Someday Soon, Philip Humber Will Be A Great Trivia Answer

It's not a complaint but there was way too much quality sports related programming on TV tonight. I say that because I barely watched any of the Red Sox-White Sox game but I still saw the important stuff.

Boston (8-10, 5-5 away) opened the four-game series with a convincing 10-3 win at U.S. Cellular Field against the White Sox (10-9, 3-5 home).

The Red Sox won their fourth straight game (a tidy 4-0 road trip so far) with a blueprint for what they need to do to pile up victories this season: hit early and often. Eight of nine players in the lineup recorded hits and Boston used three home runs to overpower Philip Humber (1-1), who randomly threw a perfect game last Saturday.

With a rotation that looks shaky, the Red Sox will likely need to count on their many quality hitters to carry them through long portions of this season.

Humber looked nothing like the untouchable pitcher he was against Seattle (that might be a clue). In five innings, he allowed nine earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks.

Kevin Youkilis (3 hits, 2 runs) hit a grand slam while Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 home runs, 3 RBIs) continued to heat up.

The best part is that Boston only needed to use two pitchers to get the job done which is a half or a third of what it usually takes to get through nine innings for this group. Felix Doubront (1-0) picked up his first win of the season with six solid innings. He allowed three earned runs on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks.

Junichi Tazawa pitched three scoreless innings in relief, punctuated by four strikeouts. He only allowed two hits with four strikeouts and no walks.

Adrian Gonzalez's RBI double and David Ortiz's RBI single in the first gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead. Providence native Paul Konerko stroked an RBI double in Chicago's first at bats but Boston posted five more runs in the third inning. Youk (2nd of the season) hit the grand slam to right and Saltalamacchia (3rd of the season) went back-to-back with a solo shot to right.

A.J. Pierzynski had an RBI single in the third and Dayan Viciedo (2 hits) added a solo homer in the fourth that cut it to 7-3 Red Sox.

Saltalamacchia crushed a two-run homer to left center in the fifth and Ryan Sweeney (2 hits) provided the final run with an RBI single in the ninth that scored Mike Aviles (2 runs).

Daniel Bard (1-2) is back in as a starter (boo!) tomorrow night as he takes on John Danks (2-2) at 8:10 p.m. on NESN. Obviously, I want Bard to do well in whatever role he has but at this point, everybody can see that he would be most valuable to the Red Sox bullpen.

The only bad news of the day is that Carl Crawford's elbow problem could keep him out for up to three months. Not what the Red Sox needed to hear with both him and Ellsbury out for extended periods of the 2012 season.

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Patriots Trade Up Twice In 1st Round, Grab 2 Defensive Studs

We all know that NFL mock drafts are one of the most useless exercises in sports but that is especially true when you consider the unpredictability of the New England Patriots.

Felger and Mazz had the right idea today as they literally threw highlighters at a draft board, that seems like as good a method as any to figure out what Bill Belichick and Co. will do in any given year.

With two picks in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft, this appeared to be year that the Pats could finally take advantage of their spot rather than endlessly trading down as always. Still, nobody could have expected the haul they picked up. By making two trades up (their first two 1st round trade ups since 2003-Ty Warren), New England selected Syracuse defensive end Chandler Jones at No. 21 and Alabama inside linebacker Dont'a Hightower at No. 25.

They dealt their first pick (No. 27) and a third-rounder to the Bengels to select Jones; for Hightower, they parted with the other first round pick (No. 31) and a fourth-rounder to the Broncos.

I can't tell you how exciting it was to see this team be aggressive, I think this validates the unspoken truth that Belichick and Tom Brady's championship window is rapidly closing. Rather than think about the future (next season like the Boston Globe's Greg Bedard wrote today), they went for the present. After all, this was a team that was a few plays away from another Super Bowl victory. Plus, most of that team will return next fall.

This addresses their two biggest needs: a guy that can rush the quarterback from the defensive end and another guy that can make plays all over the field while also pressuring the quarterback.

Ironically enough, even though it's way closer, I hardly ever paid attention to Syracuse football since they've been so bad the last few seasons. Therefore, I don't know much about Jones other than what I've read in the predraft hype. He's long and somewhat raw but he has plenty of potential. On the other hand, I watched a million of Hightower's games since Alabama has been the best team over the last three seasons (2 National Championships). He's a beast, similar to Brandon Spikes. That's why I love that move, he's a tough football player that is also a big-time winner.

From ESPNBoston.com
At 6 feet 5, 266 pounds, Jones played in seven games last season for Syracuse as a junior, missing five games with a knee injury suffered in the season opener against Wake Forest. He recorded 4.5 sacks on the season, as well as 38 total tackles (7.5 for a loss) and two forced fumbles.

Jones played in 13 games as a sophomore in 2010, notching 57 tackles (9.5 for a loss), three forced fumbles, and four sacks. As a freshman in 2009, Jones had 52 tackles in 12 games, including 10 tackles for losses, in addition to 1.5 sacks.

A native of Endicott, N.Y., Jones was a first-team All-Big East selection last season.

Last season, Hightower was a defensive captain for the national champion Crimson Tide, a consensus first-team All-American selection by the Associated Press, a second-team All-SEC selection and a finalist for the Lombardi Award, Chuck Bednarik, Butkus Award and Lott Trophy.

He started 12 games at middle linebacker for Alabama in 2011, leading the team with 85 tackles (11 for losses), four sacks, eight quarterback hits, one interception and one forced fumble.

Hightower is a native of Lewisburg, Tenn., and played at Marshall County High School.

Both Chandler and Hightower were juniors last season.

After trading their third-round (93rd overall) and fourth-round (126th overall) picks in the pair of first-round deals, the Patriots have only their two second-round picks (No. 48 and 62 overall) remaining in this draft. I would expect them to execute more trades tomorrow (down) so that they can accumulate more picks. I'm fine with that after the incredible work they put together tonight.

Enjoy these highlights of the two newest Patriots:




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Finally, The NBA Playoffs Are Upon Us

The Boston Celtics (39-27, 24-9 home) closed out the regular season with an 87-74 win vs. the Milwaukee Bucks (31-35, 14-19 away) this evening at TD Garden.

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Dallas Mavericks so Boston will travel to Atlanta for Game 1 of their first round series on Sunday night (tip-off at 7:00 p.m.). More on that this weekend when I do a series preview (hint: the Celts should win).

Avery Bradley led the C's with 14 points, Paul Pierce had 12 points and Rajon Rondo had 15 assists (his 24th straight game with double-digit assists). The bench got plenty of minutes with Ryan Hollins (9 points, 5 rebounds, 4 blocks), Mickael Pietrus (9 points) and E'Twaun Moore (8 points, 5 assists) standing out the most.

Tobias Harris paced the Bucks with a game-high 16 points and nine rebounds. Jon Leuer had 15 points and eight rebounds, Brandon Jennings scored 12 points and Mike Dunleavy added 10 points off the bench.

It seems like forever since I paid attention to an NBA game, specifically the Celtics so this weekend will be a welcome change. The playoffs start on Saturday afternoon with games all day and night. As much as I bash the NBA regular season, the playoffs are routinely pretty awesome.

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Zdeno Chara Named A Norris Trophy Finalist

The timing of it sucks but today, Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was named one of three finalists for the Norris Trophy, handed out to the league's best defenseman.

He joins Nashville's Shea Weber and Ottawa's Erik Karlsson as nominees for the award which will be handed out June 20 in Las Vegas at the NHL awards ceremony.

Chara's a five-time Norris Trophy finalist (fourth time in five years he's been nominated) and he won it in 2009. Surprisingly of this group, only Chara's team is currently out of the 2012 NHL playoffs. Karlsson and the Senators face the Rangers tonight in Game 7 while Weber's Predators have already advanced to the Western Conference semifinals against the Phoenix Coyotes.

From ESPNBoston.com
Chara had a career-high 52 points this season (12 goals, 40 assists), fourth-best among all defensemen, and tied for third among all players with a plus-33. Chara, 35, played his 1,000th game in March and was a captain at the 2012 All-Star Game.

Karlsson, 21, broke out this season with 78 points -- 25 more than any other defenseman, and tying him for 10th-most among all players.

He had 59 assists, best among the league's defenders, and tied with Weber with 19 goals.

Weber, 26, had a career-best 49 points, tying him for sixth in the league overall, and scored 10 goals on the league's top power-play unit. His average ice time of 26 minutes, 9 seconds was fifth-most in the league.

Weber was a Norris finalist last season, finishing second in voting to Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom.

I don't really have a feel for how this will shake out. You can make a case for any of the three players although I don't think that Karlsson deserves it as much as Chara and Weber since he's all offense and doesn't play a lick of defense (you know, a defenseman's main job). This award should be about the best all-around defenseman. In that case, Chara and Weber are basically even.

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Red Sox Pick Up First Sweep Since July 22-24

I can't say I could concentrate on the few innings of the game that I watched (since the Bruins' season ended abruptly) but the Boston Red Sox did something tonight that they hadn't accomplished since July 22-24, 2011: they swept a three-game series!

It took the lowly Minnesota Twins (5-14, 2-7 home) to accomplish the modest feat but hey, the Red Sox (7-10, 4-5 away) will take it at this point. Boston wrapped it up with a 7-6 victory at Target Field.

Clay Buchholz (2-1) and the Red Sox were ahead 7-1 in the sixth but they nearly gave it all away as the Twins scored five runs in the frame to cut it to 7-6. Matt Albers was able to get the last two outs of the sixth then Vicente Padilla (1-2-3 seventh), Franklin Morales (1-2-3 eighth) and Alfredo Aceves (4th save) were able to calm things down and avoid a meltdown like the one on Saturday against the Yankees. Granted, Aceves loaded the bases in the ninth but he struck out Denard Span (2 hits) to end it.

It's a joke that Buchholz has a winning record even this early since he has been nothing short of awful. In 5.1 innings of work, he allowed five earned runs on 10 hits with two strikeouts and three walks.

Luckily for him, he faced Minnesota rookie Liam Hendriks (0-1), who at this pace won't be in MLB for very long. Hendriks was charged with seven earned runs on nine hits in four innings with three strikeouts and two walks.

Boston opened with four runs in the second on a Cody Ross RBI single and Mike Aviles' three-run homer to left (his fourth of the season).

Alexi Casilla (3 hits, run) knocked in Ben Revere with a single in the second to cut it to 4-1 but Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a two-run single in the third and Adrian Gonzalez knocked in Dustin Pedroia (2 runs, 3 hits-2B,3B) with an RBI single in the fifth to make it 7-1 Red Sox.

Minnesota's five-run sixth came on an RBI double by Span, Joe Mauer's two-run single, Justin Morneau's RBI double and Trevor Plouffe's RBI single.

There is no off-day tomorrow as Boston visits Chicago to face the White Sox (10-8) for four games at U.S. Cellular Field. Tomorrow night (8:10 p.m., NESN), Felix Doubront (0-0) faces Philip Humber (1-0) who is coming off of a perfect game on Saturday against the Mariners. Daniel Bard (1-2) faces John Danks (2-2) on Friday night, Jon Lester (0-2) gets Jake Peavy (3-0) on Saturday night and the series ends on Sunday afternoon with Josh Beckett (2-2) vs. Gavin Floyd (1-3).

I feel like the Red Sox always have trouble in Chitown but at least they've seemingly started to figure things out over the last few days.

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Capitals End Bruins' Season With 2-1 OT Win In Game 7

In many ways, an exit like this was bound to happen. By losing Game 5 on home ice and going down 3-2 in the series, the Boston Bruins effectively took away any leverage they had in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Washington Capitals. They won Game 6 in overtime but still, all the pressure was on them. The Caps had absolutely nothing to lose and nobody believing in them and that's what fueled them to an improbable upset.

Following the familiar pattern from the rest of the series, Game 7 turned out to be a one-goal game (for the seventh time, an NHL record) and it also went to overtime (for the fourth time). Unfortunately for the B's and their fans, the Caps ended their season with a 2-1 OT win tonight at TD Garden.

After Patrice Bergeron couldn't shoot a fluttering puck past Braden Holtby (31 saves), moments later Joel Ward (1st of the playoffs) followed up a rebound by ex-Bruin Mike Knuble and put it past Tim Thomas (25 saves) at 2:57. The whole play started when Benoit Pouliot failed to properly dump the puck into the Washington zone. Knuble was able to block it with his body then skate in on an odd-man rush.

Seeing your favorite team's season end is never easy, especially when you feel like they left money on the table so to speak. Yes the Caps played better than the B's in the series, that's a fact since they went 3-1 on the road. Still, I find it hard to accept that the Bruins aren't a better team when they put it all together. Sadly, they never really looked like themselves for most of this series. That's what happens when you score one goal in four different games.

This series followed some weird patterns: three 4-3 games, three 2-1 games, one 1-0 game. Boston went 2-1 in Washington. The two main reasons that Boston lost were its beyond pathetic power play (2 for 23 in the entire series) and the disappearance of Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Brad Marchand for long stretches of games.

The Bruins lost three of the last four games (two on home ice); they were outscored 16-15 while the first and last two games of the series all went to overtime. Boston won the first game but lost the all important final one which meant everything.

Another big factor was that Holtby vs. Thomas was a wash at best, actually check that. The 22-year-old rookie was a hair better than the guy that won the Vezina trophy and Conn Smythe award last season.

The alarming part about Game 7 was that the Bruins came out with hardly any emotion or jump, it was like they forgot this was such an important game. Sitting Shawn Thornton in favor of Jordan Caron for the second straight game probably didn't help in that regard either.

Washington took advantage as Matt Hendricks scored his first career playoff goal by tipping John Carlson's shot from the point at 11:23 of the first period. Jason Chimera had the second assist although it should have gone to Looch who started the whole Benny Hill play by overskating the puck along the boards in his own end.

Other than Dennis Seidenberg, who was Boston's best player all series, Tyler Seguin had a very solid Game 7. He punctuated it with the tying goal at 14:27 of the second period, his second of the series. He followed Andrew Ference and Johnny Boychuk's shots as Holtby left the rebound in the crease and Seguin swooped in to tap it before he was crushed.

There hasn't been a repeat Stanley Cup champion since the Red Wings in 1997-98. The Bruins followed suit of recent history as they became the seventh winner in the last nine years to bomb out in the first round of the playoffs.

I think the only way to look at that is it has become such a grind to survive and win a Stanley Cup that teams naturally have big hangover effects at some point in the next season. Once the playoffs roll around, that squad is naturally more beat up and fatigued mentally and physically.

Don't get me wrong, this is not an excuse. The Bruins should have beaten the Capitals mainly because they are a superior team. The problem was that they didn't show that at any point. They never had a two-goal lead and rarely had a one-goal lead for that matter which only fed into Washington packing it in and playing the defensive game that they wanted after they grabbed a lead.

It will be a much longer and probably more interesting offseason for the Black and Gold. I wouldn't be shocked to see them try to trade Thomas to get some high-end offensive talent. Lord knows they could use it at this point. I love Thomas but how many more great years does he have left in him? Plus, they have Tuukka Rask waiting in the wings and how much longer will he be content as Thomas' backup?

After winning three Game 7s in their magical run last spring, this felt exactly like 2008 (losing Game 7 to Montreal), 2009 (losing Game 7 to Carolina) or 2010 (losing Game 7 to Philadelphia) for the Bruins. Most of all, I'm just sad to have no more rooting interest left in the NHL playoffs. There's nothing better than them in any professional sport; I will still watch but it will only frustrate me when I see all the teams continue to advance that I know the Bruins could have potentially gotten past.

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3 New Patriots Hall Of Fame Nominees: Troy Brown, Bill Parcells & Fred Marion

Today, the New England Patriots unveiled their three nominees for the Patriots Hall of Fame class of 2012: former wide receiver Troy Brown (1993-2007), former head coach Bill Parcells (1993-1996) and former safety Fred Marion (1982-1991).

From ESPNBoston.com
It is Brown's first year of eligibility, while it is the first time Marion was nominated and the second year in a row that Parcells has been selected as a finalist.

Earlier this month, the three candidates were chosen by a 17-member nomination committee. Since 2007, the three nominations by this committee have been put to a fan vote to decide the inductee into the team's hall of fame. Fans can vote for who they think is the most deserving candidate on the team's website through May 31, 2012. The winner and inductee will be announced in June.

Last year, fans chose quarterback Drew Bledsoe as the 17th inductee into the Patriots' hall of fame.

First things first, he played before my time but I've honestly never heard of Marion so thanks for everything Fred but you're not getting in this year. I think Brown will run away with it since maybe some old-timers will have hard feelings about Parcells leaving Foxborough after only a few seasons. More importantly, Brown was here for his entire career-a much longer span of time.

Regardless, make sure you vote on patriots.com and stay tuned to see who will be the latest inductee. You really can't go wrong with either Brown or Parcells. Eventually they will both be in there, it's only a matter of time. Although, now that most of the players from the dynasty years are retired, there will be a real bumper crop of deserving candidates. Maybe to ease up the process, they'll allow more than one induction per season. We shall see.

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