Buffalo Springfield Sports Chowdah Update- Pats Put Damper on Coming Out Party for Bills New Onwership; Detroit Block City- Rask, Bruins Outlast Red Wings; Royal Festivities- Kansas City Parties Like Its 1985

NFL- A week after handing the last undefeated team of the 2014 NFL season their first loss, the Patriots travelled to western New York for Bills first game under new owner Terry Pagula. Pagula- a multimillionaire that made his money on the natural gas boom in the Marcellus Shale also owns the Buffalo Sabres and is a major donor to the Penn State hockey program- was approved by the NFL as the teams' new owner in an October 8th owners meeting. Pagula successfully outbid tycoon Donald Trump, rocker John Bon Jovi and Canadian interests who openly supported relocating the franchise to Toronto. Pegula, who promised to keep the franchise in western New York, purchased the Bills from the estate of the late Ralph Wilson earlier this year.

However, the key name to remember from Sunday's game was Patriots WR Brandon LaFell, an unheralded signing in the offseason earlier this year.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Patriots got the ball back with a shorter field when LB Jamie Collins intercepted a pass attempt from Bills QB Kyle Orton at the New England 39 yard line. Thanks to a Bills penalty, the ball moved to the Buffalo 1 yard line where Brady connected with TE Tim Wright for the first score of the game. After a three and out for each team, the Bills got the ball back on their own 33 yard line with 8:43 to go in the half. Orton kept the drive going for the Bills with a 28 yard pass to Scott Chandler to give Buffalo the ball on the Patriots 19 yard line. The Bills would tie the game up at 7-7 when Orton connected with Robert Woods on 2nd and goal from the Pats 7 yard line and the PAT was good.

Although the Bills got the ball back after holding New England to a 3 and out following the kickoff, DE Chandler Jones managed to break through and sack Orton and strip the ball, giving the Patriots the ball back on Buffalo's own 24 yard line. Although the Bills defense were able to keep the Patriots out of the red zone, the ball was still close enough for a Gostkowski chip shot FG to put New England up 10-7.

The following kickoff was a touchback and Buffalo actually lost yards when DE Rob Ninkovitch sacked Orton, pushing the Bills back to their own 13. While the Patriots had good field position at their own 42, they'd once again go three and out after Brady was sacked. After the Patriots kickoff, the Bills got the ball back on their own 30 yard line with 14 seconds to go in the half. On first and 10 for Buffalo, CJ Spiller rushed for 12 yards before he fumbled, which was recovered by Patriots DE Zach Moore at the Bills 42 with all of 6 seconds left in the half. With the clock ticking, Brady completed a quick 7 yard pass to Julian Edelman to give Gostkowski a slightly shorter field to work with for this FG attempt. As time expired, the 53 yard FG attempt was good and the Patriots headed to the locker room with a 13-7 lead.

New England got the ball back to start off the second half, and after a 3 and a half minute drive that started out on their own 20, the Patriots barely crossed into Buffalo territory when Brady connected with WR Brian Tyms for a 43 yard TD pass to put New England up 20-7. However, Buffalo would counter with a nearly 7-minute drive from their own 20 that was capped with a 1 yard Fred Jackson TD run to cut New England's lead to 20-14.

The Patriots replied with a drive that went all the way to the Buffalo 22, where New England had to settle for another Gostkowski FG to make it a 24-14 game. However, the Patriots began to pull away with their first possession of the 4th quarter thanks to an 18 yard TD pass from Brady to WR Brandon LaFell to make it a 30-14 lead. After a touchback on the following kickoff, Buffalo started from their own 20 and after the drive appeared to sputter on the Bills 40, Orton managed to convert a 4th and 2 thanks to a 35 yard completion to WR Robert Woods. With just under 6 minutes to go, Orton connected with Chris Hogan for an 8 yard TD pass to once again make it a 1-score game, with New England now leading 30-22.

However, the Patriots would strike back quickly and take a 37-22 lead thanks to a 56 yard completion from Brady to LaFell for his second TD of the afternoon with 2:39 left in the game.

That would be all New England would need, putting a damper on the celebrations for the start of the Pegula era in Buffalo. With talk of Brady's career being all but over after the Monday Night fiasco in Kansas City, Brady is now 23-2 against Buffalo in his career.

Turns out this is a short week for New England- they head home to take on the Jets for a Thursday night game. Kickoff is 8:25 PM ET and the game will be televised on the NFL Network and CBS.

NHL- It was a rather forgetful weekend for the Bruins- after winning the season opener, Boston dropped three straight to the Red Wings, Washington and Colorado [Washignton shut out Boston 4-1 while the Avalanche won in the final second of regulation- NANESB!].

On Wednesday night, the Bruins travelled to the Motor City hoping to break their 3-game skid and got off to a pretty good start when David Krejci scored a little over five minutes into the first to give Boston a 1-0 lead. However, Tomas Tatar got the equalizer about three minutes later.

The Bruins re-took the lead in the second when Reilly Smith scored an even-strength goal to make it 2-1. The Bruins would take their 2-1 lead to the 3rd period until Gustav Nyquist scored a power play goal just 2:56 into the 3rd. The power play tally was enough to force OT, and after a scoreless OT, the game would head to a shootout. The Red Wings would miss on both of their shootout chances while Krejci and Reilly Smith would score for Boston to give them the shootout win and snap a 3-game losing streak.

The Original Six action continues on Thursday night when the Bruins travel to Montreal for the first meeting of the 2014 season. Puck drops at 7:30 ET and the game will be broadcast on the NHL network.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- Buffalo Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret missed the team's home opener this month after being diagnosed with throat cancer in July. The Sabres radio and TV play-by-play man- who has been with Buffalo since their inaugural season in 1971- received the diagnosis in his native Canada after doctors discovered a malignant golf-ball sized growth in his throat. Jeanarette will undergo treatment in the USA and was given an 85% chance of recovery.

ALCS- For the first time in 29 years, the Kansas City Royals are going to the World Series....and they got there by making quick work of the teams with the two best records in the American League.

After getting out to a 3-0 series lead against Baltimore, the Royals got out to a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first at Game 4 in Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday. All of the scoring for Kansas City came in the bottom of the first with a one out and runners on second and third when Eric Hosmer hit a ground ball between first and second for a fielder's choice. O's 2B Jonathan Schoop threw home to C Caleb Joseph as Alciedes Escobar slid on, but the throw went past the catcher and Nori Aoki immediately came home on the error to give Kansas City the quick 2-0 lead.

Although he would give up a solo homer to Baltimore's Ryan Flaherty to cut the Royals lead to 3-1 in the top of the 3rd inning, Kansas City starter Jason Vargas would throw 5⅓ innings and the bullpen would allow no additional runs by Baltimore. Despite allowing a leadoff walk to Adam Jones to start off the 9th, Greg Holland got Nelson Cruz to hit into a fielder's choice, erasing the potential tying run at second, before Delmon Young struck out swinging and JJ Hardy hit a groundout up the 3rd base line to finish off the series.

Kansas City has gone an impressive 8-0 this postseason, and have only trailed in a few innings between the Wild Card game, the Division Series and the ALCS. This performance has already drawn comparisons to the 2007 Rockies, who got off to a similar start as a Wild Card in the postseason [but because of inclement weather and a prolonged ALCS between the Indians and Red Sox never were quite the same once the World Series beagn- NANESB!].

The Royals await the winner of the NLCS between the St Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants- San Francisco is taking a 3-1 series lead into tonight's game five and the Cardinals will have to win three in a row if there's to be a rematch of 1985's "I-70" World Series.

NCAA FOOTBALL- A pretty good weekend, although not as turbulent and dramatic as week 6. As far as nationally ranked teams go, the big story would have to be Baylor's roaring-from-behind-in-the-4th-quarter win over Texas Christian to remain the only undefeated team in the Big Twelve conference. The #4 Baylor Bears came all the way back to beat the #12 TCU Horned Frogs by a 61-58 final on Saturday afternoon.

The Magnolia State continues to produce winning football as Ole Miss and Mississippi State are nearly done with the most difficult part of their respective schedules [Ole Miss hosts Auburn on Nov 1st while Mississippi State travels to Alabama on Nov 15th- assuming the two teams run the table, that sets up a matchup between undefeated Mississippi State and Ole Miss on Nov 29th for Rivalry Week- NANESB!].

As for Week 7, the #3 Mississippi State Bulldogs hosted Auburn and would go on to beat them by a 38-25 final while the #1 Runnin' Rebels ran out of College Station, TX with a 35-20 win over the Texas A&M Aggies.

MEANWHILE IN THE ACC- The Boston College Eagles came out of their off week looking pretty good, travelling to the Tarheel State and beating the NC State Wolfpack by a 30-14 final.

Tyler Murphy had 132 rushing yards and ran for two 2 TDs while passing for another 132 yards. John Hilliman and Sherman Alston also had rushing TDs on the day. The win is also Boston College's first against an ACC opponent this season.

This weekend, the Eagles once again return to host a ranked opponent at Chestnut Hill as they host #24 Clemson. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 ET and the game will be televised on ESPNU.

ELSEWHERE IN THE ACC- The game of the week- at least one involving an ACC team- will be a matchup between two undefeateds when #2 Florida State will host #5 Notre Dame at Tallahassee on Saturday. Both teams are sporting 6-0 records coming into Saturday's prime time matchup. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 PM ET and the game will be televised on ESPN.

Kansas City Smoked Sports Chowdah Update- Red Sox Season, Jeter's Career Wraps Up At Fenway; Rollin' Royals Eliminate Oakland, Take Game 1 of ALDS; Fail to the Chiefs- Patriots Thrashed at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday Night

RED SOX- The Major League Baseball regular season came to an end on Sunday and with it, the disappointing 2014 seasons for both the New York Yankees and defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox. Fans of the Red Sox were hoping for a more spirited defense of their 2013 title while Yankees fans wanted a postseason appearance for captain Derek Jeter's final season.

Although the Yankees had been mathematically eliminated by that point, Jeter's final home game at Yankee Stadium ended in memorable fashion as the Bronx Bomber's shortstop hit a walkoff RBI single in the bottom of the 9th, breaking a 5-5 tie against the AL East Champion Baltimore Orioles on September 25th.

The Yankee captain's final game on Sunday drew a national TV audience as the game was televised on TBS. The Yankees got out to an early lead in the 3rd inning, thanks to a one out, two RBI single from Ichiro Suzuki. Jeter made it a 3-0 game when he hit a high chopper up the 3rd base line that he beat out for an infield single as Suzuki made his way home. As it turned out, that would be it for Jeter. Manager Joe Girardi immediately decided to pull Jeter for pinch runner Brian McCann.

The Yankees would go on to win by a 9-5 final and would take two out of three from the Red Sox in the weekend series. The Red Sox, finishing a mere 25 games out of first place in the AL East, wrapped up the season with a 71-91 record and were increasingly unrecognizable from the 2013 squad that won the World Series. For instance, the only starting pitcher remaining from the 2013 team was Clay Buchholz after Peavy, Lackey, Lester and Doubront were traded earlier in the season.



WASHINGTON NATIONALS- The Nationals have done nothing less than quietly dominate the National League East this season. Although they were among the first to secure a playoff berth, they ended the regular season in dramatic fashion when Nats starter Jordan Zimmerman threw the Nats first no-hitter.

Heading into the top of the 9th inning, Washington had a 1-0 lead over the Miami Marlins with two away when outfielder Christian Yelich belted what looked like a sure double to not only break up the Zimmerman's no-hit bid, but put the tying run in scoring position for Miami. However, late inning defensive replacement and rookie outfielder Steven Souza, Jr made a spectacular diving catch to rob the Marlins of a base hit, ending the ballgame and sealing Zimmerman's no hitter.

The well-rested Nats will play the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS beginning Friday, October 1st. First pitch is scheduled for 3:07 ET at Nationals Park and the game will be televised on Fox Sports 1.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS- After narrowly missing out on the AL Central pennant, the Kansas City Royals managed to secure their first postseason berth in nearly 30 years, prompting a 1-game playoff with the Oakland A's at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday Night.

With Jon Lester on the mound for Oakland, KC took a 3-2 lead with an RBI double from Lorenzo Cain and an RBI single from Eric Hosmer in the bottom of the 3rd. However, the Royals bullpen would implode in the top of the 6th, allowing a 3-run homer off the bat of Brandon Moss before an out was even recorded. The A's would get two more runs to make it a 7-3 ballgame and quiet down the crowd at Kauffman Stadium. However, the Royals would immediately start to chip away with RBI singles from Cain and Billy Butler in the bottom of the 8th along with Hosmer coming home on a wild pitch to make it a one run game. In the bottom of the 9th, pinch hitter Josh Willingham led off the inning with a single before being pulled for pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson. Dyson moved into scoring position on a sac bunt by Alcides Escobar before stealing 3rd. Dyson would then come home on a Nori Aoki sac-fly to tie the game up at 7-7 and force extra innings.

The 7-7 deadlock wouldn't be broken until the top of the 12th when Alberto Callaspo hit an RBI single for the Athletics, giving them an 8-7 lead over KC. However, Hosmer would get a 1-out triple on ball that barely stayed in the park and Christian Colon would get an RBI infield single in the bottom of the 12th, bringing Hosmer home to tie the game up once more- this time at 8-8. Alex Gordon fouled out to third for the second out, bringing up Salvador Perez, who had gone 0-5 on the night. However, Perez managed to hit a ball fair past a diving Josh Donaldson and into left field to bring home the winning run.

The win set up an ALDS matchup with another AL West team- this time the Angels- on Thursday night. Despite having the best record in all of baseball this season, the Angels never led in what would be an extra innings affair much like Tuesday night's affair. Royals 3rd baseman Mike Moustakas would turn out to be key in this one, hitting a tie-breaking solo homer to lead off the top of the 11th to make it 3-2 Kansas City. Greg Holland would come out of the Royals bullpen and get a clean 1-2-3 inning to close out game one for the Royals.

ELSEWHERE IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE- The Baltimore Orioles took Game 1 of their series against the Detroit Tigers after the Tigers bullpen imploded and allowed 8 unanswered runs in the bottom of the 8th in what had previously been a close game. In fact, between the bottom of the 2nd and 7th innings, it was a pitcher's duel between Max Scherzer and O's starter Chris Tillman.

The Orioles go on to win game one of their series by a 12-3 final and the series will resume almost immediately on Friday at noon.

MEANWHILE, IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE- It's actually been pretty quiet in the National League this week, with only one game since the end of the regular season on Sunday- that was the single game Wild Card playoff between the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on Thursday night.

San Francisco's Brandon Crawford would hit a grand slam off of Pirates starter Edinson Volquez in the top of the 4th inning to give the Giants an early 4-0 lead. That would be all the Giants needed to get past Pittsburgh as Madison Bumgarner threw a complete-game 4-hit shutout on Thursday as San Francisco cruised to an 8-0 win. The victory earns the Giants a matchup against the Nationals inside the beltway for game one of the NLDS on Friday night.

The other NLDS matchup on Friday features the Dodgers hosting the St Louis Cardinals at Chavez Ravine on Friday night.

PATRIOTS- New England's first Monday night game of the 2014 season didn't go particularly well. Coming off a win in which the Pats seemed to just barely hold off the woeful Raiders at Foxborough, the Patriots seemed unprepared and overwhelmed by their Monday night game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

The Kansas City Chiefs offense and QB Alex Smith seemed to move the ball at will, and while the Chiefs 17-0 lead at halftime didn't seem insurmountable, things got worse for the Patriots in the second half as Kansas City jumped out to a 27-0 lead before the Patriots finally got on the board. Believe it or not, things actually got worse for the Patriots in the 4th with the Chiefs scoring 14 quick points thanks to an Alex Smith TD and a Hussain Abdullah pick six of Tom Brady.

The only bright spot was when backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo got some playing time and managed to put New England in double-digits on a 3 minute, 81 yard drive that was capped by a 13 yard TD pass to Rob Gronkowski. The Patriots would go on to lose by a 14-41 final.

Gran Victorino Sports Chowdah Update- Flyin' Hawaiian Soars in Game 6 As Red Sox Clinch AL Pennant; Folk Implosion- Jets Win in OT Thanks to Supttering Pats Offense, Late Penalty, Obscure Rule; Ride The Lightning- Rask Gets Season's 1st Shutout in Tampa Bay

Its October. The leaves have turned, there's a chill in the air and for the first time in what feels like ages [spoiler alert!- NANESB!] the Red Sox are going to the World Series. All seems right with the world.

Matt Slocum- AP

RED SOX- After fending off a late Detroit surge in Game 5, the ALCS headed back to Boston with the Red Sox one win away from heading back to their first World Series in 6 years.

For Game 6, Clay Buchholz was once again facing off against this year's likely Cy Young winner Max Scherzer and each team managed to get a single but nothing else in the first inning. The game was mostly a pitcher's duel through the first four innings for each starter but after getting the first two batters out in the bottom of the fifth, Scherzer gave up a booking wall ball double to Xander Bogaerts. Jacoby Ellsbury then drove Bogaerts home with an RBI single, but the inning ended when the centerfielder was caught trying to steal second.

Boston's 1-0 lead didn't last long, though. Buchholz struggled immediately in the top of the 6th, allowing a leadoff walk to Torii Hunter and a single to Miguel Cabrera. Farrell had Franklin Morales come out of the pen, but Morales walked Prince Fielder to load the bases with nobody out. Former Indian and Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez then belted a 2-RBI single to put Detroit ahead 2-1. By this point, Workman came out of the pen and the Red Sox looked as though they were willing to concede the run to get a double play with nobody out and runners on first and third, but they didn't have to choose. Jhonny Peralta hit a ground ball up the middle- Pedroia cleanly fielded the ball and got the out at first before noticing that Fielder had hesitated on his way home for whatever reason- Fielder was caught in a rundown before getting tagged out by Saltalamacchia. While Peralta was able to advance to second, the runner at third had been erased and the Red Sox were one out away from getting out of a huge jam, which happened when Workman struck out Aviles.

By the bottom of the 6th, Scherzer was starting to show some signs of fatigue as Victorino led off the inning and was hit by a pitch. Then Pedroia drew a walk to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. However, Scherzer would get the next three batters out, ending the Red Sox threat in the bottom of the 6th, despite Victorino and Pedroia advancing into scoring position on a wild pitch.

In the 7th inning, Workman got Infante to fly out to start off the inning before allowing a single to Austin Jackson. However, Jackson then was picked off by Workman for the second out of the inning, which was a good thing since Iglesias then got an infield single followed by Torii Hunter laying down a bunch and reaching first on a fielding error by Workman. Junichi Tazawa would then come out of the bullpen and get Miguel Cabrera to ground out.

Scherzer came back on in the bottom of the 7th, allowing a leadoff double to Johnny Gomes. After getting Drew to strike out swinging, Scherzer then walked Bogaerts before Tigers manager Jim Leyland brought in Drew Smyly. Jacoby Ellsbury then reached first on a fielding error by Iglesias to load up the bases and Leyland went to Veras.

That brought up a struggling Shane Victorino, who had gone 2-23 through the duration of the ALCS and 0-2 on the night, including an attempted bunt that he popped out on in the bottom of the 3rd. A flyout past the infield would be enough to bring a run home and tie the game, but Victorino would do one better.



Heading back to the 9th inning of Game 4, Victorino had gone 0-8, but with one swing of the bat, he put Boston back on top and stunned the Tigers. Pedroia struck out swinging and David Ortiz would ground out to end the inning, but the damage had already been done with Boston up 5-2.

Breslow would come on in the top of the 8th to get Fielder, Martinez and Kelly out before Koji Uehara would come on in the 9th and get Avila to strike out and Infante to ground out before allowing a single off the bat of Austin Jackson. Koji would then strike out former teammate Jose Iglesias to end the ballgame and Detroit's season and clinch the American League Championship Series.

Barry Chin- Boston Globe

One year after their worst season in 50 years, Boston wins the American League Pennant. For the second time since 2004 and fourth time since the end of World War II, Boston will play the St Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

Game 1 is scheduled for Wednesday night at 8:07 ET and will be televised on FOX. Jon Lester was named Boston's Game 1 starter and takes to the mound against Adam Wainwright.

Kathy Willens- AP

NFL- After getting out to an early first half lead, the Patriots needed some last minute heroics just to force overtime at the Meadowlands on Sunday. Sunday also marked the not-quite-triumphant return of Rob Gronkowski.

With the game tied at 7-7 late in the first quarter, CB Logan Ryan put the Patriots up thanks to a pick 6 off of Jets QB Geno Smith. The Jets would make it a 14-10 game thanks to a Nick Folk FG with 11:11 remaining in the first half. With just under 8 minutes to go, the Jets ended up punting from their own 29 yard line- a 38 yard return by Edelman gave New England the ball on the Jets 28 yard line and the Patriots were able to punch it in on a 17 yard TD run from Stevan Ridley to take a 21-10 lead heading into halftime.

The second half was dramatically different for New York as Brady was sacked on the very first play from scrimmage in the second half. For the second play, Brady ended up throwing a pick-six to safety Antonio Allen and the Jets pulled to within four points. The Jets would pull ahead on an 8 yard Geno Smith TD run with 4:33 to go in the 3rd to make it a 24-21 game and Nick Folk added three more points to make it a 27-21 game.

The Patriots seemed to regain their composure in the 4th, getting the ball as far as the Jets 21 before settling for a Gostkowski FG to make it a 24-27 Jets lead. After seemingly an entire quarter that consisted primarily of dropped passes and inopportune penalties for both teams, the Patriots. Last week, Brady needed a 1:13 to move the ball downfield with no timeouts. This Sunday, the Patriots had a couple of timeouts and the 2 minute warning when they got the ball back on their own 8 yard line with 2:10 remaining in the game. Brady had a couple of big completions to Edelman and Gronkowski to move them as far as the Jets 26, but a couple of dropped passes brought up 4th and 10 with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game. With 16 seconds to go, the Patriots tied it up at 27-27 on a Gostkowski FG and managed to force OT- although Brady went for the home run ball more than once.

After Brady made a 16 yard completion to Gronkowski for the first play in OT, the Patriots first possession of the OT fizzled at their own 38 and they were forced to punt. Starting out from their own 20, the Jets managed to advance as far as the New England 36. Nick Folk attempted to put the game away for New York with a 56 yard FG attempt that ended up going wide left.

However, the referees threw a flag on Patriots Defensive tackle Chis Jones- a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for 'pushing a teammate into an opposing formation'. This was a newly instituted rule this season, and apparently 7 weeks into the season the officials decided that 5:07 remaining in OT was the first time a penalty was called on this new infraction. The fifteen yard penalty was enough to move Folk closer and his 42 yard attempt was good for the Jets 30-27 win.

While the Patriots had a number of missed opportunities late in the game that could have avoided OT altogether [including converting a whopping one out of 12 3rd down attempts on the day- NANESB!], the most talked about play was Jones' penalty, which appeared to be a fairly routine maneuver that had never been penalized before. So much for that axiom about NFL and NHL referees generally keeping their whistles in the pocket in overtime for all but the most flagrant of penalties. Shame on me for stereotyping, but part of me is wondering which of New Jersey's numerous 'legitimate businessmen belonging to secretive Italian fraternal organization' had big money riding on this [the only flaw in this theory is that it's actually TOO obvious- NANESB!].

New England splits the season series 1-1 with the Jets and next week's game will keep in the AFC East as the Pats host the Miami Dolphins. It's another Sunday afternoon game with a kickoff scheduled for 1:00 PM and the game will be televised on CBS.

OTHER NFL NEWS- And then there was one.

Seven weeks in and the NFL is down to one undefeated team. Despite a late rally from Peyton Manning, the Denver Broncos came up short in Manning's homecoming at Indianapolis as the Colts with successor Andrew Luck quarterbacking won by a 39-33 final from Indianapolis' Lucas Oil stadium on Sunday night.

One does not need to look outside the AFC West for the remaining undefeated NFL team- Sunday's Bronco loss leaves the surprising Kansas City Chiefs as the only undefeated team in the NFL. The Chiefs managed to outlast the struggling Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium by a 17-16 final on Sunday afternoon. The Chiefs will play host to the Cleveland Browns next weekend and travel to Orchard Park, NY to take on the Buffalo Bills the first weekend in November before their bye week.

Chris O'Meara- AP

NHL- The Boston Bruins continued their road trip through Florida over the weekend, taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second time since the October 3rd regular season opener.

The Bruins got out to a 1-0 lead with about 90 seconds left in the first thanks to a David Krejci goal. Despite going 0-4 on the power play, the Bruins would score four more thanks to McQuaid, Kelly, Bergeron and Thornton as Tukka Rask would turn aside all 23 shots he faced, notching his first shutout of the season in Boston's 5-0 win over Tampa Bay.

Unfortunately, very few people in Boston saw this gem live, as it coincided with Game 6 of the ALCS. Interestingly, the 5-2 Bruins will face a similar problem for their next game, when they take on the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. The puck is scheduled to drop in Buffalo at 8:00 ET- almost the exact same time as the first pitch of the 2013 World Series- and the game will be televised on the NBC Sports network.

Five Alive Sports Chowdah Update- Lester, Red Sox Bullpen Keeps Lid on Tigers Bats; Bird Watch- St Louis Advances to World Series; Bruins Encounter Some-Tim Familiar in Florida

Rick Osentoski- USA Today

RED SOX- After Wednesday night's lackluster start by Jake Peavy and Detroit's 7-3 win over Boston, the ALCS became a best of three series with the Tigers evening things up at 2 games each. Tigers manager Jim Leyland's shakeup of the Tigers lineup seemed to pay dividends for Detroit and they were hoping to keep that going for Game 5 on Thursday night.

The last time the Red Sox faced Anibal Sanchez, he didn't allow a single hit and the Tigers bullpen held Boston hitless until the bottom of the 9th in Game 1. Game 5 of the ALCS was a slightly different story. This time, the Red Sox didn't have to wait nearly as long for their first hit against Sanchez, starting with a 2-out single by Pedroia in the top of the first.

On Thursday night, the Red Sox were looking pull ahead in the series and got out of an early jam in the bottom of the first when Miguel Cabrera attempted to come home from second on a two out Jhonny Peralta single, but was cut down at the plate by David Ross to end the early Tigers threat.



The Red Sox got on the board in the top of the second thanks to a leadoff homer by Mike Napoli- a 3-1 offering that was blasted at least 440 feet into dead center. Johnny Gomes then reached first safely on a throwing error by Miguel Cabrera and after Stephen Drew struck out, Xander Bogaerts doubled to left to give the Red Sox had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. David Ross then doubled to deep left, plating Gomes and moving Bogaerts to 3rd. Ellsbury then lined a hit off of Sanchez's glove that trickled to a halt on the infield grass behind the pitcher's mound between first and second, allowing Bogarts coming to home and giving the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. Shane Victorino then hit into a fielder's choice where David Ross plowed into catcher Alex Avila at the plate where he was called out. The inning ended when Pedroia grounded into a fielder's choice at shortstop.

Meanwhile, Lester had settled down, allowing only an Austin Jackson single in the bottom of the bottom of the 2nd. In the top of the 3rd, Napoli belted a ground-rule double and advanced to third on a Gomes groundout. Napoli then came home on a wild pitch by Sanchez to make it a 4-0 game.

Lester would then pitch two scoreless innings before Detroit got on the board thanks to a 2-out Miguel Cabrera RBI single. Detroit would then cut the Red Sox lead in half after Victor Martinez led off the inning with a walk to Victor Martinez before striking out Jhonny Peralta and allowing a single to Omar Infante. Lester was pulled for Junichi Tazawa, giving up a single to Barayan Pena before getting Austin Jackson to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Detroit would threaten again in the bottom of the 7th after Tazawa gave up back to back singles to Jose Iglesias and Torii Hunter. While a run did come home, whittling the Boston lead down to 1, the Red Sox got two much-needed outs when Miguel Cabrera hit into a double play. Craig Breslow would then come on in relief of Tazawa and get Prince Fielder to ground out and end the Tigers rally.

Meanwhile, Jose Veras was cruising after coming out of the Tigers bullpen, getting Napoli, Gomes and Drew out in order in the top of the 8th. After Breslow got Victor Martinez out with a groundout to leadoff the inning, manager John Farrell made the unconventional decision to bring Koji Uehara out of the bullpen for a 5-out save, striking out Jhonny Peralta and Omar Infante. While the Red Sox managed to threaten with runners on second and third with one away before Al Albuquerque struck out Victorino and got Pedroia to fly out to shallow center field.

For the bottom of the 9th, Uehara got three straight flyouts to end the ballgame, securing the Red Sox win and securing a 3 games to two advantage in the ALCS, winning by a 4-3 final. The Red Sox head back to Fenway needing just one more win to advance to the World Series and Clay Buchholz is scheduled to get the start against Max Scherzer for Game 6. First pitch is scheduled for 8:07 PM on Saturday and the game will be televised on FOX.

A couple of notes from Game 5- Mike Napoli went 3-4 with 1 homer and an RBI and crossed home plate twice, making him 6 for 16 with 2 homers and 2 RBI in the ALCS. Xander Bogaerts became the youngest starter in Red Sox history to appear in the postseason. All of Boston's ALCS victories have come by a margin of one run.


NLCS- Regardless of who wins the ALCS over the weekend, it will be a rematch of either the 2004 or 2006 World Series as the St Louis Cardinals took the deciding Game 6 of the NLCS by a convincing 9-0 final. Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was roughed up, allowing 10 hits and 7 earned runs in just four innings of work while Cardinals starter Michael Wacha threw 7 shutout innings of two-hit baseball. Although the first two innings started out as a scoreless tie, the Cardinals broke the game open in the bottom of the third thanks to RBI singles from Carlos Beltran, Yadier Molina and Shane Robinson. Robinson's two out, 2-RBI single would be all the Cardinals needed, getting five more runs in the bottom of the 5th and having their bullpen throw two shutout innings in relief of former Texas A&M Aggie Wacha.

The Cardinals cruise to a 9-0 victory over LA and await the winner of this weekend's ALCS at Fenway after winning the National League championship series 4 games to two.

Alan Diaz- AP

BOSTON BRUINS- The Bruins came up short in that OTHER Detroit vs Boston game this week before embarking on a road trip that started off in the sunshine State.

While in Sunrise, the B's encountered a familiar face in the decidedly un-retired Tim Thomas, who signed on to a 1 year contract with the Florida Panthers after a late September tryout with the team.

In the first, the Bruins were able to notch two tallies past their former teammate- one from Danny Paille and a power play goal from Dougie Hamilton to give Boston a 2-0 lead.

After the first intermission, the Panthers got on the board and cut the Bruins lead in half with a Kris Versteeg goal for the only score of the 2nd period. Florida than got the game-tying goal with six minutes to go in regulation thanks to Jesse Winchester. Acquired in the Tyler Seguin trade with Dallas in the offseason, Reilly Smith notched his first goal with Boston after beating Thomas with 59 seconds to go in the game, giving Boston the 3-2 win as the Bruins held on for the win with less than a minute to go.

Boston goes on to win by the 3-2 final in Sunrise, giving them a 4-2 record in the young 2013/2014 season so far. Rask stopped 27 of 29 shots faced while Thomas turned aside 37 of 40 shots faced [even after Thomas left the Bruins, didn't think I'd be doing a game recap with Rask and Thomas in opposite nets- NANESB!] and Boston was 1-3 on the power play.

The Bruins will stay in Florida for their next game, heading over to Tampa to take on the 5-2 Lightning. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

Lights Out Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Avoid Tiger Trap in Game 3 as Lackey Exceeds Expectations; No Door Matts- Cardinals Take NLCS Game 4 on Carpenter, Holliday RBIs

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

RED SOX- I'll be honest- if someone told me in the 7th inning of Sunday night's Game 2 of the ALCS that the Red Sox would have a 2-1 series lead, I'd ask them what the hell they were smoking and if they brought enough to share.

So here we are, 48 hours later. A large part of the urgency for the Red Sox in Game 2 was that not only would it have been bad enough heading to Detroit down 0-2, but they were also scheduled to face Tigers ace Justin Verlander, which would almost automatically guarantee the Red Sox falling into an ALCS 0-3 hole.

Fortunately for Red Sox Nation, Big Papi and Salty's late-inning heroics made the whole argument a moot point. On Tuesday afternoon, the ALCS resumed from Comerica Park in Detroit, MI with Verlander going up against John Lackey. To hardly anyone's surprise, Verlander was cruising early while Lackey was able to work around two singles he gave up in the bottom of the first to Torii Hunter without doing any damage.

Things took an odd turn in the middle of the second inning when the stadium lights went out. Even though it was a day game, the umpires decided to resume the game only after all the lights were back on given the gloomy and overcast conditions. Michigan utility DTE [NYSE- DTE] said the power outage was likely the result of a nearby cable failure. After a 17-minute delay, play at Comerica Park resumed.

But that wasn't the only power failure in Comerica on Tuesday. While it was almost a given that Verlander would keep the Red Sox bats quiet [true to the nature of the series, the Red Sox were held hitless until the 5th inning- NANESB!], Lackey would match Verlander's performance nearly pitch for pitch...with one key difference.

With one away in the top of the 7th and Napoli in the batter's box working the count full, the Red Sox broke the scoreless tie thanks to a solo homer to deep left center.



Meanwhile, Lackey would leave with one on and two away in the bottom of the 7th. Craig Breslow would come on and walk Alex Avila before getting Omar Infante to ground out and end the Detroit threat. The Sox bullpen would walk a tightrope in the bottom of the 8th- after Breslow got former teammate Jose Iglesias to strike out he walked Austin Jackson. Junichi Tazawa then came out of the pen and gave up a single to Torii Hunter with Jackson advancing all the way to third base. Tazawa would then get Miguel Cabrera to strike out before John Farrell would bring out Koji Uehara for the four out save. Uehara managed to shut down the Detroit threat by striking out Prince Fielder on three pitches.

When Uehara came back on in the 9th, he allowed a leadoff single from former Red Sox and Indian Victor Martinez, but Martinez would be erased from the basepath when Jhonny Peralta grounded into a double play. Avila would strike out to end the ballgame and give Boston a 2-1 series lead in the ALCS after Lackey, Breslow, Tazawa and Uehara made Napoli's solo homer stand up. Lackey would go 6⅔ shutout innings while striking out 8 batters and the bullpen would preserve the shutout for him.

A couple of interesting side notes- Tuesday's 1-0 win is the first 1-0 victory by the Red Sox in the postseason since Game 1 of the 1986 World Series against the Mets. Interestingly, Napoli's first career hit was with the Angels and was a home run off of Justin Verlander in 2006- also at Comerica Park.

Wednesday's Game 4 is scheduled for 8:07 PM ET from Comerica Park. The game will be televised on FOX and Jake Peavy and Doug Fister are slated to be the starters.

Chris Carlson- AP

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- After winning the first two games of the NLCS at Busch Stadium by a 1-0 margin, the Cardinals were shut out by Hyun Jin Ryu in a 3-0 loss on Monday night's Game 3 at Dodger stadium.

Still, the St Louis Cardinals have moved to within one game of advancing to the World Series on Tuesday night after besting the Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at Dodgers Stadium.

St Louis took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the 3rd when Matt Carpenter hit a 1-out RBI double to put the Cards on the board before Matt Holliday hit a 2-out 2-run homer to make it a 3-0 ballgame. The Dodgers shaved the lead to one run in the bottom of the 4th after former Red Sox and Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez led off with a double and moved over to second when Andre Ethier walked. This set the stage for rookie phenom Yasiel Puig, who brought Gonzalez home with an RBI single. After Ethier moved up to 3rd on a Uribe fly ball, AJ Ellis drove in another run with an RBI single to make it 3-2.

However, the Cardinals would get some cushion in the top of the 7th when Shane Robinson belted a pinch hit solo homer to left field with one out to take a 4-2 lead. For the bottom of the 9th, Trevor Rosenthal came out of the Cards bullpen and gave up a leadoff single before Puig grounded into a double play and then got Juan Uribe to strike out to end the ballgame.

The Dodgers look to avoid elimination in Game 5 and will send Zach Greinke to the mound against Joe Kelly on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 4:07 PM ET (1:07 Pacific) and the game will be televised on TBS.

Late Drama Sports Chowdah Update- Big Papi Adds to His October Legend With Clutch Grand Slam; Brady Being Brady- Patriots Top Undefeated Saints In Final Seconds; Bruins Shed Jackets

Yowza! What a Sunday! Looked as though I'd be trying to sugar-coat two high-profile, nationally televised New England losses today, but I don't mind being wrong. Turned out today was EXACTLY the kind of day I had longed to blog about when I started up NANESB! four years ago. Instead of writing for the umpteenth time how much I LOVE this time of year, I'll do my best to let Sunday's events speak for themselves.

Charlie Riedel- AP

RED SOX- On Saturday, the ALCS opened up with the AL Central champions holding the Red Sox to zero hits through 8⅓ innings in Game 1. Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez went 6 innings, striking out 12 and walking 6 batters before the bullpen took over with a 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI single by Jhonny Peralta off of Jon Lester. Daniel Nava broke up the Tiger's no-hit bid with one away in the bottom of the 9th and the Red Sox put pinch-runner Quentin Berry, who stole second with two away to give Boston a runner in scoring position, but after a lengthy battle between Tigers closer and Red Sox rookie Xander Bogarts, the Boston shortstop flew out to end the game and give Detroit the 1-0 win.

Sunday's Game was starting to look like more of the same as Tigers starter Max Scherzer picked up where Sanchez and the Detroit bullpen had left off. This was the pitching matchup alot of baseball fans wanted earlier in the regular season with Scherzer going up against Clay Buchholz. The Tigers got out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI single off the bat of Alex Avila.

If you thought a 1-0 lead was insurmountable while being no-hit, then imagine how daunting a 5-0 lead would be. The Red Sox didn't have to imagine as Miguel Cabrera added to Detroit's lead in the top of the 6th with a 1-out solo homer, followed by a Prince Fielder double, an RBI from Victor Martinez and a 2 run homer from Aivla to give the Tigers a seemingly insurmountable 5-0 lead- all before Boston got their first hit of the night.

Shane Victorino broke up the Scherzer's no-hit bid with two away in the bottom of the 6th and one batter later, Dustin Pedroia ended the shutout with an RBI wall ball double that brought Victorino home before Big Papi struck out to end the inning.

After Buchholz allowed the four runs in the 6th, the Red Sox bullpen did a good job of keeping the Tigers hitless. Still, the Red Sox found themselves six outs away from heading to Detroit down 0-2 and facing a resurgent Justin Verlander in Game 3. After Drew led off the inning with a groundout, Will Middlebrooks doubled and Ellsbury followed that up with a walk. Victorino struck out swinging, but Pedroia singled to load up the bases with 2 away.

With David Ortiz coming to the plate, Tigers manager decided to go to closer Joaquin Benoit for a four out save. On the very first pitch Ortiz saw from Benoit, this happened:



Tigers outfielder came close to running Big Papi's grand slam down, but he hit the bullpen wall while running full tilt, tumbling into the Red Sox bullpen and needed a moment to shake it off. After the Detroit starters and bullpen notched more than 30 strikeouts against Boston hitters in the first two games of the ALCS, David Ortiz tied the game with one swing of his bat to make it a 5-5 contest.

Koji Uehara came on in the top of the 9th and retired the Tigers batters in order, bringing on reliever Rick Porcello. Johnny Gomes led off with an infield single and advanced to second when former teammate Jose Iglesias' throw got by Prince Fielder. Meanwhile, Jarrod Saltalamacchia battled with Porcello, staying alive after Prince Fielder attempted to catch a foul ball in the seats on the first base side only to have it clang off his glove.

A wild pitch from Porcello allowed Gomes to head to third and after working the count to 3-1, Saltalamacchia ended the ballgame in dramatic fashion.



Saltalamacchia's RBI single drives in the winning run and ties the series up at 1-1. Koji Uehara gets the win and Porcello is hung with the loss. The series resumes at Detroit's Comerica Park on Tuesday night- John Lackey is scheduled to get the start against Justin Verlander. First pitch is scheduled for 4:07 ET on Tuesday and the game will be televised on ESPN.

PATRIOTS- Fenway Park wasn't the only Massachusetts venue that was home to some late heroics.

New England was coming off of their first loss of the season with the rather daunting task of taking on the undefeated New Orleans Saints at Foxboro. Thanks to a Gostkowski FG and two Stevan Ridley rushing TDs, the Patriots got out to a 17-7 lead in the first half of Sunday's game. But the Saints started to chip away in the 3rd quarter, tying the game at 17-17 on their second possession of the second half. The Pats managed to briefly re-take the lead thanks to a 54 yard Gostkowski FG with 1:36 to go in the 4th.

Drew Brees was then picked off by Kyle Arrington on the Saints first possession of the 4th quarter. The Patriots would get as far as the New Orleans 4 yard line but ultimately have to settle for a FG to make it 23-17.

The Saints then got the ball back and took 5 minutes off the clock with an 81 yard scoring drive that had Saints QB Drew Brees hit paydirt on 3rd and 20 from the Patriots 34 yard line with three and a half to go in regulation. The Patriots would get the ball back but promptly turn it over on 4th and 6 after an incomplete pass from Brady. The Saints then added to their lead to make it 27-23 thanks to a 39 yard Garrett Hartley FG with 2:24 left in the game.

With 2:16 to go, the Patriots would get the ball back on their own 20, but would be picked off on a long pass to the Saints 30. All New Orleans needed was a first down to seal the ballgame, but ended up going three and out. With a rapidly emptying Gillette Stadium, New England got the ball back with 1:13 to go and nothing less than a TD would do it for the Patriots. Yet Brady put together an improbable drive- including two big completions to WR Austin Collie. With no timeouts and the two minute warning long gone, Brady spiked the ball after a big 4th and 4 completion to Collie, setting up 2nd and 10 at the Saints 17 yard line. Theoretically, that would give Brady time for two attempts, but all he'd need is one after finding Kenbrell Thompkins in the corner of the end zone with 5 seconds left on the clock.

What was left of the crowd went wild and the PAT made it a 30-27 Patriots lead with less than 5 seconds left. New England still needed to kick off- Darren Sproles fielded the punt but fumbled. Even though New Orleans recovered, it was a moot point as time expired.

One week after their disappointing loss to Cincinnati, New England rallies late to beat the undefeated Saints on Sunday in what would be Act 1 of a fast-paced Sunday in which New England prevailed late.

Next Sunday, the Pats will travel to the Meadowlands to take on the Jets. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 PM ET and the game will be televised on CBS.

Interestingly, the New Orleans loss whittles down the total number of undefeated teams in the NFL to two- both of them in the AFC West; the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs.

BOSTON BRUINS- The Bruins rallied late in Ohio's capital on Sunday afternoon after falling behind 1-0 to the Blue Jackets. Boston would score three unanswered goals starting with Chris Kelly in the 2nd followed by Loui Eriksson less than a minute into the 3rd and an empty netter from Milan Lucic with less than 30 seconds to go in the 3rd.

Just because the Red Sox and Tigers have Monday off for a travel day doesn't mean there's no Detroit vs Boston action on Monday. For the second time this young season, the Bruins will host the Detroit Red Wings at TD Banknorth Garden. The puck for this Original 6 matchup drops at 1:00 PM on Monday and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network for viewers in Canada.

Division Series Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Wrap up Series Against Rays, Advance For First Time Since 2008; Tigers Roar Parst Oakland on Verlander Gem; Dodgers Tomahawk Chop Braves Out of Playoff Picture

I cannot overstate how much I love this time of year. Sure the days get a little shorter and there's a little chill in the air, but as the leaves explode into brilliant hues or orange, red and yellow in the New England countryside, there's also some electricity in the air. It's October, and the Red Sox are not only still relevant, but they've also been dominant.

Mike Carlson- AP

RED SOX- For the first time since the 2008 ALDS, the Red Sox are advancing to the American League Championship series. Interestingly, they bested the team that ended their 2008 playoff run in order to advance.

Tampa Bay was no stranger to must-win games coming into game 3 on Monday night, having played three elimination games the week before- besting the Blue Jays in the 'final' regular season game to qualify for a tiebreaker game with the Texas Rangers the following day. The Rays win in Arlington, TX won them a trip to Jacobs Field where they shut out the Cleveland Indians under the 1-game Wild Card elimination format.

On Monday, the Red Sox got out to the early lead to make it 3-0 in the top of the 5th, but Rays 3B Evan Longoria knotted the game up at 3-3 with one swing of his bat in the bottom half of the 5th.

The Rays briefly took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 8th on a Delmon Young RBI groundout with a runner at third. But in the top of the 9th, Will Middlebrooks drew a leadoff walk and had Xander Bogaerts replace him as a pinch runner. Dustin Pedroia would tie the game up on an RBI groundout but the inning would end with a Mike Carp strikeout, stranding a runner on 3rd.

It appeared as though the game would be heading to extras when Koji Uehara got the first two Rays batters out in the bottom of the 8th, but Jose Lobaton came in to pinch hit to give Tampa Bay the walkoff 5-4 win over Boston- winning their fourth 'must win' game in a little over the week.

Boston wasn't really interested in heading back to Fenway and being put in a must-win scenario themselves, so for Game four they brought out Jake Peavy to face Jeremy Hellickson.

Hellickson only made it to the top of the 2nd inning and manager Joe Maddon pulled him after walking the bases loaded with nobody out. Jamey Wright came in and got Saltalamacchia to strike out before former Red Sox infielder James Loney snagged a ball off the bat of Stephen Drew that looked as though it was heading to right field for a sure base hit and managed to double-up the runners.

The Red Sox frustration grew as Maddon went to the bullpen seemingly every inning, getting a new pitcher to face the Red Sox batters each time. But Peavy kept Boston in the game, shutting out the Rays until the 6th inning when he gave up a leadoff double to Yuniel Escobar followed by a Lobaton groundout to move the runner over to 3rd and a David Dejesus RBI single. Peavy then got Will Meyers to fly out to center before John Farrell pulled him to bring in reliever Craig Breslow, who ended the inning by striking out Loney.

In the top of the 7th, Johnny Gomes flew out to center to start off the 7th before Xander Bogaerts replaced Stephen Drew and drew a 1-out walk. Will Middlebrooks struck out before Jacoby Ellsbury singled, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 away. After Maddon brought in Joel Peralta, Ellsbury successfully swiped second, giving the Red Sox 2 runners in scoring position. The rookie Bogaerts came home to tie the game on a wild pitch uncorked by Peralta while Ellsbury advanced to third. Victorino the legged out an infield single to plate Ellsbury- the Red Sox went from being shut out to scoring two runs when the ball didn't even leave the infield.

Not wanting to take any chances, Farrell brought out Uehara with a runner on and two away in the bottom of the 8th. In the top of the 9th, the Red Sox got some insurance after Shane Victorino was hit to load up the bases with one out. Once again, it was Bogaerts who crossed the dish to put Boston up 3-1 thanks to a Pedroia sac fly to right.

Uehara would come back on for the 9th and strike out Longoria to end the game and wrap up the ALDS. After a week of surviving must-win games, the season finally ends for the Tampa Bay Rays as they fall to Boston in the ALDS, 3 games to 1.

It's also worth pointing out that Johnny Gomes, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Will Middlebrooks all notched their first career postseason hit in the ALDS. Although he has yet to get a postseason hit, rookie SS Xander Bogaerts has already scored three runs in the last two games of the ALDS while Peavy pitched well but didn't factor into the decision.

Juan H Gonzalez- Detroit Free Press

ELSEWHERE IN THE ALDS- After Tuesday night's celebration in the visitor's locker room at Tropicana Field, the Red Sox were awaiting the winner of the series between the Oakland A's and Detroit Tigers. Earlier on Tuesday, the Tigers had rallied from going down 0-3 to hang on for am 8-6 win over the AL West champions in Comerica Park, forcing a deciding game 5 back in Oakland for Thursday night.

Game 5's pitching matchup was Game 2 rematch featuring rookie Sonny Gray against 2011 Cy Young winner Justin Verlander. Verlander threw a gem in the pitcher's duel that was Game 2, but had no decision and the A's ultimately won on a walkoff RBI single in the bottom of the 9th.

Thursday night was another story, however. While Gray got off to a good start, he served up a 1-out 2 RBI homer to Miguel Cabrera in the 4th to make it 2-0 Detroit. Omar Enfante would make it a 3-run game in the top of the 6th after grounding into a fielder's choice with a runner on 3rd with only 1 out.

Meanwhile- kind of like Red Sox pitcher Brandon Workman earlier this year- Justin Verlander took a no-hitter into the 7th inning at the Oakland Coliseum. Unlike Workman, the first hit Verlander gave up stayed in the park- a 2 out Yoenis Cespedes single that did no damage.

After manager Jim Leyland had starter Max Scherzer come out of the bullpen for game 4 and pitch two innings, Verlander most of the Tigers pitching staff the night off, throwing 8 shutout innings while giving up two hits and striking out 10 batters. Joaquin Benoit came out of the pen for the save, getting the first two batters out before allowing a double to former Red Sox infielder Jed Lowrie and hitting Yoenis Cespedes with a pitch. However, Benoit would get Smith to fly out to end the ballgame and wrap up the series for Detroit.

This sets up a Boston vs Detroit ALCS with Game 1 slated for Saturday. Jon Lester will get the start against Anibal Sanchez. First pitch from Fenway is scheduled for 8:07 ET and the game will be televised on FOX.

NATIONAL LEAGUE- The LA Dodgers rallied late in Monday night's game to beat the Atlanta Braves and take the series. Atlants had just taken a 3-2 lead on a Jose Costantza pinch hit RBI single in the top of the7th, but in the bottom of the 8th, Juan Uribe belted a 2 run homer to put the Dodgers up for good, giving them nearly five days off as they awaited the winner of the Pittsburgh/St Louis Series.

Meanwhile, my dreams of a 1903 World Series rematch have been dashed by the St Louis Cardinals, as they beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday at PNC Park by a 2-1 final to force a deciding Game 5 which the Cardinals won by a 6-1 final on Wednesday night.

First pitch for Game 1 of the Dodgers/Cardianls NLCS is scheduled for 8:37 ET from Busch Stadium on Friday night and the game will be televised on TBS.

NFL- Tom Brady's streak of 52 consecutive games with a TD pass came to an end on Sunday and not surprisingly, the Patriots were handed their first loss of the season in a rain-drenched Paul Brown stadium.

Former Patriot Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis scored the only touchdown of the day for Cincinnati with a TD run on 4th and goal in the 4th quarter, but it would be all the Bengals needed in the 13-6 win over New England on Sunday.

Although the Patriots head home for Week 6, it doesn't get easier with the Pats hosting 5-0 New Orleans. A bit of good news is that Rob Gronkowski has been listed as day to day, although it's unlikely he'll start Sunday. The TE had missed every game after leaving last season's playoff game against the Houston Texans with a forearm injury. In the offseason, Gronkowski had multiple surgeries on his arm as well as an additional prodecure to clear up an infections.

NHL- The Boston Bruins were dealt their first loss of the season and were shut out for the first time since February 2012 on Thursday night when the visiting Colorado Avalanche came away with a 2-0 win.

LW Ryan O'Rielly gave the Avs the lead late in the first period with a power play goal while JS Giguere turned aside all 39 shots he faced in his season debut for Colorado. The Avs are off to a 4-0 start under head coach Patrick Roy- their best start since relocating to Denver from Quebec City during the 1995-1996 season.

The 2-1 Bruins will travel to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets on Saturday afternoon for their first away game of the 2013-2014 season- Columbus is also sporting an identical 2-1 record.

Puck drops at 2:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

Wings N Things Sports Chowdah Update- Red Sox Jump Out to 2-0 ALDS Lead; Bruins Motor Past Red Wings; Eagles Come Out On Top of Joust With Black Knights

My my...the Red Sox, Bruins and Boston College all winning on the same day? Say- Did I mention already how much I LOVE this time of year?

Charles Krupa- AP

BOSTON RED SOX- In Friday's game one of the ALDS, the Red Sox went from being no-hit through the first three innings to scoring 12 unanswered runs to take the first game of the series by a 12-2 final and give Jon Lester his first postseason win 2008- also Game 1 of the ALDS.

Game 2 didn't get off the quite the promising start as Game 1, and Lackey was clearly struggling early on. The Red Sox gave him some run support early by getting an RBI sac-fly from Pedroia and solo homer from David Ortiz to make it a 2-0 Boston lead. Tampa Bay cut the lead in half in the top of the 2nd thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly from Delmon Young.


The Red Sox added to their lead in the bottom of the 3rd after David Ross led off the inning with a double before coming home thanks to an Ellsbury double. The speedy outfielder then advanced to third on a Victorino single. Pedoira then hit what looked like a sure double play ball to short, but Victorino took out Rays 2B Ben Zorbist with a clean slide- breaking up the double play and allowing Ellsbury to come home and make it 4-1. However, Rays starter David Price would get the double-play he was after when Big Papi came to the plate and did exactly that. The Red Sox added another run in the bottom of the 4th with a 2-out RBI triple from Stephen Drew.

In the top of the 5th, former Red Sox and Dodgers first baseman James Loney belted a 2-RBI double to deep center field to cut the Red Sox lead to 5-3. Pedroia would then get an RBI double to make it a 6-3 Boston lead. After watching Boston jump all over Tampa Bay for 12 unanswered runs, the crowd at Fenway was getting a little nervous when the Rays once again cut into Boston's lead with a Yuniel Escobar RBI single that chased Lackey from the mound.

David Price would stay in a bit longer but get yanked in the bottom of the 8th after giving up a solo homer to David Ortiz to make it 7-4 Boston. Price apparently objected to Papi standing at home plate and admiring the trajectory of his solo shot- this would actually be Big Papi's first multi-homer playoff game of his career.

The Red Sox bullpen (Bresolow, Tazawa and Uehara) held the Rays scoreless for 3⅔ innings, and although Lackey struggled for a bit, he stayed in the game long enough to get the win. Boston takes a 2-0 series lead in the ALDS as the series heads to Tampa Bay on Monday. Game 3's scheduled starters are Clay Buchholz [12-1; 1.74 ERA] will go up against Tampa Bay's Alex Cobb [11-3; 2.76 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 6:07 ET and the game will be televised on TBS.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Game 2 of the ALDS between Detroit and Oakland was an absolute pitching gem. Justin Verlander threw seven complete innings, allowing four hits and striking out eleven, but he didn't factor into the decision. Oakland starter Sonny Gray went eight complete innings, striking out nine. A's closer Grant Balfour got credit for the win after pitching a 1-2-3 top of the 9th before Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt drove in the winning run- the game's only run- with nobody out in the bottom of the 9th. This evens the series at 1-1 before the ALDS moves back to Detroit.

As a matter of fact, both series in the NLDS are knotted up at a game apiece. Game 3 of both the Dodgers-Braves series and Cardinals-Pirates series will get underway on Sunday from Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, respectively.

Joe Camporeale- USA Today Sports

NHL- As the Red Sox and Rays were getting underway, the Bruins and Red Wings were going head to head for the second game of the season at TD Garden on Saturday.

Torey Krug got the Bruins on the board early with a power play goal about midway through the first period before the Red Wings tied things up at 1-1 thanks to a Henrik Zettiberg tally.

Boston would take a 2-1 lead not even forty seconds into the second thanks to a Brad Marchand goal. Jordan Caron would add to the Boston lead at the 7:58 mark of the second and the scoring in the 3rd consisted of a Zdeno Chara had a power play goalto give Boston a 4-1 win. Tukka Rask turned aside 36 of the 37 shots he faced and the Bruins were 2 for 4 on the power play in their first Original 6 matchup of the season.

The Bruins next game won't be until Thursday night when they host the Colorado Avalanche. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

NCAA FOOTBALL- It was the game the Obama Administration didn't want played.

The Boston College Eagles have managed to surpass their win total from last season in a game that the federal government had threatened to shut down earlier this week- and on homecoming, no less.

Eagles RB Andrew Williams stood out with a 263 yard, 5 TD afternoon, tying a school record in Saturday's 48-27 win over the Army Black Knights. Williams came into Saturday afternoon's game leading the ACC in rushing at 515 yards and will tack Saturday afternoon's impressive numbers onto this season's totals.

The Eagles will have their work cut out for the next week when they head down to the Palmetto State to take on #3 Clemson in a nationally televised game. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 ET and that game will be broadcast on ABC or ESPN 2, depending on where you're located.

Political Football Sports Chowdah Update- Army, Navy And Air Force Football To Continue Despite Government Shutdown; Bruins Get It Done Shorthanded; Red Sox Await Rays in All AL East ALDS

NCAA FOOTBALL-Pretty busy night for a Thursday, but more on that in a bit.

After some speculation that they wouldn't even take place this weekend, both the Air Force vs Navy and Army vs Boston College games are set to kick off at their scheduled times.

Despite the majority of costs being paid in advance by private booster clubs, reports were circulating that this weekend's football games involving the US Service Academies in West Point, Annapolis and Colorado Springs would be cancelled or postponed due to this week's government shutdown.

However, in what some critics are calling 'Shutdown Theater' [in which the government cuts the most visible and public services as opposed to the most redundant or non-essential- NANESB!] the Pentagon announced that the decision for each academy to play would be subject to review beforehand. The fact that the Air Force vs Navy game was sold out this weekend and the Army Black Knights would likely have to pay a fine for breach of contract undercut most arguments that shutting down the football teams is the most economically prudent thing to do.

The Naval Academy announced that all varsity sports aside from football were cancelled through Sunday as well.

BOSTON COLLEGE- Well, the Eagles managed to bookend their bye week with two relatively difficult games and went 0-2, although given what a train wreck the USC program has become I'm a little disappointed they didn't perform better against the Trojans.

Last weekend, the Eagles actually had a first-half lead against the 8th-ranked Florida State Seminoles, but the defense was clearly outmatched and the 'Noles would go on to win by a 48-34 final on Chestnut Hill.

This weekend's upcoming game at Chestnut Hill has garnered all sorts of attention from the non-sports world, and it has nothing to do with the fact that its Boston College's homecoming.

The BC Eagles will play host to the Army Black Knights, who are sporting a 2-3 record and are [almost literally- NANESB!] being used as a political football due to this week's ongoing government shutdown.

Here is the ESPN3 link to watch Saturday's Army-BC homecoming game http://t.co/b0wosLcU0b #ARMYvsBC pic.twitter.com/TWc0XkbSO8
— BC Football News (@BCFootballNews) October 3, 2013

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 ET and according to BC Athletics, the game will be streamed for free over ESPN3.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL- After a bye week, the UMass Minutemen are looking for their first win of the season. The Minutemen will head to Bowling Green, OH to take on the 4-1 Bowling Green Falcons on Saturday at 3:30 ET.

The UConn Huskies, after coming up short against the #15 Michigan Wolverines, lost to Buffalo by a 42-12 final last weekend and will host South Florida on October 12th.

BIG 12- The Texas Longhorns rallied late in Ames, IA and held on to win by a 31-30 final as DE Jackson Jeffcoat picked off Iowa State QB Sam B Richardson with 31 seconds left in the 4th quarter.

PAC 12- Although Utah got out to a 14-7 lead in the first quarter of their Thursday night game against #12 UCLA, the Bruins came roaring back late and would go on to win by a 34-27 final. The win give the Bruins a record or 4-0 while the Utes are now 3-2.

ELSEWHERE IN THE PAC 12- The USC Trojans fired head coach Lane Kiffin after the team's 62-41 loss to Arizona state last Saturday. Despite an above .500 record, the loss was reportedly the final straw for some who wanted Kiffin gone. There reportedly has been some interest in interviewing former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach and current Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio to fill the vacancy left by Kiffin's dismissal. However, Del Rio has said he's not interested in the position.

AP- Michael Dwyer

NHL- And just like that, the puck has dropped on the Bruins season.

Not only did the 2013-2014 season get off to a good start, the Bruins managed to make history by becoming the first NHL team to score their first goal of the season on a penalty shot.



Chris Kelly got the Bruins on the board with a penalty shot at the 8:21 mark that beat Tampa Bay goalie Anders Lindback- it also counts as a shorthanded goal since the Lightning had 31 seconds remaining on the power play as well.

Valtteri Filppula got the Lightning on the board with a goal around the 10 minute mark of the second period, but with a minute to go in the second, Milan Lucic put the Bruins back on top. The Bruins then extended their lead with a shorthand tally from Patrice Bergeron just after four minutes into the 3rd period.

Boston goes on to win their home opener by a 3-1 final. The homestand continues through the weekend when the Bruins will host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS- The Bruins celebrated opening night on the Causeway by announcing a 4-year contract extension with defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. The extension is said to be worth about $16 million over the next four years.

BOSTON RED SOX- It's been a very busy week in the MLB postseason, yet the Red Sox haven't played a single game all week. Instead, Boston was awaiting the winner of the American League Wild Card tiebreaker game followed by the one game play-in. As it turns out, Boston will face the Tampa Bay Rays after the Rays beat the Texas Rangers by a 5-2 final on Monday and shut out the Cleveland Indians by a 5-0 final on Wednesday- both of those wins coming on the road.

With the ALDS matchup set, game one will take place on Friday afternoon at Fenway with Jon Lester [15-8; 3.75 ERA] getting the start in Game one against Tampa Bay's Matt Moore [17-4; 3.29 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 ET and the game will be televised on TBS.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- The Pittsburgh Pirates won their first playoff game since 1992 as Francisco Liriano pitched 7 complete innings and allowed just four hits in the Pirates 6-2 win over Cincinnati in the National League Wild Card play-in game on Tuesday night.

The win means the Pirates advance to play another NL Central team, the division champion St Louis Cardinals. St Louis took game one of the series by a 9-1 final on Thursday night with Game 2 set for Friday afternoon. Game two of the NLDS gets underway from Busch Stadium at 1:00 ET with the Bucs Gerrit Cole [10-7; 3.22 ERA] will get the start against the Cards Lance Lynn [15-10; 3.97 ERA] and the game will be televised on the MLB network.

In the other NLDS matchup, the Dodger jumped out to a 1-0 series lead against the Atlanta Braves thanks to Clayton Kershaw's 7 innings of 3-hit baseball while striking out 12 Atlanta batters. Former Red Sox and Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez broke the game open with a 2-run homer in the top of the 3rd and the Dodgers would go on to win by a 6-1 final. Game two is scheduled for Friday at 6:07 ET and will feature LA's Zach Gerinke [15-4; 2.63 ERA] going up against Mike Minor [13-9; 3.21 ERA]. Game 2 will also be televised on the MLB network.

The last series to get underway will be the Tigers and A's from Oakland on Friday night. Game one will feature Detroit's Max Scherzer [21-3; 2.90 ERA] and Oakland's Bartolo Colon [18-6; 2.65 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 9:37 PM Eastern time (6:37 Pacific) and the game will be televised on TBS.

Under the Dome Sports Chowdah Update- Falcons Rally Late, But Get Their Wings Clipped; Because 162 Isn't Enough- Rangers and Rays Head Into One Game Playoff;

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE this time of year?

Kevin Cox- Getty Images

PATRIOTS- In their second prime-time matchup since week two, New England found themselves facing off against an NFC South opponent for the second straight week.

If last week's game against the Buccaneers was any indicator, Brady seemed to be settling into a groove with his corps of new receivers and vice-versa. However, they would have their work cut out for them in Week 4 on the road in the Georgia Dome against Boston College alum Matt Ryan and two of the NFL's best receivers.

The Falcons got on the board first with a Matt Bryant FG in the first before New England capped a 75 yard drive with a Brady to Matt Mulligan completion to put New England up 7-3. A 48 yard FG from Gostkowski made it 10-3 New England before Atlanta tied the contest up at 10-10 thanks to a 21 yard reception from Matt Ryan to TE Tony Gonzalez with just 38 seconds to go in the first half.

After another FG from Gostkowski in the 3rd quarter put the Patriots back on top, New England looked as though they were going to blow this one wide open at the start of the 4th quarter thanks to a 47 yard TD run from LaGarrette Blount to make it 20-10. Although the Falcons managed to drive down into New England's red zone, Michael Buchanan sacked Matt Ryan on 3rd and 5 from the New England 18 yard line, forcing Atlanta to settle for three points but still making it a 1-score game at 20-13.

The Patriots struck back quickly, thanks to two long completions from Brady to Edelman before Brady connected with WR Kenbrell Thompkins for an 18 yard TD pass. On the very first play of Atlanta's next possession, CB Aquib Talib managed to pick off a Matt Ryan pass and got as far as the Falcons 31 yard line before settling for a field goal, making it a 30-13 game with just over 6 minutes remaining in the 4th.

However, Atlanta would not go quietly and closed the gap thanks to an 11 yard TD pass from Ryan to Gonzalez before recovering the onside kick at mid field. Ryan got the Falcons as far as the Patriots 7 yard line, but Atlanta would have to settle for a field goal. New England successfully recovered the ball on Atlanta's next onside kick attempt and was simply looking to wind the clock down and get a first down on 4th and 1 at the Falcons' 37, but Brady fumbled the snap and although he recovered it, the Patriots turned it over on downs. Ryan looked as though he would make the Patriots pay when he found Julio ones for a nearly flawless 49 yard completion. However, with 36 seconds left and on 4th and 7 from the Patriot's 10, Aquib Talib broke up a Matt Ryan pass attempt to Roddy White in the end zone. New England got the ball back and Brady took a knee to run out the final seconds of the game.

New England moves to 4-0 for the first time since their 2007 dalliance with perfection. Next week, the Patriots will travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals. The game is scheduled for a 1:00 PM kickoff on Sunday and will be televised on CBS Sports.

MLB- WILD CARD- It looks as though 162 games wasn't enough for the Texas Rangers or Tampa Bay Rays.

On the final day of the regular season, the Indians managed to leapfrog both Texas and Tampa Bay after winning 10 straight games to conclude the 2013 regular season to take the first Wild Card berth. This is Indians manager Terry Francona's first trip to the postseason since 2009 when he was still with the Red Sox. This is also Francona's first season as the Indians manager. The Tribe will await the winner of Monday's Rangers/Rays game.

First pitch for the Rays and Rangers Wild Card game is scheduled for 8:07 PM ET and will be televised on TBS.

Alan Diaz- AP

MIAMI MARLINS- And just like that the regular season is in the books, and it wasn't exactly uneventful.

While the Miami Marlins won't be going to the postseason, the end of their regular season was pretty noteworthy as starter Henderson Alvarez threw a no-hitter. Not only did the 23 year old Venezuelan starter get his no-hitter against the defending AL Champion Detroit Tigers, but he got it in an unorthodox manner and saw the game clinched when he was in the on deck, not the mound.

It was still a scoreless tie in the bottom of the 9th when Giancarlo Stanton came home on a wild pitch with the bases loaded for Miami's 1-0 win. The no-hitter was the Marlin's first since September 2006 when Anibal Sanchez no-hit the Arizona Diamondbacks.


RED SOX- The regular season for Boston ended on a less-than-glorious note after dropping two out of three to the Orioles over the weekend. Despite the losses, the Red Sox finish the season tied with St Louis for the best record in MLB with 97 wins and 65 losses.

This means that not only will Boston wait until Friday for their next game, they won't know who their opponent is until after two separate play-in games starting on Monday night. The Oakland A's finished one game behind Boston and will host the AL Central champion Detroit Tigers for the ALDS.

Fall Classic Sports Chowdah Update- Jets Grounded by Pats in OT; Kung Fu Panda Flying High in Game 1 of World Series;

AP Photo/Stephan Savoia

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- Between snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, there was a whole lot of snatching going on late in Sunday's game at Foxbourough.

After the Jets got a TD on their opening posession, New England's Devin McCourty took the ball back 104 yards to tie the game at 7-7 on a kickoff return for a TD.

For the second straight week, it was looking as though the Patriots were going to pull away thanks to a 17 yard TD reception from Brady to Gronkowski late in the 1st and then got two more after Jets QB kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone after fumbling the handoff to RB Shonn Greene on the Jets own 12 yard line. The safety made it a 16-7 game, but the Jets were able to cut the Patriots lead to 7 thanks to a late 54-yard Nick Folk FG. The teams headed into the locker room for halftime with the Patriots up 16-10.

For their first possession of the 3rd quarter, the Jets were able to march the ball down into the new England Red Zone, but were unable to punch it in on 3rd and 2 from the Patriots 3 yard line, settling for a 21 yard FG to make it 13-16.

But on the next posession, the Patriots marched to ball 78 yards down the field to give them a 23-16 lead. The drive took 6:43 and was capped by a short TD pass from Brady to Gronkowski.

However, momentum began swinging the Jets' way when the 4th quarter got underway. With just under 6 minutes to go, New York closed the gap to 23-20 on a 7 yard TD pass from Sanchez to TE Dustin Keller. The Jets defense then held New England to a 3-and-out before getting the ball back and moving as close as the Patriots' 25 yard line. After being stopped on 3rd and 4, Nick Folk made a 43 yard FG to tie the contest up at 23-23.

Near-disaster struck on the following posession when Devin McCourty fumbled the kickoff return inside the Patriots' own red zone and the Jets covered on the New England 18. However, on 3rd and 7, Pats LB Dont'a Hightower came up with the second most important sack of the game [the most important? That was yet to come- NANESB!] dragging down Sanchez for a 10 yard loss and forcing the Jets to attempt a FG instead of going for it on 4th and 17. Still, Folk's 43 yard FG was good and the Jets took the lead for the first time since the 1st quarter, going agead by a 26-23 margin with 1:37 to go in regulation.

On the following kickoff, McCourty managed to hang on to the ball and got it as far out as the New England 21. This gave Brady and the Pats offense a little over 90 seconds to drive the ball down into FG range [or try and get the kill shot with a TD- NANESB!]. And that's exactly what happened as the Patriots marched down the field, getting as far as the Jets 25 with 16 seconds remaining. As time expires, Gostkowski kicked a 43 yard FG to tie the contest up at 26-26 and force overtime.

This was the first time the Patriots had to play under the NFL's revised OT rules and New England won the coin toss and got the ball to start off with. Starting from their own 16, the Patriots moved the ball thanks to a series of short passes to Welker, Woodhead, Hernandez and Deion Branch, advancing as far as the Jets 30 before bringing in Gostkowski for a 48 yard FG attempt which was good.

Under the old rules, that would've ended the ballgame right there, but the new format allowed the Jets a posession with which the could tie the game or go ahead with a TD for the win. However, after a couple of quick gains that brought New York from their own 15 to near mid field, Mark Sanchez was sacked by DE Rod Ninkovitch and then fumbled the ball. New England recovered the football, thus ending the game right there. After dropping the late lead, Patriots come from behind to force OT and shut the Jets out in OT, winning by a final of 29-26.

Brady went 26-42 with 2 TDs and 259 yards while Rob Gronkowski had 6 receptions on the day, two of them for TDs.

This weekend, the Patriots will travel to jolly old England for a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI against the St Louis Rams. This is actually considered a home game for the Rams and will kick off at 1PM Eastern time.

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

WORLD SERIES- Perhaps the best baseball news as far as I was concerned came last Tuesday when the Detroit Tigers competed a sweep of the New York Yankees thanks to an 8-1 shellacking in Game 4 at Comerica Park in which Yankees starter CC Sabathia gave up 6 earned runs before getting pulled in the top of the 4th. Matt Scherzer pitched a gem through 5⅔ and the Tigers advanced to their first World Series berth since 2006.

And for awhile, it was looking as though it would be a rematch of the '06 World Series with the Cardinals taking a commanding 3-1 lead over the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS. However, the Giants would come roaring back and win the next three games by a combined total of 20-1, including shutouts thrown by Barry Zito in Game 5 and Matt Cain in Game 7.

For Game 1 of the World Series, the Giants appeared to have picked up right where they left off, taking an early 1-0 lead thanks to a Pablo Sandoval homer off of Tigers ace Justin Verlander in the bottom of the first. In the bottom of the 3rd, Giants Outfielder Angel Pagan reached when what looked like a routine ground ball took an odd bounce off of 3rd base and squirted into shallow left field with two away. Pagan then came home on an RBI double from former Red Sox infielder Marco Scutaro, who the Giants picked up from Colorado in an unheralded midseason transaction. Scutaro's base hit gave the Giants another run and brough up Pablo Sandoval to the plate where he once more went yard on Justin Verlander to give San Francisco a 4-0 lead.

As it turns out, that would be all they would need for Game 1, but starter Barry Zito helped his own cause by adding to the lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the 4th and Sandoval would get his 3rd homer of the night- another solo shot in the bottom of the 5th to make it 6-0 Giants. The Tigers would get a run on a Miguel Cabrera RBI in the top of the 6th, but Detroit would answer with RBI base hits from Buster Posey and Marco Scutaro.

San Francisco would cruise to the easy 8-3 win in Game one with Barry Zito getting his first-ever win in the World Series and Pablo Sandoval becoming the 4th big leaguer to hit 3 home runs in a single World Series game, joining Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols.

On Thursday night, Game 2 of the 2012 World Series turned out to be more of a pitcher's duel with Giants starter Madison Bumgarner outlasting Detroit's Doug Fister- who took a line drive off of his noggin in the 2nd inning- in a 2-0 Tigers loss. Thursday night's win gives Detroit a 2-0 series lead. Fister was examined by doctors postgame and showed no additional symptoms of a concussion.

The series heads back to Detroit on Saturday, with Friday being a travel day for both teams and the media. Ryan Vogelsong [14-9; 3.37 ERA] gets the start for San Francisco against Detroit's Anibal Sanchez [9-13; 3.86 ERA] at Comerica Park. San Francisco backup catcher Hector Sanchez will reportedly be the NL Champion's designated hitter while playing in the American League ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 8:07 PM ET and the game will be nationally televised on FOX.

I think the image is pretty self-explanatory. AP Photo/Charles Krupa

BOSTON RED SOX- So barely a year after Terry Francona's departure from Boston, the Red Sox have decided to revisit the Francona epoch with the signing of Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell. Farrell was the Red Sox pitching coach between 2007 and 2010 before being hired on north of the border and was announced as the 46th manager in the club's history.

The Red Sox had also interviewed Brad Ausmus, DeMarlo Hale and Tim Wallach for the managerial spot. While this is sometimes done for show and the eventual favorite eventually gets hired anyway, there were some doubts as to whether or not Toronto would release Farrell from his contract. In his first season as the Blue Jays manager, the team had improved to 81-81, but in 2012 Toronto finished just a game ahead of the last place Red Sox and the Jays were more willing to part with him.

From the perspective of owner John Henry and GM Ben Cherrington, Farrell has the advantage of being familiar with some of the players and front office staff. The Red Sox had to part with infielder Mike Aviles in order to coax Toronto into releasing Farrell. The 50 year old former pitching coach still had a year remaining on his contract with the Blue Jays.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS- Former San Diego closer Heath Bell has made his way back to the NL West in a surprise move announced over the weekend.

Just one year into his 3 year, $27 million contract with the Florida Miami Marlins, Bell was traded to Arizona in exchange for infielder prospect Yordy Cabrera who came to Arizona in a deal with Oakland that sent outfielder Chris Young to that AL Team by the Bay.

The Marlins will also reportedly pay $8 million of the $21 million still owed on Bell's contract. JJ Putz would remain the D-Backs closer while Bell would move into a setup role.

Earlier in the month, there had been widespread speculation that the New York Yankees were looking to deal Alex Rodriguez after a disappointing performance in the postseason. The Marlins were considered a likely candidate since Rodriguez was from the area and the Yankees were willing to eat a large portion of his contract in order to deal the high-salaried infielder. Dealing Bell could fuel speculation that the Marlins are getting ready to clear salary cap space for a possible A-Rod deal, although the fact that Bell went 4-5 with a 5.09 ERA for the Marlins could mean that Miami was just willing to get rid of a relief pitcher who wasn't working out for them.

NCAA FOOTBALL- Four former Louisiana State University football players, including 2011 Heisman candidate Tyrann 'Honey Badger' Mathieu were arrested by police in Baton Rouge, LA on drug charges.

Mathieu was dismissed from LSU's football in August after violating the University's substance abuse policy. Mathieu was arrested along with former starting QB Jordan Jefferson and former DB's Karnell Hatcher and Derrick Bryant on multiple counts of drug pesession as well as posession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Police were responding to a call about an individual- later identified as Jefferson- forcing his way through a gate at an apartment complex in Baton Rouge. After exchanging words with a maintainence man, the police were called and knocked on the door of an apartment where Mathieu answered the door. Officers noticed the strong smell of marijuana. A search of the apartment yielded 10 bags of high-grade marijuana and a digital scale.

BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES- Georgia Tech picked up their 3rd win of the season after a 37-13 thumping of Boston College in Atlanta last weekend. This was the first contest since the Yellowjackets fired defensive coordinator Al Groh.

The Yellowjackets had built up a 31-3 lead on Boston College before QB Chase Rettig connected on two TD passes, one to Alex Amidon late in the 3rd and another to TE Chris Pantale, to make it 31-17, but Georgia Tech got the last word in with a late rushing TD from RB David Sims with just over 5 minutes to go in the 4th.

This upcoming weekend, BC will host Maryland at Chestnut Hill and try and snap its ACC losing streak, this time against the 4-3 Maryland Terrapins.

UMASS- With the exception of one close game at Foxborough, the UMASS Minutemen haven't had much more luck with the Mid-America conference than they've had with the other FBS programs they've faced in their first season as a FBS program.

The futility continued last Saturday when they committed 4 turnovers against the Bowling Green Falcons, including a pick and 48 yard return from Bowling Green LB Dwayne Woods. Bowling Green shuts out the Minutemen by a 24-0 final.

UMASS will travel to Music City for their final non-conference game of the 2012 season on Saturday- taking on Vanderbilt in Prime Time. The 0-7 Minutemen come in to Saturday night's contest as 32 point uderdogs. Kickoff is at 7:00 ET and will be streaming on ESPN3.

BIG EAST- After last Friday's 40-10 loss to Syracuse at the Carrier dome, the Huskies are in their bye week. The Huskies are 3-5 overall and 0-3 against Big East teams heading into their off week and will face the South Florida Bulls. Presently USF is the only Big East football team with a worse record than UConn- also sporting an 0-3 record in conference. USF will play the Pitt Panthers this weekend before their home game against the Huskies.

ELSEWHERE IN THE BIG EAST The Cincinnati Bearcats have been knocked from the ranks of the undefeated. Coming into last weekend's game, Cincinnati was ranked #21 in the nation.

And it was a MAC team that spoiled the party for Cincinnati, with the Toledo Zips getting out to an early lead against the Bearcats. The Bearcats briefly took a 19-20 lead before Toledo's Bernard Reedy retuned a kickoff 91 yards for a Rockets TD to put Toledo on top for good as they went on to win by a final of 29-23