Give it up for Canada

Our friendly neighbors to the North are often the butt of endless jokes but for one day, I'd like to give a shoutout to Canada: thanks from Masshole nation.

Not only did the Blue Jays lay down to the Red Sox one more time last night (2-0 at the Rogers Centre for the three game sweep) but the Montreal Canadians knocked off the top-seeded Washington Capitals, meaning the Bruins get the Philadelphia Flyers and not the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. That's a big difference, we get home ice and face a team that we should be slightly favored over, versus a team that we'd be lucky to beat once.

Jon Lester (2-2) threw out his calendars and iPhone/Blackberry as he ignored the fact that it was still April and turned himself into the stud pitcher he usually is from June on. He struck out 11 in seven innings, allowing just one hit with two walks.

I'd say that the Red Sox (11-11), winners of seven of its last nine, have one of the best set-up men/closer combinations in the American League and all of baseball. Josh Bard allowed a hit but struck out the side in the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon struck out one in a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save.

The Blue Jays (10-12) are already in free fall mode, about a month earlier than usual, as they managed just two hits for the game.

Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre and Darnell McDonald all had two hits for Boston. After doubling in the sixth off Blue Jays starter Brett Cecil (1-1), Dustin Pedroia knocked in McDonald with a sacrifice fly.

Cecil was the tough luck loser as he allowed only that one earned run in six innings of work with five hits, a walk and three strikeouts.

Beltre doubled in the seventh and then McDonald drove him in with an RBI single. Is his jersey available yet at the Souvenir Store on Yawkey Way? Haha, you know it will be by the next homestand, it's not like the Sox to let a moneymaker let that lie untapped.

Today's an off-day and Boston gets back at it tomorrow night at Camden Yards against the Orioles. Nothing less than two wins against that godawful team will be acceptable.

Clay Buchholz is settling into married life just fine

I think it sums up the 2010 Red Sox pretty well that at this moment Clay Buchholz is by far their most reliable starting pitcher.

Buchholz has always had great stuff (see: no-hitter in 2007) but we're still waiting for him to put it all together and become the front of the rotation guy he seems like he can be.

He did everything the Sox (10-11) needed last night as he went eight strong innings in their tidy 2-1 win over Toronto (10-11) at the Rogers Centre.

He's married to a woman that held a briefcase on Deal or No Deal (haha really) so Buchholz (2-2) seems to have finally found some stability in his life off the field. Dating a Penthouse Pet isn't the way to find that sense of calm, or so I hear.

He allowed one earned run on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts. He also threw 117 pitches and most importantly saved Boston's bullpen which badly needed some rest.

Ramon Ramirez pitched the ninth for his second career save.

Shawn Marcum matched Buchholz for seven innings, giving up one earned run on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

The Blue Jays went up 1-0 in the first when red-hot Vernon Wells drove in Fred Lewis with an RBI double.

Boston tied it in the second with Jeremy Hermida's RBI single which knocked in David Ortiz.

Mike Lowell had the biggest play of the game, a bases-loaded walk in the eighth which ended up being the deciding run (Dustin Pedroia).

Jon Lester looks to get the sweep for the Red Sox tonight, he'll be opposed by Brett Cecil.

Bring on the Cavs

It lasted one game too long but you had to figure Dwyane Wade would single-handedly win a game or two for the Miami Heat. Plus, in the last two postseasons, Boston hadn't finished anyone off in less than six games.

The Celtics dispatched the Heat last night with a 96-86 win at TD Garden in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Cleveland knocked out Chicago last night as well in Game 5, setting up a nice semifinal series beginning in Cleveland on Saturday.

This celebration didn't have the juice of the Bruins from the night before since less was expected of the B's and the Celts won the title two seasons ago and still are a legit contender. Also, Buffalo put up a great fight while the Heat were dogs (outside of Wade).

In possibly his last game for Miami, Wade was a beast as per usual with a game-high 31 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

So now he goes back to South Beach, hangs out with Gabrielle Union and figures out by July 1 if he wants to peace out or stick around with a franchise that is going nowhere at the moment.

Boston's starting five which was good since they got 13 points from their bench. That equation simply won't work against a deep team like the Cavs.

Ray Allen finished off a good series with a team-high 24 points. Paul Pierce added 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Rajon Rondo notched 16 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds while Kevin Garnett had 14 points and eight rebounds. Kendrick Perkins remembered that he can score a couple baskets a game as he submitted eight points, six rebounds and three assists.

Mario Chalmers was the only other Heat player with double figures as he scored 20 points.

For the fourth time in the five playoff games, the C's held Miami under 100 points. It was also the third time in five games (all at home) that the Heat scored 86 points or less. That defensive identity is key moving forward since the Cavs have a ton of firepower and are capable of putting together runs in no time.

I don't worry about the Celtics scoring against Cleveland but stopping LeBron and Co., particularly at Quicken Loans Arena (where he'll get every single call) will be nearly impossible. Still, it's an intriguing series and should be a lot of fun to see it unfold.

Beckett gets shelled but Sox still win shitshow in Toronto

I can't remember being less enthused about the Red Sox to start a season so I won't pretend I was hanging on every absurd pitch last night in Toronto.

The Bruins finished off the Sabres which was much more important than the Sox' silly 13-12 win over Toronto at the Rogers Centre.

It was nine innings but the game was the longest (4 hours, 3 minutes) nine inning game of the season thus far.

Apparently a 5-0 lead is not big enough for Josh Beckett as he gave it all back in the third as the Blue Jays (10-10) took a 6-5 lead.

I won't get into the play by play since that could take days. Boston (9-11) banged out a season-high 18 hits. Marco Scutaro (4 runs), Dustin Pedroia (3 runs, 2 RBIs, 2 steals), Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek (4 RBIs) and Adrian Beltre all had three hits.

Lyle Overbay led Toronto with three hits and four RBIs. Jose Bautista had a three-run bomb off Beckett and four RBIs overall while Vernon Vells and Adam Lind also had three hits.

Manny Delcarmen was the first effective pitcher for Boston after Beckett gave up eight earned runs in three innings. Delcarmen calmed things down with a scoreless sixth and seventh innings.

Hideki Okajima entered with a 13-10 lead in the eighth but promptly gave up two runs. Josh Bard struck out two and got a 1-2-3 eighth and Jonathan Papelbon went 1-2-3 in the ninth for his sixth save.

Clay Buchholz needs to go deep tonight against Shawn Marcum since the Sox' bullpen is understandably dead.

Bruins clinch first playoff series at home since '99

David Krejci had a career year last season for the Bruins and he was rewarded handsomely for it.

That player was nowhere near the TD Garden or on the road with the B's this season; he was near the top of the long list of underperforming Bruins all year. Finally in the Olympics he seemed to find his game with the Czech Republic.

Since then, he's been a changed player and he stepped up with his best game of the season last night (2 goals, 1 assist) as the Bruins held off the Sabres 4-3 to take Game 6 and their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

It's up in the air who they'll play next: if Montreal upsets Washington in Game 7, the Bruins get Philly, if the Caps win, Boston will play Pittsburgh.

Boston's co-mvp's of the series Mark Recchi (1 goal, 1 assist) and Tuukka Rask (27 saves) stepped up once again with primetime performances.

I was genuinely worried that if the Bruins lost last night, they wouldn't win in Buffalo for Game 7. However, Boston scored first (for the first time in the six games) and they made Buffalo chase them all night.

Krejci opened it up with a power-play goal at 13:39 of the first period. He redirected Recchi's perfect pass by Ryan Miller (28 saves). Matt Hunwick also assisted.

With a 4-on-3 power play early in the second period, Boston cashed in once again (6 for 22 in the series; Buffalo was 0 for 19) as Krejci found Recchi by the side of the net with a cross ice feed. Patrice Bergeron also assisted.

Just when it looked like Boston might win this one with some breathing room, Dennis Wideman remembered how much of a nightmare he was this season. His terrible giveaway in the B's zone led to Patrick Kaleta's goal at 6:34 to cut it to 2-1 Boston.

The third period was crazy as Boston looked to have it wrapped up again when Krejci one-timed a pass from behind the net by Milan Lucic (Miroslav Satan also assisted). Just 22 seconds later, Michael Ryder flubbed a pass in his own zone to former BC star Nathan Gerbe, who one-timed it home.

Wideman made up for his earlier gaffe when he threw a puck to the net that Lucic whiffed on but Satan was on the doorstep to shovel it in, another clutch goal from the mid-season pickup.

Thomas Vanek scored with 1:13 left but it was too late. Boston couldn't score when the Sabres pulled Ryan Miller but it didn't matter. The B's are moving on to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second season in a row.

After choking in seven games last season to the underdog Hurricanes, they'll either be huge underdogs against the Penguins or slight favorites against the Flyers. I'm just pumped that there's more playoff hockey to watch from this suddenly very likable team.

Can't wait for the Disney movie about Tim Wakefield

Since he's been around forever and because he's a knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield gets no respect (with all apologies to the late Rodney Dangerfield).

With the latest news that he's going to the bullpen, Wakefield had one last start (for now) yesterday and predictably the Sox blew it as they lost 7-6 to the Orioles , the worst team in baseball, in 10 innings at Fenway.

Wakefield gave Boston (8-11) 6.2 innings, two earned runs on seven hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Pretty good stuff but the Sox were up 4-1 in the sixth before their dogshit middle relef allowed three runs in the seventh and three in the tenth.

Baltimore (3-16) had lost ten in a row at Fenway and the first two games of the series but they didn't have much trouble in the seventh as Nick Markakis hit an RBI double and Miguel Tejada cranked a two-run homer off the foul pole in left.

Boston had one of their best innings of the season when they scored four in the sixth inning. Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz had RBI singles, J.D. Drew scored a run with a sacrifice fly and Mike Lowell knocked in the last run with a double.

The Orioles scored all three runs in the 10th inning off a pair of singles. It looked like they might choke one more time as Drew hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 10th and Bill Hall followed with an RBI single.

It wasn't to be as former Sox prospect Cla Meredith earned the first save of his MLB career.

The Sox go to Toronto for three games starting tonight with Josh Beckett facing Dana Eveland.

Wade beats the Celtics as the Heat stave off elimination

I was a groomsman at a wedding on Saturday so understandably I've been on another planet for the last few days.

I did get to catch some of the Celtics-Heat Game 4 yesterday afternoon at AmericanAirlines Arena and boy was it high drama.

Dwyane Wade scored a career-high 46 points as the Heat won 101-92 to force Game 5 tomorrow night at the TD Garden.

It was a crazy game since the Celts came out extremely flat and were quickly down 18 points in the first half. However, they battled back and actually led by six points (77-71) going into the fourth quarter.

It wasn't all Wade for once as Quentin Richardson (20 points) and Michael Beasley (15 points) had their best games of the series.

Rajon Rondo paced Boston with 23 points and nine assists while Kevin Garnett added 18 points and 12 rebounds. Paul Pierce scored 16 and Ray Allen notched 15 points but they were silent down the stretch.

Even though Wade was red hot, including 13 points early in the fourth quarter, the Celts still had a chance late in the game but Ray Allen missed three of four free throws, Rondo missed a layup and Garnett missed two free throws. Game over.

Miami was up 31-18 after the first quarter and 49-43 at the half. Boston played great in the third quarter, outscoring 34-22 in the third quarter before the Heat doubled them up in the fourth quarter (30-15).

The C's had no business winning the Game 4 so there's no real reason to worry. Odds are Wade won't have another career game tomorrow night and/or Richardson and Beasley won't do nearly as well. It would have been nice to close it out and get some rest as soon as possible but what are you going to do?