Sports Chowdah Update- Yellow Peril, Red Sox 0-for-Oakland; Rambling Nash- Phoenix Trades Steve Nash to Lakers

AP Photo/Ben Margot

RED SOX- David Ortiz belted career homer #400 on Wednesday's game against the Oakland A's, but that was almost an afterthought as a couple of former Red Sox helped Oakland complete a sweep of Boston on Independence Day.

Former Red Sox outfielder [now playing 1B for the A's- NANESB!] Brandon Moss started the scoring for Oakland after hitting a solo homer off of Boston starter Aaron Cook in the bottom of the 2nd inning, although career blast #400 for DH David Ortiz came in the top of the 4th to tie the contest up at 1-1.

D. Ross Cameron/Contra Costa Times

The Red Sox briefly took the lead in the top of the 6th to make it 2-1 on a 2-out Adrian Gonzalez RBI single, but A's recent acquisition Brandon Inge tied things up at 2-2 with an RBI double with two away in the bottom of the 6th. Cook then gave up a leadoff triple to former Boston outfielder Coco Crisp before coming home on a Jemile Weeks RBI single to make it 3-2.

After taking the lead, the Oakland bullpen didn't allow a single Boston batter to reach base, preserving the 3-2 win and completing the sweep of the Red Sox on the 4th of July. Moss, who wasn't even called up from Oakland's AAA affiliate in Sacramento until June, went 6-8 with 5 RBIs and two homers against his former team.

The Red Sox return to Fenway on Friday night to face the New York Yankees. Josh Beckett [4-7; 4.06 ERA] will get the start against Hideki Kuroda [8-7; 3.17 ERA] with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 ET. Viewers in New England and New York will have their choice of NESN, the YES network or the MLB network broadcast.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The Yankees claimed former Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald off of waivers after the Red Sox released him. McDonald was batting .214 in 99 plate appearence for Boston this season.

An unheralded pickup from Cincinnati, McDonald caught the attention of Red Sox nation in 2010 with a torrid .270 batting average, speed and some clutch RBIs his first year with Boston. Since then, his offensive production has tapered off although he still retained much of his speed.

The move was seen as being made to make room in the outfield in anticipation of Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford returning to the Red Sox lineup. Both Crawford and Ellsbury arepresently rehabbing with the AA Portland Sea Dogs- Crawford went 2-4 with an RBI while Ellsbury went 1-5 in Portland's 4th of July road game against the New Hampshire Fishercats- Toronto's AA affiliate.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Atlanta Braves 3B was added to the 2012 All Star Game roster ealier this week as a replacement for the Dodger's Matt Kemp. Earlier this season, Jones had announced that he would retire from baseball after the 2012 season. With most of the All-Star starters selected over the weekend, a final spot on the AL and NL rosters was still up for grabs with online fan voting.

Previously, the online voting in the NL was a contest between Jones, teammate Michael Bourn, Arizona's Aaron Hill, St Louis' David Freese and the Nationals Bryce Harper. Freese was eventually named the winner of the fan voting on Firday, with Rangers starter Yu Darvish taking the final AL slot and bringing the total number of Rangers in next week's All Star game in Kansas City to 8.

NBA- Just a few weeks into the NBA offseason and already there have been some pretty noteworth transactions.

Phoenix Suns Point Guard Steve Nash went to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign-and-trade deal on the 4th of July, agreeing to a 3-year $27 million contract in exchange for the Suns getting four draft picks. There had been sign and trade talks with the NY Knicks and Nash reportedly declined a 3-year $36 million deal from the Toronto Raptors last week.

Meanwhile, the AP is reporting that the NY Knicks guard and restricted free agent Jeremy Lin had accepted a 4-year $28.8 million offer sheet from the Houston Rockets, although the Rockets haven't yet made any official announcement as of Friday afternoon.

Back Home Sports Chowdah Update- B's Knockin on 7's Door; Suns Come Out Late in Beantown

And I don't mean this Seven's, either [although if you happen to be in Beacon Hill, I highly recommend stopping by- NANESB!]

The Bruins put the finishing touches on a perfect 6-0 road trip on Tuesday night thanks to a shutout performance by Tukka Rask backed by a single goal from Nathan Horton in the 3rd period in Ottawa on Tuesday night.

If you're the superstitious type, then it would be worth nothing that the last time the Bruins went on a perfect 6-0 road trip was during the 1971-1972 season- the last time the B's hoisted the Stanley Cup in Boston [But as we all know, Boston fans aren't the least bit superstitious, right?- NANESB!]

On Thursday night, they would try and make it 7 wins in a row with their first home game since the day after Valentine's Day against the Southeast Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

If the Bruins wanted to make it 7 wins in a row, they would have to climb out of a 1-0 hole to do it. Eric Brewer broke the scoreless deadlock 4 minutes into the 2nd period with a goal to put Tampa Bay on to 1-0. Pruins call-up Steve Kampfer managed to knot the game at 1-1 about 2 minutes later and the contest would enter the 3rd period that way.

Although he was pulled in an earlier contest against Boston, Lightning goalie Mike Smith had a pretty strong showing on Thursday night. However, with 3:42 left in regulation, Milan Lucic was able to get a bouncing puck past Smith to make it a 2-1 game. The Bruins were able to hold off a late charge from Tampa Bay after the Lightning pulled Smith and hung on to win by the final of 2-1, good for their 7th win in a row.

Tim Thomas stopped 27 of 28 shots faced while Tampa's Mike Smith turned aside 26 of 28. The win vaults Boston past Tampa for 2nd place in the Eastern Conference, 3 points behind Philly (who lost to Toronto on Thursday). The Bruin's next game will be at 7PM ET on Saturday night at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Arena against the Penguins.

NBA: The Celtics homecoming on Wednesday night wasn't quite as triumphant as the Bruins, but they came out on top nonetheless. At first blush, the C's 115-103 win might've looked like a commanding performance (and it was, taking a 20 point lead into halftime), but Boston had to hold off a late rally from the Phoenix Suns, with the visitors threatening to close the gap to less than 10 points late into the 4th.

Kevin Garnett played like a man with something to prove (imagine that) racking up 28 points and 11 rebounds against Phoenix. Ray Allen had the next highest point total with 19 in Wednesday night's win.

The C's next game will be at home in Friday night against the Golden State Warriors at 7:30 PM ET

MLB: Friday marks the first contest between the Boston Red Sox and NY Yankees at New York's Spring Training facility in Tampa, FL. Both teams are coming into Friday's game sporting a 2-3 record. Bartolo Colon will be auditioning for a slot in the Yankees rotation while Clay Buchholz will get the start for the Sox.

After a high profile and ugly feud with manager Ozzy Guillen, former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks made his Red Sox debut in Thursday's 2-0 loss to Philly, allowing a hit and not earned runs.

Josh Beckett is back and will likely throw a bullpen session on Friday and may start another game as early as Tuesday. During his return to City of Palms park, Beckett presented coaching assistant Ino Guerrero (his 'assailant' after getting hit in the head w/a ball during BP and treated for mild concussion symptoms) with a fluorescent orange construction worker's vest.

Quickie All Star Sports Chowdah Break- Bruins Head Into All Star Break Atop Division; Celtics Start West Coast Trip

NHL- After finishing up their West Coast road trip with a 2-0 loss to Los Angeles, the Bruins had time for one more game at the Garden before the NHL all-star break on Wednesday night.

Before packing his bags and heading off to the NHL All Star Game in Raleigh, NC Tim Thomas had 34 saves in Boston's 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers. Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic each had goals for the Bruins as they managed to hold off a late flurry from Florida.

Thomas leads the league with a 1.81 Goals Against Average and a .945 save percentage, and the Bruins enter the All-Star break in third place in the Eastern Conference and 1st in the Northeastern conference. Besides Tim Thomas, burly Bruins defender Zdeno Chara is also heading off to the All Star Game.

The format for this year's NHL All Star game is different- instead of Team North America vs Team Europe or East vs West, two Captains (Erik Staal of the Hurricanes and Nick Lidstrom of the Red Wings) had a draft on Friday night. Zdeno Chara wound up on Team Staal while Thomas was selected for Team Lidstrom.

Chara and Thomas will stay in Raleigh and be rejoined by the rest of the team come Tuesday when they take on the Hurricanes at the RBC Center.

NBA- The Celtics wound up losing a physical Firday night game to the Phoenix Suns by an 88-71, the stage is set for a rematch of last season's NBA Finals on Sunday where the LA Lakers will host the Celtics.

Special Memorial Day Helping of Sports Chowdah- Halladay Perphect In Phlorida; Red Sox Cure Royal Pains; Dej L.A. Vu- Celtics/Lakers Rematch Set

MLB: Nearly three weeks after Oakland's Dallas Braden threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Philadelphia's Roy Halliday matched that feat in a masterful performance against the Florida Marlins at Miami's Sun Life Stadium on Saturday. Halliday's 27-up, 27-down performance came less than a week after getting roughed up by the Red Sox at Citizen's Bank Ballpark in interleague play and one week after Daisuke Matsuzaka took a no-hitter into the 8th inning against the hosting Phillies.

What makes Halliday's perfect game all the more impressive is that he had considerably less run support than Braden did- the only run of the game coming on a fielding error by Marlins outfielder Cameron Maybin in the top of the 3rd that allowed Philly SS Wilson Valdez to score. Josh Johnson was the Florida starter who went seven innings, giving up seven hits, the unearned run and striking out six in the 1-0 loss for Florida [I'm obviously not a Phillies fan, but I do wish Harry Kalas was around to call the game- NANESB!].

The last time two perfect games were thrown in one season? June 1880, and less than a week apart. Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs threw a perfect game for a 1-0 win against the Cleveland Blues on June 12th, 1880. The game took place at the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds and is is widely believed to be the first-ever perfect game in major league baseball history.

On June 17th John Montgomery Ward of the Providence Grays pitched a perfect game against the Buffalo Bisons at the Messer Street Grounds in Providence Rhode Island, winning 5-0. [See- give me any opening and I'll never miss an opportunity to go on about how awesome all the teams from New England are....even the ones that ceased to exist 125 years ago- NANESB!]

Red Sox: Kinda figures that after being on the wrong end of a 12-5 beatdown, the Red Sox would bounce back in a pitcher's duel on Saturday. On Saturday night, Clay Buchholz outpitched 2009 Cy Young winner Zack Greinke in 7 innings of work. The only run in the 1-0 game came in the bottom of the second on a Mike Lowell groundout that plated Adrian Beltre. Lester gave up four hits and struck out four in his 7 innings of work while Bard came on for a scoreless 8th and Papelbon closed out the game with a 1-2-3 9th inning.

Getty Images

Sunday was a different story, with the Sox generating alot more offense in support of Jon Lester. In the top of the 2nd, Lester would give up an RBI groundout to Brayan Peña for Kansas City's only run of the day. In 7 innings of work, Lester would give up 4 hits, the one earned run, four walks and strike out five batters. Manny DelCarmen and Joe Nelson would close out the pitching for Boston.

The Red Sox bats were very much alive for this one, with Papi driving in a run on a sac-fly in the 3rd followed by a 2 run homer in the 5th. Mike Cameron is back, and on Sunday, he had a 2 RBI double before crossing the plate on a Marco Scutaro single (Scutaro also had an RBI groundout in the 5th). 'Tek rounded out the longball action with a solo homer of his own in the 8th in the Red Sox 8-1 win.

Next, the Red Sox will take on the Oakland A's on Tuesday at Fenway. John Lackey (5-3) is slated to start against Gio Gonzalez (5-3).

NBA: It's official- the Celtics will be going up against the Lakers in a rematch of the 2008 NBA Finals. The LA Lakers brought down Los Suns by a score of 111-103 Saturday night in Phoenix to win the Western Conference Finals 4 games to 2. Game 1 is slated to take place Thursday night, giving the C's some time to recoup after a couple of physical games against Orlando.

NHL: For those of you wanting an all-original 6 Stanley Cup final, too damn bad. While the Blackhawks held up their end of the deal, Montreal was bounced from the Eastern Conference finals by the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night after a 4-2 loss, giving Philly the 4-1 series win. So instead, it's an Original 6 versus Class of '67 Stanley Cup final. After sweeping the San Jose Sharks, the Hawks took the 1-0 series lead in the Final in a defensively challenged Game 1 Saturday night by a score of 6-5.

Game 2 is set for Monday night at 8 PM eastern.

INDY CAR: I'm not really all that interested in motorsports, but Mike Conway's crash at the Indy 500 earlier has to be seen to be believed.


Oh....what the hell....here's a completely gratuitous Danica Patrick swimsuit photo while I'm at it:
But getting back to the crash, Conway survived the spectacular crash and was airlifted to the hospital with a broken leg. Dario Franchitti was the winner of the 94th Indianapolis 500 and Danica Patrick finished in 6th place (after finishing 23rd on Pole Day). The Indy 500 win is Franchitti's second of his Indycar career.