Seeing Red Cup of Sports Chowdah- Freese Frame Puts Cards in WS; Texas Hangs Lone Star on Cruz; Last 2 Cup Champs Face Off in Chi-town; Cowboy Down

Jonathan Daniel- Getty Images

ST LOUIS CARDINALS: Who would've thought it? As a reminder that Boston's September collapse wasn't the only late 2011 implosion, the St. Louis Cardinals found themselves trailing the Atlanta Braves by 10 ½ games on August 25. One month later, they narrowed the deficit down to one game on September 25- with only three games against the Houston Astros remaining in the regular season. The Cards took two out of the three against Houston while the Braves would ultimately get swept by Philadelphia.

After dispatching the NL-best Phillies in the NLDS, a matchup with division rival (and 1982 World Series opponent) Milwaukee Brewers was in the works. After splitting the first two games at Milwaukee, the NLCS moved back to St Louis where the Cards took 2 out of three. The series headed back to Milwaukee's Miller Park on Sunday evening in a do-or-die game for the Brewers. Almost immediately, things broke the Cards way when Shaun Marcum gave up a 1-out RBI to OF Lance Berkman before walking 1B Albert Pujols before giving up a 2-run blast to 3B David Freese to put St Louis up on to 4-0 right away.

In the bottom of the 1st, Corey Hart would deliver a leadoff homer to get the Brewers on the board, but Milwuakee would be playing catch-up all night as the Cardinals continued adding to their lead. Marcum would only pitch the one inning for Milwaukee as the Brewers went to the bullpen early and often.

St Louis wins this one pretty convincingly- by a 12-6 final and with National League Championship Series MVP David Freese going 3-4 with the early home run to bury the Brewers and a total of 3 RBI in Game 6. This would be the Cardinals 18th National League Penant and sets up an October 19th meeting at Busch Field with the American League Champion....


TEXAS RANGERS: And this one was over pretty early in Arlington, with Texas exploding for nine runs in the bottom of the 3rd after the Tigers took an early 2-0 lead. That kind of offense makes it hard to summarize or highlight just one batter, but infielder Micheal Young went 3-6 with a home run, 5 RBI and 2 runs scored on Saturday night while eventual ALCS MVP would go 2-4 with a home run and 2 RBI. Cruz had earlier left his mark on the series by winning Game two in extra innings with the postseason's first ever walk-off grand slam.

The Rangers win Game 6 by a 15-5 final and advance to their 2nd consecutive World Series.

RED SOX: Stop me if you've heard this one before-

Q: What's the difference between the 2011 Red Sox and the movie Unstoppable?

A: One was a giant train wreck that took out everything in its path and the other had Denzel Washington on a locomotive.

With the Cubs and the Red Sox still negotiating for the services of GM Theo Epstein, the Red Sox are expected to promote assistant GM Ben Cherington to the soon-to-be-vacant General Manager position.

Also this week, team owner John Henry made an appearance on a Boston radio show to distance himself and Red Sox management from an article in the New York Times North Boston Globe published earlier this week depicting a dysfunctional clubhouse culture and claiming that former manager Terry Francona was distracted by painkillers and marital problems in the latter portion of the 2011 Red Sox season.

Henry denied that the front office circulated the rumors about Francona that were seemingly singlehandedly designed to limit his managerial career prospects after leaving Boston. Henry said he also expressed reservations over the signing of Outfielder Carl Crawford to a big contract, but deferred to then GM Theo Epstein.

K.C. Alfred- San Diego Union Tribune

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: After being in storage for nearly a decade, the daughter of Hall of Famer Ted Williams has decided to auction off some of her father's keepsakes from both his baseball and military career.

“The time has come in my life to let go of some of my father’s awards and personal memorabilia,” Claudia Williams said in a prepared statement.

“The reality is these items have remained locked away in a storage unit where his deserving fans and esteemed collectors are denied the right to enjoy them and share in a piece of American history.”

In the middle of the Hoover High gymnasium, beneath the words HOOVER LEGENDS, is a picture of Williams, Class of ’37, following through on his sweet left-handed swing.

Nicknamed “The Splendid Splinter” because of his tall, lean physique, Williams was the last player in the major leagues to hit .400, batting .406 in 1941. He was 21, only four years removed from Hoover.

He won six batting titles, including the last in 1958 when he was 40, making Williams the oldest player to win a batting title. Of the 24 players to hit 500 or more home runs, Williams owns the highest lifetime batting average, .344.

Also nicknamed “The Kid” and “Teddy Ballgame,” Williams died in 2002. He was 83.

Hunt Auctions, based in Exton, Pa., will handle the selling of Williams’ memorabilia. Company President John Hunt said Williams’ collection will earn “a significant amount of money, well into multiple six figures.”

“These items are worth what anybody will pay for them,” Hunt said. “There’s an enormous amount of emotion involved when you have a player as significant as Ted Williams. He’s a 20th century American icon. Sometimes you can throw the price tag out the window.”

Figler estimates Williams’ 1949 MVP plaque will draw bids in excess of $100,000.

“There will be a bidding war for something like that,” Figler said. “When the dust settles, probably that plaque could easily go for $100,000. You have a lot of Ted Williams fans out there.”

Included in the baseball collection to be auctioned are Williams’ Hall of Fame ring and a baseball signed by Ruth and given to Williams.

[San Deigo County Resident and memorabilia collector Jeff] Figler estimates the ring could attract a $100,000 bid and the Ruth autographed baseball $75,000.

Williams finished his career with 521 home runs, despite missing three full seasons and the majority of two more seasons in the prime of his career while serving as a Navy flight instructor during World War II and later flying more than 30 missions during the Korean conflict.

Williams’ military record adds to his lore. Among the items to be displayed at the Hall of Champions will be one of his aviator manuals, complete with Williams’ handwritten logs.

A famed outdoorsman, particularly noted for his fishing prowess, Williams was inducted into the Fishing Hall of Fame. Some of his rods and fly reels will be auctioned.

“We are honored to be involved with Ted Williams and his family,” Hunt said. “Claudia wanted his collection to be seen by fans who can’t attend the auction. And she wanted them to be seen first in San Diego, his hometown.”

The collection will start out in William's hometown of San Diego, CA then be displayed in another city (yet to be named) before the items go up for auction.

NFL: Talk about your last-minute men!

I gave up on knocking Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, not because I have a newfound respect for him or the Cowboys organization but because I couldn't think of anything derogatory that thymes with 'Romo'.


Why is it that when the Patriots manage to build up a late lead, I get nervous if they don't keep adding to it or have to punt at some point? Yet when they're trailing by less than a touchdown late (OK, VERY late), I hardly bat an eyelash.

The Cowboys came into Gillette stadium on Sunday for the late afternoon game against New England, and this one turned out to be a surprisingly low-scoring affair with plenty of turnovers and both teams having a difficult time finding the end zone- particularly in the 2nd half.

Still, trailing 16-13 with 2:31 to go in regulation, the Patriots got the ball back on their own 20 and- perhaps to nobody's surprise- Brady began methodically moving the ball downfield with short quick passes to Wes Welker (as well as Gronkowski and Woodhead) in the face of pressure from Dallas before almost casually connecting with Aaron Hernandez from the Dallas 8 yard line for the go-ahead TD to pur New England on top by a score of 16-20 with all of 22 seconds remaining in the game.

Dallas would get the ball back on their own 20 with almost as many seconds remaining, and Romo would succeed in moving the ball down to mid-field with enough time for a hail-mary pass that was ruled incomplete (plus out of bounds and possibly intercepted if not incomplete) for New England to hand on and win by the 16-20 final.

Brady went 27-41 with 289 yards, 2 TDs and 2 interceptions while Romo threw for the same amount of completions/attempts, with a TD and interception on 317 yards. Pats finish this one strong heading into their bye week before travelling to Pittsburgh to take on the defending AFC Champion Steelers (currently 4-2) the day before Halloween. With a Buffalo loss and the winless Miami Dolphins and 2-3 Jets taking each other on for Monday night, the Patriots currently sit alone atop the AFC East.



INDYCAR: Reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed on Sunday afternoon in a massive 15 car crash during a race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The 33 year old British driver had previously won the Indy 500 in 2005 and was named IRL's top rookie driver in 2003.

I don't normally follow motorsports, but I remember Dale Earhhardt's death in 2001. The crash seemed pretty tame by NASCAR standards, where its not uncommon to have massive, firey collisions with cars bouncing off the track walls like ping pong balls only to have the respective drivers climb out unscathed and walk away. This was nothing like the crash that killed Dale Sr. Many veteran Indycar drivers (including those involved in the crash) said it was the worst they had ever seen or been involved in.

Wheldon was 33 years old. He leaves behind his wife Susie and sons Sebastian (age 2) and Oliver (7 months).

NHL: After scuffling a bit (or mightily, depending on your willingness to panic), The Boston Bruins travelled to the Windy City for an early season contest that would pit the last two winners of Lord Stanley's Cup against each other. After the Blackhawks got out to the early 1-0 lead, Chris Kelly would knot things up at 1-1 early in the 2nd period thanks to a shorthanded tally that found its way past Chicago netminder Corey Crawford. However, Chicago would get the lead right back after a Patrick Kane tally not even two minutes later. Nathan Horton would tie things up to force OT and after 5 scoreless minutes in the OT, force a shootout.


As much as we all love Tim Thomas, remember how seeminlgy awful he was in the shootout last year? Spectuacular in regulation and the OT, but almost like the tin man in The Wizard of Oz before Dorothy found the oil can once the shootout got underway.

That wasn't the case Saturday night. Thomas turned aside all three shots faced in the shootout while Tyler Seguin would be the only one to get one past Crawford, which gave Boston the 3-2 win on the road.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins (nope...not getting tired of saying that) next game will take place at home against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Although they came into East Hartford sporting the better record, Big East opponent South Florida was still looking for their first conference win. And after Saturday's game, they can keep on looking. Even though UConn didn't score an offensive TD. Rather, the Huskies got on the board with three Dave Teggart FG's but were still trailing 10-9 in the 3rd with South Florida deep in their own end. USF Running Back Darrell Scott fumbled the ball on the Bulls own 10 yard line and the Huskies Byron Jones was able to run it back for the Huskies only TD of the game, enough to give them the 16-10 win after stopping the Bulls on a key 4th down late in the game.

The Huskies (3-4) will have a bye (of sorts) next weekend befor taking on the Pitt Panthers (3-4) at Heinz Field on the evening of Wednesday, October 26th. Kickoff is scheduled for 8PM ET.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: OK- it's officially getting ridiculous now.

The Mountain West conference and Conference USA announced earlier this week plans to merge their football programs into a 'mega-conference' that could be home to as many as 24 different teams as early as 2013 [so basically double the Pac-12 then- NANESB!].

Boise State jumped from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West this year while the Nevada Wolfpack and Fresno State Bulldogs are expected to follow suit in 2012. However, the Mountain West lost two football programs beginning this season when Utah made the move to the former Pac-10 (now Pac 12) and Brigham Young struck out on its own as an independent program. The merger talks have some observers wondering whether schools like Boise State or Air Force Academy will end up leaving the Mountain West if they do end up merging with Conference USA.

A name for the conference hasn't been finalized yet.

COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOSCIATION: The UMass Minutemen, themselves destined for a bump up to the FBS, have won two in a row by jumping out early in front of Delaware and hanging on to win by a final of 21-10 on Saturday.

This sets up a meeting with the UNH Wildcats at Amherst on Saturday with a 3:30 PM kickoff. New Hampshire is sporing a similar 4-2 record as UMass, but won last year's clash with the Minutemen by a 39-13 final.

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.

Banner Edition of Stanley Cup of Sports Chowdah- Sox Dismiss Francona After September Fade; AL East Out in 1st Round; Stanley Cup Champs Raise Banner

RED SOX: I recieved the bad news via Red Sox radio network affiliate WTSJ-AM followed up by the nail in the coffin down in Tampa Bay on XM Radio as I moved further into the northern New England wilderness.

With a postseason berth on the line in the Red Sox regular season finale, Boston found themselves tied with Tampa Bay and playing a do-or-die game against the stubborn Baltimore Orioles last week.

Things got off to a promising start with a Dustin Pedroia RBI single in the top of the 3rd, but Jon Lester would give up a 2 run homer to O's SS JJ Hardy in the bottom frame of inning number 3 to give Baltimore a 2-1 lead.

The Red Sox would then manage to knot the game up in the top of the 4th in a most curious manner. Marco Scutaro would get on board with a 1-out double, and Carl Crawford would move Scutaro to 3rd. Scutaro would then be awarded home plate to tie the game up when O's starter Alfredo Simon balked.

Simon would then go on to give up a solo homer to Dustin Pedroia to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead, but after handing things off to Papelbon in the bottom of the 9th, the O's would manage to tie the game up on a 2-out RBI goround rule double to OF Nolan Reimond and then win on a Ronald Andino walk-off RBI single for the 4-3 final.

While all this was transpiring in Baltimore, down in Tampa Bay, the Rays had managed to come all the way back from a 7-0 defecit to the New York Yankees for a 6-run bottom of the 8th and a 2-out, 2-strike solo homer in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game at 7-7 to force extra innings where they'd ultimately win on a Evan Longoria walkoff solo home run, effectively shutting the door on the last remaining playoff opportunity for the Red Sox.

The loss and elimination caps a historically awful 7-20 September for Boston where they had a 9 game lead in the AL Wild Card heading into Labor Day weekend, only to see that lead diminish in the final weeks.

The collapse in the final month led to the dismissal of manager Terry Francona less than 48 hours later and began fuelling reports that the Chicago Cubs are interested in GM Theo Epstein's services.

Since Francona was manager of the Red Sox when they won the only two World Series titles in my life- and most other New Englanders lives, I am of the possibly biased opinion that Francona's dismissal (espcially with no apparent replacement waiting in the wings) was a hasty and poorly thought out move by the front office. Not just for sentimental reasons either, but consider how much more challenging it will be to lure and retain free agents thanks to this front office turmoil.

But then again, with recent New England sports history as a guide, I'd like to think that adversity not only builds charachter but also championsips. Think back to the painful end of the 2003 ALCS against the Yankees and how the 2004 season ended. The 2006 Red Sox never even got a whiff of the playoffs, falling out of serious contention in August that year- and they followed it up with their 2nd World Series title in 3 years. More recently (albeit another sport), consider the agonizing end of the 2009-2010 Boston Bruins playoff run, where after taking a 3-0 lead against Philadelphia in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals only to have Philly come charging back and score the winning goal on a power play after a too many men on the ice penalty against Boston. The following season, the Flyers barely slowed the Bruins down on their championship run; Boston's 4-game sweep being noteworthy in that it was the only round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Bruins that DIDN'T go to 7 games.

But we'll have the whole offseason for finger-pointing, arbitrary comparisons, speculation and recriminations. In the meantime, there's still some baseball to be played.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: As bad as the Red Sox September implosion was, the Atlanta Braves suffered a comprable agonizing late season fate [it MUST be a Boston thing, even tho' one of them hasn't called Boston home for 58 years- NANESB!] losing out on the NL Wild Card to St Louis after a 13 inning loss to the Philadelphia Phillies while the Cardinals pounded the Astros 8-0 on the September 28 regular season finale. So the last game of the regular season was indeed of great interest, but had just about the worst possible outcome as far as the AL was concerned.

Also worth noting that the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants failed to make the playoffs, with the Arizona Diamondbacks getting the NL West pennant.

ALDS: But just like that, there are no representatives of the AL East remaining in the postseason thanks to the bats of a couple of former Red Sox. Adrian Beltre belted 3 solo homers in the Texas Rangers 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuedsay to eliminate Tampa after winning the series 3 games to 1.

The Detroit Tigers made things a bit interesting after the Yankees forced a deciding Game 5 in the Bronx. Former Red Sox and Indians catcher Victor Martinez would drive in the winning run off of CC Sabathia in the top of the 5th with a 2-out RBI single. Interesingly, Sabathia was the Yankees 4th starter of the game when he came on in the 5th inning.

Midseason trade acquisition Doug Fister got the win for Detroit, going 5 innings and allowing 5 hits and an earned run in his start. Both Fister and the Detroit bullpen were able to wriggle out of some bases loaded situations in Detroit's 3-2 victory in Game 5.

The conclusion of the ALDS now sets up a Detroit/Texas ALCS that will get underway in Arlington, TX on Saturday at 8:05 ET with Justin Verlander getting the start for Los Tigres and CJ Wilson on the mound for Texas.

NLDS: Lest we forget, there's also a pair of deciding Game 5's today on TBS. At 5:05 ET, the Milwaukee Brewers will host the Arizona Diamondbacks for game 5 of their ALDS series while over in Philly, the NL East winning Philadelphia Phillies will host the squirrely St Louis Cardinals for their Game 5. No firm schedule for the NLCS has been set, pending the outcome of both Game 5s today.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX: The White Sox have announced that former 3rd baseman and Nolan Ryan punching bag Robin Ventura has been named as the club's new manager, replacing Ozzie Guillen who departed for Florida at the end of the season.


NHL: The Boston Bruins 2011-2012 season got underway with an emotionally-charged pregame ceremony in which the Stanley Cup was hoisted one last time and Bruins from the 2010-2011 and 1971-1972 championship teams together raised the latest Championship banner.

Although Boston got out to the early 1-0 lead, the game itself was a touch anticlimatic. The B's would score on their first power play thanks to Brad Marchand (with assists from Tyler Seguin and Joe Corvo). However, the Flyers would come right back and tie the game up with a power play tally of their own off the stick of Claude Giroux (with assists from Chirs Pronger and Jaromir Jagr) before taking a 2-1 lead at Jacob Varicek goal with 3 seconds left in the first.



That would actually be the final, as Nathan Horton caught Flyers G Ilya Bryzgalov out of position in the 3rd period only to have the blade of Philly defender Kimmo Timonen's stick get between Horton and the wide open net (above).

The Flyers would go on to win by the 2-1 final, with Boston travelling to Tampa Bay on Saturday to face off against the Lightning. The puck drops at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on the NHL network.

OTHER NHL NEWS: The venue for the 2012 Winter Classic has been announced, with Philadelphia's Citizen's Bank Ballpark hosting a game between the 'home' team Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers. This will be the Rangers first appearence in the NHL's annual New Year's Day game played outdoors, while it will be the second go-round for the Flyers.

NFL: After Week 3's setback against the Buffalo Bills, the Patriots capped off their quickie 1-game road trip to the West Coast with a flawless 31-19 win over the Oakland Raiders.


Perhaps the higlight was Tackle Vince Wilfork's 2nd Interception in 3 weeks (also, 2nd career interception) in the the quarter with New England up by a 31-13 margin.

The 3-1 Patriots will next play against the 2-2 New York Jets at Foxboro on Sunday with a 4:15 kickoff. The Jets are coming off a 34-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens from lat Sunday night.

OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS: The Patriots released RB Eric Kettani from their practice squad after being activiated by the US Navy. Kettani reported for duty aboard the US Navy frigate USS Klakring on Friday. Head coach Bill Belichick said that the Patriots decided to cut him rather than retain him as the most feasable option of bringing him back once Kettani's completed his obligations with the Navy.

OTHER NFL NEWS: Are you ready for some football? Well, too bad, because ESPN isn't.

Country singer Hank Williams Jr and ESPN have parted ways when the network dropped Williams Monday Night Football intro after the musician made comments on FOX and Friends comparing President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner playing golf to Adolf Hitler and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu getting together on the links. ESPN announced that the intro for next week's Monday Night Football game between the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears would feature a video montage narrated by former Lions Hall of Fame RB Barry Sanders.

The ESPN Network has been very protective of President Obama, very publicly reprimanding former PGA golfer Paul Azinger for sending out a tweet mocking President Obama's record on creating jobs.

Interestingly, the ESPN networks had nothing to say when on-air personality Kenny Mayne sent out a tweet expressing a desire to ram a vehicle that was displaying Sarah Palin bumper stickers.

NCAA FOOTBALL: A couple of bad weeks strung together ads up to a bad season, and as far as the two FBS teams in New England are concerned, that's exactly what the 2011 season is shaping up to be. It's not looking too much better as UConn and Boston College both find themselves going up against ranked conference opponents on Saturday.

The Boston College Eagles are now 1-4 (0-2 in the ACC) after dropping Saturday's home game to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons by a 27-19 final. I'm a little less optimistic about their chances on the road against #8 Clemson this Saturday at 3 PM ET.

UConn isn't doing too much better in the Big East, although they have more than one win to their name so far this season. Last week, they lost to the Western Michigan Broncos of the MAC by a 38-31 final. This Saturday finds them going up against the #16 West Virginia Mountianeers in Morgantown, WV at noon Saturday.

Upright Sports Chowdah Recap- Posting Gains in San Diego; Texas Sized Upset; NL Champs? They Might Be Giants; BC Spiral Continues at Turtle's Pace

NFL: OK now....you can unclench.

In the end, it looked like the Patriots wanted to give it away, but the Chargers were having none of it.

The Chargers were headed into week 7 hosting the Patriots in a must-win scenario after dropping two in a row. With 4 turnovers by the Chargers in the first half- including a botched lateral that nearly everybody on the field walked away from before realizing it was a live ball and rookie Richard Goodman leaving the ball on the field after his first career reception (a 25 yard pickup) San Diego was fortunate to be trailing New England by a 13-3 margin at halftime.

The Patriots opened up the second half with an eight minute drive culminating in a Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis TD run from the San Diego 1 yard line to make it a 20-3. But as badly as San Diego played in the first half, the came on strong in the 4th quarter, moving the ball down the field efficiently and outscoring the Pats 17-3. New England got the ball back at their own 40 after the Charger's kickoff went out of bounds, but couldn't convert on 4th and 1, turning the ball over on downs. San Diego was able to get the ball as far as the Patriots 27, running the clock down to 28 seconds in regulation in the process. However, a procedural penalty against the offense forced newly-signed San Diego kicker Kris Brown to attempt the field goal from mid-field. The 50-yard attempt hit the post and New England barely holds on to win by a final of 23-20 on the road.

The Chargers fall to 2-5 while the Patriots have a fairly spiffy 5-1 record. New England has an identical record with the idle Jets, while elsewhere in the AFC East Miami fell to 3-3 with a 23-22 loss to the Steelers in South Florida Sunday afternoon. Tom Brady went 19-32 with 159 yards and a touchdown. Pretty quiet day from Wes Welker, although on special teams Zoltan Mesko acquitted himself fairly well after a couple of bad snaps (including some one-hoppers).

I think when all is said and done, I'm going to have to nominate the right upright of the goal post at Qualcomm stadium as Sunday's MVP for the Patriots.

Next weekend, the Pats will be reunited with Randy Moss at Foxboro as the Vikings come in to town fresh off their Sunday night loss to Green Bay at Lambeau Field.

A picture's worth a thousand words- BWA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

MLB: So....has anybody gone with the 'Steers & Queers' World Series moniker yet?

All I can say is remember when a starting pitcher signing with or getting traded to the Rangers was more or less a career death sentence?

The Texas Rangers had Cliff Lee ready to go for Game 7 should the ALCS get that far. As it turned out, there was no need. With the Rangers heading back to Arlington, TX holding a 3-2 advantage in the ALCS, Colby Lewis got the start for Texas while Phil Hughes was given the start for New York in a do-or-die situation.

If you had heard of Colby Lewis prior to the 2010 ALCS and aren't from the Lone Star state, raise your hand. In which case, I'm probably going to say you're full of crap (altho' I had heard of him in passing after losing against the a close game Sox back in August). On Friday night, the journeyman Rangers starter went eight innings, giving up only one earned run and striking out seven with the growd chanting 'Col-by!' as the innings progressed. The only run allowed by Lewis came on a wild pitch (that apparently hit Nick Swisher) that brought Alex Rodriguez in from third to tie the game at 1-1 in the top of the 5th inning.

That was as close as the Yankees would get.

Rangers 1B Mitch Moreland led off the bottom of the 5th with a single before moving to third on back-to-back groundouts. The Yankees decided to pitch around Josh Hamilton to get to Vlad Guererro with two on and two away. Vlad would make the Yankees pay with a booming double to center field. That was the end of the night for Phil Hughes, but the first batter David Robertson would face was Nelson Cruz, who homered to center to make it a 5-1 game. After an Ian Kinsler sac-fly in the 7th to make it a 6-1 game, there was no looking back.

Unlike Game 1, there would be no furious comeback by the Yankees. Neftali Feliz would close out the top of the 9th 1-2-3 (A-Rod was caught looking to end the game and series) good for the Ranger's first-ever World Series appearence and copious amounts of ginger-ale being sprayed everywhere.

Outfielder Josh Hamilton was named ALCS MVP after hitting .350 and belting 4 homers.

The Rangers would have to wait at least until Saturday to find out who they'd be facing in the World Series, with the Giants taking on the Phillies for Game 6 in the city of brotherly love.

Things were looking good for the Phillies as they managed to get two runs off of Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez in the first inning. The Giants would come right back with two of their own in the top of the 3rd, including Aubrey Huff reaching home safely after a fielding error by Phillies 1B Ryan Howard. Sanchez would get pulled and the benches cleared in bottom of the 3rd after hitting Chase Utley with a pitch.

San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy would go to the bullpen early and often, with Jeremy Affeldt, Madison Bumgarner, ex-Red Sox pitcher Javier Lopez and starter Tim Lincecum combining for a shutout before Juan Uribe gave San Francisco the go ahead run on a solo shot.

New Hampshire's own Brian Wilson came on in the 8th to close things out- he got Ruiz to line out into a double play to end the 8th, but was in for a hairy and somewhat wild 9th, where he had two runners on with two away and managed to strike out Ryan Howard to end the game and the NLCS with a 3-2 Giants win. Despite the electric and attention-grabbing start to the playoffs, it's all over for Philly as the Giants won the series 4-2. Neither defending pennant winner has advanced to the World Series this year.

Game 1 of the World Series is set to take place in San Francisco Wednesday night at 7: 57 ET. A well rested Cliff Lee gets the start against Tim Lincecum and the game will be televised on FOX.

So in either case, the 2010 World Series will end a long run of futility for the Rangers (who have never been) or the Giants (who haven't won a title since moving out to San Francsico in 1958).

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Former Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell was named the new manager of the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday. Farrell will replace the outgoing Cito Gaston, who retired at the end of the season last month. Toronto finished the season 85-77, good for 4th place in the very difficult AL East in 2010.

NHL: After downing the Capitals 4-1 for their home opener, the Boston Bruins lost to the NY Rangers by a 3-2 score at the TD Banknorth Garden on Saturday. New York's Henrik Lundqvist stopped 35 total shots and held off the Bruins to win by a 3-2 final, handing the Bruins their first loss on American soil this season. Tukka Rask got the start and stopped 27 of 30 shots faced in the loss while Zdeno Chara and Nathan Horton had the only tallies for the B's.

The Bruin's record is now 4-2-0 and they next face the Maple Leafs, who are off to a 4-2-1 start, on Thursday night at the Garden.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Not a good weekend for New England's Division 1 schools.

BC Safety Wes Davis was strapped to a backboard after laying motionless on the turf for nearly 10 minutes on Saturday's game against Maryland before being wheeled to an ambulance. The school said that Davis had 'full motion', but remained hospitalized for observation.

After falling behind to the Terrapins 24-7 in the third, BC managed to score two unanswered TD's in the 4th quarter, but successive drives late in the quarter stalled in the 4th when the ball was turned over on downs. Maryland wins by a final of 24-21 in Chestnut Hill. Montel Harris had 27 carries for 116 yards and 2 TDs in the losing effort for the Eagles. This makes it 5 losses in a row, and things aren't looking too good for next week when the Eagles host the Clemson Tigers.

UConn actually did worse, getting shut out 26-0 by Louisville on Saturday. The Huskies will host the West Virginia Mountaineers this Saturday.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NCAA: The New Jersey Nets announced that they would be donating $75,000 towards a fund for paralyzed Rutgers player Eric LeGrand. LeGrand has shown no signs of improvement since being hospitalized.

Cuppa Sports Chowdah Runneth Over- Pats Get Past Ravens W/Help of Sturdy Branch; B's Off to Capital Start; BC's Woes Continue

NFL: Well, that was pretty awesome. I managed to tune in just in time for the 4th quarter of Sunday's Baltimore/New England game with the Ravens leading 20-10. That was answered by a drive that started on the Pat's own 40 and was capped by a Brady TD pass to Deion Branch (who hardly looked as though he missed a practice) to make it a 3 point game. The Ravens would get as far as mid-field on their next possession, but punted it away on 4th and 1.

The game-tying drive for New England started on their own 14 yard line and threatened to sputter when the Pats were penalized 15 yards after advancing the ball to the Ravens 35 yard line, but a 24 yard completion from Brady to TE Rob Gronkowski brought up 2nd and 1, where the Pats would drive the ball inside the Baltimore 10, but have to settle for the game-tying field goal to cap off a methodical drive that burned nearly 7 minutes off of the clock.

After going three and out from their own 20, Baltimore punted and Wes Welker had a 22 yard return to put the ball at mid-field with 45 seconds left in regulation. However, Brady would get sacked by Haloti Ngata before Brady's hail-mary pass was intercepted in the end zone for a touchback as regulation expired with the game tied at 20-20.

Overtime started off with each team going three and out, although Baltimore was able to string together some first downs, they still ended up punting. However, they were able to keep the Patriots pinned deep on their own end of the field- at least until rookie Romanian punter Zoltan Mesko booted the ball 65 yards from their own 14 to put the Ravens inside their own 20. The Ravens subsequently went three and out, giving the Pats good field position for another sustained drive, distributing the ball between Welker, Branch and Algie Crumpler before Stephen Gostkowski kicked a relatively easy field goal (with just under 2 minutes left in OT) to give New England the 23-20 win.

Tom Brady went 27-44 with 292 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and got sacked three times. In his first game for New England since Superbowl XXXIX, Deion Branch had 9 receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown. For Baltimore, Joe Flacco went 27-35 with 285 yards and 2 TDs and getting sacked three times. Ray Rice was the Ravens leading receiver with 88 yards and Derrick Mason had 100 yards on 8 carries to lead Baltimore's rushing game.

Not a bad way to come off of the bye week. The Patriots have won 3 in a row and are now 4-1. This weekend, they'll travel to southern California to take on the San Diego Chargers at 4PM ET, 1 PM Pacific.

OTHER PATS NEWS: Brandon Merriweather issued an apology to Ravens TE Todd Heap after a helmet-to-helmet hit. Merriweather and two others were fined earlier this week for what the NFL called dangerous and flagrant hits. Merriweather was fined $50,000 for the his but faces no suspension

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Speaking of Southern California, former Pats, Chargers and Dolphins linebacker Junior Seau was released from a La Jolla, CA hospital with minor injuries after the SUV he was driving plunged off of a seaside cliff in Carlsbad, CA on Monday night. The accident came within 12 hours of his arrest and release by police in Oceanside, CA on domestic violence charges after an argument with his 25 year old girlfriend. Seau told investigators he fell asleep at the wheel- Carlsbad police say that the lack of skidmarks on the seaside highway are consistent with Seau's account. Moreover, they say that no drugs or alcohol were present.

Greg Fiume/Getty

NHL: The Bruins are back in the continental United States and off to a pretty good start. I caught most of their 4-1 win over New Jersey on Saturday, and on Tuesday night, they travelled to Washington DC to take on the Caps in which the game was quasi-nationally televised on Versus. David Krejci and Milan Lucic got the scoring started for Boston with a goal each and just over two minutes apart in the 1st. Washington's Marcus Johansson managed to cut the Bruins lead in half in the 2nd period, but Matt Hunwick put the game away with some insurance in the 3rd to make it 3-1. Caps netminder Michal Neuvirth was pulled after allowing the two Boston goals in the first and has since been listed as day-to-day with flu-like symptoms while Tim Thomas stopped 35 of 36 shots faced.

The Bruins head back for their home opener Thursday night against the Caps with a 3-1-0 record. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7PM ET/4 Pacific.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Damn- they played better than the last three weeks, but Boston College couldn't get off the schnide against Florida State. Turnovers by the Seminoles nearly cost them the game, but with a little over 11 minutes to go, a 42 yard TD run by 'Noles WR Bert Reed put them up for good by a score of 24-19. At least 10 of those points for BC came off of turnovers from Florida State QB Charlie Ponder, but it obviously wasn't enough for the W. Montel Harris had 26 carries for 191 yards, but no TD's.

The Eagles head back to Chestnut Hill and will host 4-2 Maryland on Saturday.

OTHER BOSTON COLLEGE NEWS:

Credit where credit's due, CNN ran this story on BC linebacker Mark Herzlich's overcoming bone cancer to return to the lineup this season. Kinda puts a disappointing 0-4 slide into perspective.

OTHER NCAA FOOTBALL NEWS: Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LaGrande suffered a spinal cord injury during last weekend's game against the Army Black Knights and is said to have no movement below his neck. The junior was rushed to Hackensack University Medical center where he underwent emergency surgery and remained in the intensive care unit. Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano says that LeGrande is in good spirits and is aware "...of the new set of challenges ahead of him". As of Wednesday night, there was no further updates on his condiditon.

UConn QB Cody Endres has been suspended for the remainder of the season for an unspecified violation of school rules. Redshirt freshman Michael Box is listed as Endres' backup. Endres replaced the erratic Zach Frazier halfway through the September 25 game against Buffalo and could also be a possible replacement.

MLB: Holy crap! These games are just flying by, aren't they? The Giants are one game away from their pursuit of their first World Series title since moving out to San Francisco, taking a commanding 3-1 series lead in the NLCS.

Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers have a 3-2 series lead on the Yankees after splitting the first two games at Arlington, TX and winning the first two games at Yankee stadium. The Yankees won Wednesday's game by a margin of 7-2, setting up a Game 6 back in Arlington with Colby Lewis tenatively scheduled to start against the Yankee's Phil Huges on Saturday.

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).

Quicke Cuppa Sports Chowdah Update- Phil In The Blanks, Doc Holliday Throws No-No in NLDS Game 1; Pats Gather No More Moss

AP Photo

And there we were watching history with the sound off.

Long story short, I get together with some friends at the friendly neighborhood cantina for some Sam Adams and so I can show them the pricey and tax-free goodies I picked up while I was in New Hampshire last month. There's a flat screen over the bar that's showing the NFL network, and almost as an afterthought I ask the bartender if they can change it to the Reds/Phillies game. The barkeep obliged and we tuned in just in time to see Shane Victorino steal third and come home on a Chase Utley sac-fly in the bottom of the first.

By the time the bottom of the second rolls around, it's pretty clear that Cincinnati's Edinson Volquez isn't long for this game as he put two runners on with two away and facing his counterpart, Roy Halliday. The Philly starter helped out his own cause with the lumber when he hit an RBI single to shallow left to make it a 2-0 game. Volquez then walked Jimmy Rollins to put the Philly ace at 2nd and load them up once again. Shane Victorino then hit a 2-RBI single in which a jacket-wearing Halliday scored from 2nd before Reds manager Dusty Baker decided to pull Volquez for Travis Wood.

For those of us at the cantina who no longer had a dog in the fight, our attention began to turn to the more mundane such as the pricey shit I purchased in New Hampshire (did I mention it was tax-free) and vacation pictures that came out alot better than I thought. With the sound off, none of us gave the game on the TV much thought....until I happened to look up and see that TBS was flashing a graphic that pointed out the last time a postseason starter threw 7 no-hit innings was the Red Sox's Jim Longborg in Game 2 of the 1967 World Series against St. Louis. We figured that they wouldn't bother pointing that out unless Halliday was throwing a no-no.

Sure enough he was. The only runner he allowed was Reds outfielder Jay Bruce with a 5th inning walk. Halliday successfully continued mowing 'em down into the 9th, where he faced Reds 2B Brandon Phillips. Phillips chopped an 0-2 offering in front of home plate and sprinted towards first as Philly C Carlos Ruiz tore off his mask and deftly plucked the ball up from next to the bat laying down on the infield and managed to throw to 1B Ryan Howard in time for the final out of the game.

This marks the first postseason no-hitter since October 1956 when Don Larsen threw a perfect game for the Yankees against the then Brooklyn Dodgers in the '56 World Series.

OTHER MLB PLAYOFF GAMES: DJ Kitty was unable to weave his magic for Game 1 down in Tampa Bay. Cliff Lee got out of some early jams against the Rays and the Rangers win game one of that series 5-1.

The Yankees came from behind to win the first playoff game at Target Field in Minnesota by a 6-4 score.

Game one of the Division series between the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves get underway tomorrow night at 9:35PM Eastern time.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Not surprisingly, there's been some managerial shakeups with the end of the regular season upon us. Ken Macha's been dismissed as Brewer's manager while the Pittsburgh Pirates fired manager John Russel after 3 seasons. In New York, Mets GM Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel were fired on Monday.

NFL: The biggest bit of sports news before Roy Halliday got Brandon Phillips to ground out in the 9th inning was the departure of WR Randy Moss from New England. The mercurial wide receiver departed for the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday in exchange for their 3rd round draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. So now he's the Viking's problem.

Moss was likely dissatisfied with his current contract status (a 3 year deal that would've finished up at the end of the year) while Brady, Banta-Cain and Gostowski among others received contract extensions. This in turn lead to all sorts of speculation about his future in New England and reportedly some loud exchanges with teammates and coaching staff. On the Minnesota end of the deal, Brett Farve was reportedly lobbying the Viking management to put in an offer for Moss.

Randy Moss is expected to start in time for the Monday Night game against the NY Jets and will return to Foxboro with the Vikings on Halloween [I used to scoff at the notion that the NFL is scripted, but nowadays, I sometimes pause- NANESB!].

Personally, I'm not glad to see him go, but if he doesn't want to stay then why bother forcing the issue. The Krafts managed to get a few relatively drama-free years from Moss, which was a few more than I anticipated when the trade from Oakland was announced in 2007.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: The Buffalo Bills traded RB Marshawn Lynch to the Seattle Seahawks for a pair of undisclosed draft picks earlier this week.

While I Was Away Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Put Away For The Winter; Pats Celebrate Diversity, Rout in Miami; Uh-Oh and Two- BC Stumbles After Bye

Hey there everybody. Just because the last couple of weeks have been forgettable as far as New England sports have gone doesn't mean that I've suddenly forgotten about them. As a matter of fact, I got to see some of the train wreck against Baltimore firsthand at Fenway two weeks ago. If I were the kind of person to drop names, I could say that I attended the game with reigning Miss USA (and Ground Zero mosque opponent) Rima Fakih, documentarian Ken Burns and radio host Howie Carr. Of course, if I was 100% honest, I would mention that while my seats were good (by the Pesky Pole), they weren't that good, so I missed out on the VIP treatment.

O Captain My Captain! AP/Jim Rogash Photo

One had the feeling that missing out on October baseball in New England was inevitable once it was announced Youkilis was out for the season (or Pedroia, or Ellsbury or when the Sox dropped a bunch of game against division opponents or....take your pick). They were technically still in it until screwing the pooch against Baltimore and the White Sox, but they managed to play tough against the Yankees, taking two out of three at Yankee stadium the last weekend in September before hosting them for the season finale this past weekend.

John Lackey went seven and 2/3rds innings against the Yankees on Sunday and got plenty of run support thanks in no small part to homers by JD Drew and Jed Lowrie. Lowrie was 2-3 with two homers and 3 RBI while JD Drew went 1-4 with 2 RBI. Lowrie's 2 run shot broke a 2-2 deadlock in the bottom of the fifth before Ryan Kalish put an exclamation point on a 3-run 6th inning by stealing home to give the Red Sox a 7-2 lead. Daniel Bard would come on after Rich Hill couldn't get a batter out in the top of the 7th and Papelbon would close out the game, giving up a run in the process.

I got to catch the game on TBS Sunday afternoon and while the win didn't help the Red Sox secure anything, the loss cost the Yankees the AL East pennant as Tampa Bay rallied to beat Kansas City that afternoon for their regular season finale.

It was a good game considering there was nothing to look forward to the following week. Mike Lowell already announced his retirement effective Sunday and we're left to speculate about the futures of longtime Sox like Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield or Big Papi. There's also the matter of free agents like Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez.

Boston finishes the season with an 89-73 record, which might've been good enough for a postseason berth in seasons past, but only gets them third place in the AL East behind Tampa and the Yankees.

ELSEHWERE IN MLB: The first round matchups are set for the Division series, all but one of which will get underway tomorrow afternoon.

Rangers at Rays: 1:30PM ET
Reds at Phillies: 5:00PM ET
Yankees at Twins: 8:00PM ET
Braves at Giants: 9:30PM ET (Thursday)
[All Games broadcast on TBS]

With the Padres 3-0 loss on Sunday, we narrowly missed having a series of one-game playoffs to determine the national league wild card winner and NL West winner, since the Padres a game out of the NL Wild card and two games out of the division.

NFL: Wow....the first half was a real snoozer, but New England got creative in second half down in Miami on Monday night.

All the Pats offense had to show in the first half was two Gostkowski field goals, but as soon as the second half kicked off, it was clear that variety is the spice of life. To get things started off, Brandon Tate returned the kickoff 103 yards to paydirt to put the Pats up 13-7. But things were just getting started, as Patrick Chung blocked Miami's punt on the ensuing Dolphin's possession, giving New England the ball at Miami;s 25 yard line, which in turn made the Pats made it a 20-7 game with a 12 yard TD run from BenJarvus Green-Ellis.

The Dolphins came right back to make it 14-20 game after Chade Henne found Ricky Williams to just shy of the 9-minute mark in the third. New England responded with that with a 4+ minute drive capped by a Brady pass to RB Danny Woodhead for a 27-14 game.

If that didn't break it open, then the blocked field goal attempt run back 35 yards by Kyle Arrington for a TD. The exclamation point came when safety Patrick Chung intercepted a Chad Henne pass and ran it back 51 yards to make it 41-14 New England. Tom Brady went 19-24 for 153 yards with a touchdown. It was kind of a slow night for Moss and Welker, but that was more than offset by special teams plays from Chung and Tate.

It was so bad that the special teams coordinator for the Dolphins was fired the following day. No, really....he was. So the Pats make it two wins in a row against AFC East opponents (last week's game against the Bills turned out to be more of a nail-biter than this one) and head into the bye with a 3-1 record.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Speaking of byes, the BC Eagles have yet to win a game since their weekend off a few weeks back. Granted they weren't playing Kent State or Weber State, but had instead graduated to Virginia Tech and Notre Dame as opponents. Boston college has scored no more than 13 points in the last two games after getting shut out by the Hokies on Chestnut Hill by a score of 19-0 and this week to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a final of 31-13. The 2-2 Eagles will travel to Raliegh this weekend to take on the NC State Wolfpack.

UConn has had it a little better than BC, managing to beat the Buffalo Bisons 45-21 and the Vanderbilt Commodores 40-21 at East Hartford. The Huskies will travel to Piscataway, NJ to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights before getting the following weekend off.