Feisty Sports Chowdah Update For July 8th: Boston Pops- Sox Down Brawltimore in Fenway Slug-Fest; Sun Sets on Yao Ming Dynasty

RED SOX: After moving into sole possession of 1st place with a 10-4 win in the series opener Thursday night, the Red Sox took on the Baltimore Orioles for Game 2 of the 4-game weekend series.

Those of you who thought the fireworks were over and done with after the 4th of July were dead wrong. The Red Sox seemingly had this one put away early thanks to an 8-run offensive outburst in the bottom of the 1st.

But what had everybody talking about this blowout wasn't what happened in the bottom of the 1st as much as it was what happened in the bottom of the 8th. Baltimore starter Zach Britton was long gone and reliever Kevin Gregg was on the mound when he gave up a 1-out RBI triple to PawSox callup Josh Reddick to make it a 10-3 game.

Gregg then threw inside to David Ortiz with one away. Big Papi took exception and walked a few steps out towards the mound before the umpire warned both benches as they started to spill out onto the field. On the very next pitch, Papi flew out to center.

Gregg apparently shouted something to Ortiz and was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook. However, Big Papi either didn't know or didn't care as he charged in from the first base line and started swinging. Gregg stood his ground against the charging DH and swung back, although both big men largely missed their intended targets. First base coach DeMarlo Hale held Papi back while the benches emptied once again, with umpires and managers attempting to separate the players. Personally I hadn't seen anything that freaky since the Pedro Martinez-Don Zimmer battle royale in 2003....the fact that neither Gregg or Ortiz successfully landed a blow just made it even MORE bizzare.

So some 20 minutes later, everything was sorted out and Ortiz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia were tossed from the game along with Gregg and O's reliever Jim Johnson. The inning technically ended was Reddick was called out for abandoning 3rd base, but it took awhile to pull some of the players apart and sort through the ejections [didn't think the Bruins physical play would rub off on the Red Sox like that- NANESB!].

Boston wins by a final more reminiscent of a Ravens-Patriots score- 10-3. Beckett reportedly left Friday night's game with a hyperextended knee after pitching five complete innings and giving up 3 runs, walking two and striking out three.

Saturday's game will have the struggling John Lackey (5-8; 7.47 ERA) go up against the O's Alfredo Simon (1-1; 4.64 ERA) on Saturday night, 7:10 PM ET on NESN.

OTHER SOX NEWS: Another Red Sox player has been named to the 2011 All Star game in Phoenix. 3B Kevin Youkilis will replace the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez after A-Rod announced he would withdraw from the midsummer classic due to a right knee injury.

A-Rod won't be the only Yankee to pull out of the All Star game. Team captain and shortstop Derek Jeter- on the cusp of 3,000 career hits- announced Friday that he would not participate owing to a calf injury. Jeter will be replaced by Tiger's SS Jhony Peralta.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: A firefighter from Brown County, TX died in a tragic and bizarre accident at Rangers ballpark in Arlington, TX Thursday night. 39 year old Shannon Stone was at the park watching the Texas/Oakland with his 6 year old son Cooper. Outfielder Josh Hamilton fielded a foul ball when he spotted the father and son. Thinking they would appreciate a souvenir, Hamilton tossed the ball their direction, but while trying to catch it, Shannon lost his balance and fell 20 feet, landing on his head. The firefighter would later die from his injuries.

“Red flags go up in your mind because you take things for granted for so long because it doesn’t happen,” Hamilton said. “Then all of a sudden it happens and then you start thinking more about things. “You couldn’t help but think about it, You hope nothing like that happens again.”

Hamilton was back on the field for Friday night's game. The all-star outfielder, who became a born again Christian after a downward spiral of drug addiction and alcohol abuse early on in his career, said he plans on reaching out and contacting the family when they felt it would be appropriate.

The Rangers observes a moment of silence and wore uniforms adorned with a black ribbon as flags at the ballpark flew at half-staff Friday night. In the meantime, the Texas Rangers Community Foundation has set up a memorial fund in Shannon Stone's name.

NBA: Houston Rockets Cener Yao Ming has told team officials that he plans on retiring after several injury-plagued seasons in the NBA. Most recently, the Chinese star was sidelined with tendon problems last year. An uncertain labor outlook also probably provided Ming with disincentive to continue playing in the NBA.

Most Fowl Sports Chowdah Update- Ducks Covered; Seahawks Win in Seismic Upset; Eagles Lay an Egg; Penguins Sink Late

AP Photo

NCAA FOOTBALL: The BCS Championship game got underway at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ on Monday night with two undefeateds- #1 Auburn and #2 Oregon- going head to head. The Oregon Ducks had a 12-0 record for the regular season while the Tigers went 13-0 (they played South Carolina in the SEC Championship game last month whereas the Pac 10 has no Championship game)

After opening the game with offensive drives for each side ending in a turnover or simply sputtering out mid-filed, the first quarter went by with neither team scoring- although Oregon was inside the red zone and would have to settle for a FG to start off the 2nd period.

Auburn would take the lead on their next drive, when Heisman winner Cam Newton connected with WR Kodi Burns for a 35 yard TD play to make it a 7-3 game.

Oregon came right back when Ducks QB Darron Thomas connected with WR Jeff Maehl for an 81 yard yard gain to set Oregon up at the Auburn 12. Thomas then connected with RB LaMicheal James for an 8 yard TD run on 3rd and 6 and successfully completed a 2 point conversion to take an 11-7 lead.

Later on in the 2nd, Auburn would manage to pin the Ducks deep in their own territory after a kickoff, which led to LaMicheal James being tackled in his own end zone for a safety, cutting the Auburn deficit to 11-9. With less than two minutes to go until halftime, the Tigers would then go on to take the lead on a 30 yard completion to WR Emory Blake to make it a 16-11 Auburn lead.

Surprisingly, the only scoring in the 3rd quarter was a 28 yard Wes Byrum FG to extend Auburn's lead to 19-11. While Auburn seemingly dominated time of possession in the 2nd half, Oregon was able to put together a quick drive of just over 2 minutes (after getting good field position recovering an Auburn fumble) and score a TD on 2 yard play LaMichael James while Maehl managed to bring in the pass on the 2 point attempt to tie the game up at 19-19.

The game looked like it was heading for OT when Auburn got the ball back, but freshman Micheal Dyer turned what looked like a short pickup into a 37 yard gain after being tackled by an Oregon defender- but without his knees or elbows hitting the ground. The play happened right in front of the Tiger's bench and his teammates exhorted him to keep running. The play wasn't blown dead until after Dyer's scramble and a video review showed that he was not down by contact after the first hit. From the Oregon 17, Dyer got the ball again and rumbled down to the Oregon 1 yard line (the play was initially ruled a TD before a review showed him down at the 1) with 16 seconds left.

After an attempted rush by Cam Newton, the Tigers decided to play it safe and brought in Wes Byrum for a FG attempt from the 19 yard line with only 2 seconds left in regulation. Byrum's kick was good and the Auburn Tigers win the BCS championship on the final play of the game for a 22-19 final. This was a surprisingly low-scoring game given how potent both offenses were in the regular season.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: 'Now Fenway' I'm sure you're saying 'Enough about this silly BCS Championship game- what about the REAL important Bowl games? Like the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl?'

Actually, the Sunday Night Bowl game at San Francisco's AT&T Park would mark the first time the BC Eagles played a ranked opponent since week 6 when they went up against #16 Florida State......and lost by a 24-19 final.

Things got off to a pretty good start for the Eagles after they managed to stop the Wolfpack drive mid-field. Although they went 3 and out for their first offensive possession, they managed to force a fumble from Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick, which Eagle's RB Andre Williams ran back 30 yards for a TD to give the Eagles the early 7-0 lead.

However, Nevada would get the equalizer on the next posession and take a 14-7 lead on a 72 yard punt return with three minutes to go in the first. The only scoring in the 2nd quarter was a 32 yard Andy Martinez FG to put Nevada up 17-7 heading into halftime.

The second half would turn out to be nothing but duelling FG's, with BC's defense successfully keeping the Wolfpack out of the end zone, but their own offense really unable to get it going. This included another Wolfpack interception- this time BC Linebacker Luke Kuechly returned 31 yards to the Nevada 6 yard line. However, Boston College was unable to find the end zone from there and had to settle for a FG to make it 17-10.

Nevada would get another FG from Martinez to extended their lead to 20-10. With 5 minutes left in regulation, BC would get the ball back on their own 34 yard line and march down the Nevada 18 before attempting another FG to make it a 13-20. After forcing the Wolfpack to go 3 and out on the next possession, Eagles QB Chase Rettig would be picked off at mid-field to put the game away for Nevada.

The Wolfpack win by the final of 20-13, and Boston College's defense did well just to keep it a one-score game for most of the second half. In all honesty, the only time I was optimistic about BC getting points on the board was when Nevada had the ball.

The loss marks Boston College's 3rd straight bowl loss (and 2nd straight in San Francisco).

OTHER NCAA FINALS:
Jan 6th- GoDaddy.com Bowl:
Middle Tennessee 21- Miami (Ohio) 35

Jan 7th- Cotton Bowl:
LSU 41- Texas A&M 24

Jan 8th- BBVA Compass Bowl:
Pittsburgh 27- Kentucky 10

NFL: Boy- that Micheal Vick really screwed the pooch, huh? I bet that last pass will dog him all offseason!

Wild card weekend was marked by a slate of games that actually turned out to be pretty good, the last of which featured the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Green Bay Packers.

Remember how well the Packers played New England without Aaron Rodgers? It should probably come as no surprise that they got out to the early lead at Lincoln Financial Field and held on to that for most of the game- taking a 21-20 lead into the 4th quarter. However, Micheal Vick was able to rally the Eagles offense and made it a 16-21 game with just over 4 minutes to go in the game. Aaron Rodgers was sacked on 3rd down during the next Green Bay possession, forcing the Pack to punt.

Eagles QB Micheal Vick then marched the Eagles down as far as the Packers 27 yard line before he threw the game and season-ending interception to seal the game by a final of 21-16.



ELSEWHERE ON WILD CARD WEEKEND: As surprising as the Philly's early exit from the postseason may be, the biggest stunner of the weekend came early.

In a literally seismic upset, the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints on Saturday afternoon at the Emerald City's notoriously loud Qwest Field. The Seahawks headed into the 4th quarter with a 14 point lead, but the Saints almost immediately started eating into it with a Juluis Jones TD pass to make it a 27-34 game. New Orleans' Garrett Hartley would then boot a FG on the Saints next possession to narrow the deficit to 34-30 with the Seahawks still clinging to the lead.

With 4 minutes 20 seconds to go in regulation and both offenses seemingly running out of momentum, the Seahawks would've been satisfied just to keep the drive going long enough to bleed out the clock. Of course, Buffalo Bills cast-aside Marshawn Lynch finding a hole and rushing 67 yards for a Seahawks TD doesn't hurt, either. That made it a 41-30 game, giving the Seahawks insurance for when the Saints came right back and scored a TD 36-41 (the 2 point attempt failed). However, the Seahawks would recover the onside kick and the Hawks took a knee, ending the defending Super Bowl champions bid to repeat one game in.

Many observers also noted that Saturday's game at Qwest field was likely Matt Hasselbeck's last home game as the Seahawks QB. Hasselbeck went 22-35, with 272 yards, 4 TDs and a lone interception on Saturday.

AFC: Well now....looks like it's going to be a pair of divisional rematches on the AFC side.

On Saturday night, the defending AFC champions were bounced out of the playoffs early at their home field by the New York Jets. Trailing the Colts 10-7 heading into the 4th, the Jets took the lead on a short LaDanian Thomlinson TD run to go on top 14-10. Indy would take a one point lead thanks to two Adam Vinatieri FG's (one from the 32 and 50 yard line), making it a 16-14 game.

However, the Jets had a kicking game left that compensated for what it lacked in distance with timing. Impeccable timing at that. Jets kicker Nick Folk nailed a 32 point FG as time expired for a 17-14 Jets win, meaning the Jets will travel to Foxboro to take on a well-rested Patriots next weekend.

The Baltimore/Kansas City game was kind of a one-sided beatdown, with the Ravens coming away from that one with a 30-7 win over the Chiefs.

So this upcoming slate of NFL games will look something like this:

Saturday- 1/15:
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh, 4:30 PM ET/1:30PT
Green Bay @ Atlanta, 8PM ET/5PT

Sunday- 1/16:
Seattle @ Chicago, 1PM ET/ 10 AM PT
Ny Jets @ New England, 4:30 PM ET/ 1:30 PT

NHL: Ever get that feeling of Deja Vu? Like when the Pittsburgh Penguins take a seemingly insurmountable lead against Boston into the 3rd period and manage to choke that away? I've been known to get that feeling once in awhile myself.

Last night was no different when the B's fell into the 2-0 hole in the 2nd after Tukka Rask gave up goals from Micheal Rupp and Kris Letang.

But while others were watching the BCS game on Monday night (namely me) the Bruins mounted a furious comeback in which they scored 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd period- a power play goal from Zdeno Chara, followe 12 seconds later by the game-tying goal from Brad Marchand. The tie-breaker came with just over a minute left in regulation- a power play goal off the stick of Mark Recchi and Greg Campbell added some insurance with an empty netter as the final 10 seconds of regulation were ticking away.

Monday night's win snaps a 2-game losing streak in which the B's lost to Minnesota on Thrusday and at Montreal in OT over the weekend.

The Bruins will next take on the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night at the Garden and will face the Flyers on Thursday evening.

NBA: No come from behind win for the C's on Monday night as they lost to the Houston Rockets by a 108-102 final on Monday Night. This is their 2nd loss in a row after a weekend 79-90 loss to the Chicago Bulls. The C's next game will be on Wednesday night against the Sacramento Kings and will head into the weekend with a home game against the Charlotte Bobcats.

MLB: The Red Sox and Hideki Okajima have agreed to a one year $1.75 contract, returning to Boston for a fifth straight season. Although he struggled for much of the 2010 season, Oki had a 1.30 ERA in 13 innings of work in his final 15 appearences.