Sports Redux: How 'Bout Dem Sox?

We could talk about Boston playoff sports, but who really wants to do that today? The Bruins played. The Celtics played. Both wound up on the losing end of the spectrum (and we'll talk about both in a minute).

But the Red Sox beat the Rays, 7-3! There was some joy in Mudville - er, Boston! Proving that there's some kind of special sixth inning incentive going on within our Red Sox organization, the Sox mounted their second straight rally during that particular inning, this time led by homers from Jason Bay (a three-run blast) and JD Drew (a two-run shot). Brad Penny actually looked decent during a game at Fenway!

As for the Bruins and Celtics, we're reverting to our "Playoffs? Don't talk to me about PLAYOFFS!" approach. The Bruins were looking decent enough during the first two periods of Friday night's showdown against the 'Canes, but then decided to implode in the third period, giving up three goals to fall by a final of 4-1. We could analyze what went wrong (lots), but instead, we're going to focus on the fact that while the Bruins have never come back from this kind of playoff deficit, we're the kind of fans who think anything is possible.

The Celtics similarly disappointed with a 117-96 loss on Friday, despite a 27-point effort from Paul Pierce and 15 points from Rajon Rondo. The team chipped away at the Magic lead, but was unable to overcome the deficit. Judging by the way this series has gone for the C's, this means that you can expect the team to win by a good 20 points during Game 4.

Photo by Flickr user Adam Piezianek