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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Magnolia State Madness Sports Grits Chowdah Update- Mississippi Blues for Aggies, Crimson Tide; Royal Flush- Kansas City Sweeps Angels to Advance to 1st ALCS Since 1985; Patriots Bounce Back Against Cincinnati.

NCAA FOOTBALL- Every once in awhile, I'll encounter a subset of football fans who are outright dismissive of college football, sneering that REAL football is played on Sundays- as though their favorite NFL player was cultivated in some magic football orchard hidden off from the rest of the world until their product was ready. On Saturday, I genuinely felt bad for those people.

Where to start? Obviously the biggest story of Saturday afternoon was the Ole Miss vs #1 Alabama game in Oxford, MS. For the first time since 2003, when Eli Manning was the Rebels QB, Ole Miss bested the Alabama Crimson Tide thanks to a 4th quarter rally. This also marks the first time since 1962 that the Rebels have gotten out to a 5-0 start.

Midway through the 4th quarter, Mississippi trailed 17-10 before pulling even on a 34 yard TD pass from Bo Wallace to WR Vance Sanders with 5 and a half minutes remaining in regulation. With the ensuing kickoff, Alabama's Christion Jones fumbled and Mississippi recovered on the Alabama 31 yard line. It didn't take long for the Rebels to capitalize, with Wallace connecting with RB Jaylen Walton for a TD catch and run to put Ole Miss up 23-17 with just under 3:00 remaining in the 4th. The Rebels attempted to go for two, but were unsuccessful, giving Alabama one last chance to pull ahead for good in the final minutes.

With just 37 seconds to go, the Tide had one last shot at the end zone, but Rebels outfielder-turned-DB Senquez Golson managed to get his hands on a Blake Sims pass attempt in the end zone and after a lengthy review was able to corral it for a galme-clinching INT.

Wallace ended up throwing for 251 total yards and 3 TDs, including two in the fourth quarter. The victory propels Ole Miss to 3 in college football polling as well.

This Saturday, the Running Rebels will travel to College Station, TX to take on #14 Texas A&M.

ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC- Saturday's stunner in Oxford was by no means the only upset in the SEC, let alone NCAA Football. The only-slightly-less-favored Aggies fell to Mississippi State in Starkville by a 48-31 final in what ended up being a track meet. Like in-state rival Ole Miss, the Mississippi State Bulldogs are out to a 5-0 start and will host #2 Auburn this weekend.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL- The upsets actually began as early as Thursday night, with the Arizona Wildcats holding on against the #2 Oregon Ducks by a 31-24 final. On Firday night, the Utah State Aggies handed #18 BYU their first loss of the season, going on to win 35-20.

On Saturday, Texas Christian handed the Oklahoma Sooners their first loss in a wild one at Amon G Carter Stadium in Fort Worth that included Horned Frogs LB Paul Dawson picking off Sooners QB Trevor Knight's pass and running it back 41 yards for a TD early in the 4th quarter. On the point after attempt, it was successfully blocked before being run back for 2 points by Sooners DT Jordan Phillips to cut TCU's lead to 37-33. However, that would be the last of the scoring and #25 TCU remains undefeated and advances to #9 in the college football standings while #4 Oklahoma was handed their first loss and dropped down to #11 in the rankings.

But there was more......especially out on the West Coast. Utah ended up beating #8 UCLA by a final of 30-28 while Arizona State trailed #16 USC late in the fourth. The Sun Devils had the ball on the Trojans 46 and trailed 34-32 with just 7 seconds left in the game when this happened.



The Trojans would go on to lose by a 38-34 final, their second loss since playing Boston College at Chestnut Hill and their first loss of the season within the Pac 12 conference.

MEANWHILE IN THE ACC- The Boston College Eagles had the weekend off after their September 27th 24-21 loss to Colorado state, but will resume this weekend in Raleigh, NC as they take on the North Carolina State Wolfpack on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3 streaming.

NFL- And then there were none.

The last of the undefeated teams in the NFL this season turned out to be the Cincinnati Bengals, and that only lasted until Sunday night against New England at Gillette Stadium.

Heading into Sunday night's game there were a number of storylines- could the Pats and Brady bounce back after last week's fiasco at Arrowhead, not to mention the final remaining undefeated team in the NFL [Arizona also got out to a 3-0 start, had a bye and then lost to the Broncos earlier in the day- NANESB!]. But what really had people talking during and after the game was the Patriot's tribute to the cancer-stricken daughter of defensive lineman Devon Still in the 3rd quarter.

During a timeout in the third quarter on Sunday night, the Patriots let Still know that they were with him and his daughter during their battle. Patriots cheerleaders donned Still’s Bengals jersey as the music video played on the big screens, and Patriots owner Robert Kraft donated $25,000 to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Leah’s name.

Still was shown on the big screen following the music video, and got a little emotional when he received an ovation from the Gillette Stadium crowd. You could see tears stream down his face,

Reaction across Social Media was quick, with accolades for the Patriots as well as pledges of support from other NFL players and owners for Devon and Leah Still. Still was sporting a nose strip that had the hashtag #LeahStrong on the Sunday night game.

Meanwhile, on the field Brady seemed to have quieted his critics with a TD pass in the first half as well as a 1 yard Stevan Ridley TD run and 3 Gostkowski field goals to make it a 20-3 game at the half.

Cincinnati scored on their second possession of the second half with a 37 yard TD pass from QB Andy Dalton to WR Mohamed Sanu to make it a 20-10 lead for New England, but on the following possession, Brady capped an 86 yard drive with a 16 yard TD Pass to TE Rob Gronkowski to put New England up 27-10. Things only got worse for the Bengals when they fumbled the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by Kyle Arrington on special teams and run back for the second Patriots TD in just 6 seconds of playing time.

Unlike Kansas City, the Patriots would go on to cruise to a 43-17 win, with all the scoring in the 4th quarter coming off the leg of Gostkowski. Tom Brady would go 23-35 with 292 yards and 2 TDs while Cincinnati's Andy Dalton would go 15-24 with 204 yards and 2 TDs. Stevan Ridley would lead New England's ground attack after rushing for a total of 113 yards and a TD.

This sets up only the second intra-conference matchup for New England this weekend when the Patriots travel to Orchard Park, NY to take on the Buffalo Bills, who are sporting a similar 3-2 record [but do have at least one win against an AFC East opponent this year- NANESB!]. Kickoff is at 1:00 ET and the game will be televised on CBS.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- Week 6 gets underway with a Thursday night AFC South matchup between the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts. Kickoff is 8:25 PM and the game will be televised on the NFL Network.

MLB PLAYOFFS For the first time since 1985, the Kansas City Royals are advancing to the American League Championship Series. This comes after the team completed a sweep of the Anaheim Angels at Kauffman Stadium on Sunday night- a sweep of the team that could boast the best regular season in MLB, no less.

The only time the favored Angels led was in the first inning when outfielder Mike Trout belted a 412 foot solo homer to deep left center off of starter James Shields- I'm not talking just game 3, but the only time in the entire American League division series. In the bottom of the 3rd, a shaky CJ Wilson ended up loading the bases with singles to Nori Aoki and Lorenzo Cain and waling Billy Butler after striking out Eric Hosmer. That brought up the home-grown Alex Gordon, who belted a 2-2 offering off of the wall in left center field to clear the bases with a 3-RBI double and give the Royals the lead back as they led it 3-1.

Halos manager Mike Socia went to the bullpen early, but that wouldn't slow down the Royals as they got two more runs in the bottom of the 3rd thanks to a 2-run Eric Hosmer homer to make it a 5-1 game. The Angels would close the gap a little thanks to a 391 foot solo homer from Albert Pujols, but the Royals would start of pull away in the 4th thanks to a Mike Moustakas solo homer and Lorenzo Cain RBI sac fly to give KC a 7-2 lead.

The Royals would go on to cruise to an 8-3 win over the Angels, sweeping the team with the best record in the Majors. This sets up a meeting with the Baltimore Orioles, who put the finishing touches on a sweep of their own, bouncing the AL Central winning Detroit Tigers from the first round of the postseason.

NLDS- Meanwhile in the National League Division series, it will be a rematch of the 2012 NLCS after the St Louis Cardinals bested the LA Dodgers 3 games to 1 in the first round while the San Francisco Giants also got by the Washington Nationals by a similar margin, including an 18 inning marathon in the nation's capital last weekend.

That series gets underway on Saturday night and will be televised on FOX and FOX Sports One.

NHL- It's here! It's here!

The NHL regular season got underway on Wednesday night with the Bruins taking on the Flyers at the TD Garden.



Reilly Smith got the scoring started in the first with a power play tally midway through the first. Through 2 periods, Rask turned aside 13 shots from Philadelphia while Steve Mason turned aside 19 of 20 shots from the Bruins, keeping the Flyers very much in the game.

Just four minutes into the 3rd, the Flyer managed to tie the contest up at 1-1 thanks to a Sean Coutourier goal. However, Chris Kelly would notch the go-ahead goal for the B's with just a minute fifty to go. The Bruins hang on to win by a 2-1 final in their home opener and will immediately travel to Detroit to take on the Red Wings for Thursday night's game.

Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:30 ET at Joe Louis Arena and the game will be televised on NESN.

Trade Deadline Sports Chowdah Update- So Long Jon, Lester, Lackey Dealt at Trade Deadline; The Price is Right

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.

Fall Back Sports Chowdah Upate- Red Sox Love A Parade, Lose the Beards; Steelers Buckle In Foxborough; Hokies Experience Technical Difficulties At Chestnut Hill

WORLD SERIES- Several days after announcing that the Red Sox had won the 2013, I should probably get into some of the details on exactly HOW it all went down in Game 6.

If the Red Sox were to clinch their first World Series title at home since 1918, the had the somewhat daunting task of getting past Cardinals rookie sensation Michael Wacha- the phenom who was previously undefeated in the 2013 postseason. Wacha would go up against John Lackey, who had earned similar accolades with the Angels in the World Series 11 years ago.

Intent on taking a quick lead, the Cardinals came out swinging against Lackey in the top of the first. Although Carpenter, Beltran and Holliday hit the ball hard, they went in order with a flyball to left and two groundouts up the first base side of the infield.

Meanwhile, Wacha made quick work of the first two batters he faced before walking David Ortiz. Mike Napoli would then strike out to end the inning. In the top of the second, Lackey gave up back to back singles to Allen Craig and Yadier Molina, putting runners on first and second before getting matt Adams to fly out to left and Freese to fly out to right field. Craig and Molina would advance to second and third on a wild pitch with two away before Lackey got Jon Jay to strike out and end the Cardinals threat.

In the bottom of the second, the Red Sox would also get the first two batters on base thanks to a single from Johnny Gomes and a walk to Shane Victorino before getting Bogaerts and Drew to pop out and David Ross to strike out swinging to end the Red Sox threat.

While Wacha appeared to be laboring, the veteran Lackey was settling in, getting Descalso to strike out followed by a single to Matt Carpenter before Carlos Beltran grounded into a double play.

Unlike Game 2, the Red Sox would finally break through in the bottom of the 3rd. Jacoby Ellsbury led of the inning with a single before advancing to second on a Pedroia groundout. Erring on the side of caution, the Cardinals decided to intentionally walk David Ortiz and it appeared to pay immediate dividends as Wacha struck Napoli out. With two away, Gomes kept the inning alive for Boston after getting hit by a pitch- the first batter Wacha hit by a pitch in the entire playoffs.

With no score and two away, this loaded the bases for Victorino. The inning could end with one swing of the bat.....

....or clear the bases and put the Red Sox up 3-0. The inning ended when Bogaerts lined out to 3rd base, but that damage had been done and the Sox batters had rattled Wacha. The Cardinals would threaten with one away in the top of the 4th with an Allen Craig single and Molina reaching base safely on a rare Pedroia error before getting Adams to line out and David Freese to strike out to end the inning. Earlier in the day, President Obama was in town giving a pep rally to try and sell wavering supporters on the merits of the Affordable Care Act after a disastrous rollout. However, a slumping Stephen Drew would provide insurance in a much more tangible and useful form by leading off the bottom of the 4th with a solo homer that soared into the Red Sox bullpen to give Boston a 4-0 lead. David Ross would then strike out before Ellsbury doubled to deep right field, advancing to 3rd on a flyout by Pedroia.

Once again, the Cardinals intentionally walked David Ortiz before Wacha was pulled for Lance Lynn. Napoli brought Ellsbury home with an RBI single before walking Gomes. Victornio then singled to shallow left, bringing Big Papi home to make it a 6-0 game. After failing to get a single out, Cards maanger Mike Matheney brought Seth Manness out of the bullpen where he got Xander Bogaerts to strike out swinging to end the Red Sox rally. Lackey, meanwhile, looked as though he was cruising until the bottom of the 7th inning with two away before giving up a single to Descalso, followed by a Carpenter double to left before Carlos Beltran go the Cards on the board with an RBI single before Beltran advanced to second. After some back and forth between Lackey and Farrell in which the Red Sox manager wanted to pull the starter, Lackey stayed in against Matt Holliday before walking him. That was enough for Farrell and he brought Junichi Tazawa out of the bullpen to face Allen Craig- with one swing of the bat, Craig could've made it a 1-run game, but instead Craig grounded out to first to end the Cardinals threat.

Red Sox fans old enough to remember the 1986 World Series know the folly out counting down the remaining outs in the World Series, but Workman came out in the top of the 8th and got all three batters he faced out before Koji Uehara came out in the 9th. Jay and Descalso flied out to left, bringing up Matt Carpenter as the Cardinals last hope to prolong the series.

With Uehara's strikeout of Carpenter, the Red Sox won their first World Series at Fenway Park since 1918 [the two most recent titles were clinched at Colorado's Coors Field and the old Busch Stadium in St Louis- NANESB!]. The Red Sox win the World Series, besting the St Louis Cardinals 4 games to two- their third World Series title since 2004.

Meanwhile, Big Papi was named the World Series MVP with 2 homers, 6 RBI and 8 walks in the world series, reaching safely in nine consecutive plate appearances at one point while boasting a .688 BA and .760 OBP. Big Papi is also the only player on the current Red Sox roster who was on the team for the three most recent Red Sox WS titles.

Charles Krupa- AP

The Red Sox were honored with a parade featuring the Duck Boats over the weekend- the parade route [or 'rolling rally' if you prefer the scientific term- NANESB!] took the Red Sox past the Boston Marathon finish line- site of the terrorist bombings back in April that killed three and injured hundreds.

As the weekend continued, David Ortiz and Shane Victorino had their beards shaved off during a promotion at Gillette headquarters [shades of the 2004 'idiots'- NANESB] along with Boston police officer Steve Horgan who gained a degree of stardom when he was stationed in the Red Sox bullpen during Game 2 of the ALCS and was shown triumphantly pumping both fists in the air as Detroit outfielder Torii Hunter tumbled over the wall attempting to run down a Big Papi grand slam in Game 2 of the ALCS.

On Sunday, Victorino, Matt Thornton, Jon Lester, Will Middlebrooks, Clay Buchholz, Felix Doubront, Stephen Drew, John McDonald and Johnny Gomes paid a visit to Gillette stadium in Foxboro for a pregame ceremony before the Patriots took on the Steelers- continuing a rich tradition of championship Boston teams visiting other sporting venues as part of the celebration.

Before the Ducks were even fired up, the hot stove talk began when Jacoby Ellsbury's agent Scott Boras said that at least 11 teams had expressed an interest in signing the free agent outfielder. Fox Sports baseball writer Ken Rosenthal reported last month that the Seattle Mariners and Texas Ranger were among Ellsbury's potential free-agent suitors- Seattle making sense if the 2011 gold glove winning outfielder and Oregon native wanted to be close to home in any way. Shortstop Stephen Drew is also a Boras client- Boras has a fairly long and acrimonious history with the Red Sox front office, particularly during the 2005 offseason when then-free agent client Johnny Damon went from the Red Sox to the Yankees, despite multiple offers by Boston.

On Monday, the Red Sox made qualifying offers of $14.1 million for one year to Ellsbury, Stephen Drew and Mike Napoli.

Charles Krupa- AP

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- Any other year and this would've been the marquee matchup of the week, but the Pittsburgh Steelers came into Sunday afternoon's game at Foxborough sporting an underwhelming 2-5 record.

After taking a 24-10 lead into halftime, it appeared as though the Patriots would romp to a fairly east win, but the Steelers were able to tie the game pretty quickly in the 4th quarter thanks to two TD passes from QB Ben Roethlisberger to make it a 24-24 game. With just over 2 and a half minutes to go, New England retook the lead thanks to a 32 yard Gostkowski FG.

The Patriots wrapped up the 3rd quarter with excellent field position thanks to a 43 yard punt return by Julian Edelman, giving New England the ball on the Steelers 34 and five plays later, Brady connected with WR Aaron Dobson for a 17 yard TD pass to put New England up 34-24.

After forcing the Steelers to go 3 and out, the Patriots got the ball back on their own 39 yard line and the Patriots were once again able to move the ball deep into Pittsburgh territory [thanks to a penalty that cost Pittsburgh 20+ yards as well- NANESB!] before Stevan Ridley was able to punch it in on a 5 yard TD run to make it 41-24.

Although the Steelers pulled back to within 10 on their next possession- a 3 minute TD Drive that started from their own 20, the Patriots struck back quickly from inside their own 20 with just over 5 minutes left in the ballgame when Brady connected with Dobson on an 81 yard TD pass to make it 48-31. Patriots safety Duron Harmon would then pick off Roethlisberger at midfield with 3:19 left in the game, setting up a TD run for RB LeGarrette Blount to open up a 55-31 lead on Pittsburgh.

After the Steelers managed to tied the contest coming out of halftime, the Patriots open up a 23 point lead on them and never looked back- going on to win by a 55-31 final. Tom Brady goes 23-33 with 4 TDs and 432 yards on the day while Roethlisberger went 28-48 with 400 yards, 4 TDs and 2 interceptions in the losing effort.

The Patriots wrap up week 9 with a 7-2 record and head into the bye week in first place in the AFC East before facing the 5-3 Carolina Panthers on Monday night football on November 18th.

ELSEWHERE IN THE AFC EAST- The Miami Dolphins are in the news once again, but for all the wrong reasons. Dolphins offensive tackle Jonathan Martin abruptly left the team for unspecified reasons before their October 31st game against Cincinnati. The Miami Herald then reported that Martin left due to ongoing harassment and threats from teammates- led primarily by veteran guard Richie Incognito.

The word 'bullying' gets used way too much in this hypersensitive epoch, but if the allegations against Incognito are true [and some of these texts and phone messages have been documented- NANESB!] then Incognito's conduct clearly crosses the line from hazing the rookie to borderline extortion.

Not only did Incognito send the bi-racial Martin text and voicemail messages threatening his mother and making copious use of racial slurs [reportedly in jest- NANESB!], but Martin was reportedly pressured into shelling out $15,000 to his teammates for an unofficial junket to Las Vegas- a trip that Martin didn't even take.

While veteran players sticking rookies with the bill is a time-honored tradition [usually a one-time deal- NANESB!] the Miami Herald is reporting that veteran Dolphins players have been sticking rookies with bills for team dinners that run in excess of $30,000. The NFL minimum salary for a rookie is right around $400,000.

On Sunday, the Dolphins announced that Incognito was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. The suspension comes after a Ft Lauderdale paper reported that Miami coaches asked Incognito to 'toughen up' Martin after the younger player missed a voluntary practice on the offseason.

EVEN MORE AFC EAST NEWS- The Kansas City Chiefs remain the NFL's only undefeated team after Week 9. The Chiefs faced the Bills in Orchard Park, NY on Sunday and after the Bills kicked a game-tying field goal late in the 3rd, the Chiefs pulled ahead for good on a Tamba Hali fumble recovery that was run back for 6 points early in the 4th to make it a 20-13 win. Kansas City kicker Ryan Succop made it a 10-point game late in the 4th with a FG, ultimately giving the Chiefs the 23-13 win.

HOUSTON TEXANS- Houston head coach Gary Kubiak was released from the hospital on Tuesday after a series of tests determined he suffered a transient ischemic attack- or 'mini-stroke'- on Sunday.

Kubiak collapsed on the Texans sideline at halftime during Sunday night's nationally televised game against the Indianapolis Colts at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Although responsive, Kubiak was wheeled into an ambulance and hospitalized. In the second half, the Colts would rally from a 21-3 deficit to win by a 27-24 final.

With Kubiak out indefinitely, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was named interim coach this week. The Texans will travel to Arizona to take on the 4-4 Cardinals this weekend.

Ed Wolfstein- USA Today

NCAA FOOTBALL- With much of Boston basking in yet another Boston championship parade on Saturday, it seemed as though many had forgotten that there was some football to be played in Chestnut Hill. The Eagles had come into Saturday's home game against Virginia Tech having dropped two out of their last three games, including two against ACC opponents. Meanwhile, the Hokies were showing up after a 13-10 loss to Duke at home but had won the last five of their contests against Boston College.

RB Andre Williams got the Eagles on the board with two and a half minutes remaining in the first thanks to a 19 yard TD run before Virginia Tech tied it up on a Trey Edmunds TD run with 6:21 to go in the first half. The Hokies would then head into the locker room with a 10-7 lead.

For the Hokies first possession of the second half, QB Logan Thomas was picked off at midfield by Eagles CB Manny Asparilla and returned inside the Virginia Tech red zone. Despite starting out at the Hokies 15 yard line, the Eagles were only able to come away with 3 points- Nate Freese's FG tied the game at 10-10. The game headed into the 4th with the Hokies and Eagles knotted up at 20-20 when turnovers would once again cost Virginia Tech.

Logan Thomas ends up throwing a pick 6 to Kevin Pierre Louis, putting Boston College up 27-20. On their next drive, Virginia Tech got as far as the Boston College 38 before turning it over on an incomplete pass on 4th and 6. From their own 38, Andre Williams ran 62 yards to put the Eagles up 34-20 with 4:51 left.

It seemed like a fairly secure lead, but after a 49 yard kickoff return the Hokies took all of 90 seconds to come back within a touchdown when the drive was capped with a 22 yard TD catch from Logan Thomas to Trey Edmunds with 3 minutes to go in regulation to cut the Eagles lead to 34-27. Boston College didn't help out their own cause when they went three and out from their own 25, kicking off on 4th and 3. After burning their timeouts, Freese kicked off and the Hokies got the ball back on their own 28. However, on 4th and 4, Logan Thomas would fumble the ball and Boston College would recover and run out the clock.

Boston College goes on to win by the final of 34-27, their second ACC win of the season. Next week, the Eagles will travel to southern New Mexico to take on the New Mexico State Aggies. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 PM at Las Cruces, NM.

Meet Me In St Louis Sports Chowdah Update- Red Sox Take Series Lead on Strong Start by Lester; Ram Tough- St Louis Defense Stout, But Seahawks End Up Winning on Monday Night

Elsa- Getty images

WORLD SERIES- After going through six pitchers- including starter John Lackey- during Sunday night's series-tying Game 4, Red Sox manager Jon Farrell needed a strong start from Jon Lester for Monday night's Game 5 while St Louis starter Adam Wainwright was looking to put his disastrous Game 1 start behind him.

The Red Sox jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Dustin Pedroia hit a 1-out double in the top of the first and came home when David Ortiz followed that up with a double of his own to put the Red Sox on the board. Wainwright then got Gomes and Nava to strike out to end the Boston threat.

Jon Lester got out to a strong start and was cruising until the bottom of the 4th when he gave up a solo homer to deep center off the bat of Matt Holliday to tie the contest up at 1-1. Carlos Beltran then hit a ball to deep left that looked like it was on its way out of the park before Johnny Gomes was able to run it down. Yadier Molina then grounded out to end the inning with the game knotted up at a run each.

The game would remain deadlocked at 1-1 until the top of the 7th inning when Xander Bogaerts hit a one out single followed by a walk to Drew from Wainwright. That brought David Ross into the batter's box and on a 1-2 count, this happened:



The Red Sox got the go-ahead run on Ross' ground rule double, and manager John Farrell had to decide whether or not to leave Lester in to bat or remove him for a pinch hitter. He stuck with Lester, although the decision didn't pay off immediately as he harmlessly grounded out without advancing the runners. That brought Jacoby Ellsbury to the plate and he singled up the middle, bringing Drew home to make it a 3-1 game. Ross attempted to add to the lead, but he was thrown out at the plate to end the top half of the 7th.

Meanwhile, Lester managed to cruise easily through the bottom half of the second, getting Holliday, Beltran and Molina to hit into outs. In the bottom half of the 8th, Lester got the first two outs before Farrell decided to bring Uehara in out of the bullpen for a 4-out save, getting pinch hitter Matt Adams to strike out and end the inning.

There would be no pickoff throw to end Game 5. Instead, Uehara would get Carpenter, Jay and Holliday out in order to win the game for Boston by a 3-1 final and take a 3-2 series lead over St Louis.

Just like Game 1, Lester goes 7⅔ innings- unlike Game 1 of the World Series, Lester actually gave up a run. Monday night's Game 5 would actually be the first time Lester gave up an earned run in a World Series start.

The series heads back to Fenway on Wednesday night for Game 6 with the Red Sox getting a chance to clinch the World Series at home for the first time since 1918. Although St Louis has a recent history of persevering in Game 6s and will send undefeated rookie hurler Michael Wacha to the mound in Game 6, the series shifts back to an American League park where Farrell can start both Napoli AND Big Papi instead of slotting in Ortiz at first and bringing on Napoli as a pinch hitter or late-inning defensive replacement. Aside from Lester, Farrell has a stable of fairly well-rested arms at his disposal should Game 6 get to an 'All Hands on Deck' type situation.

John Lackey gets the start against Wacha and the first pitch is scheduled for 8:07 PM ET. The game will be televised on FOX and carried on ESPN Radio.

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL- Meanwhile, across town from the new Busch Stadium, the St Louis Rams were playing host to the Seattle Seahawks. In a game that many were expecting to be a one-sided blowout, the Rams defense was quite stingy and didn't give up that many first half yards and even took an early 3-0 lead.

However, Seattle was successfully able to keep the Rams out of the end zone and their more promising drives ended with field goals instead of TD's as Seattle goes on to win by a 14-9 final over St Louis.

Sports Chowdah Update- Go Go Johnny Gomes, Red Sox Bounce Back to Even Up World Series After Interference Call; All Tannehill Downhill From Here- Patriots Surge Past Miami in Explosive 2nd Half;

Today's Sports Chowdah Update provides an example of New England teams bouncing back after a late call cost them dearly.

Matt Slocum- AP

WORLD SERIES- One night after St Louis took a 2-1 series lead on an interference call in the bottom of the 9th inning, Game 4 of the 2013 World Series came to yet another unbelievable conclusion.

Besides the umpires ruling that Will Middlebrooks interfered with Allen Craig in the basepath when he was attempting to come home on an errant throw from Saltalamacchia in the bottom of the 9th, the biggest storyline was whether or not Clay Buchholz would start for Boston in Game 4 after having his start pushed back- and if so, how many innings would he last.

The answer, as it turned out, was four. Buchholz likely would've lasted a little longer if Game 4 was being played in an American League ballpark. After trailing 1-0 in the top of the 5th, the Red Sox managed to load the bases with nobody out before Stephen Drew managed to tie the contest up at 1-1 with a sac fly to left that brought Big Papi rumbling in from 3rd. Red Sox manager John Farrell decided to bring in Mike Carp to pinch hit for Buchholz with two on and two away, but the Boston rally ended when Carp grounded out.

For the second straight night, Felix Doubront came out of the pen and on Sunday night, he was dealing more gas than a Marcellus Shale rig, getting Carpenter, Beltran and Holliday out in order in the bottom of the 5th. In the top of the 6th, starter Lance Lynn got two quick outs before allowing a 2-out single to Dustin Pedroia and an unintentional intentional walk to David Ortiz. At that point, Cards manager Mike Matheny brought in reliever Seth Maness out of the bullpen to face Johnny Gomes, who was starting for the slumping Shane Victorino. With two strikes and two away, Gomes changed the game with one swing of his bat.



Gomes, who came into Sunday night's game 0-8, managed to hit it into the Red Sox bullpen out in left field to give the Red Sox a 4-1 lead. Doubront, meanwhile, would continue baffling the St Louis batters he faced until the bottom of the 7th when Shane Robinson would pinch hit for reliever Randy Choate. The Cards pinch-hitter would get a two-out double to get a runner in scoring position for the first time since the bottom of the 4th. After Craig Breslow came out of the Boston bullpen, he immediately gave up a single to Matt Carpenter, bringing home Robinson to cut the Red Sox lead in half.

Breslow would then walk Carlos Beltran to bring the go-ahead run up to the plate in the form of Matt Holliday. Junichi Tazawa, however, would come out of the pen and get Holliday to ground out and end the St Louis threat in the 7th. Cards reliever Kevin Siegrist would get two quick outs before allowing a single off the bat of David Ortiz- who then left the game so Quentin Berry could pinch-run for him. Former Brewers reliever Jon Axford came in for the Cards and after Berry successfully stole second, Axford walked Gomes before getting rookie Xander Bogaerts to strike out and end the Red Sox threat in the top of the 8th.

In the bottom of the 8th, none other than Game 2 starter John Lackey came out of the bullpen to pitch an inning of relief. After getting Matt Adams to ground out, Yadier Molina got on base thanks to a throwing error from Bogaerts, advancing to second. The not-exactly-fleet-of-foot catcher advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch, meaning that with any sort of ground ball or reasonably deep fly ball, St Louis could make it a 1-run game. However, Lackey managed to snuff the St Louis rally by getting outfielder Jon Jay to pop out to shortstop and 2011 World Series hero David Freese to ground out to short.

Axford had an efficient 9th inning, getting Drew, Ross and Napoli [who came in after Big Papi was lifted for the pinch runner- NANESB!] in order. In the bottom of the 9th, Koji Uehara came on for the save and got Daniel Descalso to ground out to start off the inning. A hobbled Allen Craig came on to pinch-hit for Axford and belted a ball to deep right where Daniel Nava had to field it off the wall for what amounted to a long single. Craig was lifted for pinch-runner Kolten Wong. Matt Carpenter popped up to shallow right field for the second out with Wong staying at first.

With two away, Carlos Beltran stepped into the batter's box representing the potential tying run for St Louis. The announcers for ESPN Radio, FOX and KMOX kept questioning why Uehara was so focused on the runner at first when it was believed the Red Sox would gladly cede 2nd base if it meant getting the batter out. With a 1-1 count on Carlos Beltran, Uehara demonstrated why he was so intent on the runner at first.



Uehara's pickoff throw took the bat out of Beltran's hands and ended Game 4- the first-ever World Series game to end on a pickoff throw. This means the 2013 World Series is now a best-of-three contest. After coming on for some long relief for the second straight night, Felix Doubront gets the win for Boston- his first career postseason win.

Game 4 is set for 8:07 PM ET on Monday night and will feature a rematch of Game 1 starters Jon Lester and Adam Wainwright. Despite Game 1's disastrous start for Wainwright, the Cards starter has an 11-6 record and 2.83 ERA at home this season. The game will be televised on FOX and broadcast on ESPN Radio.

Michael Dwyer- AP

NFL- After last week's late and costly penalty cost them the game against the Jets, the Patriots fell into an early hole against the Miami Dolphins at Foxboro.

After trailing Miami 14-0 in the second quarter and heading into the locker room at halftime down 17-3 with just 59 offensive yards, New England would need a near flawless second half to bounce back.

While not flawless, the Patriots came up HUGE in the second half of Sunday afternoon's game at Gillette stadium, scoring 24 unanswered points. New England got the ball rolling on their second possession after a missed Dolphins FG attempt gave the Patriots their ball back near their own 40. Stevan Ridley opened up the drive with a 23 yard run before Brady connected with TE Gronkowski for 23 more yards on 2nd and 10 from the Dolphins 41 before capping the drive with their first TD of the day on a 14 yard completion to WR Aaron Dobson to make it a 1-TD game.

New England would manage to tie the game before two minutes came off the game clock. The Dolphins started out on their own 20, but Miami QB Ryan Tannehill was immediately sacked by CB Logan Ryan while DE Rod Ninkovitch recovered the loose ball on the Miami 13. The game would be tied when RB Brandon Bolden would punch it in on first and goal to make it 17-17 after the Gostkowski PAT. The Patriots would get their first lead of the day after Gostkowski kicked a 48 yard FG to make it 20-17 late in the 3rd quarter.

On Miami's first drive of the 4th, a 28 yard Tannehill pass attempt was expertly deflected by DB Devin McCourty while Marquice Cole caught it, managing to keep both feet in-bounds on the play. This gave New England the ball back on their own 18 and the Patriots managed to take the ball 72 yards on a drive lasting nearly 6 minutes- including Brady successfully running for a first down on 4th and 4 from the Miami 34 and a costly penalty against Miami after sacking Brady and batting the loose ball further back- before the drive was capped on a 3 yard TD run by Stevan Ridley to give New England the 27-17 lead.

Miami was able to put another drive together and got as close and the Patriots 15, but on 3rd and 3 Ninkovitch sacked Tannehill to push the Dolphins back 6 yards, forcing them to settle for a FG attempt with just over 2:40 remaining in the game. Caleb Sturgis' FG attempt was blocked by Chandler Jones- essentially ending the ballgame and preserving New England's 2nd half shutout. Patriots snap their 1-game losing streak within the AFC east and go on to win by a 27-17 final.

The Patriots will next host the struggling Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov 3rd. The game will be televised on CBS with kickoff scheduled for 1:25 PM ET and the game will be televised on CBS.

404 Error Sports Chowdah Update- Wacha Wahca, Cardinals Rookie Bears Down on Red Sox Batters; Sharks Tanked With Less than a Second to Go in Regulation

Matt Slocum- AP

WORLD SERIES: Not gonna lie to you- I'm a little bummed after Thursday night.

Game two of the 2013 World Series featured Cardinals phenom Michael Wacha going up against veteran John Lackey, and it was every bit the pitchers duel as advertised through the first couple of innings. The Cardinals broke through in the top of the 4th when Matt Holliday led off the inning with a triple to the 'triangle' area of deep center field. After Matt Adams grounded out to second, St Louis got on the board with a Yadier Molina groundout to first to make it a 1-0 ballgame; St Louis' first lead over Boston in the World Series since Game 7 of the 1967 Fall Classic.

The way Wacha was pitching, it was looking as though the 1-0 lead might hold up. However, after the former Aggie allowed a 1-out walk to Dustin Pedroia, DH David Ortiz finally figured the Cards rookie out and belted a 3-2 offering into the Monster Seats to give the Sox a 2-1 lead.

That lead would be short lived, however, after Lackey got Allen Craig to strike out in the top of the 7th, he walked David Freese and gave up a single to Jon Jay before Craig Breslow came in out of the pen to relieve Lackey while Cards manager Mike Matheny would get Pete Kozma to pinch run for Freese. Jay and Kozma would successfully execute a double steal before Breslow ended up walking Daniel Descalso. Carpenter would then hit a sac fly to bring home Kozma- Saltalamacchia couldn't corral the throw to home. Although Breslow was at home to back up Saltalalmacchia, this throw to 3rd went into the seats and allowed Jay to score, giving St Louis the 3-2 lead. However, the Cardinals weren't done yet- Carlos Beltran notched his first World Series RBI with a single that brought home Descalso to make it a 4-2 St Louis lead.

The St Louis uprising took the wind out of the Red Sox sails as they couldn't mount a credible threat against the St Louis bullpen. Although Tazawa, Workman and Uehara would limit the Cardinals batters to a single in the 8th inning, the Red Sox bats were limited to a Big Papi single that was ultimately harmless.

A night after the Cardinals comedy of errors cost them dearly in Game 1, they take the lead on two hits and two errors in the top of the 7th to take a 4-2 and go on to even the series at 1-1.

The series now heads to St Louis with no DH for the Red Sox- David Ortiz is expected to play first base starting with Game 3. Jake Peavy will get the start against Joe Kelly. First pitch for Game 3 is scheduled for 8:07 ET and the game will be televised on FOX.

Mary Schwalm- AP

NHL- With all eyes on Fenway on Thursday night, the Bruins were getting set to host the San Jose Sharks- who had yet to lose in regulation this season. That would all change in a pretty unbelievable fashion in the 3rd period as David Krejci broke a 1-1 tie with exacly 0.8 seconds remaining in regulation.



The Bruins best San Jose by a 2-1 final thanks to some last second heroics by Krejci. Jarome Iginla opened up the scoring for Boston late in the second for his first goal as a Bruin. Patrick Marleau got the equalizer for San Jose just 18 seconds into the 3rd, setting up Krejci's very late heroics.

Both teams went 0-1 on the power play, but what really stands out is the shot differential. San Jose's Antii Niemi faced a grand total of 17 shots while Tukka Rask more than twice that number with 39 shots.

The Bruins will host the struggling New Jersey Devils on Saturday. The puck is scheduled to drop at the garden at 7:00 ET on Saturday night and the game will be televised on NESN.

Quickie World Series Sports Chowdah Update- Lester Cruises, St Louis Struggles in Game 1; Bruins Add to Buffalo's Woes

Mark L Baer- USA Today

Nothing sends a shiver down my spine like seeing the Green Monster adorned with a giant stars and stripes. But ceremony notwithstanding, there was some baseball to be played on Wednesday night.

Boston Globe

WORLD SERIES- Unlike Game 1 of the ALCS, it didn't take the Red Sox nearly 9 innings to get their first hit in Game 1 of the 2013 World Series. In fact, aside from the Red Sox hosting a Game 1 against a venerable organization from the Midwest, the resemblance stopped right there.

Despite giving up a 2-out single to St Louis' Matt Holliday, Boston starter Jon Lester had a pretty quick first inning. In the bottom half of the first, Lester would even get some run support early [and as it turned out, often- NANESB!] as Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright allowed the leadoff walk to Jacoby Ellsbury before getting ALCS Game 6 hero Shane Victorino to line out. The bases would then get loaded thanks to a Dustin Pedroia single and David Ortiz reaching on a fielding error by Cards shortstop Pete Kozma- second base umpire Dana Demuth blew the call when Pedroia was initially ruled out at second, but after Sox manager John Farrell argued the call and the other umpires conferred, the call was overturned.

The overturned call set up this opportunity for Mike Napoli with the bases loaded and only one out:



Napoli cleared the bases with a 3-RBI double before Wainwright got Johnny Gomes to ground out and Xander Bogaerts to strike out swinging, but the Red Sox had taken a 3-0 lead, something they were unable to accomplish in the first sixteen innings of the ALCS.

Lester had an even more efficient top of the 2nd, getting Yadier Molina and David Freese to strike out before Matt Adams grounded out to second. With Wainwright struggling and the Red Sox hitters smelling blood in the water, the bottom half of the second began when a struggling Stephen Drew reached first after Wainwright initially called for a routine, harmless popup between home and the pitcher's mound but then inexplicable allowed it to drop. Catcher David Ross then singled before Ellsbury flew out to left and Victorino made it safely to first on another Kozma error- once again loading up the bases on an error with only one away. Dustin Pedroia then singled to shallow left, bringing Drew home. This set the table for Big Papi once again, with the bases loaded and only one out. With the crack of Ortiz's bat, it appeared as though he just broke the game wide open with a fly ball towards the dugouts by right-center field, but Carlos Beltran was able to successfully run it down [he paid a price for it, but replay showed he was reaching well into the bullpen when he snagged it- NANESB!], colliding with the wall in the process. David Ross would come on the sac fly, although that was only 25% of the runs the Red Sox faithful were hoping for in that Big Papi at-bat. Mike Napoli would end the inning by grounding out to Wainwright, but now the Red Sox had taken a 5-0 lead.

After Lester struck out Carpenter to get the side in order, Wainwright began to settle down as well, getting the net six batters in order and allowing just a single before reliever John Axford came out of the bullpen in relief of him. Beltran also left the game with what was later disgnosed as bruised ribs after colliding with the bullpen wall when robbing Papi of that grand slam in the 2nd inning.

The Red Sox bats stayed pretty quiet until the bottom of the 7th when Big Papi got to hit one out of the park after all- a two out, 2-run homer off of the first pitch he saw from Cards reliever Kevin Siegrist.



Ortiz's 2-run blast gave Boston a 7-0 lead, and in the top of the 7th with two away, manager John Farrell would pull Lester for Junichi Tazawa would get Beltran's replacement- outfielder Jon Jay- to strike out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 8th, Daniel Nava came in for Gomes and led off the inning with a double before heading to third on a wild pitch from St Louis reliever Carlos Martinez with Bogaerts at the dish. Bogaerts then hit a fly ball to left-center field deep enough for Nava to come home on, putting Boston up by 8 runs and giving the rookie from Aruba his first career postseason RBI.

Ryan Dempster would come out of the pen for Tazawa in the bottom of the 9th and allow a leadoff homer to Matt Holliday and allow a 2-out single to 2011 World Series hero David Freese before Matt Adams struck out to end the ballgame.

The Boston Red Sox take Game 1- a contest in which the team with the best record in the National League probably wishes they could get a mulligan on. Jon Lester goes 7⅔ shutout innings, despite the Cardinals loading up the bases in the top of the 4th [getting out of it when David Freese grounded into a double play- NANESB!].

Mike Napoli and David Ortiz led the scoring for the Red Sox with 3 RBI's each. Napoli went 1-4 with the bases clearing double while Papi went 2-3 with the just-missed-being-a-grand-slam sac fly for one RBI in the 2nd and the 2-run homer in the 7th.

The Red Sox are now 4-0 in Game 1 of a World Series, dating back to 1975. In fact- the last time the Red Sox lost a World Series Game 1 was in 1967- against the St Louis Cardinals.

I'm expecting a stronger showing from the Cardinals tonight- St Louis, quite frankly, looked ill-prepared and at times startled on the field. Their three errors on the night matches the combined total from the 2013 NLDS and NLCS, prolonging innings when it looked as though their starter might be able to get out of a jam with runners on base.

Thursday night's Game 2 will have Lester on the mound against St Louis rookie Michael Wacha. First pitch is scheduled for 8:07 PM ET and the game will be televised on FOX.

OTHER WORLD SERIES NOTES- Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz- originally slated to start game 3- will have his start pushed back to Game 4 due to what he referred to as fatigue in his throwing shoulder. Jake Peavy's start will instead be moved up to Game 3 at Busch Field in St Louis.

Meanwhile, Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran has been listed day-to-day after his collision with the bullpen wall in Game 1.

Gary Wiepert- AP

BOSTON BRUINS- Apparently the winning formula the Bruins have stumbled across is to play at the exact same time as the Red Sox. With the first two games of the Bruins road trip coinciding with Games 5 and 6 of the ALCS, the Bruins got off to a 2-0 start on their road trip in Florida.

Wednesday night's road game against the Sabres would get underway at almost the exact same time as Game 1 of the World Series. With not quite as many people inside the Hub watching (or at least flipping back and forth between the World Series and Bruins), Boston took on the struggling Sabres who are off the their worst start in franchise history.

Milan Lucic got the Bruins on the board with a goal at the 11 minute mark of the first period and then added to his total with another tally a mere 40 seconds into the second period.

The Sabres were able to cut the Boston lead in half thanks to a Cody Hodgson power play goal at about 8 and a half minutes into the 2nd, but Boston was able to pad their lead to make it 3-1 thanks to a Dougie Hamilton goal.

Nikita Zadorov brought Buffalo back to within one goal with less than 5 minutes to go in the second, but in the third period, Torey Krug would score two unanswered goals- including a power play goal midway through the 3rd- to make it 5-2 Boston.

The Bruins kick the 1-9-1 Sabres while they're down, and Buffalo, Sabres president Ted Black braced fans for more tough times ahead in an interview on WGR radio, basically saying that the franchise is going through a transitionary rebuilding period.

Meanwhile, the Bruins head back to Beantown [just in time for the World Series!- NANESB!] and will take on the 8-0-1 San Jose Sharks at the Garden on Thursday night. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL network- so feel free to flip between that and the World Series if you're so inclined.

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

Rick Osentoski- USA Today

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Alan Diaz- AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

Chris Carlson- AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mike Carlson- AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Juan H Gonzalez- Detroit Free Press

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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