LET'S START WITH A MOTHER'S DAY MIRACLE

Last Mother's Day, the Red Sox came back from a 4-0 deficit in the 9th and went on to win against the O's. This year, the Red Sox need a win to save face versus the pesky Rays. Moreover, the Bruins and Celtics need wins as their both on the brink of 2008-09 extinction.
For the Bruins it is more dire. The team is playing Carolina and is getting dominated. If you read last Sunday's post, you'd say I was joking. I'm not. After bashing Carolina all 4 times in the regular season(all in convincing fashion), the team destroyed them again in Game 1 of the 2009 NHL Playoffs. Things took a devastating twist in Game 2. The Canes' outplayed the Bruins in all facets of the game and won. No worry, the world said. Ward played amazing and the Bruins deserve one hiccup. Off to Carolina we go.
Game 3 was tough. Ference went out injured early and the B's had to play with just 5 defensemen. The Canes' outworked the Bruins again though. They were faster and had a perfect effort balanced via fast skating, great fore checking, timely passes and plenty of Hollywood acting-inspired dives to get on the PP. Despite all this, the game was 2-2 after regulation. In the OT, the Bruins came out strong and threw a few great scoring chance shots on Ward. He held the Bruins off until cult-hero Jussi Jokinen got the game winner. That was that.
The shocked Bruins found themselves down 2-1 in the series. As unique as it was, all the Bruins had to do 2 nights later is play better and win Game 4. Doing so would make the first 4 games of the series a wash, and the series would turn into a 3 game series, with 2 games in Boston. Unfortunately, the game was a near mirror-image of the previous one. Carolina was intense and showed the urgency and will to win, exactly the Bruins needed. The Bruins played better in the 2nd period and the game was tied 1-1. Just when we all thought the real Bruins returned, they were awful in the final frame. Horrible. The Bruins lost 4-1.
So, as of today(the teams play in Boston in an hour or so), this is where we stand. The Bruins are down 3-1 and need to win 3 straight. Unlikely. But, the Bruins have Game 5 at home and as long as they play like the 56-19 team, and not like the 0-3 team since, they could win out. Winning in Boston tonight is vital and will carry momentum into Game 6 in Carolina. If they can find the will, they will return home for Game 7 on Thursday. But first things first, win tonight. One game at a time. Thomas has been amazing. But the team needs to play better as a whole. The Bruins are stacked. Only a handful of Carolina players would even make our squad, the teams are drastically different in player personnel. But there is a reason we sometimes use the saying "paper tiger". Let's hope the Julien and the Bruins win tonight and get hot.
The Celtics defeated the Bulls last week and welcomed Orlando into Beantown for Game 1 of the second round this past Monday. With no KG and Powe still, the Magic are the favorites despite the Celtics having the better regular season and higher playoff seed. Game 1 was a thrashing, as the Magic smoked the Celts. The team was down big, pulled within a couple points, but lost by 5 points. Game 2 was better, as the Celts torched the Magic and led by 30 most of the way. Game 3 in Orlando saw the Magic score at ease with no Celtics defense. The Magic pulled away in the 2nd half and won. Game 4 is tonight, and they'll try to do what the B's couldn't;win Game 4 on the road and head back to The Garden with an even series.
Lastly, the Red Sox are still an afterthought here in Boston last week. They played okay. The swept a 2 game series in NY, split 2 more in CLE and are playing Tampa this weekend. The Rays beat the Sox 3 times last weekend and had won 5 of 7 thus far in 2009. The Sox torched Shields and the Rays during a 5 run 6th inning(the Sox broke a major league by having 12 men reach base in an inning without an opponent recording an out), but then blew countless bases loaded opportunities the next day, before getting whacked later in the game in another loss to the Rays. The Sox have one more with the Rays tonight, and don't want to lose another series to the new found rivals. The Sox have played the Rays 9 times this season and have only won 3. That is embarrassing. The team is one game behind the Jays in the AL East.
Through roughly 30 games, this is what we know about our boys of summer. Big Papi is struggling, and has not hit a HR this season! Youk did not play this week and Drew has been ailing too. Lowell and Bay have been the best 2 hitters. The starting pitching has been horrendous, especially Lester, Beckett and Penny. Only Wake has been good and has an ERA anywhere at or below 3.00. The bullpen has been great, though this week was just so-so. Lowrie is still out and should return in mid-June, same with Smoltz. Dice-K is still out and the team should of suspended him for getting injured at the WBC that the team told him he could not attend. Bucholz has been stellar in the minors and should get the call any time. The team needs a win big time for some pride. They heads out West this week.
In closing, the all 3 of our teams need a win this Mother's Day. Not doing so is devastating, especially for our #1 seed black-and-gold. Hopefully, next weekend's blog will be about the Celts playing the Cavs and the Bruins playing the Caps or Pens.
In case you missed it this week: Manny got suspended 50 games for a failed drug test, A-rod returned from injury and admitted steroid taking this week, and the Providence Bruins lost Games 3 and 4 but are tied 2-2 with the next game in Providence.