Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- B's Beat Senators By a Landslide; McCourt-ing Disaster? LA Dodgers Up For Sale

NHL: Despite an awful October and falling behind early to the white-hot Senators early, the Boston Bruins were able to rally and snap Ottawa's 6-game win streak on Tuesday night at the Garden.

Nick Foligno got the Sens on the board about 5 minutes into the 1st before Milan Lucic evened things up for Boston with a power play goal two minutes later. However, about 15 seconds later, a shot from Ottawa's Stephane DeCosta found its way past Thomas and into the back of the net to give the Sens the 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

The Bruins would go on to tie up the contest at 2-2 when Patrice Bergeron beat Sens netminder Craig Angerson just over 4 minutes into the 2nd period before taking a 3-2 lead with 2 minutes remaining in the 2nd on a Chris Kelly even strength tally.

Ottawa would knot things up at 3-3 however thanks to Jared Cowan's goal 5 minutes into the 3rd before the B's would take the lead (for good) on a Johnny Boychuk tally about 90 seconds later. From there, the Bruins would get some insurance in the form of a Danny Paille tally 7:18 into the 3rd.

So the Bruins turn the page on a crappy October by stopping the streaking Sens with a 5-3 final at the Garden on Tuesday. The B's actually outshot the Sens by a 41-26 margin, with Thomas turning aside 23 of the shots he faced. Boston also was able to convert one of their five power play opportunities while the Sens were held scoreless with the extra attacker on the ice.

The Bruins next game will be against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Toronto on Saturday night. The puck drops at 7 PM ET and the game will be televised on both NESN and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.



MLB: Just days after the final out in Game 7 of the 2011 World Series, St Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa announced his retirement. The surprise announcement ends a 16 year managerial stint with the Cardinals that saw at least six NL Central Pennants, three National League pennants and two World Series titles.

LaRussa's 33 year managerial career also saw him managing the Oakland Athletics to a Worls Series title during the 1989 'earthquake series' against the San Francisco Giants. Between his time with the White Sox, A's and Cardinals, LaRussa has 2728 career wins to his credit.

Random thought: Would that be ironic if Terry Francona ended up replacing LaRussa as the Cards manager?

RED SOX: The Red Sox conducted two separate interviews for the managerial opening left by Francona's departure. On Monday, the Red Sox interviewed Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin. On Wednesday, the Red Sox interviewed current Brewers hitting coach (and former Red Sox 3rd base coach from 2004-05) Dale Sveum. Sveum has some postseason experience as manager, dating back to 2008 when the Brewers fired Ned Yost with 12 games remaining in the regular season.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: 1B Adrian Gonzalez, 2B Dustin Pedroia and CF Jacoby Ellsbury became the first trio of Red Sox to win Golden Glove awards in 32 years. The winners were announced by Rawlings on Tuesday night.

In 1979, outfielders Right fielder Dwight Evans, Center Fielder Fred Lynn and Shortstop Rick Burleson each won the Golden Glove award while with the BoSox.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS: The Dodgers and MLB announced they had entered into an agreement for a court-supervised sale of the franchise. Reportedly the interested parties include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle as well as a number of Asian investors.

Even if a buyer is quickly found, it could take anywhere from 6 months to a year and a half for MLB to approve the transaction.

Summertime Sports Chowdah Update for June 27- Miller Repels Marauding Pirates; Dodgers Go For (Chapter) 11; Tim Thomas- More Hardware Than True Value

RED SOX: Well, aside from that 10-run inning against San Diego last week it's been a pretty forgettable week for the Red Sox. Heading into Sunday afternoon's game against the Pirates, the Sox had managed to drop 4 in a row- the last two against San Diego at Fenway and the first two in the weekend series against Pittsburgh at PNC Park.

It was not the stuff of legends, and the Sox were helped out considerably by 4 errors from the Pirates in Sunday's game. PawSox callup Andy Miller went 6 innings, giving up five scattered hits and two runs while walking two and striking out four in what was actually his second start for Boston (he had no decision in last week's 14-5 romp over the San Diego Padres).

Jonathan Papelbon pitched the bottom of the 9th for his 14th save in 15 opportunities while Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 11 games, Adrian Gonzalez (still at 1B) raised his batting average to a league-best .361 and Miller is now 1-0 with a 3.09 ERA in the 4-2 win. Interestingly, all of Boston's runs came on either outs or errors on Sunday- another PawSox callup, LF Josh Reddick, had two sac flies, one of which resulted in an RBI.

Interestingly, the Pirates are now one game over .500- this is probably the latest in the season that they've had a record of .500 or better in recent years and just 4 games behind the NL-Central leading Brewers.

The Red Sox travel to the city of Brotherly Love for a 3-game series against the NL leading Philadelphia Phillies starting Tuesday night, with Josh Beckett (6-2; 1.84 ERA) getting the start against Cliff Lee (8-5; 2.87 ERA). First pitch will get underway at 7:05 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy on Monday. The move came after MLB rejected a lucrative contract extension between the club and FOX sports and while the owner is close to finalizing a nasty and protracted divorce.

Two of the Dodgers largest unsecured creditors include the now-retired Manny Ramierez ($21 million) and Andruw Jones ($11.1 million). The Chapter 11 filing at a bankruptcy court in Delaware lists anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion in assets and $100 million to $500 billion in liabilities.

Owner Frank McCourt said the filing was to ensure that the team could continue to meet payroll, sign players and continue paying vendors and stadium personnel while preventing MLB from taking full control of the club.


BOSTON BRUINS: To hardly anybody's surprise, Bruins goalie Tim Thomas was named the Vezina trophy winner (NHL's Goalie of the Year) at the NHL awards last week. The former Vermont Catamount also won the Vezina in 2009, making this the second time he has garnered the award. Thomas was first on 26 of 30 ballots among votes submitted by NHL general managers.

Thomas conceded that his goaltending was far from perfect, even with an NHL-leading .938 save percentage.

"I don't think that my style's the perfect style -- that's for sure," Thomas said. "But it works for me.

"I'm kind of like the redneck of goaltending that duct-tapes everything together to fix it."

Thomas also won the Conn Smythe trophy (above) for the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup finals in the 7 game series against Vancouver.

Pre Good Friday Sports Chowdah- Red Sox Bats Looking A-OK in 1st Road Win; Price is Wrong for Habs in Game 2; C's Survive Another Close Shave w/Knicks

RED SOX: After an impressive Patriot's Day rebound by Daisuke Matsuzaka in which he cut his ERA in half by going 7 innings & giving up one hit in Boston's 9-1 win against the Blue Jays, the Red Sox headed out west to Oakland.

The first game ended up with the Sox getting shut out 5-0 with Lackey allowing 1 run in six innings of work and the A's exploding for 4 more in the bottom of the 8th.

However, the Sox bounced back on the Wednesday day game. Although former Sox outfielder Coco Crisp put Oakland on the board first with a solo homer right out of the gate off of Clay Buchholz. Carl Crawford put the Sox on the board with a 2-out RBI single in the 2nd inning and Youkilis, JD Drew and Jed Lowrie homered to pad the Red Sox lead by a 5-1 margin. The A's would get a one back in the bottom of the 8th, but after giving up a 1-out Landon Powell RBI single in the bottom of the 9th Papelbon managed to get the next 2 batters to pop out for a 5-3 Boston win.

After the atrocious start, the Red Sox have won four out of their last five games- yesterday's win against the A's is their first road win of the season.

The Red Sox will head south to Orange County to take on the Angels tonight, with Josh Beckett (1.80 ERA; 2-1) going up against Tyler Chatwood (3.75 ERA; 1-1). First pitch is at 10:05 Eastern, 7:05 Pacific.

OTHER MLB NEWS: Commissioner Bud Selig announced that the league was stepping in to take control of the day to day operations of the LA Dodgers, citing uncertainty over owner Frank McCourt's uncertain financial situation and ongoing divorce proceedings.

McCourt released a statement saying that the Dodgers were in compliance with MLB financial guidelines.

MacCallum/Getty images

NHL: Unable to win at home, the Bruins instead got one on the road in Montreal Monday night. The Bruins got off to a 2-0 lead with goals from David Krejci and Nathan Horton in the first period, and after a Rich Peverly tally two minutes into the second, Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn would get one past Tim Thomas to make it a 3-1 game heading into the 2nd intermission.

Montreal would make it a one goal game early in the 3rd with a Tomas Plekanec goal about 7 minutes in. However, after the Habs pulled netminder Carey Price with time running out in regulation, Boston's Chris Kelly would get an empty-netter to ice the game for the B's by a 4-2 final.

Kelly's empty-netter came after he was knocked down and hit his face on the goalpost earlier. He remained down for several minutes, but was kept in the game. While the team was staying in Lake Placid, NY prior to Game 4, Kelly was sent back to Boston to be examined for any facial fractures (although he is expected to be on the ice for Game 4 tonight).

Montreal still holds a 2-1 series lead, but the Bruins have the chance to even things up on Thursday night at 7PM ET, 4 PT.

Getty Images

NBA: A little closer than I would've liked, but the Celtics presently hold a 2-0 series lead over the NY Knicks after Tuesday night's game at the Garden. The win comes despite a 40 point effort for the Knick's Carmello Anthony- although Rajon Rondo was no slouch himself with 30 points and 4 rebounds.

Kevin Garnett sank the go-ahead basket with all of 14 seconds remaining in regulation, then managed to steal the ball back from the Knicks with 4 seconds on the clock in the Celtic's 96-93 win over the Knicks.

The series resumes Friday night at Madison Square Garden 7PM ET (4 Pacific) and will be broadcast on ESPN.

2nd Helping of West Coast Sports Chowdah: C's Clip LA's Other Team, 'Lucic! I'm Home'- B's Triumph in Vancouver; Hall of Famer Snider Passes Away

NHL- As far as the Bruins are concerned, I'm liking the road trip out west.

The B's came into Vancouver on Saturday night winners of 3 in a row. Of course, two of those wins were tallied against dysfunctional team like the NY Islanders or Ottawa Senators. Calgary was a much better test which they managed to pass, but on Saturday they were up against the league-leading Canucks.

The night before, Vancouver native Milan Lucic was honored by a local junior hockey club. The following night, he ends up scoring the game-winning goal for the B's against the NHL team with the best record.

Vancouver got on the board first with a tally from C Manny Malhotra in the 1st period before Boston would get the equalizer off the stick of Nathan Horton midway through the 2nd.

With dozens of friends and relatives watching in the stands, Lucic scored the go-ahead goal with 4:38 remaining in regulation and with just under two minutes remaining, Patrice Bergeron gave the B's some insurance with an empty netter after the Canucks pulled Roberto Luongo for the extra attacker.

This makes it four wins in a row and the 2nd consecutive game where Boston has won 3-1. Tim Thomas stopped 27 of 28 shots faced while Roberto Luongo faced 24 shots, stopping 22.

The Bruins next game is on Sunday night at Edmonton- puck drops at 5PM Pacific, 8PM Eastern.

NBA- After Thursday's 85-79 loss to a Carmello Anthony-less Denver Nuggets, the western road trip hasn't been as kind to the Celtics as it has the Bruins, but the C's managed to wrap up all of Saturday's NBA action with a win at staples Center against the Clippers.

Kendrick Perkins was sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for F Jeff Green and C Nenad Ksrtic and the Clipper's 1st round pick in the 2012 NBA draft. Saturday night would mark the Boston debut of the two new acquisitions. Despite the sluggish and lethargic 1st half where Boston was trailing 47-40, the C's would come right back and make a game of it.

Paul Pierce led the scoring for Boston with 24 points while Ray Allen had 22, Kevin Garnett had 16 and Glen 'Big Baby' Davis came off the bench for 10. Krstic started with 9 points and 6 rebounds while Green came off the bench for 7 points and one rebound in Saturday's 99-92 win over the Clippers- G Randy Foye had a 32-point night in the losing effort for the Clippers.

The C's next game will be on Monday night against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City at 9PM Eastern- 7PM Mountain time.

MLB: Hall of Fame Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder Duke Snider passed away at a Southern California Convalescent hospital, according to a statement from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which released a statement on behalf of Snider's family. According to Snider's family, he had been ill for several months and was being cared for at an Escondido, CA convalescent hospital.

Snider batted a career .295 and hit 407 homeruns in a career that started in 1947 with the Brookly Dodgers and saw him win an elusive World Series Title with 'dem bums' and play his home games in Los Angeles when the Dodgers moved across the country. He finished his career in 1964 with the San Francisco Giants.

Snider retired to an avocado farm in Fallbrook, CA after his playing career. In the 1990s, he faced legal troubles because he failed to report revenue from signing autographs, appearances and memorabilia sales to the IRS.

The Dodgers retired Snider's number in 1980, the same year he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

ELSEWHERE: The Red Sox will kick off Spring Training with a 'home and away' series against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday (while, curiously enough, never leaving the city of Ft. Meyers, FL). Opening pitch is 7PM Eastern Time.

Federal Judge, 9 Year Old Girl Killed in Tuscon Shooting Spree Laid to Rest

Security was tight for the funeral services of US District Judge John Roll in Tuscon as Arizona Senators John McCain and John Kyl, Governor Jan Brewer and former Vice President Dan Quayle were among those in attendance at the services on Friday.

Roll, 63, was heralded as a stern-but-fair jurist who had been pressing for more courts and judges to handle the increased federal caseload brought on by illegal immigration in the region. Roll was on his way back from church on Saturday and some accounts said he wanted to personally thank Congresswoman Giffords for addressing the issue of the shortage of judges and courthouses in Arizona.

The day before, 9 year old Christina-Taylor Green was laid to rest at a funeral in St Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Tuscon. The roughly 1700 mourners in attendance passed under the National 9/11 flag- a tattered patchwork of fabric that was pulled from the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001- Christina-Taylor's date of birth. She was also featured in a 2002 book called Faces of Hope: Babies Born on 9/11, which shows photos of babies from all 50 states that were born on 9/11/01.

She had just been elected to student council earlier in the school year [And I wouldn't be surprised if she was taken to Gifford's town hall event that day so she could see representative government in action for herself- NANESB]. Green also loved ballet, gymnastics and baseball, and she was the only girl on her team. Her father John is a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baseball Hall of Famers Ryne Sandberg and Pat Gillick were in attendance at the funeral.

Christina-Taylor was aware of the significance of her date of birth and said she thought of herself as something good that came from that terrible day. Although horrifically cut down before she could pursue her dreams of public service, she was able to find a way to help others even in death. In an interview on CNN, John Green said that Christina was an organ donor and that the family had already received word from the organ donor network that Christina's organs saved the life of a little girl in Boston.