We were worried? Remember, last season the Bruins were 0-37-1 against Montreal in the regular season, and still managed to force the Habs to seven games in the playoffs. 1-8 against the Angels in the regular season? Pfffft.

As long as we're comparing Game One of the ALDS to hockey, there aren't a lot of games where it's easier to pick your Three Stars than last night in Anaheim. It's just putting them in order that's troubling. Let's do it chronologically.

We'll start with Jacoby Ellsbury, who led off the game with a double, getting him primed for a 3-for-4 night with an RBI and an insurance run in the ninth, two stolen bases, and a sick catch on a Mark Teixeira line drive in the 8th. Next up is Jon Lester, moved to Game One because of Beckett's injury. It was a vintage Lesterian performance: seven innings of commanding pitching, one (unearned) run and 7 Ks. Finally, Jason Bay, who dug the Sox out of a 1-0 hole with a two-run shot in the sixth that Anaheim never recovered from. If you made it till the end, you may make Papelbon an honorary fourth star for striking out the side in the 9th.

(Side note: can we stop complaining about late starts? Half the articles in the paper this morning were about Red Sox fans moaning and whining that the thing doesn't start until 10. They're on the West Coast! It's 7 there! That's part of home field advantage! Suck it up! If you're gonna complain about anything (and we'll be there with you), wait until a matchup of two Eastern teams starts at 8:30 because Fox doesn't know how to televise a baseball game and doesn't care that places like Boston and Chicago might be in the high 20s late at night in late October. Just look on the bright side; 10 million New Yorkers are getting to bed at a reasonable hour.)

In other first-round action, the Dodgers gave the fans in the Wrigley bleachers a workout, hitting three homers (yes, one by Manny) on the way to a 7-2 win. The Brewers tried the interesting gambit of opening the playoffs with a pitcher who was 0-0 in the regular season, and the Phillies beat him.

The Patriots are apparently embroiled in controversy again. Al Davis, speaking at a press conference from 1982 when he was relevant, blasted Bill Belichick for (allegedly) giving Randy Moss a workout before the Pats acquired him from the Raiders. Why Al then traded Moss is the question. Moss and Belichick didn't come out and say "hogwash", but you knew they were thinking it.

Our winter sports teams continue quietly working towards opening day. The Bruins lost to the Canadiens (there's that again), but Zdeno Chara was back on the ice for the first time in the preseason, and the big guy scored the only goal in the 3-1 loss. The Celtics are in Newport, and ESPN says they're almost surely on their way back to the Finals. CelticsBlog has some pictures from Media Day. If you're worried about the C's finding motivation to repeat (which is a stupid thing to worry about as long as KG is on the payroll), here are some quotes to get you fired up.