Canadiens 4, Bruins 2

The B's won the Cup and returned almost the entire team intact. And maybe that's part of the problem. This team isn't playing like they have anything to prove. Guys who played with hunger last year (Marchand, Horton) aren't playing with the same ferocity every shift. Maybe it's time for some healthy scratches, maybe it's time to see guys like Caron get more ice time, maybe it's time to make a trade.

Give credit to Montreal for blocking shots (29 of them in total, Spacek blocked 7, Gill blocked 5) and for breaking up Bruins' passes, but it didn't seem like the Bruins properly respected Montreal's abilities to do so. How many passes did the B's try to slip past Montreal sticks that were already down on the ice? How many times did one sole Bruin try to carry the puck through 2 or 3 Canadiens?

The breaks in Saturday's game didn't go the Bruins' way. The Habs had the first 5 Power Plays. The B's hit a few posts in the early stages. But the Bruins didn't capitalize on things that did go their way. They failed to convert a lengthy 5-on-3 into a goal (Seidenberg's failure to keep the puck in the zone during that Power Play sums up how the Bruins' season has gone). And almost every Bruins' possession was short and ended with a whimper.

Montreal matches up well against the Bruins. Their speed allows them to get to loose pucks first, allows them to harass opposing forwards, and makes their counterattack quite deadly. The Bruins' strength is their physicality. And that was only sporadically apparent Saturday. We've seen the Canadiens fear the Bruins before. They're not afraid right now though.

And don't let Pussy Kunt Subban get under your skin. That's his goal. And yes, I would say that to Subban's face, so long as we were in a Foot Locker or at the zebra enclosure in a zoo. The sight of those black and white stripes make him go down with just a nudge.

Ference's post-Subban penalty was a bad call, but Lucic shouldn't give Subban the excuse to dive. If you're going to get a 2 minute slashing penalty, make Subban feel it for 20 minutes. And if Subban wants to play these silly games, then drive Brian Gionta through the boards in response.

The Bruins have some fundamental problems to work out. Their breakout is ugly. They're not dumping and chasing enough. They don't move the puck with any purpose. They're not imposing their style of game on the opposition.

And when is Joe Corvo going to do anything positive? he's an improvement over Kaberle, but who wouldn't be? He's been sound defensively, but hasn't contributed to the offense, and has looked tentative on the breakout.

On the bright side, the goalies are playing well. Tim Thomas doesn't look a year older, and the goals Rask allowed weren't his fault. The Penalty Kill has been reliable. Shawn Thornton is doing his job. Tyler Seguin looks like he's been in the NHL for 4 years. He's on pace for 30+ goals and 80 points. Bergeron is doing the little things, which is more than can be said for some of his teammates.

The Bruins have the talent, some of the guys are playing very well, but some individuals making mistakes and not making good plays are sabotaging the team. And they need to shape up or be shipped out.

Bruins host the Senators Tuesday night. Ottawa are 7-5 and have won 6 straight. When a hot team meets a cold team it'll either be a blowout, a turning point, or a tornado.

-The Commodore

Sports Chowdah Update for October 30, 2011- 11th Title in the Cards for St. Louis; If You Sell It, They Will Come? Pats Get Steel Toed Boot

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

WORLD SERIES: It seemed to have that air of inevitability around it almost as soon as David Freese's bat made contact with the ball in the bottom of the 9th of Game 6 with 2 outs and a 1-2 count.

Despite Texas getting out to the early 2-0 lead in the top of the first, the Cardinals- unsurprisingly and inevitably- came back to tie the game up in the bottom half of the 1st frame on a 2 out, 2 RBI double from none other than David Freese.

Cards outfielder Allen Craig put St Louis up for good with a solo homer in the bottom of the 3rd. In the 5th, the Cardinals would get some insurance when catcher Yadier Molina drew a 2 out bases-loaded walk, followed up by Rafael Furcal getting hit by a pitch with the bags STILL loaded to make it a 5-2 game.

Although Texas would get the occasional leadoff runner on, the 2 runs they got in the first inning would be it, and Molina would get another RBI- this time in the form of a single that plated Berkman- to put St Louis up by 6-2. Jason Motte, who put the 2 Rangers baserunners on in Game 2 that ultimately cost St Louis the game, came on for a one two three top of the 9th to seal the Cards 6-2 win and the World Series.

Chris Carpenter went 6 complete innings for the win for St Louis while Matt Harrison was hung with the loss for the Rangers. Molina went 2-3 with 2 RBIs for the Cards while local hero David Freese went 1-2 wirh 2 RBIs and 2 walks. Thanks in large part to his role in both Game 6 and Game 7, Freese was named the 2011 World Series MVP.

Game 6 was such a difficult act to follow- even though I knew better, I was a little disappointed that Game 7 didn't end in a similar manner. I remember the last time the Cards were in the World Series (2006), all the East Coast sports figures and yammering heads on ESPN were bemoaning that it would be an all-Midwest World Series, thus boring.

Unfortunately Detroit proved them correct by basically air-mailing a bunch of pivotal innings away. I haven't been watching or listening to alot of the 'personalities' on ESPN, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were saying the exact same things five years later.

As a Red Sox fan, I'm not particularly passionate about either one of the teams in the 2011 World Series [lest anybody forget, Red Sox Nation had their day against St. Louis 7 years ago- NANESB!] but the quality of the games was something to behold- well, most of the games at least.

It seemed as though I found myself asking 'What can they do to one-up this?' every time I was watching or listening. Even in the one true blowout, viewers got to see Albert Pujols put himself in some very distinct company. Texas kept themselves in it with some small ball in Game 2 and a heroic outing by Derek Holland in Game 4 as well as Napoli's bat in Game 5.

But all that was left in the dust once Game 6 wrapped up.

Congratulations to the 2011 World Series Champion St Louis Cardinals and congratulations to both teams for treating us to some very exciting October baseball.

OTHER BASEBALL NEWS: The family farm complete with a baseball diamond hewn from a cornfield in Dyersville, IA that was used for filming the 1989 film Field of Dreams will be sold.

The land, which has been in the Lansing family since 1906, had been on the market since May 2010 with an asking price of $5.4 million. The parcel includes the baseball diamond, a two bedroom farmhouse, a half dozen other buildings and 193 acres- primarily cornfields.

The Lansing family said they were committed to finding a purchaser that would maintain the legacy of the site. Although the exact amount wasn't disclosed, the northeastern Iowa farm and baseball diamond will be sold to Go the Distance Baseball LLC, operated by Mike and Denise Stillman.

The property is about 20 miles west of Dubuque, IA and has been open to visitors during the summer months for the past 20 years.

Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

NFL: Damn- is it too late for me to blame the porn starlet that Gronkowski (allegedly) hooked up with?

I can't even say New England came out of the bye week looking rusty, because it was hard to make an informed statement on how the looked with Pittsburgh dominating time of possession. The Steeler had the ball for just under 40 minutes while New England had possession for just over 20- not really a winning formula.

Even with that disparity in time of possession, the Patriots headed to the locker room at halftime trailing by 17-10 thanks to a 46 yard Gostowski FG with 29 seconds remaining in the half.

While the Pats would keep Pittsburgh out of the end zone for the 2nd half, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger would manage to move the ball fairly effectively while eating up the clock and the Steelers were still able to come away with FGs on two trips inside the red zone.

After being stymied for much of the game, Brady would drive New England down to the Pittsburgh red zone where he would connect with Rob Gronkowski, where no doubt driven to distraction thanks to his tryst with Bibi Jones [just kidding...jeez], he was stopped just shy of the goal line. Now while he had possession of the ball and both feet appeared to be in the end zone, Gronkowski was ruled down inside the 1 yard line with 4:15 to go in regulation.

With all three time outs remaining, instead of throwing out the challenge flag, Belichick decided to punch it in from there on 3rd and 1. Kevin Faulk was knocked back for no gain, and while New England got a fresh set of downs on 4th and 1 after a Pittsburgh holding penalty, precious time was burning off the clock. Although Brady would complete a pass to Aaron Hernandez in the end zone, there was all of 2:38 remaining on the clock.

Even if The Patriots had demonstrated an ability to hold Roethlisberger and the Steeler offense to a 3 & out, that rosy scenario STILL would've left the Patriots with precious little time. Also worth noting that the last time the Patriots had a successful onside kick was 1994- and after today, the last time the Patriots had a successful onside kick was....1994.

As it turns out, the Steelers got a first down, bleeding off precious seconds from the clock and forcing New England to use up their time outs. New England did manage to sack Roethlisberger twice before the Steelers had to punt from mid-field, but that was a day late and a dollar short.

The Patriots got the ball back on their own 22 with all of 8 seconds left in regulation, only to have Steelers DE Brett Keisel strip the ball from Tom Brady and batted into the end zone by shaggy Safety Troy Polamalu for the safety.

Pittsburgh wins this one by a 25-17 final. Brady went 24-35 with 198 yards and two TDs while Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger would go 36-50 with 365 yards with 2 TDs and an interception. New England's offense was held to just 213 yards altogether on the day.

This sets up a showdown with the NFC east leading New York Giants next week at Foxborough. The Giants are coming off come-from-behind victory against the winless Miami Dolphins at the Meadowlands on Sunday.

NBA: With no deal in sight between the player's association and the owners, the league has cancelled two more weeks worth of regular season games, leaving most of November with no scheduled regular season NBA contests.

NHL: OK....so a couple of weeks in and its becoming apparent that the Bruins need to come up with something else aside from pointing out that they won the Stanley Cup and hoping their opponents are sufficiently dazzled.

So far, the Canadiens have shown themselves to be underwhelmed. Saturday night was the away half of a home-and-away series against Montreal. Les Habs got off the the quick start in the 1st with goals from Brian Gionta and Lars Eller for the early 2-0 lead. Dave Desharnais would make it a 3-0 lead in the 2nd period on a power play goal before the Bruins got on the board thanks to a Milan Lucic tally.

About 55 seconds into the 3rd period, Boston would make it a 1-goa game thanks to an even strength Tyler Seguin goal, but late in the 3rd, when the Bruins pulled Rask for the extra attacker, Tomas Plekanec managed to get the empty-netter for the 4-2 win.

The Bruins will head back to the TD Banknorth Garden on Tuesday to take on the scalding-hot Ottawa Senators, who have won their last 6 consecutive games. Puck drops at 7PM ET.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Understandably lost in a couple of great games Saturday night was the fact that the struggling BC Eagles had managed to notch their first win against a non FCS team this season- not only that, but an ACC opponent!

The Eagles came into a snowy College Park, MD to take on a marginally better Maryland Terrapins. Eagles RB Rolandan Finch drew first blood as Boston College managed to score on their opening drive to take the early 7-0 lead.

The Terps would reply with a FG to get on the board just inside the 10 minute mark. Boston College would take a 21-3 lead to halftime, and although the Terps would get on the board once again in the second half, it would turn out to be not nearly enough.

Boston College goes on to win by a 28-17 final and Finch gets 39 carries for 243 yards and 2 TDs in his productive afternoon. The Eagles are getting ready to host the Florida State Seminoles on Thursday night at 8 PM.

BIG EAST: Earlier this week, in leiu of being treated to World Series Game in St Louis, those of you inclinced to watch some college football were treated to the UConn Huskies getting stomped by Pitt by a 35-20 final after getting picked apart by Junior QB Tino Sunseri. UConn was held to a field goal for the first half, trailing 21-3 at halftime. The Huskies did manage a couple of big plays in the 2nd half, but it wasn't nearly enough.

OTHER BIG EAST NEWS: West Virginia made it official this weekend that they would be leaving the Big East conference for the Big 12, likely replacing the Missouri Tigers who are finalizing plans to join the SEC.

Like Syracuse and Pittsburgh (who announced their plans to join the ACC), Big East plans on retaining the Mountaineers until 2014.

Joe Mahoney/ Richmond Times-Dispatch

COLONIAL: UMass rebounded from their loss at Foxbourough's Colonial Clash versus New Hampshire last week with a very convincing win over the Richmond Spiders in the Old Dominion State by a 28-7 final. Three of those TDs against Richmond came in the 1st quarter and three out of the 4 were from RB Jonathan Hernandez, who had 3 of the UMass TD's on the day and 103 rushing yards.

The Minutemen will next play host to Villanova this coming Saturday.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: In case you missed it, some of the late games Saturday night actually lived up to the hype.

Granted it wasn't as time expired like last week against Michigan State, but the Wisconsin Badgers had their hearts ripped out for the second week in a row with less than a minute left on the clock. Trailing 14-26 late in the 4th quarter, the Badgers came back to score two TD's and take a 26-29 lead on a successful two point conversion.

The Buckeyes had gotten the ball as far as mid-field when Ohio State QB Braxton miller heaved a 40 yard pass with 43 seconds left in regulation. The pass looked a little wobbly, but somehow managed to find freshman Ohio State WR Devin Smith in the end zone for the TD and the 32-29 lead with less than 45 seconds to go.

That would be the final, as the Badgers couldn't score with their final possession.

Meanwhile, out west, the Stanford Cardinals needed triple OT to get past the USC Trojans. Stanford had already scored and successfully pulled off the 2 point conversion in their half the the third OT when USC got the ball back. However, on the Trojan's first possession, RB Curtis MacNeal fumbled and Stanford recovered, giving them the 56-48 win.

Canadiens 2, Bruins 1

The term "Stanley Cup Hangover" will get thrown around a lot today and I just don't think that the Bruins are suffering from one. Why? Because they didn't win the Cup in 2010, and they still had stretches like this last season. This "hangover" notion is an excuse. They're simply not playing 60 full minutes of good hockey, the offensive guys aren't providing offense, they're not taking care of the puck, and their Power Play sucks.

Sound familiar? It happened last season. A few times. Two stretches in November, another in December, a long and painful one in March, it even happened in the playoffs. Games 1 and 2 against Montreal, for instance. And these lulls were not preceded by any Cup hoisting or parades. This Bruins team sometimes doesn't put in 60 minutes of effort, they have streaky players (Horton), and they are very vulnerable to a well-executed forecheck.

It's the player's fault. They have to play better. They did so in the 1st period. They sustained possessions in Montreal's zone. Then Price made an unforced error and it was 1-0. But the 2nd period saw less pressure, the 3rd saw next to none. We also saw the Bruins making casual passes with the puck in the 3rd. That led to Montreal's game-winning goal.

And if not for Price's mistake, the Bruins get shut out. The offense isn't functioning. Somebody besides Seguin has to score. He and Peverley lead the team with 3. They have 6, the rest of the team combines for 14. The Flyers and Jets scored more than that in one game last night (Winnipeg won 9-8).

Where is David Krejci? He had a great defensive play in this game but have you noticed him at all on offense? He has 1 goal and 0 assists. He and Horton are dragging this team down. The Lucic-Kelly-Seguin line is working nicely, the Thornton line started to show more energy last night, and while Bergeron and Marchand aren't scoring, they're at least getting shots on goal. Bergeron has more shots (29) than Krejci (12) and Horton (13) combined.

There are no pure scorers on this team. This offense succeeds when they get 2nd and 3rd chance shots on goal. When they stay in the opponents' zone for prolonged periods. Last night they struggled just to enter the zone. And then after the 1st, they struggled to keep the puck in. Even with their abundant Power Play opportunities.

It's frustrating. We've seen what this team is capable of when they decide to show up. Right now we're seeing giveaways, we're seeing careless neutral zone passes, we're seeing a pair of top line forwards competing with Shawn Thornton in the Shots on Goal category (Thornton has 10).

Maybe the Bruins feel like they can wait to turn it on when it matters most. But 1/9 of the season is over and the Bruins are 29th in the NHL. And they've already played 1/6 of their home games. You need points to make the playoffs, usually around 95. You need more points to win a division and get some home playoff series (the B's were 10-3 in home playoff games, 6-6 on the road), usually around 105 points. The Bruins have 6 right now. 6 points in 8 games with no injuries to any key players.

You can't just wait until January to turn it up. What if you're still in 4th place and you lose Thomas for 3 months? How do you dig yourself out of a hole then?

It's starting to get me concerned.

They should be well motivated Saturday night in Montreal. It's not a must-win. It's a must-show-me-something-so-I-can-relax.

-The Commodore

Squirrely Sports Chowdah Update For Oct 27th: Angry Birds- Cardinals Storm Back To Tie World Series on Final Out; The Tight End and the Tight End

WORLD SERIES: Without much in the way of exaggeration or hyperbole, this was one for the ages.

Postponed by rain on Wednesday night, Game 6 of the 2011 World Series got underway in St Louis 24 hours later and with the Cardinals in a must win scenario, often times trailing the Texas Rangers.

Texas got out to the early 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st thanks to a leadoff walk to Ian Kinsler and a single to Elvis Andrus before Josh Hamilton drove home Kinsler with an RBI double.

Tha Cardinals would take the lead in the bottom of the 1st with a 2-run Lance Berkman homer, but the Rangers would knot things up in the next frame thanks to an RBI Kinsler ground-rule double, leaving the game tied at 2-2 for a little while at least. Well- until the top of the 4th inning, which is when Nelson Cruz reached 2nd on an error before being driven home on a Mike Napoli RBI single. However, in the bottom half of the 4th frame, Lance Berkman would reach on an error and become the tying run on a Yadier Molina groundout.

The sloppy play and back and forth would continue for quite a bit, with Texas finally taking what seemed like a commanding 7-4 lead in the top of the 7th inning thanks to solo homers by Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz as well as a Kinsler RBI single for good measure.



After a solo homer by Allen Craig in the bottom of the 8th, the Cardinals managed to load the bases before Rafael Furcal grounded out to end the inning, leaving it still a 7-5 game. After a fairly uneventful top of the 9th where the Rangers didn't score, Albert Pujols hit a 1-out double to center before Lance Berkman was walked. Allen Craig then struck out and when David Freese stepped into the batter's box, the Cards were down to their last out- their last strike, even- in the World Series when he managed to send the ball all the way to the outfield wall to bring in Pujols and Berkman to tie the game up at 7-7.

Texas would strike right back with a 2-run Josh Hamilton homer in the top of the 10th, but the persistent Cards would come back in the bottom of the 10th after moving runners into scoring position and a Ryan Theriot groundout plated one run and Lance Berkman tied the game at 9-9 with a 2-out RBI single.

After some confusion in which Ranger's manager Ron Washington looked uncertain about who he wanted to send to the plate in the top of the 11th, the Rangers were really unable to do anything with a Mike Napoli single and finished off the inning pretty quietly.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, the Cardinals led off with Wildwood, Missouri's Lafayette HS graduate David Freese.

The 3rd baseman who grew up a Cardinals fan in the St Louis area helped propel his team to a Game 7 in the world series in the most dramatic manner possible, giving St Louis the 10-9 win over a reeling Texas [I get the feeling all those Freese-related puns have been done to death, and I figured I might as well give it a rest after the NLCS- NANESB!].

Freese's late-inning heroics set up one final game for the 2011 season and the first Game 7 in nearly 9 years. Freese went 2-5 with 3 RBI including the game-winning homer while Lance Berkman went 3-5 with 3 RBI on the evening. Jake Westbrook, the 6th pitcher to take to the mound for St. Louis Thursday night, was the winner while Neftali Feliz, Darren Oliver and Scott Feldman each had an opportunity to seal the win for Texas coming out of the bullpen, only to watch the Cards claw back each time. Feldman was charged with the blown save and Mark Lowe was hung with the loss.

Tomorrow night's game is set to get under way from St Louis with a first pitch at 8:05 ET and will be televised on FOX. Chris Carpenter is set to get the start against the Rangers Matt Harrison. It'll be interesting to see if Texas can bounce back from what must feel like a crushing loss on Thursday night.

OTHER MLB NEWS: The Boston Herald is reporting that the Toronto Blue Jays may be getting ready to aggressively go after Red Sox DH David Ortiz this offseason. The 36 year old slugger is a free agent and has been with the club since 2003, including two big postseasons that saw the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 and 2007.

NHL: Damn it, damn it, damn it! I understood that there might be the risk of a Stanley Cup 'hangover', but why does it seem as though things have been going downhill ever since the banner raising ceremony?

And the damndest thing is, the Bruins are getting beaten by the few teams out there with worse records than them.

The Montreal Canadiens managed to hang on for a 2-1 win against the Bruins at the Garden Thursday night after the Bruins managed to get on the board thanks to a Tomas Plekanec own-goal against Carey Price.

The Habs would then get two unanswered goals (this time against the Boston goalie, Tim Thomas) including another Plekanec tally for the 2-1 final. Thomas turned aside 33 of 35 shots faced in the loss while Price stopped 29 of 30 shots faced (29 of them coming from Bruins players).

The Bruins will travel to Montreal (where they are no doubt ready to call the Sûreté du Québec on Zdeno Chara) on Saturday night with the game being broadcast on CBC beginning at 7:00 PM ET.

NFL: Oh come on now. This is getting a touch ridiculous.


New England Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski issued a statement saying that he didn't intend to hurt the team's reputation when he had his picture taken with porn starlet Bibi Jones. Gronkowski reportedly made the statement after meeting in private with owner Robert Kraft.

Earlier this week, Jones posted two photos of herself with Gronkowski on her twitter account. She was wearing the #87 jersey in both photos while Rob Gronkowski was shirtless in one of them. The pictures were reportedly taken during the bye week.

I'm not sure what the big deal is, to be honest. I mean, Gronkowski is young and single, and as long as it doesn't detract from his on-field performance, I don't really see the problem with having his picture taken with a porn starlet. According to Jones, nothing happened (much to her dismay) between her and Gronkowski.

Jones also stated in a radio interview that an unnamed MLB agent used her to entice potential free agents to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010. However, she insists she wasn't paid for meeting with the agent's potential clients in Phoenix area bars, but served as 'arm candy' pro-bono due to her affinity for athletes and baseball being her favorite sport.

Canadiens @ Bruins Preview

This will be the first time the Bruins have played the Canadiens since that awesome first round of the playoffs last year. It seem like forever ago, then again it feels like forever since the Bruins played hockey at all. The Bruins are playing for the first time since Saturday. Maybe that's a good thing, since they haven't started all that great (3-5). Then again, you have to be worried the Bruins are going to come out at least a bit rusty.

There was good news for the Bruins as defenseman Adam McQuaid, who has missed the Bruins' last four games, has been cleared to play. He isn't a great player, but he is big and strong and overall is better then average. It gives the Bruins the defensive depth that they need.

What the Bruins need more then that though, is a consistent offense. Since they made all their line changes they looked better, hopefully that is here to stay.

I would expect that Thomas will be in net tonight. He has been good this season with a 2.16 goals-against average even though his record doesn't show it (3-3-0). He has owned the Canadiens going 10-3-1 with a 2.03 GAA and one shutout over his last 14 home meetings with the Canadiens (including playoffs).If that wasn't enough Canadiens goalie Price has really struggled going 0-2-0 with a 7.47 GAA during his last two regular-season visits to Boston.

I have not got an update on Seguin and his ankle injury, but from what I can gather it sounds like he'll play. He has been great to start the season and I don't see him slowing down (unless he gets hurt).

The Bruins are just a better team, and although I am worried about all that time off they just had I expect a win tonight.

Bruins win 3-0
Player of the Game: Thomas
Game starts at 7pm

Sports Chowdah Update- Napoli Ever After, Texas 1 Win Away From Word Series; Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady Lansings;

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

WORLD SERIES: Well damn- it looks like I owe you not one, not two but three World Series updated.

Saturday night's game brought the World Series to Arlington, TX for the second time in two seasons. It was a pretty one-sided blowout with the 16-7 Cardinals win being more reminiscent of the final for a Cowboys-Rams game. However, the contest was noteworthy in that Cards 1st baseman Albert Pujols put himself in some very distinguished company (i.e. Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson) by becoming the third ever player to belt 3 home runs in a World Series game. Pujols went 5-6 with 6 RBI on the night in the St Louis rout.

The following night, however, Rangers starter Derek Holland would go 8 and ⅓ shutout innings allowing just two hits (both of them off of Lance Berkman who was in the DH role) while a 1st inning RBI double from Josh Hamilton would be all the run support Holland needed- altho' he would get more insurance in the form of a 3-run Mike Napoli blast off of Cards reliever Mitchell Boggs in the bottom of the 6th. Texas would go on to win by the 4-0 final on Sunday.

For Game 5 on Monday night, the Cards would get out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second, thanks to a Yadier Molina RBI single and Skip Schumaker groundout with a runner on 3rd.

Texas would cut the lead in half with a solo homer from 1B Mitch Moreland and another one from that 3B Adrian Beltre hit from his knees off starter Chris Carpenter to knot the game at 2-2. Then, in the bottom of the 8th with the bases loaded and 1 out, C Mike Napoli scalded a double to deep center field where it bounced off the wall and drove in two more runs for Texas.

Neftali Feliz would then come on in the top of the 9th and after the leadoff batter, got Pujols to stroke out and cut down Allen Craig as he attempted to steal 2nd base. Matt Holliday was walked and Lance Berkman struck out to end the game and give Texas the 3-2 World Series lead.

The World Series heads back to St Louis on Wednesday night, although the forecast calls for extended rain showers throughout the day, so this must-win game for the Cardinals might be postponed for another day.

OTHER MLB NEWS: The Philadelphia Phillies have declined to pick up the 2012 options on starter Roy Oswalt and closer Brad Lidge. Both pitchers are coming off of an injury plagued 2011 season. Although both are free agents, Phillies brass hasn't ruled out either one of them returning under a new, renegotiated contract.

RED SOX: Boston GM Ben Cherington announced that starter John Lackey will miss the 2012 season after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his elbow. Lackey was 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA this season- the second year into his 5 year, $85 million contract.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: The Toronto Blue Jays issued a statement in which they announced they "would not grant permission for lateral moves", a reversal of the previous policy where the organization permitted any employee from talking to any organization about any job.

The announcement came amid speculation that manager John Farrell was being sought after by the Red Sox as a replacement for Terry Francona. Farrell spent four years as Boston's pitching coach and led the Blue Jays to an 81-81 record his first season as Toronto manager.

CHICAGO CUBS: Theo Epstein was officially introduced by the Cubs as their newest president of Baseball Operations on Tuesday.



NCAA FOOTBALL: Man oh man....what is it with Michigan State and these dramatic finishes?

With about 4 seconds to go in regulation against the #4 ranked Wisconsin Badgers, Michigan State Spartans QB Kirk Cousins heaved a Hail Mary Pass from mid field and after caroming off the facemask of Spartans WR BJ Cunningham found its way into the arms of Spartans WR Keith Nichol, who managed to break the plane of the goal line for the 37-31 Spartans win.

The win vaults the Spartans from #15 to #9 in the AP Top 25 poll.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Meanwhile, Boston College's futile quest for a win against a FBS opponent continued after falling 14-30 to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Saturday. The BC Eagles will next face Maryland at College Park, MD at 3:00 PM ET.

UMass, whis is the only team the Eagles have managed to beat this season, was defeated by the UNH Wildcats by a 27-71 final in the Colonial Clash at Gilette Stadium in Foxborough, Ma on Saturday. This could be a preview of 'home' games once the UMass Minutemen join the MAC starting in 2012.

UConnhad the weekend off, but plays Wednesday night against Pitt at 8 PM ET. The game will be televised on ESPN.

NBA: Speaking of UMass, Basketball hall of famer and UMass alumni Julius Erving is putting up his championship rings and MVP trophies up for auction after being sued for $200,000 by a Georgia bank.

Erving purchased an Atlanta-area golf course in 2006 and moved to the area a few years later. Using a Gwinnett county home as collateral, Erving secured a $1 million loan from Georgia Primary Bank in 2009. In 2010, the line of credit was reduced to $750,000 and the maturity date was extended to July 24th. However, the bank is suing Erving over the outstanding balance.

Among the items up for auction include his 1974 and 1976 championship ring from the ABA as well as a 1983 championship ring with the Philadelphia 76ers and 1980-81 NBA MVP trophy.

NHL: And just as quickly as Boston's offense showed up against Toronto, it seemed to abandon them as they hosted the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

Coming off a 4-3 shootout win against New Jersey, the Bruins hosted Joe Thornton for career game #1001, but it was Essex, MA native and former BC Eagle Benn Ferriero that would put the Sharks up on top after Tyler Seguin had managed to knot the contest up at 2-2 in the 3rd.

Ferriero managed to bury a rebound past Thomas late in the 3rd to make it a 3-2 contest before a Patrick Marleau empty-netter in the final minute would ice the 4-2 win for San Jose.

Interestingly, while Thornton was playing career game #1000 in New Jersey, Ferriero was being called up from the Worcester Ice Cats of the AHL for his NHL debut.

To mark the occasion of Thornton's return, the Bruins played a video tribute at the garden in the 1st period congratulating the San Jose center on the career milestone.

Sharks 4, Bruins 2

The good news is that the mistakes that the Bruins made are easily fixed. That's also what makes them so frustrating to watch. San Jose came into Boston after playing 65 minutes in New Jersey the night before. The Bruins should have tried to grind a game out, play mistake free, and hope to outplay and outwork the Sharks in the 3rd. Instead, they made some stupid mistakes (especially David Krejci) early on and were playing catch-up hockey most of the night.

Pavelski's goal 72 seconds into the game was assisted by Joe Thornton, but Krejci deserved the second assist. He surrendered the puck in the Neutral Zone with a careless pass that had no chance of not being a turnover.

San Jose's second goal came when Krejci didn't cover the slot in front of Thomas. Instead, he kind of joined a 2-on-2 scrum for the puck on the boards behind the net (I say "kind of" because he didn't really do anything to help the two Bruins defensemen engaged). This left Logan Couture uncovered in front, and when the Sharks won the board battle, Couture made the Bruins pay for Krejci's absentmindedness.

I criticize Krejci for not being much of a scorer. The playoffs silenced that critique. But he's praised for his puck-possession skills. Turnovers and defensive mistakes are acceptable realities for guys who can score 40 goals. For someone who struggles to reach 20 goals, and who is supposed to do the smart, little things, Krejci's mistakes were intolerable.

He's -5 on the season and that's one of the reasons he's been taken off the top line. He's better than this. He'll play better.

The Bruins' play improved in the late parts of the 2nd and scored twice in the 3rd. Lucic's goal was pure effort and muscle. Seguin's goal was a bit cleaner, but still assisted by the strength of Lucic and Kelly. I'm liking the Lucic-Kelly-Seguin line.

But the Sharks got the game-winner thanks to a faceoff win, some food forechecking, and a bit of indecisiveness from Steve Kampfer.

The Bruins are successful when they do the little things right. ALL the little things. That's why they won the Cup, that's why they had a good start to the 3rd period. Overall in the game, though, the Bruins turned the puck over 23 times (San Jose had 6 giveaways) and didn't complete many of their passes.

We saw this routine last year. We even saw it a few times in the playoffs. The Bruins fell behind to Montreal and Vancouver because they didn't take care of the puck. This team can play better than this and I'm sure within the remaining 74 games, they will.

Big game Thursday as the Habs come to town. Montreal is 1-4-2 and this is a good chance to keep a divisional foe down.

-The Commodore

Quicke Sports Chowdah Update For October 21st- Elvis Hasn't Left the Building Yet- Series Heads Back to Texas Tied 1-1; B's Offense Blows Leafs Away

Dilip Vishwanat- Getty Images

WORLD SERIES- And just like that, the Texas Rangers are back in this thing.

Two games into the 2010 World Series, I'm pleased to report there have been no blowouts so far. In Game one, the Cardinals broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single from pinch hitter Allen Craig in the bottom of the 6th- and that would be the final on Wednesday night.

Thursday was a slightly different story as the Cards Jaime Garcia went 7 shutout innings, striking out 7 while giving up all of three hits. Colby Lewis went 6 and ⅔ innings for the Rangers, but once again, Allen Craig got the Cards on the board in a pinch-hit situation- this time in the bottom of the 7th- to give the Cards the 1-0 lead. The way Garcia and the Cards bullpen was keeping the Rangers bats quiet, it looked like that lone tally would be enough.

However, Ian Kinsler would lead off the Rangers half of the inning with a single off Jason Motte. Then, in a move that was almost as predictable as Dave Roberts stealing 2nd off of Mariano Rivera in the top of the 9th of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, Ian Kinsler took off for second and slid in barely ahead of a throw from catcher Yadier Molina and tag by Rafael Furcal.

Elvis Andrus the followed that up with a single, that put Kinsler on 3rd and Andrus reached on 2nd thanks to a Pujols botching a cutoff throw from right field.

The Texas bats had been quiet for most of the World Series so far, but with runners on second and third with nobody out, outfielder Josh Hamilton stepped into the batter's box. Hamilton gave it a ride to right field for a long flyout, but deep enough to plate Kinsler to tie the game and advance Andrus to 3rd base. Next up in the batter's box was 1B Michael Young, who would also fly out to deep right, but still deep enough for Andrus to make it home and put Texas up by 2-1. Adrian Beltre would go onto ground out to end the inning.

Nefatli Feliz would take the mound in the bottom of the 9th and allow a leadoff walk to Yadier Molina before getting the next three batters out for the 2-1 win. So Texas rallies to bring the World Series back to Arlington tied 1-1 not because of the big bats of Hamilton or Cruz, but thanks to aggressive baserunning and small ball.

Game 3 will be played Saturday night in Arlington, TX with first pitch scheduled for 8:05 PM ET. Kyle Lohse (14-8; 3.39 ERA in the regular season) gets the start for the Cards while Matt Harrison (sporting eerily similar regular season stats of 14-9 with a 3.39 ERA) takes to the bump for the Rangers. The game will be televised on FOX.

RED SOX: Not too surprisingly, both players and front office personnel from the Red Sox deny the rumors of players drinking beer, playing video games and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse between innings during games. DH David Ortiz made some noise about joining the Yankees as a free agent, but seemed to walk back those comments in the last few days and expressed a preference for staying with Boston.

On Friday, the Oakalnd A's announced that former Red Sox pitching coach Curt Young was leaving Boston to join manager Bob Melvin.

Meanwhile, a deal that would see Epstein head off to the Cubs is still considered likely, but the proceedings have slowed down noticeably this week.

Elsa/Getty Images

BOSTON BRUINS: At long last, the Bruins offense was showing some signs of life, handing the Toronto Maple Leafs their first regulation loss of the season.

The Leafs had gotten off to a scalding 4-0-1 start on the regular season heading into Thursday night's game at the Garden. Meanwhile, this would be the Bruins first divisional matchup of the season after hosting the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-1 loss on Tuesday.

Toronto would draw first blood with a Dave Steckel tally at the 7:29 mark in the first period, but that would be just about it for the Leafs. The Bruins would get two separate power play goals starting with Nathan Horton's game tying goal three minutes later (with assists from Chara and Ference) before Zdeno Chara's power play goal at the 16:05 mark (with assists from Andrew Ference and Tyler Seguin).

With just under 3 minutes to go in the 1st, Chris Kelly would put Boston up by a 3-1 score on what would turn out to be the game winner. After a scoreless 2nd period, the Bruins got plenty of insurance thanks to goals from Lucic, Bergeron and Seguin (all even-strength) before Toronto notched their second goal of the evening.

Boston moves to a game under .500 with this dramatic 6-2 win over the previously surging Leafs, making them undefeated (1-0) in matchups against teams in the Northeastern Division.

The 3-4-0 Bruins will next host a homecoming of sorts for Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks (1-3-0) at the Garden on Saturday at 7PM ET. The game will be televised on NESN.

Bruins 6, Maple Leafs 2

The Leafs came into this game as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. But the Bruins were coming off an emotional loss on Tuesday, and Toronto would be playing for the second straight night. The Bruins added focus to their fire, and it showed from the 1st period on.

Thornton had his first fighting major of the season. Coming into this game, the B's were 32-10-8 when he fights. And he wasn't the only Bruins who showed up and played with energy.

Horton's Power Play goal was a great example of patience and poise as he waited for the best shooting opportunity. He got the chance because Chara had a chance to shoot from the point. Chara got that chance because Benoit Pouliot drew the penalty.

Pouliot drew another penalty and Chara scored the PP goal after sneaking into the faceoff circle. Tyler Seguin got an assist on the goal. Last year he barely played any PP minutes, but this year he's been a consistent presence with a man advantage. Seguin now has 2 points on the Power Play. He had 3 all of last season.

Chris Kelly's goal in the 1st was a great example of earning a loose puck. Lucic drove deep into the zone. Kelly didn't have much time or space to take a quality shot, but he earned two shots in the paint, and the second went in.

The Bruins did not let the Leafs come back. Only 7 third period shots for Toronto.

Seguin ended the game with a goal and two assists. Kessel had 0 points, which snaps a 15 game point streak. That's too bad.

The Bruins needed to get back on track. As frustrating as that last game against Carolina was, this team has a unique ability to turn pain on Tuesday into joy on Thursday. They really do rebound well. B's host Joe Thornton and the Sharks Saturday night.

-The Commodore

Maple Leafs @ Bruins Preview

The Bruins have had a bad start (2-4-0) to the season, while the Leafs have had one of the best (4-0-1). Why has Toronto been so good, well it's been in large part to the NHL's top scorer and former Bruin Phil Kessel. He currently leads the league with seven goals and 12 points.

I guess the good news for Boston is that Kessel has not been great against the Bruins in his career scoring only two goals and four assists in 12 meetings. It will be interesting who the Bruins decide to start in net tonight. One would think Thomas will be in net, since the Bruins haven't played well in front of Rask this year (or last). I say it's interesting though, because Thomas has lost his last 4 starts against Toronto and has a 3.29 GAA, while Rask is 5-1-0 with a 1.76 GAA in seven matchups.

My guess would still be Thomas though. The Bruins might have Krejci back tonight, as he is a "gametime decision". My hope is the Bruins will be fired up after all the fights against Carolina. Yet, me picking them to win hasn't seemed to help anything. Still, I think the Maple Leafs suck.

Bruins win 3-2
Player of the Game: Peverley
Game starts at 7pm

David Krejci Injury Update (UPDATED)

David Krejci was able to get back on the ice for the first time since his "core" injury. Krejci was able to participate in the morning skate, and it sounds like he will be back Saturday against San Jose, if not tomorrow against Toronto.

The Bruins need offense right now there is no getting around that. I do like Seguin skating with guys like Horton and Lucic, because they are bangers (when they are playing like they should) and that is the kind of guys that can cause chaos in front of the net and open the ice up for Seguin.

I didn't see the game last night, and from the sound of it I am kind of glad, but I did read the Bruins shook up their lines. Whatever it takes to breathe a little life into this team is probably a good idea. I am hoping that all this fighting last night got this team fired up. We have seen it before that the Bruins play better angry.

My 2 cents on the lines (when healthy), which mean little to nothing, but makes sense to me are...

Lucic - Krejci - Peverley
Marchand - Bergeron - Seguin
Pouliot - Kelly - Horton

I am a big Horton fan, but he has looked like shit. I like Peverley on that first line to add some speed with Lucic, and some energy. Lucic I feel like at times seems out of it, and almost bored. Sometimes a fiery guy like Peverley can breathe life into a player like that. Little worried about the size on the 2nd line, but Marchand plays a lot bigger then his actual size, and Seguin/Bergeron are such playmakers they can make Marchand a 30 goal scorer.

Like I said, that's just my idea.

***UPDATE***

Here are the lines from today's practice...

Milan Lucic-Chris Kelly-Tyler Seguin
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Nathan Horton
Jordan Caron-David Krejci/Rich Peverley-Benoit Pouliot
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton

Yea, it's a lot different then mine, but I do like it. I think Julien realizes that Horton is playing like shit, since he dropped him to the 2nd line. Like I talked about before I like that Seguin/Lucic combo, because when Lucic is playing like he should he can cause problems for teams in front of the net.

Anyways, interesting to see they are changing it up, but I think it's a good idea.

Hurricanes 4, Bruins 1

Give Carolina credit. They knew the Bruins would probably be frustrated, and the Canes took full advantage of that frustration. Cam Ward's goaltending didn't hurt either. The B's spent about a fifth of this game shorthanded. And when they weren't killing penalties, they seemed more concerned with killing Hurricanes than with scoring.

68 penalty minutes for the Bruins. And sure, the refs got a little bit over eager with their whistles, but can you blame them? Stuff like Horton pummeling Tim Gleason is simply ignorant hockey. Gleason was trying to goad Horton. And once Horton drops the gloves and Gleason refuses to fight, that has to be the end of it. Horton should have mocked Gleason by waving his arms John Wensink style, then skated away.

Maybe a little fire is what this team needs. The Peverley goal on the Power Play seemed to be a result of some of the sparks in this game. Then Horton committed his stupid penalty 30 seconds later, then the refs were a bit anxious and called Chara for high-sticking, then Marchand got ejected and Seidenberg was given a questionable boarding penalty. Things got a little out of hand.

And the throwing of objects onto the ice was sad. That's stuff that Montreal fans do. That's a whiny Canadian thing to do. You know what we do in Boston when we're pissed at the refs and the team for losing? We call up the Sports Grille, order a pizza, wait for the game to finish, then go drink. Beers are for drinking, not throwing.

Hopefully this team wakes up. But at the same time, they have to stay focused. They need to react with goals like Peverley's, not with penalties like Horton's.

B's host the 3-0-1 Maple Leafs on Thursday.

-The Commodore

Hurricanes @ Bruins Preview

The Bruins have been up and down this season. They have played well in games against Tampa Bay, and Chicago, but have looked like shit in the rest. That being said I didn't think there was any shot the Bruins would beat the Blackhawks this past weekend, and I'm taking it as a sign this team is really to roll.

A big reason for that is the play of Seguin. He has looked awesome as that first line center, and has given a spark to players like Horton who were really slow to start the year. The kid has the most talent on the team, and right now also has the most points.

On top of that the Bruins got back to grinding out games, and that means hitting. That's how the Bruins win. In the first meeting this season the Bruins lost 3-2 to Carolina, but they only really played about 10 mins of good hockey. I think they play more then that tonight, and that'll be enough.

Bruins win 3-1
Player of the Game: Tyler Seguin
Game starts at 7PM

Quick injury update. Krejci will not play tonight, and McQuid is a game-time decision for the Bruins.

Bruins 3, Blackhawks 2 (SO)

It wasn't perfect, but the Bruins finally put forth a strong effort and tried to force their opponent to play Bruins hockey. They worked hard for every loose puck, they did make a few mistakes, but for the most part they valued the puck. And Tim Thomas being a freak of nature didn't hurt.

Ference's giveaway which led to a Chicago goal was a poor decision. As frustrating as it was, bad decisions are much better than bad effort levels.

Thomas and Seguin are the two best Bruins at the moment. Peverley is a close third. Boychuk's dump-and-chase move was exactly the kind of play that the defensemen need to make to help these forwards out. The Bruins forwards are not snipers, they're not ridiculously talented offensive forces. In order to confuse an opponent, they need a guy like Boychuk to make plays like that. That's how you force mistakes.

If Seguin isn't involved in every shootout the Bruins have this year, I want to know why. He's tailor made for that.

I only wish we got to play the Blackhawks more. Two big markets, two Original Six teams, two very good teams. And we won't see the 'Hawks for the rest of the (regular) season. It's too bad.

But hey, we get to see Carolina come to town on Tuesday.

-The Commodore

3 Carolina, 2 Bruins

Another lackluster performance by the Boston Bruins last night as they gave the Carolina Hurricanes their first win of the season. Cam Ward (26 saves) shut the door for most of the game until the Bruins found the back of the net in the third period. Tim Thomas (31 saves) had to make a few ridiculous saves just to keep some tallies off of the board for the Canes. Its early, but the chemistry just doesn't seem to be there yet.

The first goal was scored by Carolina's Joni Pitkanen when he got a shot pass Thomas on a power-play. Then Old friend Tomas Kaberle was credited with an assist on the Canes first goal....typical.

It didn't take long into the third period for the Hurricanes to add another goal to their total as Anthony Stewart found the back of the net at 3:42 while Thomas although he was being screened, I think he could have stopped this shot. The Bruins found themselves down by two goals and it really wasn't looking too promising. However, not even thirty seconds later at 4:07 Tyler Seguin puts one right over Ward's shoulder after assists from Adam McQuaid and Nathan Horton. Seguin scoring is a great sign for things to come for the Bruins this season.

Once the the Canes scored their 3rd goal it was over. The Bruins turned the puck over which led to Jiri Tlusty goal. It was a pretty bad turnover, Thomas didn't have a chance. The Bruins were very shaky to even get the 2 goals in the first place. Marchand scored the second goal for the Bruins and the second of his season, but it was too little too late.

They take on my boy Patrick Kane and Chicago next.

Bruins @ Hurricanes Preview (UPDATED)

With no basketball, and the Red Sox reports sounds more like something out of the Book of Revelation thank God we still have the Bruins and Patriots. As, I said before the Bruins will be without Krejci tonight, but I still think there is a good chance they win tonight.

The Bruins will be facing one very familiar player in Tomas Kaberle, as they got Corvo to replace him. Carolina has had a tough start to the year as they are 0-2-1. Not that the Bruins have had a great start with their 1-2 record.

With the Bruins it's all about energy. They didn't have any of it for the first 2 periods against the Avs, and it cost them the game. I think that changes tonight. Last year, the Bruins would have one slacker game, then come out and beat the bag out of someone. I think we see that tonight. Look for Lucic to come out and hit hard, and a little more of life in some of these players legs.

Bruins have won 11 of 13 against Carolina including 3 in a row at the RBC Center.

Bruins 5-1
Player of the Game: Lucic
Game starts at 7:30pm


***UPDATE***

Interest development for tonight's game...

"The Bruins received good news on the status of David Krejci, as coach Claude Julien said Wednesday in Carolina that the center did not suffer a knee injury, but rather a core injury. Krejci will not play Wednesday but is considered day-to-day (WEEI)."

We also learned that Tyler Seguin will become the team's first-line center. Now I am fucking pumped for this game.

David Krejci Could Be Out Awhile

Like Boston needed anymore piss poor news today we are getting word that David Krejci hurt his knee in practice the other day. He has been ruled out of tonight's game, and there are some reports that suggest that he could miss "a couple of weeks".

The first line for the Bruins (Krecji/Lucic/Horton) have been terrible so far this season, so a shake up was probably coming soon if they didn't get it going. This injury is going to force them to do it tonight. The question is how do the Bruins react to this. Do they move Bergeron and breakup their best line so far this season (Marchand/Bergeron/Peverley)? Do you entrust Tyler Seguin to play center on the top line?I think they will do neither. I think most likely Chris Kelly will play on that first line.

We'll update you when we hear more about Krejci's injury and timetable.

Just Win, Baby! Sports Chowdah Update- Raiders Owner Al Davis Deat at 81; No Frequent Flier Miles For Jets @ Foxboro; Avs Varlamov Stifles B's

NFL- Oakland Raiders owner and former AFL commissioner Al Davis passed away at the age of 82 on Saturday. Born in Brockton, MA and growing up in Brooklyn, Davis would graduate Syracuse and start his coaching career with Adelphi college and the US Army. In 1962, he was hired as the head coach for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League, leading them to their first ever winning season in 1963 with a record of 10-4.

Davis was also briefly the AFL commissioner in 1966 and was against the proposed merger of the AFL and NFL. After stepping down as commissioner a few months later, Davis would return to the Raiders and purchase a 10% stake in the organization, gradually increasing his holdings over the next few seasons until he head near-total control of the organization.

In 1982, he moved the Raiders from Oakland to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving the team back to Oakland in 1995 after a dispute with Los Angeles over expansion at the Coliseum. The city of Oakland spent nearly $200 million in refurbishing the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to accommodate the move.

The Raiders have seen only limited success since moving back to the Bay area, with their last playoff (and Super Bowl) appearance taking place in 2002 and a seemingly non-stop coaching carousel taking place each season.

While the team is expected to stay in Davis' family, there are rumors circulating that his heirs would be more receptive to a possible return to L.A.


PATRIOTS: Under Rex Ryan, there seems to be this pattern of the Jets talking all sorts of shit in the week leading up to a game against the Pats and then falling flat on their face. The New York tabloids and ESPN seem to love it, but the Patriots and their fans find it about as intimidating and endearing as a shrill, yippy little chihuahua circling and barking.



More often than not, I DO enjoy what comes afterwards. Of course, before the most recent Jets-Patriots game, its worth noting that the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins paid a visit to Gilette Stadium with the coveted trophy for a pregame ceremony (as well as the team posing with owner Robert Kraft and the three Vince Lombardi trophies as well as Lord Stanley's Cup).

Once it got underway, Sunday afternoon's game saw the New York Jets put up only 255 yards against the New England defense and Tom Brady going 24 for 33 with 321 yards and a TD as well as a pick. Antonio Cromartie ran back the Brady INT for about 40 yards to finish up the first half of the game. New England headed in with a 10-7 lead (they were poised for more until Cromartie's pick) and after getting a TD on their opening drive of the 2nd half, the Pats made it a 17-7 game, but the Jets came right back and made it a 17-14 game after Mark Sanchez completed to WR Jeremy Kerley.

However, that would be as close as the Jets would get as a 4 minute Patriots drive taht started on their own 23 was capped by a short Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis TD run late in the 3rd. The law offices of Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis had 27 rushes for 136 yards and 2 TDs while the team donned the old-school red jerseys and Patriot Pat helmets.

No Vince Wilfork INTs run back this week, but we're not even halfway through the season and considering he already has two more than his career total so far, it's probably best if the big guy paces himself.

Next week will see the 2-2 Dallas Cowboys in Foxboro with a 4:15 ET kickoff. The Cowboys are coming off their bye week and this weekend's game will be televised on FOX.

OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS: Make way for another Gronkowski! The Patriots signed TE Rob Gronkowski's older brother Dan to play tight end. Dan saw action in 12 games last season with the Denver Broncos.

MLB: The two NLDS game Fives were decided by a pretty close margin heading into last weekend. In Milwaukee, Brewers OF Nyjer Morgan's 10th inning walkoff RBI single sent the Diamondbacks packing while in Philadelphia, Chris Carpenter sent the National League team with the best record home thanks to a complete game 3-hit shutout of Philadelphia, setting up an all-midwest NLCS.

The Brewers came from behind to win Game 1 on Sunday, winning by a 9-6 final after a huge 6-run 5th inning. However, Monday night's game was all St. Louis with the Cards winning by a lopsided 12-3 final.

Game 3 is set to take place on Wednesday in St. Louis with a first pitch at 8:05 ET on TBS. The Cards' Chris Carpenter is set to go up against the Brew Crew's Yovani Gallardo.

Over in the ALCS, the Texas Rangers seemed to have little trouble handling the Detroit Tigers in Arlington. Game 1 was pretty close, with Detroit clawing their way back prior to a rain delay with the bases loaded, but the Rangers were able to get out of the jam and hang on to win by a 3-2 final.

The series headed to Detroit with the Tigers down 0-2, losing in dramatic fashion thanks to a Nelson Cruz walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 11th- the first ever walkoff grand slam in postseason history.

However, the home cookin' at Comerica park seemed to be working for the Tigers on Tuesday night. In his first start since sending the Yankees packing in Game 5 of the ALDS in the Bronx, Tigers starter Doug Fister would go 7 ⅓ innings, giving up 7 hits and two earned runs. Victor Martinez would get the scoring started for Detroit with a solo homer to tie the game at 1-1 before Miguel Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta and Austin Jackson would go on to give Fister additional run support in the Tigers 5-2 win on Tuesday night.

Texas still leads the ALCS two games to one, with game 4 set to get underway at 4:19 PM ET. Rick Porcello is slated to start against the Ranger's Matt Harrison with the game to be televised on FOX TV.

RED SOX: Less than two weeks after the departure of manager Terry Francona, the Associated Press is reporting that Red Sox GM Theo Epstein will be leaving Boston to become President of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs in the next 48 hours.


NHL: After winning their first game of the season against Tampa Bay over the weekend, the Bruins gave Tim Thomas the day off as the defending Stanley Cup champions hosted the Colorado Avalanche.

Tukka Rask showed little signs of rust from the offseason in Monday afternoon's game, but Milan Hejduk buried one past Rask in the 3rd to give Colorado a 1-0 lead while Avs netminder Seymon Varlamov stopped all 30 shots he faced to preserve the lead and the Avalanche win.

The Bruins will hit the road on Wednesday to take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The game will be televised on Versus and gets underway at 7:30 PM ET. The Bruins will reportedly be playing without C David Krejci, who injured his leg in practise on Tuesday afternoon.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: The team announced on Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with C Rich Peverly on a 3 year extension of his contract. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.



ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: After a 15 year hiatus, NHL hockey has returned to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The new-look Jets started off their 2011-2012 season at Winnipeg's MTS Centre on Sunday with a 'sloppy' 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The former Atlanta Thrashers are idle until Thursday when they travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks.

NBA: In the midst of a protracted labor dispute between players and owners, League Commissioner David Stern has cancelled all preseason games and the first two weeks of the regular season.

The impasse is prompting a number or players to entertain offers from overseas clubs, the most notable of which is reportedly the owner of Italian club Virtus Bologna aggressivley looking to sign NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Manu Ginobli.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Looks like my dire-but-realistic predictions regarding Boston College and UConn's respective games against to 25 opponents came true over the weekend. The BC Eagles managed to avoid a shutout, but were downed by the Clemson Tigers by a 36-14 final while in Morgantown, WV, the Mountaineers downed UConn by a 43-16 final on Saturday.

The 2-4 Huskies will next host the University of South Florida on Saturday afternoon at East Hartford while Boston College (mercifully) has a bye this weekend, but will resume in Blackburg against #19 Virginia Tech (currently 5-1) on October 22nd. Between now and then, the Hokies have a game against the 4-1 Wake Forest Demon Deacons, who are undefeated (3-0) against ACC opponents this season.

NCAA HOCKEY: Unlike the struggling football team, the Boston College men's hockey team is off to a promising start after the previous weekend's Break the Ice tournament in Grand Forks, ND. The BC Eagles notched a 5-2 win over the Michigan State Spartans and capped the tournament with a 6-2 win over #3 North Dakota.

On Friday, the BC Eagles will host Denver before travelling to the Granite State to take on the UNH Wildcats on Saturday.

Bruins Give Peverley 3 Year Deal (UPDATED)

The Bruins announced Tuesday morning that they have signed forward Rich Peverley to a three-year contract extension. Peverley was among the Bruins set to become free agents following the season.

Peverley might be my favorite player on the Bruins (him and Seguin). He is a high energy guy, who never seems to take a shift off. I love that he goes right for the net. He has never had more then 22 goals in a season, but I actually think with the line he is on (Marchand, Bergeron) I think he could top that. I am not saying he will ever be a 30+ goal scorer, but he could score around 25 goals.

There is no word how how much the deal is for, so it's kind of hard to judge, but there is no argument that he has been on the Bruins best line through 3 games and I don't think that's a fluke.

***UPDATE***

TSN is reporting the deal carries an annual cap hit of $3.25 million

Avalanche 1, Bruins 0

Uninspired. That's a good word to describe the Bruins' effort Monday afternoon. A few players played hard, Tuukka Rask played well, the Bruins just didn't seem to want to win as much as the Avalanche.

Give some credit to Semyon Varlamov (Voldemort), who made a few big stops. But the word "few" is the key part of that sentence. Only 30 shots on goal, 18 in the first two periods. Few of these shots were very good. The Bruins would enter the zone, shoot from 30 feet out, before anyone was in position to capitalize on a rebound, and Colorado would recover the puck. But Varlamov did have some outstanding stops.

The first line hasn't been productive. I think part of the problem is a rusty Nathan Horton. He was slightly off-balance for a scoring chance against Philly, and he was off balance in that 2-on-1 with Lucic. Varlamov didn't have to respect Horton's ability to shoot because Horton was too extended to shoot.

I wouldn't mind seeing Marchand or Seguin on the top line. I'd rather keep Marchand with Bergeron and Peverley. But until Horton gets his legs back, why not utilize a strong-skating Seguin on the most talented line?

A road trip isn't a bad thing at this point. Bruins are in Raleigh to play the Hurricanes on Wednesday, then Chicago on Saturday. A few days away from Boston might allow this team to focus and work.

-The Commodore