Tagged: Milan Lucic

Sweepin’ up the garbage

On Monday, everything in Boston was a win. Today, everything was a sweep.

On Terry Francona’s 50th birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TITO), the Red Sox swept a doubleheader, taking the first game 10-1 in 7 innings (It’s April. It’s raining) and finishing off the Twins tonight with a 7-3 victory.

Ever since Penny decided last week to give up 7 unanswered runs, I have been unable to trust him. I was surprised that he pitched mediocre-ly today. He really gave Jacoby a lot of 8__1237315106_3551.jpgwork in the outfield, though. I’m still not a fan of Penny (go Masterson and Buchholz!) but I’ll root for him as long as he wears a Sox jersey.

And hello, offense! A big concern facing this club after Manny quit centered on the offense, but the Sox run production through this 7 game win streak has been great. Papi almost went yard today, Lowell is on fire (had a single, double and homerun in the first game), Jason Bay is quietly finding his way on base and into the RBI column, both Youk and Dustin rock, and Jason Varitek is even getting into the action. Obviously. the runs won’t be this easy to come by every game of the season, but it’s nice to see that the boys are capable of wearing out the ball.

 The only loss for the Sox today were their uniforms. I like the green St. Patty’s ones they used to wear where the top was green with white lettering outlined in red. This white top with green lettering looks atrocious. The “Earth Day” hats are almost as much of a travesty as the Red Sox’s road jerseys this year. Talk about ugly.

North of the border, the Bruins completed their 4 game sweep of the Montreal Canadiens. I hate the Canadiens (especially Koivu) and am very glad to see them swiftly out of the running for the cup.

Michael Ryder, former Canadien, had two goals tonight against his old team.bc226f7f00_lucic_1114.jpg

Milan Lucic was back in action and fighting. He took on Komisarek and won in the second, and then Komisarek retaliated, drawing blood in the third. Komisarek got a five minute major for that one, and he still can’t beat Lucic in a fight.

Phil Kessel had a great goal even though he should have been called offsides. Ever aware, Kessel took a pass right out of the penalty box that put him on a one-on-one with Carey Price. Kessel won that battle easily.

Krejci also scored, taking advantage of the fake Chris Higgins to send a pass to red-hot Ryder, who dished the puck back to Krejci and overwhelmed Price for the B’s first goal of the night. It’s always sweet to see fake Chris Higgins get served.

So, the Canadiens are done, the Sox are killing all opposition, my writing paper that was due today remains not turned in and my room looks like something died and vomitted dirty clothes all over the place. It’s all good! 

Pictures from boston.com, bostonherald.com

Odds and Ends before Marathon Monday

Tomorrow here in Boston is a holiday called Patriots Day. It is technically a commemoration of the Battle of Lexington and Concord (Country, say thank you to Boston for starting the Revolutionary War. You’re welcome) but we here in Boston know it more as Marathon Monday. The famous Boston Marathon occurs annually Patriot’s Day. The Sox (because you can’t have a Boston holiday without the Red Sox) play at 11 AM and finish up just in time for fans to go down to the finish line of the marathon. It’s a great way to remember the Revolutionary War. Hopefully, Mark, our resident marathoner, will be running it next year.

Anyways, I spotted a few gems in the news today that are great reads:
Recession-proofed by the Red Sox

This article makes a lot of sense, actually. It discusses how the Red Sox have already killed our hearts many times over, so Sox Nation is pretty much recession-proof.

Yankees’ statistical chances of winning on Saturday

 This features a great graph showing the Yankees’ statistical chances of winning on Saturday. I think the slope of the line circa 2nd inning is great. Seriously, the Red Sox could lose for the rest of the week and I could care less because the Yankees stunk so badly yesterday. Epic fail.

Jon Lester had a great game today. He finally looked like the Jon Lester of last season again. He struck out 9 over 7 shutout innings with a velocity topping off at 96 mph. Last week, Lester was barely reaching 90. Way to go, Les!

Nick Green continued to play great. He had a nice double off of the wall, showing some good speed on the basepaths. Pedey drove him in for the winning run of the game. Saito gets the save, which was nice considering Saito has done little to impress me so far this season. Mikey Lowell got an RBI, which is always nice to see, and Mike Timlin threw out the first pitch. His wife, Dawn, will be running the Boston Marathon tomorrow as she does every year.. 

For the best news of all (well, second to the Yankees stink-fest at their new stadium), the Red Sox have now won four straight. Yay for .500 baseball!

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In other sports news, we have two playoff teams right now in Boston. The Celtics lost a heartbreaker against Chicago yesterday afternoon, which isn’t totallly unexpected considering the team is starting to look like the walking wounded.

The real controversy came from the Bruins’ rout against the Canadiens last night (5-1 win . . . GO Bs!)

In the waning minutes of the third period, Milan Lucic, recognizing the Bs were up 5-1, decided it would be a great time to conduct a science experiment against the Habs’s Maxim Lapierre. The hypothesis was: “If I take my stick and smash it against this hoser’s head, will my stick break?” It turns out that Lucic’s hypothesis was correct, the stick broke, and Lucic celebrated by promptly punching Lapierre in the face.

Now, the league thinks this was a bit over-the-top, calling it “a reckless and forceful blow to the head.” While this is somewhat true, can’t we just categorize this hit as something in the name of science? I mean, it’s kind of common knowledge that hockey players aren’t always the best students, so I feel we should reward them for any type of academic activity, not suspend them for a game.

Nevertheless, the Bruins head up to Montreal with a 2-0 lead over the Canadiens. I’m saying Bruins take this series in 5.

photo from boston.com