Tim Wakefield deserves better. He got the loss and was technically outpiched by Tampa Bay's Matt Garza, but if you give up five hits and only one earned run, you deserve better. That's our opinion, anyway. Wake was the victim of a 3-1 loss to the scorching hot Rays, mostly due to a couple of ill-timed wild pitches. The first TB run scored on a walk, a groundout, an error, and a wild pitch. Not......

We guess if they'd come into the league as just the Rays (no Devil), they'd probably be working on their sixth pennant this year. But better late then never for Tampa Bay, who extended their AL East lead by dispatching the Red Sox, 5-4, in front of probably the largest assemblage of Rays fans ever. Things started off badly for Justin Masterson and the Sox, as B.J. Upton hit a leadoff home run. The Sox......

All right, fess up. Who went to bed at halftime? We confess, we spent a good chunk of time planning to ditch the bar (sorry the liveblog didn't work out, but the first hour would have just been a steady stream of cuss words anyway), as the Celtics played a first quarter that would have shamed the 1997 "let's get Tim Duncan" team. The offense was inept, the defense was inept, Doc stood there watching......

And just like that, the epic story of the Celtics' postseason road failures is over. The C's built a big lead, survived a Detroit run, built another big lead, survived another Detroit run, and walked out of the Palace of Auburn Hills up 2-1 with a 94-80 win. Home-court advantage is back, the haters and doubters are quiet, and all is more or less right with the world. Until we get to the Sox, that......

Hey, remember when the knock on the Celtics was their depth? Remember when everyone assumed Ghidorah would play great and then all hell would break loose when the second unit came in? Think Cleveland is remembering those predictions wistfully? The first quarter last night was a hangover from Game One. Ghidorah was still struggling (we were ready to call for a wheelchair to escort Ray Allen off the floor, if not a gurney). LeBron James......

Today, we're not going to talk about YouKnowWhat XLII. Because there's nothing to talk about. Today, we're going to celebrate two big wins from our two local winter teams. (We will remind you, however, that we'll be live-blogging YouKnowWhat XLII starting 7:30ish on Sunday. Get your commentin' fingers in shape.) The Celtics were facing maybe their toughest test of the season so far. There have been Negative Nellies all over the land saying that the......

The San Diego Chargers are hoisting their macho flag in the sky. One player who has the first name Igor (no joke) already boasted that the Patriots are more worried about the Chargers than the Chargers are of them. Can Igor do math? A perfect record is nothing to sniff at. Bostonist heard on ESPN that Coach Norv of the Chargers told Igor to shut his trap. No sports action last night, but tonight the......

TO: The Rest of the NBA (address not shown) FROM: The Little Nine (littlenine@celtics.com) RE:Remember Us? --- Hi everyone. It's the Little Nine here. You know, the "supporting cast" that was going to be the one thing holding the "Big Three" back from romping all over the NBA this year? Almost to a man, the papers and the Internet said that Pierce, Allen and Garnett would play well, but they had no support and no......

Think back to the glory days of '04, when an odd phenomenon swept across Red Sox Nation. The day after we realized that our beloved boys of summer-turned-autumn were heading to the World Series, many a bleary-eyed Sox fan remarked that winning the Series would be amazing, unheard of, astounding. But there was an anti-climactic twinge to the remarks, because Shaughnessy's curse had already been broken for some of the crowd. The Sox had already......

Technical difficulties plagued yesterday's Redux. We'll cover both weekend games here. Sorry. Not since Mrs. O'Leary's cow had its legendary bout with Restless Legs Syndrome has Chicago been so utterly and completely flattened. But this time it wasn't fire, but the relentless bats of the Red Sox, woken from their August slumber, who pounded the Pale Hose into a pinstriped pulp. (We miss a day, we lay it on a little thick the next day.......