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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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







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



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



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



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



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



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





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



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



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



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

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



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

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



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



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



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







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

Sports Chowdah Update- Cole Burner; Anybody Else Feel A Draft?

Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images

MLB: After stumbling in the first two games, the Red Sox were able to salvage Game 3 against the Phillies and even managed to literally knock Philly starter Cole Hamels out of the game. After a scoreless duel with Jon Lester, Philly manager Charlie Manuel made the decision to pull Hamels after the starter took an Adrian Gonzalez line-drive off of his glove hand in the top of the 4th. Hamels reportedly had a large bruise to show for it, but Manuel wasn't going to take any chances with the starter.

The Red Sox managed to break the scoreless deadlock with a pair of RBI singles- one off the bat of Drew Sutton and the other from Jacoby Ellsbury- off of David Herndon in the top of the 5th. This was followed up by two solo homers from Jason Varitek and one from Dustin Pedroia.

Jon Lester came up pretty big against a potent Philly offense, allowing two hits and two walks and striking out five in 7 shutout innings of work. After Bobby Jenks scuffled in his second game back since returning from the DL, giving up a 2-run homer off the bat of Phillies 1B Ryan Howard, Papelbon came in for a 2-out save in the bottom of the 9th to secure the 5-2 win for Boston.

From there, the BoSox will travel to the Lone Star state for their second-ever sojourn to Houston. Tim Wakefield (4-3; 4.54 ERA) gets the start against Astros righty Bud Norris (4-6; 3.36 ERA) on Friday night.

NBA: The Celtics season has been over for awhile, and with a lockout underway the 2011-2012 season is in doubt as well. That's not to say the C's haven't been wheeling and dealing, however. In a draft day trade with the New Jersey Nets, the Celtics traded for Purdue's JaJuan Johnson in exchange for Providence's Marshon Brooks and a 2nd round pick in the 2014 draft.


NHL: The 2011 NHL draft last week officially closed the book on the 2009 Phil Kessel trade with the selection of OHL defenseman Dougie Hamilton. Hamilton was the 9th overall selection in the NHL draft- like last year's draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs had agreed to trade their 1st round draft pick to Boston in exchange for Kessel.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: Paul Kariya, the Anaheim Ducks first-ever draft pick who started out in 1993, announced his retirement this week.

*It was made official at the draft when the former Atlanta Thrashers drafted OHL Center Mark Scheifele in the first round- the new NHL franchise in Winnipeg will resurrect the Jets name.

Just a bit of idle speculation on my part, but with Carolina, Florida, Washington and Tampa Bay having to travel to Manitoba several times a year to play a 'divisional opponent', realignment seems inevitable. What would probably make the most sense geographically is to have Nashville take the Thrasher's place and have them take Nashville's place in the Central but its possible for the league to move a team from the Northwestern division into Nashville's place in order to arrange the Jets playing the Oilers, Flames and Canucks on a more regular basis.

UPDATE: With not even the first full day of free agency in the NHL gone, the Philadelphia Flyers have announced a 1 year deal with Jaromir Jagr and a five year deal with former Penguins forward Maxime Talbot.

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.

The Big Daddy of Sports Chowdah Updates- Grin and Bear It, Triumphant B's Return to Boston, Parade & Fenway Ceremony; Interleague's Stranger Brew

NHL- After a private party at the Foxwoods casino club 'Shrine' in which Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand and Shawn Thornton were hand delivered a $100,000 bottle of champagne to drink out of the Stanley Cup, the Boston Bruins capped their most memorable week in nearly 40 years with a parade route jam-packed with yellow and black adorned fans on Saturday and a pregame ceremony at Fenway Park on Sunday.

[By the way, am I the only one that imagined the Bruins exodus from Vancouver might've looked something like the part in The Dark Knight where Gotham Police are escorting Harvey Dent in an armoured truck?- NANESB!]

The players from the Bruins brought the Stanley Cup into the Red Sox clubhouse before Sunday's game and players from both teams posed for pictures with the trophies and swapped caps and jerseys before the pre-game ceremonies.

For the actual ceremony itself, the Bruins entered Fenway Park on the same Duck boats from Saturday's parade (or the Celtics 2008 parade, or the Red Sox 2007 parade or...well you get the idea) taking a lap along the warning track and tossing out pucks and baseballs to fans before disembarking.


For the ceremonial first pitch, every member of the Bruins threw out a pitch to a Red Sox player, with captain Zdeno Chara (#33) throwing to captain Jason Varitek (again, #33) while the Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe award and Prince of Wales trophy were displayed on the mound.

On a side note, I got a book called Travels With Stanley which showed some of the places the Cup has been in its travels. Interestingly, this was not the Stanley Cup's first trip to Fenway in recent history.

Skip Cunningham, the Hurricanes other equipment manager, took possession of the Stanley Cup on August 16 in Boston, Massachusetts.

After a visit to Children's Hospital Boston, hockey's greatest prize visited the Boston Red Sox. In the clubhouse at Fenway Park, slugger David Ortiz did a double-take when he saw the Cup. "My my," he said, shaking his head. "Look at this trophy! Look what those hockey players get to play for. Now that's a trophy!"

Pitcher Mike Timlin stopped by to ogle the Cup, and recalled occasionally attending Maple Leafs games when he played in Toronto for the Blue Jays. Up on the Green Monster in Fenway Park's outfield, Cunningham and the Cup ran into Doug Flutie, retired NFL quarterback, who spun stories about watching hockey while he played in the Canadian Football League. Carolina's Craig Adams, a huge Red Sox fan, was also there with the Stanley Cup.

I remember reading that part and thinking 'Too Bad it's been awhile since the Cup has been inside the Hub- I bet that would go over well with everybody there if somebody took it to Fenway for an afternoon'. I didn't know how right I was, as it turned out.

My, what a differece a few years makes!

MLB- OK, so the hockey season is over- and with the best possible outcome, no less. There's still plenty of baseball to be played, however.

With the Sox taking Friday night's game and the Brewers winning on Saturday by a 4-2 final, Sunday's rubber game almost seemed an afterthought with the Bruins victory lap around the infield.

The Sox got off on the right foot with a 1-2-3 first from Tim Wakefield and 6 runs from the Boston bats in the bottom of the 1st, including a Youkilis 3-run homer. The Brewers would get two back in the top of the 2nd on a 2-run Nyjer Morgan HR, but Wakefield would go on to retire 12 of the next 13 batters he faced while the Red Sox batters continued pouring it on, scoring two more in the bottom of the 4th including a solo homer by Pedroia, followed by a Pedroia sac fly in the 5th and a 2-run Marco Scutaro homer in the bottom of the 6th to make it 11-2. Each team would get a run to make it a 12-3 Red Sox win on Sunday afternoon, with Wakefield going 8 whole innings while giving up 3 hits and 3 earned runs while striking out 6 and walking 1. Wake is now 4-2 on the season with a 4.26 ERA.

Beginning Monday night, the Red Sox will host Adrian Gonzalez (who had his 1000th career MLB hit on Sunday) former team in the San Diego Padres. Wade LeBlanc [0-2; 4.26 ERA] is expected to get the start for San Diego against PawSox call-up Andrew Miller [3-3: 2.47 ERA w/Pawtucket this season]. Game gets underway at 7:05 PM ET, 4:05 Pacific.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: Shortstop Jed Lowrie, OF Carl Craford and starting pitcher Clay Buchholz all went on the 15 day DL this weekend. Lowrie is reported to have a left shoulder injury while Crawford is said to have a left hamstring strain. Buchholz will miss his scheduled start tomorrow with a strained lower back- Andrew Miller has been called up from AAA Pawtucket to fill in Monday night.

NEW POLL UP: I took it upon myself to wonder who's behavior would be considered more self-destructive this month- Congressman Weiner's or fans of the Vancouver Canucks? I'm interested in why you might think, so there's a poll where you can choose- It will be up for the next couple of days.

AHL: The Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League are the 2010-2011 AHL Champions after defeating the Houston Aeros on the road by a final of 3-2 earlier this month. The Ottawa Senator's AHL affiliate won the best of seven series by a 4-2 margin over the Aeros.

Sports Chowdah Update- Canucks go Luongo Distance; Red Sox on Wrong End of Sox Sweep; Shaq Packs it In

STANLEY CUP FINALS: For those of you who were wondering what it would've been like if the Bruins were on the losing end of that spectacular goalie matchup in Game 7 of the Eastern conference finals, Game 1 offered just a taste. With two Vezina-candidate goalies between the pipes, you had to figure it would be a low-scoring affair.

While they didn't score often (hell, nobody did) the Canucks scored late for the only goal of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals in Vancouver on Wednesday night. Raffi Torres put the Canucks on the board with less than 20 seconds left in regulation, eliminating the need for that pesky overtime.

The Canucks went 0-6 on the power play while the Bruins were 0-7 (including a 3 on 5 in the 2nd period) on the evening. So unlike Game 7 against Tampa Bay, the officials did take the whistle out of the pocket- although there were no penalties against either team in the 3rd.

Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo turned aside all 36 shots faced while Tim Thomas stopped 33 of 34 faced in regulation. Game 2 is set to get underway at Vancouver's Rogers Arena on Saturday night at 8 PM ET, 5 PM Pacific Time and will be broadcast on NBC and CBC.

Granted the stakes are much higher in this one, but it's a little early to freak out and collectively hang heads in despair over the outcome of Game 1. The B's got off to much worse starts in their series against Tampa Bay and Montreal, yet somehow made it to the finals.

OTHER STANLEY CUP FINALS NEWS: The NHL has ruled that Canucks forward Alex Burrows will not be suspended after biting the finger of Patrice Bergeron during an altercation at the end of the 1st period. Both players were given offsetting minor penalties for roughing to start off the 2nd period.

OTHER NHL NEWS: In what's likely the biggest news to hit Winnipeg since.....umm.....hmm.....I guess the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway or Trans-Canada highway [care to help me out on this one, Maintobans? -NANESB!], it was announced this week that the Atlanta Thrashers would be moving to Winnipeg, MB upon completion of the sale of the Thrashers to True North Sports & Entertainment.

Winnipeg was home to the Jets, a World Hockey Association that was absorbed into the NHL in the 1970s, up until 1996 when the team departed for Phoenix, AZ to become the Coyotes. There had been much speculation that the financially struggling Coyotes would in fact be the team that would move back to Manitoba, but the organization was able to reach a long-term deal with the city of Glendale, AZ regarding an arena.

After the Winnipeg Jets left town, the city played host to the Manitoba Moose of the IHL and later AHL.

MLB: After taking 3 out of 4 over the weekend from the Detroit Tigers, the Red Sox travelled back to Fenway to take on the Chicago White Sox with Lester, Acves and Wakefield getting the starts over the last 3 games. Wednesday's game featured the White Sox rallying from a 3-1 hole in the top of the 5th to tie the game and eventually go ahead, winning by a 7-4 final. Wakefield went 6 innings in the loss, allowing 7 hits, 4 runs and getting no decision.

The Red Sox will go up against the Oakland A's at Fenway on Friday night at 7:10PM ET. Clay Buchholz (4-3; 3.41 ERA) will get the start against Josh Outman (1-0; 2.08 ERA).

DOWN IN PAWTUCKET: The Pawtucket Red Sox managed to rally against the Norfolk Tides on Wednesday night despite Kevin Millwood only going 2 and 2/3rds innings and allowing 4 runs. Outfielder Darnell McDonald went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs in the 8-7 win against the Baltimore Orioles affiliated AAA team, getting five runs in the bottom of the 9th.

On Tuesday night, John Lackey started for Pawtucket and went 5 and 2/3rds innings, allowing 3 hits and one earned run. Hideki Okajima came out of the bullpen and got the win in the 11-inning 5-4 win

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: Daisuke Matsuzaka is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, a Japanese news agenct reported. Matsuzaka had consulted with his family in Japan and got a 2nd opinion from a Los Angeles based doctor who confirmed the Red Sox diagnosis.

CELTICS: After an injury plagued season with the Boston Celtics, Center Shaquille O'Neal announced his retirement on Wednesday. The 7ft 1 Lousiana State star had a NBA career spanning 19 season with the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.