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.

Post Armegeddon Sports Chowdah Update- Cubs Wrap Up 1st Visit to Fenway in 93 Years With Rude A-Wake-ening; Light Strikes Fast, Often

MLB: Doomsday predictions come and go, but the Chicago Cubs coming to Fenway Park? That's a once-in-a-century event!

On Friday night, Game 1 handily went to the Red Sox by a 15-5 final. Saturday was the Cubs turn to bat around, putting up 8 unanswered runs in the top of the 8th in their 8-3 win. Armegeddon notwithstanding, that left Sunday night (complete with a pregame ceremony honoring New England servicemen and women) as the rubber game.


The venerable Tim Wakefield got the start and went 6 and ⅔ strong innings, allowing one run on just four hits while getting run support in the form of a pair of sacrafice flies in the bottom of the 4th and a solo homer by Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the bottom of the 5th, all off of Cubs starter James Russell. The Red Sox would then get some insurance in the form of a 2-out, 2-RBI Kevin Youkilis triple that plated Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez in the bootom of the 7th. Papelbon would close out the Red Sox 5-1 win in the top of the 9th and the Red Sox win the first meeting between the two clubs since 2005 (and 1st at Fenway since the 1918 World Series).

The Red Sox will next travel to Jacobs Field on Monday to take on AL-Central leading Cleveland Indians where Clay Buchholz (4-3; 3.42 ERA) will get the start against the Tribe's Justin Masterson (5-2; 2.52 ERA). The game will be televised on ESPN2 with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 ET.


NHL: Two days after shutting out the Tampa Bay Lightning on the road, the Boston Bruins found themselves out to an early 3-0 lead but unable to hold off a frenetic Tampa Bay rally.

Patrice Bergeron would get two goals (one unassisted, one shorthanded) in the first along with a Micheal Ryder tally to get out to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period (Dwayne Roloson was yanked for Mike Smith between the pipes for Tampa) but that would be it as the Lightning got on the board with a pair of Teddy Purcell goals a little over a minute apart about 7 minutes into the 2nd. Sean Bergenheim would get the game-tying goal just before the 11 minute mark and the 3rd period would close out tied at 3-3.

The Lightning would then take the lead in the 3rd on a Simon Gagne goal, also about 7 minutes in. The game would then be iced for Tampa on a Martin St Louis empty-netter to make it a 5-3 final for the Lightning.

The series heads back to Boston with things knotted up at 2-2. The puck will drop at 8:00 ET and the game will be televised on VS and the CBC

TGIF Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Tiger By the Tail, Sox Sweep 2-Game Series, Await Cubs; Thomas Shuts Out Lightning

Last night was one of those nights where I consider myself fortunate to be a Boston fan, where I had to choose between the Bruins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals or the Beckett-Verlander matchup at Fenway. For those of you wondering, I ended up flipping between both.



NHL: After scoring 10 goals in the last 2 games, it only seemed like a matter of time before the Tampa Bay Lightning would manage to find their way to the back of the net during Thursday night's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. However, this would be a little different as it was Boston's turn to score first, getting out to the early 1-0 lead on a David Krejci goal one minute and 10 seconds into the 1st period.

And surprisingly, that was all the scoring that would take place in Thursday night's game up until Andrew Ference gave the B's some insurance at about the 8 minute mark of the 3rd period to make it a 2-0 game.

That would be the final as Tim Thomas stopped all 31 shots he faced from the Lightning. Dwayne Roloson stopped 23 of 2 in the losing effort on Thursday.

Patrice Bergeron returned to the lineup, getting just under 20 minutes of playing time on Thursday night while Tyler Seguin had about 13 minutes total.

Game 4 will get underway at 1:30 ET on Saturday afternoon at Tampa Bay and will be broadcast on NBC.

MLB: OK.....So Carl Craword is barely hitting over .200. But let is not be said that he has a flair for the dramatic.

With the matchup of Beckett and Verlander, you'd think that Thurday night's game would be the one with the 1-0 final. However, Beckett would give up a run in the top of the 2nd on an Andy Dirks RBI single and have to work out of a bases loaded jam before Boston managed to get a run of their own on a JD Drew sac fly to deep left that plated Youk in the bottom of the inning.

As the game progressed however, Justin Verlander would give up solo homers to JD Drew and David Ortiz to give the Sox a 3-1 advantage.

Beckett, however, was pulled in the 6th out of an abundance of caution on Terry Francona's part. Beckett had been compaining of neck pain earlier and with two starters already on the DL, the manager erred on the side of caution and went to the bullpen. Detroit got two back in the top of the 8th with solo homers from Brennan Boesch and Miguel bacrera to know things up at 3-3, but the Tigers were hving bullpen issues of their own when Detroit reliever Al Albuqueque loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th with nobody out. Although he got pinch-runner Jose Iglesis out at home on a Jed Lowrie fielder's choice, that still left the bases loaded for Carl Crawford, who managed to hit it over center-fielder Austin Jackson's head for the walk-off 4-3 win.

On Firday, the Red Sox will host the Cubs at Fenway for the first time since 1918 (throwback uniforms for Saturaday's game were revaled earlier today). Doug Davis (0-1; 1.80 ERA) is expected to get the start for the Cubbies while Jon Lester (5-1; 3.28 ERA) will go for the Sox.

OTHER SOX NEWS: With Lackey and Matsuzaka on the DL and Beckett leaving Thursday's game early, it was reported the Red Sox had agreed to terms on a minor league contract with righty Kevin Millwood who had opted out of an earlier minor league deal with the NY Yankees.

On Firday, it wsa confirmed that the Sox had acquired 25 year old lefty Franklin Morales (0-1; 3.86 ERA) from the Colorado Rockies for cash or a player to be named later. To make room for Morales in the bullpen, the Red Sox designated the struggling Hideki Okajima for assignement.

Weeknight Sports Chowdah Helping- 8 Is Enough For B's; Blocked Kicks Be-Devil #23 Arizona; Cubs Legend Santo Passes Away; Mind in the Qatar

NHL: He's baaaaaack!

A day after blanking the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 on the road, the Bruins returned to the TD Banknorth Garden to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. And on Thursday night, they had Marc Savard back in the lineup for the first time in 23 games.

But Savard's return was almost an afterthought as the Bruins simply demolished the Lightning by an 8-1 final. Lightning netminder Mike Smith was pulled after allowing five goals on 21 shots faced and replaced with Dan Ellis- who allowed 3 goals in 10 shots faced.

Victor Headman got the only goal of the night from Tampa and Tampa's Steven Stamkos- tied with Sidney Crosby for the most NHL goals- was scoreless in his 4th straight game.

David Krejci opened the scoring at about the 11 minute mark of the first and had two goals and an assist on the night. Perhaps surprisingly given the high score, there were no hat tricks on the night. Dennis Seidenberg, Milan Lucic, Shawn Thornton, Blake Wheeler, Mark Recchi and Michael Ryder also had goals in Thursday night's rout. Tim Thomas even notched an assist while turning away 37 of the 38 shots he faced.

The Bruins will head north next to take on the last-place Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

OTHER NHL NEWS: Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano is reportedly in talks with Pennsylvania businessman Terry Pegula regarding the sale of the team. Golisano founded payroll processing company Paychex [NASDAQ: PAYX] in the early 1970s and acquired the Sabres in 2003. In May of 2009, Golisano announced that he would be moving to Florida to escape New York's high taxes.

NFL: Love or hate him, the revival of Michael Vick's NFL career continued on Thursday night's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans.

Vick went 22 for 33 in passing with two TD's, along with a rushing TD and another 40 yards rushing in Philly's 34-24 home win over the Houston Texans. Although they trailed at halftime by a 20-10 margin, the Texans would pick up some momentum and take a 24-20 lead in the 4th before Vick rushed for one TD and found Owen Schmitt for an insurance TD with just over 4 minutes left in the 4th.

The win gives the Eagles an 8-4 record and puts Philly in sole possession of 1st place in the NFC East at the moment.

NCAA FOOTBALL: I did manage to tune in for this one, believe it or not. Although leading for awhile, the Arizona State Sun Devils were kept out of the end zone until well into the 4th quarter.

After taking a 6-0 lead into halftime, the Sun Devils trailed on the Arizona Wildcats first touchdown of the game and the 3rd quarter would close out with Arizona up 14-6 although the Sun Devils would cap off another drive with a FG to open up the 4th. Taking advantage of a Wildcats turnover mid field, the Sun Devils marched down the shortened field on a five and a half minute drive for their first TD of the game- and a successful 2 point conversion made it a 17-14 Sun Devils lead.

With 7 minutes left in the 4th, the Wildcats would turn it over again, this time failing to convert on a 4th and 1 at their own 29 yard line. However, they did manage to keep the Sun Devils out of the end zone. Arizona State had to settle for yet another Thomas Weber FG to put them up 20-14. The Wildcats would get the ball back with just under 3 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter and start off in good field position thanks to a 43 yard return from Travis Cobb. Arizona QB Nick Foles would then make a series of quick passes for gains of anywhere from five to 15 yards before scoring the game-tying TD with 33 seconds remaining in regulation, but Wildcats kicker Alex Zendejas missed the point after attempt, leaving the game tied at 20-20 and forcing overtime.

For the first overtime, the Wildcats and Sun Devils would trade field goals. Arizona State would lead off the 2nd OT with only their 2nd touchdown of the night, and while the Wildcats would respond in kind, Zendejas would miss the point after attempt for the 2nd time. Sun Devils win in double OT by the final of 30-29 and Airzona State is now bowl-eligible.

All in all, not bad for a Thursday night game. Slow start, but very interesting 4th quarter that I was able to catch thanks in large part to XM radio and ESPN3.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: The first official Bowl matchup of the 2010-2011 Bowl season has been announced, with the Navy Midshipmen taking on the San Diego State University Aztecs in the 2010 Poinsettia Bowl on December 23rd 2010. Since Qualcomm stadium is not even a few miles from the SDSU Campus and there are several Naval bases in and around the city of San Diego, this would almost be like having TWO home teams going head-to-head.

NBA: Ray Allen went 1-6 from 3 point territory on Wednesday night, but nailed one with 10 seconds left in regulation as the Celtics nearly squandered a 96-80 lead in the 4th quarter against the Trailblazers and hung on to win 99-95. Basically, that was a third of Allen's scoring on the night, since he went 3-12 and was held to just 9 points- still, timing is everything.

Paul Pierce led the scoring on the night with 28 points- including going 4 for 5 from 3 point range- for Boston's 5th win in a row.

The C's will play host to the Chicago Bulls next on Friday night.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NBA: Well....so much for LeBron James' much ballyhooed return to Cleveland. The flagging Miami Heat rebounded big time in their stopover at Quicken Loans arena on Thursday night, with ex-Cav James getting 38 points on the night. This one wasn't even close, with the Heat running away with it by a final of 118-90.


MLB: WGN Radio in Chicago is reporting that former Cubs 3rd baseman and current broadcaster Ron Santo has passed away at the age of 70. Starting in 1960, Santo played 14 seasons in Chicago and had a career .277 batting average with 342 home runs.

He began his broadcast career with the Cubs in 1990 and was an unabashed homer who would draw a following because of his emotion and enthusiasm rather than a polished or matter-of-fact broadcast style. In 1971, Santo revaled that he suffered from type 1 diabetes and by 2002, he had to have both legs amputated

WORLD CUP SOCCER: The small Persian Gulf state of Qatar was announced as the surprise winner for hosting the 2022 World Cup Tournament by FIFA- the sport's governing body- beating out the USA, Japan, Australia and South Korea.

Qatar would be the first Muslim country to host a World Cup tournament and the tiny emirate has pledged to undertake around $50 billion in infrastructure improvements leading up to the tournament.

OK....a couple of things. What exactly are the laws in Qatar regarding alcohol consumption? Also- Do you see these young women?
Are they going to have to cover up in accordance with Islamic law in some countries? Because if so, FIFA might as well have just shot themselves in the foot (both feet if Qatar plans on being 'dry' through 2022). It literally has taken alluring and sultry Latinas to coax me to even feign an interest in soccer long enough to humor them, and if the female fans are now required by the host country to dress up like Bedouin tents, then what exactly is the point? If I were so inclined, I might as well take in a 2022 World Cup game in front a jumbo public TV screen in Buenos Aires, rubbing elbows with Porteñas clad in powder blue and white paint and not much else. And I suspect there will be more than a few actual fans of the game asking themselves the same question and coming to the same conclusion.

I know not every country in the Gulf reigon is as strict as Saudi Arabia, but this still begs the question regarding exactly how strict the rules are in Qatar.

[Hat tip to Marty McFly and Centaur of C2 for the updates of the Sabres and Ron Santo, respectively]