In the 'Zona Sports Chowdah Update- Arizona Iced B's, Bruins Rally Late for 12th Straight Win; Thunder Down Under, Dodgers and Diamondbacks Open Up 2014 MLB Season at Sydney Cricket Grounds

Ross D Franklin- AP

NHL- Less than 24 hours after getting their 11th straight win in Colorado [a 2-0 shutout with their backup goalie, no less- NANESB!] the Boston Bruins made their way to Arizona to take on the Phoenix Coyotes for the second time in 8 days.

Although the Coyotes started out aggressively, Patrice Bergeron drew first blood with a goal just 3:25 into the first period. However, with less than four minutes to go, Coyotes Captain Shane Doan got the equalizer to tie the game up at 1-1. Also in the final 30 seconds of the first, Boston's Matt Bartkowski was sent to the sin bin for tripping. Although the Coyotes weren't able to do anything in the dying seconds of the first, most of that penalty would carry over to the second period where Phoenix's Oliver Ekman-Larsson would put the Coyotes on top 2-1.



This was actually the first time in seven games that the Bruins had trailed, but just 3:48 into the 3rd period, Jarome Iginla would get the equalizer to make it a 2-2 game. After twelve minutes of quick, intense and at times chippy play where it looked as though the contest would be heading for overtime, Shawn Thornton put Boston back on top with 3:18 left in regulation. Shortly after the go-ahead goal, the Coyotes pulled netminder Mike Smith for an extra attacker- however, Iginla was able to corral the puck out by the blue line and shot it for a back-breaking empty net goal with 30 seconds to go in regulation.

Boston goes on to win its 12th straight in game- this time before a standing-room only crowd of nearly 17,500 at Glendale's Jobing.com arena. Iginla has now scored 10 goals in the Bruin's last nine games while Tukka Rask stopped 31 of 33 shots faced in Glendale. By way of comparison, Mike Smith had faced 27 shots on goal and turned aside 24. The win gives Boston sole possession of the Eastern Conference lead [the 103 points is currently tied with St Louis for the best in the NHL- NANESB!]. The Bruins are now two wind shy of tying a franchise record of 14 straight wins that was set during the 1929-1930 season.

After Saturday's contest in the Grand Canyon state, the Bruins will travel back to Boston for a Monday night prime time matchup against the Montreal Canadiens. Puck is scheduled to drop and the game will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.

Mark Kolbe- Getty

MLB- As the Bruins and Coyotes were going head-to-head, some 7800 miles away the MLB season was getting underway Down Under. As in previous seasons, MLB had decided to start the regular season overseas while most teams were still winding down Spring Training. This time around, the season got underway as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks went head-to-head in Australia at the Sydney Cricket ground over the weekend. The 48,000 seat cricket venue was painstakingly converted to a ballpark for the MLB's downunder opener.

The Dodgers took Friday's Game 1 by a final of 3-1. It looked as though they were on their way to an easy sweep of the two game series after getting out to a 7-0 lead against Arizona, but the Diamondbacks got on the board in the bottom of the 8th with an RBI single from offseason pickup Mark Trumbo to make it 7-1. With one out in the bottom of the 9th and runners on second and third, Martin Prado cut the lead to make it 7-3 Dodgers. Not wanting to take any more chances, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly brought start Paul Maholm into the game to get the final two outs and kill the Arizona rally. However, after striking out Miguel Montero, Mattingly brought in reliever Kenley Jansen, who immediately offered up a booming homer to Trumbo to pull the Diamondbacks to within two runs. However, Jansen would then strike out Martin Prado to end the ballgame, giving the Dodgers a sweep of the Sydney series.

The Dodgers will resume regular season play next weekend- this time on the same continent- as they face the San Diego Padres at PETCo Park in San Diego on Sunday, March 30th. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 ET and the game will be televised on ESPN.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Category 8, Bruins Top 'Canes For 8th Straight Win and Season Sweep;

BOSTON BRUINS- March is shaping up to be a terrific month for the Bruins. After their rout of Montreal on Wednesday night, the B's returned home to face the Phoenix Coyotes who were fighting to secure one of the final playoff berths out west. The Bruins did all of their scoring in the first, with Zdeno Chara and Jarome Iginla accounting for all the Boston goals before Phoenix's Lauri Korpikoski ended Tukka Rask's shutout bid about midway through the third and cut the Boston lead in half. However, the Bruins would hang on to win by a 2-1 final.

On Saturday afternoon, the Bruins would play host to the Carolina Hurricanes, who were a game over .500 and looking to get into the 8th and final playoff spot in the East with a few weeks to go in the regular season.



Milan Lucic opened up the scoring for Boston in the first with 4:32 to go after driving a Krejci rebound past 'Canes goalie Cam Ward. With just over 2 and a half minutes to go in the second, Iginla gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead. However, three minutes into the 3rd stanza, Alexander Semin made it a 1-goal game for the 'Canes when Chad Johnson couldn't corral a bouncing puck. However, the Bruins would pile on three unanswered goals later on in the 3rd (from Chris Kelly, Iginla and Torey Krug) to go on and win by a final of 5-1.

Chad Johnson stopped 29 of 30 shots faced while Iginla would have a two-goal game, scoring three goals since Thursday's contest against Phoenix. The Bruins will next host the Minnesota Wild on Monday night before embarking on a 3-game road trip that takes them to New Jersey, Colorado and Phoenix. Monday night's game will be nationally televised on NBC Sports with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:30 PM ET.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- Even with the Bruins on a hot streak, it seemed like it still wasn't enough to vault past the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference lead as recently as Thursday's contest against the Coyotes. However, the Bruins got a lot of help this weekend from the Flyers when they swept a home-and-away series against the Penguins. After shutting out the Penguins at home by a 4-0 final on Saturday, Philly edged the Pens by a 4-3 final at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Bruins currently sit atop the Eastern Conference with 95 points, and Pittsburgh missed an opportunity to gain any ground on Sunday and now remain three points behind.

MLB- The team with baseball's biggest payroll- the LA Dodgers- have broken camp on their spring training facility at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, AZ and are currently enroute to Australia where they will take on the Arizona Diamondbacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Australia's largest city as well as an exhibition game against Australia's national team.

The two games (which are scheduled for March 22nd at 4 AM and 10 PM ET, respectively) mark the start of the 2014 MLB regular season while the rest of the league gets started on March 31st.

Sports Chowdah Update: Shine on You Crazy Diamond(Backs)- Sox Take Two Out of Three From Arizona; MLB Announces More BioGenesis Suspensions

Brian Snyder- Reuters

RED SOX- Jake Peavy made his much-anticipated Red Sox debut on Saturday night at Fenway in an interleague game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Arizona got on the board first with a solo home run off of 1B Paul Goldschmidt in the top of the 4th before Shane Victorino belted a solo homer to left field to get Boston on the board in the bottom of the 5th. In the bottom of the 7th, the Red Sox broke the 1-1 deadlock thanks to an RBI single by Ellsbury and a sac fly by Victorino to make it 3-2 Boston.

Peavy would go seven complete innings and come out for the top of the 8th- allowing a leadoff single to Will Nieves before Farrell had Craig Breslow come out of the bullpen. However, Breslow would his Cliff Pennington with a pitch and allow a single to Gerardo Parra to load the bases with nobody out. Junichi Tazawa came on in relief of Breslow and gave up a single to Aaron Hill- the Diamondbacks sent Pennington home to try and tie the game, but he was out at the plate on a throw by Johnny Gomes from center field. Tazawa then got Goldschmidt to strike out and Eric Chavez to fly out to left field to end the Arizona threat in the 8th. The Red Sox still led 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th when Mike Napoli drew a leadoff walk and Saltalamacchia hit a 1-out homer into the Red Sox bullpen to give the Sox some insurance heading into the 9th with a 5-2 lead.

Fresh from catching Salty's home run ball in the pen, Koji Uehara would come on in the 9th and give up a leadoff walk to Martin Prado before getting former Red Sox outfielder Cody Ross to hit into a fielder's choice and former Twin Jason Kubel to ground into a double play.

After the Diamondbacks threatened to spoil Peavy's Boston debut with bases loaded and nobody out in the 8th, the Red Sox go on to win Saturday's game by a 5-2 final. Peavy notches his first W with the Olde Towne Team after going 7 innings, allowing 4 hits, two earned runs and striking out seven batters.

With Friday night's 7-6 loss to Arizona, Sunday was the rubber game in the weekend series. The day game pitted Brandon McCarthy against Felix Doubront and was pretty much a scoreless pitcher's duel until the bottom of the 5th when Stephen Drew and Brock Holt led off the inning with back to back singles. The Red Sox got on the board when Drew came home from 3rd to put the Red Sox on the board and Holt came home on a Pedroia double to make it a 2-0 lead for Boston.

The Red Sox led off the bottom of the 6th with another pair of back-to-back singles- this time from Saltalamacchia and Drew- before Holt laid down a sac bunt to put runners at second and third with one out. Ellsbury and Victorino then managed to hi back-to-back RBI singles to give the Red Sox a 4-0 lead. Meanwhile, Doubront was cruising through seven innings. Matt Thornton came on to relieve Doubront in the 7th, but gave up a leadoff single to Tuffy Goesewich before leaving the game with an apparent injury [it was announced he'd travel with the team to houston and be examined by medical staff there- NANESB!]. Drake Britton came on to close out the inning.

Koji Uehara came on in the 9th and gave up a leadoff single to Gerardo Parra before getting the next three batters out to preserve the shutout and clinch the win for Boston.

Doubront pitched seven complete innings, allowing five hits and striking out five in Sunday's start. The win means the Red Sox are still in first place in the AL East by 1 game.

On Monday, the Red Sox will head to Houston's Minute Maid Park to take on the struggling Astros. This upcoming 10-game road trip will take the Sox to Houston, Kansas City and Toronto. John Lackey [7-8; 3.23 ERA] will get the start against Brett Oberholtzer [1-0; 3.77 ERA]. The game gets underway at 8:10 ET (7:10 CT) and will be televised on NESN.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Major League Baseball announced the suspension of 13 more players as a result of their ongoing probe into the south Florida Biogenesis anti-aging clinic that allegedly provided MLB players with Human Growth Hormone.

The most prominent name on the list includes Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who still has five years and $114 million remaining on his contract with the Yankees. A-Rod received a 211-game suspension, which would be the remainder of the 2013 season and the entire 2014 season. There was talk of a lifetime ban for A-Rod from MLB, which would've freed the Yankees from their considerable monetary and contractual obligations to Rodriguez.

Other suspensions include Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta, Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera, Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli and Phillies pitcher Antionio Bastardo as well as five minor-leaguers. MLB reported that many of the players agreed to waive their right to appeal in exchange for a lighter suspension. However, A-Rod never agreed to any such deal and is technically eligible to play against the White Sox this week should he appeal his suspension.

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun accepted a 65 game suspension from MLB last month- the sanctions came a year and a half after he successfully appealed a suspension from another positive test, claiming the sample was mishandled.

NFL- Are you ready for some football?

Me neither, but the NFL preseason kicked off last night with the annual Hall of Fame game in Canton, OH with the Dallas Cowboys beating the Miami Dolphins by a 24-20 final. New England's first game will be this Friday against the Philadelphia Eagles at 7:30 ET.

Squirrely Sports Chowdah Update For Oct 27th: Angry Birds- Cardinals Storm Back To Tie World Series on Final Out; The Tight End and the Tight End

WORLD SERIES: Without much in the way of exaggeration or hyperbole, this was one for the ages.

Postponed by rain on Wednesday night, Game 6 of the 2011 World Series got underway in St Louis 24 hours later and with the Cardinals in a must win scenario, often times trailing the Texas Rangers.

Texas got out to the early 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st thanks to a leadoff walk to Ian Kinsler and a single to Elvis Andrus before Josh Hamilton drove home Kinsler with an RBI double.

Tha Cardinals would take the lead in the bottom of the 1st with a 2-run Lance Berkman homer, but the Rangers would knot things up in the next frame thanks to an RBI Kinsler ground-rule double, leaving the game tied at 2-2 for a little while at least. Well- until the top of the 4th inning, which is when Nelson Cruz reached 2nd on an error before being driven home on a Mike Napoli RBI single. However, in the bottom half of the 4th frame, Lance Berkman would reach on an error and become the tying run on a Yadier Molina groundout.

The sloppy play and back and forth would continue for quite a bit, with Texas finally taking what seemed like a commanding 7-4 lead in the top of the 7th inning thanks to solo homers by Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz as well as a Kinsler RBI single for good measure.



After a solo homer by Allen Craig in the bottom of the 8th, the Cardinals managed to load the bases before Rafael Furcal grounded out to end the inning, leaving it still a 7-5 game. After a fairly uneventful top of the 9th where the Rangers didn't score, Albert Pujols hit a 1-out double to center before Lance Berkman was walked. Allen Craig then struck out and when David Freese stepped into the batter's box, the Cards were down to their last out- their last strike, even- in the World Series when he managed to send the ball all the way to the outfield wall to bring in Pujols and Berkman to tie the game up at 7-7.

Texas would strike right back with a 2-run Josh Hamilton homer in the top of the 10th, but the persistent Cards would come back in the bottom of the 10th after moving runners into scoring position and a Ryan Theriot groundout plated one run and Lance Berkman tied the game at 9-9 with a 2-out RBI single.

After some confusion in which Ranger's manager Ron Washington looked uncertain about who he wanted to send to the plate in the top of the 11th, the Rangers were really unable to do anything with a Mike Napoli single and finished off the inning pretty quietly.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, the Cardinals led off with Wildwood, Missouri's Lafayette HS graduate David Freese.

The 3rd baseman who grew up a Cardinals fan in the St Louis area helped propel his team to a Game 7 in the world series in the most dramatic manner possible, giving St Louis the 10-9 win over a reeling Texas [I get the feeling all those Freese-related puns have been done to death, and I figured I might as well give it a rest after the NLCS- NANESB!].

Freese's late-inning heroics set up one final game for the 2011 season and the first Game 7 in nearly 9 years. Freese went 2-5 with 3 RBI including the game-winning homer while Lance Berkman went 3-5 with 3 RBI on the evening. Jake Westbrook, the 6th pitcher to take to the mound for St. Louis Thursday night, was the winner while Neftali Feliz, Darren Oliver and Scott Feldman each had an opportunity to seal the win for Texas coming out of the bullpen, only to watch the Cards claw back each time. Feldman was charged with the blown save and Mark Lowe was hung with the loss.

Tomorrow night's game is set to get under way from St Louis with a first pitch at 8:05 ET and will be televised on FOX. Chris Carpenter is set to get the start against the Rangers Matt Harrison. It'll be interesting to see if Texas can bounce back from what must feel like a crushing loss on Thursday night.

OTHER MLB NEWS: The Boston Herald is reporting that the Toronto Blue Jays may be getting ready to aggressively go after Red Sox DH David Ortiz this offseason. The 36 year old slugger is a free agent and has been with the club since 2003, including two big postseasons that saw the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 and 2007.

NHL: Damn it, damn it, damn it! I understood that there might be the risk of a Stanley Cup 'hangover', but why does it seem as though things have been going downhill ever since the banner raising ceremony?

And the damndest thing is, the Bruins are getting beaten by the few teams out there with worse records than them.

The Montreal Canadiens managed to hang on for a 2-1 win against the Bruins at the Garden Thursday night after the Bruins managed to get on the board thanks to a Tomas Plekanec own-goal against Carey Price.

The Habs would then get two unanswered goals (this time against the Boston goalie, Tim Thomas) including another Plekanec tally for the 2-1 final. Thomas turned aside 33 of 35 shots faced in the loss while Price stopped 29 of 30 shots faced (29 of them coming from Bruins players).

The Bruins will travel to Montreal (where they are no doubt ready to call the Sûreté du Québec on Zdeno Chara) on Saturday night with the game being broadcast on CBC beginning at 7:00 PM ET.

NFL: Oh come on now. This is getting a touch ridiculous.


New England Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski issued a statement saying that he didn't intend to hurt the team's reputation when he had his picture taken with porn starlet Bibi Jones. Gronkowski reportedly made the statement after meeting in private with owner Robert Kraft.

Earlier this week, Jones posted two photos of herself with Gronkowski on her twitter account. She was wearing the #87 jersey in both photos while Rob Gronkowski was shirtless in one of them. The pictures were reportedly taken during the bye week.

I'm not sure what the big deal is, to be honest. I mean, Gronkowski is young and single, and as long as it doesn't detract from his on-field performance, I don't really see the problem with having his picture taken with a porn starlet. According to Jones, nothing happened (much to her dismay) between her and Gronkowski.

Jones also stated in a radio interview that an unnamed MLB agent used her to entice potential free agents to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010. However, she insists she wasn't paid for meeting with the agent's potential clients in Phoenix area bars, but served as 'arm candy' pro-bono due to her affinity for athletes and baseball being her favorite sport.

Sports Chowdah Update- Scarin' Haren; Miller Time at Cooperstown; Rays-ing The Prospect of Another No-No

RED SOX: Well, Jon Lester had a gem at SafeCo squandered Saturday and Okajima came in on Sunday and turned a 2-1 lead against the Mariners into a 4-2 deficit, meaning the best Boston could manage against a team that was 20 games out of first place was a split of a 4 game series.

From there, the Sox travelled to Southern California to take on the Angels. Monday night's starter for the Halos was scheduled to be Joel Piñeiro, but the big news from Sunday's trade had a direct impact on Monday's start. After acquiring starter Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks Sunday, he was announced as the starter for Monday's game against the Red Sox going up against Clay Buchholz.

The Angels got on the board early with a solo homer off of Buccholz by Bobby Abreu in the bottom of the first. The Sox came right back in the top of the second with a leadoff triple by Adrian Beltre, who was immediately brough home by fresh-off-the-DL Victor Martinez on an RBI single. Haren would give up a double to SS Jed Lowrie, but Lowrie and Martinez would be stranded as he worked out of that jam to end the inning.

Not to be outdone, Buchholz worked out of a bases-loaded, nobody out jam in the bottom of the 2nd by getting the next two batters to pop out in the infield and a Erik Aybar flyball to left field.

Big Papi would belt a solo homer with two away in the top of the 3rd to put the Sox up 2-1, and that's the way the score would remain. However, in the top of the 5th, Dan Haren was struck by a Kevin Youkilis line-drive with two out and had to leave to the game. Haren was relieved by Francisco Rodriguez (not that one) and retired the next four batters he faced.

Buccholz would go 7 innings, throw 114 pitches and give up five hits, a walk, seven strikeouts and just the one run off of Abreu. In the top of the 8th, Kevin Youkilis would hit a 1-out single and successfully steal second before David Ortiz would get his 2nd home run ofthe evening to make it 4-1 Red Sox; some insurance that would turn out to be much needed.

Scott Atchison would relieve Buccholz in the 8th, but give up a 2 run homer to Hideki Matsui to make it a one-run game. Not taking any chances, Francona made the decision to bring in Papelbon from the bullpen. Paps rewarded this decision by getting Alberto Callaspo to ground out to end the inning.

The Angels' Mike Kohn would come on in the top of the 9th and log just a single out, instead allowing a walk to Mike Cameron, getting Erc Patterson to pop out to first and giving up a single to Marco Scuatro after a particularly long and tenacious at-bat. This set up a booming 2-RBI double by JD Drew for even more insurance before Rich Thompson would come on and retire the next two batters for Anaheim.

Working with a 6-3 lead, Papelbon came on in the bottom of the 9th and gave up a leadoff single to C Mike Napoli, but would retire the next three batters for his 23rd save of the year.

Boston snaps their 2-game skid Monday night in Orange County by a final of 6-3 with Buccholz getting the win (11-5; 2.71 ERA) and Haren getting hung with the loss in his Angels debut.

Haren appeared to make some post-game comments by his new locker sporting a bandage and saying that his arm was sore, swollen and bruised but otherwise fine. Haren is expected to be re-examined on Tuesday.

Tomorrow night's game will have John Lackey (9-5; 4.36 ERA) facing his former team and batterymate Jared Weaver (9-6; 3.22 ERA)
ELSEWHERE: While the Angels-Red Sox game was getting underway, the fifth no-hitter of the season was wrapping up in St. Petersburg, FL. The Ray's Matt Garza went the distance against Detroit, striking out 6 and walking just one runner in 9 innings to give Tampa Bay it's first no-hitter in franchise history. The Rays had already been on the other end of some no-hitters this season, including Dallas Braden's perfect game on Mother's Day at Oakland. The Tiger's Max Scherzer had a no-hit bid going into the bottom ob the 6th as well, but loaded up the bases on two walks and Carl Crawford being awarded 1st on catcher's interference before giving up a grand-slam to DH Matt Joyce to put the Rays up 4-0.

Tampa Bay would win by the final of 5-0. Graza's successful no-hit bid means the only two teams remaining in MLB that have never thrown a no-hitter are the New York Mets and San Diego Padres.

HALL OF FAME : Former outfielder Andre Dawson, manager Whitey Herzog, Umpire Doug Harvey and current Giants broadcaster John Miller were enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on Sunday. Dawson, who was enshrined as a Montreal Expo (and likely the last player to achieve that) had career batting average of .279 and 438 home runs in his 21 year career. Dawson had this to say in his speech:

“I didn’t play this game with this in mind but I’m living proof that if you love this game, the game will love you back.

San Francisco Giants and ESPN Broadcaster John Miller was awarded the Hall of Fame's Ford C Frick Award at Cooperstown on Sunday as well.

Sports Chowdah Update, June 25-26- Ghana Baby, Gone; Giant Problems Ahead for Sox?; Feeling Another Draft?

WORLD CUP: Extra time giveth, extra time taketh away. After advancing on a last-minute goal by Landon Donovan on Wednesday against Algeria, team USA faced Ghana earlier today. And while that game wasn't settled in regulation either, things didn't go team USA's way this time around. Ghana's Asomah Gyan scored the deciding goal three minutes into the overtime of their first elimination game, giving Ghana a 2-1 win. Landon Donovan scored the only goal for team USA, giving them a game-tying goal on his penalty kick in the 62nd minute.

It was a good effort by team USA, but they fell into a hole one too many times throughout the tournament. Ghana will advance to take on Uruguay next week after the Uruguayans beat South Korea 2-1 earlier today.

Elsewhere in the World Cup: Authorities in Zimbabwe say they have arrested two Pakistani men using fake passports at the South African border; one of them reportedly involved in planning the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 166. The men- which included Imram Muhammed who is sought by Pakistani and international authorities for his role in the mass-casualty attacks on India- were detained in the southern border town of Beitbridge last Sunday according to Zimbabwe's state-controlled Herald newspaper [A Bobby Mugabe mouthpiece, so caveat emptor, NANESB! readers- NANESB!]

AP/Boston Herald

MLB: While I was bracing for the worst in Tim Wakefield's start last night, it was a much closer game than I anticipated. Wake held the Giants to 3 earned runs (plus one unearned) over 7 innings- although he did give up 11 hits and had a costly throwing error with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 2nd. Londonderry, NH native son Brian Wilson came on in the 8th to close out the game for San Francisco and got some insurance (that he would need in the 9th) on a sac-fly that plated Nate Schierholtz to make it a 5-3 game for San Francisco. Youk would belt a triple to deep center with 2 outs in the 9th and get driven home on a Victor Martinez single before an Adrian Beltre single and Bill Hall walk would load up the bases , but Darnell McDonald would ground out to short to finish up the ballgame.

Just to make matters even more suck-tastic, Dustin Pedroia left the game in the 3rd inning on Friday night after fouling a ball off his foot in the top of the inning. X-Rays on the foot showed a non-displaced fracture on the navicular bone of his right foot earlier today and he was placed on the 15-day DL.

If that wasn't enough, things were looking as though they'd take a turn for the even-worse to start off earlier today. While Darnell McDonald kicked things off with a solo homer in the 1st inning, Clay Buccholz hyperextended his knee while running the bases after getting his first career base hit in the top of the 2nd. Scott Atchison came in and pitched two-and-one-third innings of relief starting with the bottom of the second, followed by Ramon Ramierez, Manny DelCarmen, Dustin Richardson, Hideki Okajima and Daniel Bard among others. The bullpen got alot of help from Mike Cameron- both with his bat- a 3-run homer in the top of the 2nd (Cameron's first with the Red Sox)- and his glove- a running, weaving catch on a well-hit Pablo Sandoval fly ball that looked like Cameron had lost in the sun before he slid into the outfield wall. The centerfielder was 1 for 3 on the day with the 3 RBIs on the day while Scott Atchison was credited with the win and Papelbon closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning good for the Red Sox 4-2 win and Pap's 17th save of the season.

The rubber game of the series tomorrow promises to be pretty interesting as Jon Lester (8-3) will start against 2-time NL Cy Young winner Time Lincecum (8-2). First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM Pacific time and 4:05 Eastern.

Other Red Sox news: Boston acquired infielder Eric Patterson from the Oakland A's this weekend in exchange for minor-leaguer Fabian Williamson. Patterson is batting .204 on the season with 4 home runs and 9 RBIs.

Elsewhere in MLB: It took 149 pitches, but we have another no-hitter for this season. Arizona's Edwin Jackson looked so wild at times that it was doubtful he could even get out of the inning, let alone go the distance without surrendering a hit. Jackson gave up eight walks and zero runs while striking out 6 in the Diamondback's 1-0 win over Tampa Bay Friday night. Jackson threw 149 pitches and faced 30 batters without giving up a hit. This is the fourth no-hitter of the season with the perfect games by Philadelphia's Roy Halliday and Oakland's Dallas Braden and the first no-hitter of the 2010 MLB season thrown by Colorado's Ubaldo Jiminez barely 2 weeks into the season.

NHL: The Tyler Segiun era has begun in Beantown. The Bruins selected the 6ft 1 Center from the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL as the second overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft at a much-more-serene Staples Center this weekend. The B's got the high pick from Toronto when they traded Phil Kessel last offseason. The Edmonton Oilers had the #1 pick of the draft and went with Taylor Hall of the OHL's Windsor Spitfires.

Sports Chowdah Recap for June 12-14- Stubborn Celtic Pride; Rue Brittania; Sox Rookie Nava Has Grand Debut

(Canadian Press)

NBA FINALS: *WHEW!* Well, Kobe Bryant's 38 points made Game 5 a little closer than I would've liked, but I'm not going to complain about the final outcome from Sunday night. The C's, shored up by a 27-point effort from Paul Pierce got out to the early lead, but at times even the biggest lead wasn't safe. Kobe had 23 straight points for the Lakers from the 4:23 mark of the 2nd to the 2 minute mark of the 3rd.

With 90 seconds left in regulation, the C's were held scoreless and their lead eroding to 87-82. Boston got a break when a video review showed Ray Allen's 3 point attempt nicked the rim, giving the C's a fresh 24 seconds on the shot clock with 1:05 remaining. Rasheed Wallace missed a 3-pointer for the C's, but Derek Fisher and Kevin Garnett. Garnett won the jump ball and managed to tip the ball to Ron Artest for a breakaway. Pierce fouled Artest instead of letting him try for the easy layup, and Artest rewarded that by missing his two free throws for LA. Although Kobe got the rebound, it was immediately taken away by Pierce before Kobe could even attempt a shot. Pierce then dribbled off to the sidelines and called for a time-out. That set up a desperation pass to Rajon Rondo with 36 seconds left to make it 89-82 on his layup. That finally put LA in a hole too big to climb out of and the Celtics took Game 5 by a final of 92-86. Boston leads the NBA Finals 3 games to 2.

While Kobe's performance singlehandedly kept LA in the game the rest of the Lakers fizzled, however, with Pau Gasol leading all non-Kobe Lakers with a whopping 12 points. Derek Fisher, who burned the C's badly in the 4th quarter of Game 3, was held to 9 points.

Kevin Garnett had 18 points and 10 rebounds Sunday night while Rajon Rondo had 18 points and 8 assists. Game 6 will take place tomorrow night at LA's Staples Center at 9 PM Eastern time, 6 Pacific.

(Boston Herald)

Saturday's game was one to remember for Red Sox call-up Daniel Nava as he became the first rookie since Kevin Kouzmanoff to hit a grand-slam in his first career at-bat in the bottom of the second inning against the Phillies. The 27 year old undrafted outfielder had been batting .294 with 8 homers and 38 RBIs in AAA Pawtucket this season. Nava's contract was purchased from the Chico Outlaws of the Independent Golden League in 2007 by the Red Sox, where he was ranked Baseball America's #1 independent prospect.

The striking first impression left by Nava overshadowed some bad news regarding Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was a late scratch before the game and went on the 15-day DL with a forearm strain. The Sox stared with Scott Atchison, who would give up 2 runs in the top of the second. Despite a starter going on the DL and the early, 2-0 lead, that would be it for the Phils offense as Boston would win by a final of 10-2 and win two out of three against the Phils over the weekend at Fenway including Friday's 12-2 blowout.

The Red Sox will host the Diamondbacks for the next for a 3-game series against. Clay Buccholz (8-4) will get the start against the D'backs Ian Kennedy (3-3) on Tuesday night.


WORLD CUP: You know- I gotta confess something. It's actually been a dream of mine to travel to South Africa at some point. Safari, the colonial-era mining towns, cities like Cape Town and Durban- not to mention The Blue Train and Rovos Rail. However, 2010 is not the year to do it, since accommodations will be at a premium and South Africa's Rand is actually gaining in value against most major currencies.


But I guess it should be worth mentioning that Team USA tying heavily favored England 1-1 on Saturday [In your face former colonial masters!! -NANESB!]. However, even that earth-shattering development has taken a backseat to the ascendancy of the vuvuzelas, which apparently are cheap plastic horns that sound kind of like a swarm of bees when you have a whole stadium blowing into them simultaneously (click on the link at your own peril). Apparently if there's one thing the many different nations of the world participating in the World Cup can agree on, it's the desire to see these vuvuzela's banned from the stadiums hosting matches for the rest of tournament.

(AFP)

And speaking of stadiums, apparently the ushers and security guards in South Africa feel they aren't getting paid enough, since they walked off the job and called a strike in Cape Town and Durban yesterday. Trainee and auxiliary police were reportedly brought in to handle security at the stadiums where the guards walked off.