Down to the Wire Sports Chowdah- Lavranway or the Highway in Baltimore; Buffalo Shuffles Off to 3-0 Start After Upsetting Pats

RED SOX: After dropping two out of three at Yankee stadium (their sole win in that series being decided by a Jacoby Ellsbury 3-run homer in the 14th inning late Sunday night) the Red Sox headed headed down to Baltimore for the final series of the regular season. Only the way the Red Sox had been playing in September, it could very well end up being their season finale altogether. Monday night was pretty gruesome, with the Tampa Bay Rays closing the gap, the O's roughing up Beckett and Saltalamacchia leaving the game after taking a foul ball off the throat.

Tuesday night saw ex-O Eric Bedard get the start against his former team, only lasting 3 and ⅓ innings against a persistent Baltimore offense. However, the Red Sox were even rougher on O's starter Zach Britton. In the top of the 3rd, Jacoby Ellsbury let his bat do the arguing for him in the AL MVP discussion, belting a 2-run homer to take a 2-1 lead. However, in the top of the 5th, with Big Pappi and Adrian Gonzalez on base, Red Sox rookie catcher Ryan Lavarnway would increase the lead with a 3-run shot to make it 5-1 Boston- his first big league home run. As sizeable a lead as theat turned out to be, the Red Sox would need even more as Baltimore would counter with a 2 run homer off the bat of catcher Matt Wieters to make it a 2-run game.

In the top of the 6th, Carl Crawford's 1-out triple was followed by a homer off the bat of Marco Scutaro to increase the lead to 7-3 in favor of Boston. Baltimore would respond with a solo homer off the bat of Adam Jones in the bottom of the 6th to make it 7-4.

Leading off the 8th, Lavarnway would double his career homerun total with a solo shot to make it 8-4. After 3 and ⅔ innings, Alfredo Aceves was replaced by Daniel Bard on the mound to face Baltimore. The O's managed to get two runs with two away in the bottom of the 8th to once again make it a two-run game with Boston now leading 8-6.

Things would get even more tense in the bottom of the 9th when Papelbon came on to close out the game and gave up a single to JJ Hardy. Hardy would make his way to 2nd on a Markakis groundout and then to 3rd on a Vlad Guerrero single, reaching home on a Matt Weiters bunt that Lavarnway threw to 1st for the out. Papelbon would then get JJ Hardy to ground out to end the ballgame by the final of 8-7.

It was a win they would need, too, as the Tampa Bay Rays managed to hold off a late rally by the Yankees to preserve the tie for the AL Wild Card (the Angels were eliminated from contention on Monday night).

Wednesday's game- the final of the regular season- will have Jon Lester (15-9; 3.49 ERA) going up against Alfredo Simon (4-9; 4.85 ERA). The Red Sox need a win to at least force a 1-game playoff with the Rays on Thursday- Tampa is going up against a Yankees team that's already clinched the AL East and aside from determining who makes the playoff roster doesn't have alot to play for.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: According to gossip site TMZ.com, Red Sox starter John Lackey and his wife are filing for divorce. Court papers were reportedly filed in Texas last month citing 'conflict of personalities'.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Over in the National League, the Wild Card there hasn't been determined either. The St Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves are deadlocked for the NL Wild Card with one game remaining for each team (Atlanta has the Phillies while St Louis has the Astros). If the deadlock in the standings remains unbroken by tomorrow night, then there will be a 1-game playoff in St. Louis on Thursday night.

Reportedly, if a one game playoff is required for the AL or NL Wild card, the game will be televised on TBS. First pitch would be 4:07 PM ET in Tampa for the Red Sox and Rays and 8:07 PM ET in St. Louis for Braves/Cardinals.

WHITE SOX: White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen was released from his duties by the White Sox this week. There had been speculation that Guillen wasnt long for the organization as well as rumors that he was interested in becoming the manager of the Florida Marlins. This seemed to be confirmed by Guillen himself via twitter as he informed followers about his arrival in Miami.


NFL: For the first time since 2003, the Buffalo Bills have managed to defeat the New England Patriots. Although the Patriots managed to get out to a 21-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter, the Bills managed to whittle that down to 21-10 by halftime. Buffalo would come back to tie the game at 24-24 early in the 4th before taking the lead when CB Drayton Florence ran back a Brady INT for a quick 6 on New Engalnd's following possession.

The Patriots would then take nearly 7 minutes to march down the field, tying the game up on a 6 yard pass from Brady to Welker on 4th and goal with 3:25 left in the 4th. However, that would be enough time for Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to engineer an 80-yard drive that sputtered at the one, but all that was needed was a chip shot FG from Bills kicker Rian Lindell as time expired to give Buffalo the 34-31 win.

So heading into week 4, Buffalo stands alone atop the AFC East (Sunday's meeting was the Bills 1st matchup of the season against an division opponent). As a measure of consolation, the Jets would go on to lose against the Oakland Raiders that afternoon as well.

Speaking of Oakland, the Patriots will travel to the East Bay to take on the Raiders this Sunday. The game will be televised on CBS and kicks off at 4:15 PM ET, 1:15 PM PT.

NBA: With players not reporting to training camp at the usual time due to the lockout, the NBA has postponed training camp indefinitely and cancelled 43 preseason games. Meetings between the league and player's association ended without a collective bargaining agreement last week, putting the preseason games and possibly the start of the regular season in doubt.

Salty Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Royal Pains in Midwest; Things Get Uggla; Pats Keelhaul Bucs; Some Goodwill, Danica Leaving IndyCar?

RED SOX: After finishing their road trip with a whimper by dropping 2 out of 3 games to the Mariners, the Red Sox travelled home for a quick 3-game series against Tampa Bay (again, dropping two out of three) before heading to the heartland for a 4-game series in Kansas City.



Not unlike his start against Seattle, game one got off to a little bit of a choppy start with Josh Beckett on the mound as he gave up a leadoff double in the top of the 1st to 3B Alex Gordon. Gordon was brought home thanks to a sac bunt that moved him to third and a Billy Butler sac-fly to put KC in front 1-0.



The Sox got the equalizer in the top of the 2nd when Jason Varitek drove home Josh Reddick with an RBI single, although he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. The Red Sox then took the lead on a 2-RBI single from Dustin Pedroia in the 3rd before KC got it right back with a 2-run Alex Gordon homer in the bottom half of the inning. Pedroia would come to bat with Ellsbury on 2nd and two away in the top of the 5th and get what would be the game winning RBI with a single (that like Varitek, he was thrown out trying to stretch into a double).



Daniel Bard would come on in the 8th and Papelbon would close out the game in the 9th to preserve the 4-3 Boston lead. The 7 innings thrown by Beckett puts him at 10-5 while Papelbon's save was his 29th of the season.



On Friday night, KC got out to the early 1-0 lead on an RBI sac fly hit by Alex Gordon off of Andrew Miller, but that's all Miller and the bullpen would allow as they managed to tie the game up on a Darnell McDonald RBI triple before taking the lead on a Jacoby Ellsbury sac fly in the top of the 4th.



In the top of the 5th and with two out and two away, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia belted a 3-run homer to give the Red Sox plenty of insurance at 5-1. The Sox would get two more to make it a 7-1 final. Miller gets the win after giving up a run and 3 hits in 5 and ⅓ innings of work while Alfredo Aceves worked 3 and ⅔ scoreless innings allowing one hit and striking out 3 to preserve the 7-1 lead.



Boston takes the first two in KC, setting up a matchup tomorrow between Tim Wakefield (6-5; 4.90 ERA) who has gone winless in his last four starts and Kansas City's Felipe Paulino (1-9; 4.30 ERA).



OTHER SOX NEWS:: David Ortiz is expected to miss up to a week with bursitis in his right heel. He was scratched from the lineup right before the start of the day/night doubleheader with Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Ryan Lavarnaway was called up from Pawtucket and replaced Big Papi in the lineup on Thursday night's game at DH, going 0-4.



Kevin Youkilis was placed on the DL this week as well with back problems and is also expected to miss a week.







ELSEWHERE IN MLB- MINNESOTA: On Monday night's game against Detroit in Comerica park, Minnesota slugger Jim Thome managed to belt career home runs #599 and #600 as the Twins out dueled the Tigers by a 9-6 final. On the landmark knight for the veteran slugger, Thome went 3-4 with 5 RBI, accounting for most of the Twin's offensive output that evening.



Thome's 3-run shot off of Daniel Schelerth in the top of the 7th made him the 8th major leaguer to enter the 600 Home Run club.



ATLANTA: Braves 2B Dan Uggla's hitting streak stopped at 33 games over the weekend. The Chicago Cunbs kept the red hot Uggla hitless for the first time in a month. Uggla's hit streak in July/August stopped just shy of the 1949 hit streak mark set by Red Sox outfielder Dom DiMaggio (or more recently, Benito Santiago's 34-game hit streak with the San Diego Padres in 1987). Uggla's hit streak now stand as the longest in Braves history, surpassing outfielder Rico Carty's 31-game hit streak in 1970.



CHICAGO CUBS: Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano (9-7; 4.82 ERA) abruptly announced his retirement after getting shelled by the Braves a week ago. Zambrano didn't even last 5 innings and gave up 8 earned runs as well as a career worst 5 homers. Zambrano was ejected after throwing inside on consecutive pitches to Atlanta 3B Chipper Jones.



Within days, the Cubs placed Zambrano on the disqualified list when it became clear he wasn't going to walk back his comments about retiring. The Players Association is protesting the actions the Cubs have taken against the hotheaded hurler in an effort to reduce any sanctions or fines that might be forthcoming.



After the Zambrano fiasco, the Cubs also announced that General manager Jim Hendry was terminated on Friday afternoon. Curiously, owner Tom Ricketts claimed he reached the decision on July 22 and told Hendry that day, but for whatever reason both parties didn't make any public announcement until nearly 3 weeks later- after the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline as well as the August 15 deadline to sign this year's draft picks.





NFL: QB Tom Brady went 11 for 19 including two TD passes in Thursday night's preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady worked for the first half and connected with TE Aaron Hernandez for a 16 yard TD pass and then WR Chad Ochocinco for TD pass #2. Ben Jarvus Green Ellis had two rushing TDs of his own, including one to close out the first half in New England's 31-14 preseason win over Tampa Bay.



The next preseason game for New England will be at Ford Field against the Detroit Tigers on Sat. Aug 27th. at 8PM ET.



NCAA FOOTBALL: One time Miami Hurricanes booster and convicted money launderer Nevin Shapiro made good on a jailhouse threat to disclose to the NCAA and the press improper benefits he gave to Hurricanes players while they were still with the university including cash, merchandise and parties on a yacht he owned that featured prostitutes.



Shapiro pleaded guilty to securities fraud and money laundering in September 2010 and was sentenced to a 20 year sentence in June. In a jailhouse interview, Shapiro detailed how he used funds from an ongoing Ponzi scheme going as far back as 2002 to finance donations to the University of Miami football and men's basketball programs in addition to giving out cash and favors to Hurricanes players.

The NCAA has notified University of Miami administrators that it's considering invoking a 'willful violators' clause to circumvent a 4 year statute of limitations on any investigation into the Miami athletic program. Traditionally, the NCAA’s bylaws would only allow it to sanction the Hurricanes for infractions that occurred during the four years prior to receiving a letter of inquiry from investigators. For example, if Miami received a letter of inquiry for a case on Sept. 1, 2011, the NCAA could only sanction the school for applicable violations dating back to Sept. 1, 2007. But the clause – reserved for “a pattern of willful violations” – can spin a probe back to the earliest applicable infractions.



Applied to the Shapiro allegations, it means the NCAA could reach as far back to early 2002, when the booster said he began funneling benefits to Hurricanes players. And if the probe stretched back to 2002, it would overlap with Miami’s two-year probationary period from the baseball program, which was leveled from February 2003 to February 2005. That could potentially tag the Hurricanes athletic program with a “repeat violator” label and make the school further susceptible to the NCAA’s so-called death penalty.

Only one Division one NCAA football program has been given the 'death penalty' before- the Southern Methodist University Mustangs in 1988. The NCAA banned the football team from taking the field in the 1987 season, and although away games were technically permitted the following season, SMU administrators decided it wasn't feasible to field a team for seven scheduled Away games that were already scheduled.



In 2003, the Miami Hurricanes baseball program was on probation from the NCAA for violations during the 1998-1999 seasons. If Shapiro's claims are true and the timeline match up, then he was funneling money to Miami players before the university even started probation.



NCAA HOOPS: Wow- if this is a 'Goodwill tour', I'd hate to see what the Georgetown Hoyas Malice Tour to China would look like.



The video above is from an altercation on Friday in Beijing between the Hoyas basketball team and the Shanghai Bayi Rockets- a squad that reportedly has ties to China's People's Liberation Army. The bench-clearing brawl erupted with less than 10 minutes to go in the game and the crowd threw plastic water bottles at the Hoyas as they left the court.







MOTORSPORTS: ESPN is reporting that Indy Car driver Danica Patrick is expected to announce a full-time move to NASCAR beginning next season. While the full details and terms of her contract have yet to be finalized, Patrick is expected to race primarily in the Nationwide series (something she's already appeared in) and make appearences in select Sprint Cup races.

Week Off Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Split Czech; Braves Chopped Out of Playoff Picture; Pats Family Tree Gets Familiar Branch

NHL: The puck dropped on the 2010-2011 Bruins regular season in Prague this weekend with a two game series against the Phoenix Coyotes. After losing the opener by a 5-2 margin, Tim Thomas made an impressive regular season debut and 2010 first round draft pick Tyler Seguin scored his first NHL goal on Sunday's game in the Czech capital. Thomas stopped all 29 shots he faced while Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton got the Bruins out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd period before Seguin's goal sealed the 3-0 win over Phoenix.

Boston's next game isn't until Saturday where the NJ Devils will host them at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

MLB: And then there was one......well one division series remaining. After the Yankees finished off a sweep of the Twins on Saturday while the Reds were eliminated by the Phillies Sunday night. The Braves managed to stay alive in the NLDS matchup with the Giants and the series headed to Atlanta with the series tied 1-1 after Rick Ankiel splashed a solo homer into McCovey cove in the 11th inning to cap off the Braves Friday night win.

However, the Giants were able to take advantage of Atlanta miscues as the series went back to Turner Field tied 1-1. Perhaps most the most agonizing for moments for Braves faithful came after an Erick Hinske pinch-hit 2-run homer briefly put the Beaves up 2-1. In the top of the 9th, Aubrey Huff drove on, bringing home Travis Ishikawa to tie the contest up at 2-2. Giants Catcher Buster Posey scalded what looked like sharply hit groundout to 2nd base to end the inning, but in a moment eerily reminiscent of Bill Buckner, it went right under Brooks Conrad's glove and into center field to put the Giants up for good 3-2.

Monday night's game at Turner Field turned out to be Bobby Cox's last as Braves manager, as the Giants held on to a 1-run lead even when Giant's closer Brian Wilson allowed back-to-back walks to Rick Ankiel and Erick Hinske with one away. The Londonderry, NH born pitcher then managed to get Melky Cabrera to ground out into a double-play. San Francisco wins the Division series 3 games to 1 and Game 4 by a final score of 3-2.

ELSEWHERE: Game 5 of the ALCS Between the Rangers and Rays is set to take place tonight in Tampa/St. Pete at 8PM ET. The series is tied at 2 games each and Cliff Lee is expected to get the start against David Price. Curiously, the home team has yet to win in this series.

NFL: For those of us wondering 'Who's Brady gonna throw to now that Moss is gone?', wonder no more as the Patriots announced that they reacquired WR Deion Branch from the Seattle Seahawks last night (See!? Pats news even during the bye week!). The Seahwaks will get a future draft pick from New England in exchange for Branch and acquired a WR from another AFC East team, Marshawn Lynch, last week. Superbowl XXXVIII MVP Branch reportedly practised with New England on Tuesday. New England takes on the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday.

Oh yes....there was some sort of Monday night contest involving Randy Moss and the NY Jets on the air, too. Man....I tuned in for that right after the Braves/Giants game....what a snooze-fest until the late 3rd quarter. Rain rain rain, Vikings 3 and out, rain rain rain Jet's field goal....lather, rinse, repeat....you get the idea. So fast forward to the third quarter where Brett Favre manages to get the Vikings on the board with a 3rd and 17 completion to Randy Moss for career TD #500 and became the first QB to eclipse the 70,000 yards mark....and parhaps more importantly make it an interesting game at 12-7. Brett Farve came up short [or insert your own Farve-centric joke- NANESB!] after a late interception sealed the win for the Jets, their 4th in a row, by a final of 29-20.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Boston College had their bye a few weeks ago, but they've been playing like they still have had every weekend off since then. This past weekend, it was a 44-17 loss to North Carolina state, which makes them 0-2 against ACC opponents. After averaging 10 points in their last three games, I'm not very optimistic about their chances against #16 Florida State at Talahassee on Saturday afternoon

To the South (or is it north, since both were away games?), UConn squandered a 24-17 halftime lead and were shut out by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights for the entire 2nd half to lose by a final of 27-24 on a Friday night game. The Huskies have a bye this weekend and will travel to Louisville on Oct. 23rd for another Big East matchup.

Scrappy Division 1AA UMass had the weekend off, but will be playing another FCS/Colonial Conference team that not only acquited itself against a FBS/Division 1A team (Virginia), but actually won- the Richmond Spiders. Since their close game against the Wolverines, the Minutemen have gone 2-0 and has an overall record of 4-1 (second only to 6-0 Delaware in the CAA).