Hump Day Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Engineer Twin Killing at Fenway; Feat of Clayton, Dodgers Starter Kershaw Throws No-Hitter; Team USA Gets By Ghana in 1st Round of World Cup While Reigning Spain Mainly Plain; Bruins, Thronton Part Ways; Suprred to Action, San Antionio Wins 5th NBA Title

RED SOX- The streak-ey Red Sox followed up Rubby De LaRosa's gem on Monday night with a couple of pitcher's duels at Fenway on Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, Jon Lester got run support in the form of a Pedroia RBI single in the 1st and a Bogaerts sac fly in the 3rd [Brock Holt was the runner that crossed the plate both times- NANESB!] and was able to outlast former Yankees starter Phil Hughes in Boston's 2-1 win on Tuesday night.

Wednesday was an afternoon game as the Red Sox were getting ready to leave on a west coast road trip. Twins starter Kyle Gibson confounded the Red Sox bats, ultimately striking out 8 and not allowing a hit until the bottom of the 5th. Lackey pitched nine complete shutout innings, but got no decision in the afternoon contest.

The first RBI of the game came when Twins outfielder Chris Parmalee belted a solo homer in the top of the 10th off of Koji Uehara in the top of the 10th to give the Twins the first lead of this week's series at Fenway.

However, after Minnesota reliever Casey Fein got Dustin Pedroia to fly out for the first out of the bottom of the 10th, David Ortiz managed to tie the contest up 1-1 with a solo homer that wrapped around the Pesky pole.



But the Red Sox weren't done with the extra-inning heroics....not by a longshot. Speaking of long shots, that's exactly what Mike Napoli did with an 0-2 pitch from Casey Stein that didn't come down until it reached the bleacher seats in the triangle behind deep center field. Boston wins by a 2-1 final, sweeping a surprisingly low-scoring series against Minnesota after splitting a 4-game series against Terry Francona's Indians. Despite scoring a combined total five runs over 3 days, the Red Sox are 3-0 this week. Despite allowing an uncharacteristic homer, Koji Uehara was credited with the win on Wednesday and now has a 2-1 record.

Hopefully some of this momentum will carry over to the west coast as the Red Sox will resume play on Thursday night in Oakland. Jake Peavy [1-4; 4.53 ERA] will get the start against Oakland's Scott Kazmir [8-2; 2.05 ERA] with first pitch scheduled for 10:05 ET, 7:05 PT- the game will be televised on NESN.


OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Red Sox starter Brandon Workman has lost an appeal with MLB and will begin serving a 6-game suspension for throwing at Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria last month. Despite Rays pitchers- including starter David Price- hitting three Red Sox batters, no Tampa Bays pitchers have faced any MLB sanction from the May 30 contest.

Also on Wednesday, the Red Sox released outfielder Grady Sizemore outright. In 52 games with Boston this season, Sizemore has struggled- batting .216 with 2 HR and 15 RBI. June has been particularly hard on him as he's lost playing time with the emergence of Brock Holt and has been batting .133 with only 1 RBI in 30 at-bats.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS- There have been only two no hitters in Major League baseball so far this season and both of them belong to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

On Wednesday night, Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw struck out 15 in an 8-0 rout of the Colorado Rockies. The only baserunner to reach was outfielder Corey Dickerson who reached on a throwing error by infielder Hanley Ramirez in the 6th inning, costing Kershaw the chance at a perfect game. Still, Kershaw set down the rest of the batters he faced in order.

Earlier in the season, Josh Beckett threw a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 25th. Interesting, Kershaw's no-hitter was the 19th called by Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully throughout his career calling games in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles- this includes no-hitters thrown against LA, the most recent of which was a combined 6-pitcher no-hitter for the Mariners against LA at Safeco field in Seattle in June 2012.


NCAA BASEBALL- The final four teams for the NCAA College world series are almost set as the Texas Longhorns got by the UC Irvine Anteaters by a 1-0 final in Omaha on Wednesday night.

A baserunning error by the Longhorn's Ben Johnson in the 6th inning cost Texas a run. Johnson hit the ball into the left field corner and advanced to 3rd base, but was called out after it was determined he didn't touch first base. Mark Payton then hit a single that would've easily scored Johnson to give them a 1-0 lead, however, the Anteaters ended the Longhorn threat with no runs allowed.

Instead, CJ Hinojosa got Texas on the board with a solo homer in the 7th inning to give Texas the 1-0 lead that held up thanks to the Longhorns relievers. With just the second 1-0 game in the college World Series since 1985 and only the 23rd homer in the CWS since the venue was moved to TD Ameritrade Park from Rosenblatt stadium in 2011, Texas will now advance to face Vanderbilt on Friday.

Meanwhile, Virginia awaits the winner of Thursday nights contest between the TCU Horned Frogs and Ole Miss Running Rebels. First pitch from Omaha is scheduled for 5:00 ET and the game will be televised on ESPN.

FIFA WORLD CUP- We're already a few days into the FIFA World Cup from Brazil and Team USA is off to a good start.

Rookie John Brooks was the difference-maker in Monday's match against Ghana when the substitute scored in the 86th minute to break a 1-1 deadlock. Team USA would go on to win by a 2-1 final, avenging an earlier loss to Ghana's 'Black Stars' from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. After Monday's win, the USA will have nearly a week's rest to go up against Portugal on Sunday from Arena Amazonia in Manaus, Brazil.

For the World Cup, the USA plays in what some have called 'The Pool of Death' which includes Portugal, Ghana and Germany.

Meanwhile, it's all over for defending World Cup champion Spain. They were blown in by the Netherlands in a devastating 5-1 loss to open up the tournament with a rematch of the 2010 title game before being shut out 2-0 by Chile. For a bit of perspective, Spain allowed all of two goals during their 2010 run in South Africa.

NBA FINALS- In a rematch of the 2013 NBA title that saw Miami win it in 7 games against San Antionio, the 2014 edition was nearly all San Antonio. The Spurs closed out the series with a exclamation point, crushing Miami by a 104-87 final in Game 5, and it wasn't even that close.

Forward Kawhi Leonard was named the tournament MVP and the title was head coach Greg Popovich's fifth since starting his tenure in San Antonio in 1996.

NFL- In a ruling from the US Trademark and Patent office this week, the Washington Redskins may lose copyright protection for their name and logo after the Agency's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled that the name was disparaging of Native Americans.

The Redskins organization announced that they would appeal the ruling and the team's copyrighted name and logo will still be protected during that time. While a number of Native American groups [including some of the Navajo Code Talkers from WWII- NANESB!] have said they have no issue with the Redskins name, a number of local and federal politicians- including US Senate Majority leader Harry Reid [D- NV] have called upon the organization to change names and threatening legal or legislative action to do so [because all the other problems in America- ESPECIALLY on Indian reservations- have been solved- NANESB!].

Redskins owner Dan Snyder has so far resisted pressure to change the Redskins name and mascot. The team was originally formed in 1932 as the Boston Braves and played at Fenway Park before moving to Washington DC in 1937.


BOSTON BRUINS- The Boston Bruins have decided not to re-sign defenseman Shawn Thornton. The 36 year old became a free agent at the end of the season.

Thornton, who has been with Boston since 2007 has been in two Stanley Cup finals, winning it against Vancouver in 7 games in 2011. However, at the end of the season Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli indicated that the game was moving away from the fisticuffs that Thornton specialized him and that they would make a decision about his future in Boston over the next few weeks. More recently, Thornton received a 15 suspension last season for his beatdown of Pittsburgh Penguins enforcer Brooks Orpik after Thornton blindsided him and dragged him down to the ice.

The announcement allows Thornton to pursue other offers as a free agent and a number of teams would be interested in having a veteran player with his playoff experience on the ice.

Beasts of the East Sports Chowdah Update- Hold Your Horses, Red Sox Clinch AL East Before Heading to Coors Field; Youth is Served in Foxboro

Brad Penner/ USA Today

PATRIOTS- After a lackluster week two in which the Patriots and Jets seemingly duked it out to see who wanted it the least, Tom Brady and New England's young receiver corps seemed to gel in week three when the Patriots hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The visitors got out the early 3-0 lead late in the first, but the Patriots would come back to score 23 unanswered points, including two TD passes from Brady to WR Kenbrell Thompkins in the second to give New England a 14-3 lead. The rest of New England's points came off of the foot of Stephen Gostkowski.

New England goes on to win by a 23-3 final, giving them a 3-0 record [including 2-0 against the AFC East- NANESB!]. The Patriots will continue their tilt against the NFC South with a prime time matchup against the Boston College alum Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 ET and the game will be televised on NBC's Sunday night football.

RED SOX- After a productive weekend at Fenway where the Red Sox clinched the AL East pennant and took two out of three against the Blue Jays, the Red Sox hit the road for their final road trip of the regular season starting with a two game series in Colorado. With Boston clinching the AL East over the weekend, the only real suspense would be if Boston could stay ahead of Oakland or Detroit for the best record in the American League and home field advantage for the playoffs.

The trip to Coors Field was Boston's first since 2010 and the second since completing a sweep of the Rockies in the 2007 World Series. Wednesday night's game was also noteworthy in the Mile High city as the final home game of Rockies first baseman Todd Helton. Todd Helton's two daughters and former Tennessee Volunteers teammate Peyton Manning were on hand for Helton's sendoff and he was also given a horse as a retirement gift from the Rockies.

Helton, who was the subject to trade rumors that had him landing in Boston in 2007, is currently sporting a career .317 batting average with 369 homers and 1,406 RBI's [pending the final few games of the season from Dodger Stadium for Colorado- NANESB!].

On Wednesday night, the Red Sox jumped out to an early 3-0 lead off of Rockies pitcher Jhoulis Chacin in the very first inning, with a 2-RBI double from Big Papi and an RBI single from Saltalamacchia. None other than the man of the hour, Todd Helton, got the Rockies on the board in the bottom of the second with a 1-out solo homer. Yorvit Torreabla followed that up with a 2-out RBI single to make it a 3-2 game.

The contest was knotted up at 4-4 in the bottom of the 3rd thanks to Colorado pulling even with a Helton sac-fly and a Nolan Arenado ground-rule double. However, the Red Sox would break the game open with three run homers from Victornio and Middlebrooks in the 4th and 5th innings giving Boston a 10-4 lead.

The Red Sox go on to win by a 15-5 final in their final out-of-division and interleague game of the season, splitting the brief two game series at Coors Field. From Denver, the Red Sox will travel to Baltimore- site of the infamous 2011 collapse on the final day of that season that cost then-manager Terry Francona his job- to close out the regular season with a three game series against the O's starting Friday.

Coming off his first loss of the season, Clay Buchholz [11-1; 1.60 ERA] will get the start against Baltimore's Scott Feldman [12-11; 3.51 ERA] on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

ELSEWHERE IN THE AL EAST- The New York Yankees have been eliminated from postseason contention with their 8-3 loss to Tampa Bay at Yankee stadium on Wednesday night. While the Red Sox clinched the AL East title against the Blue Jays last weekend, there was still two wild card berths sought after by the Rays, Orioles and Yankees as well as Cleveland, Texas and Kansas City.

Baltimore's postseason hopes were dashed last weekend when they Rays swept Baltimore at Tropicana Field, including an 18 inning loss in the Friday Night/Saturday morning to open up the four game series.

Tampa Bay currently leads the AL Wild Card chase and closes out the season with a three game series against Toronto at the Rogers Centre this weekend. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Indians are a game ahead of the Texas Rangers for the second and final AL Wild Card berth.

Today's Train of Thought- Mile High Club, April 24th 2013

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the Mile High City and features the final steam locomotive ever ordered for the Union Pacific.

Union Pacific took delivery of  4-8-4 #844 from the American Locomotive Company in 1944. After operating on passenger trains like the Overland Limited and Portland Rose, the 844 spent its final two years of revenue service between Cheyenne, WY and Omaha, NE before being withdrawn from service in 1959- but was saved from the scrapper's torch in 1960 as it was selected by the Union Pacific to handle company excursions. The UP also set aside massive 1943 ALCO-built 4-6-6-4 Challenger #3985 to handle similar duties around the same time, but the #844 holds the distinction of being the only steam locomotive that was never retired by a class one railroad [although it was renumbered  to #8444 for awhile to accommodate diesels on the UP's active roster- NANESB!].

In addition to lengthy, interstate trips through several states like when the #844 travelled from its Cheyenne home base to Arizona and New Mexico for those state's centennials last year, the #844 and #3985 can be found closer to home in July shuttling VIPs between Denver, CO and Cheyenne for the Wyoming capital's Frontier Days.

Here, rrpicturearchives contributor Kevin Andrusia caught the #844 pulling ahead past Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, in downtown Denver after dropping offer passengers at Denver's Union Station on July 22nd, 2010. The Rockies were not playing at Coors that day- instead they lost to the Florida Marlins in Miami by a 3-2 final that day- between the All Star Break and an 11-game road trip, there would be very little baseball in Coors Field at the time.

Behind the big 4-8-4 (and the yellow water tender) is Union Pacific DD40AX #6936- the massive 8-axle diesels were the largest single-unit diesel locomotives ever made. Union Pacific was the only customer and by 1986, most of these behemoths were retired, although like the #844 and Challenger, Union Pacific retained one for use on special trains.

TGIF Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Tiger By the Tail, Sox Sweep 2-Game Series, Await Cubs; Thomas Shuts Out Lightning

Last night was one of those nights where I consider myself fortunate to be a Boston fan, where I had to choose between the Bruins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals or the Beckett-Verlander matchup at Fenway. For those of you wondering, I ended up flipping between both.



NHL: After scoring 10 goals in the last 2 games, it only seemed like a matter of time before the Tampa Bay Lightning would manage to find their way to the back of the net during Thursday night's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. However, this would be a little different as it was Boston's turn to score first, getting out to the early 1-0 lead on a David Krejci goal one minute and 10 seconds into the 1st period.

And surprisingly, that was all the scoring that would take place in Thursday night's game up until Andrew Ference gave the B's some insurance at about the 8 minute mark of the 3rd period to make it a 2-0 game.

That would be the final as Tim Thomas stopped all 31 shots he faced from the Lightning. Dwayne Roloson stopped 23 of 2 in the losing effort on Thursday.

Patrice Bergeron returned to the lineup, getting just under 20 minutes of playing time on Thursday night while Tyler Seguin had about 13 minutes total.

Game 4 will get underway at 1:30 ET on Saturday afternoon at Tampa Bay and will be broadcast on NBC.

MLB: OK.....So Carl Craword is barely hitting over .200. But let is not be said that he has a flair for the dramatic.

With the matchup of Beckett and Verlander, you'd think that Thurday night's game would be the one with the 1-0 final. However, Beckett would give up a run in the top of the 2nd on an Andy Dirks RBI single and have to work out of a bases loaded jam before Boston managed to get a run of their own on a JD Drew sac fly to deep left that plated Youk in the bottom of the inning.

As the game progressed however, Justin Verlander would give up solo homers to JD Drew and David Ortiz to give the Sox a 3-1 advantage.

Beckett, however, was pulled in the 6th out of an abundance of caution on Terry Francona's part. Beckett had been compaining of neck pain earlier and with two starters already on the DL, the manager erred on the side of caution and went to the bullpen. Detroit got two back in the top of the 8th with solo homers from Brennan Boesch and Miguel bacrera to know things up at 3-3, but the Tigers were hving bullpen issues of their own when Detroit reliever Al Albuqueque loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th with nobody out. Although he got pinch-runner Jose Iglesis out at home on a Jed Lowrie fielder's choice, that still left the bases loaded for Carl Crawford, who managed to hit it over center-fielder Austin Jackson's head for the walk-off 4-3 win.

On Firday, the Red Sox will host the Cubs at Fenway for the first time since 1918 (throwback uniforms for Saturaday's game were revaled earlier today). Doug Davis (0-1; 1.80 ERA) is expected to get the start for the Cubbies while Jon Lester (5-1; 3.28 ERA) will go for the Sox.

OTHER SOX NEWS: With Lackey and Matsuzaka on the DL and Beckett leaving Thursday's game early, it was reported the Red Sox had agreed to terms on a minor league contract with righty Kevin Millwood who had opted out of an earlier minor league deal with the NY Yankees.

On Firday, it wsa confirmed that the Sox had acquired 25 year old lefty Franklin Morales (0-1; 3.86 ERA) from the Colorado Rockies for cash or a player to be named later. To make room for Morales in the bullpen, the Red Sox designated the struggling Hideki Okajima for assignement.

Sports Chowdah Not Quite Labor Day Update- Not So Blue Rays Take 2 Out Of 3 From Sox; Manny Being Manny Elsewhere

RED SOX: Well, the 3 game series in Tampa Bay got off to a promising start with a 3-1 win behind the efforts of Jon Lester.

However, for two consecutive games, promising starts by the Boston pitchers were for naught as the late rallies by Tampa Bay erased early Boston leads. Clay Buchholz went 7 and 1/3rd innings Saturday night and was pulled after giving up he game-tying solo homer to BJ Upton. Scott Atcheson would go on to give up the tiebreaker in the bottom of the 11th, a solo shot to Rays DH Dan Johnson for the walkoff 3-2 Tampa win.

On Sunday, John Lackey gave up only one run over the first five innings before collapsing, giving up a 2-run homer to Carl Crawford and an RBI single to Dan Johnson before getting out of that and leaving runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 away for Hideki Okajima in the bottom of the 7th. Okajima got Crawford to strike out, but gave up an RBI single to Evan Longoria for some insurance in the Ray's 5-3 win on Sunday night. If dropping two out of three to the current wild-card leader wasn't bad enough, both the division leading Yankees and Wild Card Leader Rays won their respective games Monday.

The Red Sox have Monday off and will take on the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards Tuesday night. Josh Beckett (4-3; 6.50 ERA) is scheduled to start against Brian Matusz (6-12; 4.79 ERA).

OTHER SOX NEWS: The Red Sox traded relief pitcher Manny Del Carmen to the Colorado Rockies after being placed on waivers. The Sox will be getting minor league pitcher Chris Balcom-Miller, who's played with the Casper Ghosts of the Pioneer league and Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League.

The Red Sox were reported late last week to have put in a claim for Angels 1B/C Mike Napoli off of waivers, altough the Boston Herald is reporting that an actual trade with Anaheim is unlikely. Instead, the waiver claim by Boston was seen as a purely defensive move to block Napoli (.249 BA; 21 HR & 60 RBI) from going to another team in the AL East.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia is alive and well and back in Pawtucket now. The trade deadline pickup from Texas went 1-3 with a walk in last night's 2-1 win over the Rochester Redhawks at McCoy stadium in Pawtucket. Saltalamacchia was put on the DL and sent to the hospital after a localized infection in his right leg was discovered.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Manny Ramierez is with the Sox- this time the Chicago White Sox. Shortly after the Dodgers put Manny on waivers, he was picked up by the White Sox (National League Teams had first dibs on the shaggy slugger) and will likely join the team in Cleveland Tuesday night. Manny was batting .311 with 8 homers with the Dodgers this year

Roger Clemens pled not guilty to six counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in a Federal Courthouse in Washington D.C. Monday. The judge presiding over Clemens' arraignment set a jury selection date for April 5, 2011.

The Washington Nationals announced late last week that Stephen Strasburg will likely need Tommy John surgery in the offseason after it was learned he had a signficant tear in his ulnar collateral ligament. Strasburg was also seeking a second opinion from the same doctor who performed Tommy John surgery on fellow Nat Jordan Zimmerman last year.

NFL: The Pats lost to the St. Louis Rams 36-35 on Thursday night in which the defense apparently forgot to show up. One more preseason game remains, Thursday night against the NY Giants at the New Meadowlands stadium in E. Rutherford, NJ. Having said that, wake me when the games count.

NCAA FOOTBALL: For football games that will count, there's a full slate of NCAA football games this weekend. This includes the two Division 1A/FBS in New England. The BC Eagles will host the Weber State Wildcats at Chestnut Hill at 1PM ET, while UConn travels to the Big House in Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines at 3:30 PM ET. Both games are on Saturday.

Sports Chowdah Update- USA Advances At the Last Minute; Sox Road Trip off to Rocky Start; Anybody Else Feeling a Draft?

"IN YOUR FACE, ALGERIA!!"

Well- that was a close one. I actually caught my first televised 2010 World Cup game on Tuesday; Mexico versus Uruguay. Tuned in just in time to see Uruguay's Luis Suarez score the only goal of the match right before halftime before getting distracted and losing interest. I was quite disappointed to learn Tommy Smythe wasn't calling the game for ESPN- as it turned out the diminutive Irishman was broadcasting with ESPN Radio for Wednesday's USA/Algeria game. I tuned in fairly late for that one (vuvuzelas and all) and it appeared for all the world that the USA would be eliminated from the tournament with a scoreless draw. And that's how it would end in regulation- but there was three minutes of injury time remaining and throughout the second half, the announcers were commenting on how tired the Algeria players were looking. Algeria's goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi gave up a rebound in the 91st minute when USA Midfielder Landon Donovan finally booted one past Mbolhi for the only goal of the game. The win means that Team USA advances to play Ghana in the next round on Saturday.

Elsewhere in the World Cup: Argentina took down Greece 2-0 Tuesday in the 'self-inflicted-economic-ruin' Pool of the FIFA World Cup.


In a schadenfreude-tastic moment, Portugal beat the ever lovin' shit out of North Korea by a total of 7-0 on Monday. Apparently the Kim Jong Il endorsed Juche ideal of insular self-reliance is no match for a moderately talented (and well fed) team from a Western European liberal democracy. It reportedly got so bad that at one point, the Chinese fans the North Korean regime paid to travel to South Africa renounced their North Korean citizenship that they never had.


MLB: After dropping the first two games against the Colorado Rockies in Denver, the Red Sox managed to avoid the three game sweep in extra innings on Thursday night [better at this late date than in October 2007, I suppose- NANESB!]. Papelbon failed to seal the deal in the bottom of the 9th, giving up a one out 2-RBI single to Brad Hawpe to tie the game at 11-11. Having said that, there's something in the Colorado air that seems to agree with Dustin Pedroia.

Dustin Pedroia put the Sox up 13-11 with 2-out 2 run homer in the top of the tenth off of Huston Street- Pedroia's 11th inning dinger was his third of the night, going 4 for 5 with 5 RBI on the night. 3B Adrian Beltre was a respectable 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and a homer of his own. Papelbon had a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth to hang on for the win.

The Sox will head back to sea-level tomorrow night where they take on the San Francisco Giants in the City (and ballpark) by the Bay. Tim Wakefield (2-5; 5.33 ERA) is expected to go up against Jonathan Sanchez (5-5; 2.90) for Friday night's game.

Other Red Sox News: 20-year old Red Sox prospect Ryan Westmoreland, along with his rather Ron and Sox GM Theo Epstein, spoke to reporters in a conference call. Westmoreland announced that he does plan on returning to baseball and has taken an "all-business" approach to rehab. Ron Westmoreland said that Ryan was able to walk around on his own power the day after his surgery on a cavernous malformation of his brain back in March. The Westmorelands have actually attended games at Fenway Park and Pawtucket's McCoy stadium this season.

WIMBLEDON: Like the World Cup and soccer, I don't normally follow tennis that much. Having said that, the match between the USA's John Isner and Frenchman Nicholas Mahut was one for the ages as Isner defeated Mahut by a final of 70-68 in the fifth set, with the match clocking in at 11 hours and 5 minutes spanning over three days. On the first day, the match was suspended on account of darkness and was eventually moved to one of the courts on the periphery of Wimbledon. Three-time Wimbledon champ John McEnroe was present for all 20 of Thursday's games between Isner and Mahut.

This epic matchup broke pretty much every record in the book on the very same day the Queen of England visited Wimbledon for the first time in 33 years.

NBA: The Celtics chose Texas guard Avery Bradley with their first round (19th overall) selection in the 2010 NBA Draft. Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody was selected in the second round- 52nd overall.

Sports Chowdah Weekend Re-Cap; B's & C's Rally in Playoff Wins; Sox Hit Hard by Death Rays; Proud Papa-lbon

Remember when I said last week that they can't all be gems? The Red Sox provided a stark reminder of that in their weekend home stand against Tampa Bay while the Bruins and Celtics had a pretty good weekend.


MLB: The Red Sox second homestand was off to a forgettable start as they dropped the first three games against Tampa Bay. Friday night's game was tied at 1-1 and suspended in the bottom of the 9th and resumed Saturday which the Red Sox lost on a 2-run Pat Burrell homer in the 12th inning. Then Burrell had a 3-RBI double to lead off the Saturday's game that the Rays would go on to win 5-6. I had a chance to see the nationally televised game Sunday on TBS which had Jon Lester go up against Matt Garza in which the Sox were on the receiving end of a 7-1 spanking [I curse the sporting gods for being able to tune into that one but completely missing both the B's and C's games Saturday- NANESB!]. Tomorrow's Patriot's day game which will have Lackey go up against Rays starter Jeff Nieman will be the Sox's only chance to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Rays before the Texas Rangers come into town.

Sooo they basically haven't won a game since Wednesday in Minnesota while Tampa and New York just keep finding ways to win...is it too early to panic?

Other Sox-Centric News: Daisuke Matsuzaka threw six innings of three-hit shutout ball for the PawSox last week against the Buffalo Bisons and said through his interpreter that he felt 'ready' for a return to Boston. Matsuzaka threw 86 pitches in his start at Buffalo, five days after his 5 innings of shutout ball against Rochester and threw 57 of those 86 pitches for strikes. He is scheduled to start another AAA game against Rochester on Tuesday.

Jonathan Papelbon's wife Ashley gave birth to 8 pound 8 ounce Gunner Robert Papelbon on Saturday afternoon. This is the couple's second child, joining 15 month old daughter Parker. No word on whether or not Gunner gave the Ob-Gyn the 'death stare' during his delivery.

Mike Cameron reurned to the lineup Saturday after passing a kidney stone earlier in the week in Minnesota. Jacoby Ellsbury missed his 6th straight game after the April 11th start against Kansas City when he collided with Adrian Beltre in left field. Bill Hall has been filling in at center field while Jeremy Hermida is in left field during Cameron and Ellsbury's absence.

Other MLB News: Colorado Rockies starter Ubaldo Jiminez threw the first no-hitter in Colorado Rockies history at Atlanta's Turner Field on Saturday. Jiminez threw 128 piches, walked 6 and struck out 7 in the complete game for Colorado's 4-0 win. This is the first no-hitter since the ChiSox's Mark Burhle tossed a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays in July 2009. This leaves the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays as the only MLB teams that have not thrown a no-hitter.

NHL: Shoot....I cant believe I missed it, but after dropping the first game of the series against the Sabres, the Bruins managed a come-from-behind playoff win against the Sabres on the road Saturday. After falling behind to Buffalo 2-0 in the first, Micheal Ryder got Boston on the board in the 2nd and Zdeno Chara tied the game up midway through the second before Jason Pomminville got one past Rask to make it a 3-2 lead for the Sabres. But that would be last tally for the Sabres.

Heading into the 3rd, Ryder and Chara would again score for Boston to put the Bruins up 4-3 before Mark Recchi would get an empty-netter to seal the 5-3win for Boston and even the series at 1-1. Tukka Rask stopped 26 of 29 shots faces while Ryan Miller (who demonstrated that he's no slouch himself at the Vancouver Winter Games) stopped 26 of 30 shots faced.

The series will resume Monday at the Garden.

NBA: Kevin Garnett delivered an elbow to the jaw of Miami forward Quentin Richardson in the final 40 seconds of Saturday's game and the Celtics delivered an 85-76 loss to the Heat. Garnett was hit with two technicals and at least a one-game suspension after the scrum in front of Miami's bench. Garnett said he was concerned after teammate Paul Pierce fell down next to the Heat bench and let fly with the elbow after exchanging words with Richardson. Boston trailed 41-44 at halftime before coming back late in the 3rd.

Boston leads the series 1-0, which will resume Tuesday night at the Garden.

Other NBA News: Former UMass Minuteman Marcus Camby has found a new sugar-daddy, this time the Portland Trailblazers. The Blazers and Camby are reportedly close to reaching a 2-year extension on his contract after Portland's Game 1 win over the Phoenix Suns.

Sports Chowdah Recap for October 9th:BoSox Fizzle As Division Series Heads To Boston.Yanks To Play Dome-Ball w/ 2 Game Lead

Damn....they took my bootlaces away.

I think Game 1 of the Angels/Red Sox series should simply be referred to as 'Four Hours Of My Life That I'm Never Getting Back'. The Red Sox combined for eight hits and one run in the first two games of the ALDS while Torii Hunter belted a 3-run homer off of Jon Lester in Game 1 and Erick Aybar's 2-RBI triple off of Josh Beckett broke tonight's game open for the Los Angeles Angels of a Municipality Somewhere in Orange County California Immediately South East of Los Angeles Angels. There was a Papelbon sighting, but it was obviously a non-save situation. The two teams head to Boston with the Angels holding a commanding 2-0 series lead, and there really is no way to sugarcoat the clunker that has been 2009 Red Sox postseason baseball.

Now at this point I'd like to be a gushy, doe-eyed optimist and point out that the Red Sox have been down before 0-2: 2003 ALDS versus Oakland or the '99 ALDS versus the Tribe....or need I mention the historic comeback that was the 2004 ALCS? But the last two nights make it very difficult for me to be optimistic. It's not exactly the most scientific or insightful approach, but I'm not getting the same 'do or die' sense of urgency from this years' team than I was the 2003 Cowboy-up or 2004 Idiots or even last years Division winners rallying back from a 7-0 defecit to force a Game 7 with Tampa in last year's ALCS. Last year, after nearly sweeping the regular season series with Boston, the Angels were the better team on paper heading into the ALDS. This year, it's looking as though that advantage isn't confined to mere paper.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country Alex Rodriguez homered off of Twins closer Joe Nathan to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Twins managed to get out of a jam with Yankee baserunners on 1st and 3rd with only one out in extra innings, Johnny Damon grounded into a double play. However, the Twins left the bases loaded in the top of the 11th and Mark Teixera hit a walk-off home run off of Jose Miljares. So baseball returns under the Metrodome with the Yankees holding a 2-0 series lead.

It was a travel day for the National League teams. The Philadelphia/Colorado series resumes tomorrow with the series even at one game a piece (TV: TBS, XM Radio Channel 140- 3:30 ET, 12:30 PT) while the Dodgers head to Busch Field with a 2-0 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals (TV: TBS, XM Radio Channels 140 and 175).

Also tomorrow- a bunch of College football. w00t!