Uh, Didn't See that one Coming

And you thought the New England Patriots had issues? The Denver Broncos came to Gillette Stadium last night for Monday Night Football and laid an even bigger egg than the Patriots' recent losses to the Dolphins or Chargers (which is pretty hard to do). All was right in Foxboro (for one night at least) as the Patriots rolled, 41-7.

Since the Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2002, I don't think I've ever gone into a game with lower expectations than last night. Part of that was the simple fact of the Red Sox hangover from the night before, when Boston was eliminated in game 7 of the ALCS by the Rays. The other thing was I thought it was clear the Patriots had way too many issues to be any kind of factor in the NFL this season. Maybe, they'd sneak into the playoffs, but they wouldn't win a game in January.

I was completely wrong and I couldn't be more happier about it. We have to temper our expectations until the Pats do this in consecutive games but at least it makes the season seem much more promising.

Denver (4-2) fumbled on its first two possessions in New England territory but the Pats could only convert two Stephen Gostowski field goals: from 31-yards and 40-yards.

Sammy Morris had probably the game of his life and it all came in the first half as he left with a knee injury in the third quarter. He carried the ball 16 times for 138 yards. Ironically, this happened on a night when New England placed Laurence Maroney on season-ending IR.

A four-yard burst by Morris put the Pats up 13-0 and they opened up a 20-0 halftime lead as Matt Cassel (18 of 24, 185 yards, 3 touchdowns) found Randy Moss (5 catches, 69 yards) for a 13-yard touchdown.

The second half was more of the same as the Patriots' offensive line and every running back they plugged in completely dominated the Broncos. Jay Cutler (17 of 26, 168 yards) hurt his pinkie on the first play of the game and was inneffective the whole night. He tossed two picks, to James Sanders and Brandon Meriweather.

It was a game to remember for Moss and Wes Welker (6 catches, 63 yards). Moss turned a screen into a 27-yard touchdown and Welker found the end zone with a 6-yard catch and run.

Former Pats tight end Daniel Graham broke the shutout with a 10-yard catch early in the fourth quarter, making it 34-7 New England.

Rookie running back Benjarvus Green-Ellis (13 carries, 65 yards) scored his first NFL touchdown, plunging in from one yard out.

Another rookie, inside linebacker Jerod Mayo continued to impress with eight tackles and a fumble recovery.

The injury bug was contagious on both sides: All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey left with a strained groin and Patriots safety Rodney Harrison was carted off with yet another knee injury. It did not look good for Harrison, who has had a terrible string of injuries the last few seasons. Every opposing fan hates him but it would be sad to see such a great career like his end like that.

The St. Louis Rams, fresh off impressive wins over the Redskins and Cowboys come to Gillette on Sunday afternoon. Who knows what to expect from either team? People will no doubt be jumping back on the Patriots' bandwagon but if we've learned anything so far this year, it's that they are schizophrenic.

It is the Rays' Year

The Tampa Bay Rays have been the best team in baseball all season (forget the Angels' impressive record, the AL West was a joke) so it seems only fitting that they're moving on to face the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. The Rays clinched the trip with a nail-biting 3-1 win over the Boston Red Sox in game 7 of the ALCS at the Trop last night.

As a Sox fan, I'm obviously disappointed and went into the game thinking Boston would find a way to win since that's what they've done in recent big games but it wasn't to be. They lost to a better team, I don't hesitate to admit that. I'm sure a majority of simple-minded fanboys from New England and beyond won't be able to deal with this blow for a while but when you lose and there's nothing to gripe about, you have to let it go.

Matt Garza outdueled Jon Lester and Tampa Bays bullpen held the lead. Garza got off to a shaky start as he gave up a solo home run to Dustin Pedroia in the first but he settled down after that. In the biggest start of his career, Garza went seven innings, giving up just the one run on two hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon got all Tony LaRussa on everybody by using four relievers to get six outs but it worked. The headliner was stud David Price, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft, who recorded the last four outs and the save. Price walked one and struck out three, leaving little doubt that the hard-throwing lefty will soon be one of the top pitchers in the AL and probably baseball.

In seven innings of work, Lester gave up three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Lester was good but he had to be perfect in this game since the Sox lineup couldn't give him anything.

The Rays tied it in the fourth when Evan Longoria knocked in Carlos Pena with an RBI double.

Tampa Bay would take the lead for good in the fifth as Rocco Baldelli singled home Willy Aybar.

Aybar provided the play of the game as he hit a solo homer in the seventh off Lester that gave Tampa a 3-1 lead.

Boston had five walks but they couldn't deliver the big hits as they left 18 men on base. Hideki Okajima gave the Sox another clean inning, a 1-2-3 eighth.

Price came into the game with two outs in the eighth and struck out J.D. Drew looking with the bases loaded. He walked Jason Bay to lead off the ninth but stuck out Mark Kotsay and Jason Varitek (no pinch hitter?). Jed Lowrie came up for Alex Cora and hit a hard grounder to second baseman Akinori Iwamura that took a sharp hop but Iwamura gloved it and stepped on second for the third and final out.

It's all too easy to be bummed out since the Red Sox fell short so close to another World Series appearance, where they would have had the chance to get two titles in a row. In all honesty, it shouldn't have gotten to that point. Tampa Bay dominated the first 4+ games in the series, the Sox had an amazing comeback then won game 6. Boston had too many injuries and guys in slumps to overcome a young, talented, hungry team like the Rays.

There's many questions to answer in the offseason but the Red Sox have nothing to hang their heads about. They went as far as this flawed team could take them.

World Series prediction: Rays in 6.

Red Sox force Game 7 in ALCS

I thought the Tampa Bay Rays were different. After being the better team for games 1-5 (until the final seven outs of game 5), the Rays appear to have unraveled as the Red Sox took game 6 at the Trop, 4-2.

Yet another Boston Red Sox playoff comeback that seemed so unlikely, now seems almost inevitable. How much can one crazy rally change?

Josh Beckett was the Sox' biggest question mark heading into game 6 and he submitted a fine performance given the circumstances (and his probable injury). He went five innings, giving up two runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

For Tampa, Big Game James Shields failed to live up to his name as he gave up four (three earned) runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings, with three walks and three strikeouts.

TBS had a power outage so the first 21 minutes of the game were blacked out (really). That means the national audience missed Babe Ruth, I mean B.J. Upton's solo homer off Beckett in the first.

Boston responded as Kevin Youkilis hit a matching solo blast in the second off Shields. Youkilis put the Sox up 2-1 in the third with an RBI groundout that scored Dustin Pedroia.

The Rays tied it up with another long ball, from the most unlikely of sources: Jason Bartlett (his second of the season) hooked one down the left field line.

Maybe even more improbable than that was when Sox catcher Jason Varitek recorded his first hit in the sixth: a solo homer to right center off Shields. David Ortiz made it 4-2 with an RBI single to right which beat the shift.

Coco Crisp once again was great in the leadoff spot with three hits, a walk and a run.

From there, Boston got outstanding work from its bullpen. Hideki Okajima (who hasn't given up a run in the playoffs) went two scoreless innings, Justin Masterson (how good is he?) pitched a scorless eighth before handing it over to Mr. Automatic, Jonathan Papelbon. The 1-2-3 ninth from Pap gave him the save and more importantly forced a winner-takes-all game 7 tonight at the Trop.

It'll be Jon Lester against Matt Garza. You have to feel like the Sox have all the momentum in the world plus Lester will almost certainly have a better start than he did in game 3 (five runs). Just sayin'.

Sox stave off elimination in ALCS with comeback win for the ages

Where to begin? The Tampa Bay Rays were crusing along in game 5 at Fenway, nursing a 7-0 lead with nine outs to go from the World Series. Somehow, someway, the Boston Red Sox recovered to get a walk-off 8-7 win thanks to J.D. Drew's RBI double in the ninth. The seven-run deficit and comeback was the second biggest in MLB playoff history.

Following the exact same script from the first two games at Fenway, the Rays jumped on the Sox' starting pitcher immediately. B.J. Upton (who at the moment looks like the greatest player in MLB history) had a two-run bomb off Dice-K that just got over the Monster.

Carlos Pena (2 hits, walk) followed suit with another two-run homer in the third off Dice-K and Evan Longoria added a solo shot. Like Lester and Beckett before him, Matsuzaka had nothing in Boston's most important game of the year. He lasted only four innings, giving up five runs (all earned) on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

When Tampa Bay scored twice more in the top of the seventh, Upton (2 runs, 3 hits, 4 RBI, walk) knocked in two more with a double, I can't even blame the frauds that filled the seats at Fenway for leaving. Down 7-0, the Sox bats had been completely lifeless in the last 2+ games, who really thought they'd have such an epic ending?

Lost in all the chaos after such a dramatic win was the great performance by Rays starter Scott Kazmir. Countless lazy Boston writers had criticized Joe Maddon for going with Kazmir in game 5 yet all he did was throw six scoreless innings (something that the Red Sox would kill for at this point). Kazmir allowed two hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox finally woke up from their cryogenic slumber. Dustin Pedroia singled in Jed Lowrie to make it 7-1 Tampa Bay. David Oritz came up with two men on and for the first time in the 2008 playoffs, Big Papi delivered. He blasted a three-run homer off Dingo-herder Grant Balfour.

The season was hanging in the balance so Terry Francona smartly went to his best arm in the seventh-Jonathan Papelbon. He let two inherited runners score in the seventh but settled down to pitch a scoreless eighth.

In the home half of the eighth the Sox tied it up on J.D. Drew's two-run homer off Dan Wheeler and Coco Crisp's clutch 10 pitch at-bat and RBI single. When it was happening live, I thought in my head that it was Crisp's best at-bat of his Red Sox career.

Justin Masterson worked around a hit and walk in the ninth to retire Longoria on a double play ball to end the inning. At that point, you had a feeling that there was no way Tampa was winning this game.

Drew did the honors as he drove in Kevin Youkilis with an RBI single off J.P. Howell. Youkilis had a great 10 pitch at bat as well before he singled. Howell walked Jason Bay before Drew delivered with another chapter cementing his place as a Boston sports legend (grand slam in game 6 of the 2007 ALCS says hello as well).

Hideki Okajima was another unsung hero in the win as he pitched two scoreless innings after Dice-K's meltdown. It had to be the earliest Okajima has ever entered a game for Boston.

So the series shifts back to Tampa Bay tomorrow night with the Phillies waiting at home for the winner, in the World Series. The Rays had all the momentum in the series and looked like a sure bet to wrap it up last night. However, I can't think of many other soul-crushing losses like last night in any sport. The fact that the Rays are such a young, inexperienced team means that this loss might linger even longer than it would with a more veteran team. Who knows? It all comes down to if Josh Beckett can give Boston anything tomorrow night against James Shields. It's been three straight dogshit starts from Red Sox pitchers. If Boston wins game 6, you can bank on them winning the series. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves, the Rays have shown themselves to be a ridiculously talented team all year, particularly in the first two plus games at Fenway.

Counting on (another) Miracle

The Tampa Bay Rays aren't just beating the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, they're setting records in the process and embarrassing the defending World Series champs. The Rays became the first team to score 9+ runs in three consecutive playoff games yesterday as they cruised to a 13-4 win in game 4 at Fenway. Tampa Bay takes a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

It didn't take long to see that Tim Wakefield didn't have anything for the Sox. Carlos Pena (3 runs, 2 walks) hit a two-run homer in the first and Evan Longoria (2 runs, 2 RBIs, walk) followed that with a solo shot.

Willy Aybar had a career night (4 for 5, 5 RBIs) and he blasted a two-run homer in the third, giving Tampa Bay a 5-0 lead.

Boston got a solo homer from Kevin Cash in the bottom of the inning but that was it.

In 2.1 innings, Wakefield was charged with five runs on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Once again, the Rays got an solid start from its pitcher. Andy Sonnanstine went 7.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Tampa put it away with a run in the fifth and five in the sixth. Carl Crawford was 5 for 5 with 3 runs, 2 RBIs and two steals.

Kevin Youkilis had an RBI groundout in the seventh but the Rays scored twice more in the eighth. The Sox finally found a Rays pitcher they can handle as Dustin Pedroia and Youkilis had an RBI single and double respectively off of Edwin Jackson in mop-up duty in the eighth.

Need some positive thinking? The last two times the Red Sox have faced a 3-1 deficit in the playoffs (2004 ALCS and 2007 ALCS), they've comeback and swept the World Series. When you think about it, it's not like we could have expected those results when they were facing elimination. Still, the Rays couldn't have any more momentum at this point. Everything is going their way for good reason. Boston can't hit, isn't getting starting pitching and the bullpen is a mess.

Dice-K will face Scott Kazmir tomorrow night at Fenway in game 5. The Sox need a spark, something to get them going and send this series back to the Trop. Otherwise, it's going to be a long offseason as the team is forced to reflect on its collapse against the Rays.

Rays demolish Red Sox, 9-1

The one sure thing in the Red Sox rotation couldn't get the job done yesterday afternoon at Fenway. Tampa Bay got to Jon Lester and made it a laugher, 9-1, in game 3 of the ALCS. The Rays take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Lester lasted 5.2 innings in a game where Boston needed more from their ace. He allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Matt Garza on the other hand, gave the Rays a perfect start. He went six innings, giving up a run on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Evan Longoria scored in the second on Dioner Navarro's RBI groundout to make it 1-0 Tampa Bay. The Rays added four in the third on B.J. Upton's three-run bomb and Longoria's solo shot. Those two guys are currently killing the Sox.

Boston got runners at first and third in the seventh but could only come away with one run as Jacoby Ellsbury knocked in Jason Varitek with a sacrifice fly. Ellsbury, David Ortiz and Varitek are a combined 0-for-34 in the series.

The pride of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Rocco Baldelli sent Red Sox fans to the exits with a three-run homer in the eighth off Paul Byrd. Carlos Pena, from Haverhill, MA/Northeastern added a solo shot in the ninth.

Something needs to be shaken up with the Sox' lineup. Varitek will sit tonight as Kevin Cash catches starter Tim Wakefield. Coco Crisp (never thought I'd say this) should be in there over Jacoby Ellsbury. Coco is a terrible leadoff hitter so have Pedroia do it (which he proved capable of during the season).

It's pretty much a must-win for Boston tonight with Wakefield going against Andy Sonnanstine. If Boston loses tonight, they might not even make it back to Tampa. Right now, the Rays are beating them in every facet of the game.

Well that was painful: Super Chargers smoke Pats, 30-10

So this is how the other half lives, huh? With Matt Cassel as quarterback of the 2008 New England Patriots, the team is wildly inconsistent and I guess at this point we have to accept that it'll be like that all season. The Patriots were in San Diego last night and got absolutely destroyed, 30-10 by a Chargers team that's not even that good.

Probably the most worrisome thing about the Patriots (3-2) is that not one part of the team is playing well. The offensive line has been terrible since the Super Bowl and they look worse when Cassel takes about 10 seconds to make a decision downfield (even Drew Bledsoe thinks he should get rid of it sooner). Laurence Maroney and LaMont Jordan both sat out and as a result, the duo of Kevin Faulk and Sammy Morris while likeable is woefully average. The running back situation needs a playmaker and Maroney is the only guy that has that ability, not saying he'll ever stop dancing and run hard downhill. The receivers are fine but they're nullified since Cassel can't get them the ball (other than short dumps to Welker).

The defensive line has been terrible, there's been no pressure on quarterbacks. The linebackers other than promising rookie Jerod Mayo have shown their age. The worst group on the team is the cornerbacks. Oh man, if you thought Ellis Hobbs is bad (he is), Deltha O'Neal is looking like a poor man's Duane Starks from a few years ago. Ugh. The Chargers repeatedly picked on O'Neal and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Finally, punter Chris Hanson is a complete bum. You wouldn't notice or care about that but with the current state of the Patriots, we need a good punter.

The Chargers (3-3) were coming off a loss at the Dolphins but you wouldn't know it as they stepped on the gas immediately. Philip Rivers had a Peyton Manning/Tom Brady-esque performance, 18 for 27, 303 yards and three touchdowns. The only reason I didn't vomit on the keyboard while typing that is because Rivers helped lead one of my fantasy teams to a win.

Nate Kaeding opened the scoring with a 25-yard kick in the first quarter. A sign of things to come was when Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed his first kick of the season.

Even without Chris Chambers, the San Diego passing game was unstoppable. Malcolm Floyd caught a 49-yard TD pass from Rivers in the first quarter. Gostkowski finally got New England on the board with a 47-yard kick in the second quarter. Vincent Jackson (5 catches, 134 yards) put the Chargers up 17-7 with a four-yard catch with 1:07 left in the half.

New England could be best summed up by their first drive of the second half. They moved it down to the 1-yard line and with four cracks at the end zone, they failed to score. It went incomplete play action pass, Morris stuffed, incomplete pass and Cassel was sacked when he tried to scramble in. Shoot me now. At that point, I think Brady turned off the TV. I wouldn't blame him either.

To nobody's surprise, San Diego made the Patriots pay by marching down the field and scoring on a 1-yard toss from Rivers to Gates. A 35-yard Kaeding kick made it 27-3 going into the fourth.

Kaeding's 23-yard kick made it 30-3 Chargers before Morris' 1-yard TD plunge hopefully helped a fantasy football player somewhere. Didn't mean anything to the real game.

After two weeks in California, the Patriots finally come home. They host a good Broncos (4-2) team next Monday. It can't get much worse than two out of the last three games (Dolphins and Chargers).