"Hey Now, You're An All-Star" Sports Chowdah Update for July 12-14

Well....that only took 14 years.

Atlanta Braves C Brian McCann was the unlikely hero for the National League on Tuesday night, driving in 3 RBIs to secure the National League's first All-Star win since 1996.

Washington Nationals closer Matt Capps was credited with the win with just five pitches worth of work and the Dodger's Jonathan Broxton held off a late rally in the bottom of the 9th for the 3-1 win. Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria scored the only run of the night for the AL in the bottom of the 5th on a Robinson Cano sac-fly. The Yankees Phil Hughes was hung with the loss while the ChiSox's Matt Thorton gave up the game-winning double to McCann in the top of the 7th.

The win on Tuesday night also means that the National League will have home field advantage to start off this year's World Series.

Tuesday night's game capped off three days of festivities including the 2010 MLB futures game, the Home Run Derby and the Legends/Celebrity Softball game.

Although six Red Sox players were nominated to the 2010 All Star game, only Adrian Beltre, David Ortiz and Jon Lester saw the light of day Adrian Beltre struck out in his only at-bat, leading off the bottom of the 9th while Papi went 1 for 2 with a single, also in the 9th. Lester had a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 6th.

The Celebrity Softball game featured actors Mario Lopez and Micheal Clarke Duncan along with rapper MC Hammer, and former MLB players Bo Jackson and Tim Salmon...

as well as Access Hollywood anchor Maria Menounos.
Victoria's Secret model Marissa Miller.
And USA Olympic Softball gold medalist Jennie Finch.

The home run derby took place on Monday night
Not too surprisingly, Big Papi pretty much won that contest going away after squaring off against Florida's Hanley Ramierez in the final round. Papi was interviewed by Erin Andrews afterwards, where he said a few words in honor of the late Jose Lima who passed away earlier this year. I'm just hoping his explosive performance at the Derby doesn't wear him down further into the regular season- anybody else notice a slump in his performance after an equally impressive HR Derby at the All-Star game in Pittsburgh a few years back?

Speaking of ESPN and Erin Andrews, the ESPYs were on tonight- just a hop skip and jump up the I-5 from Anaheim at Los Angeles' Nokia Theater. I caught some of the red carpet show prior to the actual awards at the same bar I caught the concurrent Red Sox/Celtics/Bruins games (all nationally televised, no less) before I had to go to work for a few hours.

(Reuters)

Had no idea Erin Andrews was so tall...or Danica Patrick was so diminutive. Yea- I know Erin's wearing heels, but she's towering over the Indycar driver like a sequoia over a garden gnome....

OK....slight exaggeration on my part, but the size differential is noticeable.

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.

Sports Chowdah Recap for Oct 14-15: Dodgers Need To Be Talked Down Off of a Lidge; Big East Bonanza; Erin Andrews Stalkerazzi to Face Feds

(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
The Philidaelphia Phillies outlasted the LA Dodgers in a pitchers duel; 8-6. Outfielder Raul Ibanez hit a 3-run homer for the Phils in the eighth inning off of reliever George Sherrill to put them up 8-4. Ryan Madson gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth, but Brad Lidge would get the save in the bottom of the ninth.

Yes- Brad Lidge, who's career was declared all but over earlier this year, is now 3-0 in save situations. That's better than Jonathan Papelbon or Joe Nathan. ouch. The Phillies lead the NLCS 1-0.

Elsewhere, a night after #5 Boise State survived a late drive from the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes, #8 Cincinnati and #21 South Florida went head-to-head in Tampa. The Bearcats won 34-17, but lost starting quarterback Tony Pike in the 3rd quarter to a sprained wrist. Cincinnati remains undefeated and takes on Louisville Cardinals next week while the 5-1 Bulls will take on the 5-1 Pittsburgh Panthers.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Police Blotter: A Chicago man accused of surreptitously videotaping ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews in the nude at a hotel appeared in Federal court earlier this month. Micheal David Barrett, 48, faces charges of interstate stalking for the taking of videos. Apparently Barrett was able to get a room next to Andrew's just by asking for one at the front desk.

Well, among other things I'm sure this will give ESPN reason to reconsider who provides their accomodations.

And for those of you who thought the fierceness of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry was exaggerated, guess again. A Nashua, NH woman faces charges of second degree murder after plowing her car into a crowd of Red Sox fans during a verbal altercation last year. Lawyers for 44 year old Ivonne Hernandez are trying to get her admission to a Nashua detective thrown out, saying that the detective lied about the victim's condition to her.