Go home Dice-K, we don't need you

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

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

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

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

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

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

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).