The Bruins are back tonight less than four months after winning the Stanley Cup and bringing it back to Boston. The summer-long Cup fun is over, the players got their much-earned rings - 505 people got rings, even Tomas Kaberle, we think - that are almost as big as the Cup. Okay, not quite.
1
Results tagged “patriots”
Massachusetts Republicans are shocked at a recent poll showing Senator Scott Brown leading Democrat Elizabeth Warren by just three points. They can't believe a "fresh face" can be so close to the incumbent. As surprised as everyone was when Brown won Ted Kennedy's seat? [Attleboro Sun Chronicle] Remember to follow Bostonist on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
The Patriots complex, record-making offense can also run the football effectively. Just ask the Oakland Raiders who got whipped, 31-19, on Sunday by a balanced attack led by Stevan Ridley and BenJarvus Green-Ellis (172 yards, two TDs combined). It comes at a great time, too. The Jets come to town for the first time since January's playoff win over the Pats. Brady knows they need every bit of the playbook on Sunday. He said: "We've got a huge one this weekend. This is one we've got to go get."
Whatever ailed the Patriots a week ago in Buffalo vanished in a convincing 31-19 victory on the road against the Raiders on Sunday. Tom Brady reverted to his error-free play with an efficient 16-30, 226-yard performance that included two more touchdown passes. While Brady's interception-free game gets the headlines, the Patriots benefitted from a balanced offensive attack. Oakland led early, by a 10-7 score early in the second quarter. The Patriots, who gained 184 yards on the ground, scored the next 17 points thanks to rushing touchdowns from BenJarvus Green-Ellis (75 yards) and Stevan Ridley (97 yards), and a field goal from Stephen Gostkowski.
The Patriots are in Oakland and the team, and Boston's sports fans, need a win. The Pats, fresh off a surprising loss to Buffalo, need to find a defense to stop someone. As for fans, well, you were there last week and we're moving forward as Bill Belichick might say. We'll start with Tom Brady. He chopped that hair right out of his helmet and we hope he has met his yearly interception quota. He tends to respond well after having bad games. Brady is 4-1 in games after he throws four interceptions. He's 25-6 after a loss.
The Red Sox have begun the post-choke era on Thursday. Call it Heimlich Day. Terry Francona and Theo Epstein eulogized the team's total collapse of 2011 with some blunt comments to try and explain the 7-20, uhhh, effort in September. They started with themselves. "This year, we weren't at our best," Theo said. "I can say that about myself. Tito and I talked about it and I think he'd say the same about himself." He also said part of the post-choke analysis requires management to evaluate themselves to see if they should stay in their current jobs.
A lot happened on Sunday, sports fans. We found something good to lead-off with. Jacoby Ellsbury. The Sox speedy centerfielder saved the team after, we think, they were close to hitting rock bottom in Sunday's doubleheader. Ellsbury finished the games with a 5-11 performance with three home runs and five RBI. Ellsbury joined the 30-30 club, a first in franchise history. They lost game one, 6-2, and needed a three-run home run in the 14th inning from Ellsbury to win game two, 7-4.
The Red Sox late season downward spiral continued in New York last night as they were soundly beaten by a 9-1 score. The Sox lead in the Wild Card race is down to 1.5 games after Tampa Bay beat Toronto, 6-2. The Sox play two games tomorrow. Can't wait! Bostonist is, however, looking forward to seeing what Tom Brady will do next after two memorable performances that earned him back-to-back player of the week honors. Buffalo is 2-0 and Bill Belichick is downplaying the Patriots 15-game winning streak against the Bills. "That doesn't really mean anything," he said. Thanks, coach.
Tom Brady, to the surprise of nobody, was named AFC offensive player of the week for the second week in a row. Brady, of course, deferred credit to the entire Patriots offense. Starting center Dan Koppen highlights a slew of injuries for the team. Koppen's broken fibula earned him a season-ending spot on injured reserve despite a slight chance he could return late in the season.
Last Monday, Bostonist figured we'd seen it all from Tom Brady. But, Brady was at his best again with three touchdown passes and 423 yards in a 35-21 victory over the San Diego Chargers yesterday in Foxboro. Brady is the first quarterback to ever throw for 400+ yards a week after throwing for over 500 yards. He had a quarterback rating of 135.7 against the Chargers.
The Red Sox continued their month-long swoon on Thursday as Tampa Bay routed the home team by a 9-2 score. The Sox are now 3-11 in September and have fallen 4.5 games behind the Yankees in the A.L. East. The Rays have closed to within three games in the Wild Card race. A four-run outburst put the Rays ahead for good. Three runs in the seventh gave Tampa Bay a 9-1 lead.
Fourteen games remain in 2011 regular season and the Red Sox lead the Tampa Bay Rays, in town for four games, by four in the A.L. Wild Card race after a 5-4 loss to Toronto last night. If you thought Tuesday's rout of the Blue Jays ended their September skid, well think again. Yesterday, the Bruins finally signed Brad Marchand, the pesky rookie who developed into legit goal-scoring in the team's Cup-winning playoff run, to a two-year, $5 million contract.
Mike Dowling seems okay to Bostonist. He's honest, and there's no reason for us to doubt him. He produced a truly great tweet. He wrote: "Patriots just try to clarify Tom Brady's quote ",w/ 4 O'clock start, their is plenty of time for fans to start drinking","he meant hydrate"." Look, this is not a big deal. Football fans drink before games. Brady knows this. He's joking, and we assume this is part of a longer exchange that led up to what Brady said. But, the excuse the Patriots gave Dowling is so dumb it's insulting. Hydrate? Really? Nobody believes that.
We were reading something about Tom Brady being old this week. Brady looked as good as ever last night, leading New England to a 38-24 win over Miami that might have been one of the most one-sided 14-point wins you'll ever see. With the score tied at 14-14 in the third quarter, the Patriots routed Miami, 24-3, over the next 15 minutes to take a 38-17 lead with about six minutes left to play. Brady finished with 517 yards, or the 5th highest single-game total in league history, the 11th 500-yard passing game in league history, the most yards in franchise history, the most yards ever on Monday Night Football, and the most yards in a game since Boomer Esiason threw for 522 yards in 1996. Phew. He had four touchdowns, too, and an interception. We didn't forget.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft is ready for some football. “Thank God for NFL football," he said after a tumultuous offseason in which his beloved wife, Myra Kraft, died. The entirety of Patriots fandom might say the same thing without having as significant a reason why. We have another matter of hours until the Pats open the season tonight in Miami so the anticipation has more time to build on already high expectations after another unsatisfying playoff exit earlier this year followed a 14-2 regular season. Bill Belichick reloaded with two high-profile players, Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth, who you'd think didn't fit with his style. He did manage to keep 18 undrafted players on the 53-man roster, the third most in the NFL.
The Red Sox September slump continued in Toronto with a sloppy, 11-10 loss on Wednesday. Boston is now 2-5 this month and now trails New York by 2.5 games in the A.L. East. Tim Wakefield's seventh attempt at his 200th victory was not any luckier than the previous six tries. He allowed five runs on three hits, two hit batters, and three walks in five innings. The Sox offense again battered the Blue Jays pitchers with 10 runs on 14 hits. The Sox scored three runs in the first and four more in the fourth for a 7-5 lead. Jacoby Elsbury was 4-5 with a home run on three RBI. Marco Scutaro was 2-4 with three RBI. Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz each homered.
The Red Sox responded to a two-game mini-slump with a resoundingly one-sided 14-0 victory last night against the Blue Jays. Boston scored early and often with four runs in the first inning and 10 runs off of Toronto starter Luis Perez, who lasted just 2.2 innings. Boston pounded the Jays for 20 hits. David Ortiz and Marco Scutaro combined for an 8-11 performance with six RBI and five RBI. Scutaro was 4-5 (three doubles) with four RBI.
We'll all look at the Patriots roster to evaluate how good of the season the team will have. If you look at who the team released and see what they're doing now, you can see how the Patriots stack up in 2011. Teams want players not good enough for New England. Nine former players, released by Bill Belichick, have signed with other teams. Brandon Meriweather signed a one-year deal with Chicago and Brandon Tate joined Cincinnati. Lee Smith, Thomas Austin, Will Yeatman, Landon Cohen, Jonathan Wilhite, Ricky Brown, and James Sanders all also joined new NFL teams.
Texas had their way with the Red Sox on Friday night with a 10-0 rout and the Red Sox returned the favor yesterday by overpowering the Rangers, 12-7. An eighth-inning barrage highlighted by Carl Crawford's grand slam put Boston up 9-3. Crawford finished 2-5 with four RBI. Dustin Pedroia finished off Texas in the sixth with bases-loaded double that scored three runs. Boston's offense had 16 hits, a total that included four hits from Josh Reddick.
The Yankees bullpen allowed one hit in 3.2 innings in a 4-2 win over the Red Sox last night. After taking two of three games, New York trails Boston by just a half-game. Mariano Rivera earned his 36th save after holding off a rally in the ninth. The Sox loaded the bases in the ninth on two walks and a single. Adrian Gonzalez struck out to end the game.
The Patriots preseason game last week is probably one they want to forget about. We bet Bill Belichick kept bringing it up all week, though. Tonight's game will go on, despite Hurricane Irene's impact, and while it's normally the final game that provides a brief appearance by key players, the bad taste left from Detroit last week may keep starters in longer.
As of about 6:30 p.m. tonight, 112,000 Massachusetts electric customers were still without power. There are 83,000 National Grid clients in the dark, mostly in the Attleboro and Scituate areas, along with 29,000 NSTAR customers in South Shore, Cape Cod, and the Metro West towns. National Grid's website has estimates for every city or town with outages.
CC Sabathia (18-7) beat the Red Sox for the first time in 2011 in a 5-2 decision on Tuesday. The Yankees now trail the Sox by .5 in the East. The Sox had plenty of chances to score with 10 hits off Sabathia during his six innings. They left, however, 16 runners on base on the night.
Tim Wakefield was denied his 200th win once again after Kansas City used an eight-run sixth inning rally to beat Boston, 9-4. Twelve Royals batted in the sixth as seven batters had hits and two walked. Wakefield pitched 5.1 and allowed four runs on nine hits. The Red Sox led 4-3 when Wakefield left. Matt Albers (4-4) imploded by retiring one batter out of the six he faced. He walked two and allowed five runs and three hits. Five K.C. batters had at least two hits. Ryan Lavarnway, Carl Crawford, and Dustin Pedroia each had two hits. Lavarnway had his first major league RBI.
Pitchers Andrew Miller and Alfredo Aceves held Kansas City to just four hits in a 7-1 victory, Boston's second straight in Kansas City. Miller pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three hits and one run. Alfredo Aceves allowed just one hit in 3.2 innings of work. Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered in the fifth to give Boston a 5-1 lead.
We all know Bill Belichick wants his varsity to get enough preseason work in order to be at their best when the games count. But, the first-line players certainly looked ready after just one quarter against a totally overmatched Tampa Bay Buccaneers club and closed out a 31-14 win.
Preseason game number two in Tampa Bay, just about two hours from now, represents the Patriots first road trip of 2011. Last week's 47-12 rout against Jacksonville was quite a success and we're not sure if tonight's game could possibly go as well. You might get to see Tom Brady in his customary spot under center.
The Red Sox lost their first series since June thanks to a 5-3 loss in Seattle on Sunday to the Mariners. The Sox dropped two games and split their road trip 3-3. The Sox won or tied 11 straight series while posting a 26-10 record. Seattle struck for three runs in the third inning, took a 3-0 lead, and never looked back. That was the only bad inning of the eight Tim Wakefield (6-5) pitched. His complete game effort included five runs, four earned, on nine hits. Seattle's Charlie Furbush threw seven innings and limited the Red Sox to one run on four hits. Kevin Youkilis homered in the eighth inning with Dustin Pedroia to make the score 5-3. Adrian Gonzalez had two hits. Jed Lowrie had an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Gothamist found out that if you don't show your ID in an Orthodox Jewish enclave, you can probably get arrested. And we also learned that there's probably porn of Jimmy "The Rent Is Too Damn High" McMillan out there. Bostonist rode with in the Pan Mass Challenge. The NFL returned and the Patriots rode all over the Jaguars. Remember to follow Bostonist on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Despite a shaky start - two fumbles, one lost - that put the Jacksonville ahead 6-0, the Patriots routed the Jaguars by a 47-12 score on Thursday in the first preseason game. Yes, it's just a practice game, but a lot happened in the game that is worthy of praise. Tom Brady sat the game out. Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett were left to handle the offense. Hoyer started and played the first half and went 15-21 for 171 yards and a touchdown. Mallett took over for the second half and finished 12-19 for 164 yards. Taylor Price impressed at wide receiver with a great touchdown catch and 105 yards on the night. Rookie Stevan Ridley from LSU was superb with 121 total rushing and receiving yards and three touchdowns. Free agent rookie Ryan Medlin (Fayetteville) finished with two touchdowns. The defense turned in a really impressive effort as Jacksonville mustered just four field goals. Dane Fletcher had five tackles.