Sports Redux: The Target is Vladimir Sobotka

Another even-numbered game on the schedule; another win. It's a more reliable way of telling time than waking up this morning and not remembering if your cell phone/computer/alarm clock made the change for you.

In Game Twelve of the season, the Bruins and Oilers danced around one another for two periods, with Vladimir Sobotka finally finding the net at the end of the second. Well, a split second after the end of the second. Bummer. So Sobotka, who is using the B's' bevy of injuries as a great chance to audition for a full-time role with the team, helped his cause by assisting Blake Wheeler for the first goal early in the third, then scoring the icer himself to seal a 2-0 win.

"We keep forgetting that with an extra second, they would have had three goals," said Claude Julien of the hastily-assembled Sobotka/Wheeler/Paille line. Their work gave Tuuka Rask a shutout win, gave Julien his 100th win with the Bruins, and delighted the Halloween-dressed ice girls, as seen here. The Bruins will try once again to assemble their first two-game winning streak of the season today in New York.

The Patriots are off today, "recovering" from their "contest" against the "Buccaneers" last week. But Foxboro is emphatically open for business, as the Revolution kick off their two-game playoff series with Chicago, marking the 65th straight year that they've played Chicago in the playoffs. The Revs are relying on Jeff Larentowicz to provide some sparks for them, injured leg or no; in fact, coach Steve Nicol has made a bid for quote of the year by saying, "The fact he’s playing on one leg shows how important he is." Yeah, but can he ski on one ski with a maniac paperboy chasing him?

The Yankees shook off a long rain delay and an early deficit to come back and beat the Phillies 8-5 and take a 2-1 lead in the Series. Andy Pettitte did it all for the Bombers, gutting out six innings for the W and driving in a run to help his own cause. Pettitte now has more postseason wins than any pitcher in the history of baseball - more than Whitey Ford, Cy Young, and Sandy Koufax! Of course, none of those guys had ALCSs or NLDSs to pitch in, which is why, kids, you need to take any "postseason record" you read about with about a million grains of salt.