Let's take a trip out to Phoenix, shall we? The Celtics for once found themselves n the other side of the equation, as the team trying to cool an ongoing Suns hot streak. Turns out that the Celts don't well handle such a situation, losing 85-77 to Shaq and his crew. The quick breakdown of dubious distinctions from the game? Lowest Boston total of the season, first third-straight loss of the season, really lousy ball......

This Bostonist finally got around to seeing There Will Be Blood last night, so we're prepared to concede that the West can be a harsh and pitiless place. Until this week, the West had been very good to the Celtics. But now they're drinkin' our milkshake! The reeling C's have matched their longest losing streak of the year (two) after Baron Davis broke our hearts with a game-winning shot for the last of his 29......

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......

It seems that Mother Nature didn't think the Red Sox's doubleheader sweep of the Tigers on Thursday was impressive enough - the first games after that two-fer will be tidily bundled in another dual-game gameday. The Sox called Friday's scheduled game against their Interleague Play Atlanta visitors pretty early, deciding instead to go the route of a 1 p.m./7:35 p.m. Saturday schedule. The pitching breakdown: Dice-K vs. Braves pitcher Anthony Lerew in the afternoon game,......

With a miserable rain forcing the postponement of last night's Sox-Tigers game, our thoughts turn to geography. Yes, they really do. Specifically, to a subject we've been noticing a lot lately: the fact that the Red Sox seem to attract a large number of players whose last names are also the names of towns in our fair Commonwealth. So let's hit the road and take a tour of Massachusetts, Red Sox-style. Close to Boston, we......

Let's give a hand to WEEI caller Pauley, who aptly summed up Tuesday's Sox home game against the Detroit Tigers during the Planet Mikey Show with, "It was a drinking night tonight." It wasn't a pretty showing at Fenway on Tuesday, despite the presence of the brilliant-this-season Tim Wakefield on the mound. The Sox endured a 7-2 pounding that was led by Tiger pitcher and 2006 AL Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander (7 2/3......

The complete game is a dying art in the States. In the age of relief specialists, managers tied to pitch counts, and Papelbon, there aren't a lot of occasions when a manager wants to leave his starter in any longer than necessary. And last night, in fact, Papelbon was warming up when the Sox blew the game open in the 8th, taking a 7-1 lead and giving Terry Francona an excuse to leave Daisuke in......

6-0. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, it looked grim for a while for Josh Beckett and the Sox. Dan Johnson broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth with an RBI single, but the Sox rallied off 2 off the Oakland bullpen in the bottom of the inning. Then Okajima and Timlin shut the A's down, and just like that, Beckett became the majors' first six-game winner in the 6-4 triumph. Bostonist hearts......

Where's Manny? Gordon Edes reported last night that "enigmatic" slugger Manny Ramirez might be late for spring training because he'll be at a classic car auction in Atlantic City, New Jersey. And not with his sick mom as has been reported. His '67 Lincoln convertible is up for bid, so if you have $200,000 or so lying around, you can own a piece of automotive and Red Sox history. We figured Dan Shaughnessy would be......

After a brief courtship and a little hand-holding, the fickle, flirtatious Rockies decided to deny Todd Helton to the Red Sox with a curt "There will be no further discussions." If you're looking to end a relationship before Valentine's Day, you might want to try that brief, yet effective line. The deal-breaker was that the Rockies didn't think they were getting much in return if they traded Helton. Helton is a big catch, and the......