Sports Redux: Some Can Go Deep, Some Can't

"Not being able to go so deep is stressful both for myself and the team" - Daisuke Matsuzaka

Tell us about it, Dice. You drove us crazy last year with your bases-loading, your inflated pitch counts, and your seeming need to make every at-bat and every inning as stressful as possible. But you always seemed to manage to crawl out of it, even if it meant more work for an overstretched bullpen. Last year.

Yesterday, not so much. We wonder if the Japanese language has a term for "1-2-3 inning". Dice got into trouble repeatedly, but it was the quick punches rather than the slow bleeding that did him in yesterday. He gave up three home runs (12 all last season), and dropped the Sox into a 4-0 hole before Francona pulled the plug in the sixth.

The Sox finally got to Rays starter Matt Garza in the sixth, scoring their first run on a Jason Bay triple. Two more runs came off the TB bullpen, including Varitek's second home run of the year (we had August 24th for that in the office pool), but Troy Percival settled down and nailed down the save.

So the Sox are now headed to the West Coast to play the Angels, who are facing troubles that make Daisuke's control look paltry. The Angels canceled last night's game with Oakland after learning that young pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a hit-and-run accident at 22, going home from his start on Wednesday night. Our thoughts are with the Angels organization, but we're still rooting for the Sox this weekend.

The Bruins got the win last night - eventually - but let Montreal clinch a playoff spot at the Garden when they sent it to OT. The game was a celebration of fisticuffs and bad blood, which could make the first round very interesting if these teams play each other. It would have been anyway, but nice to see the rivalry is as fresh as ever. Patrice Bergeron scored the OT game-winner.

Also on the ice, BU survived a furious game with Vermont to punch their ticket into the NCAA Finals against Miami University (that would be the Miami in Ohio, not the one in Florida, which doesn't have a hockey team). The 5-4 win gives the Terriers a shot at their first national title since 1995; Dan Shaughnessy covers the game pretty well.