Sports Chowdah Recap: Pink Bats Come Alive in Fenway & Quiet By the Bay, Flyers Force Game 7, C's Even Series w/Cavs

It's been awhile, hasn't it? Alot's been going on in the sports world since I last updated, and not much of it centered in Boston either.

MLB: Well, after dropping the first two games to the Yankees by at least a touchdown (yeah yeah- wrong sport, but that's how bad it was), the Red Sox managed to salvage Game 3 of the series on the nationally televised Sunday night game with a convincing 7-inning performance from Jon Lester, giving up 4 hits, two runs and two walks while striking out 7 and walking two batters and getting the 9-3 win. Jeremy had a home run and 3 RBI, going 1 for 4 on the night and Big Papi had an RBI ground-rule double.

This was followed up by a 7-6 win over Toronto on Monday and strong outing by Matsuzaka Tuesday night good for a 6-1 win. Toronto managed to avoid the sweep yesterday on a two-hit, 7-inning shutout effort by Shaun Marcum.

The Sox have tonight off and will start a 3 game series against the Tigers at Comerica park on Friday night with Buccholz getting the nod for Boston and Max Scherzer starting for Detroit.

Other MLB News:
Part of the joy of being an XM subscriber is that you can tune in to some of the out-of town games if you think the one you're listening to is a dud. Such was the case on Mother's day when I was driving around in the hills and waiting for the Sox/Yankees Sunday night game to start. Second-place NANESB! baseball broadcast poll finisher Dave Niehaus had jut informed listeners on the out-of-town scoreboard update that not only was there a no-hitter brewing down in Oakland, but a perfect game.

Not just a perfect game, but Oakland starter Dallas Braden was throwing a perfect game against the white-hot Tampa Bay Rays. I mean, you gotta figure that it's difficult enough to get 27 straight outs against 'scrub' teams like the Orioles or Royals, but the AL-East leading Rays? Seems like a tall order. I was able to tune in in time for the top of the 9th at the Colesium and Gabe Kapler grounding out to short for the final out of the game and the 4-0 Oakland win.

Even before the perfect game, Dallas Braden made some headlines when he called out A-Rod for breaking one of the unwritten rules of baseball when the Yankees were playing in Oakland in late April. When asked about the incident, Slappy McBluelips had this to say:

"He told me to get off the mound," he said. "I was a little surprised because I never heard that, especially from a guy with a handful of wins [17] in his career."

Hmm....guess Braden's stock went up even further all around MLB. Well...since I am inherently biased towards Boston, this does remind me a little of Dustin Pedroia chirping at A-Rod when he threw an elbow at the Sox shortstop in a pretty weak effort to break up a double-play and the Yankees announcers saying something along the lines of "Who does this Pedroia kid think he is?". That was in 2007, the same year Pedroia would win Rookie of the Year. One sure sign that you've arrived is to earn the snide, dismissive contempt of the Yankees fans and media. Way to go Dallas.

MLB Comissioner Bud Selig announced that he has no plans to move the 2011 MLB All-Star game from Arizona, despite non-stop bitching pressure from advocacy groups and union thugs to move next year's mid-summer classic elsewhere in response to Arizona's new anti-illegal immigration laws. Over the past week, several city councils have passed resolutions threatening to boycott the state over Arizona's law, while the law itself reportedly has an approval rating of 70% in Arizona and over 60% support nationwide. It's not often I get to say this, but Selig made the right decision here.

NBA: Man.....as infrequently as I've been doing the sports updates, looks like there's only one or two Celtics game that takes place between updates. It seems like there are no close games in this series against the Cavs. After winning 97-87 at home on Sunday, the Celtics went on the road and stunned the Cavs again with a 120-88 beatdown of Cleveland at Quicken Loans arena Tuesday Night. LeBron James was kept pretty quiet with only 15 points on the night while for Boston, Rajon Rondo had 16 points and 7 assists and Ray Allen had 25 points on the night.

The Celtics have the opportunity to finish off the Cavs tonight at the Garden and start fuelling speculation on where LeBron James could win p as a free agent.

NHL: The 7 game series giveth and the 7 game series taketh away. After getting out to a 3-0 lead over the Flyers, Philly has come back to even the series at 3 games a peice, beating the Bruins 2-1 in the most recent game on Wednesday night. Milan Lucic would wind up with the only tally for the Bruins that night, coming with a minute left in regulation while Tukka Rask stopped 25 of 27 shots faced. The all-or-nothing Game 7 will take place Friday night.

Other NHL News: I'm not as surprised about this as I was about the first round upset against the Washington Capitals, but this should still be filed under 'H' for 'Holy crap!'. Montreal beat the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 in Game 7 of their series to advance to take on to the winner of the Philly/Boston series.