THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the Japanese pitcher Red Sox fans have been waiting since 2007 to see in the postseason. While we know that Josh Beckett ought to deliver (we hope, we pray, we beg) and are worshiping the ground on which Jon Lester walks these days, Daisuke Matsuzaka has been the big question mark of our Starting Three. The approach of the fifth inning with Dice-K on the mound can easily make even......

On the way to Tropicana Field, Terry Francona announced his starting rotation for the ALCS! And it's...a continuation of the rotation from the first round. That was anticlimactic. Daisuke will start Game One in St. Petersburg, Beckett Game Two, and Lester and Wakefield will take the first two games in Boston. Tito says he has equal confidence in all three of his big guns (even after Beckett's stinkeroo last week), and says the order doesn't......

The Red Sox didn't just win a series the other night. They may have destroyed a Major League franchise. The Angels, winners of 100 games and the best record in the bigs, spend the entire flight home to California boo-hooing about how this never should have happened. "I'm pissed off. I'm just upset, and it's going to be with me for a while," said Torii Hunter. John Lackey, who was bettered twice by Jon Lester,......

We were worried? Remember, last season the Bruins were 0-37-1 against Montreal in the regular season, and still managed to force the Habs to seven games in the playoffs. 1-8 against the Angels in the regular season? Pfffft. As long as we're comparing Game One of the ALDS to hockey, there aren't a lot of games where it's easier to pick your Three Stars than last night in Anaheim. It's just putting them in order......

Boston's Monday sports scene was all about the media blitz. The Red Sox held their now-customary Rally Monday festivities at Fenway, where Jason Bay, Dustin Pedroia (and his suit, which should count as a whole other person in and of itself), Kevin Youkilis, Terry Francona and Larry Lucchino said they were happy and excited about being one of the eight ("...or nine," quipped Francona, ever the wise and knowing skipper, given the insanity that unfolded......

You'd think it would be a pretty lousy day: you're Danny Ainge or Doc Rivers. You've learned that Darius Miles really is going to have to serve that pesky 10-game suspension. You know, the one everyone expected because the NBA ruled that he violated the league's anti-drug policy. And you don't even know if he'll be healthy enough to play come the dawn of the new season. It's not the way you want to start......

Cause and effect? While the Red Sox were jetting off to Toronto, they found themselves a half-game closer to first, because the Rays blew an 8-6 lead and lost to the Twins. So as long as we're not playing the team we're trying to catch, maybe we can catch them. Sound right? You've probably already heard that Curt Schilling isn't signing on to write a fawning biography of Manny Ramirez. The big guy told WEEI......

Well, they flipped the switch, and we're still here. Our MVP All-World QB is gone, and we're still here. The Rays are officially going to leave Fenway still in first, and we're still here. And we feel fine. Fenway last night didn't have that edge-of-Armageddon feeling that it sometimes does when other teams are in town for a September game with first place on the line. And if any of the crowd was extra fired......

The Red Sox got some revenge on the Toronto Blue Jays and Paul Byrd got his first win in a Red Sox uniform last night, when they beat the Jays 8-4. Paul Byrd pitched for six innings, got tagged for 4 runs and struck out 4. Alex Rios and Lyle Overbay both got homeruns off of Byrd in the first and fourth innings. Dustin Pedroia started off the night with a homerun and the Red......

Hank wasn’t there to get the crowd going and the normally loud crowd at Gillette seemed to have taken a Quaalude before the game. But then again, it’s not a real game. Nothing was at stake; even Tom Brady was bundled up on the sidelines like Nanook of the North. (Tom, it was 70 degrees.) Maybe it was the cool crisp air that got to the Pats, but even a push at the end didn’t......

Two Red Sox may have moved themselves off the "what's wrong with this guy?" list in Kansas City last night. Well, nothing's really been wrong with Tim Wakefield; although he went into last night 6-8, he's gotten miserable run support and has had to deal with the constant emotional roller coaster that is the lot of the knuckleballer. But he was awesome last night (6 innings, 4 hits, 1 ER, 6 Ks), even though Royals......

It's been a month and a half since any of our local teams even competed for, let alone won, a championship. And while the Revolution will soon have to get back to work to finally get over the hump and claim their first MLS Cup, they can at least bask in the glow of the SuperLiga title. The tournament, featuring a few MLS teams and a few Mexican teams, came down to the Revs vs.......

Reporting on the Red Sox these days is starting to feel like reporting the weather (80s, humid, thunderstorms, and anyway, what happened to "if you don't like the weather in New England, wait five minutes"? Three months of continued 40 and windy, five nice days, and now two months of continued hot and sticky. I'm Andy Rooney, and this is 60 Minutes.) Again, there was a lack of timely hitting. Again, a decent outing by......

Guess it was too much to expect for James Posey to be a Celtic for life. The C's didn't want to commit to a fourth year, the Hornets did, and Posey's on his way to New Orleans. We'll miss you, BGJ (Big Game James). You were a fantastic sixth man and a defensive killer, you sparked some of the most critical rallies of the playoffs, and you were an integral part of the soul of......

When Bostonist were kids, there were two nights a year we were permitted to stay up wicked late: New Year's Eve, and the baseball All-Star Game. We don't think we would have been allowed to stay up 'til 1:47 A.M. as kids. But that's what it would have taken to make it through last night's game. When it finally ended, in front of about 20,000 people who paid hundreds and hundreds of dollars a ticket......

Hey, these are starting to look like the good Red Sox again! Except for one bad inning by Jon Lester, the Sox looked pretty good last night, beating the Twins 6-5. Lester pitched a mostly solid game, and the Sox once again found some clutch hitting and took advantage of another team's shaky bullpen. Lester, in fact, had some in the crowd buzzing early about a repeat performance of his May no-hitter (well, a few......

Tim Wakefield deserves better. He got the loss and was technically outpiched by Tampa Bay's Matt Garza, but if you give up five hits and only one earned run, you deserve better. That's our opinion, anyway. Wake was the victim of a 3-1 loss to the scorching hot Rays, mostly due to a couple of ill-timed wild pitches. The first TB run scored on a walk, a groundout, an error, and a wild pitch. Not......

We guess if they'd come into the league as just the Rays (no Devil), they'd probably be working on their sixth pennant this year. But better late then never for Tampa Bay, who extended their AL East lead by dispatching the Red Sox, 5-4, in front of probably the largest assemblage of Rays fans ever. Things started off badly for Justin Masterson and the Sox, as B.J. Upton hit a leadoff home run. The Sox......

Paul Pierce proved you can get stabbed early in life, then come back and win an NBA title, as long as you're commited to playing good defense. Maybe that crossed Danny Ainge's mind as he used the 30th pick in the NBA draft to pick J.R. Giddens of New Mexico. "He has a chance to fight for minutes right away because of his defense," says Doc Rivers. "When he had structure and organization in his......

We know that Randy Johnson is a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer. We understand, with our heads if not our hearts, that the only way Tim Wakefield gets to Cooperstown is down Route 80. But last night, they matched up for the 1,334th time in their storied careers, and Wake got the better of the Unit, twirling seven marvelous innings en route to a 5-0 shutout and a 2-1 series win over the Diamondbacks. Wake......

-- Bostonist was emailed a photo of Celtics' Glen Davis getting all "Big Baby" with the Trophy and thought it was photoshopped. We were wrong. [Yahoo/Getty Images] -- It might be time for another parade: Sean Sears of Chicopee, MA clinched the Rock Paper Scissors League Championship on Sunday. Aaaand he gets to compete for the international title in Beijing during the Olympics! It's only a matter of time before the tiddilywinks title is ours!......

It's hard to live in Boston and not be excited for the Celtics. From rallies to baseball games, our World Champions are everywhere, and we love it! To honor our finals MVP Paul Pierce (whose favorite thing to eat is rumored to be soul food) here is a fantastic soul filled recipe for a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. For more of Lisa's recipes visit her blog Transplanted Taste Buds.......

OK...did everyone take a deep breath last night? The parade is over, there were no vital basketball events to watch last night, and we just have to bide our time until Opening Day when they raise the banner. Opening Day, by the way, might be the first time Kevin Garnett puts down the trophy. So let's check in on the Red Sox; you remember them. Of course, the Globe, which has an ownership stake in......

OK, Bruins. You're on notice. After a bunch of Patriots parades, and a Red Sox rolling rally that seemingly everyone in New England came to (and then a second), the Celtics got to climb on the Duck Boats this morning (like Leon Powe, pictured) and roll from the TDBNGarden to Copley Square. (We were camped out in front of the Orpheum, snapping everything in sight.) This is the highlight of the C's complete Life of......

CelticsBlog and Adam at Universal Hub have pointed us to plenty of reading material today. We thought we'd spotlight some of our favorite bits: -- "Garnett, close to tears, said to Russell, 'Did I make you proud? Did I make you proud?' Russell said, 'Yes, you did.' Garnett embraced Russell even harder, leaned in close to his ear, and said, 'I got one of my own. I got one of my own.' I bet I......

This was just about as sweet as anything could ever be. Was there a time when we wondered if Danny Ainge knew what he was doing when he swung the Ray Allen trade on Draft Day? (Well, yes, we did.) Was there any worry that three guys, who were used to being the big dog, would learn to share the ball? Was there frustration and terror after being pushed to the brink by a neophyte......

This past weekend, concertgoers at the Bonnaroo music festival didn't show much love for Kanye West, but they did show a surprising amount of love to the Celtics on that Tennessee cow farm. The festival organizers played Game 4 to a packed tent full of cheering fans. This Bostonist spotted several Celts jerseys over the weekend, not to mention Red Sox paraphernalia, and some B tattoos to round out a weekend full of half-naked......

This striking photo from minutemen1775 is Red Sox-related, but also has that lucky number 7 for 17 on the 17th.......

Thank god George W. Bush isn't a Celtic. On a visit to Ireland (a prime example of using the presidency as an excuse to travel the world before he gets kicked out), Dubya tried to shoot hoops with some Irish youngsters, but missed four of four shots. As The Independent puts it, "His sporting aim was far from true." We think his aim has been off in some non-sporting situations, too. (The video is......

Philly is a city filled with angry and bitter fans who threw snowballs at Santa. Is it even a shocker that they relished last night when the Sox lost to the Phillies 8–2? Bartolo Colon was pulled after 4 innings, complaining of back stiffness. The Cy Young winner was tagged for 4 runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts, giving up 3 home runs, 2 of them to 2006 NL MVP and former Dunder Mifflin......