Shhhhh! Don't Tell Anyone: The Bruins are Solid

Lost amidst the MLB playoffs, the Patriots and the Celtics' opening night hype, the Boston Bruins are playing good hockey.

After starting out slowly (and losing three shootouts), the B's (5-2-3) have found their groove, winning three straight games.

Last night, they won their second consecutive 1-0 game, in Vancouver (4-5-0) against the Canucks.

10:16 into the first period, Michael Ryder scored his second goal of the season with assists from Marco Sturm and Marc Savard.

From there, Tim Thomas (31 saves) held the fort as the Bruins did just enough to walk away with another road win.

I'll be the first to admit that as much as I enjoy hockey, I couldn't get into the Bruins the last few years. They played the most defensive, suck the fun out of everything brand of hockey I had ever seen. Things changed last spring when they pushed the No. 1 seed Montreal Canadiens to seven games in the first round of the playoffs. Boston got smoked in game seven but it was clear that this team had a lot of potential.

Granted that it was the bumbling Bruins, nobody wanted to get their hopes up too high before this season opened. The beginning was frustrating but they've obviously found their groove. One of the biggest keys to their resurgence and my interest: exciting young talent. Milan Lucic and Phil Kessel both have the chance to be pretty special. Lucic is a physical beast, that put a Maple Leaf through the glass at the Garden last week. Kessel is a wizard with the puck on his stick and he's apparently bought into three-zone hockey this season.

Savard and Zdeno Chara are the best veterans, a center and defenseman respectively and Thomas is a classic overachiever but a very reliable goalie.

The team still has plenty of issues: scoring goals and backup goalie (Manny Fernandez is a corpse) foremost but they've already made me tune into their games whenever I get a chance so they're doing something right.

Finally, the other thing that's nice is that they're under the radar; with the recent success of the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics, seemingly everyone and their mother are the biggest Boston sports fans alive. Nobody has pretended to be a Bruins fan in the last dire decade. You have to be dedicated. That makes it interesting to watch a team grow in front of our eyes as the region slowly sits up and takes note.

The Bruins conclude their Western Canada trip tomorrow with a visit to Calgary. Flames forward Jarome Iginla and defenseman/bounty-hunter Dion Phaneuf are two of the NHL's best so it should be a entertaining game.

One Last Look Back at Banner 17

Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that the Celtics were embarassing the overrated Lakers in game 6 of the NBA Finals at the Garden and capturing their 17th NBA Championship.

Fast forward four and a half months to the Garden and the Celtics fittingly opened the 2008-2009 NBA season with the banner raising and ring ceremony.

From all reports and highlights, the presentation was top-notch. The viewers at home wouldn't have much idea of that though since for some reason TNT chose to show only small clips of it while also muting some of captain Paul Pierce's emotional address to the crowd.

Oh yeah, there was a game to be played too as King James and the Cavaliers were in the building. The teams memorably went seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals before Pierce outdueled James in the deciding game.

No surprise that the game lacked the excitement and buzz of the pre-game festivities. Even more predictable, the V.I.P. corporate suits at the game failed to make any noise. What is this, Fenway in the playoffs?

Anywho, the Celts (1-0) started out slowly but eventually wore down the Cavs (0-1) with team defense and clutch shooting from Pierce (game-high 27 points) to take a 90-85 win.

Much like in the Eastern Conference Finals and for all of his young career, James didn't get enough help from his mostly average teammates. James had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Veteran center Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 15 points and eight rebounds while new point guard Mo Williams added 12 points.

Little has changed for the Cavs, they still rely on one player (James) more than any other team. It helps that he's one of the top two or three players in the league but I still doubt that they have the horses to win a title as currently constructed.

After really waking up late in the playoffs, Rajon Rondo continued his strong play with 14 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals on opening night. Kevin Garnett was held to 11 points and six rebounds. The keys for Boston, outside of Pierce, were Tony Allen (11 points) and Leon Powe (13 points) who were great in big minutes off the bench.

James Posey is the only notable missing part from last season's championship team. Without question, the C's hope Tony Allen can fill Posey's role, with some help from rookies J.R. Giddens and Bill Walker. Nobody thinks Tony Allen is the player that Posey is but if he can regain his pre-knee injury form, Boston will be in good shape.

Cleveland was up 28-22 and 50-43 as the Celts' shooting started out uglier than Craig Sager's typical clown suit.

In the third quarter, Boston took over with a 24-13 frame followed by a 23-22 fourth. It wasn't a work of art but it was a win on a night filled with distractions.

Neither team could shoot from the outside (the Cavs were 3 of 14 while the Celts were 3 of 15). Cleveland had five more rebounds (41-36) but five more turnovers (21-16).

Let me get this out of the way early in the season: the Boston Celtics are the team to beat. As I said, they return everything but Posey and they have the championship experience that the Big Three famously lacked. Rondo and Kendrick Perkins will only continue to get better. The chemistry of the team is apparent in every game.

The Pistons and Sixers (with Elton Brand) will be up there with the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference but it's the Celtics' to lose. In the West, everyone is picking the Hornets and Lakers (who have a healthy Andrew Bynum) to be the two best teams.

Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls come to the Garden Friday night (Halloween).

When he's not smokin' trees at Lil' Wayne concerts, Kevin Faulk is a hell of a player

Can we just let Kevin Faulk start writing his speech for the Patriots Hall of Fame? When talking about Faulk (just like it used to be with Troy Brown), you run out of original thoughts. Faulk is the consummate professional, who always steps up and makes plays when his team needs him most.

With Laurence Maroney on IR, Sammy Morris and Lamont Jordan out with injuries, Faulk made the biggest play of the game as the Patriots held off the St. Louis Rams, 23-16, at Gillette Stadium yesterday afternoon.

Faulk had 13 carries for 60 yards and four catches for 47 yards. With the game tied at 16 late in the fourth quarter, Faulk split out wide and caught a 15-yard TD pass from Matt Cassel (21 of 33, 267 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs).

On a day when both Randy Moss (7 catches, 102 yards) and Wes Welker (7 catches, 79 yards) dropped passes they would normally haul in, Faulk showed why he is Mr. Patriot (now that Brown is retired and Brady is on IR).

There were plenty of reasons why New England (5-2) should have lost: their running game as alluded to was a mess, their secondary sucks and that's compounded by the fact that everyone is going down with an injury. Cassel, his receivers and the Patriots front seven wouldn't let that happen.

As predicted, the Rams (2-5) came out looking to win after knocking off the Redskins and Cowboys in consecutive games. New England caught a major break when Steven Jackson was held out of the game with a thigh injury. Still, Marc Bulger (18 of 34, 301 yards, TD, INT) had no trouble gashing the Pats for long gains.

Rookie receiver Donnie Avery (6 catches, 163 yards) was unstoppable on deep balls all day.

The Rams went for it on 4th-and-1 on their opening day and eventually scored on Josh Brown's 20-yard kick.

New England answered with a 2-yard TD run by rookie Benjarvus Green-Ellis.

In the beginning of the second quarter, Avery caught his second long reception. This time it was 69 yards for a score as two Patriots defenders ran into each other as Avery elluded them both.

Two Stephen Gostowski field goals (30 and 27 yards) let New England take a slim 13-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The only score of the third quarter was a 44-yard kick by Brown. Cassel had bad luck on two drives as a pass to Moss, bounced off Moss' hands and into O.J. Otogwe's. Later, Welker slipped, allowing Fahkir Brown to pick another pass off.

Brown added a 25-yard boot at the beginning of the fourth quarter to give St. Louis a 16-13 lead. From there, the Patriots buckled down. They tied it on Gostowski's 41-yard kick then went ahead for good with 3:13 left on Faulk's grab.

Adalius Thomas (7 tackles, 2 sacks), Richard Seymour (7 tackles, 1 sack), Tedy Bruschi (11 tackles) and Ty Warren (sack) were all standouts on the defensive side of the ball for New England.

Even Deltha O'Neal made a play, picking off Bulger as the Rams tried to tie it at the end.

It wasn't pretty but it was a step forward for Cassel and the Patriots, who are now tied atop the AFC East since Buffalo lost to Miami yesterday.

There are no great teams in the AFC (assuming the Titans come back to earth) so the Patriots are in good shape to win their division and make the playoffs. We couldn't ask for much more at this point.

The Pats travel to Indy next Sunday night for a showdown with their biggest rivals, the Indianapolis Colts. It'll be interesting to see how the Colts do tonight against the Titans; Peyton and the Colts could easily be 1-5 rather than 3-3.

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.