Amused Obama: Tea Party Protestors 'Should Be Thanking Me'

Whether it's spending Christmas in a spacious Oahu villa or speaking to donors at a $30,000 a head fundraiser in singer Gloria Estefan's Miami Beach mansion, let it not be said that Obama's ever lost his touch with the common man.

"We cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans, just like I promised we would on the campaign," Obama said.
“So I've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies, about taxes. You would think they would be saying, "Thank you!" That's what you'd think!

Really? 95% of working Americans? Of course, now that I think about it, there's been alot less of those since President Obama was sworn in. Assuming I took what the president had to say at face value (which would be a fool's errand), I'd have to wonder how much of this wonderful, fantabulous 95% savings would be negated by various fees, mandates and stealth taxes in 0bamacare and other legislation that's waiting in the wings. Plus I have a hard time imagining that the words 'Thank you!' were the first things on the minds of the ongoing parade of motorists dropping their completed tax forms at the mailboxes adjacent to post office that was the venue for last week's Tea Party protest.

Like I predicted last fall, instead of holding off on their job-killing legislative agenda, it looks as though this Administration and Congress and their enablers in the media are establishing the narrative that the high nationwide unemployment rate is part of the 'new normal' and that we're in the midst of a 'jobless recovery'.

Well, like the man said, I guess we should be thanking President Obama. Thank you for this 'Jobless Recovery' and new normal of 9%+ unemployment rate, Mr. President!

Guess we don't know how good we have it. Exactly who should we thank for that?

Tuesday Night Sports Chowdah Morsels- McDonald's Lovin' It In Sox Win; Sabres Sheathed by B's; Heat Dampened By KG-Less C's

(AP/Wilson Towson)

RED SOX: Well, after yesterday's embarrassing loss to Tampa Bay in the Patriot's Day game, one would think it couldn't get much worse. I mean, it's not as though the Sox would give up almost as many stolen bases as they had in the 4-game sweep at the hands of Tampa Bay in one game against the Rangers in Tuesday night's opening game of the series at Fenway.

Whoops...

From the looks of it, I'd say everybody's pretty much figured out Wakefield's knuckelball except Victor Martinez. The Rangers Nelson Cruz and Elvis Andrus combined for one-third of the Rangers nine stolen bases- a club record for Texas and Boston. All nine bases were swiped with Wakefield on the mound and Martinez behind the plate.

Believe it or not, it got better.....and I'm not even being sarcastic here. It was a 2-run game when Manny Del Carmen came on the relive the knuckleballer Wakefield in the top of the 7th. After giving up two fly balls, a walk and a strikeout to keep it a 6-4 game in the 7th Del Carmen started off the top of the 8th with the same score, Varitek behind the plate and getting the first two batters to ground out. Del Carmen walked Andrus and Hideki Okajima came on to relieve him only to give up a single and a walk to load the bases before getting Vlad Guererro to pop out and end the inning.


Varitek would hit a leadoff double to start the bottom of the 8th and one Pawtucket call up would replace another when Darnell McDonald would pinch-hit for Josh Reddick (who went 1 for 3 with 2 RBI for the evening). Now, I'd like to think that I'm reasonably up on who's in the pipeline over in Pawtucket.....but if I told you that I had heard of Darnell McDonald before, I would basically be lying my ass off. McDonald signed a minor-league deal with Boston in December 2009 and has been hitting .341 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in AAA Pawtucket.

And he knows how to make a first impression. In his first Red Sox at bat and with 'Tek at 2nd base McDonald belted a 2-2 offering from Darren Oliver into the Monster seats to tie the game at 6-6. This would be the first time a player hit a homer in his first Red Sox at bat since Orlando Cabrera in 2004 at the Metrodome against the Twins.


Papelbon would come on to relieve Okajima in the top of the 9th and not allow a run before the Rangers' Frank Francisco managed to load the bases in the bottom of the 9th after Youkilis' leadoff single and two intentional walks (one to Mike Lowell and another to 'Tek). And with two out and the bases loaded in a tie game in the bottom of the 9th, who should appear? None other than this Darnell McDonald chap, who had earlier demonstrated himself to be quite the capable hitter. Just in case the game-tying 2-run homer wasn't enough to leave an impression, how about a walk-off grand slam?


Ha ha....just kidding. But how about a walkoff 2-out bases-loaded RBI wall-ball in the bottom of the 9th? That's pretty good in that it hits the wall and makes some noise, and when all is said and done, the end result is the same as a grand slam. I'll take it, and I imagine McDonald will take it as well. Congratulations and welcome to Boston, Darnell McDonald!


Other Sox-Centric News: Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury have been placed on the 15-day DL, which is what prompted Reddick and McDonald's call-up from Pawtucket in the first place. Cameron was a late scratch from the lineup in the Patriot's Day game against Tampa Bay and was placed on the DL retroactive to April 19.


Other MLB News: Colorado Rockies owner Keli McGregor was found dead in his Salt Lake City hotel room Tuesday. Salt Lake City police say that two of McGregor's associates were unable to get in touch with him and somebody entered the room and found the 48-year old McGregor unconscious at around 9AM Mountain time this morning. Detectives say there are no initial signs of forced entry or foul play.

(Elsa/Getty Images)

NHL: The Bruins opened up the home portion of their series against the Buffalo Sabres in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. Buffalo would score early, but not often when a Mike Grier goal put Buffalo up with just under 7 minutes into the first period. Dennis Wideman would get one past Ryan Miller to deadlock the contest at 1-1.

The deadlock would not be broken until just over 7 minutes remaining in the game when Patrice Bergeron got a quick shot off from the right circle that would beat Ryan Miller. The Bruins would hold off a late flurry by the Sabres when they pulled Miller for the extra attacker. No empty-net goal this time around, but they did manage to get the faceoff in the Buffalo end and kill off the clock from there. Tukka Rask stopped 32 of 33 shots while Ryan Miller stopped 27 of 29 shots faced. The shot totals for Boston in the last 2 games combines for 59 shots on goal.

It's worth noting that the Sabres are without the services of their regular season scoring leader Thomas Vanek (28 goals, 25 assists) who is listed as day-to-day with an injured foot. LW Jochen Hecht, who had 21 goals and 21 assists for Buffalo this season is expected to be out for at least 2 weeks after having surgery on one of his fingers. Sabres RW Drew Stafford also made an appearance, playing for the first time since suffering a concussion on April 10.

As for Boston, there's been a Marc Savard sighting! Savard skated for about half an hour Monday. He could be medically cleared to play this week, although he wouldn't likely start playing unless Boston advances to the second round.

The two teams will go at it again tomorrow night from the Garden.

NBA: Game 2 of the 1st round of the NBA playoffs had to start without Kevin Garnett thanks to Saturday night's shenanigans. Miami at one point actually had the lead, 29-25, after a Jermaine O'Neal dunk, but Boston would go on a 44-8 run over the next 16 and a half minutes of playing time to take a 69-37 lead. Garnett wasn't allowed in the Garden but appeared on a pre-recorded message on the scoreboard during a timeout late in the first half.

Boston wins Tuesday night's game handily, 106-77. The series shifts to Miami Friday night.

Images of Lightning, Molten Lava & Ash From Eyjafjallajokull Provide Hellish, Otherworldly Rorschach Test

(Image: AP/Daily Mail)

The eruption from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano is expected to intensify further this week, playing even more havoc with European and Trans-Atlantic air travel as the massive cloud of ash continues to expand.

However, the display has provided those foolhardy or intrepid enough to venture close with a camera some striking, otherworldly displays of molten magma, superheated ash and lightning. So what do you see in the image above? The wrathful Norse god of Vengeance Vali gazing angrily down upon the mere mortals that now inhabit this world after being awaken from his millenial slumber? Or fluffy bunnies having a picnic?

You decide.

Happy Birthday Jayne Mansfield!

Today marked what would've been the 77th birthday of the late Jayne Mansfield. Mansfield was killed during a car crash back in 1967. The curvy, voluptuous starlet was born in this day in 1933 in Bryn Mawr, PA. Besides a career in modeling and acting, the buxom Platinum blonde bombshell participated in some contrived publicity stunts some 50 years before the phrase 'wardrobe malfunction' was even coined.

And I cannot let any mention of Jayne Mansfield pass without this photo of her and Sophia Loren sitting at the same table....one of those 'a picture's worth a thousand words' deals.

One of Mansfield's daughters was in the car the night of that fatal wreck. Her name was Mariska Hargitay and she survived the crash and would go on to a career as a model and actress herself, perhaps best know for her role as Detective Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She even does her own stunts, suffering a collapsed lung during a 2008 shoot for the long-running TV series.
Wyatt Earp reports that curvy, voluptuous actresses are still considered desirable by many in the public to this day.

Sports Chowdah Weekend Re-Cap; B's & C's Rally in Playoff Wins; Sox Hit Hard by Death Rays; Proud Papa-lbon

Remember when I said last week that they can't all be gems? The Red Sox provided a stark reminder of that in their weekend home stand against Tampa Bay while the Bruins and Celtics had a pretty good weekend.


MLB: The Red Sox second homestand was off to a forgettable start as they dropped the first three games against Tampa Bay. Friday night's game was tied at 1-1 and suspended in the bottom of the 9th and resumed Saturday which the Red Sox lost on a 2-run Pat Burrell homer in the 12th inning. Then Burrell had a 3-RBI double to lead off the Saturday's game that the Rays would go on to win 5-6. I had a chance to see the nationally televised game Sunday on TBS which had Jon Lester go up against Matt Garza in which the Sox were on the receiving end of a 7-1 spanking [I curse the sporting gods for being able to tune into that one but completely missing both the B's and C's games Saturday- NANESB!]. Tomorrow's Patriot's day game which will have Lackey go up against Rays starter Jeff Nieman will be the Sox's only chance to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Rays before the Texas Rangers come into town.

Sooo they basically haven't won a game since Wednesday in Minnesota while Tampa and New York just keep finding ways to win...is it too early to panic?

Other Sox-Centric News: Daisuke Matsuzaka threw six innings of three-hit shutout ball for the PawSox last week against the Buffalo Bisons and said through his interpreter that he felt 'ready' for a return to Boston. Matsuzaka threw 86 pitches in his start at Buffalo, five days after his 5 innings of shutout ball against Rochester and threw 57 of those 86 pitches for strikes. He is scheduled to start another AAA game against Rochester on Tuesday.

Jonathan Papelbon's wife Ashley gave birth to 8 pound 8 ounce Gunner Robert Papelbon on Saturday afternoon. This is the couple's second child, joining 15 month old daughter Parker. No word on whether or not Gunner gave the Ob-Gyn the 'death stare' during his delivery.

Mike Cameron reurned to the lineup Saturday after passing a kidney stone earlier in the week in Minnesota. Jacoby Ellsbury missed his 6th straight game after the April 11th start against Kansas City when he collided with Adrian Beltre in left field. Bill Hall has been filling in at center field while Jeremy Hermida is in left field during Cameron and Ellsbury's absence.

Other MLB News: Colorado Rockies starter Ubaldo Jiminez threw the first no-hitter in Colorado Rockies history at Atlanta's Turner Field on Saturday. Jiminez threw 128 piches, walked 6 and struck out 7 in the complete game for Colorado's 4-0 win. This is the first no-hitter since the ChiSox's Mark Burhle tossed a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays in July 2009. This leaves the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays as the only MLB teams that have not thrown a no-hitter.

NHL: Shoot....I cant believe I missed it, but after dropping the first game of the series against the Sabres, the Bruins managed a come-from-behind playoff win against the Sabres on the road Saturday. After falling behind to Buffalo 2-0 in the first, Micheal Ryder got Boston on the board in the 2nd and Zdeno Chara tied the game up midway through the second before Jason Pomminville got one past Rask to make it a 3-2 lead for the Sabres. But that would be last tally for the Sabres.

Heading into the 3rd, Ryder and Chara would again score for Boston to put the Bruins up 4-3 before Mark Recchi would get an empty-netter to seal the 5-3win for Boston and even the series at 1-1. Tukka Rask stopped 26 of 29 shots faces while Ryan Miller (who demonstrated that he's no slouch himself at the Vancouver Winter Games) stopped 26 of 30 shots faced.

The series will resume Monday at the Garden.

NBA: Kevin Garnett delivered an elbow to the jaw of Miami forward Quentin Richardson in the final 40 seconds of Saturday's game and the Celtics delivered an 85-76 loss to the Heat. Garnett was hit with two technicals and at least a one-game suspension after the scrum in front of Miami's bench. Garnett said he was concerned after teammate Paul Pierce fell down next to the Heat bench and let fly with the elbow after exchanging words with Richardson. Boston trailed 41-44 at halftime before coming back late in the 3rd.

Boston leads the series 1-0, which will resume Tuesday night at the Garden.

Other NBA News: Former UMass Minuteman Marcus Camby has found a new sugar-daddy, this time the Portland Trailblazers. The Blazers and Camby are reportedly close to reaching a 2-year extension on his contract after Portland's Game 1 win over the Phoenix Suns.

Icelandic Volano Plays Havoc With Intenational Air Travel; Gives Climate Alarmists New Windmill to Charge At

Looks like everybody across the pond is George Monbiot now, whether they like it or not.

An extensive plume of fine ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano has drifted across much of Europe and the UK , shutting down air travel in the process. Civil Aviation authorities from across Europe are concerned that an accumulation of ash in the engines of aircraft would cause them to shut down mid-flight.

(Daily Mail)

The shutdown already represents the biggest disruption of civilian air travel in that part of the world since WWII and has left thousands of travelers stranded across Europe this week. The shutdown is costing airlines millions of dollars per day, and still isn't known exactly when airspace is expected to reopen. The spreading cloud has prevented heads of state from attending the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who was killed with 93 others in what was presumably a non-volcanic ash related plane crash. People with respiratory conditions have also been warned to stay indoors as much as possible.

Already the Global Warming alarmists and shysters have tried holding this Icelandic eruption up as an example of the dire looming threat that global warming (caused by you and me- not them, tho') plays in melting glaciers in Iceland, thus causing more volcanoes there to blow their top

Apparently up until recently, Eyjafjallajokull was encased in a glacier. Look- I'm no geologist....hell....I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but wouldn't....oh....I dunno....something like molten magma or superheated gases and ash play as much a role in the accelerated melting of a glacier with a freakin' active volcano on top of it as say any given coal-fired power plant?

Also, I'm dying to know which 'carbon footprint' is bigger.....commercial air travel in Europe any given year or Eyjafjallajokull blowing its top and spewing ash for thousands of miles.

[cross posted at Dopenhaagen]

Polish President, Crash Victims To be Laid To Rest Sunday

As many as 100,000 mourners packed into Warsaw's Pilsudski Square on Saturday to honor President and First Lady Kaczynski and the other 92 victims of last week's devastating plane crash in Russia. The services included a Catholic Requiem Mass and a military 3-gun salute with the names of the victims being read out one by one by actors. Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw, a former prime minister and current leader of the opposition party was in attendance along with the late President's 29 year old daughter and two grandchildren. A presidential aide said that an estimated 180,000 people had lined past the coffins of the deceased to pay their respects since they went on public display in front of the Presidential Palace on Tuesday. Over the past week, the space in front of the palace has been a makeshift shrine to the dead, adorned with thousands of flowers, candles, crucifixes and red and white Polish flags.

President Kaczynski and the First Lady were en route to a memorial last week when their plane crashed in the Katyn Forest on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet NKVD (predecessor to the KGB) massacring an estimated 22,000 Polish Army Officers and Prisoners of War. Syrah has a good writeup on the dark significance Katyn holds for Poland both then and now.


President Kaczynski and his wife are scheduled to be laid to rest at the crypt of the Wawel Cathedral in the southern city of Krakow on Sunday. President Obama along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Spain's King Juan Carlos announced that they could not attend the funeral services due to a lingering cloud of ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland that spread across much of Europe and made air travel all but impossible over the last few days.

Tea Party Confidential; Voting "Present" on April 15th

My curiosity got the better of me and even though it was a bit of a haul and coincided with part of my odd work schedule, I decided to swing by one of the tax day Tea Party protests at the nearest (and unnamed) metropolitan area. Through the magic of this thing called the Internet, I found the location and time of one earlier today that started a few hours before I was supposed to be at work.

One of the advantages of showing up so early is that I got to park nearby. About 30 or so people were already there with hand-made placards, Gadsden Flags or star-spangled doggie sweaters for the pooches that were accompanying them. A few people were also there to circulate petitions and pass out campaign literature for the upcoming Senate race (although I reside in a different district). Earlier in the week, reports were circulating that counterdemonstrators were planning to infiltrate the Tea Parties and hold up racist or outlandish signs for the media to record. That seemed to be the case with one individual who was holding up a large sign claiming the moon landings were faked by NASA, although he was subsequently flanked by people with hand-made brightly colored arrows saying 'FAKE' that were pointing Mr. Mooninite.

It's also worth noting that the Tea Party protest took place directly in front of a Post Office, so as the crowd was growing, one of the postal workers had to wade into it with a ginormous cart to empty out all of the mailboxes [and lived to tell the tale, since to hear CNN and the Southern Poverty Law Center tell it, every last Tea Party protester hates all things from the government and will lash out violently at them with no provocation- NANESB!]. There was also a steady stream of vehicles passing by the drive-up mailboxes, many no doubt dropping off their tax forms by the midnight deadline.

When I first showed up, the crowd was predominantly old or middle-aged, which sort of made sense as this was just getting underway during what would've been a normal workday for alot of people. I tried doing the informal headcount deal-ey, but #1) I suck at that to begin with and #2) I'm easily distracted. Seriously, every time I'd try and count everybody present, my attention would wander and when I'd try and start over, there'd be a knot of people waving signs and placards where there was empty space moments ago. Alot of these newer arrivals were much younger and a few had school-age children with them. My best estimate was that it was in the 'dozens' when I showed up and well into the 'hundreds' by the time I left, with more people making their way in as I was departing. A couple of people showed up selling t-shirts, although I couldn't quite see what they said.

As for imagery, I didn't see anything as offensive as the Tennessee state flag neo-nazi insignias like certain hyperventilating bloggers or MSNBC hosts guaranteed me that I would find. Believe it or not, vexilloligy is one of my strong suits and the only flags present were the stars and stripes and variations of the Gadsden flag. There were more than a few signs that were a variation of the Obama 'O' from the 2008 Campaign that would read 'Enough Already' or 'No New Taxes' featuring the stylized O. One of the kids with the 'later' arriving families was holding up a placard depicting President Obama as a latter day Jack Sparrow-esque pirate, which I'm sure could be construed as racist by the Southern Poverty Law Center those in the professional victimocracy who have been bound and determined to find signs of 'dogwhistle' racism since January 2009. As for race, I'm not as into the 'let's count the minorities' game the mainstream media has taken to playing with the Tea Parties, but there were some older Hispanic and Asian protesters there early on- so right away it was much more ethnically diverse than the lineup of MSNBC hosts. A camera crew from one of the local TV stations was present, but at the time it looked like he was simply filming panoramic shots of the crowd.

Personally, I didn't get to do much more other than mill through the crowd [I would've taken some snapshots, but the batteries in the Fenway-cam were deader then Uday and Qusay Hussein's Iraqi Parliament campaign- NANESB!] and try to figure out where one nearby congressional district ended and the other began with some of the other attendees....it gets even more convoluted when it comes to the state senate.

So after about 40 minutes or so, I had to take my leave in order to be reasonably on-time for work. At that point, more protesters were showing up and waving signs and flags on the other side of the street, which most passers by were enthusiastically honking while driving along. There was something of a police presence, but they kept their distance of about half a block away.....probably because there was nowhere else to park their patrol cars.

I left before any of the scheduled speakers arrived (I'm not even sure who they were), so I couldn't offer any informed commentary on that. There were actually some Tea Parties scheduled in towns alot closer to where I live, but they were scheduled to start when I was supposed to be at work.

Overall, I'd say it left me with a good first impression, but that was only after some 40 minutes. Certain snide, hypercondescending TV 'personalities' and bloggers would leave their dwindling viewer/readership with the impression that the Tea party was comprised exclusively of racists, birthers and Westboro Baptist-caliber fundies. By and large, they struck me as rational people who are concerned about an ever-expanding and increasingly tone-deaf and unaccountable Congress and Administration cramming through entitlement program after entitlement program- and correct me if I'm wrong, you 'where-were-these-racist-hypocrites-when-Bush-was-running-up-the-deficit' concern trolls waiting in the wings, but President Obama is on par to triple the Bush-era deficit in one year.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Charles Johnson of Little Unseen Footballs. Napoleon Charles, I just wanted to say that if it wasn't for your sneering, intellectually dishonest broadbrusing of Americans practicing their freedom of assembly and freedom of speech expressing the same concerns that at least half the country shares about the economy as foaming-at-the-mouth racists coupled with your blocking the accounts of the lions share of veterans, Jews and conservatives at your blog, I would be less inspired to find out about the whole Tea Party phenomena firsthand. Your abrupt and contrived ideological pivot has cost you far better posters than myself, but your actions have shown you to be nothing more than a lazy hack who's blog has devolved into a reptilian MSNBC, only without intellectual heavyweights like Keith Olberman and Dylan Ratigan. Thank you and don't forget to hit the tip jar!

Happy National Library Week!

(Rare Edition- Gil Elvgren, 1962)

It has been brought to my attention rather belatedly that this week (April 11-17) is National Library Week. The founder of Not Another New England Sports Blog! is a fairly enthusiastic supporter of the local library, and not just for books, either. While I've been known to check out titles like Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo, I also haven't been to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video in years since the local library system is well stocked with films on DVD like The Last King of Scotland, Children of Men and The Kingdom. Heck- I even got to meet former Boston Bruin and the first black NHL player Willie O'Ree at a library.

PLUS they have a fireplace in the wintertime; how kick-ass it that?

It has also come to my attention that I have a couple of books overdue, so I should probably get cracking on that.

Weekday Sports Chowdah Update; The Joy of 6th- Bruins to Face off Against Buffalo; Sox Fall Short of Target in Twin Cities; Bulls Make C's See Red

(AP/NESN.com)

The Bruins finished the regular season on a high note in the nation's capital on Sunday with a shootout win over the Washington Capitals. There was even a Tim Thomas sighting, with last season's Vezina winner stopping 34 of 37 shots faced in the regular season finale. Thomas also didn't allow a goal in the shootout and got in the grill of Caps LW Jason Chimera in the 1st, letting loose with a series of haymakers. Micheal Ryder had two goals before the Bruins fell behind 3-2 and Marco Sturm tied the game up with about 5 minutes left in the 3rd.

As glad as I was for the point and the win, it didn't change much in the standings. Also worth noting that Washington sat their normal netminder Jose Theodore and went with Seymon Varlamov, who stopped 35 of 38 shots faced in regulation and overtime, but gave up the two shootout goals to David Krejci and Miro Satan.

The one point for the shootout loss left Washington with 121 points on the season, although they had locked up the President's trophy well before Sunday's game with the next closest team (San Jose) finishing with 113 points on the season. Alexander Ovechkin was held scoreless on the day, which left Vancouver's Henrik Sedin the winner of the Art Ross Trophy (the NHL's scoring title) with 112 points versus Ovechkin's 109. Sidney Crosby and Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos both have 51 goals to their name for the 2009-2010 season, one ahead of Ovechkin's tally for the league lead.

Boston, on the other hand finished with 91 points, good for 6th place overall in the Eastern conference. As mediocre or craptastic as that might sound, I think even the most partisan Hub hockey fan would've thought that limping across the finish line barely squeaking past with an 8th place finish would've been unrealistic in the middle of that 10 game skid back in January. The 6th place finish earns them a first round matchup against the Buffalo Sabres beginning Thursday.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: Sunday afternoon's Flyers/Rangers game had alot riding on it- and since there's no shootouts during the Stanley Cup playoffs, why not make the final shootout of the regular season all the more dramatic? Heading into the final day of the regular season, the NY Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers were tied at 86 points each, good for the 8th and final playoff spot....in theory. Montreal's regular season finished the night before with an overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, leaving them with 88 points on the season. Montreal had the advantage in a couple of tie-breakers over the Rangers, but a Flyers loss in either regulation or OT would leave Philadelphia a point behind both New York and Montreal and out of the postseason.

Leading 1-0 on Jody Shelly's 1st period goal, the Ranger's Henrik Lundqvist entered the 3rd period stopping all 30 shots on goal from the Flyers until Philly's Matt Carle notched a power-play goal a little over halfway through the 3rd to tie the game up at 1-1 and send it into overtime, and each team being awarded a point did nothing to break the deadlock.

After a scoreless OT, the game went to a shootout where Philly's netminder Brian Boucher stopped 2 of the three shots he faced, both teams' season hinging on Olli Jokinen's attempt that Bouchet saved. Philly wins, gets the 88 points, good for 7th place finish (they had a tie-breaker over the Canadiens) and a first round matchup with the New Jersey Devils. Montreal has the misfortune of landing the Washington Capitals as their 1st round opponent.

NHL draft: The Bruins landed the second overall pick of the 2010 NHL draft Tuesday. The pick was originally the Maple Leaf's, but Toronto gave up their 1st round draft pick as part of the Phil Kessel deal. The Edmonton Oilers were awarded the 1st overall pick, and it's believed that Boston will select Taylor Hall {Windsor Spitfires, OHL} or Tyler Seguin {Plymouth Whalers, OHL}.

[h/t Stanley Cup of Chowder]

(Hanna Foslein/Getty Images)

MLB: Some 24 hours after their 8-6 win over Kansas City on Sunday, the Red Sox traveled to Minnesota to take on the Twins in what would be the regular season debut of Target Field. The game would pit Jon Lester against former Yankee Carl Pavano.

Leading off in the top of the 1st, SS Marco Scutaro would get the first hit in the new ballpark only to get picked off by Pavano. Minnesota's Denard Span had the first walk of the new ballpark in the bottom of the 1st before Lester gave up a single to Orlando Hudson before Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau to pop out. However, with two out, Micheal Cuddyer would have the ballpark's first RBI after his 2-out single drove in Span. Jason Kubel would add to that with an RBI single of his own before Lester would walk Delmon Young to load the bases before getting J.J. hardy to hit into a fielder's choice.

The Twins would add to their lead with a 2-out Joe Mauer RBI double to make it 3-0 in the bottom of the second. The Red Sox were kept off the board until the 4th, when Big Papi hit a booming double (that would've been out of most parks) that clanged off the glove of Delmon Young. However, Minnesota would get one back in the bottom of the 4th to make it 4-1 Twins.

Perhaps the highlight for the partisan crowd was Jason Kubel's leadoff homer in the bottom of the 7th to make it 5-1 Twins, with the home crowd witnessing the 1st ever homerun in the new ballpark. Minnesota would go on to win 5-2 in their Target Field debut. Interestingly, the last time the Red Sox were the visiting team in a ballpark's debut was 1923 in the toilet Yankee Stadium.

After having the day off today, the two teams will go at it again tomorrow in another day game. Kevin Slowey will start for Minnesota against John Lackey.

Other Sox-Centric News: Jacoby Ellsbury bruised his ribs in a collision with 3B Adrian Beltre during Sunday's 8-6 win over Kansas City. He was out for Monday's game against the Twins and is expected to miss a few more days according to Terry Francona. Beltre was able to start at third for Monday's game while Jeremy Hermida is expected to continue play left field in Ellsbury's absence.

Boof 'That's-Not-A-Sound-Effect-That's-My-Name' Bonser had another rough outing with the PawSox on Tuesday, lasting only two innings and giving up 9 runs in a 12-0 loss to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Bonser was reportedly limited to a 90-pitch count, but only threw for 50 in his outing and currently maintains an ERA of more than 17

A female knuckleballer from Japan who sought pointers from Tim Wakefield during spring training is set to make her debut with the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League this season. Eri Yoshida, Japan's first female professional ballplayer, will report to the Outlaws for spring training in May.

“I want to practice knuckle pitching more, and I want to become a stable knuckleball player like Wakefield,” Yoshida said. Yoshida had previously pitched for Kobe in the Kansai Independent League in Southern Japan.

NBA: After Boston's win at Milwaukee on Saturday, they seemed to be phoning it in against the Bulls at the United Center Tuesday night. Even for Chicago, the 101-93 win over Boston seemed overshadowed by reports of a physical altercation between head coach Vinny Del Negro and Bulls executive VP John Paxson. The Bulls are currently in 8th place in the Eastern conference heading into the final day of the regular season- one point ahead of Toronto.

Paul Pierce led the scoring for Boston with 28 points, followed by Ray Allen with 25. The Celtics will close out the regular season at home against the Milwaukee Bucks tomorrow night- with the Atlanta Hawks clinching the #3 spot in the conference, it is looking like the Bucks will be #4 Boston's opponent in the first round of the NBA playoffs.