double overtime.

From what I gathered, Daisuke Matsuzaka tossed his second gem in a row as the Red Sox (9-11) won 5-0. It was Boston's fourth win in a row and their seventh in their last eight games.

Anaheim (12-9) was limited to two hits, both infield singles, as they meekly went down to the Red Sox for the third straight night.

Matsuzaka (2-2) went eight innings, allowing one hit, three walks and nine strikeouts in 115 pitches. The long outing was especially important since both Bobby Jenks and Jonathan Papelbon were unavailable due to a ton of work lately.

Daniel Bard threw a scoreless ninth, allowing one hit and striking out two.

Once upon a time Ervin Santana (0-3) was compared to a young Pedro Martinez. Haha, must have been one of his relatives or baby mamas that came up with that ludicrous comparison. He's a good MLB pitcher but nothing close to special, ever. He went seven innings last night, allowing nine hits, five earned runs, one walk and nine strikeouts.

Boston got on the board in the second inning as Carl Crawford's (2 hits) infield single scored Jed Lowrie (2 hits).

Adrian Gonzalez had an RBI single in the third which drove in Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 stolen bases), who looked good in the leadoff spot.

Kevin Youkilis returned after missing most of the last two games (he fouled a ball off his shin) and hit a two-run opposite field bomb for a 4-0 lead in the fifth.

Jason Varitek notched an RBI double in the sixth which scored Crawford for the final Red Sox run.

John Lackey gets the start tonight against his former team as Boston goes for the sweep against Matt Palmer and the Angels.

Nathan Horton scores in double overtime, Bruins win instant classic over Canadiens for 3-2 series lead

2011-04-24T12:02:00.027-05:00

Not that you needed anymore proof but if you were wavering at all on what professional sport has the best playoffs, I hope for your sake you were watching Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals last night between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden.

The Bs won in double overtime on Nathan Horton's goal, taking an all-important 3-2 lead. Game 6 is Tuesday at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Where to begin with a game that had it all? Ridiculous saves by goaltenders, ridiculous saves by a forward and a defenseman, clutch goals, great backchecks, etc.

I don't smoke, drink only moderately these days and am in relatively good shape and I still think this game took a few years off of my life but it was totally worth it. Holy shit, the tension was through the roof. Whichever team won this totally has control of the series and the opponent couldn't be more hated.

Let's start with the three stars of the game: Horton, Tim Thomas and Brad Marchand.

For a player that had never competed in the postseason before now (since he was stuck in NHL hell: with the Florida Panthers), it's safe to say this was the biggest goal of Horton's life. He's been a solid addition to the team and he's only going to get better. It was also nice to see the top line rewarded since they played much better last night but had nothing to show for it until then.

Last week, Mike Felger talked about how Thomas had never stole a playoff game in his career. Can we agree that last night broke the seal on that valid theory? He still gave up some juicy rebounds but when it was all over, Thomas made 44 saves and outshined Montreal goaltender Carey Price (49 saves), who was also excellent. Thomas' save on Brian Gionta in double overtime was as good as it gets. Given the stakes and the shooter, it was an off the charts stop.

Finally, you have to love Marchand if you're a Bruins fan and absolutely hate him if you don't like the Bs. He's little, he's annoying, always chirping after the whistle and getting in scrums. I'm not comparing his skill level but he has a lot of Dustin Pedroia in him in terms of cockiness and confidence. Just like Michael Ryder in Game 4 and Horton last night, Marchand's goal in Game 5 also had to be the top one of his life.

The first goal of Marchand's playoff career, it gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the third period from Patrice Bergeron and Tomas Kaberle. At that point, it felt like that might be the only goal needed to win it.

Props to the Canadiens though as they tied it at 13:56 as Jeff Halpern took advantage of yet another bad clear in the Bruins' defensive zone. Lars Eller and Mathieu Darche assisted on Halpern's first of the series. Thomas had no chance to save it from so close.

In a game like this, some plays stand out even if they don't result in goals. Two such cases were a sprawled out save that Ryder (yes Ryder) made when Thomas was out of position during regulation. Later in overtime, Chara's legs blocked a Montreal shot that similarly would have beaten Thomas.

The Bruins couldn't possibly have anymore momentum in this series after winning the last three games, including two at the Bell Centre and the last two in overtime. Still, that could all change if they lose on Tuesday. They have the Canadiens on the ropes and in the playoffs, you absolutely have to eliminate teams when you get the chance. Play your game on Tuesday, take the yahoos out of it and get the hell out of that joke of a city.

Lestee outduels Haren, Red Sox hang on

2011-04-23T11:39:00.022-05:00

Don't look now but the Boston Red Sox have won six out of their last seven and are inching closer to the .500 mark.

The Red Sox (8-11) won their third straight West Coast road game, 4-3 last night at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

Jon Lester (2-1) gave Boston six solid innings (4 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts) before a high pitch count (111 pitches) forced him to depart. He left with the Red Sox up 4-0 and they hung on as their bullpen had to cobble together innings without ace reliever Daniel Bard (who had worked a ton lately).

Dan Haren (4-1) suffered his first loss of the 2011 season for the Angels (12-8). Haren also went six innings but he allowed five hits, four runs (two earned), three walks and six strikeouts.

Boston built a 4-0 lead based on some luck. Back in his rightful leadoff spot for a night, Jacoby Ellsbury delivered with an RBI single in the third which scored Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

The gift was in the fourth as Angels rookie center fielder Peter Bourjos dropped a fly ball by Carl Crawford. Jed Lowrie and J.D. Drew (2 hits) scored on the pivotal play.

Finally, Drew drove in Lowrie in the sixth with an RBI single.

Los Angeles got on the scoreboard in the seventh as Jeff Mathis hit an RBI single off Red Sox reliever Matt Albers, scoring Erick Aybar.

Bobby Abreu added an RBI single (scoring Howie Kendrick) in the eighth off Bobby Jenks and then he scored on Saltalamacchia's passed ball.

However, Papelbon was able to get his fifth save thanks to a very efficient night (11 of 12 pitches for strikes) that included a hit and a strikeout.

Daisuke Matsuzaka faces Ervin Santana tonight in game three of this series.

Thank you New York, you've all been great

2011-04-23T11:16:00.021-05:00

In terms of perfect scenarios for Game 3 against the New York Knicks, the Boston Celtics couldn't have been much more successful.

Not only did the Cs roll to a 113-96 win, for a 3-0 series lead, but they finally showed the killer instinct needed to sweep an inferior team that is banged up and sputtering.

The Miami Heat will likely close out the Philadelphia 76ers today in a sweep so Boston needs to get done with the Knicks as soon as possible. By stepping on their throats last night at Madison Square Garden, it's unlikely that the Knicks will do much of anything tomorrow in Game 4.

It's hard to know where to start with Boston's great performance. Paul Pierce scored a game-high 38 points on a ridiculous 14 for 19 shooting (including six 3-pointers). Ray Allen added 32 points (eight 3-pointers) and Rajon Rondo had a triple double: 15 points, 20 assists (a Celtics playoff record) and 11 rebounds.

With Chauncey Billups out again and Amare Stoudemire (7 points) extremely limited due to back spasms, New York didn't stand much of a chance as the Celtics shot the lights out in New York's first home playoff game in seven years.

All you need to know is that Shawne Williams was the Knicks leading scorer with 17 points off the bench. Carmelo Anthony and Toney Douglas added 15 points while Jared Jeffries (12 points) and Roger Mason (10 points) put up some points in garbage time.

The Celtics got off to a 22-5 lead to start the game. The Knicks initially responded but they just didn't have the horses to play their no defense, all offense flawed gameplan that has never been proven to work in the playoffs.

Boston's bench still was invisible. Jeff Green (9 points) and Glen Davis (4 points) were the only Celtics to score off the bench. In the next round, that has to improve or they'll bounced by the Heat.

The Celtics were up 27-20 after the first quarter and 52-44 at halftime. The third quarter is when Boston took the MSG crowd out of it (34-19) and slammed the door shut on court jester Spike Lee. New York outscored Boston 33-27 in the fourth but it was long over by then.

For the game, Boston shot 50.6% to 43.4%. The Celtics (Pierce and Allen) hit five more 3-pointers than the Knicks (14-9) while New York hit six more free throws (21-15). Boston grabbed 10 more rebounds (43-33) and dished out 13 more assists (31-18). The Celts also made three more steals (12-9) while the Knicks blocked three more shots (7-4). Boston had five more fast break points (11-6) while New York had six more points in the paint (30-24).

I can't think of a better way to celebrate Easter then by watching the Celtics sweep the Knicks tomorrow afternoon at MSG. One more decent effort should be enough to get by the checked out Knicks.

Red Sox win in first extra innings game of the 2011 season

2011-04-22T14:26:00.005-05:00

On a night when the Bruins worked overtime in an incredible win over the Canadiens, it was only fitting that the Red Sox went to extra innings for the first time in 2011.

Sure the 4-2 win in 11 innings against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim didn't mean much relative to the instant classic playoff hockey game but it was a start.

Josh Beckett was superb once again but he got a no decision for his troubles. Beckett had a no-hitter going until the sixth inning and ended up lasting eight innings. He allowed three hits, two earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts.

Boston (7-11) was able to win its second straight road game and fifth game out of its last five thanks to the biggest hit so far in Adrian Gonzalez's Red Sox career.

Gonzalez (2 hits) had an RBI double which put Boston up 3-2 in the 11th and scored J.D. Drew. Jed Lowrie added some insurance with a sacrifice fly that scored Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 2 walks, stolen base).

Beckett cruised until Torii Hunter crushed a two-run homer in the seventh, tying it at 2. Jacoby Ellsbury gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the sixth with a broken-bat, two -run single which scored David Ortiz and Lowrie.

In only his third career MLB start, Angels (12-7) rookie Tyler Chatwood acquitted himself well. He went six innings, allowing six hits, two earned runs, five walks and three strikeouts.

Boston's bullpen was flawless and lined up exactly like Terry Francona wanted, despite the extra frames. With 125 pitches, Beckett got the team through the eighth then Daniel Bard (ninth), Bobby Jenks (1-1, tenth) and Jonathan Papelbon (fourth save, eleventh) combined to allow only one hit with no walks and two strikeouts.

Tonight figures to be a nice pitcher's duel as Jon Lester takes on red-hot Dan Haren (4-0).

Still can't get over you Michael Ryder

2011-04-22T14:08:00.007-05:00

Others have made the J.D. Drew comparison for Michael Ryder and it's perfect.

I'm not going to bite another person's style though and I think I've formulated another great analogy for Ryder: he is the ex-girlfriend that your still friends with on Facebook.

You haven't talked for years, she's not all that hot or appealing anymore and yet, you still find yourself looking at her page from time to time for no explainable reason.

Such is the existence of Michael Ryder. He possesses the best shot on the Bruins but he is the definition of a one-dimensional, lazy offensive player.

When I went to bed last night though, Ryder was the number one star in my constellation. He scored two goals, including the overtime winner as the Bs won a bonkers Game 4, 5-4 at the Bell Centre.

The series is evened up at 2 and Game 5 is tomorrow night at TD Garden.

Given the stakes-with Claude Julien's job on the line and other front-office and personnel moves sure to happen-it's not hyperbole to say last night's win for Boston was one of its most memorable and meaningful in our lifetimes.

Montreal came out flying in the first period and grabbed a 1-0 lead on Brent Sopel's seeing-eye shot from the point at 8:13 (from Mike Cammaleri and David Desharnais).

Ryder tied it up with his first goal of the playoffs, an absolute snipe over Carey Price's (30 saves) shoulder, at 2:13 of the second period.

The Canadiens erupted for two goals in 55 seconds as Cammaleri (from Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez) and Andrei Kostitsyn (from Tomas Plekanec and Travis Moen) took advantage of Bruins defensive breakdowns. As true Black and Gold fans, you couldn't help but feel like it was over.

Julien did something he never does, calling a timeout, and the last-ditch effort worked as the Bruins scored not one but two goals to tie it at 3 before the second period was over.

First, Andrew Ference pounced on a loose puck at 9:59 and also put it over Price's shoulder. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron assisted on it. The best part was afterwards as Ference flipped off the Bell Centre Zoo. A juvenile move for sure but how can you not love that if you root for the Bruins? They care, isn't that what we always cry about with pro athletes?

Bergeron tied it at 17:04 from Marchand and Seidenberg. Marchand displayed quick hands as he handed the puck to Bergeron right on the goal line, he couldn't miss from there.

Getting those two goals was huge for Boston but Montreal quickly jumped ahead for the third time, early in the third period, thanks to a bogus hooking call on Bergeron.

P.K. Subban roofed one over Tim Thomas (34 saves) at 1:39 on the power play from James Wisniewski and Cammaleri.

One last time, the Bruins answered and it was Chris Kelly (sporting a full cage to protect his busted up face) who was the unlikely hero. He tied it up with 6:18 left in regulation. Rich Peverley and Ryder assisted on it. Kelly was right in front of the net and poked it home.

Ryder capped off a spectacular night for his third line (3 goals, 5 assists) with the biggest goal of his life. Subban going off for a change at the wrong time led to a 3-on-1 rush. Peverley missed the net as always but it worked out well as Kelly got the rebound and passed it to Ryder, who had one more snipe left in his stick.

What a game and what a win for the franchise. The road team has won every game so far, needless to say the Bruins would like to flip that since they host two out of the last three possible games. Win tomorrow night and they're in great shape. Lose and all the hard work of the last two games gets buried. So yeah, kinda important.

Still can't get over you Michael Ryder

2011-04-22T14:08:00.005-05:00

Red Sox decide to finally win a road game in 2011

2011-04-21T12:56:00.018-05:00

It doesn't get any uglier than the 0-6 and then 2-10 starts for the 2011 Boston Red Sox.

However, going 0-7 in their first seven road games was similarly unforgivable. Boston (6-11) finally notched a road win yesterday afternoon, 5-3 against the A's (9-9) at Oakland Coliseum.

Clay Buchholz (1-2) picked up his first win of the season too after his first two starts were nothing short of disasters. He wasn't great yesterday but he got the job done. He went 5.1 innings, allowing six hits, one earned run, four walks and two strikeouts.

Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez (2-1) came in on the opposite end of the spectrum after being basically unhittable in his first two starts. The Red Sox got to him though somehow as he went six innings, allowing eight hits, four earned runs, one walk and nine strikeouts.

Boston's offense righted itself with three home runs: by Kevin Youkilis, Jed Lowrie and J.D. Drew.

The real star of the game was reliever Daniel Bard who inherited a bases loaded situation in the sixth with one out and the Red Sox clinging to a 4-1 lead. He got out of that unscathed and also pitched a scoreless seventh. That made up for Bobby Jenks and Jonathan Papelbon who each allowed an earned run. Papelbon settled down and recorded the last two outs in the ninth with runners on first and third.

Coco Crisp gave Oakland an early (and I mean early 1-0 lead) as he homered on Buchholz's first pitch of the game.

Carl Crawford answered with an RBI single in the top of the second which tied it at 1. Youkilis' solo shot in the fourth, Lowrie's two-run bomb in the sixth and Drew's solo homer in the seventh gave Boston some breathing room.

They were able to withstand Crisp's RBI single in the eighth and Landon Powell's RBI single in the ninth.

From here, Boston travels to Anaheim with four games scheduled against the Angels. Josh Beckett faces rookie Tyler Chatwood tonight in the series opener.

Brett Anderson rules

2011-04-20T13:00:00.015-05:00

They get absolutely no hype because well they're the Oakland A's and they play in the AL West but damn, Billy Beane has really constructed a young rotation to die for.

The Boston Red Sox got their first taste of it in 2011 last night as they opened a nine-game road trip at Oakland Coliseum.

Anderson (1-1) completely baffled Red Sox (5-11) hitters for eight innings as Oakland (9-8) won 5-0.

Anderson allowed just four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts in picking up his first win of the 2011 season.

John Lackey (1-2) actually pitched very well, for him, since he was facing an old AL West foe that he was familiar with from his days in Anaheim. Lackey kept the Red Sox in the game with six innings of work, allowing four hits, one earned run, one walk and three strikeouts.

In falling to 0-7 on the road this season, Boston proved that they still haven't figured out how to hit consistently despite coming in on a three-game win streak.

Old friend Coco Crisp gave Oakland a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after a hit, steal and two groundouts. Woo, small ball!

In the seventh and eighth innings, Dan Wheeler (1 hit, 1 earned run) and Hideki Okajima (2 hits, 3 earned runs in his return) did their best to blow the game although truth be told, there was not a chance in hell Boston was scoring any runs last night.

Daric Barton's RBI single that scored Cliff Pennington in the eighth for a 2-0 lead was enough but Oakland padded their lead with three more runs in the frame.

Hideki Matsui added a two-run double and Kurt Suzuki notched an RBI single.

Clay Buchholz will try and help the Red Sox avoid the sweep this afternoon as he takes on another young A's lefty stud, Gio Gonzalez, in the conclusion of this brief stay in Oakland.

Celtics outlast Knicks B-squad, take 2-0 series lead

2011-04-20T12:36:00.021-05:00

With Chauncey Billups ruled out with an ankle injury before Game 2 started, the Boston Celtics already had a distinct advantage.

When Amare Stoudemire left late in the first half with back spasms and didn't return, you had to think what else could go wrong for the New York Knicks.

Still, despite a severely limited roster of healthy bodies, Carmelo Anthony almost single-handily willed New York to victory with a playoff career-high 42 points, 17 rebounds and six assists.

Boston was able to hang on for a 96-93 win at TD Garden, giving them a 2-0 series lead. Just like in Game 1, the Knicks went up late but couldn't stop a later Celtics hoop (this time a KG hook shot) and then bungled their last possession (Jared Jeffries getting stripped by KG on the baseline).

After a terrible Game 1 performance, Carmelo was truly special last night. However, a mental error (letting almost four seconds lapse before fouling Ray Allen at the end) nearly overshadowed his dominant display.

There's not many other ways to say it then the Celtics know how to win and the Knicks are still learning how to do it when it really matters.

Rajon Rondo had a playoff career-high 30 points and seven assists. Paul Pierce had 20 points, Ray Allen scored 18 and KG put up 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Starting for Billups, Toney Douglas had 14 points and Jeffries was the only other Knick in double figures with 10 points (including the go-ahead hoop before KG's shot).

In an ideal world, Boston will sweep New York and the Celtics bench will get some more playing time in the next two games since they clearly need to get the work. Four players (Delonte West, Nenad Krstic, Jeff Green and Glen Davis) combined for 14 points last night and that's simply not good enough to win consistently in the playoffs.

The Cs got out to a 23-21 lead after the first quarter but the Knicks took a 45-44 halftime lead. Boston responded with a strong third quarter (30-22) and as I said, made enough plays to survive a shaky fourth (26-22 New York).

Boston shot 47.0% to New York's 35.6%. The Knicks hit two more 3-pointers (8-6) and nine more free throws (21-12). The most shocking stat was that New York had 16 more rebounds (53-37). The Celtics had seven more assists (21-14) and 12 more fast break points thanks to Rondo (16-4) along with six more points in the paint (40-34).

Billups supposedly will play in Game 3 and Stoudemire is getting an MRI today but you have to bet he'll suit up since New York's season will basically be on the line. It's in Boston's best interest to make this series as short as possible. If they get to the next round, it'll be much harder (yes, I realize these games have been really tight) against likely Miami.

A couple heart attacks later, the Bruins hang on for dear life and a Game 3 win

2011-04-19T13:51:00.019-05:00

You know you're watching a pivotal Boston Bruins playoff game when your emotions run the gamut: from worry to joy to shock and despair.

Despite some ridiculously tense moments and two soft as silk goals allowed by Tim Thomas, the Bruins held on for a 4-2 win in Game 3 last night at the Bell Centre.

The victory cut Montreal's series lead to 2-1 and ensured there will be a Game 5 on Saturday night at TD Garden. First things first, Game 4 is Thursday night back at the Bell Centre.

To the Bs' credit, they finally decided to get out to a good start. Make that a great start. David Krejci gave Boston its first lead of the series at 3:11 of the first period with a one-timer from Patrice Bergeron.

Nathan Horton doubled the lead with a banked shot off Carey Price's (21 saves) back for a 2-0 lead at 14:38 of the first period.

Andrew Ference and Benoit Pouliot squared off with four seconds left in the first period, the direct result of Pouliot's attempted cheap shot (charging) on Johnny Boychuk.

Price had a terrible gaffe to start the second period as he cleared a puck right to Rich Peverley, who put in his first career playoff goal. Mark Recchi assisted on that gift which gave Boston a commanding 3-0 lead at 2:02 of the second period.

From there, it was hang on to your hats boys as Thomas (34 saves) gave up a weak backhander (deflected by Zdeno Chara) to Andrei Kostitsyn at 7:03 of the second period.

The tempo of the game was fast from the start but it really picked up after Montreal finally got on the board. Boston retreated to their dressing room with a 3-1 lead after two periods but the Canadiens got another jolt of energy from another weak sauce goal.

Tomas Plekanec turned quickly and fired a seeing-eye shot that somehow got under Thomas' pads and in the net. Yikes, 3-2 Boston with 15:52 left in regulation.

Thomas deserves a ton of credit though. After the two terrible goals he gave up, he stood on his head for the rest of the contest as the Bs could barely get the puck out of their zone.

Chris Kelly scored an empty-netter with 26 seconds and that was it. Boston heads to Lake Placid, NY for two days to get out of "the circus" as NESN's one and only Jack Edwards called it.

Game 4 is similarly a must-win for the Bruins. The keys will be the same: Boston needs to score first and they have to get out to a solid start. They can't get bogged down by Montreal's joker fans who freak out every time a Canadien gets touched or falls on the ice like they've been shot (which is pretty much every shift).

Dice-K on Marathon Monday, the reverse lock of all-time comes through

2011-04-19T13:32:00.020-05:00

When we last saw Daisuke Matsuzaka, he was reduced to a lonely puddle on the mound at Fenway Park after get shellacked by the Tampa Bay Rays.

So of course, when his start was pushed back and he closed out Boston's long homestand with a Marathon Monday outing against the Toronto Blue Jays, he was outstanding.

Dice-K (1-1) allowed one hit in seven innings, walked one and struck out three in one of his most dominating and mystifying starts of his Jekyll and Hyde MLB career.

As I said last season, I'm done expecting anything of Dice-K or trying to predict what he'll do since he's the ultimate trick or treat pitcher.

Yesterday's 9-1 Red Sox (5-10) win on Patriot's Day, allowed them to win three of four from the Blue Jays (7-9), and hit the road (9-game, 10 day trip) on a good note.

For whatever reason, Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero (1-2) is a very good pitcher against everyone but Boston. Like always, the young lefty struggled. He gave up eight hits, five earned runs, five walks and four strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work.

The Red Sox pounded out a season-high 13 hits led by Jed Lowrie (4 hits, 4 RBIs, 2 runs), Kevin Youkilis (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) and Jacoby Ellsbury, who all hit home runs.

The red hot Lowrie continued to crush the ball, get started early with a two-run single in the first that scored J.D. Drew and Dustin Pedroia for a 2-0 lead.

David Ortiz's RBI single in the third made it 3-0 and scored Youk.

Lowrie hit a two-run homer in the fifth (scoring Ortiz) over the Monster.

Earlier Youk had a double off the top of the bullpen wall in right so it was only fair that he hit a two-run homer in the sixth (that scored Adrian Gonzalez). Carl Crawford broke his horrendous slump with an RBI double that scored Lowrie and made it 8-0 later in the sixth.

Ellsbury's solo shot in the seventh opened it up to 9-0.

Yunel Escobar broke the shutout with a garbage time solo home run off Tim Wakefield in the ninth.

Boston has two games in Oakland, four in Anaheim and then three in Baltimore. It's a long trip but against three teams that they should beat.

John Lackey gets the ball tonight against A's young stud Brett Anderson. Lackey last pitched on Opening Day at Fenway so hopefully seeing an old AL West foe will allow him to be half decent. It's asking a lot, I know.

Winners (Celtics) win and losers (Bruins) lose

2011-04-18T10:00:00.025-05:00

All it took was one playoff game or more specifically one fourth quarter to show why we have all the preconceived notions about the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins.

The Celtics played a terrible first half in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals last night at TD Garden against the New York Knicks. The Cs trailed by 12 (51-39) at the half and appeared old and lifeless.

However, unlike the Bruins who can't get out of their own way in any pressure-packed situation, the Celts calmly cut it to five (64-59) after three quarters and proceeded to reel off a pulsating 87-85 win as Ray Allen drained the game-winning 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining.

Allen was the hero with a team-high 24 points and six rebounds. Paul Pierce had 18 points, Kevin Garnett added 15 points and 13 rebounds and Rajon Rondo notched 10 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

Jermaine O'Neal was the pleasant surprise with 12 points and four blocks. There was a key stretch in the game where he actually energized the crowd and his teammates with a couple great blocks. He also hit some timely shots which made sure the deficit didn't get too big.

Amare Stoudemire put up a game-high 28 points and 11 rebounds, he was great. Carmelo Anthony had 15 points (on 5 for 18 shooting) but he dragged his team down since he was in foul trouble (five fouls) and took all the late shots despite having no rhythm. Chauncey Billups was the only other Knick in double figures with 10 points but he also struggled shooting (3 for 11). He rolled his ankle with less than a minute left in the game and departed to the locker room. His status is uncertain for Game 2.

Ronny Turiaf had nine points and four blocks for New York while Landry Fields was held scoreless.

Boston can't afford to dig themselves a large hole again like they did in Game 1. New York used a zone defense effectively in the first half but when Rondo and the Celtics' offense started to run in the second half, the Knicks showed why they gave up the third most points in the NBA during the regular season.

For the game, Boston shot 43.8% to 42.3% for New York. The Knicks hit three more 3-pointers (8-5) but the Celts made one more free throw (12-11). Boston grabbed 10 more rebounds (44-34) and had four more assists (20-16). New York registered four more blocks (9-5) but Boston had eight more fast break points (10-2) and nine more points off turnovers (26-17).

The Celtics want to keep this series as short as possible so they can converse their energy for the next round. That's why winning all home games is so paramount. Game 2 is tomorrow night at TD Garden.

Win streak!

2011-04-18T09:37:00.012-05:00

The Boston Red Sox have finally put a win streak together as they won their second game in a row yesterday afternoon at Fenway Park.

Jon Lester (1-1) pitched well in his third straight start but this time the offense backed up him for a change as the Red Sox (4-10) beat the Blue Jays (7-8) 8-1.

Lester went six innings, allowing six hits, one earned run with three walks and five strikeouts.

Toronto starter Jesse Litsch (1-1) was sporting a bushy red beard but that didn't seem to help him as he gave up seven hits, six runs (four earned) with a walk and five strikeouts in six innings.

The Blue Jays got their lone run in the second inning as Aaron Hill scored on a successful double steal (Juan Rivera was caught in a pick off between first and second) for a 1-0 lead.

Jarrod Saltlamacchia tied it up in the bottom of the second with an RBI single that scored Jed Lowrie (2 runs).

Next up, Jacoby Ellsbury hooked his third home run of the season around Pesky's Pole in right for a 4-1 lead. J.D. Drew and Saltalamacchia scored along with Ellsbury, who hit out of the ninth spot once again.

Saltalamacchia added a two-run single in the sixth (scoring David Ortiz and Lowrie) while two runs scored in the eighth on Adam Lind's error.

Along with being Boston's first win streak, it was also their first blowout victory so no need to use closer Jonathan Papelbon.

The Red Sox look to get their third win in a row (and clinch the series) this afternoon as they close out their series with Toronto. It's the annual Patriot's Day 11:05 a.m. start and as a special treat, Daisuke Matsuzaka takes the hill against Blue Jays ace Ricky Romero. Dice-K is about as likely to throw a gem as an American man is to win the Boston Marathon. Zing.

Why do we even bother?

2011-04-17T11:38:00.016-05:00

Before Game 2 had even started, the Boston Bruins were already cooked. Zdeno Chara spent Friday night in a hospital due to dehydration and he was a last-minute scratch for last night's pivotal game at TD Garden.

Some teams might use their Captain's absence as motivation but oh no, not our Bruins. The most fragile team in the NHL and maybe all of sports completely folded under the pressure (as always) and fell flat on their face in a depressing as hell 3-1 loss.

Montreal now leads the series 2-0 as it shifts to the Bell Centre for Game 3 tomorrow night.

All five goals that the Canadiens have scored so far in the first two games are direct results of egregious turnovers by the Bruins in their own end.

To make matters worse, Boston spotted Montreal two goals last night in the first 2:20 of the first period. After Game 1's debacle, I said Game 2 would be all about the first goal.

Well 43 seconds in and Mike Cammalleri scored from James Wisniewski. At 2:20, Montreal was on a power play when Mathieu Darche scored from Cammalleri.

You couldn't possibly script a worse beginning and just like that, the Bruins were done in the game and probably the series. They've never won a series (in 26 tries) after being down 0-2.

Carey Price is a good goaltender but the Bruins are making him look the second coming of Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek. Price stopped 34 shots but once again, Boston failed to get bodies in front of him or capitalize on the few rebounds he allowed.

He made one spectacular save as he robbed Milan Lucic with his glove after Looch was set up right in front of the net.

On the flip side, can we agree that Tim Thomas is simply a regular season monster? Much like Claude Julien is a regular season coach? Up to this point, how can we say that either does anything but pee down their leg in the playoffs?

The Bruins finally got on the board with their first goal of the series at 7:38 of the second period as Brad Marchand fed a perfect tip in to Patrice Bergeron. Mark Recchi also assisted.

Unfortunately, all that hard work was nullified by Thomas (23 saves) who gave up a juicy rebound right to Yannick Weber. He scored at 17:21 of the second period from Lars Eller and Roman Hamrlik. That was it, you knew the Bruins had absolutely no chance to recover from that.

Honestly, they are done. Short of Julien being fired today and Tuukka Rask getting the surprise start in Game 3, I don't see how this team can overcome all their playoff shortcomings. The Canadiens are playing with more desperation and heart while the Bruins continue to add new head-scratching chapters to their pathetic legacy.

A new and improved Jed Lowrie

2011-04-17T11:22:00.016-05:00

When you get off to a 2-10 start, tying the worst start in franchise history, you will take any spark you can get.

Jed Lowrie stepped to the forefront yesterday for the Red Sox (3-10) as he led off and continued his run as Boston's only hot hitter in a 4-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays (7-7) at Fenway Park.

After an early career littered with crazy injuries and sicknesses (mono?), Lowrie has earned his playing time and deserves to play every day at shortstop over the useless, worn out Marco Scutaro.

Yesterday, Lowrie had three hits (including a two-run homer), two RBIs and two runs.

Coupled with another fine start from Josh Beckett (2-1) and that was enough to get the win. Beckett went seven innings, allowing three hits, one earned run with two walks and nine strikeouts.

On a freezing cold afternoon at Fenway (game-time temperature 39 degrees), Toronto starter Jo-Jo Reyes (0-2) struggled with his control. He could only go three innings, allowing seven hits, four earned runs with five walks and three strikeouts.

Beckett's work allowed Terry Francona to line up his bullpen in the best possible fashion with Daniel Bard pitching a scoreless eighth (1 hit, 1 strikeout) and Jonathan Papelbon (1 hit, 1 strikeout) wrapping it up for his second save of the season.

Adrian Gonzalez gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI single which drove in Lowrie. Kevin Youkilis followed that with an RBI double which plated Gonzalez.

Travis Snider cut it to 2-1 in the top of the second with an RBI double for the Blue Jays which scored Aaron Hill.

Lowrie hit his two-run homer in the bottom of the second, just over the Monster. Jacoby Ellsbury scored ahead of him.

The Red Sox look to start their first win streak of 2011 today as Jon Lester takes on Jesse Litsch.

tyui"\

2011-04-17T11:22:00.001-05:00

Here we go again

2011-04-15T14:20:00.013-05:00

It only took the Boston Bruins 2:44 in the first period to remind its fans what they're in for this postseason.

Former Boston College star Brian Gionta capitalized on Tomas Kaberle's terrible blind clearing pass attempt and gave Montreal an early 1-0 lead.

The Bruins never seemed to get untracked from there as they lost 2-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals last night at TD Garden.

Gionta's first goal was assisted by Scott Gomez. The pair teamed up one more time with 3:18 left in the third period to seal this one. Milan Lucic was the culprit that time as he had the puck stolen off his stick in his own zone.

Gionta skated in on Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (18 saves) and roofed it on a shot that Thomas deflected and truthfully has to stop if Boston hopes to get anywhere past the first or second round (which apparently GM Peter Chiarelli doesn't care about).

Montreal goaltender Carey Price made 31 saves for the shutout but other than the second period (when Boston outshot Montreal 18-6), he wasn't really tested that much.

Boston fell back into its bad habits of just trying to score from the point every time. Doesn't matter if it's Zdeno Chara cranking slap shots from back there, unless you have traffic in front of Price, those are probably not going in. Too bad nobody on the Black and Gold seemed to understand that.

It's hard to be positive about the Bs after last night's performance gave you a week's worth of things to keep you up at night. Needless to say, tomorrow night is a must-win. Boston simply cannot go to Montreal down 2-0. It's hard enough to play at the Bell Centre in front of all those yahoos but the Bruins need to take care of business on their home ice.

Along those same lines, the first goal of Game 2 is huge. Once Montreal scored a goal, they were able to morph into a defensive shell and were happy to let Boston basically tire themselves out and then the Canadiens capitalized on their best chance. You have to put pressure on Montreal by scoring first, then you can get physical and pummel them. Not the other way around.

Getting worse by the day

2011-04-13T13:37:00.015-05:00

You can't win a pennant in April but you can lose one if you dig yourselves too deep of a hole.

The Boston Red Sox in 2011 are currently a case study to see how poorly they can start and still compete for the AL East title.

For the second time in a row, Jon Lester (0-1) pitched well enough to win but didn't since his teammates couldn't score him enough runs in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park last night.

Lester went seven innings, giving up seven hits and three earned runs with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Tampa Bay (3-8) ace David Price (1-2) was just a notch better going 7.1 innings and giving up five hits and two earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts.

Boston (2-9) has the worst record in MLB and they're living up to that billing by finding a million different ways to lose every game.

Daniel Bard pitched a scoreless eighth and Bobby Jenks threw a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout but the Red Sox couldn't get to Joel Paralta (1 out) or Kyle Farnsworth, who struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save of the season.

Terry Francona loaded his lineup with righthanded bats to face Price and it paid off when Darnell McDonald hit a solo homer in the third for a 1-0 Boston lead.

Granite State folk hero Sam Fuld tied it up in the fifth with a ground out and Johnny Damon (2 hits) had the game-winning hit, a two-run double following Fuld in the fifth.

Jed Lowrie (2 hits) cut it to 3-2 with an RBI double in the sixth but that's all Boston could muster.

The series finale is scheduled for tonight with John Lackey facing James Shields but I doubt it happens since it's been pouring all day.

Don't know which is better for the Red Sox right now: to sit around for a day and here how bad they are or try to get a game in with Lackey pitching. Either way, not good options.

Go home Dice-K, we don't need you

2011-04-12T13:10:00.011-05:00

Just when you think the Boston Red Sox have built some momentum after taking two of three from the New York Yankees over the weekend, Daisuke Matsuzaka submits the worst outing of his MLB career.

Matsuzaka allowed seven runs in the first two innings and was yanked without recording an out in the third as the Tampa Bay Rays (2-8) rolled to a joke of a 16-5 win last night at Fenway Park.

I honestly don't know what the Red Sox (2-8) can do right now with Matsuzaka (2 innings, 8 hits, 7 earned runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 2 homers allowed). Tim Wakefield is the most obvious replacement and he actually was the first guy summoned from the bullpen last night to clean up Dice-K's mess.

Wakefield (3.1 innings, 7 hits, 5 earned runs) isn't the answer either, the guy is 45 and even though he's so likable, he's painfully washed up.

Tampa Bay had 20 hits and almost scored as many runs as they had in the first nine games (20).

Philips Exeter alum and New Hampshire native Sam Fuld led the Rays with four hits, three RBIs and three runs. He had a two-run homer off Matsuzaka. Johnny Damon had a solo homer in his first at bat against Dice-K and finished with three hits, three RBIs and two runs. Ben Zobrist (3 hits, 2 RBIs, 2 runs), B.J. Upton (3 hits, 3 runs), Reid Brignac (2 hits, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) and John Jaso (2 hits, 3 RBIs) all feasted on poor Boston pitching.

Jeremy Hellickson (5.1 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 5 walks, 1 strikeout) didn't have to do much for his first win of the season (1-1).

Carl Crawford had two hits, David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez had triples (really) and Jacoby Ellsbury had a solo homer for Boston after the game was long over.

Jon Lester takes on David Price tonight in a game that should be much more competitive and interesting.

Celtics tank game against the Wizards, setting up showdown with Knicks in 1st round of the playoffs

2011-04-12T12:55:00.018-05:00

By sitting the Big Four, Celtics head coach Doc Rivers waved the white flag and admitted (without saying it) that his team was resigned to the third seed in the Eastern Conference.

The starting five of Jeff Green, Glen Davis, Jermaine O'Neal, Delonte West and Von Wafer actually played pretty well last night but they still lost 95-94 in overtime to the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center.

With the loss and Miami's win, Boston (55-26) clinched the No. 3 seed and also a first round meeting with the No. 6 New York Knicks.

Green led the Celts with 20 points and 15 rebounds, Davis had 20 points, O'Neal had 15 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks while West and Wafer both scored 11 points.

The main reason that the Big Four sat was to save their legs and prevent from injury. Unfortunately, West sprained his ankle in the third quarter and didn't return. If anyone deserves a break health-wise, it's D West. Poor guy has had to deal with a million different injuries this season. Not to mention, that's he's one of the only bench players Rivers can count on in the playoffs.

The Wizards (23-58) were led by John Wall's 24 points and nine rebounds. Jordan Crawford scored 17 points, Andray Blatche added 16 points and JaVale McGee managed 13 points.

Ironically, Boston closes the regular season with a contest tomorrow night at TD Garden vs. the Knicks. Talk about a meaningless game. You honestly couldn't pay me to go to that one.

Taking a cue from Rivers, I'm going to recharge my Celtics batteries and I'll be back for the playoffs. Looks like Game 1 will be Sunday at TD Garden. Should be a very entertaining series and I think the big-name opponent will help the Celts focus.

Josh Beckett brings you back from the edge of the Tobin Bridge

2011-04-11T12:34:00.012-05:00

After Saturday's latest pathetic loss, the Boston Red Sox were in desperate need of a quality start from a starting pitcher.

Shockingly, it came from former ace Josh Beckett, who turned back the clock last night and was lights out in a 4-0 win over the New York Yankees at Fenway Park.

I don't think anyone in world expected Beckett (1-1) to deal like he did. It was incredible especially after a middling performance last week in Cleveland. He went eight innings, allowing only two hits with a walk and ten strikeouts.

Boston (2-7) won two out of three against New York (5-4) and fingers crossed, now they can put their miserable opening week behind them. This team is way too good to be as awful as they've been for the first nine games by and large.

CC Sabathia (0-1) was effective but couldn't get out of the sixth inning. The big lefty went 5.2 innings, giving up nine hits, one earned run, four walks and four strikeouts.

The Red Sox were a mind-numbing 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and they left 16 on base and yet, they won.

Dustin Pedroia led Boston with three hits while David Ortiz and Marco Scutaro had two hits.

Boston scored its first run in the third inning. It came by way of an infield single by Mike Cameron.

Scutaro had the most important hit, a two-run double in the seventh, which scored Ortiz and J.D. Drew.

Ortiz added an RBI double in the eighth for some valuable insurance.

At only 103 pitches, Beckett could have started the ninth but why push him in April? Jonathan Papelbon came on for the second time in the series and was great (two strikeouts, no hits or walks).

So yeah, who knows what to expect from Beckett next time out. At least we don't have quite bury the guy yet since he couldn't have done more in one outing to prove that he can still be Josh Beckett circa 2003 or 2007 when he wants to be.

Tampa Bay (1-8) comes to town for three games starting tonight. Daisuke Matsuzaka faces Jeremy Hellickson in game one. The Red Sox should take advantage of a team that's playing even worse than them and cannot score any runs with Evan Longoria out.

Heat absolutely destroy the Celtics

2011-04-11T12:19:00.018-05:00

I was all psyched about being able to watch the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat battle for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference yesterday afternoon at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The problem was I must have been kidding myself to think the Celts (55-25) would show up for the fight, let alone win.

The Heat (56-24) rolled to a disgusting 100-77 blowout that wasn't even that close. It was Boston's worse loss of the season and it stung even more since it likely handed them the No. 3 seed (with two games remaining in the regular season). The Celtics had been 3-0 against the Heat before yesterday's debacle.

There's no way to defend the Kendrick Perkins trade at this moment since the Celtics have stumbled to a 14-10 record since their enforcer left for Oklahoma City.

I like Jeff Green but Boston's problems are way more than he can compensate for at the moment.

This team surprised us last season by getting to the NBA Finals with the No. 4 seed but I feel as though it is a much harder road this season since Miami and Chicago are you know, better than the Celtics.

LeBron James had a game-high 27 points, seven assists and four steals. Dwyane Wade had 14 points and eight assists while Chris Bosh added 13 points and eight rebounds.

Paul Pierce (24 points, 7 rebounds) and Kevin Garnett (21 points) tried to carry Boston but they couldn't do it as Ray Allen (13 points) and Rajon Rondo (7 points, 5 assists) continued to disappear in meaningful games.

The Celtics travel to Washington DC tonight to take on the Wizards then they wrap up the regular season on Wednesday by hosting the Knicks. Boston will either play New York or Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs starting this weekend.

It's time for Boston to regroup and put everything they have into what is likely one last title run with the Big Three and Rondo, not to mention head coach Doc Rivers, all together.

Devils beat Bruins in the most meaningless game of the regular season

2011-04-11T12:10:00.004-05:00

In game 82 of the regular season, the Boston Bruins had absolutely nothing to play for as they traveled to Newark, NJ to meet the Devils yesterday afternoon.

Zdeno Chara and Mark Recchi didn't even make the trip and Tim Thomas sat on the bench.

New Jersey (38-39-5) is missing out on the postseason despite a great run under interim head coach Jacques Lemaire. They sent him out a winner with a 3-2 victory at the Prudential Center.

He's supposedly retiring (for the third time) but I'll believe it when I see it.

I won't bore you with the details of a game that didn't matter and that I barely paid any attention to.

Rich Peverley (18th of the season, from Michael Ryder and Andrew Ference) and Chris Kelly (14th of the season, from Dennis Seidenberg and Johnny Boychuk) had the goals for Boston (46-25-11).

Tuukka Rask made 29 saves in what was likely his last start of the season.

Now is the time we've all been waiting for: Bruins vs. Canadiens in Round 1 of the NHL playoffs. Game 1 is Thursday at TD Garden with Game 2 Saturday night at TD Garden. Game 3 (Monday) and Game 4 (Thursday) are at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Let the real fun begin.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia is no Russell Martin

2011-04-10T11:03:00.021-05:00

Over the winter, the Boston Red Sox had the chance to pick up former Dodgers All-Star catcher Russell Martin.

Coming off injury-plagued seasons, he could have been had for cheap money but the New York Yankees snatched him up and gave him the starting job as Jorge Posada was shifted to DH.

The Red Sox chose to go with Jarrod Saltalamacchia (don't ask me why) and Jason Varitek as the backup.

Only eight games into the 2011 season and that seemingly minor decision has already completely blown up in Boston's face.

Martin had two home runs yesterday and four RBIs as New York (5-3) beat Boston (1-7) 9-4 yesterday afternoon at Fenway Park.

Saltalamacchia doesn't call a good game as far as I can tell and he can't hit a lick. So yeah, don't ask me what Theo Epstein and Co. were thinking there.

Clay Buchholz (0-2) faced Ivan Nova and surprisingly, Buchholz was worse. He only went 3.2 innings, giving up eight hits, five runs (four earned), three walks and two strikeouts.

Nova wasn't much better: 4.1 innings, seven hits, four earned runs, three walks, three strikeouts.

The Yankees jumped ahead 2-0 in the second inning on a groundout by Nick Swisher and an RBI double by Eric Chavez (3 hits).

Kevin Youkilis' groundout cut it to 2-1 in the third but Martin's three-run homer made it 5-1 in the fourth.

Boston had one last comeback attempt with three runs in the fourth. Jacoby Ellsbury had an RBI groundout and Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 2 RBIs) added a two-run double. Once again, Pedroia is the only Red Sox hitter that was able to come through with a big hit in a big spot. Hopefully his clutchness becomes contagious soon.

Three more homers from the Yankees ended it. Curtis Granderson had a two-run bomb in the fifth while Robinson Cano (3 hits, 2 runs) and Martin had solo shots in the sixth and seventh respectively.

Josh Beckett takes on CC Sabathia tonight in a Sunday night game that is basically must-win for the Red Sox. That's not good news either since the pitching matchup is really shaky for Boston.

Bring on the Canadiens

2011-04-10T10:42:00.024-05:00

With their 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators yesterday afternoon at TD Garden, the Boston Bruins locked up a first-round playoff meeting with the Montreal Canadiens.

It looks like Game 1 will be Thursday night in Boston.

Bruins (46-24-11) goaltender Tim Thomas (31 saves; 35-11-9) set the NHL record for save percentage (.938) for an entire season. The Tank is playing some great hockey at the perfect time.

Daniel Paille, Nathan Horton and Rich Peverley all scored for Boston. Bobby Butler had the lone Senators (32-40-10) goal.

Paille gave the Bs a 1-0 lead at 12:53 of the first period with assists to Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton. Once again, the fourth line played very well and all three guys deserve (limited) minutes against Montreal.

Paille one-timed it past Ottawa goaltender Curtis McElhinney (26 saves) for his sixth goal of the season after Campbell fed him from behind the net.

Butler (10th of the season) tied it up at 18:27 after a misclear by the Boston defense. Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza assisted on the goal.

Horton put Boston up 2-1 at 1:08 of the second period. His 26th goal of the season was on the power play and it was assisted by Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic. Horton backhanded it past McElhinney following a rebound.

It was an eventful period for Horton as he also fought some goon named Zack Smith. Jack Edwards was freaking out on NESN during the fight since Ottawa had nothing to lose (not going to the playoffs, last regular season game) and Horton had everything to play for (and has never experienced the playoffs). Thankfully after departing to the dressing room for repairs, Horton came back and looked fine.

Peverley clinched it with a backhander at 14:52 of the third period. The unassisted tally was his 17th of the season. He cut across the zone and beat McElhinney with a sharp shot.

Boston wraps up the regular season this afternoon in New Jersey in a game that truly means nothing. Mark Recchi and Chara aren't making the trip and Tuukka Rask will get the start as the Bruins try to stay healthy against the Devils (whose season ends today).

Celtics barely show up but still beat Wizards

2011-04-09T11:30:00.018-05:00

Last night's Boston Celtics vs. Washington Wizards game at the TD Garden was so sloppy that it resembled the first time at college that you got drunk. Haha, yeah that bad.

Neither team was into it. Boston (55-24) won 104-88 over Washington (21-58) in a game that was much closer than that.

The Celtics battled through fatigue from Thursday's night beatdown in Chicago. The Wizards are just playing out the string in another Lottery-bound season.

Boston kept pace with the Miami Heat ahead of their battle tomorrow afternoon in Miami which will likely determine which team gets the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Three Celtics had double-doubles. Paul Pierce had 22 points and 13 rebounds, Rajon Rondo added 20 points, 14 assists and six steals while Kevin Garnett had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Nenad Krstic put up 17 points and six rebounds and Ray Allen notched 13 points.

Andray Blatche led Washington with 20 points and 10 rebounds, John Wall scored 20 points, Jordan Crawford added 19 points and JaVale McGree put up 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Tomorrow is the last important game of the regular season for Boston. After that, they travel to DC on Monday to face the Wizards (great scheduling) and then host the Knicks on Wednesday in the regular season finale.

A very Manny retirement

2011-04-09T11:12:00.012-05:00

I'm no Bill Simmons so I won't bore you with every single precious memory I have of Manny Ramirez (along with all my friends and family members) when he was on the Boston Red Sox from 2001-2008.

However, with his sudden retirement from the Tampa Bay Rays and MLB yesterday, I felt like I owe a short ode to the greatest hitter I've ever seen in my life (sorry Nomar).

First of all, can we agree that the way Manny retired (on a Friday afternoon, during a Red Sox-Yankees Opening Day at Fenway) was so perfect that you couldn't even script it that well? So yeah, he got bagged again for another failed PED test but I'm long past letting steroids in baseball bother me.

In the Wild West days (pre steroid testing), everyone in MLB did it except maybe David Eckstein so who can you blame but Bud Selig and the powers that be at MLB that buried their heads in the sand?

Anyways, Manny was the most bizarre superstar athlete that we'll ever see in our times here on Earth. He was once described as like Rain Man and I think that about covers it. He was put on this planet to hit a baseball, nothing more, nothing less.

They say the great ones in baseball have a different sound off the bat when they hit the ball and I have to say that when he was going good (1995-2006), he destroyed any pitcher. Didn't matter if you were a lefty or righty, threw hard or soft. He crushed everything.

We'll always be indebted to him and David Ortiz for delivering not one but two World Series titles (2004 and 2007) to the Red Sox. He was the 2004 World Series MVP.

The last few seasons were a bad dream for his career. After being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the 2008 trade deadline, he had an absurd half season with them. But in 2009 with LA then 2010 with the Dodgers and Chicago White Sox not to mention this past Spring Training with the Tampa Bay Rays, the magic was gone.

Manny turned to steroids for the second time (that we know about) and got caught once again. It's not the ending out of a movie but if you watched Manny from 2001-2008, it seems like the perfect way for him to go out.

Extra, Extra: Red Sox Win!

2011-04-09T10:51:00.025-05:00

It only took a week and seven tries but the Boston Red Sox finally won a game yesterday afternoon.

They beat the Yankees 9-6 at Fenway Park at their home opener despite John Lackey's best efforts to sabotage the game.

As is the custom on Opening Day at Fenway, nobody got booed on the Red Sox (1-6) even the players that deserved it like Lackey, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Marco Scutaro, J.D. Drew, etc.

Nope, the day is all about the C-list celebs and Boston's elite rubbing elbows with each other while enjoying Fenway's newest garbage food (sushi).

Lackey (1-0) went five innings, giving up six earned runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Sadly, that pathetic display earned him a win on this strange day.

How bad was Yankees (4-3) starter Phil Hughes? Well in just two innings, he allowed six earned runs on seven hits with two walks. New York's prized young pitcher is clearly hurt or something since he has no velocity right now and he made Lackey look like a quality MLB pitcher (a nearly impossible task).

As expected, it was a slugfest. The Red Sox had 12 hits and the Yankees had eight.

Dustin Pedroia led Boston with three hits and three RBIs, J.D. Drew had two hits and two RBIs while Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz and Saltalamacchia each added two hits.

The Red Sox bullpen stepped up with four scoreless innings. Alfredo Aceves was followed by Bobby Jenks, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon (they all threw scoreless innings). Papelbon was the most impressive in his first save opportunity of the season. He struck out two, didn't allow a hit or walk in an economical 11 pitches.

Brett Gardner led New York with two hits, two runs and two walks while Robinson Cano had two hits and two RBIs.

Cano gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run double.

Pedroia answered with a solo homer just over the Monster in the bottom of the first (second straight year he's homered on Opening Day).

Gardner's RBI double in the second made it 3-1 New York.

The Red Sox offense finally exploded for a big inning, five in the second inning. Marco Scutaro's fielder's choice cut it to 3-2. Pedroia put Boston up 4-3 with a two-run single, Gonzalez and Ortiz followed with RBI singles.

Lackey is nothing if not giving and he gave up a run in the third (Nick Swisher groundout), fourth (Derek Jeter RBI single) and fifth (A-Rod homer) to tie it up. Thanks you Muppet-faced bum.

Two of Boston's biggest liabilities came through with the two biggest hits. Saltalamacchia had an RBI double in the fifth and Drew delivered a two-run single in the seventh.

Clay Buchholz opposes Ivan Nova this afternoon in a matchup that obviously favors the Red Sox. Hopefully they can take advantage and rack up another win.

Who is going to stop the D Rose and the Chicago Bulls?

2011-04-08T10:49:00.016-05:00

It had been a long time (January 8) since the Boston Celtics had played the Chicago Bulls.

I knew Derrick Rose was playing at an MVP level and the Bulls were on fire but it was another thing to see them up close last night.

Let me say this: after watching Chicago (58-20) roll to a 97-81 win over the Celts (54-24) at the United Center, you have to say that without question, Chicago is the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.

Hell maybe even the NBA. I know the Lakers always sleepwalk through the end of the regular season and then turn it on in the playoffs but damn, Rose (30 points, 8 assists) and the Bulls are playing awesome.

Basically Chicago seems like a younger, better version of the Celtics. They play outstanding defense, they're deep, they have a great coach (who knows everything about Boston) and most importantly, they employ Rose.

Nobody makes Rajon Rondo (7 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds) look as bad as Derrick Rose does. His combination of size, speed and toughness is too much for Rondo to handle. There was some And-1 mixtape highlights last night as a couple times, Rose isolated on Rondo and blew by him with a filthy crossover. He still can't really shoot 3-pointers (2 for 5) but he hits his free throws (10 for 10) so Rose's game has never been at a higher level.

Luol Deng added 23 points for Chicago while Carlos Boozer had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Nobody on the Celtics had what you'd term a good game. Paul Pierce led Boston with 15 measly points, Kevin Garnett had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Jeff Green scored 10 points off the bench.

The good news is that should the seedings hold, Boston and Chicago wouldn't meet until the Eastern Conference Finals. Still, last night should make all the Green teamers tremble in fear when they hear about the Bulls and Rose.

Chicago led 26-18 after the first quarter and 48-43 at halftime. The Bulls started to pull away in the third (23-17) before taking it in the fourth (26-21).

The Bulls shot 47.4% to 38.4% for the Celtics. Chicago hit seven more 3-pointers (9-2) but Boston made nine more free throws (23-14). The Bulls pulled down nine more rebounds (44-35) and had seven more assists (21-14) and six more steals (9-3). Chicago made two more blocks (5-3) and most impressively, doubled up Boston in the paint (44-22).

Boston returns to TD Garden tonight to face the Washington Wizards. Last time these teams met, Washington shocked Boston in our nation's capital. It'll be interesting to see if Boston is into this game at all. They still have the No. 2 seed to play for but they could also mail it in while they wait for Miami on Sunday.

OK this is starting to get funny

2011-04-08T10:33:00.013-05:00

At this point, you have to laugh. The Boston Red Sox are off to their worst start since 1945 and they seem to find a more ridiculous way to lose each day or night.

Yesterday afternoon, Jon Lester and Fausto Carmona had a classic pitcher's duel in the series finale at Progressive Field.

Cleveland (4-2) pushed across a run in the eighth inning as Asdrubal Cabrera put down a squeeze bunt which scored Adam Everett. That 1-0 lead turned out to be the only run that was necessary as the Indians held on for a 1-0 win and a series sweep of the Red Sox (0-6).

Lester (0-1) deserved a better fate in his second start of the season. He went seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out nine.

Carmona matched him. He also went seven innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out four.

Daniel Bard (0-2) took the loss after walking Everett, who stole second base then advanced to third on a sacrifice by Orlando Cabrera (small ball!).

This excruciating loss wouldn't be complete with a baserunning gaffe to end it.

David Ortiz walked with two outs against Indians closer Chris Perez and Darnell McDonald pinch ran for him. J.D. Drew hit a hot shot off Perez but McDonald took a big turn around second base and fell down. He couldn't recover in time and was thrown out at second on a heads up play. Haha, that's how it ended.

Perez earned his second save of the season with that big mistake.

Well things can only get better, right? The Red Sox come home for Opening Day at Fenway Park (your favorite theme park). All the frauds and big money bozos will be in the house so I wouldn't be surprised if those clueless idiots don't even really boo the team like they should.

John Lackey takes on Phil Hughes this afternoon. Look at it like this: if New York wins two of three this weekend, Boston will be 1-8. God forbid if the Yankees sweep, Boston will be 0-9. Oh my. Needless to say, it's long past the time to wake up and start playing.