NCAA FOOTBALL- Without a doubt, the biggest upset of week 3 was what took place on Chestnut Hill Saturday night when the BC Eagles hosted the USC Trojans. Heading into last weekend, USC was coming off of a triumphant 13-10 win over the Stanford Cardinals while BC was coming off of a 30-20 loss to the Pitt Panthers at Chestnut Hill.
Last weekend's game was 'Red Bandana night', which honored former BC Lacrosse player Welles Crowther who was killed in the September 11th attacks while rescuing others at the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
The heavily favored Trojans got out to a quick 10-0 lead in the first before Boston College got on the board with a 4 yard catch and carry TD run from RB Tyler Rouse to open up the 2nd quarter- however, Launceford would miss the PAT and it was a 10-6 game. USC quickly responded with a TD catch and run from Cody Kessler to Javorious Allen to give the Trojans a 17-6 advantage.
On the next possession, though, BC would put together a 75 yard drive that took all of 3:48 before Jon Hillman hit paydirt on a 3 yard TD run. After a couple of three and outs for each side, BC got the ball back with 1:48 at their own 46 when Sherman Alston ran 54 yards to give Boston College their first lead of the day, putting them up 20-17 before halftime.
For the second half, BC's defense really clamped down on the USC offense [Kessler was sacked five times on the night- NANESB!] and Jon Hilliman would make it a 10 point BC lead, punching it in with 7:35 to go in the third to make it 27-17. With under nine minutes to go in the game, Joey Launceford kicked a chip shot FG to make it a 30-17 contest.
But USC wasn't done yet- with 4:57 left in the game, Cody Kessler connected with Nelson Agholor for a 10 yard TD pass to make it a one score game as the clock ticked down. However, a minute later the Eagles jumped out to a 37-24 lead thanks to a 66 yard TD run by Tyler Murphy. However, the Trojans weren't done yet and after getting the ball back, Kessler connected with Darrius Rogers for a 14 yard TD run to cut Boston College's lead to 37-31. After closing to within 6 and with less than two minutes to go, USC went for the onside kick which was immediately recovered by the Eagles.
QB Tyler Murphy had a better night rushing the ball than passing it, rushing for 191 yards and a TD on 13 carries while ging 5 of 13 through the air for 54 yards.
Boston College's homestand continues this weekend with the Eagles hosting the University of Maine Black Bears. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 ET and the game will be streamed on ESPN3.
NFL- After a lackluster season opener in Miami in which the New England Patriots were outmaneuvered in the second half and lost by a 33-20, New England took their show on the road to Minnesota to take on the Vikings at TCF Bank stadium on Sunday.
With former Patriots backup Matt Cassel under center, the Vikings got out to an early 7-0 lead before New England answered with 30 unanswered points. Stevan Ridley managed to tie the game up with a TD rush from the Vikings 1 yard line before Gostkowski put the Patriots up 10-7 with a 48 yard FG with 30 seconds to go in the first. In the second quarter, Brady found Julain Edelman for a 14 yard TD pass to make it a 17-7 game. With time running out in the first half, Cassel managed to get the Vikings close enough to try a 48 yard FG attempt with 9 seconds left, but that was blocked by DE Chandler Jones who immediately returned it 58 yards for a TD to put the Patriots up 24-7 at the half.
The only scoring in the second half would come from two Gotskowski FGs and the Patriots would go on to thump Minnesota by a 30-7 final for their first win of the 2014 regular season. Tom Brady would go 14-21 with 149 yards and a TD while Cassel went 19-36 with 202 yards, a TD, four interceptions and 6 sacks. Stevan Ridley led the Patriots ground attack with 25 rushes for 101 yards and a TD.
This Sunday will be the Patriot's home opener when they host the Oakland Raiders. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 and the game will be televised on CBS.
OTHER VIKINGS NEWS- The Patriots didn't have to face RB Adrian Peterson on Sunday. Peterson is facing felony child abuse charges in Texas after punishing one of his kids by hitting him with a tree branch. The boy's mother took him to a doctor where he described some of the marks as open wounds.
Although he was cleared to play in this weekend's game at New Orleans, the front office quickly did an about face and exepted him from team activities.
BOSTON RED SOX- Perhaps the most noteworthy event [at least from Boston's presepctive- NANESB] from this week's sweep of the Red Sox by the Pittsburgh Pirates is the MLB debut of Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo on Wednesday night, who went 1-4 in Boston's 9-1 loss to Pittsburgh. After the 3-game sweep the Pirates are just 2 and a half games behind St Louis in the NL Central and three and a half games ahead of Milwaukee for the second and final NL Wild Card berth. The Buck-os will host a pretty important series this weekend as the Brewers come to town to try and close the gap as time is running out on the regular season.
OTHER MLB NEWS- With just under two weeks to go, three teams have already clinched their respective divisions. The Nationals clinched the NL East with a 3-0 shutout over Atlanta while Baltimore clinched the AL East pennant with an 8-2 win over Toronto- both of these wins coming on Tuesday night.
The following night, the Angels shut out the Seattle Mariners by a 5-0 final- that alone wasn't enough for them to win the pennant, but players and savvy fans stuck around to watch the rest of the Rangers vs A's game on the stadium's jumbotron. The A's were nursing a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the 9th, but the Rangers scored 6 unanswered runs to go on an win by a 6-1 final. The loss gives the Angels the win and right now the best Oakland can do is hope for one of the remaining Wild Card spots [the Royals are a game ahead in the Wild Card chase while the Mariners are only a game behind the Athletics- NANESB!].
RED SOX- Now that the weekend series is overI can honestly say the highlight of this weekend's series at Fenway was Friday's pregame ring ceremony.
The ceremony featured members of the 2013 World Series champion Red Sox being awarded their rings, which also included a 'Boston Strong' insignia on the side and a Bearded Band of Brothers on the interior of the ring. On hand for the ceremony were Pedro Martinez representing the 2004 World Series Champs, Mike Lowell representing the 2007 World Series team, Ty Law, Teddy Bruschi and Troy Brown representing the Patriots Superbowl Champion teams, Mark Recchi of the Bruins most recent Stanley Cup Championship team and Leon Powe of the 2008 Celtics NBA Championship team. A moment of silence was held before the ceremony to mark the deaths of Boston firefighters- Edward Walsh and Michael Kennedy- who were killed in a Back Bay brownstone fire last week.
The Red Sox came into the weekend winning two straight against AL East foe Baltimore and Friday's game where it was tied 2-2 headed into the 9th inning, but offseason acquisition Edward Mujica came on in the top of the inning with a disastrous outing, surrendering four runs to propel the Brewers to a 6-2 lead before Francisco Rodriguez came out in the bottom of the 9th to retire the Sox in order to go on to win by a 6-2 final.
On Saturday, the Red Sox fared no better when they lost in 11 innings to the Brewers by a 7-6 final. Sunday was their last chance to avoid the sweep and stop the bleeding with Lester on the mound. However, Yovani Gallardo and the Brewers pen would shut out the Red Sox [Boston would strand 13 runners on base- NANESB!] and Milwaukee would ruin opening weekend for the Red Sox by sweeping the series, going on to win by a 4-0 final on Sunday.
The Red Sox will hope to rebound on Monday night when they host the Texas Rangers- the first AL opponent they will see in Fenway this season. John Lackey [1-0; 3.00 ERA] will get the start against Tanner Scheppers [0-0; 15.75 ERA] and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN as well as locally on NESN. First pitch from Fenway is scheduled for 7:10 ET.
BOSTON BRUINS- After the Detroit Red Wings handed the Bruins their first regulation loss in nearly a month on Wednesday night, the Bruins would lose to the Maple Leafs in OT on Thursday night before heading home for their next-to-last home game of the regular season on Saturday.
The Bruins headed into Saturday's game hoping to clinch the top overall spot in the Eastern Conference and deliver a blow to the Flyer's playoff hopes. David Krejci got the Bruins on the board with just over 4 minutes remaining in the first, but that was a prelude to wild second half in which the Flyers would get on the board with just under five and a half minutes to go in the second thanks to a Wayne Simmonds power play goal. However, the B's would come right back with a goal from Milan Lucic 20 seconds later to take a 2-1 lead. But in the closing seconds of the 2nd stanza, the Flyers would once again pull even with Jay Rosehill beating Rask with 21 seconds remaining.
However, the Bruins would take the lead for good in the third when they scored three unanswered goals (from Boychuck, Lucic and Kelly) to make it a 5-2 game. Tukka Rask made 24 saves on 26 shots faced while Ray Emery stopped 37 of 41 shots faced [Kelly's tally was an empty-netter which didn't count against Emery- NANESB!].
The Bruins will hit the road once again, this time to take on the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday and Thursday before heading back to the Garden on Saturday for the final home game of the regular season where they'll face the Buffalo Sabres. Tuesday night's game is scheduled to get underway at 8:00 ET and will be televised on NESN.
NCAA HOOPS- As you can probably figure out by what's absent from my blog this time of year, I haven't been into bracketology for awhile. But with March Madness whittled down to the final two- 2012 Champion Kentucky and UConn. The Huskies bested the Florida Gators to advance to the Men's final while the Wildcats squeaked by the Wisconsin Badgers in a one point game during the Final Four. Tipoff from Dallas is scheduled for 9:10 ET and the game will be televised on CBS.
Nobody could sum up my love of baseball better than the late Ernie Hariwell and the final portion of his 1981 Hall of Fame Induction speech.
The 2014 MLB Baseball season technically got underway last weekend in Sydney, Australia when the Los Angeles Dodgers took on the Arizona Diamondbacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground, sweeping the two-game series Down Under.
However, Sunday night marks the beginning of the 2014 season in the USA- the LA Dodgers will take on the San Diego Padres at PetCo park at 8:05 ET and the game will be televised on ESPN. The Dodgers come into Sunday's game already two games up on the Padres by virtue of the fact that the two games they played in Australia counted as regular season wins. LA's Hyun Jin-Ryu will get the start against San Diego's Andrew Cashner.
Closer to the Hub, the Boston Red Sox will embark on their defense of their 2013 World Series title at Baltimore's Camden Yards. Jon Lester will get the start against Chris Tillman in Baltimore's home opener, and the game will be televised on ESPN2 with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 ET. Once a perennial doormat in the AL East, Baltimore was the only opponent in the division to have a winning record against Boston in 2013 with an 11-8 record versus the BoSox.
The Red Sox home opener is set for Friday, April 4th and it will be interleague play right out of the gate when they host the Milwaukee Brewers. First pitch for the Fenway Park home opener is scheduled for 2:05 and the game will be televised on NESN.
RED SOX- After being shut out by the white-hot Rays on Monday night, the Red Sox saw their lead in the AL East whittled down to merely half a game heading into Tuesday night's contest.
Jon Lester- who was originally slated to start the Sunday night game against the Yankees- had his start pushed back two nights so he could get some additional rest. After opening up the game with a 1-2-3 inning, Lester gave up a leadoff homer to Will Meyers to give the Rays the early 1-0 lead in the top of the second. The Red Sox came back with a run of their own in the bottom of the 2nd thanks to a Mike Carp single after Rays starter Roberto Hernandez gave up singles to Ortiz and Napoli to start off the inning (although Big Papi was thrown out trying to advance to third), tying the game at 1-1. The Red Sox would take the lead in the bottom of the 3rd with runners on first and third and Big Papi at the plate. Pedroia would steal second and Rays catcher Jose Molina's throw hit Pedroia, allowing Victorino to score and giving Boston a 2-1 lead.
The Red Sox would pad their lead with a Pedroia sac fly in the bottom of the 5th to make it 3-1, which is just as well, since Evan Longoria blasted a solo homer to lead off the top of the 6th for the Rays to once again make it a one-run game. However, Boston would get some run support in the bottom of the 8th with two outs and two on when Stephen Drew hit an RBI single followed by a Jose Iglesias single that managed to clang off the gloves of Rays 3B Evan Longoria and SS Yuniel Escobar as two more runs came in for the Sox to give them a 6-2 lead [Even though it was officially scored a 2-RBI single, Iglesias alertly moved to third on the throw home which rolled to the dugout- NANESB!].
Koji Uehara came out in the top of the 9th and had a 1-2-3 inning to preserve the Boston win, and one night after being shut out by the Rays, the Olde Towne Team goes on to win by a 6-2 final. Lester goes 6⅓ innings, allowing 7 hits and two earn runs while striking out 8. Jose Iglesias went 1-4 with 2 RBI and Dustin Pedroia was 0-2 with 1 RBI on Tuesday night. The win by the Red Sox snaps a 6 game winning streak for Tampa Bay that carried over from the All Star where the Rays leapfrogged past the Yankees and Baltimore for 2nd place in the AL East.
The series continues Wednesday night at Fenway with Felix Doubront [7-3; 3.76 ERA] taking the mound against Tampa Bay's David Price [4-5; 4.03 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET and for the second time since Sunday, the game will be nationally televised on ESPN while the MLB Network and NESN will carry Thursday night's season finale.
Elise Amendola-AP
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- It's official.
Prior to last night's game, the Red Sox announced last night that Dustin Pedroia has signed an 8 year, $100 million contract extension that would keep the hard-charging second baseman in a Red Sox uniform through 2021. Peroia's current contract would have expired at the end of the 2014 season. The former Sun Devil was named AL Rookie of the Year in 2007 and AL MVP in 2008 in addition to two gold gloves and being selected to the All Star game twice.
Currently, Pedroia is batting .306 with 6 homers, 58 RBI and 14 stolen bases. Throughout his career, Pedroia has a .303 batting average with 96 homers and 116 stolen bases.
ELSEWHERE IN THE AL EAST- The Baltimore Orioles took a big step towards addressing one of their (few) weaknesses on Tuesday by acquiring Milwaukee Brewers closed Francisco Rodriguez in exchange for infielder Nick Delmonico from the Frederick Keys- Baltimore's Carolina League affiliate.
Rodriguez- aka "K-Rod"- is 1-1 with 1.09 ERA and has had 10 saves for the Brewers this season. K-Rod has been with Milwaukee since 2011
PITTSBURGH PIRATES- The resurgent Pirates got a scare in the 9th inning of Monday when closer and NL Saves leader Jason Grilli left the 9th inning of their game against the Washington Nationals. While the injury may not be as severe as the Pirates organization had feared, Grilli was put on the 15 DL with a strained right forearm on Wednesday.
On Monday night's game, Grilli allowed a leadoff walk to Washington's Adam La Roche in a 6-3 contest. This was followed up by a Jason Werth homer that made it a 1-run game. With one away, the Nationals Denard Span doubled off of Grilli before the Bucs closer got Nats catcher Wilson Ramos to strike out and was then pulled from the game. Vin Mazzaro then came on for Grilli and managed to get the final out, preserving the Bucs 6-5 win on Monday night.
After missing the playoffs for more than 20 straight years, the Pittsburgh Pirates have gotten off to a strong start both this season and in 2012. However, the second half of the Bucs 2012 campaign saw them gradually fade from playoff contention by Labor Day. Fans are hoping to avoid a repeat of last season's swoon in the Steel City. Currently, the Pirates are only a game and a half behind the St Louis Cardinals for the lead in the NL Central.
RED SOX- After a two day break that felt like a mini-offseason, the Red Sox (along with the rest of MLB) finally came out of the all-star break on Friday. Right out of the gate, the Red Sox would open up the second portion of their season with a series of pivotal matchups against opponents with the AL East matchup, starting with the Yankees on Friday night. Thanks to homers by Jacoby Ellsbury and Johnny Gomes and a solid 6⅓ innings from Felix Doubront, the Red Sox went on to win the series opener by a 4-2 final.
In Saturday afternoon, the Yankee's Hideki Kuroda pitched 7 shutout innings in New York's 5-2 win over Boston, setting up the rubber game of the series to be televised nationally on ESPN's Sunday night baseball with CC Sabathia going up against Ryan Dempster. I actually had some misgivings about that, considering the last time the Red Sox were on Sunday Night baseball, they were shut out by the Angels. But then again, I've pretty much had it with people who complain about Red Sox/Yankees games being nationally televised given how relatively few Red Sox games have been nationally televised this season.
The Yankees jumped on Ryan Dempster early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead by the second innings. Sabathia seemed to be cruising through the first couple of innings, but the wheels started to come off in the bottom of the 3rd. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the inning with a double and moved to 3rd on a sacrifice by Shane Victorino before coming home on a 1-out Pedroia RBI single to put the Red Sox on the board. Big Papi would then single, bringing up Mike Napoli- who knocked a 1-2 Sabathia offering clear out of the ballpark. Never mind Landsdowne Street- Napoli's 3rd inning blast likely came down on Elliot Street in Exeter, NH. The three run shot put the Red Sox up 4-3.
In the bottom of the 4th, Sabathia managed to load the bases with nobody out. Shane Victorino made him pay with a 2-RBI single to put the Red Sox up 6-3. Johnny Gomes led off the bottom of the 5th with a solo homer that cleared the Monster seats in left field to make it 7-3 Boston.
However, the Yankees whittled down Boston's lead to 5-7 in the top of the 6th with RBI singles from OF Brett Gardner and 2B Robinson Cano after chasing Dempster from the mound. The Bronx bombers then managed to tie the contest up 7-7 in the top of the 7th thanks to a costly throwing by Iglesias and Luis Cruz grounding into a fielder's choice with a runner on 3rd and only one out.
The Yankees bullpen, however was nearly perfect against the Red Sox after Sabathia left, giving up just one hit against Boston before forcing extra innings. In the top of the 11th, Pedro Beato came out of the pen for the Sox and got two quick popouts from Wells and Lilibridge before giving up a single to shortstop Eduardo Nunez. However, Saltalamacchia gunned down Nunez when he attempted to steal second to end the inning [even though it looked like Nunez had come in before Pedroia's tag and was safe on a replay- NANESB!].
Adam Warren came on in relief for the Yankees and got Pedroia to fly out and Big Papi to hit into the shift. It looked like Warren would have a 1-2-3 inning and had a 3-2 count on Mike Napoli when this happened:
And just in case I botched embedding the video, Mike Napoli belts a solo homer to the deepest part of the park to give Boston the 8-7 win over the Yankees in 11 innings. The win is Boston's 9th walkoff win of the season as the Red Sox take two out of three from the Yankees. Napoli went 2-6 with 2 HR and 4 RBI on the night while Shane Victorino would go 2-5 with 2 RBI and Gomes would go 1-4 with the solo homer.
It does not get any easier for the Olde Towne Team as the Red Sox get ready for a 4-game tilt with the Tampa Bay Rays, who come into Monday night's contest only a game and a half behind Boston for first in the AL East. After the Sox/Rays series at Fenway, the Sox will travel down to Baltimore for a weekend series against the O's.
Brandon Workman [0-0; 5.4 ERA] will see his first start since taking a no-hitter against the Oakland A's into the 7th inning prior to the All Star break while Tampa Bay sends Matt Moore [13-3; 3.44 ERA] to the mound on Monday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Shortstop Stephen Drew returned to the lineup on Saturday after being on the DL since June 28th. On Sunday night's game, Drew was 0-3 with a walk and a run scored.
EVEN MORE RED SOX NEWS- Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Red Sox are negotiating a record-breaking $100 million deal with second baseman Dustin Pedroia, making the gritty infielder the face of the franchise for the foreseeable future. Sources indicate both parties are open to a deal and it's just a matter of hammering out years and dollars. While nothing has been finalized, the deal could rival the 6 year $100 million contract that was agreed upon by the Tampa Bay Rays and Evan Longoria.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig announced the penalty Monday, citing Braun for multiple unspecified "violations" of baseball's drug program and labor contract. Braun will miss the Milwaukee Brewers' final 65 games without pay, costing him about $3 million of his $8.5 million salary.
Under the agreement reached by MLB and the players' association the specifics of Braun's admission won't be made public.
"We commend Ryan Braun for taking responsibility for his past actions," said Rob Manfred, MLB's executive vice president for economics and league affairs. "We all agree that it is in the best interests of the game to resolve this matter. When Ryan returns, we look forward to him making positive contributions to Major League Baseball, both on and off the field."
Union head Michael Weiner said in a statement: "I am deeply gratified to see Ryan taking this bold step. It vindicates the rights of all players under the joint drug program. It is good for the game that Ryan will return soon to continue his great work both on and off the field."
Braun's acceptance of a suspension marks a 180-degree turnaround from his defiant spring training news conference in Phoenix last year, after his 50-game ban was overturned.
Braun will be suspended the remainder of the season without pay- reportedly losing more than $3 million as a result. Braun will also miss the postseason, although since the Brewers are dead last in the NL Central and have the second worst record in the National League.
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, Oakland starting pitcher Bartolo Colon, Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz and Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta have also been implicated the Biogenesis Clinic scandal.
RED SOX- After a lackluster start to their road trip in which they dropped two out of three games to the Rangers earlier this week, the skid looked like it would continue with Boston dropping the opening game of their weekend series against the archrival Yankees in the Bronx thanks to a Curtis Granderson grand slam in the bottom of the 8th inning to put the exclamation point on a 10-3 Yankees win.
Saturday saw the Red Sox get out to 5-run lead against the Yankees only for the Bronx Bombers to again come back in the bottom of the 8th and knot things up at 6-6 on a two run homer from Mark Texiera. However, in the top of the 9th Red Sox got a runner on board with a one out walk to Jacoby Ellbusry. This was followed up by a Pedro Ciriaco triple to deep center to give the Sox the lead before Pedroia hit an RBI sac fly to bring Ciriaco home and make it an 8-6 Red Sox lead. Alredo Aceves then closed out the game with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to give Boston only their second win of the season against the Yankees.
For Sunday night's nationally televised game, Felix Doubront got the start against the Yankee's Hideki Kuroda. The Red Sox got on the board early with a 2-RBI double from Ryan Sweeney in the top of the first. Doubront would go 6 and a third innings, giving up four hits including a solo home run to Yankees catcher Russel Martin to pull the Yankees to within one run.
The bottom of the 8th inning would once again be problematic for the Red Sox, and more specifically Russel Martin who tied the game up with an RBI single off of Aceves to make it 2-2, forcing extra innings.
With nobody out and a runner on first in the top of the 10th, manager Bobby Valentine was ejected after arguing with the home plate over whether or not Will Middlebrooks was hit by a pitch, followed by Josh Beckett who was yelling at an umpire from the Red Sox dugout. After the umpires ruled that the ball Valentine thought had his Middlebrooks was a strike, the third baseman then singled. Sweeney then grounded into a fielder's choice, erasing Middlebrooks at second but advancing Saltalamacchia to third for Pedro Ciriaco, which led to this.
The Red Sox would take a 3-2 lead on a bloop single from SS Ciriaco before the 10th inning came to an end when Ellsbury grounded into a double play.
Still on the mound, Aceves would get the first two batters out before hitting Nick Swisher with a pitch. However, Aceves got pinch hitter Raul Ibanez to strike out and end the ballgame, giving the Red Sox their first series win over the Yankees in their three meetings this season. The win also gives the Red Sox a .500 record and muddies some of the speculation whether or not they'd be buyers or sellers by Tuesday's trade deadline. While the Red Sox are in last place in the AL East, they're only two games behind 2nd place Baltimore and conceivably within striking distance of a postseason berth under MLB's newly-expanded playoff format.
The Red Sox return to Fenway on Monday night to face the Detroit Tigers, who are currently 2nd place in the AL Central. Clay Buchholz [8-3; 4.93 ERA] will get the start against Max Scherzer [10-5; 4.49 ERA]. The game gets underway at 7:10 ET and will be televised on NESN.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Yahoo Sports columnist Jeff Passan is reporting that the Red Sox are shopping starting pitcher Josh Beckett around just prior to the trade deadline and have expressed a willingness to eat a portion of his contract as part of any trade. Although the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers have reportedly expressed interest, a trade isn't believed to be imminent.
OTHER MLB NEWS- The Milwaukee Brewers have traded starting pitcher Zach Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In return, the Brewers will get Angel's pitching prospects Ariel Pena and Johnny Hellweg in addition to shortstop Jean Segura.
Greinke made his first start with the Angles on Sunday afternoon as they hosted Tampa Bay in Orange County. Greinke went 7 complete innings, allowing two earned runs on while striking out 8. However, he was outduelled by the Rays' Jeremy Hellickson who threw 6 shutout innings, allowing just two hits in Tampa's 2-0 win.
OTHER BREWERS NEWS- Back in December 2011, ESPN reported that National League MVP Ryan Braun had tested positive for a banned substance. However, unnamed sources had claimed that while there were no traces of any performance enhancing drugs in a urine sample collected from Braun during the 2011 playoffs, there were elevated levels of testosterone, which were indicative of a banned performance enhancing drugs of growth hormone.
However, during Braun's appeal it was reported that the urine sample was improperly stored prior to testing, potentially rendering the sample useless. A second test of Braun yielded normal testosterone levels. After Braun's appeal, the mandatory 50-game suspension penalty was overturned, the fisrt such instance of that happening since MLB introduced their anti-doping program.
I belatedly bring this up because the sports media has been nowhere near as vocal in announcing the mishandled urine sample and other exculpatory information about Braun as they were when the positive test results were announced.
MINNESOTA TWINS- The Minnesota Twins have traded starting pitcher Francisco Liriano to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for infielder Eduardo Escobar and minor leaguer Pedro Hernandez.
Although it's somewhat unusual to trade within their own division, Liriano is in the last year of his contract with the Twins and was expected to leave a free agent at the end of the season.
SUMMER OLYMPICS: WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL- The USA Women's volleyball team managed to hold off a late rally from South Korea for their first game of the preliminary round. Although Team USA took the first two rounds, South Korea capitalized on some defensive miscues and won the third match while pressuring the USA in the following match. However, Team USA held on to win the decisive 4th round by a 21-25 final.
Destinee Hooker led the USA with 21 points while South Korea's Kim Yeong Koung had 29 points in the losing effort.
On Monday, the USA will face Brazil in a rematch of the gold medal game during the Beijing olympics.
SUMMER OLYMPICS: WOMEN'S SKEET- American Kimberly Rhode became one of the first Americans to win gold in London this year, making history in the process.
Rhode simply dominated in the gold medal round, hitting 99 out of the 100 targets she faced at the range on the grounds of the Royal Artillery Barracks on Sunday- a new Olympic record.
The California native also made history be becoming the first ever Olympian to medal in five consecutive Olympics, going back to a gold in the women's double trap event during the 1996 Atlanta games.
SUMMER OLYMPICS: SWIMMING- After failing to make the Olympic squad for the 2008 Beijing games, American swimmer Dana Vollmer won the first gold medal for Team USA women's swimming and Vollmer's first gold in an individual event.
The upstate New York native also set a new world record in the 100m butterfly, finishing in 55.98 seconds, a full second ahead of silver medal winner Lu Ying of China.
Vollmer is also expected to take part in the 4 X 200 freestlye relay later on in the Olympics.
OTHER SWIMMING NEWS- Perhaps the most surprising development in Team USA swimming is that favorite Michael Phelps, who had absolutely dominated in Beijing back in 2008, has been shut out of the gold medal count so far.
Teammate Ryan Lochte came away with the gold in the men's 400m individual medley on Sunday, with Brazil's Thiago Pereira taking Silver, Japan's Kosuke Hagino taking Bronze and Phelps finishing 4th in the event.
Phelps and Lochte did take the silver in the 4 X 100M Freestyle relay after France rallied to pull ahead in the event.
SUMMER OLYMPICS- BASKETBALL- Team USA [which is NOT the same as the 1992 'Dream Team' despite Kobe Bryant's insistence] blew by France in their opening game of the Olympics, winning by a final of 98-71. Kevin Durant led the scoring for team USA with 22 points and 9 rebounds on Sunday.
OTHER BASKETBALL NEWS- While it didn't take place in a medal game, this last-second heave by Australia's Belinda Snell should go down as the shot of the tournament.
Snell nailed the shot from half court with Australia down by 3 to France and with less than a second to go in regulation.
However, the Aussies would go on to lose to France by a 74-70 final in the overtime.
NHL- Free agent RW Alexander Semin has agreed to a 1-year $7 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. Semin had 21 goals and 33 assists with the Washington Capitols during the 2011-2012 season.
Last month, the Hurricanes traded away Brandon Suter, Brian Dumoulon and their 8th overall draft pick to Pittsburgh for Jordan Staal, younger brother of Hurricanes captain Eric Staal. Jordan had 25 goals and 25 assists with the Penguins last season.
BOSTON RED SOX- Well, if I'm going to pout and kvetch when the Sox get off to an 0-3 start, then I might as well savor their first win of the season.
After the disastrous sweep in Detroit that left many in Red Sox nation with the unshakable feeling that the sky is indeed falling, the Red Sox took their road trip across the river and some 200 miles up the MacDonald-Cartier highway to Toronto for what would be the Blue Jays home opener.
With the roof closed on the Rogers Centre during a rainy, windy Toronto evening and Felix Doubront on the mound for Boston, the Blue Jays got off to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd after Jays 2B Kelly Johnson was called safe on a close play at home and SS Yuniel Escobar was driven home on an Edwin Encarnacion RBI single. Those two runs notwithsanding, Doubront had a decent outing but was stymied by an apparent lack of offense until a solo home run in the top of the 6th by Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia to cut the Jays lead in half.
Doubront left after 5 innings of work- giving up 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks and striking out 6- and was replaced by Scott Atchison. Atchison would throw three shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three.
In the top of the 9th, the Jays sent Sergio Santos to the mound to close out the game. Pedroia led off the inning with a double and advanced to 3rd base on a passed ball, tying up the game when he came home on an Adrian Gonzalez sac-fly. Santos would then strike out Youlikis for the 2nd out, but walked DH David Ortiz and OF Cody Ross. Ortiz was lifted for pinch-runner Darnell McDonald and after OF Ryan Sweeney singled to shallow center, it looked as though Jays outfielder Jose Bautista's throw to home plate would cut down McDonald, except it clanged off the glove of catcher J.P. Arencibia to give Boston the 3-2 lead.
After what happened in Detroit on Sunday, understandably not everybody was comfortable with a mere 1-run lead. But Cody Ross would come home on a wild pitch by Santos to make it 4-2 Red Sox before walking C Saltalamacchia. Santos then got the hook and was replaced by Luis Perez who promptly got SS Aviles to hit into a fielders choice.
Alfredo Aceves would then come on for Boston to close out the game with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th, getting Lawrie, Thames and Arencibia out in order. Red Sox get their first win of the Valentine era by a 4-2 final and more importantly win their first AL East contest of the 2012 season.
Tuesday night's starter are going to be Daniel Bard for Boston and Kyle Drabek for Toronto. Bard had been previously assigned to the Sox bullpen and hasn't started a gmae since 2007 with the South Atlantic League's Greenville Drive.
MIAMI MARLINS- Not even a full week into the MLB season, Marlins Manager Ozzy Guillen has earned the enmity of south Florida's considerable Cuban expat community after comments about Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in a TIME magazine interview. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Venezuelan-born Guillen said-
"I respect Fidel Castro," Mr. Guillen was quoted as saying. "You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that mother f— is still here."
Miami is home to at least three generations of Cubans who have fled Castro's communist government which came to power after a lengthy civil war that toppled the Bautista regime. Immediately afterwards, Castro's government expropriated private property, arbitrarily executed 'counter-revolutionaries' and political opponents, jailed dissidents, outlawed opposition parties, took control of the press and heightened tensions in the Cold War by allowing Soviet bloc troops and armaments to be positioned in Cuba for a potential attack against the USA. Since Fidel and his brother Ramon took power, many Cubans have fled by boat to Florida, which is 90 miles to the north of Cuba's northern coast.
Although Guillen appeared with staunch Fidel Castro ally Hugo Chavez in 2005 and praised the socialist leader while returning to his native Venezuela after the Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series title, Guillen more recently was critical of Chavez's American allies such as actor Sean Penn.
Sean penn if you love venezuela please move to venezuela for a year
If I may play devil's advocate for a moment, I'm guessing Guillen was inarticulately attempting to express admiration for Castro's longevity and durability, not a proclamation of 'Gee! His style of governing is so awesome- can't wait to hop on the next flight to Havana and experience the squelching of free speech and noticeable lack of basic consumer goods myself!'. After all, if Guillen is into that, he could return to Venezuela at any time and experience those things himself thanks to the way Chavez has been running Venezuela for the last decade.
Guillen will be suspended for five games with pay and Guillen apologized to the community during an hour-long press conference. Guillen has been known for polarizing comments about immigrants and gays before arriving in Miami, and some are already calling for him to be fired. Whether or not Miami's Cuban community will let bygones be bygones will be reflected in how many seats are filled at the Marlins Little Havana ballpark for the remainder of the season. The Marlins are currently 2-3 and 3rd in the NL East.
However, what I do find abhorrent regarding Cuba is the institutional and supposedly educated left in this country embracing mass murderers like Che Guevara and giving dictators like Castro and Chavez a pass for detaining and executing political opponents while taking away so many basic freedoms from people in those nations. While you could honestly make the argument that Ozzy took one too many fastballs to the noggin or needs to cut back on his alcohol intake, there is no ambiguity or lack of clarity in their words when our 'betters' on the left when they say they want to see more Castro and Chavez-style totalitarian rule in the USA and for her citizens.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- This season has gotten off to a rough start for a pair of Hall Of Fame broadcasters.
The Milwaukee Brewer's longtime broadcaster Bob Uecker returned to the team over the weekend for the first time since the death of his 52 year old son Steve.
In a statement released by the Brewers, Uecker said his son had passed away at Milwaukee's Froedtert Hospital due to complications from San Joaquin Valley Fever- a fungus that infects the body after entering through the lungs.
Two years ago, Bob Uecker missed several weeks in the booth after undergoing heart surgery, returning later in the 2010 season. Also known as a pitchman for Miller Lite and appearances in sitcoms and the 1989 comedy Major League, Uecker was given the Ford C Frick by the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY and was enshrined as a broadcaster [while joking about how he never would've gotten in with his record as a catcher for the Braves during his Hall of Fame speech- NANESB!].
Meanwhile over in Los Angeles, the Dodgers announced that 84 year old Vin Scully would miss LA's home opener at Chavez Ravine due to a cold. The Dodger's statement said that doctors advised Scully to rest up, although he is expected to return soon.
Scully has been calling games for the Dodgers since 1950 when they were in Brooklyn and has been in the booth for such memorable baseball moments as Hank Aaron's 715th career home run, a battered Kirk Gibson hitting a walkoff home run in the 1988 World Series and four of Sandy Koufax's no-hitters.
In recent years, Scully has limited his travel with the team to away games in San Diego, Arizona and San Francisco, leaving the remainder of the play-by-play duties to former ESPN anchor Charlie Steiner.
Tuesday's home game would be the first home game that Vin Scully has missed since 1977 when he was in Augusta, GA calling the Masters golf tournament. It also marks the 50th anniversary of Dodgers Stadium.
NHL- No NHL hockey until Wednesday, but here are some TMZ pictures of Paulina Gretzky leaving a Los Angeles steakhouse while clad in what appears to be not much more than black lingerie and heels.
The Stanley Cup playoffs resume tomorrow with three games- none of them involving the Bruins, sadly. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh go at it in an intra-state matchup that gets underway at 7:30 ET on NBC Sports network. Detroit and Nashville will get underway at 8:00 ET on CNBC and the nightcap will consist of Los Angeles and Vancouver at 10:30- also on NBC Sports Network.
For awhile, the cheerleaders for the 4-8 Redskins had something to cheer about in Sunday's close contest with the New England Patriots. Scott Cunningham/Getty Images
NFL: The New England patriots managed to win their 5th game in a row on Sunday, holding off the Washington Redskins late in the 4th quarter at FedEx field in Landover, MD.
New England would take a 34-27 lead late in the 3rd on a Brady to Welker TD catch and run. After Redskins CB Josh Wilson picked off Brady in the end zone late in the 4th, the Redskins started out on their own 20 for their final possession, managing to march down inside Patriots 10 yard line on 10 plays in the span of 4 and a half minutes. However, just when the Redskins looked like they were going to punch it in the tie the contest up at 34-34, Washington QB Rex Grossman was picked off by LB Jerod Mayo with 22 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter, bringing Brady and the offense out to take a knee and preserve the 34-27 win.
Brady went 22-37 with 357 yards, 3 TDs and the late pick while the Redskins' Grossman was 19-32 with 2 TDs and an interception.
Rob Gronkowski had 6 catches for 160 yards and 2 TDs while Wes Welker caught 7 for 86 yards and 1 TD. Perhaps somewhat alarmingly, the Patriots allowed 463 total yards to the NFC East cellar-dwelling Redskins on Sunday, an clear indication they need to start getting their proverbial shit together ahead of Sunday's game at Mile High in Denver.
In a development that has no doubt shifted attention from why exactly the Bruins benched Tyler Seguin in Winnipeg last week, Tom Brady and offensive coordinator got into a shouting match over the late pick, although both parties insist that's behind them and they're focused on the Denver game coming up this weekend during separate press conference earlier this week.
We're at the flex-schedule portion of the NFL season, where they can slot a Sunday afternoon game into the Sunday Night Football slot on NBC if they feel the matchup would've been a bigger draw. With that in mind, I'm a little surprised that the Patriots and Broncos weren't bumped up to the prime-time Sunday night matchup [NBC had opted to stick with the originally scheduled Chargers vs Ravens game, which while decent, isn't as compelling as Brady and Tebow going head-to-head for the 1st time- even if you aren't a Broncos or Pats fan- NANESB!].
The game will kick off at 4:15 PM ET, 1:15 PM Pacific on CBS.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: With the Broncos come-from-behind performance against the Chicago Bears, I'm honestly a little surprised there isn't more buzz nationwide for this upcoming New England/Denver game.
After taking a 10-0 lead early in the 4th quarter thanks to a 57 yard Robbie Gould FG, the Bears would then go on to give up a TD and a 59-yard Matt Prater FG in the last two minutes and eight seconds of regulation to knot the contest up at 10-10 and force OT. Although the Bears would get the ball first in the OT, RB Marion Barber would fumble on the Broncos 38 yard line.
QB Tim Tebow would move the ball as far as the bears 34 yard line before kicker Matt Prater would split the uprights with a 51 yard FG to give Denver the 13-10 win in OT, good for their 6th straight and the AFC West lead.
KANSAS CITY: Former Patriots defensive coordinator and Cleveland Brown head coach Romeo Crennell has been named interim head coach of the Kansas City after the Chiefs fired head coach Todd Haley. Crennell had been the Chiefs defensive coordinator this season. AP Photo NCAA FOOTBALL: With nothing on the line other than bragging rights or pride, the NCAA regular season wrapped up on Saturday with the 112th Army-Navy game. Typically the teams meet in Philadelphia, but this season the game was played at FedEx Field in Landover, MD.
This year's game had a much more brisk pace to it and both offenses seemed to click, unlike in recent years where it was either a lopsided blowout or a defensive slog that could decided by a pivotal turnover or goal-line stand. Although Navy got out to a 14-0 lead before Army got on the board thanks to a 34 yard TD run by Black Knights QB Trent Steelman with 4 and a half minutes to go before the half before tying the contest up at 14-14 with 55 seconds to go in the half.
However, after tying the contest up in the 3rd at 21-21, Navy began to pull away with a pair of FG's in the 4th that were the difference makers. Although much closer than the previous couple of Army-Navy games, the end result is still the same. Navy goes on to win the Army-Navy game for the 10th year in a row by a final of 27-21. A side note of interest is that this is the last game before Navy QB Alexander Teich goes on to Navy SEAL training.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAAF: Coming off an impressive 5-game win streak, including upending the #5 Oklahoma Sooners, Baylor Bears QB Robert Griffin III was awarded the Heisman trophy this weekend. Griffin beat out early favorite Andrew Luck from Stanford for the honor. The 6ft 2 Junior had 3,998 yards and 36 TDs for the Bears this season, good enough for a 9-3 record and an invite to the Alamo Bowl where they will face the Washington Huskies on 12/29.
FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SUBDIVISION: Maine's Warren Smith threw for 2 TDs and 229 yards on Saturday against Georgia Southern in Statesboro, GA, but was picked off in the Black Bears 35-23 loss to Georgia Southern in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
This sets up a semifinal where Georgia Southern faces North Dakota State while Sam Houston State will face Montana to see who advances to the FCS title game in Frisco, TX on January 7th.
NHL: After snapping a 2-game losing streak in Columbus in a contest that saw Zdeno Chara leave with a lower body injury and Claude Julien pull Thomas for Rask after falling behind 2-0, the Bruins managed to go on and win (thanks in no small part to Joe Corvo) by a 5-3 final before returning to the garden to face the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday night. The Kings, with issues of their own, had fired head coach Terry Murray and were coming into Boston riding a 4 game losing streak.
Tuesday night's game was mostly Tukka Rask and Brad Marchand. Rich Peverly got the B's on the board in the 1st, beating Kings goali Jonathan Quick with 6:32 to go in the opening period before Marchand would thoughtfully add two more of his own- one in the 2nd and one in the 3rd- while Tukka Rask would stop all 41 shots he faced. Neither team converted on the power play and Quick would allow in 3 goals on 22 shots faced on the night.
So after losing two in a row, the Bruins have a modest 2-game win streak that they'll hoping they can add on to when they hit the road in Ottawa on Wednesday night.
OTHER BRUINS NEWS: Zdeno Chara is listed as day-to-day and may be out until Christmas with some sort of left knee injury. He's reportedly not travelling with the team to Ottawa, but is listed as day-to-day.
Center Zach Hammill was called up from the Providence Bruins on an emergency basis and was put into the 4th line, netting an assist in Tuesday night's shutout of LA.
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund have sold their majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to Rogers Sportsnet and Bell Canada for a whopping $1.3 billion. The partnership is an awkward one as Bell and Rogers are competitors in communications. Bell also owns a small part of the Montreal Canadiens on top of it all.
The recent lack of activity from Wayne Gretzky's loquacious (and hot) daughter's twitter account led to speculation that the Great One was forming a group to purchase the OTPPF's stake of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment and was trying to pre-empt any social-media meltdowns that would end up reflecting poorly on #99.
PITTSBURGH: Penguins star Center Sidney Crosby will reportedly miss additional time due to what's described as 'concussion-like symptoms'. Crosby hasn't seen ice-time since last weeks 3-1 home loss to the Bruins and reports are circulating that he may be out indefinitely.
NCAA HOOPS: With 9.4 seconds left to go in Saturday's #8Xavier/Cincinnati game, a melee followed when Xavier senior guard Tu Halloway taunted the Cincinnati bench. That led to a bench clearing brawl in which players from both teams punched, kicked, elbowed and stomped each other, some of them coming away with open gashes on their faces.
Each team has suspended 4 players and some are questioning the future of the crosstown rivalry.
SYRACUSE: A New York state prosecutor who interviewed two of assistant coach Bernie Fine's accusers says he found the men to be credible, but no action could be taken because the statute of limitations had passed. Two former ballboys for the Orangemen have accused Fine of molelsting them over an ongoing period and have recently filed suit against the University
MLB: National League MVP Ryan Braun has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and could face a fine and 50-game suspension if the initial findings are upheld, ESPN reports.
Braun is disputing the findings through arbitration and a spokesman said that 'Highly unusual cirumstances' surrounding his case will eventually prove his innocence.
NHL: Almost 16 years to the day that they last played each other in the old Boston Garden, the Winnipeg Jets came into Boston on Saturday evening.
The Jets got out to a fairly quick 2-0 lead about halfway through the 1st period, with goals from Evander Kane and Dustin Byfuglien less than 40 seconds apart. With about 3 and a half minutes to go in the first, Zdeno Chara got the Bruins on the board with a power play goal and Boston entered the 1st intermission trailing 2-1.
The Bruins would then go on to tie the contest up at 2-2 thanks to a shorthanded goal from Chris Kelly at the 7:28 mark, then take the lead on another Kelly tally at the 16:26 mark- this one was even-handed.
With the Jets still trailing with less than 2 minutes to go in the 3rd, the decision was made to pull goalie Ondrej Pavelec for the extra attacker, but Brad Marchand made them pay for that decision by getting an empty-netter almost as soon as Pavelec hit the bench to make it a 4-2 Bruins win.
Winnipeg's Onrej Pavelec stopped 32 of 35 shots faced (the empty-netter doesn't count) while Tim Thomas stopped 40 of 42 shots that the Jets put on goal Saturday night. C Chris Kelly came into the Saturday night game with 7 goals on the season and now has 9. Boston went 1 for 5 on the power play while Winnipeg went 0 for 4, including giving up a shorthanded goal to Chris Kelly.
Unlike 1996, the Bruins will see the Jets more than once this season. Since Winnipeg is still technically in the Eastern conference, they face each other at least 3 other times this season, with the next matchup coming on the road at Winnipeg's MTS Centre in about a week.
In the meantime, the B's have a home-and-away series with the Maple Leafs coming up beginning on Wednesday in the Garden and continuing Saturday night on the road in Toronto.
OTHER NHL NEWS: The Carolina Hurricanes have fired head coach Paul Maurice and are expected to replace him with former All-Star Kirk Muller. The announcement was made on Monday after Carolina had lost 10 of its last 13 games in the last month.
The announcement comes barely 90 minutes after the Washington Capitals announced that they had fired head coach Bruce Boudreau, reportedly replacing him with former Caps player Dale Hunter.
Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
NFL: Even with starter Micheal Vick out with fractured ribs, the Eagles were able to get out to a quick 10-0 lead against New England on Sunday. However, New England would come back to get on the board thanks to a sustained drive where Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis punched it in from the Eagles 4 yard line to close the first quarter trailing 10-7.
From the 2nd quarter on, it was basically all New England. The Pats first possession of the 2nd quarter was highlighted by a 63 yard quick strike between Brady and WR Deion Branch, where Branch was brought down at the Eagles 1 yard line only to have the law offices of Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis once again punch it in for New England to take the 14-10 lead.
From there on out, the Pats basically ran away with it, with the Eagles giving up a 41 yard pass and running play to WR Wes Welker and getting a Gostkowski FG for their last possession of the 1st half to send them to the locker rooms at halfine with New England up 24-13.
In the second half, the Eagles faithful began making themselves scarce as Brady and Welker connected for another TD while Wide Reciever-turned-defensive-back Julian Edelman made a key tackle on Eagles QB Vince Young to keep him outside of the end zone. Tom Brady went 24-34 with 361 yards and 3 TDs and rushing for 28 yards (his highest total since 2006) while Vince Young went 26-48 with 400 yards, a TD and an interception. Green-Ellis would have 44 yards and 2 TDs on 14 carries on the day.
The Patriots win this one pretty handily by a 38-20 final (and it wasn't even that close), setting up a Sunday afternoon showdown with the winless Indianapolis Colts next week.
OTHER NFL NEWS: Detroit Lions Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh was ejected from Thursday afternoon's Thanksgiving game between the Packers and Lions after stomping on Packers Center Evan Dietrich Smith long after the play was blown dead. Suh initially refused to apologize, until the Lions released a statement the following day calling his conduct 'unacceptable'. Green Bay would go on to win by a 27-15 final on Thanksgiving.
On Monday, Suh reportedly requested a meeting with NFL Comissioner Roger Goddell. A fine and suspension are expected to be handed down by the League this week.
NCAA FOOTBALL: The Rutgers Scarlet Knights headed into Saturday's game against the UConn Huskies hoping for a share of the Big East and hoping for an invitation to a BCS Bowl game.
The Huskies, however, had other plans. Getting out to the early 14-0 lead, the Huskies never really let up, taking a 24-10 halftime lead and going on to win by a 40-22 final over Rutgers. The win keeps 5-6 UConn's bowl hopes alive heading into the regular season finale against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday at noon eastern time. Should the Huskies go on to win, they will be the only bowl-eligible school from New England this year.
COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: Two New England schools from the Colonial Conference now find themselves in the FCS playoffs this month. On Saturday, the 8-3 Maine Black Bears will take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers while the UNH Wildcats will take on the Montana State Bobcats in Bozeman, MT.
ELSEWHERE IN THE CAA: UMass wrapped up what is likely their final home game in Amherst, Ma for the foreseeable future with an unceremonious loss to James Madison by a 34-17 final last weekend. Two days after the regular season finale, UMass atheltic director John McCutcheon fired head football coach Kevin Morris. The dismissal comes as UMass finished their final season in the Colonial conference with a 5-6 record.
The Minutemen are slated to appear in games against UConn, Michigan, Indiana and Venderbilt as well as conference opponents from the Mid America conference (no word on if any matches with Temple are in the mix) for the 2012 season.
OTHER NCAA FOOTBALL NEWS: The Ohio State Buckeyes announced the hiring of former Florida head coach Urban Meyer on Monday afternoon. The announcement comes just days after the 6-6 Buckeyes 34-40 loss to #17 Michigan to wrap up their regular season- one of the few 'rivalry' games from Saturday that was actually close.
MLB: Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun was announced as the National League MVP last week, beating out Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Braun had a batting average of .332 with 33 homers and 111 RBI's during the 2011 season. The Brewers also won the NL Central pennant while the Dodgers missed the postseason altogether, a factor that Braun himself felt influenced the outcome of the MVP voting.
ST LOUIS CARDINALS: Who would've thought it? As a reminder that Boston's September collapse wasn't the only late 2011 implosion, the St. Louis Cardinals found themselves trailing the Atlanta Braves by 10 ½ games on August 25. One month later, they narrowed the deficit down to one game on September 25- with only three games against the Houston Astros remaining in the regular season. The Cards took two out of the three against Houston while the Braves would ultimately get swept by Philadelphia.
After dispatching the NL-best Phillies in the NLDS, a matchup with division rival (and 1982 World Series opponent) Milwaukee Brewers was in the works. After splitting the first two games at Milwaukee, the NLCS moved back to St Louis where the Cards took 2 out of three. The series headed back to Milwaukee's Miller Park on Sunday evening in a do-or-die game for the Brewers. Almost immediately, things broke the Cards way when Shaun Marcum gave up a 1-out RBI to OF Lance Berkman before walking 1B Albert Pujols before giving up a 2-run blast to 3B David Freese to put St Louis up on to 4-0 right away.
In the bottom of the 1st, Corey Hart would deliver a leadoff homer to get the Brewers on the board, but Milwuakee would be playing catch-up all night as the Cardinals continued adding to their lead. Marcum would only pitch the one inning for Milwaukee as the Brewers went to the bullpen early and often.
St Louis wins this one pretty convincingly- by a 12-6 final and with National League Championship Series MVP David Freese going 3-4 with the early home run to bury the Brewers and a total of 3 RBI in Game 6. This would be the Cardinals 18th National League Penant and sets up an October 19th meeting at Busch Field with the American League Champion....
TEXAS RANGERS: And this one was over pretty early in Arlington, with Texas exploding for nine runs in the bottom of the 3rd after the Tigers took an early 2-0 lead. That kind of offense makes it hard to summarize or highlight just one batter, but infielder Micheal Young went 3-6 with a home run, 5 RBI and 2 runs scored on Saturday night while eventual ALCS MVP would go 2-4 with a home run and 2 RBI. Cruz had earlier left his mark on the series by winning Game two in extra innings with the postseason's first ever walk-off grand slam.
The Rangers win Game 6 by a 15-5 final and advance to their 2nd consecutive World Series.
RED SOX: Stop me if you've heard this one before-
Q: What's the difference between the 2011 Red Sox and the movie Unstoppable?
A: One was a giant train wreck that took out everything in its path and the other had Denzel Washington on a locomotive.
Henry denied that the front office circulated the rumors about Francona that were seemingly singlehandedly designed to limit his managerial career prospects after leaving Boston. Henry said he also expressed reservations over the signing of Outfielder Carl Crawford to a big contract, but deferred to then GM Theo Epstein.
“The time has come in my life to let go of some of my father’s awards and personal memorabilia,” Claudia Williams said in a prepared statement.
“The reality is these items have remained locked away in a storage unit where his deserving fans and esteemed collectors are denied the right to enjoy them and share in a piece of American history.”
In the middle of the Hoover High gymnasium, beneath the words HOOVER LEGENDS, is a picture of Williams, Class of ’37, following through on his sweet left-handed swing.
Nicknamed “The Splendid Splinter” because of his tall, lean physique, Williams was the last player in the major leagues to hit .400, batting .406 in 1941. He was 21, only four years removed from Hoover.
He won six batting titles, including the last in 1958 when he was 40, making Williams the oldest player to win a batting title. Of the 24 players to hit 500 or more home runs, Williams owns the highest lifetime batting average, .344.
Also nicknamed “The Kid” and “Teddy Ballgame,” Williams died in 2002. He was 83.
Hunt Auctions, based in Exton, Pa., will handle the selling of Williams’ memorabilia. Company President John Hunt said Williams’ collection will earn “a significant amount of money, well into multiple six figures.”
“These items are worth what anybody will pay for them,” Hunt said. “There’s an enormous amount of emotion involved when you have a player as significant as Ted Williams. He’s a 20th century American icon. Sometimes you can throw the price tag out the window.”
Figler estimates Williams’ 1949 MVP plaque will draw bids in excess of $100,000.
“There will be a bidding war for something like that,” Figler said. “When the dust settles, probably that plaque could easily go for $100,000. You have a lot of Ted Williams fans out there.”
Included in the baseball collection to be auctioned are Williams’ Hall of Fame ring and a baseball signed by Ruth and given to Williams.
[San Deigo County Resident and memorabilia collector Jeff] Figler estimates the ring could attract a $100,000 bid and the Ruth autographed baseball $75,000.
Williams finished his career with 521 home runs, despite missing three full seasons and the majority of two more seasons in the prime of his career while serving as a Navy flight instructor during World War II and later flying more than 30 missions during the Korean conflict.
Williams’ military record adds to his lore. Among the items to be displayed at the Hall of Champions will be one of his aviator manuals, complete with Williams’ handwritten logs.
A famed outdoorsman, particularly noted for his fishing prowess, Williams was inducted into the Fishing Hall of Fame. Some of his rods and fly reels will be auctioned.
“We are honored to be involved with Ted Williams and his family,” Hunt said. “Claudia wanted his collection to be seen by fans who can’t attend the auction. And she wanted them to be seen first in San Diego, his hometown.”
The collection will start out in William's hometown of San Diego, CA then be displayed in another city (yet to be named) before the items go up for auction.
NFL: Talk about your last-minute men!
I gave up on knocking Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, not because I have a newfound respect for him or the Cowboys organization but because I couldn't think of anything derogatory that thymes with 'Romo'.
Why is it that when the Patriots manage to build up a late lead, I get nervous if they don't keep adding to it or have to punt at some point? Yet when they're trailing by less than a touchdown late (OK, VERY late), I hardly bat an eyelash.
The Cowboys came into Gillette stadium on Sunday for the late afternoon game against New England, and this one turned out to be a surprisingly low-scoring affair with plenty of turnovers and both teams having a difficult time finding the end zone- particularly in the 2nd half.
Still, trailing 16-13 with 2:31 to go in regulation, the Patriots got the ball back on their own 20 and- perhaps to nobody's surprise- Brady began methodically moving the ball downfield with short quick passes to Wes Welker (as well as Gronkowski and Woodhead) in the face of pressure from Dallas before almost casually connecting with Aaron Hernandez from the Dallas 8 yard line for the go-ahead TD to pur New England on top by a score of 16-20 with all of 22 seconds remaining in the game.
Dallas would get the ball back on their own 20 with almost as many seconds remaining, and Romo would succeed in moving the ball down to mid-field with enough time for a hail-mary pass that was ruled incomplete (plus out of bounds and possibly intercepted if not incomplete) for New England to hand on and win by the 16-20 final.
Brady went 27-41 with 289 yards, 2 TDs and 2 interceptions while Romo threw for the same amount of completions/attempts, with a TD and interception on 317 yards. Pats finish this one strong heading into their bye week before travelling to Pittsburgh to take on the defending AFC Champion Steelers (currently 4-2) the day before Halloween. With a Buffalo loss and the winless Miami Dolphins and 2-3 Jets taking each other on for Monday night, the Patriots currently sit alone atop the AFC East.
The 33 year old British driver had previously won the Indy 500 in 2005 and was named IRL's top rookie driver in 2003.
I don't normally follow motorsports, but I remember Dale Earhhardt's death in 2001. The crash seemed pretty tame by NASCAR standards, where its not uncommon to have massive, firey collisions with cars bouncing off the track walls like ping pong balls only to have the respective drivers climb out unscathed and walk away. This was nothing like the crash that killed Dale Sr. Many veteran Indycar drivers (including those involved in the crash) said it was the worst they had ever seen or been involved in.
Wheldon was 33 years old. He leaves behind his wife Susie and sons Sebastian (age 2) and Oliver (7 months).
NHL: After scuffling a bit (or mightily, depending on your willingness to panic), The Boston Bruins travelled to the Windy City for an early season contest that would pit the last two winners of Lord Stanley's Cup against each other. After the Blackhawks got out to the early 1-0 lead, Chris Kelly would knot things up at 1-1 early in the 2nd period thanks to a shorthanded tally that found its way past Chicago netminder Corey Crawford. However, Chicago would get the lead right back after a Patrick Kane tally not even two minutes later. Nathan Horton would tie things up to force OT and after 5 scoreless minutes in the OT, force a shootout.
As much as we all love Tim Thomas, remember how seeminlgy awful he was in the shootout last year? Spectuacular in regulation and the OT, but almost like the tin man in The Wizard of Oz before Dorothy found the oil can once the shootout got underway.
That wasn't the case Saturday night. Thomas turned aside all three shots faced in the shootout while Tyler Seguin would be the only one to get one past Crawford, which gave Boston the 3-2 win on the road.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins (nope...not getting tired of saying that) next game will take place at home against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
NCAA FOOTBALL: Although they came into East Hartford sporting the better record, Big East opponent South Florida was still looking for their first conference win. And after Saturday's game, they can keep on looking. Even though UConn didn't score an offensive TD. Rather, the Huskies got on the board with three Dave Teggart FG's but were still trailing 10-9 in the 3rd with South Florida deep in their own end. USF Running Back Darrell Scott fumbled the ball on the Bulls own 10 yard line and the Huskies Byron Jones was able to run it back for the Huskies only TD of the game, enough to give them the 16-10 win after stopping the Bulls on a key 4th down late in the game.
The Huskies (3-4) will have a bye (of sorts) next weekend befor taking on the Pitt Panthers (3-4) at Heinz Field on the evening of Wednesday, October 26th. Kickoff is scheduled for 8PM ET.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: OK- it's officially getting ridiculous now.
Boise State jumped from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West this year while the Nevada Wolfpack and Fresno State Bulldogs are expected to follow suit in 2012. However, the Mountain West lost two football programs beginning this season when Utah made the move to the former Pac-10 (now Pac 12) and Brigham Young struck out on its own as an independent program. The merger talks have some observers wondering whether schools like Boise State or Air Force Academy will end up leaving the Mountain West if they do end up merging with Conference USA.
A name for the conference hasn't been finalized yet.
COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOSCIATION: The UMass Minutemen, themselves destined for a bump up to the FBS, have won two in a row by jumping out early in front of Delaware and hanging on to win by a final of 21-10 on Saturday.
This sets up a meeting with the UNH Wildcats at Amherst on Saturday with a 3:30 PM kickoff. New Hampshire is sporing a similar 4-2 record as UMass, but won last year's clash with the Minutemen by a 39-13 final.
NFL- Oakland Raiders owner and former AFL commissioner Al Davis passed away at the age of 82 on Saturday. Born in Brockton, MA and growing up in Brooklyn, Davis would graduate Syracuse and start his coaching career with Adelphi college and the US Army. In 1962, he was hired as the head coach for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League, leading them to their first ever winning season in 1963 with a record of 10-4.
Davis was also briefly the AFL commissioner in 1966 and was against the proposed merger of the AFL and NFL. After stepping down as commissioner a few months later, Davis would return to the Raiders and purchase a 10% stake in the organization, gradually increasing his holdings over the next few seasons until he head near-total control of the organization.
In 1982, he moved the Raiders from Oakland to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving the team back to Oakland in 1995 after a dispute with Los Angeles over expansion at the Coliseum. The city of Oakland spent nearly $200 million in refurbishing the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to accommodate the move.
The Raiders have seen only limited success since moving back to the Bay area, with their last playoff (and Super Bowl) appearance taking place in 2002 and a seemingly non-stop coaching carousel taking place each season.
While the team is expected to stay in Davis' family, there are rumors circulating that his heirs would be more receptive to a possible return to L.A.
PATRIOTS: Under Rex Ryan, there seems to be this pattern of the Jets talking all sorts of shit in the week leading up to a game against the Pats and then falling flat on their face. The New York tabloids and ESPN seem to love it, but the Patriots and their fans find it about as intimidating and endearing as a shrill, yippy little chihuahua circling and barking.
More often than not, I DO enjoy what comes afterwards. Of course, before the most recent Jets-Patriots game, its worth noting that the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins paid a visit to Gilette Stadium with the coveted trophy for a pregame ceremony (as well as the team posing with owner Robert Kraft and the three Vince Lombardi trophies as well as Lord Stanley's Cup).
Once it got underway, Sunday afternoon's game saw the New York Jets put up only 255 yards against the New England defense and Tom Brady going 24 for 33 with 321 yards and a TD as well as a pick. Antonio Cromartie ran back the Brady INT for about 40 yards to finish up the first half of the game. New England headed in with a 10-7 lead (they were poised for more until Cromartie's pick) and after getting a TD on their opening drive of the 2nd half, the Pats made it a 17-7 game, but the Jets came right back and made it a 17-14 game after Mark Sanchez completed to WR Jeremy Kerley.
However, that would be as close as the Jets would get as a 4 minute Patriots drive taht started on their own 23 was capped by a short Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis TD run late in the 3rd. The law offices of Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis had 27 rushes for 136 yards and 2 TDs while the team donned the old-school red jerseys and Patriot Pat helmets.
No Vince Wilfork INTs run back this week, but we're not even halfway through the season and considering he already has two more than his career total so far, it's probably best if the big guy paces himself.
Next week will see the 2-2 Dallas Cowboys in Foxboro with a 4:15 ET kickoff. The Cowboys are coming off their bye week and this weekend's game will be televised on FOX.
OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS: Make way for another Gronkowski! The Patriots signed TE Rob Gronkowski's older brother Dan to play tight end. Dan saw action in 12 games last season with the Denver Broncos.
MLB: The two NLDS game Fives were decided by a pretty close margin heading into last weekend. In Milwaukee, Brewers OF Nyjer Morgan's 10th inning walkoff RBI single sent the Diamondbacks packing while in Philadelphia, Chris Carpenter sent the National League team with the best record home thanks to a complete game 3-hit shutout of Philadelphia, setting up an all-midwest NLCS.
The Brewers came from behind to win Game 1 on Sunday, winning by a 9-6 final after a huge 6-run 5th inning. However, Monday night's game was all St. Louis with the Cards winning by a lopsided 12-3 final.
Game 3 is set to take place on Wednesday in St. Louis with a first pitch at 8:05 ET on TBS. The Cards' Chris Carpenter is set to go up against the Brew Crew's Yovani Gallardo.
Over in the ALCS, the Texas Rangers seemed to have little trouble handling the Detroit Tigers in Arlington. Game 1 was pretty close, with Detroit clawing their way back prior to a rain delay with the bases loaded, but the Rangers were able to get out of the jam and hang on to win by a 3-2 final.
The series headed to Detroit with the Tigers down 0-2, losing in dramatic fashion thanks to a Nelson Cruz walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 11th- the first ever walkoff grand slam in postseason history.
However, the home cookin' at Comerica park seemed to be working for the Tigers on Tuesday night. In his first start since sending the Yankees packing in Game 5 of the ALDS in the Bronx, Tigers starter Doug Fister would go 7 ⅓ innings, giving up 7 hits and two earned runs. Victor Martinez would get the scoring started for Detroit with a solo homer to tie the game at 1-1 before Miguel Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta and Austin Jackson would go on to give Fister additional run support in the Tigers 5-2 win on Tuesday night.
Texas still leads the ALCS two games to one, with game 4 set to get underway at 4:19 PM ET. Rick Porcello is slated to start against the Ranger's Matt Harrison with the game to be televised on FOX TV.
NHL: After winning their first game of the season against Tampa Bay over the weekend, the Bruins gave Tim Thomas the day off as the defending Stanley Cup champions hosted the Colorado Avalanche.
Tukka Rask showed little signs of rust from the offseason in Monday afternoon's game, but Milan Hejduk buried one past Rask in the 3rd to give Colorado a 1-0 lead while Avs netminder Seymon Varlamov stopped all 30 shots he faced to preserve the lead and the Avalanche win.
The Bruins will hit the road on Wednesday to take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The game will be televised on Versus and gets underway at 7:30 PM ET. The Bruins will reportedly be playing without C David Krejci, who injured his leg in practise on Tuesday afternoon.
OTHER BRUINS NEWS: The team announced on Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with C Rich Peverly on a 3 year extension of his contract. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: After a 15 year hiatus, NHL hockey has returned to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The new-look Jets started off their 2011-2012 season at Winnipeg's MTS Centre on Sunday with a 'sloppy' 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The former Atlanta Thrashers are idle until Thursday when they travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks.
NBA: In the midst of a protracted labor dispute between players and owners, League Commissioner David Stern has cancelled all preseason games and the first two weeks of the regular season.
The impasse is prompting a number or players to entertain offers from overseas clubs, the most notable of which is reportedly the owner of Italian club Virtus Bologna aggressivley looking to sign NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Manu Ginobli.
NCAA FOOTBALL: Looks like my dire-but-realistic predictions regarding Boston College and UConn's respective games against to 25 opponents came true over the weekend. The BC Eagles managed to avoid a shutout, but were downed by the Clemson Tigers by a 36-14 final while in Morgantown, WV, the Mountaineers downed UConn by a 43-16 final on Saturday.
The 2-4 Huskies will next host the University of South Florida on Saturday afternoon at East Hartford while Boston College (mercifully) has a bye this weekend, but will resume in Blackburg against #19 Virginia Tech (currently 5-1) on October 22nd. Between now and then, the Hokies have a game against the 4-1 Wake Forest Demon Deacons, who are undefeated (3-0) against ACC opponents this season.
NCAA HOCKEY: Unlike the struggling football team, the Boston College men's hockey team is off to a promising start after the previous weekend's Break the Ice tournament in Grand Forks, ND. The BC Eagles notched a 5-2 win over the Michigan State Spartans and capped the tournament with a 6-2 win over #3 North Dakota.
On Friday, the BC Eagles will host Denver before travelling to the Granite State to take on the UNH Wildcats on Saturday.
