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
NFL- With the longer-than-usual wait after last Thursday night's game, at times it almost felt as though the Patriots had a bye week.
The Patriots got out to an early lead in their only Thursday night game of the season, but a very game New York Jets team was never far behind. New England took a 17-12 lead against New York into halftime, thanks to a 39 yard Gostkowski FG as time expired in the 2nd quarter.
With 9 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, the Jets took their first lead of the night with a drive that was capped by a short Nick Ivory TD run to give them a 19-17 lead. On the following drive, the Patriots got as far as the Jets red zone, and even though they had to settle for another Gostkowski field goal, the Patriots re-took the lead with 4:10 to go in the first.
It looked as though the Patriots were beginning to pull away midway though the 4th quarter when Brady connected with WR Danny Amendola for a 19 yard TD reception to make it a 27-19 lead, but with just over two and a half minutes to go, the Jets capped an 81 yard drive that took just under 5 minutes with a 10 yard TD pass from Geno Smith to TE Jeff Cumberland to bring the Jets to within two- however, the two point conversion attempt failed and New England still clung to a 27-25 lead.
After the Jets defense held New England to a 3 and out, the Patriots were forced to punt and managed to succeed in pinning the Jets back at their own 12 yard line with just over a minute to go in regulation. With the clock ticking, the Jets were able to get the ball as far as the Patriots 40 yard line with just 5 seconds left on the clock, setting up a potential game-winning FG attempt of nearly 60 yards [difficult, but not impossible- NANESB!]. However, in a bit of payback from last year's Jets win on a FG, DT Chris Jones managed to Block Folk's 58 yard attempt as time expired, giving New England the 27-25 victory- their second straight win against an AFC East opponent.
The Patriots homestand will continue with an early afternoon game against the Chicago Bears with a 1:00 kickoff at Foxbourough on Sunday afternoon. The game will be broadcast on FOX and XM subscribers can listen on channel 85.
WORLD SERIES- Those of you who had their hearts set on an all-Missouri World Series have Giants infielder Travis Ishikawa to blame for that not taking place this year.
Ishikawa belted a walkoff home run in extra innings of Game 5 of the NLCS which ended the Cardinals season and punched the Giants ticket to their 3rd World Series since 2010.
The Giants faced a game Kansas City, who made pretty quick work of the Orioles in the ALCS. Despite San Francisco dominating Game 1 behind a commanding performance by starter Madison Bumgarner, going on to win by a 7-1 final, the Kansas City Royals came storming back in Game Two. This send to series to San Francisco tied at 1 game each.
After winnign Game 3 by one run, Kansas City headed into Saturday night's Game 4 with a 2 games to one lead and things were looking promising when the ROyals batters were able to chase Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong off the mound after just two and two-thirds innings and take a 4-1 lead over San Francisco. However, the Giants batters would go on to score a total of 10 unanswered runs, tying the game with a Hunter Pence RBI single and Juan Perez RBI sac-fly in the bottom of the 5th followed by a 2-RBI single by Pablo Sandoval and a Brandon Belt RBI single in the bottom of the 6th to San Francisco the 7-4 lead. However, the Giants weren't done and got plenty of insurance runs tacked on in the bottom of the 7th and would go on to win Game four by an 11-4 final and tie the series up at 2-2, ensuring that the series would head back to Kansas City regardless of outcome.
DENVER BRONCOS- On Sunday afternoon, Broncos QB Peyton Manning surpassed Brett Favre to become the NFL leader in career TD passes during the October 19th win against the San Francisco at Mile High. Manning recorded a total of 4 TD passes in that game and three TD passes in Thursday night's 35-21 win over the San Diego Chargers at Denver for a career total of 513.
Manning, who has been in the league since 1998, is only one of seven all-time NFL quarterbacks to surpass the 300 career TD mark- although the other two include both Tom Brady and Drew Brees.
NCAA FOOTBALL- After a close loss to Clemson on Chestnut Hill last week, the Boston College Eagles travelled to the Tarheel State to take on Wake Forest on Saturday. The Eagles took a 17-0 halftime lead into the locker room and were able to add onto it in the 3rd and 4th quarters, jumping out as far as 23-3 in the second half before the Deacons could get any kind of offensive rhythm going.
But with BC seemingly cruising in the 4th quarter, the Deacons managed to string together a drive that netted their first TD of the day with just over 8 minutes too go in the ballgame. Still trailing 23-10, Wake got the ball back deep in BC territory when BC sophomore Myles Willis funbled the kickoff deep in Eagles territory. Starting on BC's 15 yard line, the Wake offense was able to punch it in and make it a 1-possession game, with the Eagles still clinging to a 23-17 lead.
However, BC junior Justin Simmons was able to pick off Deacons QB John Wolford on the next Wake Forest possession, sealing the game for Boston College late in the 4th quarter. Eagles QB Tyler Murphy had 165 yards passing and a TD along with 77 yards rushing on the day. RB Jon Hilliman rushed for 101 yards and 2 TDs on the afternoon.
Next Saturday, Boston College will travel down to Blacksburg, VA to take on Virginia Tech. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30 ET and the game will be streaming on ESPN3.
ELSEWHERE IN THE ACC- Last week's highly-touted battle of the unbeatens lived up to the billing as #2 Florida State was able to get by #5 Notre Dame last Saturday by a 31-27 final. This leaves Florida State as one of the few remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA top 25 polling.
The Seminoles actually have this week off, but will return to action on Thursday night against 6-2 Louisville. That game gets underway at 7:30 ET and the game will be televised on ESPN.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL- And then there was only one undefeated in the Magnolia State.
On Saturday night, the #24 LSU Tigers handed #3 Ole Miss their first loss of the 2014 season in Baton Rouge in what turned out to be a surprisingly low-scoring affair. The Rebels led 7-3 for most of the game until 5:45 to go in the 4th quarter when the bayou Bengals took their first lead of the night on a 4 yard TD pass from QB Anthony Jennings to TE Logan Stokes to put LSU up 10-7.
Although Ole Miss had a couple of late chances to tie the game or go ahead, they were undone by a penalty that put them out of FG range with 14 seconds left in the game. Instead of trying for the game-tying FG, Ole Miss opted for a Hail Mary since the penalty that had pushed them out of FG range. The game would end on LSU intercepting Ole Miss' 30 yard pass attempt with less than 10 seconds left, giving the Ole Miss Rebels their first loss of the season.
NHL- Hockey Night in Canada got underway on Saturday night north of the border with an Original Six matchup that pitted the Boston Bruins against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This was the first home game for the Maple Leafs since Wednesday's attack on Canada's Parliament, and the pregame ceremony honored Cpl. Cirillo, the Canadian soldier at the War Memorial who was shot dead by the gunman before he made his way to the parliament building.
For the Bruins, this was the first game after their 3-2 loss to the Islanders at home on Thursday night.
Carl Soderberg got the Bruins on the board early just three and a half minutes into the first. Tukka Rask made it hold up, carrying a shutout to the final five minutes of the 3rd period and David Krejci make it a 2-0 Bruins lead late in the 2nd before Greg Campbell and Dougie Hamilton scored less than two and a half minutes apart to give Boston a 4-0 lead.
Toronto broke through with a goal from Richard Panik with just over 5 and a half minutes to go in the 3rd, but the Bruins would go on to win by a final of 4-1.
After Saturday, the Bruins will head back to Boston where they'll face the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. The game will be televised on NESN and NBC Sports with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET.
The way the Red Sox 2014 season has progressed, it seems like ages ago that the Olde Towne Team was in the World Series [despite being defending World Series Champions- NANESB!]. And if one season feels like an eternity, imagine the anguish Red Sox fans [before there was a Red Sox Nation- NANESB!] felt during that 86 year wait.
That's not to say the organization didn't have their moments in those 86 years. Despite the lopsided deal that sent Babe Ruth to New York, the Red Sox could boast the game's all time best hitter in Ted Williams. Outfielder Carl Yastrzemski would go on to be baseball's only Triple Crown batting winner for 45 seasons until Detroit's Miguel Cabrera won those honors in 2012.
However, it was During the 1975 World Series against Cincinnati's Big Red Machine, a native son of New England managed to provide even more dramatic flair to what some baseball historians consider the best-ever World Series.
I'm talking, of course, about Bellows Falls, VT native Carlton Fisk's walkoff extra-inning homer in Game 6 of the '75 World Series that was made even more memorable by the Red Sox catcher's copious body English caught on camera. Fisk took Cincinnati reliever Pat Darcy's second pitch into the netting of the Green Monster to end the game with a 7-6 win in the bottom of the 12th for Boston and tied the series up at 3-3.
Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Red Sox got to a World Series title for nine years. The Big Red Machine would later go on to win Game 7 after trailing early 3-0. Interestingly, both Fisk's iconic homer and the Reds win took place on the same day, as Game 6 started on October 21st but went beyond midnight due to extra innings.
Years later, Fisk would joke that he liked to tell people the Red Sox won the Series that year 3 games to four.
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.
For the 3rd time in less than a decade, the Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions, taking the 2013 Fall Classic in 6 gams from the St Louis Cardinals.
Wednesday night's game was the first time the Red Sox have clinched the World Series at Fenway Park since 1918 and came a little over 6 months after the terrorist attack against the Boston Marathon that killed three and maimed hundreds of bystanders.
I'm at a loss for words right now- I can't help but shake the feeling that even if it's on just this brisk autumn night, all is right with the world.
I will post a more detailed re-cap of the game and some of the awards that were given out, but in the meantime I thought I'd end the 2013 MLB season the way I started it- with the late Ernie Harwell's soliloquy on this quirky, wonderful game that traces its roots to New England
Congratulations, to the Boston Red Sox- from worst [at least in the AL East- NANESB!] to first!
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.
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.
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.
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.
And 28 years before they put seats on the Green Monster.
To be fair, Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds actually began on October 21st, 1975 but went into extras.
While the timekeeping may not have been as detailed or meticulous back then, it's well known that it was past midnight when Reds reliever Pat Darcy took to the mound in the bottom of the 12th to face leadoff hitter Carlton Fisk.
The thing is that as much as Fisk's walkoff homer propelled him into Red Sox lore, Boston still lost the series in 7 games, the fleeting triumph doing nothing to stem the rise of a cottage industry of 'curse' folklore that persisted until 2004.
In 1975, the NFL was only a few seasons into their merger with the nascent American Football League and this whole 'Super Bowl' thing. There was real concern at the time that football's meteoric rise would marginalize baseball and replace it in a number of markets once considered safe. The 1975 World Series, put those concerns to rest pitting the upstart Red Sox against what many say was the best baseball team in the postwar years- Cincinnati's Big Red Machine.
It will be another National League powerhouse in the Midwest that the Red Sox will face tomorrow- a somewhat familiar one, as Boston and St Louis have already met three times in the World Series since the end of WWII. In fact, out of all the current members of the National League Central, the only club Boston hasn't faced in the World Series is Milwaukee.
Yet, to look at the 2013 Boston Red Sox, with their 12 walkoff wins and defiant bravado in the face of the carnage that was wrought on another Boston sports institution one fateful April afternoon, one can't help but sense that this may very well be only the beginning of something special.
Its October. The leaves have turned, there's a chill in the air and for the first time in what feels like ages [spoiler alert!- NANESB!] the Red Sox are going to the World Series. All seems right with the world.
Matt Slocum- AP
RED SOX- After fending off a late Detroit surge in Game 5, the ALCS headed back to Boston with the Red Sox one win away from heading back to their first World Series in 6 years.
For Game 6, Clay Buchholz was once again facing off against this year's likely Cy Young winner Max Scherzer and each team managed to get a single but nothing else in the first inning. The game was mostly a pitcher's duel through the first four innings for each starter but after getting the first two batters out in the bottom of the fifth, Scherzer gave up a booking wall ball double to Xander Bogaerts. Jacoby Ellsbury then drove Bogaerts home with an RBI single, but the inning ended when the centerfielder was caught trying to steal second.
Boston's 1-0 lead didn't last long, though. Buchholz struggled immediately in the top of the 6th, allowing a leadoff walk to Torii Hunter and a single to Miguel Cabrera. Farrell had Franklin Morales come out of the pen, but Morales walked Prince Fielder to load the bases with nobody out. Former Indian and Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez then belted a 2-RBI single to put Detroit ahead 2-1. By this point, Workman came out of the pen and the Red Sox looked as though they were willing to concede the run to get a double play with nobody out and runners on first and third, but they didn't have to choose. Jhonny Peralta hit a ground ball up the middle- Pedroia cleanly fielded the ball and got the out at first before noticing that Fielder had hesitated on his way home for whatever reason- Fielder was caught in a rundown before getting tagged out by Saltalamacchia. While Peralta was able to advance to second, the runner at third had been erased and the Red Sox were one out away from getting out of a huge jam, which happened when Workman struck out Aviles.
By the bottom of the 6th, Scherzer was starting to show some signs of fatigue as Victorino led off the inning and was hit by a pitch. Then Pedroia drew a walk to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. However, Scherzer would get the next three batters out, ending the Red Sox threat in the bottom of the 6th, despite Victorino and Pedroia advancing into scoring position on a wild pitch.
In the 7th inning, Workman got Infante to fly out to start off the inning before allowing a single to Austin Jackson. However, Jackson then was picked off by Workman for the second out of the inning, which was a good thing since Iglesias then got an infield single followed by Torii Hunter laying down a bunch and reaching first on a fielding error by Workman. Junichi Tazawa would then come out of the bullpen and get Miguel Cabrera to ground out.
Scherzer came back on in the bottom of the 7th, allowing a leadoff double to Johnny Gomes. After getting Drew to strike out swinging, Scherzer then walked Bogaerts before Tigers manager Jim Leyland brought in Drew Smyly. Jacoby Ellsbury then reached first on a fielding error by Iglesias to load up the bases and Leyland went to Veras.
That brought up a struggling Shane Victorino, who had gone 2-23 through the duration of the ALCS and 0-2 on the night, including an attempted bunt that he popped out on in the bottom of the 3rd. A flyout past the infield would be enough to bring a run home and tie the game, but Victorino would do one better.
Heading back to the 9th inning of Game 4, Victorino had gone 0-8, but with one swing of the bat, he put Boston back on top and stunned the Tigers. Pedroia struck out swinging and David Ortiz would ground out to end the inning, but the damage had already been done with Boston up 5-2.
Breslow would come on in the top of the 8th to get Fielder, Martinez and Kelly out before Koji Uehara would come on in the 9th and get Avila to strike out and Infante to ground out before allowing a single off the bat of Austin Jackson. Koji would then strike out former teammate Jose Iglesias to end the ballgame and Detroit's season and clinch the American League Championship Series.
Barry Chin- Boston Globe
One year after their worst season in 50 years, Boston wins the American League Pennant. For the second time since 2004 and fourth time since the end of World War II, Boston will play the St Louis Cardinals in the World Series.
Game 1 is scheduled for Wednesday night at 8:07 ET and will be televised on FOX. Jon Lester was named Boston's Game 1 starter and takes to the mound against Adam Wainwright.
Kathy Willens- AP
NFL- After getting out to an early first half lead, the Patriots needed some last minute heroics just to force overtime at the Meadowlands on Sunday. Sunday also marked the not-quite-triumphant return of Rob Gronkowski.
With the game tied at 7-7 late in the first quarter, CB Logan Ryan put the Patriots up thanks to a pick 6 off of Jets QB Geno Smith. The Jets would make it a 14-10 game thanks to a Nick Folk FG with 11:11 remaining in the first half. With just under 8 minutes to go, the Jets ended up punting from their own 29 yard line- a 38 yard return by Edelman gave New England the ball on the Jets 28 yard line and the Patriots were able to punch it in on a 17 yard TD run from Stevan Ridley to take a 21-10 lead heading into halftime.
The second half was dramatically different for New York as Brady was sacked on the very first play from scrimmage in the second half. For the second play, Brady ended up throwing a pick-six to safety Antonio Allen and the Jets pulled to within four points. The Jets would pull ahead on an 8 yard Geno Smith TD run with 4:33 to go in the 3rd to make it a 24-21 game and Nick Folk added three more points to make it a 27-21 game.
The Patriots seemed to regain their composure in the 4th, getting the ball as far as the Jets 21 before settling for a Gostkowski FG to make it a 24-27 Jets lead. After seemingly an entire quarter that consisted primarily of dropped passes and inopportune penalties for both teams, the Patriots. Last week, Brady needed a 1:13 to move the ball downfield with no timeouts. This Sunday, the Patriots had a couple of timeouts and the 2 minute warning when they got the ball back on their own 8 yard line with 2:10 remaining in the game. Brady had a couple of big completions to Edelman and Gronkowski to move them as far as the Jets 26, but a couple of dropped passes brought up 4th and 10 with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game. With 16 seconds to go, the Patriots tied it up at 27-27 on a Gostkowski FG and managed to force OT- although Brady went for the home run ball more than once.
After Brady made a 16 yard completion to Gronkowski for the first play in OT, the Patriots first possession of the OT fizzled at their own 38 and they were forced to punt. Starting out from their own 20, the Jets managed to advance as far as the New England 36. Nick Folk attempted to put the game away for New York with a 56 yard FG attempt that ended up going wide left.
However, the referees threw a flag on Patriots Defensive tackle Chis Jones- a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for 'pushing a teammate into an opposing formation'. This was a newly instituted rule this season, and apparently 7 weeks into the season the officials decided that 5:07 remaining in OT was the first time a penalty was called on this new infraction. The fifteen yard penalty was enough to move Folk closer and his 42 yard attempt was good for the Jets 30-27 win.
While the Patriots had a number of missed opportunities late in the game that could have avoided OT altogether [including converting a whopping one out of 12 3rd down attempts on the day- NANESB!], the most talked about play was Jones' penalty, which appeared to be a fairly routine maneuver that had never been penalized before. So much for that axiom about NFL and NHL referees generally keeping their whistles in the pocket in overtime for all but the most flagrant of penalties. Shame on me for stereotyping, but part of me is wondering which of New Jersey's numerous 'legitimate businessmen belonging to secretive Italian fraternal organization' had big money riding on this [the only flaw in this theory is that it's actually TOO obvious- NANESB!].
New England splits the season series 1-1 with the Jets and next week's game will keep in the AFC East as the Pats host the Miami Dolphins. It's another Sunday afternoon game with a kickoff scheduled for 1:00 PM and the game will be televised on CBS.
OTHER NFL NEWS- And then there was one.
Seven weeks in and the NFL is down to one undefeated team. Despite a late rally from Peyton Manning, the Denver Broncos came up short in Manning's homecoming at Indianapolis as the Colts with successor Andrew Luck quarterbacking won by a 39-33 final from Indianapolis' Lucas Oil stadium on Sunday night.
One does not need to look outside the AFC West for the remaining undefeated NFL team- Sunday's Bronco loss leaves the surprising Kansas City Chiefs as the only undefeated team in the NFL. The Chiefs managed to outlast the struggling Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium by a 17-16 final on Sunday afternoon. The Chiefs will play host to the Cleveland Browns next weekend and travel to Orchard Park, NY to take on the Buffalo Bills the first weekend in November before their bye week.
Chris O'Meara- AP
NHL- The Boston Bruins continued their road trip through Florida over the weekend, taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second time since the October 3rd regular season opener.
The Bruins got out to a 1-0 lead with about 90 seconds left in the first thanks to a David Krejci goal. Despite going 0-4 on the power play, the Bruins would score four more thanks to McQuaid, Kelly, Bergeron and Thornton as Tukka Rask would turn aside all 23 shots he faced, notching his first shutout of the season in Boston's 5-0 win over Tampa Bay.
Unfortunately, very few people in Boston saw this gem live, as it coincided with Game 6 of the ALCS. Interestingly, the 5-2 Bruins will face a similar problem for their next game, when they take on the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. The puck is scheduled to drop in Buffalo at 8:00 ET- almost the exact same time as the first pitch of the 2013 World Series- and the game will be televised on the NBC Sports network.
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.
