Saturday, April 3, 2010

Bittersweet Sports Chowdah Update- Satan's Hands Hardly Idle in B's Win; Rockets Down C's; Yankees Fan Schilling Signs w/ESPN, Opening Day Cometh


(Getty Images)
NHL
: After being shut out at the Garden 1-0 by the Florida Panthers on April Fool's Day, the Bruins travelled to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Tukka Rask got the start in net for the B's and gave up the early goal to Colton Orr in the 1st period. Miroslav Satan would get the equalizer past Jonas Gustavsson in the 2nd period to make it 1-1. However, with no scoring in the 3rd period, the game would head to overtime to determine a winner. Satan would get the go-ahead goal with 1:35 remaining in sudden-death overtime. Tukka Rask stopped 27 of 28 shots on goal while Gustavsson faced 30 shots in net for Toronto. This was a game the Bruins needed and in fact won- Thurday's contest was winnable for them as well.

The Bruins have four games remaining in their regular-season schedule. They play the Capitals in Washington on Monday night before hosting the Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres at the Garden. The regular season closes out with the B's returning to the Verizon Center a week from Easter Sunday.

The way I see it, if the Bruins are fortunate and manage to hang on to the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern conference, then that earns them a first-round matchup with the Washington Capitals. From there on out, it won't end well. If they somehow manage to overtake Philly or Montreal in the standings when the season wraps up next week, I imagine they'd make a series against New Jersey or Pittsburgh more interesting than one against the Caps.

NBA: While the Celtics may not be in as dire straights as the Bruins, they do have further to fall. After dropping Wednesday's contest to Oklahoma City, Friday night marked the third straight home loss for the C's as they fell to the Houston Rockets in overtime, 114-119. Houston's Luis Scola was good for 27 points and 11 rebounds and Aaron Brooks had a 30-point night, including a game-tying 3 pointer that would send the contest into OT. Paul Pierce had 27 points, Rajon Rondo was good for 23 points and 5 rebounds. The C's will take on the Cavs at the Garden tomorrow before travelling to Madison Square Garden to take on the NY Knicks on Tuesday.
Presently, the Atlanta Hawks are a game and a half up on the Celtics in the Eastern Conference standings, leaving Boston in 4th place.


(John Wilcox/Boston Herald)
MLB: Less than 24 hours to go before opening night at Fenway Park as the Sox play host to the Yankees [hopefully the rudest hosts EVAH- NANESB!]. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN and features CC Sabathia starting for the pinstripes going up against Josh Beckett [Did I mention I have a Rawlings baseball autographed by CC Sabathia and a Sports Illustrated cover signed by Beckett? Just sayin'- NANESB!].

Tim Wakefield pitched four shutout innings against the Washington Nationals, giving up three singles, no walks and two strikeouts. Daisuke Matsuzaka followed Wakefield with 4 innings of his own, allowing two hits, three walks a strikeout and one earned run in Boston's 6-1 win over the Nats. This is Matsuzaka's second appearence of the Spring and Boston's final preseason game. Kevin Youkilis and JD Drew both homered in today's game.
Honestly, once you get past Lackey I'm a tad underwhelmed by some of the off-season signings. The front office could've done alot worse than Beltre, Cameron or Scutaro, yet they still seem like stopgaps. Then again, who in 2003 was impressed by the signings of players like Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller and some scrub the Twins didn't want named David Arias Ortiz?
Let's not forget that for all the wailing and moaning about how much money the Sox have at their disposal to go after free agents, they still have a solid farm system that so far has given us players like Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Clay Buccholz, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jonathan Papelbon since 2004.

ESPN Networks: Nomar Garciaparra isn't the only Red Sox alum that's found post-baseball work with ESPN. Curt Schilling will appear on ESPN's Baseball Tonight and ESPN Radio as well as contributing to ESPN.com and ESPN Boston. Schill will make his debut in the pre-game show for tomorrow night's Red Sox season opener.

A series of e-mails containing death threats against ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews was dislclosed by Andrews' attorney this week. The messages discuss the case of Micheal David Barrett, who was sentenced last month to a 2 and a half year prison sentence for stalking and videotaping Andrews in the nude. Andrews' attorney said that the FBI has been notified and the suspected e-mailer is already known to law enforcement. ABC networks is beefing up security for Andrews and a private security firm has also been contracted to protect Andrews and her family.

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