Thursday Night Cuppa Chowdah- Jays Feeling Blue After Lester Shutout; Sox to Take a Roll of the Dice-K; Climate Controlled- C's Finish Off Heat

(Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

MLB: After giving up 12 runs in the series opener at Toronto on Monday night, the Red Sox pitching staff would go on to allow exactly one run against the Blue Jays lineup in the next two games.

On Tuesday night, Clay Buchholz went 8 innings while giving up seven hits, one run striking out four and walking two on 117 pitches. With Papelbon having the night off, Ramon Ramirez had a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to close out the game for his first save. Although Toronto would get on the board first with a Vernon Wells RBI double in the bottom of the first, the Red Sox would get the equalizer on a Jeremy Hermida single that plated Big Papi from 2nd base. The Sox would get the go-ahead run on a bases-loaded walk to Mike Lowell to make it a 2-1 game.

And as good as Buchholz was on Tuesday, Lester followed up with an even more impressive outing the following night, giving up just one hit and striking out 11 in seven innings of work. Darnell McDonald scored on a Pedroia sac-fly in the 6th and drove in Adrian Bletre on a single in the 7th to put Boston up 2-0. The only hit Lester allowed was a leadoff double to Vernon Wells in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Daniel Bard would keep it a scoreless game despite giving up a leadoff double to Alex Gonzalez, and Papelbon would come on to close out the game for his 7th save of the season.

The win gives Boston it's first sweep of the season and puts them at 11-11. The Red Sox had tonight off, but will travel to Camden Yards for a weekend series against Baltimore. David Hernandez is slated to start for the O's while John Lackey will get the start for the Sox.

Other Red Sox News: Dice-K's back! Boston will reportedly have him start on Saturday against Baltimore while moving Tim Wakefield to the bullpen to accomodate Matsuzaka in the starting rotation. Matsuzaka had thrown a 69-pitch simulated game earlier in the week.

Red Sox executive Jeremy Kapstein has submitted paperwork to run for Leuitenant Governor of Rhode Island earlier today. Kapstein will be running as a Democrat and face a primary challenge from current Lt. Gov Elizabeth Roberts. Kapstein was a former agent and is currently the senior advisor for Baseball Projects in the Red Sox organization.

MLB Broadcaster Poll Results: My oh my! Looks like we had some visitors from the Northwest, as the Mariner's Dave Niehaus had a pretty strong showing in my MLB Broadcaster poll. However, L.A's Vin Scully edged out Niehaus, getting 29% of the votes. Niehaus finished second with 21% of the votes and Boston's Joe Castiglione placed 3rd with 11% of the vote tally. Hall of Fame broadcasters like Milo Hamilton, Bob Uecker and Jon Hamilton recieved around 5% of the total votes.

Speaking of Hall of Fame baseball broadcasters, the month of April marks a couple of milestones- some somber, like the one year anniversary of the passing of Phillies broadcaster (and NFL Films narrarator) Harry Kalas.


And I know I'm several weeks late on this, but this month also marks the 36th anniversary of Hank Aaron eclipsing Babe Ruth's home run record. It was a home game for the Braves as they hosted the LA Dodgers on April 8th, 1974 and the game was being televised nationally on NBC. Milo Hamilton was the Braves announcer at the time, while the legendary Curt Gowdy was calling the game for NBC and Vin Scully had been calling the games for the Dodgers since they were in Brooklyn. I hope you enjoy the audio from this clip I came across on YouTube.

Other MLB News: It was announced earlier this week that Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker will undergo heart surgery on Friday. Uecker's cardiologist said that Uecker had a heart murmur that was likely brought about by a small leak in the aortic valve. The 2003 Ford C Frick winner is expected to miss anywhere from 10-12 weeks while recovering from the procedure. We here at Not Another New England Sports Blog wish Mr. Uecker a speedy recovery and look forward to hearing his voice calling Milwaukee games again.

Nathaniel S Butler/Getty Images

NBA: The Celtics finished off their 1st round series against Miami with a 96-86 win over the Miami Heat at the Garden Tuesday night. Leading by as much as 21 points during the game, Miami cut into the C's lead to make it a 3-point game with about 10 minutes left in regulation before Boston was able to pull away once again. Miami's Dwayne Wade was good for 31 points while Ray Allen had 24 for Boston. Rajon Rondo was good for 16 points and 8 rebounds while Paul Pierce had 21 points and 7 rebounds.

With the Cleveland Cavaliers win to finish off the Bulls for their 1st round series on Tuesday night, this sets up a Cavs-Celtics matchup for second round of the NBA playoffs [Would I come across as too dismissive of the Magic or Hawks if I called the Boston/Cleveland matchup 'The REAL Eastern Conference Finals'?- NANESB!]. Game one of the series is set for Saturday night at Cleveland.

NHL: OK....file this under 'H' for 'Holy Crap! I DID NOT See That Coming!'. Earlier, when I mentioned that the Bruins would wind up playing the Flyers if the #8 seeded Montreal Canadiens beat the President's Trophy-winning Washington Capitals, I meant that you should expect Boston to play the Penguins instead.

Well, after trailing 3-1 in the series to Washington, Montreal came back to force a Game 7 which took place last night. Montreal led 2-0 for much of the game, keeping the Caps off the board until the final 2 minutes of regulation when Washington's Brooks Laich finally figured out how to get one past the Habs Jaroslav Halak. While Halak lost the shutout bid, he did make 41 saves to hold on for the 2-1 win and the improbable series win over the heavily favored Caps. This means that the bottom three seeds in the Eastern conference (#6 Boston, #7 Philadelphia and #8 Montreal) all advance to the next round.

Boston will take on Philly for game 1 Saturday afternoon while Montreal's rally earns them a matchup with the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

Other NHL News: The Buffalo Sabres have picked up the 1-year option on coach Lindy Ruff's contract, keeping him with the Sabres for the 13th straight season.

A District Without a Congressman & A Candidate Without An Election- The Curious Case of New York's 29th District

Since Representative Eric Tickle-Me-Massa's abrupt resignation in early March, New York's 29th Congressional District has apparently been languishing without a representative, with no special election to fill the vacant seat on the horizon.

This story doesn't seem to be getting much play outside of Albany or the district itself. In some states, a suddenly vacant US House or Senate seat can be appointed by a governor, such as when Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick appointed Paul Kirk when Ted Kennedy passed away last summer. In other states, the governor is required to schedule a date for a special election to fill the vacated seat. We're presently seeing an example of this in Pennsylvania, where Gov. Rendell called for an election set to take place in May to fill the seat in Pennsylvania's 12th district left vacant by the death of John Murtha.

New York is one of those states that requires a special election to fill a vacant seat, with the election date determined by the governor such as last year's race in New York's 23rd Congressional district. However, it appears that the unelected Governor- David Patterson- is dragging his feet on setting up an election date for the 29th district.

“We have some serious concerns about the financial impact that a special election could have on the county level, especially because those counties are facing the same fiscal crisis that the state is facing,” said Maggie McKeon, a spokeswoman for the governor. “Furthermore, the Governor has no interest in disenfranchising military voters who are overseas, and who may not be given adequate time to vote given the short time frame of a special election calendar. This is some of what is being considered, but no final decision has been made yet.”

Ah yes.....those pesky concerns over the financial impact; Because nothing says 'deficit hawk' like a Northeastern Democrat.

While it's true that New York state certainly has its share of financial woes, one has to wonder if something else is behind the prolonged delay in setting up an election for NY-29.

Republican and former mayor of Corning, NY Tom Reed is currently a candidate without an election. Reed and others see a possible political motivation in Gov. Patterson's delay, possibly buying time for the Democrats to field a viable candidate from the district or have the election held when reports of Massa's actions aren't as prominently in the news cycle [although I don't think memories are that short in NY-29- NANESB!].

"I would assume it’s for political purposes. I don’t understand it. The governor has already said he would call it as soon as possible,” Reed said of the delay. “Whatever the election results are, we’ve just got to get it done.”

Going back to last year, it took Gov. Patterson all of eight calendar days to call for a special election in NY-23 when the Representative John McHugh vacated his post after being nominated Secretary of the Army. It's been nearly a month since Gov. Patterson's office even made a public statement regarding NY-29.

In theory, NY 29 could go without representation in Washington DC between now and November. Think of all the issues that could come down the pike between now and November....hell, nobody was there to represent NY-29 when the House put 0bamacare to a vote last month. And we're supposed to believe the reason why is because the Democratic 'leadership' in the state has abruptly discovered fiscal responsibility?

I think the folks along the Southern Tier deserve better than Patterson's excuses.

Congress, Obama Resume War on Rich Uncle Pennybags Wall Street.

PUBLIC ENEMY #1

Less than 2 weeks after Henry Waxman (D-Nostril-ia) threatened to haul the CEOs of Verizon, Caterpillar, 3M, Valero and basically any company that said that 0bamacare would eat into their earnings and harm already existing company healthcare and pensions plans before Congress, Napoleon from Orwell's Animal Farm Waxman has apparently done an about-face.

In lieu of that, we're treated to a dog and pony show chock filled with phony and contrived outrage from Congress over Goldman-Sachs' [NYSE: GS] 'unbridled greed' during the sub-prime lending crisis back in 2008.

I'm not sure, but I think the desired reaction from the public is supposed to be 'GRRRRRR! Those greedy fat-cats at Goldman-Sachs make me so ANGRY! RAAAAAR!! FENWAY SMASH!!!' or something along those lines while overlooking how the Democrats in charge of this week's sad little sideshow as well as Obama himself had benefited mightily from campaign contributions from Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan [which I'm sure they'll be giving back immediately- NANESB].

Even if I made the idiotic assumption that Congress was sincerely calling upon lenders and financial institutions like Goldman Sachs to further explain their activities during the 2008 crisis, I gotta wonder how come Fannie Mae [NYSE: FNM] and Freddie Mac [NYSE: FRE] aren't getting the same treatment as Goldman Sachs from this Congress.

Assuming Goldman Sachs IS guilty of any wrongdoing, maybe the Securities and Exchange Commission could've caught it sooner if their regulators weren't using work computers to surf porn sites for up to 8 hours at a time....on the taxpayer dime, no less.

On a not completely unrelated story, the GOP blocked a vote to allow debate on Chris Dodd's Financial 'reform' legislation earlier today. If you remember less than 2 years ago, it was revealed that Sen. Dodd (D-CT and Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee) had recieved preferntial treatment on mortgages from Countrywide Bank. Earlier this year, Dodd announced that he wouldn't seek re-election and some view his 'reform' bill as Dodd's swan song.

Sweeping nationalization of a sector of the economy cloyingly referred to by this President and Congress as 'reform'. Hmm....sounds familiar.

Tuesday Cuppa Sports Chowdah- Buffalo Shuffles Off in 1st Round; Sox Nearly Blue It in Toronto; Heat Seeking Another Elusive Win Against C's

Wow- where does the time go? After a pretty lackluster weekend where the Bruins dropped Game 5 against Buffalo, the Sox drop a Sunday game to Baltimore and the Celtics lost to Miami in Game 4, this week is off to a pretty good start.



NHL: The Boston Bruins held on to beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 at the Garden Monday night, giving them the 4-2 series win.

The Bruins will await the outcome of the Montreal/Washington series to determine who they'll face in the next round- Montreal won 4-1 to force a Game 7 in their 1st round series with the Capitals. Should Washington win, the Bruins will face Pittsburgh in the next round. If Montreal wins, Boston will face Philly.



For the first time in the series, Boston scored first when David Kejci tipped a Mark Recchi shot in past Ryan Miller at the 13:39 mark in the 1st. Inceidentally, that marks Recchi's 75th career assisst in the playoffs. Recchi would make it a 2-0 game on a 4 on 3 power play early in the 2nd before the Sabres would get a marker from Patrick Kaleta with 13:26 remaining in the period.

Krejci would get his second goal of the night to give the Bruins a 2-goal lead just over the 7 minute mark of the 3rd period. Only 22 seconds later, Buffalo would make it a one goal game again when Michael Ryder turned over the puck to the Sabre's Nathan Gerbe, who shot it past Rask to make it a 3-2 game.

With just over 5 minutes left in regulation, Miroslav Satan would give the Bruins some much-needed insurance when Dennis Wideman shot a puck on net that would bounce off of Milan Lucic's stick before Satan would get it in past Ryan Miller to make it 4-2.

The 2-goal lead came in handy when the Sabres pulled Ryan Miller fo the extra attacker and Thomas Vanek scored with 73 seconds left in the game to make it 4-3. However, Boston would hang on for the series win.

Overall, Tukka Rask stopped 27 of 30 shots faced while Miller stopped 28 of 32 shots faced (I didn't hear the horn go off prematurely like the last game at the Garden, though).

Regrettably, the game was not televised nationally so I was unable to see it. I was able to follow it on XM, however.

Other Bruins News: Marc Savard has been cleared to play according to Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. Speaking in a conference call earlier today, Chiarelli said that Savard got the thumbs-up to skate from Dr. Jeremy Schmahamann on Monday.

MLB: If last night's Red Sox/Blue Jays game seemed like it took forever, at four hours and three minutes, it probably wasn't just your imagination.

Jason Varitek went 3 for 5 and had 4 RBI's in Monday's game- as many as he had for the whole season. Meanwhile, Marco Scutaro scored a career-high 4 runs in a 13-12 slugfest at the Rogers Center. Josh Beckett only lasted 3 innings and saw his ERA shoot up to 7.22 while Scott Schoenweis was credited with the win and Jonathan Papelbon came on for a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th and the save. The Red Sox win their first game of 2010 against Toronto 13-12, but as you can imagine, it wasn't pretty.

Tonight's game will have the Jay's Shaun Marcum starting against Clay Buccholz.

NBA: After taking a 3-0 series lead on the road in Miami Friday night, the Celtics lost their first road game of the playoffs Sunday to the Miami Heat, including a 46 point performance by Dwayne Wade for a 101-92 final. Game 5 starts tonight at the Garden.

NFL:After one day of Draft-a-palooza, the Pats selected Rutgers CB Devin McCourty in the is round. But apparently there was more to come after that.

In the second round, New England selected Arizona TE Rob Gronkowski (42nd overall), DE Jermaine Cunningham (53rd overall) and LB Brandon Spikes (62nd overall) both from Florida. While for the 3rd round, the Patriots selected Ohio WR Taylor Price (90th).

On Monday, the Patriots announced that they cut Pro Bowl linebacker Adelius Thomas.

Arizona Governor Signs Strict Illegal Immigration Bill Into Law; Draws Ire From Obama Administration

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill that would allow police to check on somebody's immigration status in a state that has seen an exponential increase in drug smuggling and human trafficking in recent years. The language of the law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. It also allows for law enforcement to question people on their immigration status, allows for litigation against government agencies that hinder the enforcement of immigration laws and makes it illegal to hire or transport illegals for day labor.

Passage of the law comes less than a month after the murder of 58 year old Arizona rancher Robert Krentz on his property in Cochise County. Investigators from the Border Patrol and Cochise County Sherriff's Department reportedly found footprints at the crime scene that led all the way back to the Mexican border, some 25 miles from Krentz's property.

Useless, Pandering Pud-In-Chief President Obama called the bill 'misguided' and said the Arizona bill threatens “to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans..".

The only time I remember President Obama addressing the ongoing state of affairs along the US/Mexican border was to use the spiralling narco-insurgency in Mexico as a call to enact stricter gun-control laws......here in the USA. Not a peep from the Southern Poverty Law Center after Krentz and his dog were gunned down on their property, either.

According to critics of the bill, the Arizona state legislature had nothing else to do with their free time but draft up a 'We-hate-Hispanics' bill. Al Sharpton, Chuck Schumer and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg reportedly aren't too happy with the new Arizona law, either. Interestingly, none of these worthless puds lives in a state that borders a perpetually corrupt and dysfunctional third world nation replete with a bloody drug war that's killed thousands and has seen an exponential increase in human trafficking and drug smuggling. Phoenix, AZ was also recently named the 'kidnap capital of the USA' and there has been a general increase in murders, assaults, home-invasion robberies that corresponds with the uptick of violence between the cartels and the Mexican military.

Blue State Graft Watch Update: Feds Shut Down Giannoulias Family's Broadway Bank

Federal regulators shut down a bank owned by the family of Illinois Treasurer and Democrat candidate for US Senate Alexi Giannoulias Friday afternoon. Chicago-based MB Financial bank has taken over the deposits of Broadway, whose four branches will open up next week under MB Financial's control.

While running for Illinois state Treasurer in 2006, Giannoulias touted his experience at his family's bank as qualifying him for the office. The troubled bank made loans worth no less than $22 Million to at least two different organized crime figures while Alexi was the chief loan officer.

No word on how this will affect his Senate campaign, but some Chicago papers are already describing an 'emotional' Alexi Giannoulias 'fighting back tears'. C2's 3Wood is reporting that the Giannoulias family saw this coming and aparently helped themselves to about $70 Million in dividends before regulators closed down Broadway Bank.

Fugitive Irish Mobster Whitey Bulger In British Columbia?

Police and FBI agents visited the two largest bookstores in Victoria, British Columbia to circulate posters with a picture of #4 on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, former Winter Hill Gang leader, current fugitive Southie and octogenarian James 'Whitey' Bulger. There are warrants out for Bulger's arrest on charges of money laundering, extortion, racketeering, drug trafficking and at least 19 counts of murder between the early 1970s to mid 1980s. Law enforcement is focusing on bookstores in the area because the fugitive Bulger is reportedly a history buff.

Bulger continued his criminal activities while being recruited as an FBI informant in the early 1970s. Agents in the Boston office of the FBI willingly overlooked Bulger's ongoing criminal activites with the Winter Hill gang- up to and including murder- in exchange for information from Bulger about the rival Providence, RI-based Patriarca crime family's operations.

Tipped off by then-FBI agent John Connolly about sealed indictments from the Justice Department prior to Christmas 1994, Bulger went on the run. In 1999, he was placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List and subject to an Interpol 'Red Notice' (immediate extradition requested) in 2007. The last credible sighting of Bulger was in 2002 in London, England by a British businessman who recognized him after meeting Bulger at a hotel gym in the early 1990s.

Bulger's younger brother William would go on to be a Massachusetts state senator and University of Massachusetts President, although he would resign from the latter position after testifying that, while president of the Massachusetts State Senate, he went to a pre-arranged location to avoid electroinic survaillence and wiretapping while taking a phone call from his fugitive brother.

[Hat tip: Friends of Ours]

Extra Helping of Sports Chowdah- Anybody Else Feel a Draft? Great Satan Burns Former Team in 2OT; Rangers Coralled in 12

NFL Draft: In the first round, with the 27th overall selection, the New England Patriots drafted former Rutgers cornerback Devin McCourty. See? I just saved you several Erin Andrews-less hours of your life that you could've squandered watching ESPN's wall-to-wall draft coverage.

(NESN.com)

NHL: The Bruins rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the 3rd period of Wednesday's Game 4 matchup against the Buffalo Sabres to tie the contest at 2-2. David Krejci scored Boston's first power play goal since Game 1 to make it a one-goal game just over two minutes into the 3rd. Bergeron would follow suit with a tally to even things at two goals a piece and Tukka Rask kept the Sabres off the board in the 3rd by making several dramatic saves like this:


Of course, Ryan Miller returned the favor in overtime, getting his mitts on a big juicy rebound that everybody from shooter Miroslav Satan to the scoreboard operator thought was destined for the back of the net.


However, you can't keep a good Satan down....even if it takes an extra overtime. Called for too many men on the ice at the 5:50 mark of the 2nd OT, the Bruins would go on their 7th power play of the night.


The Bruins take a 3-1 series lead with the chance to finish off the Sabres tonight at HSBC Arena in Buffalo. Tukka Rask stopped 35 of 37 shots faced while Miller stopped 36 of 39 shots faced throughout regulation and overtime. This is one of those rare instances where we're treated to an outstanding performance in net at both ends of the ice without having to use it as an excuse for why the Bruins lost a meaningful game. The save percentages and other abstract statistics don't do justice for either Rask or Miller's performance, which is why I felt the need to embed the videos above.

MLB: While the Bruins were going the distance (and then some) against the Sabres at the Garden, a few stops down on the orange line (before transferring to the green line) at Fenway, the Red Sox needed all of 12 innings to get past the Texas Rangers. Josh Beckett continued to struggle, going seven innings and giving up 7 runs on seven hits and five walks. There was a JD Drew sighting, as he belted a grand slam in the bottom of the 3rd. Darnell McDonald and Mike Lowell also homered for Boston in the game while Daniel Bard and Papelbon came on for two innings of relief each and only giving up one hit. Hideki Okajima had a 1-2-3 top of the 12th inning while the Ranger's Dustin Nippert would give up a 1-out single to Marco Scutaro. Scutaro would then tag up and just beat the throw into 2nd on JD Drew's fly ball to center and the decision was made to intentionally walk Dustin Pedroia to get bring up Kevin Youkilis, who doubled to dep center field to give the Red Sox the 8-7 win on Wednesday.

However, Boston's modest 2 game win streak would come to an end last night when the Rangers CJ Wilson would shut out Boston in 6 and 2/3rds innings of work for the 3-0 win. Clay Buchholz would strike out 10 and give up 6 hits and 3 runs in his outing- also 6 and 2/3rds innings.

Presently, the Red Sox record is at 6-10, 'good' for 4th place in the AL East. The Sox will play host to the Baltimore Orioles with Jeremy Guthrie getting the start against Jon Lester.

Other Red Sox News: The timetable for Jacoby Ellsbury's return has been put in question after doctors discovered hairline fractures in four of his ribs. Dr. Thomas Gil said that his return would be dependent on the symptoms, saying that as long as he felt he could comfortable run, swing and field effectively, then he can return.

NBA: Its been awhile hasn't it? Just a reminder that game 3 of the Celtics series against Miami takes place tonight. Boston currently holds a 2-0 lead in the series after their fairly brutal 29 point beatdown of Miami on Tuesday night.

It's Bettie Page Day!

Right on the heels of what would've been Jayne Mansfield's birthday is what would've been Bettie Page's 87th birthday. Why should all the self-righteous environmentalists and hippies have April 22nd to themselves? I'm starting to think the raven-haired pin-up from Tennessee should get her own holiday. Sure she had issues later on in life marked by acute schizophrenia, assault charges and being placed in a California state mental hospital, but c'mon....how is that any worse than murdering hippie and one of Earth Day's founding fathers Ira Einhorn? Hell- we could even observe Mansfield and Paige's birthdays on the same day like what's been done with Washington and Lincoln's birthday.

Curiously, Bettie Page was named Playboy's Playmate of the Month in January 1955. According to wikipedia, Playmate of the Month for February 1955 was none other than Jayne Mansfield [I'm not exactly an in-house expert on Playmates of the Month, but I imagine those respective issues would be worth a small fortune to collectors circa 2010- NANESB!].

Bettie Mae Page was born in Nashville, TN on April 22, 1923. Her early life has been the subject of speculation and innuendo both online and in the biopic The Notorious Bettie Page. But that almost seems irrelevant once the uninhibited Page found herself in front of the camera lens. Perhaps the most iconic images were from a 1954 photo shoot with model/photographer Bunny Yeager that took place in a Florida wilderness park. Page posed both nude and in lingerie with two live cheetahs (and lived to tell the tale) for the shoot.

Leopard-print lingerie- now with 100% more leopard!

Today's Train of Thought- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia; April 22nd 2010

The home opener for the 2010 Phillies season was right around the corner when railpictures.net contributor PRR 6755 caught a quartet of veteran EMD locomotives tiptoeing their way across west Philly with an intermodal train.

The red EMD locomotives are not following Roy Halliday down from Canada, however. This is Canadian Pacific train 164, with red and white SD40-2 #5775 on the point, a grey rent-a-wreck SD40-2 from Citi financial, another red and white CP SD40-2 and a GP38-2 sporting the newer 'golden rodent' logo bringing up the rear. Train 164 is seen in the final stretch of its journey from Montreal to Philadelphia.

Visitors from the great white North aren't so unusual in the City of Brotherly Love. Canadian Pacific inherited trackage rights into Philadelphia with their 1991 acquisition of the Delaware & Hudson over what was then Conrail. In 1996, Conrail spun off their Allentown-Scranton, PA line and sold it to the Reading & Northern. Between Allentown and Philadelphia, Canadian Pacific utilizes CSX trackage rights, which includes their high-flying former Pennsylvania Railroad Trenton Line.

Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific have a reciprocating agreement- CP trains are allowed to operate over NS between Detroit and Chicago to access CP subsidiary Soo Line as well as the D&H trackage rights into Philadelphia and Harrisburg via Binghampton, NY while Norfolk Southern trains are allowed to operate over CP's former D&H line between Binghampton and Mechanicsville, NY to interchange with Pan Am Railroad (formerly Boston & Maine) giving NS access to New England.