BRUINS PLAYOFF PICTURE

With last night's shootout loss to the devils, the Bruins' playoff picture has become more confusing and twisted than a Picasso painting on PCP. The Bruins are one of six teams vying for three playoff spots.

If the Bruins win their remaining two games, they're in, no matter what. That's the important thing. They control their own destiny.

Here are the games to scoreboard watch tonight:

Tampa Bay @ Washington
Ottawa @ Toronto
Buffalo @ Montreal

If Buffalo loses, they're mathematically eliminated from the playoff picture. They're essentially out of it anyway, needing a great deal of assistance from every other team in the League in order to make the post-season.

If Washington loses in regulation, then the Bruins only need to get a point in their next two games to clinch a playoff spot. If Washington loses in overtime, then the Bruins need two points in their next two games. If Washington wins, they'll pass the Bruins by virtue of having more wins. But the Bruins would still have a game in hand, and would still be in 8th place.

If Ottawa loses in regulation, then the Bruins only need to beat them (in regulation or OT) Friday night in order to clinch a playoff spot. If Ottawa loses in overtime, the Bruins clinch a spot with a regulation win on Friday OR an overtime win and at least one point against Buffalo on Saturday.

On Friday night, there are two games that matter to the Bruins

Boston @ Ottawa (obviously)
New Jersey @ Philadelphia
Florida @ Carolina

If the Bruins win in Ottawa, no matter what has happened, or will happen, they'll only need a point against Buffalo on Saturday to make the playoffs.

If Philadelphia loses in regulation to the Devils, then the Bruins can clinch with a win in Ottawa OR a win against Buffalo OR a pair of overtime losses against Ottawa and Buffalo. In other words, they'd only need two points in order to clinch a spot. If Philadelphia loses in overtime, the Bruins would still clinch with a win in Ottawa because they hold all the tie-breakers against Philly.

Carolina only has one game left, and if they lose it in regulation, the Bruins get a big boost. The Bruins would only need one point in their remaining two games to "pass" the Hurricanes. Of course, the Bruins won't be ahead of Carolina unless Washington also passes them. It's complicated. Because Carolina leads its division, they're the 3rd seed, even though they have the same number of points as the Bruins and Senators. So consider this an insurance policy in case Washington wins its last two games. Instead of taking a spot from the Bruins, Washington may take it from Carolina.

Saturday has two games of interest to the Bruins

Buffalo @ Boston
Florida @ Washington

If the Bruins haven't clinched a playoff berth by Saturday, they may be in trouble. Then again, they may only need one point against Buffalo to clinch. If the Bruins haven't clinched once they're done with their 82 game schedule, they can still get some help on Sunday.

Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia

If the Bruins still need some help, this game is their last resort.

Tonight's games will clear a lot of things up. And the clinch scenarios will begin again on Friday in Ottawa. The Bruins cannot clinch a playoff berth tonight.

BUT, if Buffalo loses tonight, and so does Washington, and so does Ottawa; then the Bruins are very VERY close to getting in. All they would need to do is get one point in their last two games OR have Washington lose again OR Philadelphia only get one more point.

Source:
ESPN.com

RED SOX 5, PATHETICS 0

I don't know why I hate the A's so much. Maybe it's because they play in a football stadium. Maybe it's because many of their fans are the same whiny, moronic Raider fans still replaying videotape of the Tuck Play on their VCRs over and over again. Maybe it's because "Moneyball" is both misunderstood, and overrated. Maybe it's because that organization produced Jason Giambi, Jose Conseco, and Mark McGwire. Maybe it's because they refuse to retire #3 for Jimmie Foxx, and unlike the cross-bay Giants; do not pay any tribute to their history in other cities.

Whatever the reason, beating Oakland gives me ha;f as much satisfaction as beating the Yankees, which is a lot.

An impressive start by Jon Lester set the tone for the Sox. He went 6.2 innings, allowed 3 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 3. He was assisted by 3 double plays turned behind him, which helped keep his pitch count down. He threw 94 pitches, which translates into an average of 14.1 pitches an inning, well below his average from 2007.

With Okjima and Papelbon working the night before, the Red Sox bullpen went to it's B-Squad. Bryan Corey got 4 outs, and Manny Delcarmen pitched a perfect 9th.

The Red Sox offense did well, but not as well as they could have. Ortiz hit a 2 run shot, and Varitek homered, but there were a lot of potential runs left on the bases. When you get 20 baserunners, you should score more than 5 runs. But the A's turned 3 double plays, Mike Lowell was caught-stealing during a botched hit-and-run, and 12 men were left on base.

The Red Sox have Thursday off then play the Blue Jays in Toronto. Tim Wakefield starts against Shaun Marcum. Over the last three seasons, Wakefield is 7-3 with a 3.00 ERA in domes.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Ben Margot

SOX SQUEEZE ONE OUT

A great start from Daisuke, excellent bullpen work, and the hitting of Kevin Youkilis propelled the Sox to a 2-1 victory over Oakland on Opening Day 2.0.

Dice-K and the Sox fell behind 1-0 when Jack Cust - who has one of hose baseball names you just don't see anywhere else - hit a solo shot in the 2nd. But Ellsbury tied it up in the 5th with an RBI single that knocked in Youkilis. The Sox took the lead in the top of the 6th when Youkilis tripled and was sent home by a Varitek double.

Apart from the homerun, Matsuzaka was impeccable. He only allowed 2 hits, 0 walks, and struck out 9 in his 6.2 innings. Okajima relieved him and was solid, allowing a 2 out walk in the 7th, and a leadoff single in the 8th that was harmless. Papelbon was AMAZING, coming into the game with 2 outs in the 8th and retiring all four men he faced, three of them via strikeout.

This was the formula we saw with the Sox last year. Decent and timely hitting creating a win thanks to starting pitching going deep into the game, and the frontline relievers closing things out. When the Sox only have to go to Okajima and Papelbon in the late innings, they are essentially unbeatable. And that is why Daisuke Matsuzaka is the winner of the Man of the Game Award for Game #3.

The Red Sox look to win the hiccuped four game series tomorrow night when Jon Lester faces Rich Harden...again.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Ben Margot

SOX 25 MAN ROSTER

Here's the Red Sox 25 man roster to re-begin the season:

Pitchers:
David Aardsma
Clay Buchholz
Bryan Corey
Manny Delcarmen
Jon Lester
Javier Lopez
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Hideki Okajima
Jonathan Papelbon
Kyle Snyder
Julian Tavarez
Tim Wakefield

Catchers:
Jason Varitek
Kevin Cash

Infielders:
Sean Casey
Alex Cora
Mike Lowell
Julio Lugo
Dustin Pedroia
Kevin Youkilis

Outfielders:
Coco Crisp
JD Drew
Jacoby Ellsbury
Manny Ramirez

Designated Hitter:
David Ortiz

15 Day DL:
Mike Timlin
Josh Beckett

60 Day DL:
Curt Schilling

Word has it that Drew is feeling better and will be in the starting lineup tonight. Also, Beckett made a minor league rehab start and looked very good. He pitched 5 innings, allowing two hits, a run, a solo homer, and struck out 6. He threw 64 pitches, 47 were strikes. He's eligible to be activated on Thursday and will probably start on Sunday in Toronto

Source:
Extra Bases

RED SOX BEAT DODGERS IN FRONT OF RECORD CROWD

115,300 fans packed the LA Coliseum to watch last night's Dodgers/Red Sox game in the latest chapter to an already bizarre March for the Red Sox. As you can tell from the pictures, the playing field had some interesting dimensions. The official distance to the left field foul pole was 201 feet, but was generally estimated at about 190. But a 60 foot mesh screen erected above the fence, which counted as a wall, would make bleeder line drive homeruns impossible. Center and right field were considerably more than 400 feet from the plate.

The defensive alignments displayed by both teams were also nontraditional. The Dodgers employed 5 infielders, which at one point saw Andruw Jones covering 2nd when Jacoby Ellsbury stole the base. The Red Sox shifted their left-fielder into left-center, assigning short-stop Alex Cora the responsibility of chasing down balls hit out there.

But despite the weirdness, predictions of high scores (such as Jason Varitek's forecast of an 85-81 victory, or Alex Cora's prediction of a USC football kind of score) were not meant, and a relatively normal 7-4 game was played.

Wakefield looked good through 5 innings but struggled in the 6th. Youkilis hit a towering shot over the 60 foot fence in left, and Kevin Cash added a homerun 20 rows deep into the left-center bleachers. Papelbon's line suggests he struggled, but he did have to pitch around a pair of errors.

The Red Sox have one final exhibition game against the Dodgers in the more traditional confines of Dodger stadium. Then it's time for games that matter...again.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian
AP Photo/Richard Vogel
Jeff Gross/Getty Images

BRUINS IMPEACH SENATORS

Perhaps the cheesiest headline I've ever come up with. Tim Thomas recorded his 5th career shutout with 34 saves, and the Bruins got 4 goals from 4 players. PJ Axelsson had his first score in 15 games to open things up in the first. Marco Sturm added to his team leading goal total of 27 with a power play score. Shane Hnidy scored on a shorthanded opportunity at the beginning of the third, and David Krejci iced it with 0:55 to go. Since getting that OT loss in Montreal, the Bruins are 3-0-0 and have outscored opponents 14-4 in that stretch.

David Krejci has blossomed from a clumsy 4th wing fill-in into a scoring terror. He's got the physical abilities of a great scorer; but more importantly, he's got the confidence, intelligence, and smoothness of a seasoned veteran, not just a 21 year-old kid (which is what he is).

Shawn Thornton didn't figure in any of the scoring, and had an even +/- on the night, but he had one of his better games. He racked up 9 penalty minutes, and each one helped the team. After Chris Neil laid a cheap-shot on Jeremy Reich, Thornton dropped the gloves with Neil, eventually taking him down to the ice. In the 2nd, Cody Bass was the cheap-shot artist, hitting Mark Stuart into the boards from behind. Thornton didn't even wait for Bass to accept the fight, he just went right at him and started throwing punches. Bass was left bloodied, and each got a pair of matching minors for charging and roughing. Shawn Thornton made it very clear to the Senators that cheap hits were not allowed in the TD BankNorth Garden.

So the B's get two vital points. Washington also won, so the Bruins remain a mere 2 points ahead of them. But Ottawa is starting to fall to us. They're only 2 points ahead, and the Bruins have one more game to play than they do. The Bruins play in Buffalo tonight, and with a regulation win will eliminate the Sabres from the playoffs.

Source:
ESPN.com

BEN WATSON'S ANKLE SURGERY

Ben Watson has undergone surgery on his left ankle, which nagged him throughout the 2007 season. Watson missed 6 games due to this injury, which was induced by the Cowboy's Roy Williams, then reaggrivated in the Pittsburgh game. With mini-camp coming up in early June, recovering from the surgery will probably affect Watson's participation level. Not surprisingly, Watson and the Pats aren't divulging much information about the injury, or what effect it will have on mini-camp or training camp for Watson.

With the release of Kyle Brady a few weeks ago, this surgery means that David Thomas might be seeing even more playing time, which I don't think is a bad thing.



Source:
Boston.com

BRUINS PUT AWAY LEAFS 4-2

After essentially knocking out the Maple Leafs from the playoff picture with a 6-2 win on Tuesday, the Bruins had a chance to make it mathematically official with a regulation win at home. The Bruins also needed a win to stay one step ahead of the 9th place Washington Capitals. And that's exactly what they got.

A brisk first period (which included a 12 minute stretch of whistle free hockey) ended 1-0 thanks to Marco Sturm, who netted his 26th of the season. David Krejci got the only assist, but Glen Murray deserved a nod as well. Sturm was the trailing man of the three Bruin forwards, and Murray's drive toward the net freed up Sturm on the wing, allowing him to score.

The Leafs came back with a strong second period effort, outshooting the Bruins 18 to 11. Jiri "Spell Check" Tlusty beat Tim Thomas to tie the game at 1-1.

The Bruins kicked it up a notch in the second, creating breakaway after breakaway. Kessel got in behind the defense thanks to some length of the ice passing behind him. All alone with just the goalie to beat, Kessel tapped home the go ahead goal. A few minutes later, Glen Murray added some insurance, making it 3-1.

The Leafs made it interesting when Krejci was called for a bogus hold, and Pavel Kubina scored from the right wing on a shot Thomas could have probably saved. Toronto goalie Vesa Toskola got an assist on the play, his 5th of the season, which I think is just a cool stat for some reason.

But the Bruins responded right away. Twenty-three seconds later, Peter Shaefer's shot deflected past Toskola to make it a 4-2 game.

The Bruins now sit in 7th place, tied in points with the Flyers at 88, but holding the head-to-head tie-breaker. The Senators come to town on Saturday, and the B's fly to Buffalo to play a game on Sunday.

The Capitals kept pace with the Bruins thanks to a 4-3 win in overtime against Tampa Bay. Washington has a pretty weak schedule for their remaining 5 games. But if the Bruins get 7 more points, they'll be in the playoffs no matter what.

Source:
BostonBruins.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Winslow Townson