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

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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- One Giant Sweep; London Calling- Patriots Thrash Rams at Wembley; Eagles Snatch Elusive ACC Win From Terps

WORLD SERIES- Faced with a must-win scenario at Game 3 in Comerica Park on Sunday night, the Detroit Tigers took their first lead of the 2012 World Series and showed signs of life.

After the Giants got out to an early 1-0 lead, the Tigers took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 3rd thanks to a 2 run homer from Miguel Cabrera. After San Francisco jumped out to the early lead in Game 1 thanks in large part to Pablo Sandoval's 3 homers and shutting out the Tigers in Game 2 and Game 3, this was noteworthy as being the first lead Detroit had in the World Series.

However, it wouldn't last very long as Giants catcher Buster Posey belted a 2 run homer off of Tigers starter Max Scherzer with one away in the top of the 6th to give the Giants a 3-2 lead.

The Tigers would get an equalizer in the bottom of the 6th inning thanks to a solo homer by Delmon Young to make it a 3-3 game. The deadlock would continue into extra innings until the bottom of the 10th inning when former Red Sox and Blue Jays infielder Marco Scuatro drove home Ryan Theriot with a 2-out RBI single off of reliever Phil Coke to give San Francisco a 4-3 lead.

Sergio Romo came on in the bottom of the 10th to close out the game- and the series- for the Giants and after getting the first two batters, struck out Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to end the series.

As you probably gathered from the picture above, the San Francisco Giants go on to win their second World Series title in two seasons, becoming the fist National League team since the Cincinnati Reds Bid Red Machine of 1975 and 1976. After his standout performance in Game 1, Pablo Sandoval went 4-12 for the remainder of the series and was named World Series MVP.

The World Series title is only the Giant's second since moving out to the Bay area in 1958- the other coming in 2010 after beating the Texas Rangers 4 games to 1.

AP Photo/Alastair Grant

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- As it turns out, the New England Patriots are just as at home in ye olde England as they were in New England.

It wasn't quite the Patriots/Silly Nannies match that some have predicted, but apparently the end results weren't that different from a hypothetical matchup against the fictitious team comprised of British dandies.

After a three year hiatus, the Patriots returned to London's Wembley Stadium for the NFL's annual regular season game in the UK. This one actually counted as a 'home' game for the St Louis Rams and after the Rams got on the board with their opening possession thanks to a 50 yard TD pass from QB Sam Bradford to WR Chris Givens to give St Louis the early 7-0 lead, the Patriots would go on to score 45 unanswered points, including Brady connecting with TE Rob Gronkowski twice as well as a TD pass to WR Brandon Lloyd and rushing TDs from RBs Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen.

This one was all New England in Olde England, and the Patriots head into their bye week in sole possession of first place in the AFC East after the Jets were thumped by the Dolphins by a 30-9 final in Miami on Sunday.

Earlier this month, the NFL announced that there would be two separate games played over in London for the 2013 season. The Minnesota Vikings would 'host' the Pittsburgh Steelers in a late September contest while the Jacksonville Jaguars would take on the San Francisco 49ers in a Wembley Stadium game at the end of October.

The Patriots' next opponent will be the Buffalo Bills at home on Veteran's Day.

Michael Dwyer/AP Photo

NCAA FOOTBALL- The Boston College Eagles looked to snap a 5-game losing streak and get their first in-conference win of the season on Chestnut Hill Saturday when they hosted Maryland.

They opened up a 10-0 lead on the Terrapins in the first half thanks to a 20 yard pass from Chase Rettig to RB David Dudeck on the Eagle's opening possession followed by a 36 yard Nate Freese FG in the 2nd quarter. For the second half, Freese would open up the scoring with a 28 yard FG to make it a 13-0 before Maryland answered with a FG and TD late in the third to make it a 13-10 game.

Early in the 4th, Terps QB Caleb Rowe connected with Stefon Diggs to put Maryland ahead 17-13. Given the woeful performance of the Eagles in some contests earlier, the crowd at Chestnut Hill could feel the game start to slip away when on their next possession, Chese Rettig was sacked and fumbled the ball near mid-field. However, the Terps went 3 and out and had to punt- successfully pinning Boston College at their own 15 with just over 5 minutes remaining in regulation.

But Rettig wasn't done on the day, and kept a sustained drive going with a number of 12 yard passes to TE Chris Pantale and WR Alex Amidon, moving into the Maryland red zone and eating up precious time in the process. The drive was capped by a 14 yard TD pass from Rettig to WR Jonathan Coleman to give Boston College the 20-17 lead with 1:32 to go in regulation.

Although Maryland got the ball back with good field position at their own 31 and 52 seconds on the clock, DB Spencer Rositano picked off Caleb Rowe at mid-field, sealing Boston College's second win of the 2012 season and their first aginst an FBS opponent.

It's also worth nothing that Saturday was Military appreciation day and the BC Eagles donned special uniforms for the occasion. The uniforms are being auctioned off online by BC Athletics this week to benefit the Wounded Warrior project.

Luck O'The Irish Sports Chowdah Update- C's Not So Lucky @ West Coast Tilt; B's Blow Late Lead, Get Past Philly; March Madness Brackets Busted Already

NHL- After a forgettable road trip and briefly being overtaken in the standings by the Ottawa Senators on Friday night, the Boston Bruins were hoping to snap a 4-game losing streak at home on St Patrick's Day.

For whatever reason, the day games have not been kind to the Bruins this season- last weekend's back to back losses to Washington and Pittsburgh were both matinees. And despite the promising start, Saturday's game seemed to be headed the same direction. Although the Bruins got out to the 2-0 lead in the first thanks to tallies by Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin, the visiting Flyers were able to chip away at that lead, getting on the board thanks to a Matt Read power play goal in the 2nd and knotting the contest up at 2-2 after a Jakub Voracek goal late in the 3rd.

Nothing was resolved in OT, so the game headed for a shootout. It was starting to appear as though the shootout wouldn't resolve anything either, with both Thomas and Bryzgalov allowing goals from the first two shooters each of them faced. Listening to the shootout on the radio, I had the feeling that whoever stopped a shot first would win, and while Patrice Bergeron was able to get the puck past Bryzgalov for the 3rd goal of the shootout, Thomas was able to stop Danny Briere's attempt to seal the Bruins win.

Through regulation and OT, Thomas stopped 27 of 29 shots faced while Bryzgalov turned aside 31 of 33 shots faced. The Bruins went 0-2 on the power play while the Flyers were 1 for 4 with the man advantage on Saturday.

The win- coupled with an Ottawa loss to Toronto on Saturday night- puts the Bruins back into first place in the Northeastern division. As of Sunday night, the Senators and Bruins are separated by a point.

The Bruins will next host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night. So far, the B's have a clean sweep of the season series. The game will be televised on NESN and gets underway at 7:00 PM ET Monday.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS- The Bruins have signed LW Shawn Thornton to a two year extention. Thornton was slated to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. THe extension is reportedly worth $1.1 million per season.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The St Louis Blues are the first NHL team in either conference to clinch a playoff berth this season. The Blues 3-1 win over Tampa Bay on Saturday sealed the deal. Currently the Blues have 100 points, which is 8 more than the next closest team in the Central Division- the Nashville Predators.

NCAA HOCKEY- Boston College won the Hockey East tournament with a 4-1 win over the Maine Black Bears on Saturday night. Eagles netminder Parker Milner made 41 saves against Maine and Eagles freshman Johnny Guardeau had two goals and an assist to garner the tournament MVP honors.

Saturday's win would be Boston College's 3rd consecutive Hockey East Championship. The Eagles draw The US Air Force Academy in the first round of the NCAA Men's Hockey tournament next week. The matchup will take place this upcoming Saturday afternoon at Worcester at 4:00 PM ET.

NCAA HOOPS- If you filled out your brackets last week, chances are you probably wanted to rip them up, throw them out and start over again after a couple of first-round upsets knocked out some heavily favored schools in March Madness.

Most noteworthy was the #15 seeded Norfolk State Spartans took down #2 seed Missouri by an 86-84 final. This was Norfolk State's first trip to the NCAA tournament, but their run came to an end when they were blown out by Florida by an 84-50 final.

Not to be outdone, another #15 seed took down a heavily favored program when Lehigh beat Duke 75-70 on Friday afternoon, although Xavier would end Lehigh's run with a 58-70 loss on Sunday night.

UConn, Harvard and Vermont would all qualify for the NCAA tourney [with the Catamounts getting by Lamar 59-71 to get into the tournament- NANESB!] but all three New England schools wouldn't advance past the first round. UConn lost to Iowa State, Vermont lost to North Carolina and Harvard would lose to Venderbilt.

While the UMass Minutemen had to settle for an invite to the NIT tournament, they have managed to advance to the quarterfinals after beating Mississippi State in OT in the first round and Seton Hall in the 2nd round. They will next face Drexel at 7:00 PM Tuesday night in a game that will be televised on ESPN.

NFL- NFL's free-agency began last week with the Buffalo Bills having signed free-agent defensive end Mario Williams. Williams was the Texans #1 draft pick in the 2006 NFL draft. The contract is reportedly for 6 years and could be worth upwards of $100 million.

OTHER NFL NEWS- The Washington Redskins have spurred talk that they have their sights on former Baylor QB and last year's Heisman winner Robert Griffin III after trading with the St Louis Rams to get the #2 overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

The Redskins get the second overall pick in exchange for giving St Louis three 1st round picks and a second round pick.

NBA- Although the second half of the season has been much kinder to the Celtics than it has been the Bruins, the C's are still running into some trouble on their West Coast road trip.

While they did manage back-to-back wins against the LA Clippers and Golden State Warriors, their western tilt started off with a 97-94 loss to the Lakers at the Staples Center and back-to-back losses against Sacramento and Denver.

The C's are still in 2nd place in the Atlantic Division, only a game and a half behind the 76ers. Their road trip continues on Monday- although it will be alot less western- when they travel to Atlanta to take on the 26-19 Hawks for the first time this season.

Monday night's game gets underway at 7:30 ET and will be televised on Comcast Sports New England.

Quickie Weeknight Cuppa Sports Chowdah For Jan 19th- The Devils You Know; Gift Raptors- C's Snap 5-Game Skid

AP Photo

NHL- The Bruins seemed to have been in something of a funk, going 3-3 over the last two weeks.

Although they managed a 3-2 shootout win over the Florida Panthers on Monday night, they travelled to Tampa Bay where they dropped Tuesday night's contest to the struggling Lightning by a 5-3 final.

For Thursday night, they travelled back up the coast to take on the New Jersey Devils at Newark's Prudential Center. Coming into the Thursday night game, the Devils got the bad news that they would be without the services of defenseman Henrik Tallinder, who is expected to miss in the neighborhood of 6-8 weeks with a blood clot in his left leg.

As for Boston, Brad Marchand was eligible to play after finishing up his 5-game suspension for clipping Vancouver's Sami Salo during the January 7th home game against the Canucks.

After a first period that seemed to have the Bruins scrambling, the Devils drew first blood on a Pietr Sykora tally to put them up 1-0 with less than 90 seconds to go in the first.

After getting shut out in the second period, the Bruins started their comeback early in the 3rd, getting on board to tie the game at 1-1 thanks to a goal from Andrew Ference just 3 minutes into the 3rd stanza. Boston would then take the lead on a power play goal from Nathan Horton at the 7:10 mark and add to their lead 35 seconds later thanks to an even-strength tally from Gregory Campbell. With less than a minute to go, Chris Kelly made it 4-1 game thanks to an empty net goal after Martin Brodeur was pulled for the extra attacker.

Tim Thomas stopped 30 of 31 shots faced while Martin Brodeur allowed 3 goals on 24 shots faced. Both the Devils and the Bruins had exactly one power play apiece, with Boston capitalizing on their only opportunity in the 3rd.

The Bruins will next face the NY Rangers for the first time this season. The Rangers are one point ahead of the Bruins in the Eastern Conference standings and Saturday afternoon's contest at the TD Garden will be televised on the NHL Network. The puck is scheduled to drop at 1:00 ET.

OTHER NHL NEWS- Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara and Ottawa Sentaros RW Daniel Alfresson were named the two captains in the NHL's upcoming All Star game at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place on January 29. Both captains will set rosters for the skills competition and the game itself in a January 26 draft.

Tyler Seguin and Tim Thomas have also been named to this year's all star game.

NBA- The Boston Celtics losing streak is over after a convincing 23 point win over the [even MORE] struggling Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.

After taking a 44-38 lead at the half, the Celtics simply continued pouring it on over the hapless Raptors in the second half, with the defense limiting them to 17 points in the 3rd and 18 points in the 4th.

Rajon Rondo led the scoring on the night for the C's with 21 points along with 3 rebounds and two assists.

New acquisiton Brandon Bass came off the bench and had 9 rebounds and 13 points in a pretty productive night for Boston.

Boston gets off the schnide and wins by a 96-73 final on Wednesday night. On Firday night, they will take on the Phoenix suns at the Garden with a 7:30 tipoff. The game will be televised on CSNE.

NFL: Ahead of this weekend's AFC Championship game between, the St Louis Rams announced that they will be playing the New England Patriots at London's Wembley Stadium on October 28, 2012. The Rams will reportedly be travelling to England for the next three seasons.

This would not be the first trip to London for the Patriots. They ventured across the pond for an October 25, 2009 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning that one handily by a 35-7 margin.