Brandon Bass Scores Playoff-High 27, Boosts Celtics Past Sixers

Red Sox Bats Overcome Buchholz’s Struggles in Win Over Orioles

Connelly’s Top Ten: Beckett For Mayor (Kidding – Trade Him!)

Aviles, Saltalamacchia Homer in Red Sox Rubber-Match Win

Manny Powers Sox 4-3 Win

The Red Sox really needed a big win against their rival New York Yankees to ensure they wouldn’t remain in the basement of the AL East. On the mound for the Sox was ace Josh Beckett, who was pretty good throughout the game. Beckett pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs, on five hits and one walk, while striking out five. Not great, but it was enough to earn him the win as the Sox won 4-3.

The big story of the game was really long rain delay of 2 hours, 11 minutes. The rain delayed the matchup of Jonathan Papelbon and Alex Rodriguez with two outs and two men on in the eighth inning. After the delay, Papelbon came in and blew away A-Rod on three pitches. He finished the ninth as well, striking out two more to earn his fourth save.

Friday Night’s Game: The baseball season really doesn’t begin until the Red Sox and Yankees square off. Tonight the Yankees took the first of many match-ups between the two rivals in the 2008 season as Yankee ace Chien-Ming Wang pitched a two-hit shutout and the Bronx Bombers defeated the defending World Champs, 4-1.

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Tags: Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, Randy Moss, Tom Brady