WORLD SERIES- Those of us who wanted a Game 7 in the 2014 World Series weren't disappointed.
Game 7 was made possible by the Royals lighting up Giants starter Jake Peavy early in Game Six on Wednesday, cruising to an easy 10-0 win and tying up the series at 3 games apiece.
For Game 7, the Giants got out to an early 2-0 lead off of Kansas City starter Jeremy Guthrie thanks to a pair of RBI sac flies- one off the bat of Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford. However, the Royals got those two runs back in the bottom of the second and managed to chase San Francisco starter Tim Hudson after 1⅔ innings when Alex Gordon hit an RBI double and then advanced to third before coming home on an Omar Enfante sac-fly.
In the top of the 4th, Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval led off with an infield single, followed by a Hunter Pence single and a Brandon Belt fly ball to left field that advanced Sandoval to third. By this point, Royals manager Ned Yost pulled Guthrie and brought Kelvin Herrera in from the bullpen. Morse singled, which brought Sandoval in from 3rd before Herrera struck out Brandon Crawford and got Juan Perez to ground out and end the inning.
Nursing a 1-run lead, Giants manager Bruce Bochy brought in starter Madison Bumgarner from out of the bullpen. Although dominant against the Royals earlier in the series, Bumgarner immediately gave up a single to Omar Enfante followed by an Alcides Escobar sac bunt to move Enfante into scoring position, but that was followed by fly ball off the bat of Nori Aoki to left that LF Juan Perez managed to run down for the second out. Bumgarner then managed to get Lorenzo Cain to strike out and end the bottom of the 5th.
Instead of going to the bullpen, Bochy went with Bumgarner into the 9th inning, with the Giants starter getting better as the innings progressed. In the bottom of the 9th, he got Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler to go down quietly for the first two outs. Alex Gordon stepped into the batter's box and hit a line drive into left center that was misplayed by Gregor Blanco which rolled all the way to the wall. Gordon beat the throw to third and brought the increasingly demoralized crowd at Kauffman Stadium back to life with the tying run 90 feet away. However, Bumgarner got Salavor Perez to pop up to 3rd to clinch San Fransico's third World Series title since 2010.
For his two commanding starts and the Game 7 relief appearance, Madison Bumgarner was named the MVP of the 2014 World Series. On Friday, the City of San Francisco held their third World Series parade in less than five years.
NFL- After struggling just to outlast the Jets on Thursday night last week, the Patriots made it look easy against the Chicago Bears last Sunday when Tom Brady threw for 5 TD passes at Gillette Stadium.
New England had a 31-7 lead in the final minute of the first half when Bears QB Jay Cutler fumbled deep in Bears territory and Rod Ninkovitch recovered and ran it back for a TD with 55 seconds left in the half.
Brady would then connect with Gronkowski for a 46 yard TD reception to make it 45-7 on the Patriot's opening possession of the second half. The Patriots would cruise to an easy 51-23 win over Chicago thanks to 3 TD passes from Brady to Gronk, along with TD passes to Tim Wright and Brandon LaFell. Brady went 30-35 with 354 yards on the day to go with the 5 TDs on the day. Gronk caught 9 passes for 149 yards and the 3 TDs while Gostkowski made all three of his FG attempts.
This Sunday's game is a marquee matchup between two first-ballot Hall of Fame QBs when the Patriots will host the Denver Broncos and QB Peyton Manning at Gillette this weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:25 ET and the game will be televised on ESPN.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- As good a day as Brady had last week, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger had an even better one, with 6 TDs and 522 yards, going 40-49 in the Steeler's 51-34 win over the Indianapolis Colts. The performance set a Steelers franchise record and was an exclamation point on Big Ben's 100th career win.
NCAA FOOTBALL- The Boston College Eagles are now bowl-eligible after a road win in Blacksburg, VA against Virginia Tech. Although the Hokies got out to an early lead in the first, the Eagles took a 14-10 lead into halftime.
After the half, the Eagles extended their lead to 23-10, but Virginia Tech made it a 23-17 game early in the 4th quarter and took a one point lead on a pass from QB Michael Brewer to TE Bucky Hodges to give the Hokies a 24-23 lead.
With just over five minutes to go in regulation, Alex Howell gave Boston College the lead once again thanks to a 44 yard FG attempt. After the Eagles defense held the Hokies to a 3 and out on the following possession, the Eagles started to pull away thanks to a 57 yard TD run from QB Tyler Murphy to make it 33-24 Boston College. The Hokies would close the gap to 31-33 thanks to another driver from Brewer that was capped with a 5 yard TD pass with 1:09 to go, but the following onsides kick was recovered by the Eagles, which allowed them to simply take a knee and run out the clock.
Murphy went 8 for 15 with 110 yards and two TDs passing and 122 yards rushing with another TD. Charlie Callinan and Marcus Outlow each had TD receptions on Saturday as well.
This would be Boston College's second win in a row after beating Wake Forest on the road last Saturday by a 23-17 final. Next Saturday, Boston College will host the Louisville Cardinals at Chestnut Hill. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:25 PM ET and the game will be televised on ESPN 2.
NHL- After blowing a 3rd period lead to the Minnesota Wild at home, the Boston Bruins hit the road for a quick trip against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, getting past Buffalo 3-2 in OT thanks to a Brad Marchand tally just 1:20 into OT.
On Saturday night, the B's returned home to host the Ottawa Senators for the first time this season. Marchand would open up the scoring on Saturday night, giving Boston a 1-0 lead a little over a minute into the contest. Mark Stone got the equalizer for Ottawa with about 30 seconds to go in the first period, giving the Bruins a 3-1 lead.
The second period was all about Matt Fraser as he had two tallies less than 90 seconds apart to give Boston a 3-1 lead. Heading into the 3rd, the Bruins would add tack on some more insurance when Seidenberg got an unassisted goal just over two minutes into the period. Ottawa would get on the board once again with a Mika Zibanejad goal with about five minutes left to go, but that would be it for the Sens.
Tukks Rask turned aside 27 of 29 shots faced on Saturday as the Bruins went on to win by a 4-2 final in their first meeting with Ottawa.
The Bruins homestand continues on Tuesday when the B's will host the 4-2-3 Florida Panthers at the Garden. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN
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.
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.
NHL: After a frenzied 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils earlier this week, the Bruins were set to continue their torrid November by closing out their homestand with a home game against the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets.
This one turned out to be a pretty light-scoring affair, with a scoreless first period. Early in the 2nd period, Blue Jackets C Derek MacKenzie got Columbus on the board with a power-play goal while a little over 2 minuets later, Adam McQuaid got one past Curtis Sanford on an even strength goal to make it 1-1.
Of course, a scoreless 3rd period means overtime, and the scoreless overtime means a shootout! Tukka Rask stopped two out of three shots faced while Sanford allowed goals from David Krejci and Rich Peverly. Rask made the game clinching save on a shot from the Jackets' Antoine Vermette to end the shootout and send Boston to its 7th consecutive win, sweeping the 5 game homestand.
Rask had 30 saves on 31 shots faced while Columbus' Sanford stopped 26 of 27 faced. The Bruins had only one power play opportunity which they didn't capitalize on, while the Jackets went 1 for 2 with the man advantage. While the Bruins had won an earlier shootout on Oct. 15th at Chicago, this is the first shootout win for Tukka Rask on the season.
The defending Stanley Cup Champions (who are starting to play like it) will next travel to Long Island where they will take on the 5-8-3 New York Islanders on Saturday Night. The puck drops at 7PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
OTHER BRUINS NEWS: Quebec's director of criminal prosecutions announced that they had declined to pursue charges against Boston Bruins captain Zdneo Chara over a March 2011 on-ice hit against Montreal's Max Pacioretty that sent him into stanchion and left him with two fractured vertebrae.
Chara had received a game misconduct penalty, but no further sanction from the NHL in the last 8 months since the hit.
NFL: Last week's Thursday night all-AFC West game was of some interest simply because it was the first Thursday night game since the season opener between the Packers and the Saints at Lambeau Field[for some reason, I also dug the ad that showed a Jets fan making his way to his favorite watering hole after being crowded and jostled on a subway car while (presumably) thousands of miles away, a Broncos fan was finishing up at a ranch and making HIS way through the a remote, rutted high plains dirt road in an old Suburban before arriving at his respective tavern (which appeared to be the only structure around for miles) to watch the same game as the Jets fan- NANESB!].
As a New England fan, this week's Thursday night game was of some interest because it featured the Denver Broncos taking on the Patriot's next closest division rival, the New York Jets. The game from Sports Authority Field at Mile High got off to a slow start, with each team trading field goals and heading into the half tied at 3-3.
The Jets would then come out and score a TD on their first possession of the 2nd half to take a 10-3 lead. However, the Broncos would come right back to tie things up at 10-10 after Broncos CB Andre Goodman intercepted a Mark Sanchez pass and returned it 26 yards for the pick-6. The Jets would re-take the lead early in the 4th quarter after a 45 yard Nick Folk FG attempt was good to make things 13-10. With 5:54 remaining in regulation, the Broncos got the ball back on their own 4 yard line, starting QB Tim Tebow ended up calling his number plenty, with five carries for 37 yards (as well as a pass to Dante Rosario and a run by Lance Ball) to set up 3rd and 4 from the Jets 20 yard line with a minute and 6 seconds remaining in the game, setting up this:
With that, the Broncos took the late 17-13 lead over the Jets. Mark Sanchez would get the ball out as far as the Denver 44 yard line before the clock ran out.
The Broncos win this one by a final of 17-14, knocking the Jets down to 3rd place in the AFC East. The Patriots will close out week 11 with a Monday night game against the Kansas City Chiefs from Foxborough, MA.
NCAA HOOPS: Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski this week surpassed his mentor and former Army head coach Bob Knight to become the winningest Division I Men's Basketball coach of all time.
'Coach K' secured career coaching win #903 this week when Duke University beat Michigan State by a 74-69 final at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. Krzyzewski has been Duke's head coach since 1980, leading them to four NCAA titles.
OKLAHOMA STATE: Oklahoma State women's basketball head coach Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna were killed in a plane crash on a recruiting trip to Arkansas. The single-engine plane was owned and piloted by Bransetter- he and his wife were also killed in the plane crash.
Budke and Serna had been with Oklahoma State since 2005. The NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash.
SYRACUSE: Just weeks after the Penn State child molestation scandal shocked the college sports world, a former Syracuse Orangemen ballboy is accusing assistant coach Bernie Fine of molesting him and his stepbrother over a span of several years starting in 1984.
Bobby Davis and Mike Lange allege that they were molested by Fine at Syracuse practice facilities and on road trips. Fine denies the charges by the two men, who are now 39 and 45 respectively.
The Syracuse chancellor said that they were contacted in 2005 about allegations he had previously reported to police regarding Fine. The University claims that it conducted it's own internal investigation and that people the accuser said would support his claims denied any knowledge of wrongdoing on Fine's part. Syracuse police declined to pursue the case because the statute of limitations had expired.
NCAA FOOTBALL: A little like the NFL, although most of the action is typically supposed to take place over the weekend, we were treated to some pretty good televised games throughout the week. BIG 12: Undoubtedly the biggest shock from this week's slate of weeknight games came on Friday Night with Iowa State upending the Oklahoma State Cowboys bid for a perfect season before the December 3rd Bedlam game against the Sooners.
The game took place in Ames, IA and had the Cyclones trailing 17-7 at the half, only to fall even further behind after the Cowboys scored on their first possession of the 2nd half to make it 24-7. From there, however, the Cyclones would go on to score 17 unanswered points, tying the contest up at 24-24 with 6 minutes left in the 4th on a 7 yard Jared Barnett pass to Albert Gary for the game-tying TD, forcing overtime.
For the first OT, the Cyclones and Cowboys traded TDs, while Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden was picked off to start off the 2nd OT. With the short field, Iowa State's backup RB Jeff Woody rushed for the game-winning TD to give the underdog Cyclones the 37-31 win against #2 (and previously undefeated) Oklahoma State.
Depending on what happens to the #5 Sooners, who travel to #25 Baylor this weekend, the December 3rd Bedlam game could very well determine the Big 12 title.
ACC: After falling behind early to the North Carolina Tarheels, #9 Virginia Tech managed to put up 24 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarter before having to hold off a late rally from the Tarheels in the 4th.
The Tarheels would score 2 TDs in the 4th, including a Bryn Renner pass to WR Erik Highsmith. After scoring a TD to make it a 24-21 game, the Tarheels attempted an onside kick that they did recover, but it didn't travel the required 10 yards, so Virginia Tech got the ball back and pretty much ran out the clock.
The win, coupled with a Virginia loss to #23 Florida State this weekend, would give the Hokies the ACC Coastal Division title.
MAC: Pretty good game on Tuesday night between Ball State and Northern Illinois. The NIU Huskies fell behind early by a 14-0 margin, but were able to come back and win by a 41-38 final. Meanwhile, the Ohio Bobcats got by the Bowling Green Red Falcons on a Field Goal as time expired to win by a 29-28 final. Both the Bobcats and Huskies are sporting identical 8-3 records, although NIU has the better in-conference record of 5-1.
PENN STATE: Another curious wrinkle in the Penn State child molestation scandal surfaced when former Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno transferred full ownership of his home to his wife for $1 months before the allegations of former coordinator Jerry Sandusky molesting young boys at Penn State facilites and elsewhere.
Some observers interpret this as Paterno attempting to shield himself from civil suits stemming from Sandusky's actions. However, since Paterno is also well into his 80s and this could've been seen as a fairly benign manuever as part of an estate tax shelter of some sort were it not for the timing.
Paterno's son Scott also announced on Friday that the 84 year old former Penn State coach was also diagnosed with treatable lung cancer.
News of Paterno's dismissal was met with rioting from irate Penn State students who overturned vehicles, ripped out light poles and pelted pedestrians and police officers with rocks and bottles in State College, PA Wednesday night.
The 84-year old Paterno was fired after 46 seasons as Penn State's head football coach, with a career record of 409 wins and 136 losses, making him the winningest coach in NCAA Division 1 football history. Assistant coach Tom Bradley is expected to act as interim coach for the remainder of the season.
The Nittany Lions are currently ranked #12 in the country and are expected to host the #19 Nebraska Cornhuskers in Happy Valley on Saturday- Penn State's final home game of the season.
Assistant coach Mike McQueary, who testified to the grand jury that he had seen former offensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky molesting a young boy in the locker room showers in 2002, will reportedly miss Saturday's game due to unspecified threats. McQueary later told Paterno about what he had witnessed and Paterno had told then-athletic director Tom Curley, but no further action was taken.
Curley and former university Vice President Gary Schultz are charged with perjury and failing to report the 2002 incident.
In a twist that seems right out of a Stieg Larssen manuscript, the Centre County, PA District Attorney who investigated 1998 claims that Sandusky was engaged in inappropriate relationships with boys as young as 8 at Penn State facilities has been missing since 2005 and declared legally dead by his family. Although it would be tempting to fall into some conspiratorial mindset thinking that the Penn State scandal just now coming to light played a role in DA Gricar's disturbance, if foul play was behind the disappearance of the Pennsylvania DA, it came just weeks after Gricar was at a press conference announcing Centre County's biggest drug bust.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: There was some more ACC Football tonight. Mercifully, this didn't involve the hapless and outmatched BC Eagles getting stomped.
Under the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, it was the Virgnia Tech Hokies who continued their win streak against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Thursday night.
Georgia Tech was leading the Hokies 26-21 late in the 3rd period and appeared to have the Hokies as good as stopped on 3rd and 19 when Yellowjackets LB Jeremiah Attaochu took a swing at Hokies QB Logan Thomas for a 15 yard penalty and an automatic first down. Aided by a 44 yard run from RB David Wilson, the Hokies would score on that drive to make it 27-26 Virginia Tech. The Hokies would then get 10 more points in the 4th quarter to put the game away by a 37-36 final.
MISSOURI: The Mizzou Tigers made official their move to the SEC this week during an announcement at the campus student center. Missouri is the second team to leave the Big 12 for the SEC, with both Mizzou and Texas A&M expected to join the SEC at the start of the 2012 season.
MLB: 24 year old Washington Nationals rookie catcher Wilson Ramos was abducted by gunmen in his native Venezuela on Wednesday.
AP File Photo
According to a spokeswoman for Ramos' Venezuelan-league team, Ramos was abducted by multiple gunmen in full view of his fathers and brothers inside of his home at Santa Ines at 6:45 Wednesday night.
Reportedly no contact has been made with Ramos' family. In the recent past, family members of MLB players in Venezuela sometimes abducted for ransom, but this is reportedly the first time an active player has been abducted.
Ramos was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in a 2010 trade that sent All Star relief pitcher Matt Capps to the twin cities. This season, Ramos batted .267 with 15 home runs and 52 RBI while throwing out 28% of the runners who attempted to steal on him.
Kidnappings targeting wealthy and middle-class Venezuelans have been on the increase for more than a decade.
Venezuelan police said 618 kidnappings were reported in 2009, and the numbers have grown rapidly in recent years. In 1998, when President Hugo Chavez was elected, just 52 kidnappings were reported. Security experts say the real number of kidnappings today is much higher because many cases aren’t reported to authorities.
The wealthy have taken steps to protect themselves. Sales of armored cars have soared in the past several years. Bodyguards typically shadow major leaguers when they return to their homeland to play in the winter league.
It is not known what, if any, security precautions Ramos took while returning to Venezuela.
[Personally, I think Ramos' abduction is the logical outcome of more than a decade of socialist dictator Hugo Chavez's economic policies centered around avarice and class envy- NANESB!]
Seven years after defeating the Cardinals to lead the Boston Red Sox to their first World Series title since 1918, former Red Sox manager Terry Francona interviewed with St. Louis on Tuesday after Tony LaRussa announced his retirement last week just days after the Cardinals won their 11th World Series title.
Other potential candidates include former Cub Ryne Sandberg and Cardinals 3rd base coach Jose Oquendo. Among the anticipated candidates, Francona is the most experienced.
RED SOX: Speaking of interviews, the Red Sox are continuing their offseason interviews to replace Francona.
This week, they interviewed Cleveland Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar and are expected to interview Tigers 3rd base coach Gene Lamont and former Pawtucket Red Sox manager and Blue Jays 1st base coach Torey Lovullo.
Texas Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux had announced that he was withdrawing his name for consideration for Boston's managerial vacancy.
Image- NBA Entertainment
NBA: Former Celtic and basketball hall of famer Ed Macauley passed away at the age of 83 in St Louis on Tuesday.
The lanky Macauley, also known as 'Easy Ed' played for a season with the St Louis Bombers of the Basketball Association of America before the Franchise went under and the Boston Celtics selected him in a 1950 dispersal draft.
Between the 1950-51 season and 1955-56 season, Macauley played for Red Auerbach's Celtics before being traded to the St Louis Hawks for Bill Russel. A few years after the deal, Russel and the Celtics faced off against Macauley and the Hawks in consecutive NBA Championships in 1957 and 1958. The Celtics won the title in '57 and the Hawks beat Boston in '58.
Macauley would go on to coach to Hawks for two seasons, taking them to the playoffs, but not making it to the NBA finals. In 1960, 'Easy Ed' was named to the basketball hall of fame at age 32- to this day, the youngest player to be admitted to the Naismith Hall. Interestingly, after moving back to the St. Louis area Macauley became an ordained deacon in the Catholic church in 1989.
The Celtics have retired Macauley's number 22.
NHL: After their forgettable October, the Bruins are now back to .500.
Jim Rogash/Getty Images
Of course, it helps when you start piling up the wins against teams in your own division, but the Bruins homestand continued on Thursday night when they played host to the Edmonton Oilers (9-3-2).
The Bruins got out to a pretty quick 2-0 lead in the first before the Oilers knotted things up to send both teams to the locker room tied at 2-2. Early in the 2nd, the B's would get the lead back on a power play goal from Brad Marchand followed by a Tyler Seguin tally less than 3 minutes later to make it a 4-2 lead.
Heading into the 3rd period, neither team was able to find the back of the net until less than 5 minutes to go in regulation when Ryan Smyth was able to convert an Oilers power play with 7 seconds to go on the man advantage to make it a one-goal game. However, Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand would score 30 seconds apart to pad the Bruins lead and give them the 6-3 win, making them a .500 team at 7-7-0.
Tukka Rask turned aside 27 of 30 shots for his second win while Devan Dubnyk allowed 6 of the 28 shots he faced by him. The Bruins went 2 for 5 on their power play opportunities on Thursday night.
Interestingly, Thursday night's game featured the top two picks of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft (the Bruins were using Tornto's pick that they obtained in the Kessel trade)- Boston's Tyler Seguin and the Oiler's Taylor Hall. Seguin had a goal and an assist while Hall had an assist.
The Bruins homestand continues with their next game on Saturday night, where they will host the 9-5-0 Buffalo Sabres at 7PM ET. The game will be televised on NESN for those of you in New England and the MSG network for those of you in Upstate NY.
NFL: Are you ready for some football? Some Thursday night football?
Don't sweat it- neither were the San Diego Chargers. Recently acquired from the Cincinnati Bengals, Raiders QB Carson Palmer went 14-20 with 299 yards, 2 TDs and an interception.
To be honest, I tuned in just in time to catch River's pass to Jacob Hester to make it a 24-17 game with the Raiders on top. And that was it- no more scoring. None.
With the win, the Raiders take posession of 1st place in the AFC West.
Next week's Thursday night game will feature the Jets and the Broncos.
MLB: The Padres and Red Sox Have agreed to a trade that would send San Diego's All Star 1st Baseman Adrian Gonzalez to Boston in exchange for prospects Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo and Reymond Fuentes as well as a player to be named later. The two clubs are expected to formally announce the deal on Monday.
During the 2010 season, Gonzalez hit for a .298 BA and 31 homers in San Diego's pitcher-friendly PetCo Park. On the road, Gonzalez was batting .315 with 20 HR and .279 with 11 HR at San Diego. Defensively, Gonzalez won two Gold Gloves with the Padres.
The Red Sox are also reportedly working on extending Gonzalez's contract beyond 2011 due to the high-level prospects Boston is giving up as part of the trade. The first baseman was entering the final year of a 5 year $15 million contract with San Diego. Although no formal agreement to an extension had been reached with Gonzalez, his agent and the Red Sox had exchanged parameters and were hoping to work out a deal from there. There's also the matter of some minor surgery Gonzalez had on his shoulder this fall, but he is expected to be ready by Spring training, whether it's in the Grapefruit or Cactus League.
Boston had previously tried to acquire Gonzalez in the 2009 offseason, but instead signed Adrian Beltre from the Mariners. It was considered likely that the Padres would deal Gonzalez at the trade deadline in the middle of the 2010 season, but the team remained atop the NL East and were in need of his services for the whole year.
For those of you who remember back to the Beltre deal last winter and were somewhat alarmed by his .266 BA in 2009, supporters of the deal pointed out that Beltre spent at least half the season in a pitcher-friendly park such as Safeco.
Now....apply that same line of thinking to Gonzalez and his .298 average at cavernous PetCo Park. Or better yet, take a look at his spray chart for home games in San Diego.
Umm...yeah. I'm just a little bit giddy right now.
NCAA FOOTBALL: The UConn Huskies managed to get by the South Florida Bulls on Saturday night to win their final regular season game of 2010 and be guaranteed the Big East's automatic BCS Bowl by virtue of their tie-breaker over West Virgina. The only touchdown UConn scored in the game came late in the 2nd period as LB Lawrence Wilson intercepted a pass from South Florida QB Bobby Eveld and ran it back 55 yards to paydirt. The pick 6 put UConn up 10-3 heading into the half.
Connecticut and South Florida traded field goals in the 3rd quarter, and while the 4th quarter opened up on a Dave Teggart FG for UConn to make it 16-6 the Bulls would come storming right back thanks to a 28 yard TD reception from Eveld to WR Dontavia Bogan and a game tying FG from the 22 off the leg of USF's Maikon Bonani to make it a 16-16 game with 1:19 left in the 4th.
After a good kickoff return that gave UConn starting position on their own 40, Huskies QB Zach Frasier was able to drive the ball as far as the USF 35 yard line, setting up Dave Teggart for his game-winning 52 yard FG with only 23 seconds left in regulation.
The win means that UConn will now face the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan 1st in Tempe, AZ. This will be UConn's first ever BCS appearence since transitioning from Division I-AA in 2002.
BIG 12: The #13 Nebraska Cornhuskers and #10 Oklahoma Sooners met in Arlington, TX for what would be the last time they'd match up as members of the Big 12- as well as the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday night.
The Sooners held on to win by a final of 23-20, guaranteeing them a berth in the BCS (against UConn, as it was revaled a day later). The Cornhuskers, meanwhile, would be joining the Big East conference at the start of the 2011 Football season.
ACC: No Boston College Football this week. Instead, the ACC Championship game took place on Saturday night at Charlotte, NC pitting #20 Florida State against #12 Virgina Tech. The Hokies won this one handily by a final of 44-33, giving them a berth in the Orange Bowl on January 3rd against the Stanford Cardinals.
Boston College did manage to secure a bowl bid and will be heading back out to AT&T Park in San Francisco just like last year for the Emerald Bowl- Except this year it's being called the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. and will take place the second weekend in January. The Boston College Eagles are expected to go up against the #14 Nevada Wolfpack. [I should have a comprehensive list of Bowls and matchups in the next couple of days- NANESB!]
COLONIAL/FCS: Although William & Mary Tribe finished the regular season atop the Colonial Athletic Association, their season is over now that they were upended by the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday by a final of 15-31.
That said, three of the remaining four teams in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision hail from the CAA and will play to advance to the FCS Finals in Frisco, TX on January 7th, 2011 [remember what I said about the Colonial Athletic Association last year?- NANESB!].
The Delaware Blue Hens, who finished 2nd in the CAA this season, took down Lehigh by a 42-20 final on Saturday while the Villanova Wildcats downed Stephen F Austin by a 54-24 margin.
The sole remaining New England team in the FCS is the New Hampshire Wildcats, who finished tied for 3rd with Villanova to end the regular season. They brought down Beth-Cook by a 45-20 final and will go on to face Delaware on Friday night, Dec 10th.
Defending FCS Champions Villanova will take on 3 time Champion Appalachian State on Saturday.
NHL: The Boston Bruins got out to the early lead on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, but the Maple Leafs rallied to tie the game with less than a mintue left in the 3rd period and force overtime and then a shootout. And if you really savor irony, it was former Bruin Phil Kessel who netted the game winner in the shootout.
Nathan Horton got the first goal of the game unassisted in the first period, although the Leafs would manage to tie it by the time the 1st intermission rolled around. Boston would take a 2-1 lead on a goal from Gregory Campbell early in the 3rd before Toronto rallies late in regulation to tie the game. Out of the three shooters for Boston in the shootout, only Tyler Seguin was able to get the puck past Jean-Sebastian Guigere while Nazem Kadri and Kessel both got the puck past Thomas in the shootout.
The win halts the Leaf's 4 game skid and is Boston's first loss in the last three games. Toronto wins by the final of 3-2, although Boston was able to get a single point before leaving Toronto. Thomas stopped 38 of 40 shots faced in regulation and OT while Guigere stopped 25 of 27 faced. The Bruins head back to the Garden to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night at 7:30PM ET. The game is scheduled to be broadcast on Versus.
NBA: Seemingly in the blink of an eye, the Celtics have put together a pretty impressive 7 game winning streak. Game #6 of the current strak took place in Friday night with their 104-92 home win over the Chicago Bulls.
Sunday night, the C's made a fairly quick road trip to New Jersey and made pretty quick work of the Nets (Nate Robinson led scoring for the C's with 21 points) and cut New Jersey down by the curiously-divisible-by-25 margin of 100-75.
The next game for the C's will be at the Garden against Carmello Anthony and the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night, with a tipoff at 7PM ET. ESPN is scheduled to be carrying the game that night.
Hey there everybody. Just because the last couple of weeks have been forgettable as far as New England sports have gone doesn't mean that I've suddenly forgotten about them. As a matter of fact, I got to see some of the train wreck against Baltimore firsthand at Fenway two weeks ago. If I were the kind of person to drop names, I could say that I attended the game with reigning Miss USA (and Ground Zero mosque opponent) RimaFakih, documentarian Ken Burns and radio host Howie Carr. Of course, if I was 100% honest, I would mention that while my seats were good (by the Pesky Pole), they weren't that good, so I missed out on the VIP treatment.
O Captain My Captain! AP/Jim Rogash Photo
One had the feeling that missing out on October baseball in New England was inevitable once it was announced Youkilis was out for the season (or Pedroia, or Ellsbury or when the Sox dropped a bunch of game against division opponents or....take your pick). They were technically still in it until screwing the pooch against Baltimore and the White Sox, but they managed to play tough against the Yankees, taking two out of three at Yankee stadium the last weekend in September before hosting them for the season finale this past weekend.
John Lackey went seven and 2/3rds innings against the Yankees on Sunday and got plenty of run support thanks in no small part to homers by JD Drew and Jed Lowrie. Lowrie was 2-3 with two homers and 3 RBI while JD Drew went 1-4 with 2 RBI. Lowrie's 2 run shot broke a 2-2 deadlock in the bottom of the fifth before Ryan Kalish put an exclamation point on a 3-run 6th inning by stealing home to give the Red Sox a 7-2 lead. Daniel Bard would come on after Rich Hill couldn't get a batter out in the top of the 7th and Papelbon would close out the game, giving up a run in the process.
I got to catch the game on TBS Sunday afternoon and while the win didn't help the Red Sox secure anything, the loss cost the Yankees the AL East pennant as Tampa Bay rallied to beat Kansas City that afternoon for their regular season finale.
It was a good game considering there was nothing to look forward to the following week. Mike Lowell already announced his retirement effective Sunday and we're left to speculate about the futures of longtime Sox like Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield or Big Papi. There's also the matter of free agents like Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez.
Boston finishes the season with an 89-73 record, which might've been good enough for a postseason berth in seasons past, but only gets them third place in the AL East behind Tampa and the Yankees.
ELSEHWERE IN MLB: The first round matchups are set for the Division series, all but one of which will get underway tomorrow afternoon.
Rangers at Rays: 1:30PM ET Reds at Phillies: 5:00PM ET Yankees at Twins: 8:00PM ET Braves at Giants: 9:30PM ET (Thursday) [All Games broadcast on TBS]
With the Padres 3-0 loss on Sunday, we narrowly missed having a series of one-game playoffs to determine the national league wild card winner and NL West winner, since the Padres a game out of the NL Wild card and two games out of the division.
NFL: Wow....the first half was a real snoozer, but New England got creative in second half down in Miami on Monday night.
All the Pats offense had to show in the first half was two Gostkowski field goals, but as soon as the second half kicked off, it was clear that variety is the spice of life. To get things started off, Brandon Tate returned the kickoff 103 yards to paydirt to put the Pats up 13-7. But things were just getting started, as Patrick Chung blocked Miami's punt on the ensuing Dolphin's possession, giving New England the ball at Miami;s 25 yard line, which in turn made the Pats made it a 20-7 game with a 12 yard TD run from BenJarvus Green-Ellis.
The Dolphins came right back to make it 14-20 game after ChadeHenne found Ricky Williams to just shy of the 9-minute mark in the third. New England responded with that with a 4+ minute drive capped by a Brady pass to RB Danny Woodhead for a 27-14 game.
If that didn't break it open, then the blocked field goal attempt run back 35 yards by Kyle Arrington for a TD. The exclamation point came when safety Patrick Chung intercepted a Chad Henne pass and ran it back 51 yards to make it 41-14 New England. Tom Brady went 19-24 for 153 yards with a touchdown. It was kind of a slow night for Moss and Welker, but that was more than offset by special teams plays from Chung and Tate.
It was so bad that the special teams coordinator for the Dolphins was fired the following day. No, really....he was. So the Pats make it two wins in a row against AFC East opponents (last week's game against the Bills turned out to be more of a nail-biter than this one) and head into the bye with a 3-1 record.
NCAA FOOTBALL: Speaking of byes, the BC Eagles have yet to win a game since their weekend off a few weeks back. Granted they weren't playing Kent State or Weber State, but had instead graduated to Virginia Tech and Notre Dame as opponents. Boston college has scored no more than 13 points in the last two games after getting shut out by the Hokies on Chestnut Hill by a score of 19-0 and this week to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a final of 31-13. The 2-2 Eagles will travel to Raliegh this weekend to take on the NC State Wolfpack.
UConn has had it a little better than BC, managing to beat the Buffalo Bisons 45-21 and the Vanderbilt Commodores 40-21 at East Hartford. The Huskies will travel to Piscataway, NJ to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights before getting the following weekend off.
MLB: Well scheisse....I've been a bad little blogger, trying in vain to score some easy cash playing the ponies whilst neglecting my blog. Then again, out of the last 6 games the Red Sox played, the only one I get to watch was Sunday's sucktastic snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory against the White Soxcourtesy of Papelbon where the White Sox completed their sweep of the Red Sox.
The bad news is that absolutely NONE of the games in the subsequent homestand against Tampa Bay were close. The good news is that two of them went Boston's way, with Jon Lester going six innings while giving up four hits, two earned runs, three walks and striking out ten. Big Papi and Beltre homered and Ryan Kalish hit a grand slam off of Andy Sonnanstine in Monday's 12-5 win over Tampa.
Tuesday night was Boston's turn to get roughed up, with DaisukeMatsuzaka lasting all of four and 2/3rds innings while giving up eight earned runs in Tampa's 14-5 win over Boston.
Wednesday night's rubber game looked like it was going to be more of the same after Wakefield gave up an RBI sac-fly to Evan Longoria in the 1st, followed by a 3-run homer from BJ Upton in the 2nd. The Sox got on the board with a 2 run homer off the bat of Adrian Beltre before tying the game in the bottom of the 3rd with solo homers from Marcos Scutaro and Big Papi. Tampa briefly re-took the lead with an RBI double from Jason Batlett in the 4th, but the Red Sox re-took the lead in the bottom of the 5th thanks to Victor Martinez solo homer, followed by Ryan Kalish's RBI double and THEN scoring on an Evan Longoria throwing error with 2 away.
Boston would go on to tack on three more runs, including another homer by Scutaro to win by the final of 11-5 (this one being a little closer than it looked, given how quickly Tampa got out of the gate).
Vintage knuckleballer Tim Wakefield got 5 innings of work in, giving up 4 earned runs (plus one unearned) on six hits while walking two and striking out 4. With an abundance of run support, Wake's outing was good enough for the win, making the 44 year old knuckleballer the oldest Red Sox ever pitcher to get a win. Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley was 43 when he got his last win in a Red Sox uniform.
Thursday's a pretty light day in general in the American league, and the Red Sox will be travelling for another West Coast road trip that gets underway with a Friday night start against the Oakland A's with Clay Buchholz (15-6; 2.25 ERA) scheduled to start against Trevor Cahill (15-6; 2.72 ERA) at 10PM Eastern time, 7PM Pacific.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS: Jason Varitek made an appearence with the AAA PawSox for their final two games of the International League season at McCoy stadium, going 2-5, batting .400 and driving in a run in two games against the Syracuse Chiefs before being activiated by Boston on Monday night. The captain made an appearence in Tuesday night's loss, going 0-2 with two groundouts, but sat out Wednesday's game against Tampa with the knuckleballer starting.
NCAA FOOTBALL: The BC Eagles are off to a 1-0 start after their 38-20 win over Weber State at Chestnut Hill on Saturday. Eagles QB David Shinskie was 10-20 with 185 yards, 2 touchdowns and two interceptions and LB Mark Herzlich returned to the lineup after missing the 2009 season to undergo treatment for bone cancer.
This was pretty much a first week 'gimmee' where the hapless Division 1AA/FCS team gets slapped around by their 1A/FBS counterpart. Next week, the BC Eagles will host Kent State for a 3:30 PM ET kickoff.
The UConn Huskies had a much rougher start to their season at the Big House in Ann Arbor, MI. The Husky D couldn't contain an occasionally shoeless Denard Robinson, who was 19-22 with 186 yards and a touchdown passing while rushing for another 197 yards and a TD. Michigan wins their home opener against Connecticut, 30-10.
The Huskies will next host the Texas Southern Tigers at Storrs at noon Saturday.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAAF: Pretty good game Monday night between Virginia Tech and Boise State. The game took place at Fed Ex Field in Landover, MD- home of the Washington Redskins- and had the uncanny ability to time some big plays in the second half when I went out to flip some burgers or brats on the grill on Labor Day. The visiting Broncos held off a late drive by the Hokies to win 33-30.
In game 1 of the 2009 World Series, Phillies starter de-fanged the formidable Yankees lineup and at times looked bored doing it. Lee gave up six hits and one unearned run in his 121-pitch complete game and Chase Utley had two solo homeruns to put the Phillies up for good. Philadelphia would get a few more insurance runs in the 8th and 9th innings to win Game One by a final of 6-1.
Which brings us to Game 2- certainly more of a pitchers duel than the debut game. This pitted Pedro Martinez against AJ Burnett. Both starters worked hard and Burnett gave up an early RBI single to DH Matt Stairs in the top of the 2nd after a ground-rule double by Raul Ibanez landed just fair before one-hopping into the seats. However, the 1-0 lead only lasted until the bottom of the 4th when Martinez gave up a solo home run to Mark Teixera to lead off the inning. The Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the 6th with another solo home run off of Martinez- this time by HidekiMatsui- and got an insurance run off of a Jorge Posada RBI-triple in the 7th. Mariano Rivera came on for a two-inning save situation, giving up two hits and getting the save in the Yankees 3-1 win.
Pedro Martinez threw 107 pitches in 6 innings worth of work while AJ Burnett threw 108 over 7 innings and got the win.
This sends the series to Philadelphia tied 1-1. Interestingly, the Morris County Daily Record is reporting that an Amtrak spokesman announced that both teams will be taking the train between New York and Philly. With their transportation choice in mind, Game 3's starting time has been announced as 7:57 PM Eastern time on Saturday......December 5th[just kidding!].
In the NBA, the Celtics handily won their home opener against the Charlotte Bobcats last night by a final of 92-59. Kevin Garnett had 10 points, Ray Allen had 18, Rajon Rondo had 10 and Shelden Williams had 12. This was Garnett's first home start since injuring his right knee late last season. Ray Allen was the only Boston starter still in the game by the time the 4th quarter began.
The Bruins hosted the New Jersey Devils last night. Backup goaltender YannDanis gave NJ starter Martin Brodeur the night off and stopped 31 of 32 shots faced. Patrice Bergeron scored the only goal for the Bruins in a 2-1 loss and Tim Thomas stopped 29 of 31 shots face. The Devils are 6-0 on the road this season while the Bruins are 1-1-1 in their last 3 games and 5-5-1 overall. They face the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday at the Garden.
#14 Ranked Viginia Tech fell to North Carolina at home on Thursday night. After the Tarheels tied the game at 17-17 late in the 4th quarter, Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams fumbled the ball on Tech's own 24 yard line with the Tarheels recovering. North Carolina bled the clock and kicker Casey Barth split the uprights on what was essentially a point-after attempt with 2 seconds remaining in the game to give North Carolina the 20-17 win. North Carolina is 5-3 overall with a 1-3 record within the ACC while Virginia Tech is also 5-3 with a 3-2 record within the ACC.
[Boston College is also 5-3 with a 3-2 record against the ACC]
