Apparently 9-Run Leads Aren't What They Used To Be

Leave it to the Red Sox to make New England sports fans even more depressed after the Bruins lost Game 5 to the Capitals earlier this afternoon.

The Yankees (9-6, 5-3 away) tied a franchise record for the biggest comeback ever as they recovered from being down nine runs to pull out a 15-9 win vs. the shell-shocked Red Sox (4-10, 3-5) at Fenway Park.

Boston's fifth straight loss of the season was one of the most insane defeats that I've ever seen, from the team that wrote the book on improbable losses.

I made the mistake of having dinner after Boston was up 9-1 in the sixth, I almost couldn't believe it when I flipped on the radio to find out that New York had pulled to within 9-8 in the seventh. Once the Yanks went ahead in the eighth, I knew it was over.

This one fell squarely on the bullpen's overmatched shoulders. No less than five different guys came in for the Red Sox and they all gave up runs before Junichi Tazawa (called up from the PawSox earlier this week) was able to get the last four outs.

Felix Doubront had his best MLB start, given the circumstances, so he deserved much better than what ended up happening. He held New York to one run (earned) over six innings with four hits, seven strikeouts and three walks.

Freddy Garcia was useless, he allowed five earned runs on seven hits in 1.2 innings, while the next New York relievers-Clay Rapada and David Phelps-also couldn't stop the bleeding. However, that's when Rafael Soriano (2-0), Boone Logan and Cody Eppley combined to shut out the Red Sox in the final three innings.

Mark Teixeira (6 RBIs, 3 hits, 3 runs) and Nick Swisher (6 RBIs, 3 hits, 2 runs) provided most of the damage for the Yankees. Derek Jeter (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, RBI), Eduardo Nunez (3 hits, 2 runs) and Russell Martin (2 runs, 2 hits, 2 RBIs) all had multiple hits as well.

You don't lose many non-beer league softball games where you have 17 hits but that's what the Red Sox accomplished today so there's that. David Ortiz (4 hits, run, RBI) is arguably the hottest hitter in MLB and it was nice to see Jarrod Saltalamacchia (4 hits, run) come out of his season-long slump too. Cody Ross (2 runs, 2 hits, 2 RBIs) and Mike Aviles (2 hits, 2 RBIs, run, stolen base) are off to fine starts in their Red Sox careers at the plate. Dustin Pedroia added two hits and an RBI.

Boston hasn't scored first often this season but they went wild to begin today with two in the first, three in the second, two in the third and two in the fifth.

Adrian Gonzalez and Ortiz had RBI doubles to start things off. Aviles and Pedroia had RBI singles sandwiched around a sacrifice fly by Ryan Sweeney in the second. Darnell McDonald had a sacrifice fly in the third and Aviles put up another RBI single. Ross closed the binge with a two-run blast to center, his third home run of the season, in the fifth. Not bad, right?

Teixeira began the epic rally with a solo homer in the sixth, his second of the season. Swisher greeted Vicente Padilla with a grand slam, his fourth homer of the season, in the seventh. Matt Albers came on and he gave up a three-run bomb to Teixeira in the same inning.

New York tacked on seven more runs in the eighth. Alfredo Aceves entered in the eighth for a six-out save but that didn't go quite as planned since he allowed five earned runs on four walks (two intentional) and two hits. Swisher, Teixeira and Martin each had two-run doubles. Jeter finished it off with an RBI single.

Not that it matters, since they would probably lose anyway but it looks like we are getting some serious rain tomorrow so I doubt the Sunday Night Baseball game (8 p.m., ESPN) will happen. That's a shame too since Terry Francona would be in the booth and God only knows what he could say about this disaster.

The Red Sox' best bet is to duck the Yankees, get out on the road against the Twins and White Sox-two mediocre teams-and try to put all this failure behind them before this season is over before it has even really begun.

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Capitals Put The Bruins On The Brink Of Elimination

Coming into this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, on paper it looked like Boston's biggest advantage over Washington was in goal. Surely, Tim Thomas could outplay a third-string rookie (Braden Holtby). Turns out (so far) that we were all wrong.

Once again, Holtby (34 saves) was better than Thomas (28 saves) this afternoon and the Caps took a 3-2 series lead with a 4-3 win at TD Garden.

Every game this series has been decided by one goal and the Capitals have scored first four out of five times.

Washington opened up the first two-goal lead of the series but Boston battled back with a pair of goals in 28 seconds. The Capitals went ahead 3-2 in the third period but the Bruins responded with their first power-play goal of the series. Troy Brouwer (2nd of the playoffs) ended any thoughts of another overtime session as he snapped a shot over Thomas with 1:27 left in regulation. It was extremely deflating since it appeared to be a shot that Thomas would normally stop. No traffic or tips means that there were no excuses. That wasn't the only weak goal that Thomas allowed either.

The B's hit the post twice in the first period: Zdeno Chara rang the crossbar on a power-play and Daniel Paille skated in on a breakaway while Boston was short-handed but he also ended up unlucky.

After no goals in the first, Alexander Semin (3rd of the playoffs) scored on a rebound at 11:16 of the second. Dennis Wideman and Marcus Johansson assisted on the goal. Thomas made a good initial save but neither he nor his defense could clear it out of danger. Despite many bodies between him and the goal, Semin was able to squeeze it through.

The Capitals doubled their lead at 14:27 as Jay Beagle notched his first goal of the postseason. His shot was tipped on the way in but it also went right off Thomas' glove so I think it was one he should have stopped.

Just when it looked like the Bruins had flatlined, Milan Lucic found Dennis Seidenberg (1st of the playoffs) for a pretty goal at 17:21. David Krejci had the second assist. Everyone came out of witness protection (well except for Tyler Seguin) as Brad Marchand (1st of the playoffs) tied it at 17:49. Rich Peverley and Johnny Boychuk assisted on Holtby's token weak one of the contest. Marchand barely poked it but the puck found a hole through Holtby's leg pads.

The difference in the game was the third period. Thomas gave up two bad goals (for him) while Holtby made unquestionably the best stop in the series-a full split to deny Seguin. Old friend Mike Knuble (1st of the playoffs) put Washington up 3-2 at 3:21 when Thomas kicked Joel Ward's shot right to him. John Erskine had the second assist.

Boston snapped a woeful 0-for-16 start on the power play in these playoffs with Boychuk's blast from the point at 8:47. Seidenberg and Marchand picked up the assists. It was surprising to see Holtby get beat on a relatively routine shot from distance like that.

Game 6 is tomorrow afternoon in D.C. (3 p.m., NBC). Patrice Bergeron and Joe Corvo both left with injuries today so who knows if they'll be able to play. Boston has no choice but to win, otherwise it will be an extremely bitter end to a postseason that was filled with so much hope. It starts with Thomas, he needs to be much better. Likewise, their offense needs to show up as well. They can't go out like this.

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No Reason To Fear The Atlanta Hawks

It's that time of year again, when the Celtics willfully tank games to get rest for the Big 4 heading into the playoffs.

Atlanta was the first stop on the 2011-12 tour and the Hawks (38-25, 21-9 home) almost suffered an embarrassing loss but they held on 97-92 over the Celtics (37-27, 15-18 away) earlier tonight at Philips Arena.

Since this was likely a first round playoff preview, the Celtics' bench proved its worth against mostly starters for the Hawks. That should do something for both squads' confidence especially because Boston will have the home court advantage. Still, it's one game so let's not go overboard. Atlanta will be a challenge if they meet but I think that Boston should get by them.

Former Celtic Joe Johnson (30 points, 6 assists) and Josh Smith (19 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks) were the only Hawks in double figures.

Avery Bradley led the Green with 28 points, Keyon Dooling (3 of 4 on 3-pointers) had 17 points, Marquis Daniels had 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench and Brandon Bass scored 10. Ryan Hollins played his most minutes (30) in a Celtics uniform and he responded with eight points and five rebounds as a substitute.

This was the final road game of the regular season, Boston will face Miami (Tuesday) and Milwaukee (Thursday) next week at the Garden. Feel free to sleep until next Saturday when the playoffs begin and don't be fooled into taking tickets to either of those games since you know everyone will be giving them away. I doubt anything remotely interesting with the Celtics will occur between now and then.

Expect to see plenty of JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, Sean Williams, Sasha Pavlovic, Dooling, Daniels and Hollins against the Heat and Bucks. I wouldn't hesitate to rest the Big 4 as much as possible since they are really going to be counted on starting next weekend.

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Fenway 100 Was Great But The Reality Is There Are No Distractions Now From This Horrorshow

Now that Fenway 100 is behind us, I wonder how much time Tom Werner, Larry Lucchino and John Henry will devote solely to the Red Sox each day this season?

It's a disturbing thought and you can't help but be negative after the Yankees spoiled all the fun by crushing five solo home runs and beating the Red Sox 6-2 at Fenway this afternoon.

Yes all the pregame stuff (that I saw) was very well done and entertaining but now that's over and there's no way to hide how badly Boston (4-9, 3-4 home) is playing. They've lost four games in a row and by the ninth inning today, pink hat fans were chanting "We Want Francona." Um, he's not coming back folks. Well he did today but that's only because he probably received a huge paycheck.

New York (8-6, 4-3 away) had to play last night in the Bronx, travel then sit through all the hoopla today but they weren't fazed at all. Clay Buchholz (1-1) became the second Red Sox pitcher (Josh Beckett) already this season to serve up five batting practice homers in one outing. Yeesh. I'm no Dave Duncan, but when you throw 91-mph fastballs right down the middle of the plate, teams like the Yankees will make you pay every time.

Buchholz lasted six innings but it was ugly since he allowed six runs (five earned) on nine hits with two strikeouts and two walks.

Ivan Nova (3-0) won his 15th consecutive decision in the regular season for New York. He went six innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and no walks. His stuff isn't overpowering but he seems to have good command and he doesn't give up too many hard hit balls.

The Yankees wasted no time jumping in front as Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single in the first inning then Nick Swisher (3rd of the season) and Eric Chavez (1st of the season) got the home run barrage started with two in the second. Swisher's bomb went over the Monster in left center and Chavez's landed in the Red Sox bullpen.

David Ortiz (2 hits) answered with his second blast of the season, to left center (it had to be reviewed since it just over the lip of the Monster) in the second. Unfortunately, nobody was on base for him.

Chavez homered to straightaway center in the fourth and A-Rod (2nd of the season) crushed one over everything in left in the fifth.

Mike Aviles's (2 hits) double in the fifth scored Cody Ross for Boston's final run.

New York didn't need it but Russell Martin added his first home run of the season in the sixth, over the Monster.

Freddy Garcia (0-1) faces Felix Doubront (0-0) tomorrow afternoon (4:05 p.m., Fox) in a game that I can totally see turning into a shootout. I don't have faith in either pitcher's ability to put up zeros but we'll see. Regardless, Game 5 of Bruins-Capitals starts at 3 p.m. so I know where all my energy will be devoted to.

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Capitals Even The Series With 2-1 Win In Game 4

Hey, has anybody seen Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Tyler Seguin or Brad Marchand?

None of those guys has scored yet in the playoffs and it has added up to a whole lot of frustration as the Capitals beat the Bruins 2-1 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals tonight at Verizon Center. The series now shifts back to Boston for Game 5, tied at two games apiece.

Showing how tight it's been: every game has been decided by a goal, neither team has led by more than one at any point and they have both scored seven goals.

With Nicklas Backstrom-Washington's best all-around player-suspended tonight, the B's missed a major opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Instead, they made Braden Holtby (44 saves) look like the best goaltender in the world. The truth was that without getting much net front traffic or players going hard to the cage, the B's didn't have that many great opportunities despite piling up the gaudy shot total.

In Game 3, it seemed like Boston had solved Holtby by scoring four goals, while also gaining control of the series. That proved to be a fluke as the Bruins scored one goal for the third time in four games.

Marcus Johansson (1st of the playoffs) gave Washington a 1-0 lead only 1:22 into the 1st period. After Andrew Ference fell over and Zdeno Chara got caught in the neutral zone, Brooks Laich and Johansson skated in on Tim Thomas (19 saves) for a 2-on-1. Thomas had no chance to stop it as Laich threw a perfect forehand sauce pass to Johansson that he roofed.

Rich Peverley (2nd of the playoffs) answered later in the frame after a 2-on-1 rush for Boston. Gregory Campbell had the assist as Peverley juked a defenseman and beat Holtby through his five-hole.

In the extended time between Games 3 and 4 (2 days), Washington whined constantly about calls. Not surprisingly, they "earned" the first three power-plays of the night. The Bruins were able to kill the first two but after Patrice Bergeron was whistled for a bogus hooking penalty, Alexander Semin (2nd of the playoffs) made them pay late in the second period. Waltham's Keith Aucoin and Alex Ovechkin had the assists but truthfully it was all Semin's work since he just ripped a snipe into the top far corner. Goals like that make you remember how wildly talented but so underachieving he can be.

Boston had one power-play, midway through the third period and they couldn't convert, meaning that they dropped to 0-12 in the series so far with the man advantage.

I'm not ready to say that Game 5 at TD Garden (3 p.m., Saturday) is a must-win for the Black and Gold but that's not too far off. They have to find a way to score goals and likewise, they need the aforementioned invisible stars to show up. They just have to play their physical, hard-nosed game and make sure to crash the net while using the emotion that is sure to be in the building with their home crowd. Otherwise, they'll be in serious trouble down 3-2 and headed back to D.C. on Sunday.

Whether it means inserting Jordan Caron, Mike Mottau (for Joe Corvo) or Adam McQuaid (although I don't think he's healthy enough) into the lineup or shifting Chris Kelly or Brian Rolston (two of their better forwards in the series) up a line or two, I wouldn't be surprised to see Bruins head coach Claude Julien throw some different wrinkle at the Capitals on Saturday. Why not? It's clear that this current group isn't doing nearly enough against an opponent that's honestly not that good, one that they should handle way more easily.

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Just In Time For 4/20: Celtics Add Former BC Pothead Sean Williams

The Boston Celtics have added some depth to their frontcourt by signing former Boston College clown Sean Williams. Reports say that he will join the team in Atlanta tomorrow night and make his Celtics debut against the Hawks.

They had a roster spot by waiving the ashes of Jermaine O'Neal. Even better, Williams would be eligible to play for the C's in the playoffs since he was released by the Dallas Mavericks on March 22 (a day before the deadline).

Any fan of Big East basketball or Boston College will recall that Williams was a very talented but troubled guy that had the distinction of getting kicked out of BC. That didn't seem to deter the New Jersey Nets though since he was a first-round draft pick in 2007 (17th overall). The Nets put up with his shit for three seasons (impressive) before finally dumping him after the 2009-10 season.

After bouncing back and forth between the D-League, he was picked up by the Mavs this season. In eight games with the defending champions, he averaged 3.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 8.1 minutes per game. His most notable accomplishment in Dallas is puking when he was on the bench. Seriously, look it up on Deadspin or YouTube. It was disgusting.

The only season that Williams did anything (relatively speaking) was his rookie year. He played in 73 games (29 starts) and averaged 5.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.

As you can tell by this type of move, especially this late in the season, the Celtics desperately need big men. Chris Wilcox is also out for the season so beyond Kevin Garnett, Greg Stiemsma, Ryan Hollins and Brandon Bass, Boston doesn't have anybody to play power forward or center.

I'm sure the folks over at the Heights are happy to see one of their best and brightest return to town. He probably has a couple restraining orders after his wild couple seasons with the Eagles. If i'm not mistaken, he was arrested multiple times when he was there.

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Celtics Win The Atlantic Division, Clinch No. 4 Seed In The Eastern Conference

Tonight's Celtics-Magic game had a slight feel of a JV game since both teams were missing their best players (Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard respectively) but that didn't stop Boston from picking up a very meaningful win.

With their 102-98 triumph at TD Garden, the Celts (37-26, 22-9 home) clinched the Atlantic Division title (their 5th in a row) and also the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Woo homecourt advantage (for one round at least)!

The Celtics are 22-9 since the All-Star break.

Right now, Orlando (36-26, 16-14 away) is in sixth place, meaning that Boston would face No. 5 Atlanta (37-25) in the first round. There are still three games left for the C's and four for the Magic and Hawks to sort that out.

Paul Pierce (29 points, 14 assists) played point forward with Rondo sitting and he set a career-high in dimes in the process, not too shabby. Avery Bradley scored 23 points and Brandon Bass had 21 points. Kevin Garnett put up 15 points and nine rebounds.

Glen Davis (27 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals) played like this was the most meaningful game in his life and knowing him, it probably was. Jameer Nelson had 21 points and nine assists, J.J. Redick had 13 points, Ryan Anderson notched 12 points and nine rebounds while Jason Richardson scored 11 points.

The Celts are off until Friday when they travel to Atlanta for their final road game of the regular season. Doc Rivers should pull a Gregg Popovich and not even let the Big 4 travel with the team. Their work is done for the next week.

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