April 11, 2008
Sports Redux: OK, Who's REALLY Surprised?
The Bruins had high hopes coming into their first playoff series in years. Within two minutes, though, Montreal had slapped them with a cold dose of bitter reality. The Habs were faster, stronger, more accurate, and less nervous. The result: a 4-1 loss.
The Flying Kostitsyn Brothers got Montreal's show on the road early, as Sergei scored at 0:34 and Andrei followed at 2:02. The Bruins settled down a bit towards the end of the first, cutting the lead to one on a Shane Hnidy score. But the final 40 minutes saw Montreal peppering Tim Thomas with shots (two more went in), while the Bruins never really challenged Carey Price. Luckily, it resets to 0-0 tomorrow as the B's try to steal one on the road.
Encouraging news for the Red Sox, who pounded out twelve runs without a homer last night. Every starter got a hit except for Papi, whose early-season struggles are becoming legendary. Almost everyone drove in at least a run, as the Red Sox played smallball in a big way, scoring four runs in three separate innings en route to the 12-6 win. J.D. Drew (3-3), Sean Casey (3 RBI) and Kevin Youkilis (game-blowing-open 2-run double) get gold stars for offense, while Tim Wakefield did a capable job pitching, and Kevin Cash only surrendered one passed ball. The Yankees play at Fenway tonight (Wang/Buchholz) if it doesn't rain.
BC won big last night, beating North Dakota 6-1 in the Frozen Four semifinals in Denver. Nathan Gerbe scored a hat trick for the Eagles as they built a 4-0 lead in the first period. The Fighting Sioux never really started fighting back. BC gets a nice rivalry matchup in the finals Saturday, as Notre Dame upset Michigan in the other semifinal.
Photo by Paul Chaisson, AP
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A goal :34 into the game and then another 2:02 in ?!? That is pathetic.
So, with rain in the forecast tomorrow, I think I'd start Josh Beckett in the game tonight and not Clay Buchholz. Beckett would have had his normal 4 days' rest, since he last pitched Sunday. Nothing against Buchholz, who may do fine, who knows, but, especially with the rain forecast tomorrow, I would much prefer to see Beckett going in the first game versus NY to set the tone for the rest of the series. And the "he may do fine" meter would go from "who knows" for Buchholz to "most likely" for Beckett.