MLB- Cole Hammels started it and former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon sealed the deal.
Early in the game, it seemed more of a question of how long would Phillies starter Cole Hammels last, let alone when the Braves would get their first hit as Hammel's pitch count rose early.
The Phillies got on the board with a RBI sac fly from Ben Revere in the top of the 3rd while Jimmy Rollins had an RBI triple to give Hammels some run support. What made this an unlikely no-hit bid was that the Braves got five baserunners on via the walk and had driven up Cole's pitch count to 108 pitches as he left the game after 6 innings with Philly up 2-0, so at the time it wasn't even a sure thing Hammel's would get the win, let along the no-hitter remaining intact. However, Philly was able to break the game open against Atlanta starter Julio Teherán thanks to a 2-out bases loaded triple from Ben Revere to clear the bases and give the Phils a 5-0 lead.
Meanwhile, relievers Jake Diekman and Ken Giles came out of the Philadelphia pen in the bottom of the 7th and 8th innings respectively and sent the side down in order.
In the top of the 9th, it was once again Ben Revere who was providing the Phillies with the offense with a 1-out RBI single. With the bases loaded, Ryan Howard drew a walk to bring the second run of the inning to put the Phils up 7-0.
For the bottom of the 9th, closer Jonathan Papelbon got pinch hitter Jose Constanza to fly out to left, Chris Johnson to ground out to first and Phil Gosselin to line out to first to complete the no-hit bid.
This is the fourth no-hitter of the 2014 MLB season and the first that wasn't from an NL West club [the other three this year belong to Clayton Kershaw and Josh Beckett of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants- NANESB]
BOSTON RED SOX- With any realistic postseason aspirations for the defending World Series champions pretty much gone by the time the calendar flipped from July to August, the final month of the 2014 Red Sox is basically an open tryout for a shot at the 2015 roster. While the rosters expanded on September 1st, some of the names called up from Pawtucket [Christian Vasquez, Brock Holt, Rubby De LaRosa, Mookie Betts, Anthony Ranaudo, etc etc- NANESB!] are already names quite familiar to some of the Fenway faithful thanks to trades and injuries.
However depleted this iteration of the Red Sox are, Red Sox Nation naturally wants to see Boston do their part to extinguish the already dimming playoff hopes of the New York Yankees and had a chance to do exactly that when Red Sox starter Joe Kelly would go up against New York rookie Shane Green.
After Brock Holt lined out to open the game up, Mookie Betts singled and Green walked David Ortiz to put runners on first and second with only one away. Yoenis Cespedes then brought home Betts on an RBI double while Big Papi moved up to 3rd. Napoli then hit a sac fly deep enough for Ortiz to lumber home on to give Boston a 2-0 lead. Daniel Nava was then hit by a Green pitch before the inning ended with Will Middlebrooks caught looking at strike three.
The Yankees started off their half of the first with Ellsbury, Jeter and Brett Gardener going down in order. In the top of the second, Green appeared to have settled down some- after allowing a leadoff single to Xander Bogaerts, Green got David Ross to strike out, Brock Holt to line out to right and Betts to line out to center.
For the 3rd, Big Papi led off with a flyout to left, but Cespedes quickly followed that up with a single to left and Napoli was walked afterwards to put two runners on with Daniel Nava in the batters box with only one out. That set up this beauty
With only 1 away, Nava put the Red Sox up 5-0 with a homer that travelled 375 feet to right field. This was immediately followed by Middlebrooks striking out looking for out number two. But the scoring would continue as Bogaerts belted a solo homer into the Yankees bullpen to make it a 6-0 Red Sox lead.
The Red Sox would go on to cruise [relatively speaking- NANESB!] against the Yankees, winning by a 9-4 final. Joe Kelly would throw 6⅔ innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out six in what would be his first win since being traded to Boston by the Cardinals. Tommy Layne and Koji Uehara would come out of the bullpen and only alow one more run from the Yankees. Bogarts would go 4-5 with a homer and 2 RBI while Daniel Nava would go 2-3 with a homer and 3 RBI.
Wednesday night's game will have the Yankees Hiroki Kuroda [9-8; 3.88 ERA] going up against Anthony Ranaudo [3-0; 4.50 ERA]. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN [for some inexplicable reason- NANESB!] and first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET. The Yankees come into Wednesday night's game nine games out of first in the AL East and five games out of the final wild card spot.
RED SOX WEST OAKLAND ATHLETICS- The Oakland A's weren't done wheeling and dealing just yet, as it turns out. On Sunday, the Oakland A's announced they had acquired DH Adam Dunn from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Nolan Sanburn and cash considerations. Dunn had also announced that he would retire at the end of the 2014 season, making this pennant chase his last.
With the White Sox, Dunn was batting .220 with 20 homers and 54 RBI this season. Upon arriving in Oakland, Dunn made an immediate impression in his first at-bat, belting a 2-run homer in the bottom of the first in the Labor Day game against Seattle which the Athletics would go on to win by a 6-1 final. However, not all is well with the A's....who were the runaway favorites to cruise to the AL West pennant earlier this year. Oakland has only won two of their last nine games- all of them against AL West opponents- and were shut out for 29 consecutive innings in a pivotal 4-game series against the Angels.
Since 2000, Dunn has hit 461 homers in his career with the Reds, Diamondbacks, Nationals and White Sox- only David Ortiz and Albert Pujols have hit more.
RED SOX- Never mind remaining members of the 2004 or 2007 World Series team on the Boston Roster- after the July 31st trade deadline, the 2014 iteration of the Boston Red Sox is now quite unrecognizable from last season's World Series champions.
After getting out to a 4-0 start immediately after the All Star break- including a sweep of the resurgent Kansas City Royals- the Red Sox fleetingly looked like contenders in the AL East. However, after a convincing 14-1 win against the Toronto Blue Jays last week, the Red Sox lost eight of their last nine games- all of them within the AL East. On Saturday, the Red Sox traded starter Jon Lester to San Francisco for minor league pitchers Heath Hembree and Edwin Escobar. Following that, Boston sent Felix Doubront to the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later.
But the Peavy and Doubront transactions were mere appetizers to the main course for Thursday. The first big deal of the MLB non-waiver trade deadline had the Red Sox dealing ace pitcher Jon Lester and OF Jonny Gomes to the Oakland A's for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes [.256, 17 HR and 67 RBI] and Oakland's competitive balance pick in the 2015 MLB draft. The trade sends Boston's homegrown ace to Oakland as what is essentially a rental for the AL West leader's pennant run and raises questions to where Lester will end up at the end of the season when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Currently, the A's [who have a number of former Red Sox players and prospects on their roster before this transaction even took place- NANESB!] lead the AL West over the Angels by two games and have the best record in the big leagues at 66-41. Earlier in the week, there were reports that the Mariners, Pirates, Orioles and Cardinals were in talks with Boston to acquire Lester, all of them given even more credence when Lester was scratched from Wednesday night's game against the Blue Jays and Brandon Workman made the start in his place.
However, the wheeling and dealing by Cherrington wasn't done yet. After the Lester deal was announced, starter John Lackey and minor league pitcher Corey Littrell were sent to the St Louis Cardinals- their opponent in the 2004 and 2013 World Series- for right-handed starter Joe Kelly [2-2; 4.37 ERA] and outfielder Allen Craig [.237, 7 HR and 44 RBI].
Following that up, the Red Sox sent relief pitcher Andrew Miller to Baltimore in return for minor league pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez and SS Stephen Drew was sent to the Yankees in return for infielder Kelly Johnson, who is currently on the DL but is expected to play at 3rd while Bogaerts may end up moving back to shortstop.
The Miller and Drew transactions surprised me not so much that they departed, but that Cherrington was willing to trade within the division- although Johnson represents a slight upgrade offensively from Drew. With Jeter playing the rest of the season (his final season, no less) at shortstop for the Yankees, Drew is expected to play second after the Yankees after the Bronx Bombers designated 2B Brian Roberts for assignment.
Interestingly, Drew won't even have to leave Boston right away- just use the visitor's clubhouse at Fenway for this weekend's upcoming series between the Yankees and Red Sox. Game 1 gets underway on Friday night and will have former Red Sox reliever Chris Capuano [1-1; 4.30 ERA] going up against PawSox callup Anthony Ranaudo, who is making his MLB debut for Boston. Ranaudo has spent the entire 2014 season in Pawtucket and has a 12-4 record and 2.41 ERA with the PawSox. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN as well as the MLB network in some markets.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Not to be outdone by the A's acquisition of Jon Lester, the Detroit Tigers acquired Tampa Bay Rays starter David Price in a 3-way deal that was announced with less than 40 minutes to go before the trade deadline.
In return for getting David Price, the Tigers sent OF Austin Jackson to Seattle and left handed pitcher Drew Smyly and minor league infielder Willy Adames to Tampa Bay. Seattle sends 2B Nick Franklin to Tampa to complete the deal.
The acquisition of Price gives Detroit no fewer than three Cy Young winners in their starting rotation with Price, Verlander and Max Scherzer. Since Price isn't a free agent until after the 2015 season, this also gives Detroit some flexibility with Scherzer, who becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
RED SOX- After taking two out of three from the Yankees in the Bronx to wrap up the month of June, the Red Sox managed to win exactly one game in Fenway last week, getting swept by the Cubs [and barely avoided being no-hit in the opening game of the series- NANESB] and dropped two out of three against Baltimore over the 4th of July weekend.
The opening game of this week's series against that other Chicago team [y'know, the one that had actually won a world series in the last 106 years- NANESB!] got off to a less-than-promising start when the ChiSox shut out Boston by a 4-0 final in Monday's opening game. On Tuesday, the Red Sox managed to get on the board, but Chicago erupted for a big 9th inning to put the game away and beat Boston by a 8-3 final.
On Wednesday, the White Sox once again jumped out to an early lead and were cruising along with a 4-0 advantage in the top of the seventh inning, but the Red Sox got on the board with an RBI single from Dustin Pedroia and RBI doubles from David Ortiz and Jonny Gomes to cut the Chicago lead to 4-3.
The bottom of the 9th started off with Jackie Bradley Jr being retired on a pop foul. With one away, Pawtucket callup Mookie Betts- who made his MLB debut in the June 29th game against the Yankees- was hit by a pitch and was on first when Daniel Nava stepped into the batter's box to pinch hit for Christian Vasquez. The decision to have Nava pinch-hit paid immediate dividends when he hit a game-tying RBI double to left center, bringing Betts home. With the winning run on second, Brock Holt would hit an RBI single to give Boston a walkoff 5-4 win in the bottom of the 9th.
For Thursday afternoon's game, White Sox starter Jose Quintana got some early run support when Jose Abreu hit an RBI double off of Jon Lester in the top of the first to give Chicago an early 1-0 lead. However, after Quintana cruised through the first five innings, the Red Sox bats got through in the bottom of the 6th starting with Stephen Drew and David Ross leading off the frame with walks before Jackie Bradley Jr got the Red Sox on the board with an RBI single that plated Drew to tie the contest up at 1-1. The runners advanced to 2nd and 3rd on Brock Holt's groundout before Pedroia grounded out to 3rd base. However, Big Papi was able to put the Red Sox on top with a 2-out 2 RBI double to give Boston a 3-1 lead.
However, that lead would not hold up in the top of the 9th when Koji Uehara uncharacteristically blew a save- allowing a leadoff single to Alexei Ramirez before surrendering a 2-run homer to pinch-hitter Connor Gillespie with one out. Koji retired Tyler Flowers and Leury Garcia to prevent any further damage, but the game was tied at 3-3.
After an uneventful 9th in which the Red Sox went in order, the game headed to extra innings. Andrew Miller came on in the top of the 10th to relieve Uehara and gave up a leadoff single to Adam Eaton. Gordon Beckham then sac bunted to move Eaton into scoring position but Miller got Dayan Viciedo and Ramirez to ground out and end the inning.
In the bottom of the 10th, Daniel Nava pinch hit for Jonny Gomes led off with a walk. Mookie Betts then laid down a sac bunt that got Nava to 2nd before Stephen Drew was intentionally walked. Mike Carp came on to pinch hit for David Ross and with the count at 2-2, this happened:
Carp- on only his 3rd at bat since going on the DL over Memorial Day weekend- wins the game in extras with an RBI single to left to give Boston it's second walkoff win in less than 24 hours and a split of the series against the White Sox.
The Red Sox have one more series to go before the All-Star break where they'll travel to the Lone Star state for a 3-game series against the Astros starting Friday evening. John Lackey [9-6; 3.84 ERA] is scheduled to get the start against Scott Feldman [4-5; 3.86 ERA]. First pitch from Minute Maid Park is scheduled for 8:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The Red Sox have designated catcher AJ Pierzynski for assignment. The veteran catcher was hitting just .254 with 4 HR and 31 RBI this season, but was struggling mightily in his last 18 games- going 11 for 62 and batting .177 since June 14th. In addition to David Ross, the Red Sox have called up catcher Christian Vazquez from AAA Pawtucket. In 66 games with the PawSox, Vazquez has been batting .279 with 3 HR and 20 RBI. Last season, Vazquez led the Eastern League with a 46.5% caught stealing rate.
In addition to designating Pierzynski for assignment, the Red Sox also sent pitcher Brandon Workman down to Pawtucket and recalled starter Rubby De LaRosa.
ELSEHWERE IN THE AL EAST- The New York Yankees have designated veteran outfielder Alfonso Soriano for assignment. Soriano originally came up through the Yankees system in 1999 and left as a free agent in 2004 for the Texas Rangers. He also played outfield for the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs before returning to the Yankees in 2013.
Meanwhile, Yankees rookie starter Masahiro Tanaka [12-4, 2.51 ERA] went on the 15 DL and is expected to undergo an MRI after he was reportedly diagnosed with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament. Tanaka had been the only bright spot in an otherwise shaky Yankee starting rotation and is in the first year of a 7-year $155 million contract.
The Yankees also traded starter Vidal Nuno [2-5; 5.42 ERA] to the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher Brandon McCarthy [3-10; 5.01 ERA] in what many consider an attempt to stabilize the back end of their rotation.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- The first 'big' trade of the 2014 season took place when sough-after Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija was traded to the Oakland A's last week. Despite a respectable 2.83 ERA, Samadzija had a 2-7 record with the Cubs in 2014.
Samardzija not only played for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team, the Valparaiso, IN native was also an All American Wide Receiver for the Fighting Irish football team and was drafted in the 5th round of the 2006 MLB draft by the Chicago Cubs. In exchange for Samardzija and starting pitcher Jason Hammel [8-5; 2.98 ERA], the Cubs receive top prospects including SS Addison Russell, P Dan Straily, OF Billy McKinney and a player to be named later.
Samardzija made his A's debut in Oakland against the Toronto Blue Jays, going 7 innings and allowing 4 hits and 1 earned run in the A's 4-2 win over Toronto.
FIFA WORLD CUP- Wow- and to think some people call soccer 'the beautiful game'. The Brazil/Germany was so ugly that I think this picture of an attractive yet dejected Brazil fan should sum it up quite nicely, rather than any stills from the game.
Brazil- the host nation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup- lost their semifinal game to Germany by a 7-1 final. And by all accounts the game wasn't even that close. Germany got on the board 11 minutes into the first half and added four more goals between the 23rd and 29th minutes to take a 5-0 lead. The Germans would go on to win by a 7-1 final- probably allowing that one goal because they felt bad for the host nation at one point.
I don't follow soccer regularly, but I know enough that allowing five goals in the span of six minutes tends to indicate that you're not that good of a team. Apparently the school of thought is that Brazil was automatically qualified for a Word Cup berth by being the host nation, which led to some complacency on their part. Yet even if that were the case, Brazil still breezed through pool play suffering nothing worse than a scoreless tie with Mexico. However, Brazil advanced past Chile in the Round of 16 with penalty kicks after regulation ended with a 1-1 tie and the host nation then bested Colombia by a 2-1 final.
Despite the humiliating loss that has led to all sorts of internet memes, the Brazilians do have one more game left- a consolation match against Holland on Saturday while Argentina will advance to face Germany in the Championship game.
ELSEWHERE IN THE FIFA WORLD CUP- Since it's this late in the tournament and we're talking about four teams that AREN'T Team USA, you can probably guess that the United States has been eliminated from the tournament.
Although the USA was eliminated by Belgium in the Round of 16, Tim Howard's historic performance against the Belgians was what had everyone talking. Despite a sustained attack throughout much of regulation, the Belgians weren't able to break through until extra time.
Despite an unprecedented 16 saves by Howard, the Belgians would go on to win by a 2-1 final. Julian Green would score the lone goal for the USA- which also came in extra time while Belgium would be eliminated by Argentina in a 1-0 shutout in the following match.
NBA- Nearly four years to the day after LeBron James announced his decision to leave Cleveland for Miami in a fit of overblown self-promotion, the NBA superstar has announced that he will return to Cleveland.
When I left Cleveland, I was on a mission. I was seeking championships, and we won two. But Miami already knew that feeling. Our city hasn't had that feeling in a long, long, long time. My goal is still to win as many titles as possible, no question. But what's most important for me is bringing one trophy back to Northeast Ohio
The decision came as a surprise to many given the bellicose and acrimonious reaction from Cleveland fans [and some in the Cavs front office- NANESB!] a few short years ago over the media circus surrounding his free agency.
NHL- The Colorado Avalanche have signed free agent Jarome Iginla to a 3 year $16 million deal last week. During the 2013-14 season, the 37 year old RW had 30 goals and 31 assists in 78 games played.
Iginla's departure leaves the Bruins with about $5.6 million in salary cap space and may go towards signing restricted free agents Torey Krug and Rielly Smith.
RED SOX- Saturday's matchup against the A's was looking good for the Red Sox early and Jon Lester was cruising through the second game of the three game series against Oakland.
In the bottom of the first, Dustin Pedroia led off with a walk followed by a Xander Bogaerts single and a walk to David Ortiz to load up the bases with nobody out. A's starter Tommy Milone then got Mike Napoli to strike out, bringing Johnny Gomes up with the bases loaded and one away. Gomes cranked the 21st pitch of the game into the monster seats for the Red Sox second grand slam in less than 24 hours and giving the Red Sox an early 4-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Lester would give up his only hit of the day- a leadoff single to outfielder Craig Gentry- to lead off the top of the 3rd, but got Josh Reddick, Nick Punto and Coco Crisp [all former Red Sox players- NANESB!] to strike out, stranding Gentry on base.
Big Papi would lead off the bottom of the 3rd with a solo homer to make it 5-0 and David Ross led off the bottom of the 4th with a homer to left field, giving the Red Sox a 6-0.
Jon Lester's day was done after throwing 8 complete innings of 1-hit baseball and striking out 15, but the top of the 9th inning was an adventure when Chris Capuano came on in relief of Lester and promptly gave up 2 runs without even recording an out to cut the A's deficit by a third. After a Jed Lowrie double and hitting Josh Donaldson with a pitch, Capuano had to be pulled for Koji Uehara. Koji then walked Yoenis Cespedes. Derek Norris hit into what looked like a sure double play with Lowrie getting thrown out at home, but David Ross threw high to Napoli and the ball went into shallow right field to bring Donaldson home and have the lead cut in half with only one away in the 9th. However, Uehara would get Alberto Callaspo to strike out for out number two and the game ended on a Brandon Moss fly ball to right field.
The Red Sox go on to win by a 6-3 final and after getting swept in a day-night doubleheader by the Rays, the Red Sox have already won this weekend's series against the team with the best record in the American league. The Red Sox look for the sweep on Sunday afternoon. Sonny Gray [4-1; 1.76 ERA] will get the start against John Lackey [4-2; 3.83 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 and the game will be televised on NESN.
BOSTON BRUINS- The Boston Bruins staged a late come-from-behind win against the Montreal Canadiens in the 3rd period of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday afternoon.
Danny Paille put the Bruins on the board with just under 7 minutes to go in the first- the only scoring in the first. However, Montreal would tie the game up with a Mike Weaver tally just 1:10 into the second period. The Habs would then take the lead- seemingly for good thanks to back to back power play goals from Thomas Vanek- one with just two minutes to go in the second and one six and a half minutes into the third- to make it a 3-1 Montreal.
Then things got interesting.
Just after the midway mark of the third, Dougie Hamilton got the Bruins to within one. Just a little more than three minutes later Patrice Bergeron managed to tie the game up at 3-3. But the Bruins had something besides overtime on their minds as Reilly Smith put Boston back on top for the first time since the first period to give Boston a 4-3 lead with 3:30 to go in regulation. And just in case you thought a 1-goal lead wasn't safe enough for the Bruins in the final 3 minutes of regulation Milan Lucic tallied an empty netter after Carey Price was pulled with just over a minute to go, giving Boston a 5-3 lead.
Boston goes on to score four unanswered goals in just under 8 minutes to tie the series up at 1-1. Carey Price stopped 30 of 34 shots faced while Tukka Rask turned aside 25 of 28 shots faced. Despite the loss, the Habs still were more effective on the power play going 2 for 6 while the Bruins went 0 for 3.
The series will resume in Montreal on Tuesday night. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET from Montreal and the game will be televised on the NBC Sports Network.
RED SOX- After a disappointing Thursday in which an injury-depleted Tampa Bay managed to sweep the day-night doubleheader at Fenway, the Red Sox had little time to lick their wounds before hosting the AL West-leading Oakland A's on Friday. At 18-10, the A's had the best record in the American League.
After a shaky start to the season, Boston starter Clay Buchholz showed improvement in last weekend's game against Toronto at the Rogers Centre- although the bullpen came perilously close to coughing up a win late in the game.
After a scoreless first inning, Grady Sizemore led off the bottom of the 2nd with a double to deep left center. Xander Bogaerts flew out for the first out of the inning, but AJ Pierzynski hit a single to (or through) short and Sizemore came home all he way from first to get the Red Sox on the board. After Oakland starter Dan Straily got Will Middlebrooks to strike out for the 2nd out, Jackie Bradley Jr hit a double to center. Pierzynski scored from first and JBJ moved up to third on the throw home as the Red Sox took a 2-0 lead.
Leading off the top of the 3rd inning, A's catcher John Jaso led off the inning with a triple, but Buchholz got the next two batters out- 2B Eric Sogard struck out and former Red Sox outfielder Coco Crisp flew out to shallow center. However, Clay uncorked a wild pitch that Jaso came home on and the Red Sox lead now 2-1.
In the bottom of the 5th, the Red Sox managed to chase Straily from the mound with only one away and two runners on. However, reliever Fernando Abad struck out David Ortiz and intentionally walked Napoli to load the bases and get to Sizemore, who ended the inning by striking out with the bases loaded.
For the top of the 6th, Buchholz was able to get out of a jam after allowing two walks (one intentional) and the tying run in scoring position, but he got Yoenis Cespedes to strike out and end the A's threat.
Already into their bullpen before five complete innings, the A's had Dan Otero come out of the pen in relief of Abad for the bottom half of the 6th. Bogaerts and Pierzynski managed to get back to back singles off of Otero before he managed to strike out Middlebrooks. After walking JBJ, A's manager Ken Macha decided to once again go to the bullpen and brought Ryan Cook into the game to face Dustin Pedroia.
Pedroia cleared the bases and gave the Red Sox plenty of cushion after taking an 0-2 Cook offering and depositing it in the Monster seats for a grand slam- career HR number 100 while only his second Grand Slam since 2008.
Although Victorino would strike out swinging for out number two, Big Papi doubled and Mike Napoli walked before Cook was pulled for Drew Pomeranz. The Red Sox took a 6-1 lead over Oakland in the 6th inning. Mike Napoli would hit a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the 8th to make it a 7-1 lead before Craig Breslow closed things out in the 9th to give Boston the 7-1 win. Buchholz went 6⅓ innings for his second win of the season- the only thing standing between him and a shutout was the wild pitch with two gone in the 3rd. Meanwhile, Dustin Pedroia went 2 for 3 with 4 RBI, a homer and was walked twice.
Starters for tomorrow afternoon's game will be Jon Lester [2-4; 3.10 ERA] and Tommy Milone [0-2; 4.56 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
ELSEWHERE IN THE AL EAST- After sweeping the day-night doubleheader in Boston, the Tampa Bay Rays went down to the Bronx and bested the Yankees by a 10-5 final in a 14-inning contest where the Yankees were playing catch-up all night (and into the early morning hours) and captain Derek Jeter went 0-7.
As you might imagine, the game was a little tighter than the 10-5 final might indicate. Former Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury batted in the game-tying run for New York in the bottom of the 9th but was thrown out. Reliever Chris LeRoux came on in the top of the 14th and allowed a leadoff walk to Rays OF Desmond Jennings before getting Evan Longoria to strike out. However, Jennings would successfully steal 2nd and came home on a Will Myers RBI single. Myers would then come home on a double from OF Sean Rodriguez to make it a 7-5 game. Brandon Guyer, Yunel Escobar and Ryan Hannigan would then follow that up with RBI singles of their own to give the Rays the 10-5 lead while Josh Lueke came on in the bottom of the 14th to close out the game for Tampa.
The New York loss- couple with Baltimore's win over the Twins at Target Field- means that the Orioles are now in first place in the AL East after tonight's (or this morning's) game in the Bronx.
NHL- Game One of the eastern conference semifinals got underway at the TD Garden on Thursday, and unfortunately for the Bruins, the scoring ended much the same way it began- with power play goals from PK Subban.
The Habs got on the board first with the Subban tally at the 11:23 mark of the first. This was followed up by a Renee Bourque tally just three and a half minutes into the second period to give Montreal a 2-0 lead. In the 3rd, the Bruins managed to cut the lead in half with a Reilly Smith goal just 2 minutes and 44 seconds in. The equalizer came off the stick of Torey Krug six and a half minutes into the third period, but a Francis Bouillon goal put Montreal back on top with 7:51 to go in regulation.
However, Johnny Boychuck would tie the game up at 3-3 with just over 2 minutes to go in the 3rd, forcing overtime. After a scoreless OT, the Bruins and Habs headed to double OT and with the man advantage, PK Subban bookended the game's scoring with...a Montreal power play goal just 4:17 into the second OT. Montreal takes game 1 by a 4-3 final on Thursday.
Montreal netminder Carey Price stopped 48 of 51 shots faced on Thursday while Tukka Rask turned aside 29 of 33 in the losing effort. One stark difference between the two teams was the power play differential- while neither team had many opportunities, Montreal went 2 for 3 while the Bruins went 0 for 2.
The teams will go right back at it on Saturday afternoon. Puck is scheduled to drop at 12:30 ET from the TD Garden and the game will be televised on NBC and the CBC.
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.
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.
RED SOX- The Red Sox wrapped up the first half of the season with a Sunday afternoon game against Oakland out on the west coast. It also marked the MLB debut of Brandon Workman as starting pitcher. Workman had a 5-1 record and 3.43 in 11 games for the AA Portland Sea Dogs and a 3-1 record with a 2.80 ERA in 6 games for AAA Pawtucket and made his first appearance of the season for Boston on Tuesday in relief of Felix Doubront against Seattle.
Although the Mariners managed to rough up Workman- including giving up two doubles, a homer and 3 RBI in two innings of work- it was a different story in Oakland. Workman managed to confound the Oakland bats, not allowing a hit through the first six innings. The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead thanks to RBI singles from Dustin Pedroia and Brock Holt and managed to chase Bartolo Colon from the mound after 6⅔ innings. The A's managed to break up Workman's no-hit bid in the bottom of the 7th with a leadoff infield single from former Red Sox outfielder Coco Crisp. A's outfielder Josh Donaldson then homered to the deepest part of the stadium to tie it up at 2-2. The game remained deadlocked at 2-2 until the bottom of the 11th when recently-acquired Red Sox reliever Matt Thornton gave up a walkoff RBI single to Donaldson to give Oakland the 3-2 win. Oakland wins the weekend series by a margin of 2 games to 1.
The silver lining is that despite the lackluster road trip to the West coast, the Red Sox still have the best record in all of MLB. And keep in mind that this is without Lester at his sharpest, the services of Buchholz or a clearly defined closer in the bullpen for the last several weeks.
AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS- What was a battle for last place in the NL West in San Diego's PetCo Park on Saturday night garnered the attention of MLB as San Francisco Giants starter Tim Lincecum threw his first career no-hitter.
Lincecum threw 148 pitches in the complete game 9-0 win over the Padres in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. The no-no was the Giants third no hitter since 2009, with two of those coming against the Padres and one of them against the Houston Astros. Jonathan Sanchez no-hit the Padres in July 2009 in what was the first-ever no-hitter at San Francisco's AT&T Park while Matt Cain threw a perfect game against Houston in June 2012 for the first-ever perfect game at the park.
The successful no-hit bid was the first one from a pitcher not named Homer Bailey since September 2012. Lincecum's no-no on Saturday was the first ever no hitter thrown in San Diego's PetCo park, which opened in 2004. The Padres remain the only MLB club that doesn't have a no-hitter to their name.
ALL STAR GAME- Oakland Outfielder Yoanis Cespedes won the 2013 Home Run Derby at New York's Citi Field on Monday Night. The Cuban defector bested Washington's Bryce Harper 9-8 in the final round to take the 2013 title.
Tuesday night's All-Star game is set to have the Mets' Matt Harvey [7-2; 2.35 ERA] go up against Detroit's Max Scherzer [13-1; 3.09 ERA] . Scherzer lost his first start of the season on Sunday afternoon against the Rangers.
First pitch is scheduled for 8:00 ET and the game will be televised on FOX with ESPN Radio carrying the radio broadcast feed.
RED SOX- With last Friday's home game postponed due to the largest-ever manhunt in Massachusetts, the Red Sox played their first home game since the April 15th terrorist attacks at the Boston Marathon on Saturday April 20th. The daytime matchup against the Kansas City Royals included a pregame ceremony honoring the first responders and victims. Back from a rehab assignment with AAA Pawtucket, Red Sox DH David Ortiz had some choice words for the people behind the attacks.
The Red Sox would go on to beat the Royals by a 4-3 final on Saturday afternoon, but the Royals would go on to sweep the doubleheader on Sunday. The Oakland A's were next to come into Fenway, and the Red Sox took two out of three from Oakland [Oakland not only chased starter Alfredo Aceves from the mound in their 13-0 win on Tuesday, but chased him all the way down to AAA Pawtucket- NANESB!].
For Thursday night's game, I had to remind myself it wasn't an interleague matchup with the Houston Astros coming to town. The Astros made the jump to the AL West this season after nearly 20 years as a part of the NL Central.
The Red Sox drew first blood early, getting on board with RBI singles from Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz before RBI's from Mike Carp and Jarrod Saltalamacchia added to the Boston lead, making it a 4-0 game. That would be all the Red Sox would need as Clay Buchholz would allow 6 hits and two earned runs over 7⅔ innings and would get some additional run support thanks to a Big Papi solo homer in the 3rd and RBI singles from Saltalamacchia and Will Middlebrooks to give Boston a 7-2 lead. Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard would close out for the game for the Red Sox, preserving the 7-2 win.
Friday night's game will have Ryan Dempster [0-2; 3.38 ERA] against former Red Sox and Orioles starter Eric Bedard [0-1; 6.17 ERA]. First pitch will be at 7:10 PM and the game will be televised on NESN.
NHL- Twice in less than a week, the crowd at the TD Garden took over singing duties from Boston Garden icon Rene Rancourt. Last Wednesday's game was the first professional sporting event to take place in Boston since the Patriots Day bombings at the Boston Marathon while Saturday afternoon's game was the first since the slaying of MIT campus police officer Sean Collier and arrest of the surviving Marathon bombing suspect.
Interestingly, the Bruins clinched a playoff berth in a pretty anticlimactic manner- the one point they earned from the April 17th shootout loss against Buffalo was all they needed, despite once again blowing a late lead by allowing a power play goal in the final two minutes of regulation.
Coming into Thursday night's game against Tampa bay, the Bruins had been 1-2-1 since Patriots Day, including the emotional post-Marathon game that saw them blow a late lead to the struggling Buffalo Sabres. The B's were hoping to turn things around on Thursday night when they hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning.
All of the scoring would come in the second period, with goals from Dennis Seidenberg and Danny Paille to give Boston a 2-0 lead.
That would be all the Bruins needed as Tukka Rask shut out the Lightning, stopping all 30 shots he faced on Thursday night. The Bruins went 0-1 on the power play while Tampa Bay was scoreless on their three power play opportnunites.
The Bruins will travel to the beltway for their next game on Saturday when they take on the Washington Capitals. Puck drops at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and may also be in the NBC Sports network lineup as well.
AP Photo/Jason DeCrow
NFL- With former Patriot guard Joe Andruzzi on hand to honor the victims and first responders of the Boston Marathon bombing, the 2013 NFL draft got underway in New York City on Thursday night.
In a somewhat anticlimactic move, the Patriots waited about three and a half hours before deciding to trade their first round pick (29th overall) to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for four picks in the later round. The Pats obtained picks from Minnesota in the second, third, fourth and seventh rounds this year. Heading into this year's draft, the NFL had a grand total of five picks- their fewest in team history. The trade with the Vikings gives them a grand total of eight picks- none of them in the first round, however.
MLB- After falling into an 0-2 hole at home, the San Francisco Giants capped off a 3-game rally on Thursday afternoon at Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark.
The Giants broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 5th inning with a Brandon Crawford RBI-triple followed by Crawford coming home on a throwing error by Reds shortstop Zack Cozart to give them a 2-0 lead. Before the Reds could get out of the inning with no further damage, Giants catcher Buster Posey belted a grand slam to put the Giants up 6-0.
Although the Reds would chip away at the San Francisco lead thanks to 2 RBI's each from Brandon Phillips and Ryan Ludwick, Giants reliever Sergio Romo was able to close out the game despite giving up an RBI single to Ludwick.
Despite no starting pitcher for the Giants making it as far as the fifth inning through the first three games, the Giants won three in a row on the road to advance to the NLCS where they'll await the winner of the NLDS matchup between the Cardinals and Nationals.
NLDS- Speaking of the Cardinals and Nationals, one day after St Louis absolutely dominated the Nats in Game 3 by a final of 8-0, the Nationals forced a decicive Game 5 in dramatic fashion.
With the game tied at 1-1 heading into the bottom of the 9th at Nationals Park, Nats outfielder Jayson Werth led off the inning and fought off a dozen pitches from Lance Lynn before this happened:
For those of you who can't view the embedded video above, you're missing out on Werth belting a solo homer to deep left for the 2-1 win in Game 4 [What is it about hair and the MLB postsseason? There was the '04 Red Sox 'idiots' and now Jayson Werth bearing more than a passing resemblance to the GEICO caveman- NANESB!].
The walk-off win, which ties the series at 2-2, is also notable in that it is the first postseason baseball win in the nation's capital in nearly 79 years. Game five gets underway on Friday night at 8:37 PM ET and will be televised on TBS.
ALDS- One night after the Oakland A's rallied in the bottom of the 9th against Detroit to force a Game 5, Tiger's starter Justin Verlander pitched a complete game 4-hit shutout of the A's to advance to the ALCS. Detroit Center fielder Austin Jackson put the Tigers on the scoreboard in the top of the 3rd with an RBI double before coming home himself on a wild pitch by A's starter Jarrod Parker.
Although that would be all the Tigers needed, they blew the game open in the top of the 7th starting off with another Jackson RBI base hit before getting 3 more runs on a bases-loaded walk, a hit and a throwing error.
Verlander didn't need alot in the way of run support, but he got it anyways in the Tiger's 6-0 win over Oakland. The Tigers will now await the winner of Game 5 between the Yankees and Orioles.
AL EAST- Over in the all-AL East playoff series, Yankees manager Joe Girardi's decision to bench 3B Alex Rodriguez for pinch hitter Raul Ibañez in the bottom of the 9th paid immediate dividends as the outfielder tied Game 3 up at 2-2 before going on to win it in the bottom of the 12th with another solo homer and give the Yankees the 2-1 series edge.
However, Baltimore came back on Thursday night and drew first blood, getting out to a 1-0 lead on a Nate McClouth solo homer in the 5th. The Yankees would eventually tie on a Robinson Cano RBI groundout and the game would head into extra innings where Baltimore's JJ Hardy belted an RBI double to deep center to give the O's the 2-1 lead. Jim Johnson got the Yankees out in order in the bottom of the 13th to preserve the Baltimore win, forcing a decisive Game 5 on Friday which is scheduled to start from Yankee Stadium at 5:07 ET and will be broadcast on TBS.
Girardi has again courted controversey by announcing that he is benching high salaried slugger Alex Rodriguez for Game 5.
CLEVELAND INDIANS- Former Red Sox manager and ESPN analyst Terry Francona was announced as the Tribe's new manager on Monday. Francona and the Indians had agreed to terms on a 4 year contract, although he hinted at staying longer during Monday's press conference where he was formally introduced as Cleveland's newest manager.
After contending for the first four months of the season, the Indians dropped out of contention late and manager Manny Acta was fired on September 27th. Francona was selected over Bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr- whose name has been brought up as a possibility in the Red Sox manager sweepstakes- took over as acting manager for the remainder of the season in Cleveland.
The Francona family has ties with the Indians that go back nearly 50 years. Francona's father, Tito Francona spent 6 seasons of his 15 year baseball career with the Indians, narrowly missing out on the AL Batting title during the 1959 season. After starting out with the Montreal Expos as an outfielder in 1981, son Terry played a single season for the Tribe in 1988. The younger Francona also spent time in the Cleveland front office before arriving in Boston.
AP Photo/Steven Senne
NFL- The New England Patriots got their first look at the post-Indianapolis Peyton Manning over the weekend and one would guess that for three quarters they liked what they saw.
New England headed into the locker rooms at halftime with a 17-7 lead and only added onto that with a productive 3rd quarter including Brady rushing to a TD on 3rd and goal followed immediately by Pats DE Rod Ninkovitch sacking Peyton Manning on the Broncos 14 yard line. The sack resulted in a fumble that was recovered by big Vince Wilfork. On the very next play, Stevan Ridley punched in in for the TD on an 8 yard run to put New England up 31-7.
However, with a little over a quarter to go, Manning appeared to rally his team, starting with a TD pass inside the Patriots Red Zone with just 1:08 to go in the 3rd.
After a sack of Brady mid-field with just over 8 minutes to go in the 4th, the Broncos recovered the ball mid-field and were able to hit paydirt six plays later to make it 10 point game. On the Patriots' next possession Stevan Ridley coughed up the ball on the Broncos 37 yard line. The Broncos were able to get the ball as far as the New England 11 yard line and threatened to make it a three point game with just under four minutes to go, but RB Willis McGahee fumbled and the ball was recovered by Pats linebacker Jermaine Cunningham with 3:42 remaining. The Patriots were then able to get a first down and wind down the clock from there, preserving the 31-21 lead and giving New England a 3-2 record.
This Sunday, the Patriots will travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Seahawks- also sporting a 3-2 record. Kickoff is at 4:05 PM ET, 1:05 PM PT, and the game will be televised on CBS.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- Tennessee Titans kicker Rob Bironas knocked the Pittsburgh Steelers into 3rd place in the AFC North thanks to a last-second field goal in the Titans'26-23 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
Titans QB Matt Hasselbeck went 25-44 with 290 yards along with a TD and an interception and was sacked three times while Steelers starting QB Roethlisberger also had 1 TD pass and an itnerception to his name while going 24-40 with 363 yards in the losing effort.
The Titans got the ball back from Pittburgh at mid-field with 48 seconds remaining and the game tied at 23-23 after a missed Shaun Suisham FG attempt from 54 yards. Hasselbeck then completed a pass to TE Jared Cook on 3rd and 5 before Cook tightroped along the sidelines for a total gain of 25 yards, the first down, getting Bironas in FG range and stopping the clock with 39 seconds to go.
Bironas was 4 for 4 on the night while Suisham went 3 for 4 in FG attempts, with the critical miss from mid-field coming late in the 4th and giving the Titans excellent field position.
DETROIT LIONS- Actor and Detroit Lions defensive legend Alex Karras has passed away in a southern California hospice at the age of 77. The son of Greek immigrants, Karras grew up in northwestern Indiana and went to college at Iowa. During the 1956 season, he was on the first Hawkeyes team to earn a berth in the Rose Bowl, going on to beat Oregon State by a 35-19. That same year he was named an All American and was a runner-up in the 1957 Heisman trophy race. Shortly before being drafted by the Detroit Lions, Karras had reportedly declined an offer to play with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.
In his 16 year NFL career, Karras had 4 interceptions and recovered 16 fumbles and was selected to the Pro Bowl 4 times. Sometimes known as 'the angry duck', Karras was suspended for the 1963 season due to his ownership of a Detroit bar known for illegal gambling.
After his NFL career, Karras went on to a reasonably successful acting and broadcast career. In 1972, he hosted a CFL pregame show on the CBC affiliate in Windsor, Ontario- just across the river from Detroit, MI. In 1974, he had a cameo as the burly and dim-witted Mongo in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. Later on that year he also started a two year stint in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth.
Starting in the 1980's Karras also played sports reporter George Papadopolis on the ABC sitcom Webster. Along with the dimunitive Emmanuel Lewis, Karras also starred alongside real-life wife Susan Clark. In 1991, he was named to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Karras' later life was marked by heart disease, dementia and cancer. He passed away on Wednesday, October 12.
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS- The New Orleans Saints have earned their first win since news of 'Bountygate' broke and made history in the process.
On their second possession of the night and trailing the visiting San Diego Chargers 7-0, Drew Brees completed a TD pass to WR Devery Henderson to break Johnny Unitas' record of consecutive games with at least 1 TD pass. The record has stood for 52 years until the Sunday night game.
The Saints would go on to win the Sunday night game by a final of 31-24, snapping a 4-game losing strak. Despite being suspended by the NFL over the Bountygate scandal, the league allowed Saints coach Sean Payton to attend the game in anticipation of Brees reaching the milestone.
NCAA FOOTBALL- After week after playing only half a good game against the Clemson Tigers in Chestnut Hill (losing by a 45-31 final), the BC Eagles headed to West Point to take on Army.
The Black Knights were coming off an embarassing 23-3 loss at home to Stony Brook of the FCS and still searching for their first win of the season.
With Boston College leading 31-27 and Army driving the ball late in the 4th quarter, the Black Knights decided to go for it on 4th and goal, but were stopped on the 1 yard line with just over 2 minutes remaining. Although the Eagles got the ball back, they were in the shadow of their own end zone and went 3 and out, burning just over 20 seconds off the game clock.
The ensuing punt gave Army the ball on Boston College's 38 yard line with 1:09 remaining in the game. After the Black Knights advanced the ball as far as the Eagle's 29, Boston College was hoping to come up with a stop on 3rd and 1. Instead, Black Knights QB Trent Steelman rushed 29 yards for paydirt to give Army the late 34-31 lead. Although BC would get the ball back with just under a minute to go, their last posession was more a comedy of errors than anything else and the game ended when Eagles WR Bobby Swigert coughed up the ball at the BC 33 with 11 seconds to go.
Army hangs on for the 34-31 win, their first of the season, while BC drops to 1-4. The Eagles will travel to Talahassee this weekend to take on #12 Florida State, who are coming off a stunning loss of their own, dropping a 17-16 decision to North Carolina State last weekend.
RED SOX- The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers completed a massive nine-player trade over the weekend that sent Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto to Southern California as well as $11 million in cash. In return, the Dodgers sent first baseman James Loney, minor leaguers Alan Webster and Ivan DeJesus to Beantown as well as two players to be named later.
The trade- reportedly the largest in Dodgers history- has triggered hyperbolic comparisons from Boston sportswriters who claim the transaction is on the scope of sending Babe Ruth to New York [personally, I think its more along the scale of the 2004 trade that sent Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs in exchange for Boston getting Orlando Cabrera from Montreal and Doug Mientkiewicz from Minnesota. Not quote as big money, but even more moving parts to potentially complicate the deal- NANESB!] .
Beckett was reportedly shopped around by Boston about 48 hours prior to the trade deadline last month. Although the Braves and Rangers had reportedly expressed an interest, no deal was reached by the trade deadline and if the front office still intended to move Beckett, it was assumed such a move would take place in the upcoming offseason. Just three games out of first place in the NL West and flush with cash from a new ownership group that includes NBA legend Magic Johnson, the Dodgers decided not to wait for November to try and swing a massive deal. Despite sending more than $11 million in cash to LA, the Red Sox are expected to save more than $260 million in salary after being free from Beckett, Gonzalez and Crawford's sizable contracts. The Los Angeles Times points out that the Dodgers payroll for 2013 will be $100 million more than it was on opening day this year.
A number of other Red Sox fans had pointed out that manager Bobby Valentine seemed largely unaware of the August transaction, despite its unprecedented scope. That in and of itself seems to point out that he most likely won't be back for the 2013 season.
Steven Senne/AP Photo
OTHER RED SOX NEWS: With all this taking place, the Red Sox still had a 4-game series against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway to contend with over the weekend.
After taking two out of the first three home games against KC, Daisuke Matsuzaka would return to the mound for his first start since going back on the DL in early July.
Matsuzaka, who had never gone more than 6 innings this season, started off by allowing an unearned run in the top of the 1st before getting out of the inning. Jacoby Ellsbury tied the ballgame up at 1-1 with a 2-out solo homer in the bottom of the first. Cody Ross would then break the deadlock with a 2-RBI wall-ball base hit in the bottom of the 3rd- it had come close to landing in the stands, but the umpires ruled it had stayed within the park. It remained a 3-1 game until the bottom of the 6th when Cody Ross and new acquisition James Loney each had RBI base hits to make it a 5-1 game. Matsuzaka and the bullpen did not squander the run support they got, either. Daisuke went 7 complete innings allowing 5 hits and the unearned run while striking out six. With Alfredo Aceves serving a 3-game suspension, Clay Mortenson, Vincente Padilla and Andrew Bailey closed out the game for the Red Sox.
Monday's Day game was the last before the Red Sox embark on their west coast Road Trip. Things kick off in Orange County on Tuesday night when Clay Buchholz [11-4; 4.47 ERA] gets the start against the Angel's Jared Weaver [16-3; 2.74 ERA]. First pitch is at 7:05 ET Pacific Time and 10:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and Fox Sports West.
LOS ANGELES DODGERS- The Los Angeles Dodgers were shut out by the Colorado Rockies by a 10-0 final in Josh Beckett's debut in Dodger blue. Beckett went 5 and ⅔ innings allowing three earned runs on 7 hits and 3 walks at Coors Field before the Dodgers bullpen imploded- giving up 7 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning.
Adrain Gonzalez is presently batting .250 for LA with 4 RBIs and a homer in three games with the Dodgers.
OTHER DODGERS NEWS- Hall of Fame Broadcaster Vin Scully announced that he would be returning to the Dodgers broadcast booth for a 64th season starting in 2013.
Scully had stated that the recent trade with the Red Sox that brought Beckett, Crawford and Gonzalez to LA had revitalized the organization as well as himself and demonstrated that the new ownership group was serious about bringing another World Series to LA.
The venerable play-by-play man was in the booth for a number of baseball milestones, including Henry Aaron's 715th career home run in 1974, Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series and a walk-off homer from a hobbled Kirk Gibson in Game 1 on the 1988 World Series.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Oakland A's starter Bartolo Colon received a 50 game suspension from MLB after testing positive for banned substance- reportedly synthetic testosterone.
Colon- a 15 year veteran- admitted to violating the MLB substance abuse policy and will reportedly not appeal the suspension, which would carry over into next season if he were to continue playing in the MLB.
In 24 starts with Oakland this season, Colon has a 10-9 record and 3.43 ERA. Since 2008, Colon has started for the Red Sox, A's, Yankees and White Sox. The suspension comes after another Bay Area ball player- San Francisco's Melky Cabrera- also tested positive for a substance prohibited by MLB.
BC sophomore Courtney Castle gets in a dig during the Eagle's match against Fordham at this weekend's Boston College Invitational. BC Eagles photo via Twitter
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL- The NCAA's volleyball season got underway this weekend in Chestnut Hill with the 2012 Boston College Invitational.
To kick off the 2012 campaign, the Eagles played host to Texas Tech, Fordham, Siena and SUNY Binghamton on Friday and Saturday.
The lady Eagles got off to an 2-0 start on Friday when they swept the Binghamton Bearcats 3 sets to none.
Siena Junior Taylor Akana- named the MAAC Conference's Offensive Player of the Year in 2011 and Preseason Player of the year for 2012. Siena Saints photo
The Siena Saints and captain Taylor Akana presented a little more of a challenge to BC as the Eagles dropped the opening set 25-19, but the BC would rebound and win the next three consecutive sets by totals of 25-14, 25-18 and 25-20. Katty Workman led the Eagles with 12 kills while outside hitter Courtney Castle had 11 for BC. Over on the Siena side of the net, Taylor Akana and Rachel Stoklosa led the Saints with 11 each on the losing effort.
On Saturday, the Eagles went .500 on the court, sweeping Fordham 3 sets to none, but then dropping the match against the Texas Tech Red Raiders after taking a 2-0 lead.
With a 3-1 record, the BC Volleyball team will next head out to the west coast for the USC Tournament where they'll take on the host Trojans as well as Northern Iowa and Mississippi State.
CYCLING- Seven time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong will reportedly be stripped of his titles after announcing he would no longer fight an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
The announcement from Armstrong means that the USADA will recommend Armstrong be banned from all International Cycling Union (UCI) sanctioned events and that he be stripped of all titles dating back to 1998. The decision was made even though Armstrong had passed hundreds of tests administered during that timeframe.
RED SOX- David Ortiz belted career homer #400 on Wednesday's game against the Oakland A's, but that was almost an afterthought as a couple of former Red Sox helped Oakland complete a sweep of Boston on Independence Day.
Former Red Sox outfielder [now playing 1B for the A's- NANESB!] Brandon Moss started the scoring for Oakland after hitting a solo homer off of Boston starter Aaron Cook in the bottom of the 2nd inning, although career blast #400 for DH David Ortiz came in the top of the 4th to tie the contest up at 1-1.
D. Ross Cameron/Contra Costa Times
The Red Sox briefly took the lead in the top of the 6th to make it 2-1 on a 2-out Adrian Gonzalez RBI single, but A's recent acquisition Brandon Inge tied things up at 2-2 with an RBI double with two away in the bottom of the 6th. Cook then gave up a leadoff triple to former Boston outfielder Coco Crisp before coming home on a Jemile Weeks RBI single to make it 3-2.
After taking the lead, the Oakland bullpen didn't allow a single Boston batter to reach base, preserving the 3-2 win and completing the sweep of the Red Sox on the 4th of July. Moss, who wasn't even called up from Oakland's AAA affiliate in Sacramento until June, went 6-8 with 5 RBIs and two homers against his former team.
The Red Sox return to Fenway on Friday night to face the New York Yankees. Josh Beckett [4-7; 4.06 ERA] will get the start against Hideki Kuroda [8-7; 3.17 ERA] with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 ET. Viewers in New England and New York will have their choice of NESN, the YES network or the MLB network broadcast.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The Yankees claimed former Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald off of waivers after the Red Sox released him. McDonald was batting .214 in 99 plate appearence for Boston this season.
An unheralded pickup from Cincinnati, McDonald caught the attention of Red Sox nation in 2010 with a torrid .270 batting average, speed and some clutch RBIs his first year with Boston. Since then, his offensive production has tapered off although he still retained much of his speed.
The move was seen as being made to make room in the outfield in anticipation of Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford returning to the Red Sox lineup. Both Crawford and Ellsbury arepresently rehabbing with the AA Portland Sea Dogs- Crawford went 2-4 with an RBI while Ellsbury went 1-5 in Portland's 4th of July road game against the New Hampshire Fishercats- Toronto's AA affiliate.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Atlanta Braves 3B was added to the 2012 All Star Game roster ealier this week as a replacement for the Dodger's Matt Kemp. Earlier this season, Jones had announced that he would retire from baseball after the 2012 season. With most of the All-Star starters selected over the weekend, a final spot on the AL and NL rosters was still up for grabs with online fan voting.
Previously, the online voting in the NL was a contest between Jones, teammate Michael Bourn, Arizona's Aaron Hill, St Louis' David Freese and the Nationals Bryce Harper. Freese was eventually named the winner of the fan voting on Firday, with Rangers starter Yu Darvish taking the final AL slot and bringing the total number of Rangers in next week's All Star game in Kansas City to 8.
NBA- Just a few weeks into the NBA offseason and already there have been some pretty noteworth transactions.
Phoenix Suns Point Guard Steve Nash went to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign-and-trade deal on the 4th of July, agreeing to a 3-year $27 million contract in exchange for the Suns getting four draft picks. There had been sign and trade talks with the NY Knicks and Nash reportedly declined a 3-year $36 million deal from the Toronto Raptors last week.
Meanwhile, the AP is reporting that the NY Knicks guard and restricted free agent Jeremy Lin had accepted a 4-year $28.8 million offer sheet from the Houston Rockets, although the Rockets haven't yet made any official announcement as of Friday afternoon.
