Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- The Butler Did It! Patriots Win 4th Super Bowl on Malcom Butler's Late Pick; Say Clay- Buchholz Hurls Gem in 2015 Season Opener

SUPER BOWL- I know I'm more than 2 months behind on this, but WOW.

All you need to know about Super Bowl XLIX took place in the second half. After the Patriots defense gave up an 11 yard TD pass from Russell Wilson to WR Chris Matthews in the closing seconds of the first half, Seattle and New England headed into the 3rd quarter tied at 14-14.

Glendale, AZ's University of Phoenix Stadium has been home to some cringe-worthy moment for Patriots fans in the past and in the 3rd quarter, it appeared to be happening again as the Seahawks took a 24-14 lead.

About 7 minutes into the 4th quarter, the Patriots cut Seattle's lead to 3 point thanks to a TD pass from Brady to Danny Amendola to make it 24-21. Just before the two minute warning, New England would take a 28-24 lead thanks to Brady connecting to Julian Edelman for a 4 yard TD pass.

However, Patriots fans had that sinking feeling when Seahawks QB Russel Wilson connecting with WR Jermaine Kearse for a 33 yard completion- it was bobbled and appeared to be incomplete as Kearse scooped it up, but a video review from the officials showed that the ball had never touched the ground, giving the Seahawks the ball on the Patriots 5 yard line with 1:06 to go in regulation. After a timeout, Wilson handed off the ball to RB Marshawn Lynch to put the ball on New England's 1-yard line and giving the Seahawks no fewer than three shots at the end zone as the clock ticked down.

For whatever reason, Pats head coach Bill Belichick declined to take a timeout as the clocked ticked down to less than 30 seconds. Instead of handing the ball off to Lynch, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll opted for a short pass with 20 seconds remaining in the game. It would not turn out well for Seattle.



Obscure and unheralded cornerback Malcom Butler singlehandedly sealed the win for New England thanks to his pick of Wilson's short pass attempt to give New England the ball back at a pivotal juncture in the game. The Patriots were flagged for excessive celebration and penalized half the distance to the end zone- basically putting the ball on the one foot line and giving the Seahawks a pretty good shot at a safety, but after a scrum between Bruce Irvin and Rob Gronkowski, the Seahawks were penalized fifteen yards, which gave New England some more wiggle room. After a kneeldown by Brady, the Patriots 28-24 win was official.

Tom Brady was named the Super Bowl MVP [the third time he garnered the award in the four Super Bowl titles New England has won in the Brady/Belicheck era- NANESB!]. After the game, Brady gifted Butler a brand new pickup truck from a Chevrolet dealership in Butler's Mississippi hometown.

Carroll- who was the Patriots head coach before his USC tenure- was questioned for his decision to go for a pass play after Marshawn Lynch had easily picked up four yards on the previous play. Some less-than-kind Patriots fans joked that at long last Carroll had followed through on winning a championship for New England some 15 years after he left.

While some sour grapes Seahawks fans wanted to use New England's championship to gripe about 'Deflategate', the Super Bowl XLIX shold be considered by many NFL fans to ba an 'instant classic'.

MLB OPENING DAY- The Red Sox got it done with the longball and a solid outing from Clay Buchholz in his first-ever opening day start as Boston opened up the 2015 MLB season on the road in Philadelphia.

The Red Sox got on the board early with a 362ft solo shot off the bat of Dustin Pedroia to give Boston a 1-0 lead. Outfielder Mookie Betts belted another solo homer to deep left field off of Phillies starter Cole Hammels in the top of the 3rd. Buchholz would go on to throw even complete shutout innings as the Red Sox added to their lead with solo homers from Pedroia and offseason acquisition Hanley Ramirez in the fifth inning.

Junichi Tazawa would come on and get all three of the Phillies batters he faced out in order in the 8th inning and Hanley Ramirez would belt a grand slam to give Boston an 8-0 lead and Tommy Layne closed things out in the bottom of the 9th.

Through his 7 innings of work, Buchholz allowed a total of three hits and struck out nine while walking one batter. Meanwhile, Hammels only lasted five innings, giving up four earned runs on five hits.

With Tuesday off, the Red Sox will put their undefeated record on the line against the Phillies on Wednesday. Offseason acquisition Rick Porcello will get the start for Boston against Philly's Aaron Harang. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and ESPN2.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Cole Powered, Hammels and Phillies Pen Combine For No-Hitter; Kelly's Heroes- Joe Kelly Gets First Win in Boston Uniform

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.

Home Cookin' Sports Chowdah Update- Home of the Braves, No Hospitality as Atlanta's NL Club Gets Back to Its Beantown Roots; Beckett Notches First Career No-No, Shuts out Phils

RED SOX- Somebody break up the Red Sox! Of course, if I said that a week ago it would've sounded like some sort of plea to invoke the mercy rule when they looked to be matching or beating the record for consecutive regular season games lost by a defending World Series champion with that disastrous series against Tampa Bay [Not to mention the homestand against Toronto and Detroit- NANESB!].

Although it didn't look that way at first, things started to turn around with Monday afternoon's game at Turner Field when the Red Sox rallied from a 6-1 deficit to tie the game at 6-6 before a rainstorm moved in and caused an hour-long delay. After the delay, the Red Sox got two more runs and the bullpen persevered to make it an 8-6 final- their first win since May 14th.

The following night in Atlanta, Boston made it two in a row after scoring four unanswered runs in the top of the 7th, rallying from a 3-2 hole to go on and win by a 6-3 final.

Wednesday night saw the series shift to Boston- the original home of the Braves until 1953- and the games opened up with a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the 2004 World Series team with alumni on field [with the notable exception of Big Papi- the only member of the 2004 'idiots' still on the Red Sox roster- NANESB!]. This included a ceremonial first pitch from Manny Ramirez that was cut off by fellow outfielder Johnny Damon in an impromptu recreation of one of the more infamous "Manny being Manny" moments during his time with the Red Sox



It gets better for Red Sox nation, though. After the ceremonial first pitch, Lackey and the Red Sox bullpen hurled a gem with Lackey, Tazawa, Capuano and Breslow shutting out the Braves by a 4-0 final and capping their 3rd straight win.

On Thursday night at Fenway, the Braves jumped out to an early lead with a Jason Heyward solo homer in the 3rd and an RBI single from Evan Gattis to make it 2-0. In the bottom of the 5th the Red Sox got on the board with an RBI double to make it 2-1, but Atlanta added to their lead with a booming Freddie Freeman RBI double that barely stayed in the park to put Atlanta up 3-1.

In the bottom of the 8th, Brock Holt led off the inning with a single to shallow left off of David Carpenter and advanced to second on a fielding error by Justin Upton. This was followed by a Xander Bogaerts single that plated Holt to make it a 1-run game. Dustin Pedroia would then single to put Bogaerts in scoring position with nobody out. Bogaerts then came home on a Pierzynski single to tie the game up at 3-3.

Carpenter got Gomes to strike out for the first out of the bottom of the 8th before Luis Avilan came out of the Braves pen to strike out Grady Sizemore and intentionally walk Big Papi. Craig Kimbrel then came out of the Atlanta pen to get David Ross to strike out and end the threat, but the damage had been done.

After Uehara came on in relief of starter Jake Peavy, Ryan Doumit led off the inning with a single followed by a Tommy LaStella sac bunt to move pinch-runner Jordan Schafer over to second. With Schafer in scoring position, Uehara got Andrelton Simmons to ground out and Jason Heyward to strike out and end the Braves threat in the top of the 9th.

In the bottom of the 9th, Jackie Bradley Jr and Brock Holt led off with walks, putting runners in scoring position right away and with nobody out. On Kimbrel's 15th pitch of the inning, Xander Bogarts hit into what initially looked like a double play- or at least a routine groundout- to 3rd, but Braves 3B Chris Johnson's throw to second was low and dribbled past Tommy LaStella.



An alert Jackie Bradley Jr bolted for home and Lastella's throw was wide of the plate, giving the Red Sox a walkoff 4-3 win in the bottom of the 9th to complete the home-and-away series sweep against Atlanta.

While winning four straight against a club like the Atlanta Braves is always good, the Red Sox need to improve their record within the AL East and they'll have a chance to do exactly that when they host the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night. David Price [4-4; 4.42 ERA] is scheduled to get the start against Brandon Workman, who was recently called up from Triple-A Pawtucket. In seven starts against the International League this season, Workman has a 3-1 record with a 5.12 ERA.

The game will be televised on NESN with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 ET.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Former Red Sox starter Josh Beckett has pitched the first no-hitter of the 2014 season last weekend as the Dodgers blanked the Phillies 6-0 on Sunday. This also marks the first no-hitter in Beckett's distinguished career and the first no-hitter for the Dodgers since 1996. Although Beckett's no-no was the first of 2014, the last MLB no-hitter actually took place on the final day of the 2013 regular season when Marlins [another one of Beckett's former clubs- NANESB] starter Henderson Alvarez threw a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers.

Beckett, a 1999 1st round draft pick by the Marlins, made his MLB debut for Florida in 2001 and won his first World Series in 2003, besting the Yankees in six games. In 2006, Beckett and then-teammate Mike Lowell were traded to Boston and Beckett won a World Series title with the Red Sox in 2007 after Boston swept the Colorado Rockies in four games.

During the colossal trainwreck that was the 2012 season, an underperforming Beckett was traded to Los Angeles along with outfielder Carl Crawford and 1B Adrian Gonzalez for infielder James Loney in the biggest post-deadline transaction in MLB history. Although the Red Sox had to pay the salaries of the traded players for the remainder of the 2012 season, the move freed up nearly $250 million in salary for the Red Sox.

Beckett's pitch total

Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Alive, Red Sox Bats Wake Up As Lackey Outduels Kuroda At Fenway; Manuel Labor, Phillies Dismiss Manager Charlie Manuel

Michael Dwyer- AP

RED SOX- I wouldn't call this most recent road trip for the Red Sox a disaster, but with the team managed only four wins in 10 games while missing out on an opportunity to but some distance between themselves and Tampa Bay.

And for those of us who thought things might start to turn around with some home cookin' were in for a rude awakening on Friday night when the Yankees thumped the Red Sox by a score that would seem more at home in a football game featuring strong defense (10-3). And just to make things even more interesting, Tampa Bay beat Toronto with a walkoff triple in the bottom of the 9th to pull within one game of the Red Sox in the AL East.

What the Red Sox needed on Saturday afternoon was a strong outing from John Lackey, who was searching for his first win since July 12th. Lackey managed to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the 2nd before getting some run support in the bottom of the 4th. Big Papi led off the bottom half of the inning with a ground-rule double. Carp then singled to move Papi over to third with nobody out before Daniel Nava struck out looking. Stephen Drew hit into what looked like would surely be an inning ending double play, but Yankees 1B Lyle Overbay overthrew the ball to second and the ball was then air-mailed into the Yankees dugout, bringing Big Papi home to make it 1-0. With two away, Middlebrooks and Ellsbury hit back to back RBI singles to give Boston a 3-0 lead.

The Yankees got a run back with an Ichiro Suzuki RBI groundout in the top of the 5th to make it 3-1. However, that would be all the Yankees would get as the Red Sox started to break the game open in the bottom of the 6th with an RBI single from Jarrod Saltalamacchia and an RBI double from Ellsbury. Big Papi tacked on another run with a 1-out solo homer to deep center in the bottom of the 7th to make it 6-1 in Boston's favor. Breslow, Tazawa and Uehara would come out of the pen to relieve Lackey and give Boston the 6-1 win.

Lackey goes 6⅔ innings and gets his first win since the All Star break, allowing just the one earned run, walking three and striking out one. Jacoby Ellsbury led the Red Sox batters by going 3 for 5 with 2 RBI while Big Papi went 2 for 4 with the homer. A-Rod was a conspicuous non-factor for the Yankees by going 0-3- including Lackey's only K of the game.

Tomorrow night's Yankees/Red Sox game will be nationally televised on ESPN before the Red Sox embark on an inter-league road trip on the West Coast. Ryan Dempster [6-8; 4.50 ERA] will get the start against New York's CC Sabathia [10-10; 4.66 ERA] with a first pitch scheduled for 8:05 ET.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES- The Philadelphia Phillies announced that they had fired manager Charlie Manuel on Friday after managing the team since 2005. Manuel, who led the team to their first World Series title 28 years in 2008, was replaced with third base coach Ryne Sandberg.

Sandberg, a Hall of Fame second baseman with the Cubs in the 1980s, has managed the minor league Peoria Chiefs and Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. The interim appointment as Phillies manager is Sandberg's first to an MLB club.

Manuel's record with the Phillies was 780-636 and the team won five consecutive NL East pennants between 2007 and 2011. However, since the All Star break, Philadelphia has lost 21 of their last 26 games. This was the final year of Manuel's contract with the Phillies and in a press conference on Friday, Manuel made it clear he was still interested in managing.

Charlie Manuel is the winningest manager in the history of the Phillies organization.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS- MLB has announced the suspension of Kansas City Royals veteran infielder Miguel Tejada on Saturday. Although the announcement came shortly after the league announced a dozen suspensions of MLB players as a result of the Biogenesis Clinic HGH investigation, the league cited multiple violations of MLB's methamphetamine policy. In 53 games with Kansas City this season, Tejada has hit .288 with 3 homers and 20 RBI.

Tejada came up through the Oakland system in the 1990s and parlayed his 2002 AL MVP award into a lucrative $72 million six year deal with the Baltimore Orioles by 2004. Since 2007, Tejada has also played with Houston, San Diego, San Francisco and Kansas City.

PATRIOTS- Just days after a scare regarding Tom Brady's knee in training camp, the New England QB went 11 for 12 with 107 yards and a TD against Tampa Bay in the Patriot's 25-21 win on Friday. Brady showed no apparent signs of distress, but it was mostly Ryan Mallet who got the attention as he stayed in longer and went 12-20 with 137 yards and a TD.

The Patriots will next take on take on the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Aug 22nd with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 ET.

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

Brian Snyder- Reuters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NFL- Are you ready for some football?

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

Glass Half Phill Sports Chowdah Update- Red Sox Split Interleague Series With Phillies; Stanley Cup Runneth Over- Four Most Recent NHL Champions Advnace to Conference Finals

Matt Slocum/AP

RED SOX- The Red Sox jumped out to an early 4-0 lead over the Phillies on Thursday night thanks to a 2-RBI single from Mike Carp and 2-RBI double from Saltalamacchia.

The Phillies would respond in the bottom of the first by getting two back on a 2-run Delmon Young homer, but after cutting the Boston lead in half, that would be as close as Philadelphia would get. Johnny Gomes would belt a solo homer to make it a 5-2 Boston lead in the top of the 6th and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury would end up stealing a club record five bases on Thursday night as the Red Sox would continue adding to their lead. This included a Big Papi solo shot in the top of the 7th followed by three more runs in the top of the 9th thanks to an RBI Groundout from Steven Drew and RBI double from Saltalamacchia and Iglesias to make it 9-2 Boston.

Junichi Tazawa and Andrew Bailey would close out the 9-2 win for the Red Sox and Franklin Morales would win his first start of the season for Boston. Saltalamacchia would go 2-5 with 3 RBI and while Gomes and Ortiz both homered for the Red Sox, the real story of the night was Ellsbury who went 3-4 and basically ate Philly catcher Erik Kratz's lunch when he wasn't stealing five bases. Boston splits the series with Philadelphia 2-2 (the series was two games at Fenway and two games in Philadelphia), Boston's first interleague action of the 2013 season.

Since the game took place in a National League park, there was no DH slot- meaning Big Papi started at first base on Thursday night and was lifted late for Jackie Bradley Jr who had a single in his only at-bat. Bradley was called up from Pawtucket on Wednesday and is expected to remain with the team through the series against the Yankees in the Bronx.

Clay Buccholz, who was a late scratch from Monday's opener at Fenway against the Phillies is expected to re-join the team and start against the Yankees on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Yankees were swept by the struggling Mets in the interleague 'Subway Series' which includes two games in the Bronx and two games at Citi Field.

Nam Y Huh

NHL- Unlike the Eastern conference, where the Bruins and Penguins were able to wrap up their respective series in no more than five games, both the defending Stanley Cup Champion LA Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks needed seven games to advance to the Western Conference finals.

It looked touch and go for the Blackhawks on Wednesday, but the United Center erupted with thunderous applause and cheers when the 1-1 deadlock appeared to be broken late after a Niklas Hjalmarsson slapshot found its way to the back of the Detroit net, but the apparent game winning goal was waved off after two offsetting penalties were called by officials.

Instead, the Chicago crowd would have to wait a few more minutes when Brent Seabrook got his first tally of the playoffs, beating Red Wings netminder Jimmy Howard 3:35 into OT and ending Detroit's season. The victory gives Chicago a matchup against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings, who bested San Jose by a 2-1 final on Tuesday night and won the series against the Sharks 4 games to 3.

Interestingly, the longest any of the four remaining teams has gone without winning a Stanley Cup? Try 2009....that was the year the Pittsburgh Penguins won it all. The Blackhawks won Lord Stanley's cup in 2010, the Boston Bruins won it in 7 games in 2011 and the Kings remain the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Summertime Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Snap Skid Vs Minnesota, Corral Rangers; USA's Phelps Set for Golden Retirement;

RED SOX- This past week has pretty much personified the 2012 Red Sox- with the struggling club taking two out of three from the Yankees or the Detroit Tigers, but dropping the first three of a four game series to the Minnesota Twins- who aren't quite in the basement of the AL Central, but certainly sitting on the basement steps.

After getting shut out 5-0 in the series opener on Thursday and blowing a 5-1 lead on Friday's 6-5 loss, the Red Sox made it three in a row with Saturday's 6-4 loss. On Sunday, the Red Sox got out to a 2-0 lead thanks to a Carl Crawford RBI groundout and an Adrian Gonzalez RBI single in the bottom of the 3rd.

The Twins would get a run back in the top of the 3th on a Ben Revere RBI sac fly to cut Boston's lead in half, but the Red Sox would add to their lead thanks to a 2-run Adrian Gonzalez homer in the bottom half of the inning to make it 4-1 Boston.

The Red Sox would add to their lead with a Cody Ross single in the bottom of the 7th and a Jacoby Ellsbury RBI sac-fly in the bottom of the 8th.

As it turned out, Boston would need those insurance runs as Vincente Padilla led off the top of the 9th by allowing a solo homer to Josh Willingham, followed by a walk to Justin Morneau before giving up a homer to Ryan Doumit to cut the Twins defecit to 6-4. Alfredo Aceves came out to relieve Padilla and got the next three batters out to end the ballgame and halt the Red Sox losing streak at four games.

Franklin Morales went six complete innings for the Red Sox, allowing just three hits, one earned run and striking out four batters. Gonzalez went 2 for 3 with a homer and 3 RBI and Aceves came out for his 23rd save of the season.

On Monday night, the Red Sox hosted the Texas Rangers. After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, the Red Sox began to get to Texas starter Yu Darvish, taking a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 3rd thanks to RBI doubles from Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. The Red Sox would then add to their lead in the bottom of the 4th on an RBI double from Jacoby Ellsbury, a Carl Crawford sac fly and RBI double from Dustin Pedroia, making it a 5-1 lead.

Steven Senne/AP

After David Murphy got to Aaron Cook for an RBI single in the top of the second, Cook threw five shutout innings before handing things over to Junichi Tazawa in the 8th while the Red Sox continued roughing up both Darvish and the Rangers bullpen, getting one run in the bottom of the 7th and three more in the bottom of the 8th.

Although Tazawa allowed a leadoff solo homer to former Red Sox 3B Adrian Beltre, followed by a Nelson Cruz single, Tazawa would get the next three batters in order and the Red Sox would go on to win convincingly by a 9-2 final.

Adrian Gonzalez would go 3-5 with 3 RBI while Carl Crawford would go 2-4 with 3 RBI and Dustin Pedroia would go 3-4 with an RBI. Aaron Cook went 7 complete innings allowing six hits, three walks and one earned run.

For Tuesday night, Jon Lester [5-9; 5.36 ERA] gets the start against Ryan Dempster[5-5; 2.82 ERA]. In his Rangers debut, Dempster only lasted four and two thirds innings against the Angels, allowng eight earned runs on nine hits. The game gets underway at 7:10 PM Eastern time and will be broadcast on NESN.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- With the trade dealing having come and gone, the Red Sox mostly stood pat on July 31st. The did send outfielder Scott Podsednik and RHP Matt Albers to Arizona for reliever Craig Breslow and sent 1B Lars Anderson to Cleveland for RHP Steven Wright.

Josh Beckett left after pitching less than 3 innings in Tuesday night's game against the Detroit Tigers. Although he wasn't placed on the DL, he missed his next scheduled start on Sunday and is expected to go back onto the mound on Wednesday afternoon's game against the Rangers.

DH David Ortiz, out of action since July 16, is still reportedly sore from an achilles strain. Manager Bobby Valentine is uncertain when Ortiz will be returning to the starting lineup.

MLB TRADE DEADLINE- Although the Phillies broke the bank to keep starting pitcher Cole Hammels in the city of brotherly love earlier in July, two-thirds of their outfield were gone by the trade deadline last week.

The Phillies had sent outfielder Shane Victorino to the LA Dodgers in exchange for relief pitcher Josh Lindblom and minor league pitcher Ethan Martin while Hunter Pence went to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for outfielder Nate Schierholtz, minor league pitcher Seth Rosin and catching prospect Tommy Joseph.

Meanwhile, in the American league, the Texas Rangers won the Ryan Dempster sweepstakes, sending minor league infielder Christian Villanueva and pitcher Kyle Hendricks to the Cubs. Dempster had reportedly vetoed a proposed trade with the Atlanta Braves while the Dodgers and Yankees had reportedly sought the services of the 35 year old right handed starter.

NFL- The 29 year old son of Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid has been found dead in a dormitory room at the team's preseason facilities at Lehigh University.

Police said the death was not suspicious, and the cause was under investigation. The coach's oldest son had a long history of drug problems, once admitting "I liked being a drug dealer" and went to prison for a heroin-fueled car crash.

Owner Jeffery Lurie met with the team Sunday and told reporters afterward he expected Reid back this week. The Eagles host Pittsburgh in their preseason opener on Thursday night.

The police chief at Lehigh, Edward Shupp, said a 911 call was made at 7:20 a.m. about Reid, and that the 29-year-old was dead when a policeman arrived at the campus dormitory. The police and Northampton County coroner were investigating.

Reid had been staying at the camp where he assisted the Eagles' strength coaches at camp in an unofficial capacity, a not-uncommon sort of role for NFL coaches' sons. He was frequently seen on the sideline at practices and in the locker room after games. Many of the coaches and staff stay in the Lehigh dorms.

Defensive coordinator Juan Castillo and Offensive coordiantor Marty Mornhinweg will take over coaching duties from Reid until he's expected to return to the team on Thursday.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- After beating the Arizona Cardinals 17-10 in the Hall of Fame Game on Sunday, the New Orleans Saints will next take on the Patriots on Thursday night in NFL Preseason action.

-38 year old free agent WR Terrel Owens has reportedly reached an agreement with the Seattle Seahawks after a tryout at the team's Renton, WA training camp.

Owens last played for the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2010 season, catching 72 passes for 983 yards and nine TDs.

SUMMER OLYMPICS- American swimmer Michael Phelps has capped off his career by becoming the winningest Olympic athelete in the history of the modern games. Phelps had already come into the games tying American swimmer Mark Spitz for total Olympic medals won after Phelps had won during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Despite the slow start earlier in the London Games, Phelps won silver as part of the 4 X 100m freestyle relay and the individual 200m butterfly. Interstingly, the previous record holder for winning the total number of Olympic medals- a 77 year old Ukranian named Larisa Latynina who was a gymnast for the Soviet Union between 1956 and 1964- was present for Phelp's race when he broke her record; Latynina had reportedly offered to present Phelps with the silver medal herself, but that was reportedly against Olympic regulations to do so.

Less than 48 hours later, Phelps won the 16th and 17th gold medal of his Olympic career after edging out rival and team USA teammate Ryan Lochte in the 200m individual medley event and then the 100m butterfuly- his last individual event.

Heading into the London Summer Games, Phelps had stated that he would call it a career after the Olympics. With that in mind, the final event Phelps would be participating in would be the 4 X 100M medley relay in which Phelps and Team USA took gold.

Between the 2004 Athens games, the 2008 Beijing Olympiad and this year's London Olympics, Phelps retires with 18 gold medals, two bronze and two silvers. Phelps also holds a world record in the 100m and 200m butterfly event and 400m individual medley.

ELSEWHERE IN OLYMPIC SWIMMING- It isn't just Phelps who's having a good Olympics at the pool. Dana Vollmer, Missy Franklin, Rebecca Soni and Allison Schmidt brought home the gold for Team USA in record breaking fashion for Team USA in the women's 4 X 100m individual medley relay, clocking in at a new world record of 3:52.05. Overall, The USA women's swimming team has won 8 gold medals, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals in the individual and relay events in London.

OLYMPIC BASKETBALL- After surviving a late scare from Lithuania in which Team USA went on to hold on for a 99-94 win over the dimunitive former Soviet republic, the all-star American team would go on to face Agrentina- gold medalists in the 2004 Olympics.

After a back-and forth first half in which the USA went to the locker room with a 60-59 lead, the USA came out dominant in the second half- outscoring Argentina 42-17 in the 3rd quarter alone. Team USA would go on to win by a final of 126-97; Kevin Durant lead the scoring with 28 points. Things got testy in the 2nd half when Carmello Anthony took a knee to to the groin from Argentina when it was becoming apparent that Team USA was running away with it.

The Americans will face the Australian team next, with the match scheduled for Wednesday.

OLYMPIC SHOOTING- The USA has swept the skeet shooting events by taking gold in the men's skeet event.

After USA Shooting teammate Kimberly Rhode made history by becoming the first Olympian to win medals in five consecutive Olympics, United States Army Sgt Vincent Hancock took the gold in the men's skeet shooting event. The 23-year old was by far the yongest in the qualifying round and had hit a record-setting 123 out of 125 targets in the qualifying round.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL- The USA Women's volleyball team remains undefeated through the 2012 Olympics. On Tuesday, they swept the Dominican Republic team 3 sets to none to advance to the semifinals. Destinee Hooker again figured prominently in the win with 19 points for Team USA in the 25-14, 25-21 and 25-22 sweep of the Dominican Republic.

In the preliminary round, the USA women's team have bested South Korea, China, Brazil, Turkey and Serbia. The women will now await the winner of the Italy/South Korea match later on Tuesday to see who they will play next.

WOMEN'S SOCCER- The USA Women's Soccer team advances to the gold medal round to face the Japanese women's team in a rematch of last year's World Cup.

They had to rally against the upstart Canadian women's team on Monday- not only did Christine Sinclair get Canada on the board first, she accounted for all three of Canada's goals. The USA was able to tie the contest up on two goals from Megan Rapinoe and another from Abby Wambach to force extra time with Alex Morgan getting the Game winner for USA at the 120th minute for the 4-3 win.

Rainy Day Sports Chowdah Update- Tiger in the Tank, Sox Scuff Up Verlander Thanks to Feliz Nava-dad; 'Doc' Hits DL in Philly; Devils Egged Onto Cup Final

After dropping two out of three against the Tampa Bay Rays at home over the weekend- including a gut wrenching 4-3 loss on Sunday in which the Rays went ahead in the top of the 9th on a 2-run homer by Sean Rodriguez- the Red Sox played host to the team that swept Boston to start off the regular season.

Monday's 7-4 win over the Tigers came at a price for the Red Sox as Dustin Pedroia left the game with a jammed thumb. Although Pedroia sat out Tuesday's game while hoping to avoid a longer stint on the DL.

Jim Rogash/Getty Images

With Cy Young winner Justin Verlander on the bump against Boston on Tuesday night, runs against Detroit figured to be as valuable as the missing paintings from the 1990 Gardner Museum Heist, but Mike Aviles got the Sox on the board with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the 2nd inning.

Meanwhile, Daniel Bard put a few runners on base but was managing to pitch four innings of shutout baseball but had a grand total of one run for support until the bottom of the fourth. After allowing singles by Youkilis, Aviles and Podsednik, Verlander got Nick Punto [filling in for Pedroia on Tuesday] to pop up for the second out of the inning. With two away, into the batter's box stepped Daniel Nava. Verlander managed to get a 3-2 count on the left fielder, but Nava sent a 100 MPH Verlander offering into left field, clearing the bases with a clutch 3-RBI double.

As it turned out, the Sox would need every bit of run support. In the top of the 5th, the Tigers got on the board thanks to a solo home run from Jhonny Peralta to make it 4-1. In the bottom of the 5th, Big Papi drove home Adrian Gonzalez to once again make it a 4-run game but got thrown out at third after trying to stretch a double into a triple on the throw home.

Prince Fielder would account for the rest of Detroit's offense that night with a solo homer and an RBI single while Big Papi would hit a solo homer to once again widen the gap for Boston. Boston goes on to win by a final of 6-3, with Daniel Bard going 5⅓ innings with Hill, Atchison, Miller, Padilla coming in out of the bullpen and Alfredo Aceves notching his 12th save of the season after closing out the 9th. The game was halted by a rain delay of about 40 minutes in the bottom of the 8th- no word whether or not 1/32nd Cherokee Elizabeth Warren triggered the delay with an authentic Native American rain dance. Verlander was pulled after 6 innings, allowing 10 hits and 5 runs while striking out 7.

The win puts the Red Sox above .500 for the first time this season. While it may not sound impressive, Boston is actually all of 3 and ½ games out of first place in the AL East with Tampa Bay and Baltimore tied for first place. Game three of the four game series against Detroit gets underway at 7:10 PM ET on Wednesday. Jon Lester [3-4; 4.72 ERA] gets the start against Detroit's Drew Smyly [2-1; 3.14 ERA] for game 3 which will be televised on NESN.

OTHER MLB NEWS- Philadelhpia Phillies ace Roy Halliday is expected to miss anywhere from 6-8 weeks, landing on the 15-day DL with a right shoulder injury. Through 11 starts, Halliday is 4-5 with a 3.98 ERA.

In a seperate development, former Phillies and Astros starter Roy Oswalt signed a 1 year $5 million minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers. Last season, Oswalt went 9-10 with an ERA of 3.69 for Philadelphia although he spent some time on the DL with a bad back. Pending a physical, Oswalt is expected to start for the Ranger's AAA affiliate in Round Rock, TX.

NHL- After breezing through the Vancouver Canucks, St Louis Blue and Phoenix Coyotes, the Los Angeles Kings are heading to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since the 1993 season. The Kings will play the New Jersey Devils, who won their last Stanley Cup championship in 2003 against another Southern California team- the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Devils bested the New York Rangers 4-2 in the Eastern conference finals while the Kings bested the Phoenix Coyotes 4 games to 1 in the Western Conference finals.

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals is set to take place Wednesday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Wednesday night and will be televised at 8:00 PM ET (5:00 Pacific) on NBC and CBC.

NBA- While the Stanley Cup finals get underway, the NBA Conferences finals got underway over the memorial day weekend. The Miami Heat currently hold a 1-0 edge after a 93-79 win over the Celtics at South Beach on Monday night. Game 2 is set to take place Wednesday night at 8:30 ET and will be televised on ESPN.

Over in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs took a 2-0 series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 120-111 on Tuesday night.

Sports Chowdah Update- Felix the Cat; Yankees Rivera Out for Season; Cole Minders- Philly Starter Gets 5 Game Suspension

RED SOX- Heading into Thursday night's series opener at Fenway against the Cleveland Indians, the Red Sox had won exactly two games since the April 28th pitchers duel between Jon Lester and White Sox starter Jake Peavy- including an excruciating 17 inning affair at Fenway that saw the O's cap a sweep of the BoSox and Baltimore infielder Chris Davis get the win over Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald last Sunday. Yes- by the time the 17th inning rolled around, both Boston and Baltimore had depleted their bullpens and were using position players; the first time two teams had put a position player on the mound since George Sisler of the St Louis Browns went up against Detroit's Ty Cobb on the final day of the 1925 season.

Although the road trip to Kansas City got off to a promising start, the Red Sox dropped the next two games at Kauffman Stadium and then dropped the opening game against the Tribe after returning to Fenway. Beckett went up against former Red Sox starter Derek Lowe and lasted all of 2⅓ innings as the Indians teed off against him for 7 earned runs before he was pulled. Turns out the Tribe didn't even need Danielle Peck as a distraction for Beckett's most recent start

NOT a factor in Thursday night's fiasco against the Indians

Instead, it was Beckett's golf game was at the fore when after being scratched from the lineup with a sore lat muscle in his back. Yet, on his day off, Beckett was able to get in a game of golf- sore back and all. Beckett stood by his golf game, insisting that what he did on his day off was his business.

After good start by Clay Buccholz where he went 6⅓ innings and allowed 3 earned runs on 8 hits and 3 walks, the Red Sox managed to hang on for the 7-5 win on Friday night. Saturday's game saw Felix Doubront go up against Zach MacAllister and was a much more brisk and lower scoring affair than Friday's game. The Red Sox got on the board in the bottom of the third on RBI doubles from Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. Mike Aviles would bring in another runner with an RBI sac fly to make it 3-0 Boston in the bottom of the 4th. Indians 2B Jason Kipnis would put the Tribe on the board in the top of the 6th to make it a 3-1 game, but the Red Sox would make it a 3-run game once again thanks to a booming solo homer that cleared Landsdowne St off the bat of Cody Ross.
Alfredo Aceves would come out of the bullpen for a 1-2-3 ninth inning and preserve the Red Sox win- their first back to back wins since their torrid 6-1 road trip at the end of April.

The Red Sox try for the win of the 4-game series on Sunday afternoon with Cleveland starter and former Red Sox product Justin Masterson [1-2; 4.89 ERA] will go up against Daniel Bard [2-4; 4.83 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS<- The Red Sox have acquired outfielder Scott Podsednik from the Philadelphia Phillies for cash considerations on Friday. A member of the 2005 World Series Champion White Sox, Podsednik was a non-roster invitee to the Phillies spring training. After spring trainin, Podsednik was assigned to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs where he's been batting .203 with six stolen bases so far. The transaction will have the sppedy outfielder sent to Pawtucket first and reportedly includes an opt out provision if Podsednik isn't called up by this time in June.

OTHER MLB NEWS- New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is out for the season after tearing an ACL during batting practice before the Yankees hosted the Kansas City Royals last week. Rivera was carted off the field and is scheduled to undergo surgery and has been taking blood thinners for a recently discovered blood clot in his right leg.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels has recieved a 5 game suspension from MLB for throwing at Washington Nationals rookie Bryce Harper. Hamels admitted to intentionally throwing at Harper during the May 6th game inside the Beltway. Harper got a measure of revenge by stealing home in the Nationals 9-3 loss to Philadelphia that night.

Hamels is scheduled to return to the mound on Sunday at Citizens Bank ballpark on Sunday night against the San Diego Padres and starter Jeff Suppan. Interestingly, Harper survived Hamels' plunking only to risk injury at him own hand a few days later after throwing a fit in the visitor's dugout in Cincinnati. After going 0-5 against the Reds, Harper slammed his bat against the wall before it shattered, with part of it catching him right below the eye. This resulted in a gash that required 10 stitches and he was sporting a bandage for Saturday night's game against the Reds.

Streaky Sports Chowdah Update- Brady, Pats Soar in Meadowlands, Stymie Sanchez & Jets; Miller, Sabres Rattled in Boston; Wilson Ramos Safe at Home

NFL: If it feels like forever since the Patriots last won a game, that's probably because the last time they actually won a game was on October 16th against Dallas. Since then, New England has had a bye week and Sunday afternoon losses to the Steelers and Giants, setting up a pivotal prime-time matchup between them and the Jets- each team sporting an identical 5-3 record heading into Sunday night.

New England was also coming into Sunday night's game at New Jersey's Meadowlands with an injury-depleted defense after releasing lineman Albert Hainesworth (who was eventually picked up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Jim Davis- Boston Globe photo

The Jets opening drive got off to a promising start, beginning on their own 33 and moving down the field to inside the New England 10 yard line while taking barely two minutes, but after a 3 yard rush at the Patriots 10 and 2 straight incompletions from QB mark Sanchez at the 6, the Jets had to settle for a 24 yard FG attempt, which Jets kicker Nick Folk missed.

For their first two possessions, the Patriots would make their way into Jets territory, but be held to FG attempts each time (Gronkowski would make both attempts- one from the 50 and one from the 36 yard line- to make it a 6-0 Patriots lead).

The Jets would get on the board at the 4:44 mark of the 2nd period after Pats QB Tom Brady fumbled on their own 8 yard line, then get assessed a 5 yard penalty on their own 5 for a Jets safety to make it a 6-2 game with New England on top.

The Jets would then start their next drive from their own 35, taking all of 1:18 off the game clock to find the end zone to take a brief 9-7 lead over the Patriots when Sanchez ran the ball in from the Patriots 2 yard line.

However, even in some of their earlier losses, the Patriots offense has demonstrated a certain resiliency and ability to strike quickly and the final minute and 20 seconds of the 1st half on Sunday night's game was no exception. Starting on their own 20, New England managed to drive all the way down to the Jets 16 yard line when they found the end zone for the first time in the evening when Brady connected to Rob Gronkowski with 9 seconds left in the half to go up 13-9.

New England would get the ball to start off the 2nd half, although the Pats and Jets would trade 3 and outs on their first possessions. The Patriots managed to pad their lead on their second possession after Joe McKnight fumbled a Zoltan Mesko punt and New England recovered, coming away from the Jets 9 yard line with another Gostkowski FG to show for it to make it 16-9 New England.

The Jets followed that up by starting on their own 40 yard line and getting as far as the Patriots 37 before linebacker Rob Ninkovich intercepted a thrice-tipped Mark Sanchez pass and ran it back for 18 yards, giving New England the ball back on their own 43. With the shorter field, New England marched right down and Brady found Gronkowski for another TD pass to really start to break things open with a 23-9 lead with 4:44 to go in the 3rd. The Jets would come right back with a lengthy drive of their own to make it a 23-16 game early in the 4th. However, the Patriots offense would answer with another scoring drive of their own, hitting paydirt when Brady connected with Deion Branch for an 8 yard TD run to make it a 30-16 game.

The backbreaker would come on the following possession when the Jets were pinned deep in their own end and Ninkovich picked off Mark Sanchez again, returning the INT 12 yards for a pick 6 to put the game away at 37-16 with 7:45 to go in regulation.

This was a pretty big road win for New England, breaking a deadlock in the AFC East and regaining some momentum that had been missing for nearly a month. Just when it looked like the rest of the NFL seemed to have Brady figured out, he goes 26-39 with 329 yards and three TD passes and no interceptions.

Sunday night's win puts Brady and Belichick as the winningest coach & QB tandem since the AFL/NFL merger in 1966, breaking a tie with Miami's Dan Marino and Don Shula. New England also has not lost three consecutive games since 2002.

For next week's matchup, the Patriots find themselves in the prime time limelight when they host the Kansas City Chiefs and former Pats QB Matt Cassel at Foxbourough, MA on Monday night football.

NCAA FOOTBALL: For better or worse, all eyes were on Happy Valley Satuday afternoon for some actual football amid the Penn State sex abuse scandal when the Nittany Lions would take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the first time in 46 years without Joe Paterno.

Nebraska got out to an early 10-0 lead in the first half before adding to that lead in the 2nd half to make it 17-0. The Nittany Lions would get on the board late in the 3rd to make it 17-7 and close the gap to 17-14 with 6 minutes to go in the 3rd, but the Lions final drive sputtered and fell flat on a 4th and 1 on Penn State's own 46 as time expired.

AP Photo

ACC: Speaking of low-scoring NCAA Football games, both Boston College QBs played a role in the Eagles 3rd win (2nd against an ACC opponent) of the season on Saturday against the North Carolina State Wolfpack. Backup Josh Bordner got BC on the board in the first with a 3 yard TD run to make it 7-0. After the Wolfpack fot on the board with a 32 yard FG, Eagles starting QB Chase Rettig then returned to the game and connected with WR Colin Larmond for a 17 yard TD catch.

Surprisingly, that was all the would need. Although they allowed an NC State touchdown early in the 3rd quarter, the Eagles defense pitched a shutout and Boston College hangs on to win by a 14-10 final.

Next week, the BC Eagles will travel to South Bend, IN to take on #24 Notre Dame on Saturday. The Fighting Irish won the last contest between the two Catholic institutions last year at Chestnut Hill by a 31-13 final.

Babineau/Bruins.com photo

NHL: Wow- so much to love about Saturday night's affair at the Garden that the game itself seemed like a mere afterthought.

For the pregame ceremony before the Sabres and Bruins got underway at the Garden. the Bruins arranged for Daron and Lori Jacobs of Pembroke, MA do the ceremonial puck drop. Their son is a Lieutenant in the Massachusetts National Guard and had recently deployed to Afghanistan, but unbeknownst to them was in the building Saturday night to join them in time for the pregame ceremony. For those of you who missed it, NESN thoughtfully tweeted a link to this embeddable video over the weekend.


Both Buffalo and Boston were going into Saturday night's game riding a 4-game winning streak. The Sabres got the only goal of the first period on a Thomas Vanek tally 5 minutes and 38 seconds. However, the most talked about moment from the first period was Milan Lucic's hit on Ryan Miller when he ventured out of the crease to play the puck as it bounced off the boards. The hit sent Miller on his backside and his mask flying while earning Lucic a trip to the sin bin for charging.

At the 7:40 mark of the 2nd period, Rich Peverly got Boston on the board, beating Ryan Miller to tie the game at 1-1. Boston would then score two goals in sixteen seconds from Tyler Seguin and Nathan Horton to make it 3-1.

The Bruins would then blow it open in the 3rd, scoring three more goals (including Seguin's second of the night) while Buffalo would get a late power-play goal after the game was basically decided. The Bruins go on to win their 5th in a row and are above the .500 mark after downing the Sabres 6-2.

The postgame talk, however, centered around not only Lucic's hit on Miller, but Buffalo's response- or lack thereof. There was no retaliation from any of Buffalo's enforcers and on Monday, it was announced that there would be no further punishment from the NHL against Lucic for the hit.

The 8-7-0 Bruins homestand continues on Tuesday night against the 8-6-1 New Jersey Devils. Puck drops at 7 PM and the game will be televised on NESN.

MLB: Just 51 hours after his abduction, Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was freed from his captors after a prolonged shootout between his kidnappers and police at a remote hideout.

Washington Post Image

According to a statement from Venezuelan investigators, six suspects were taken into custody when Ramos was freed and five Colombian nationals- thought to be accomplices- were held for questioning on Monday.

The rescue operation took place in a remote area of western Venezuela's mountainous Carabobo state where police and soliders either had to hike in or be flown in by helicopter. Ramos was reuinted with his family in Valencia by 3 AM the following morning.

Also on Monday, it was announced that Ramos finished 4th overall in balloting for National League Rookie of the Year.

RED SOX: The Jonathan Papelbon era in Boston has officially come to an end with the free agent closer reaching a 4 year, $50 million deal that includes a vesting option for 2016. This would be the most lucrative contract for a closing pitcher on record.

CARDINALS: After interviewing Ryne Sandberg, Terry Francona and Jose Oquendo, the St Louis Cardinals have named former catcher Make Matheny as their new manager. Matheny was behind the plate for St Louis when they were swept by the Red Sox in the 2004 World Series. The catcher won 4 gold gloves- all of them with the Cardinals- before signing with the San Francisco Giants in 2006 as a free agent and ultimately retiring as a player due to post concussion syndrome.

MARLINS: Amid much fanfare, the Marlins unveiled their new 2012 uniforms and official name-change to the Miami Marlins to coincide with the scheduled opening of their new ballpark in Little Havana.

The Marlins have also reportedly been in talks with free agent 1B Albert Pujols, although there's no indication that those talks have gone anywhere yet.

ASTROS: There could be another realignment in the works as prospective Houston Astros owner Jim Crane has reportedly agreed to switch from the National League to the American League as early as 2013.

The move must get the approval of other MLB franchise owners, but it's thought the move could save Jim Crane a discount of almost $50 million on the Astros purchase price.

NBA: As negotiations between the team owners and Players association continue to wither on the vine, Yahoo Sports is reporting that a number of disgruntled players gathered for a clandestine conference to decertify the NBA Players association.

As it stands, even if the dispute were resolved tomorrow, there would be no NBA games until mid-December at the earliest. However, it looks like the season is pretty much dead as it is.

Reuters Photo

NCAA HOOPS: As indifferent as I am about College hoops, I still thought this was pretty cool.

Before a crowd of about 7000 including President Obama on board the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, the NCAA Basketball season got underway when #1 North Carolina took on Michigan State on a basketball court set up on the carrier's deck while she was in San Diego.

Play was a little sloppy because there was intermittent wind and drizzle, making the court slick and 3 pointers problematic at times, but North Carolina bested the Spartans by a 67-55 final.

The game drew favorable comparisons to the NHL's now-annual New Year's Day Winter Classic outdoor game, and there is talk of not only a second 'Carrier Classic' next November, but also making it a doubleheader or adding some women's games.

Banner Edition of Stanley Cup of Sports Chowdah- Sox Dismiss Francona After September Fade; AL East Out in 1st Round; Stanley Cup Champs Raise Banner

RED SOX: I recieved the bad news via Red Sox radio network affiliate WTSJ-AM followed up by the nail in the coffin down in Tampa Bay on XM Radio as I moved further into the northern New England wilderness.

With a postseason berth on the line in the Red Sox regular season finale, Boston found themselves tied with Tampa Bay and playing a do-or-die game against the stubborn Baltimore Orioles last week.

Things got off to a promising start with a Dustin Pedroia RBI single in the top of the 3rd, but Jon Lester would give up a 2 run homer to O's SS JJ Hardy in the bottom frame of inning number 3 to give Baltimore a 2-1 lead.

The Red Sox would then manage to knot the game up in the top of the 4th in a most curious manner. Marco Scutaro would get on board with a 1-out double, and Carl Crawford would move Scutaro to 3rd. Scutaro would then be awarded home plate to tie the game up when O's starter Alfredo Simon balked.

Simon would then go on to give up a solo homer to Dustin Pedroia to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead, but after handing things off to Papelbon in the bottom of the 9th, the O's would manage to tie the game up on a 2-out RBI goround rule double to OF Nolan Reimond and then win on a Ronald Andino walk-off RBI single for the 4-3 final.

While all this was transpiring in Baltimore, down in Tampa Bay, the Rays had managed to come all the way back from a 7-0 defecit to the New York Yankees for a 6-run bottom of the 8th and a 2-out, 2-strike solo homer in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game at 7-7 to force extra innings where they'd ultimately win on a Evan Longoria walkoff solo home run, effectively shutting the door on the last remaining playoff opportunity for the Red Sox.

The loss and elimination caps a historically awful 7-20 September for Boston where they had a 9 game lead in the AL Wild Card heading into Labor Day weekend, only to see that lead diminish in the final weeks.

The collapse in the final month led to the dismissal of manager Terry Francona less than 48 hours later and began fuelling reports that the Chicago Cubs are interested in GM Theo Epstein's services.

Since Francona was manager of the Red Sox when they won the only two World Series titles in my life- and most other New Englanders lives, I am of the possibly biased opinion that Francona's dismissal (espcially with no apparent replacement waiting in the wings) was a hasty and poorly thought out move by the front office. Not just for sentimental reasons either, but consider how much more challenging it will be to lure and retain free agents thanks to this front office turmoil.

But then again, with recent New England sports history as a guide, I'd like to think that adversity not only builds charachter but also championsips. Think back to the painful end of the 2003 ALCS against the Yankees and how the 2004 season ended. The 2006 Red Sox never even got a whiff of the playoffs, falling out of serious contention in August that year- and they followed it up with their 2nd World Series title in 3 years. More recently (albeit another sport), consider the agonizing end of the 2009-2010 Boston Bruins playoff run, where after taking a 3-0 lead against Philadelphia in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals only to have Philly come charging back and score the winning goal on a power play after a too many men on the ice penalty against Boston. The following season, the Flyers barely slowed the Bruins down on their championship run; Boston's 4-game sweep being noteworthy in that it was the only round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Bruins that DIDN'T go to 7 games.

But we'll have the whole offseason for finger-pointing, arbitrary comparisons, speculation and recriminations. In the meantime, there's still some baseball to be played.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: As bad as the Red Sox September implosion was, the Atlanta Braves suffered a comprable agonizing late season fate [it MUST be a Boston thing, even tho' one of them hasn't called Boston home for 58 years- NANESB!] losing out on the NL Wild Card to St Louis after a 13 inning loss to the Philadelphia Phillies while the Cardinals pounded the Astros 8-0 on the September 28 regular season finale. So the last game of the regular season was indeed of great interest, but had just about the worst possible outcome as far as the AL was concerned.

Also worth noting that the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants failed to make the playoffs, with the Arizona Diamondbacks getting the NL West pennant.

ALDS: But just like that, there are no representatives of the AL East remaining in the postseason thanks to the bats of a couple of former Red Sox. Adrian Beltre belted 3 solo homers in the Texas Rangers 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuedsay to eliminate Tampa after winning the series 3 games to 1.

The Detroit Tigers made things a bit interesting after the Yankees forced a deciding Game 5 in the Bronx. Former Red Sox and Indians catcher Victor Martinez would drive in the winning run off of CC Sabathia in the top of the 5th with a 2-out RBI single. Interesingly, Sabathia was the Yankees 4th starter of the game when he came on in the 5th inning.

Midseason trade acquisition Doug Fister got the win for Detroit, going 5 innings and allowing 5 hits and an earned run in his start. Both Fister and the Detroit bullpen were able to wriggle out of some bases loaded situations in Detroit's 3-2 victory in Game 5.

The conclusion of the ALDS now sets up a Detroit/Texas ALCS that will get underway in Arlington, TX on Saturday at 8:05 ET with Justin Verlander getting the start for Los Tigres and CJ Wilson on the mound for Texas.

NLDS: Lest we forget, there's also a pair of deciding Game 5's today on TBS. At 5:05 ET, the Milwaukee Brewers will host the Arizona Diamondbacks for game 5 of their ALDS series while over in Philly, the NL East winning Philadelphia Phillies will host the squirrely St Louis Cardinals for their Game 5. No firm schedule for the NLCS has been set, pending the outcome of both Game 5s today.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX: The White Sox have announced that former 3rd baseman and Nolan Ryan punching bag Robin Ventura has been named as the club's new manager, replacing Ozzie Guillen who departed for Florida at the end of the season.


NHL: The Boston Bruins 2011-2012 season got underway with an emotionally-charged pregame ceremony in which the Stanley Cup was hoisted one last time and Bruins from the 2010-2011 and 1971-1972 championship teams together raised the latest Championship banner.

Although Boston got out to the early 1-0 lead, the game itself was a touch anticlimatic. The B's would score on their first power play thanks to Brad Marchand (with assists from Tyler Seguin and Joe Corvo). However, the Flyers would come right back and tie the game up with a power play tally of their own off the stick of Claude Giroux (with assists from Chirs Pronger and Jaromir Jagr) before taking a 2-1 lead at Jacob Varicek goal with 3 seconds left in the first.



That would actually be the final, as Nathan Horton caught Flyers G Ilya Bryzgalov out of position in the 3rd period only to have the blade of Philly defender Kimmo Timonen's stick get between Horton and the wide open net (above).

The Flyers would go on to win by the 2-1 final, with Boston travelling to Tampa Bay on Saturday to face off against the Lightning. The puck drops at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on the NHL network.

OTHER NHL NEWS: The venue for the 2012 Winter Classic has been announced, with Philadelphia's Citizen's Bank Ballpark hosting a game between the 'home' team Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers. This will be the Rangers first appearence in the NHL's annual New Year's Day game played outdoors, while it will be the second go-round for the Flyers.

NFL: After Week 3's setback against the Buffalo Bills, the Patriots capped off their quickie 1-game road trip to the West Coast with a flawless 31-19 win over the Oakland Raiders.


Perhaps the higlight was Tackle Vince Wilfork's 2nd Interception in 3 weeks (also, 2nd career interception) in the the quarter with New England up by a 31-13 margin.

The 3-1 Patriots will next play against the 2-2 New York Jets at Foxboro on Sunday with a 4:15 kickoff. The Jets are coming off a 34-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens from lat Sunday night.

OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS: The Patriots released RB Eric Kettani from their practice squad after being activiated by the US Navy. Kettani reported for duty aboard the US Navy frigate USS Klakring on Friday. Head coach Bill Belichick said that the Patriots decided to cut him rather than retain him as the most feasable option of bringing him back once Kettani's completed his obligations with the Navy.

OTHER NFL NEWS: Are you ready for some football? Well, too bad, because ESPN isn't.

Country singer Hank Williams Jr and ESPN have parted ways when the network dropped Williams Monday Night Football intro after the musician made comments on FOX and Friends comparing President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner playing golf to Adolf Hitler and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu getting together on the links. ESPN announced that the intro for next week's Monday Night Football game between the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears would feature a video montage narrated by former Lions Hall of Fame RB Barry Sanders.

The ESPN Network has been very protective of President Obama, very publicly reprimanding former PGA golfer Paul Azinger for sending out a tweet mocking President Obama's record on creating jobs.

Interestingly, the ESPN networks had nothing to say when on-air personality Kenny Mayne sent out a tweet expressing a desire to ram a vehicle that was displaying Sarah Palin bumper stickers.

NCAA FOOTBALL: A couple of bad weeks strung together ads up to a bad season, and as far as the two FBS teams in New England are concerned, that's exactly what the 2011 season is shaping up to be. It's not looking too much better as UConn and Boston College both find themselves going up against ranked conference opponents on Saturday.

The Boston College Eagles are now 1-4 (0-2 in the ACC) after dropping Saturday's home game to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons by a 27-19 final. I'm a little less optimistic about their chances on the road against #8 Clemson this Saturday at 3 PM ET.

UConn isn't doing too much better in the Big East, although they have more than one win to their name so far this season. Last week, they lost to the Western Michigan Broncos of the MAC by a 38-31 final. This Saturday finds them going up against the #16 West Virginia Mountianeers in Morgantown, WV at noon Saturday.

East Coast Braces for Hurricane Irene's Approach

Tourists and truck drivers evacuating North Carolina's Outer Banks by ferry. Photo: Chuck Beckley- New Bern Sun Journal

A mandatory evacuation order for the outer banks of North Carolina is expected to go into effect Friday as Hurricane Irene gained strength while approaching from the south.

Workers from the North Carolina DOT were inspecting the aging Bonner Bridge after Tuesday's magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Virginia- the bridge links North Carolina Route 12 from Cape Hatteras to the mainland and is a key evacuation route. Further inland, residents jammed the aisles of local stores and markets in order to stock up on food, fuel, water, generators and other supplies.

At least 180 flights to and from major east coast airports have been cancelled with Irene's expected arrival. Amtrak trains south of Washington D.C., already hobbled by slow orders from host railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX after Tuesday's earthquake in Virginia, were cancelled while travellers were awaiting word on any possible service disruptions on the busy Northeast Corridor.

To the north, the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New York and New Jersey have declared states of emergency in advance of Irene's landfall. The US Navy sortied more than two dozen vessels from the huge Norfolk Naval station, including the aircraft carrier Dwight D Eisenhower, while further north, four attack submarines were dispatched from their Groton, CT base to ride out the storm in deep water. Naval aircraft was being flown further inland to ride out the storm.

Officials in New York City are considering evacuations of low-lying areas in a worst-case scenario among other preparations.

The city is making preparations to open 65 evacuation centers, seven special medical needs shelters and 75 general population shelters. These facilities can hold roughly 71,000 people; there are about 272,000 people living in the area most likely to be affected.

Officials recommended residents put together a supply kit, including drinking water, a flashlight, a battery-operated radio and a whistle

The Philadelphia Phillies have rescheduled Sundays game against the Florida Marlins to be played on Sat. In Boston, Sunday's scheduled game against the Oakland A's will likely also be moved to a Saturday doubleheader. Aug 27th as a doubleheader and the Orioles are discussing doing the same with their weekend series against the Yankees. In Maine, the Maine Eastern Railway announced that they were cancelling trains for Sunday, Aug 28th.

All these precautions and preparations are underway despite the uncertainty of where exactly Irene is supposed to make landfall. Numerous projections show her coming ashore anywhere from North Carolina's Outer Banks to Cape Cod while possibly increasing to Category 3 in the process.

Even if the eye of the storm misses the most densely populated areas, there could still be extensive damage to metropolitan areas thanks to heavy rains and winds in the storm's outer bands. If Irene does strike New England, she will likely be the first significant hurricane to strike since Hurricane Gloria in 1985. Like Gloria, it's also entirely possible that Irene could make landfall multiple times.