Kevin Youkilis blasted his 4th homerun in as many days to help the Boston Red Sox capture a 5-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers last night at Comerica Park. Youkilis came into the Detroit series with 3 homers on the season and leaves Motown with 7 round trippers, and the Tigers pitching and coaching staff couldn’t be happier to see him leave town.

“Our entire staff did a poor, poor job the entire series against Youkilis,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “Not with the thought process but executing pitches. We just gave him cookie after cookie and he just beat our brains out.”

Justin Verlander was the most recent culprit to surrender a Youkilis blast, giving up the two-run bomb in the 5th inning, putting the Sox ahead 5-1, a lead that Josh Beckett would make hold up for his 4th win of the season. Verlander falls to 1-6 on the year and his ERA rises up to 6.43.

For the second consecutive start Beckett looked very comfortable on the mound and the outcome relayed this feeling as he was able to mix in all of his pitches throughout the night with ease.

“I made pitches when I needed them, and that’s what it boils down to,” Beckett said. “If I hadn’t been able to make a couple key pitches, I would have given up a lot more runs. I had all four pitches working when I needed them, and that’s big.”

Over 7 innings of work, Beckett allowed 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 8 Tigers. Along the way he recorded his 1,000th career strike out en route to the victory. Craig Hansen relieved Beckett and pitched a perfect 8th while Manny Delcarmen recorded all three outs in the 9th.

The Sox recorded 13 hits on the night led by a 3 hit performance by Coco Crisp while Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz and Mike Lowell all chipped in with 2 hits respectively. Ortiz now has an 8 game hitting streak and has raised his average 55 percentage points over that time.

Boston took three of the four games in Detroit and squandered the possible sweep with an unusual blown save on Wednesday night by Jonathan Papelbon. The team now travels to Minnesota for a four game set against the Twins who are currently in first place on the AL Central Division with a record of 17-16. Over the past ten games both clubs are playing extremely good baseball. The Sox are 8-2 over that period while the Twins are 7-3.

Tonight’s pitching match up features Jon Lester of the Sox going against Boof Bonser of the Twins. Over his last two starts, Lester has looked very impressive hurling 14 innings while only allowed 1 earned run and striking out 11 opponents. Lester is 2-2 on the season with a 3.94 ERA and has never started in Minnesota.

Bonser is coming off a no decision against the Tigers on May 4th where he allowed 6 runs on 8 hits over 6 innings. He is 2-4 on the season with a 4.29 ERA. He has never faced many of the Red Sox starters, including Youkilis who has never homered at the Metrodome but still looks to stay hot in Minnesota.

The scheduled first pitch tonight is at 8:10pm EST.

Sox Notes:
- Curt Schilling threw long toss before Thursdays game, completing 25 tosses of about 60 feet in length. There is still no estimated return for Schilling who began the season on the 60-Day DL.
- On Tuesday night, Tim Wakefield and Mike Timlin became the first pair of 40 + year old pitchers to combine for a shutout since 1990 in the Sox 5-0 win over Detroit.
- Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Craig Hanson and Clay Buchholtz are all currently on the Red Sox official 40-man roster. This is the first time in the 43-year history of the amateur draft that an organization has moved its top 4 picks from the same draft (2005) onto the roster at the same time within 3 years of having been drafted.

After holding the Cleveland Cavaliers to only 72 points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Final playoff series, the Boston Celtics defense came right back out to play shutting down Lebron and Co. again in their 89-73 Game 2 win at the TD Banknorth Garden yesterday evening. At home during the playoffs, Boston’s defense has now held opponents to an average of 75.5 points per game while they’ve averaged 95.7 per contest at the Garden.

The Celtics looked to be in trouble early, trailing by as many as 12 points midway through the first quarter. Cavalier’s center Zydrunas Ilgauskas led the early charge starting the game 6-6 from the floor, hitting mid-range jump shots with confidence on multiple occasions. After the1st quarter the Celtics trailed 24-17 and looked to be in for a long night.

That thought quickly evaporated into the rafters of the Garden as the Celtics bench came out in the 2nd quarter on a mission. They picked apart the Cavs defensively which sparked an offensive run in which they outscored Cleveland 13-3 during the first seven minutes of the quarter. The C’s bench would score 20 of the 27 points during the 2nd, putting the Celtics up at the half 44-36.

As the Celtics continued to ride the high wave of energy reigning down on them from their home court fans, the Cavaliers never were able to find the same rhythm from the first quarter. Lebron James’s offensive woes continued after going 2-18 in Game 1, he followed it up with a 6-24 shooting performance last night, and for the first time all season looked frustrated. The defensive tenacity of Paul Pierce and James Posey has been one of the main reasons for James’s struggles. He scored 21 points on the night, 9 coming from the free throw line.

“I’m a little shocked that he’s 8-for-42, but this is what we work on. We work on trying to contain him,” said Pierce, who also struggled in Game 1 going 2-for-14. “LeBron is what makes them go. And if we can somehow control him, we control their team. And with the help of the guys around me, we’ve been able to do that.”

While the Celtics continued to play great defense, their Big Three got back into the offensive swing of things after a poor showing in Game 1 where Kevin Garnett was forced to carry the load. In that game, Ray Allen went scoreless and Pierce only had 4 points but both were able to break out of it last night in the winning effort. Allen dropped 16 points and Pierce rebounded from his Game 1 performance scoring 19 on a 7-13 shooting display. Garnett chipped in with 13 points and 12 rebounds in his 32 minutes of action.

“It was good to see Ray get it going. I thought that lifted everybody up on our team,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who called the first several plays of the second half for Allen. “I made a concerted effort. I told the coaches at halftime, ‘We’re going to him over and over again. We’ve got to get him going.’”

The teams will now hit the road and travel to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4, with one squad hoping to end the series and the other wanting to extend it.

“Being down 0-2, that’s a tough hole to dig yourself out of. But if we want to win the series we’ve got to do it,” James said and noted that last year Cleveland went down 0-2 against Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals before winning four in a row to make it to the NBA Finals vs. San Antonio. “We’ve been in this situation before, and I’ve got to let them know that I’m not frustrated.”

His teammates must not be getting that message.

“He’s got to be frustrated,” Cavaliers guard Wally Szczerbiak said. “He’s such a good player. He puts so much on his shoulders.”

As the series shifts to Cleveland, the Celtics will hopefully pack their bags and bring along with them the same defensive intensity that they demonstrated in Games 1 and 2 in Boston. They already saw in Atlanta what can happen when the team relies too heavily on an offensive game, and lost three times in high scoring shoot-outs to the younger Hawks line-up. The key to having success on the road will be to continue to stress defense and shut down Lebron.

Easier said then done, but this Celtics line up looks more focused then ever on their quest for Green 17. Celtics Playoff tickets available for all potential games.

The Boston Red Sox did everything they could to win last night’s game against the Detroit Tigers, but sometimes everything just isn’t enough. Placido Polanco’s broken bat single in the 9th inning off of Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon would knock in the game winner as the Tigers pulled off the 10-9 come from behind victory, snapping their five game losing streak and ending Boston’s five game winning streak.

“We had a great comeback and we couldn’t finish it,” Boston manager Terry Francona said.

The Red Sox had trailed most of game and overcame a 4 run deficit that they faced after 5 innings when the Tigers led 8-4. Kevin Youkilis’ second homerun of the game in the 6th pulled the Sox within 3 runs, making the score 8-5 Detroit, and with two outs in the 7th inning Mike Lowell would belt a 3-run shot to knot the game at 8-8. The homerun came off of relief pitcher Francisco Cruceta, who had just entered the game.

Javier Lopez came out of the pen and pitched a scoreless 7th for the Sox retiring Ivan Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, and Placido Polanco in order. This was the only time Boston pitchers were able to retire the three in a row all evening. Detroit collected a season high 18 hits off of Red Sox pitching.

J.D. Drew led off the 8th inning with a walk and stolen base. After a Jason Varitek line out, Julio Lugo also walked putting runners on first and second with one out for Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury would strike out swinging in a very good at bat leaving the stage set for pinch hitter Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia who had been given the night off delivered in the clutch, ripping the go ahead RBI single to left, plating Drew to put the Sox ahead for the first time all night 9-8.

Hideki Okajima preserved the lead pitching the 8th inning allowing a few hits but retiring the side without allowing a run. The inning ended on a strike him out; throw him out double play where Varitek caught Magglio Ordonez trying to steal third after Gary Sheffield struck out swinging.

The Sox threatened to add some insurance to their lead in the 9th inning off of Tigers closer Todd Jones, but Jones was able to get out of the jam stranding runners on first and second base.

With a lead in the 9th inning, Terry Francona did what he’s done a hundred times before, calling for the services of All-Star closer Jonathan Papelbon to finish off the Tigers. Unfortunately for Papelbon and the Sox, the save just wasn’t in the cards last night.

Matt Joyce led off the inning with an infield single and was replaced at first base with pinch runner Ryan Raburn. Edgar Renteria then grounded to short in what looked to be a taylor-made double play ball only Julio Lugo rushed fielding the play, worrying too much about Raburn’s speed and made a very costly error. Ivan Rodriguez’s sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position and the tying run was knocked in by a Curtis Granderson ground out to second base.

With the winning run at third, Polanco stepped up to the plate already having collected 4 hits on the night. He was able to foul off a few Papelbon fastballs before shooting a broken bat single over the head of Lugo into left field for the game winning RBI.

“It tells you a lot about our team,” Polanco said. “We had some really tough at-bats against Papelbon to make something happen.”

The blown save was Papelbon’s first of the year, he had previously been 10 for 10 in save conversion opportunities.

“We didn’t get many breaks,” Papelbon said. “When they get little breaks like that, they’re going to make you pay for it.”

In tonight’s final game of the four game series, the Red Sox will send Josh Beckett to the mound to duel against Tiger’s ace Justin Verlander. Both are off to slow starts, Verlander especially who is currently 1-5 with a 6.28 ERA on the season. Beckett is coming off a strong 8 inning performance in which he picked up the win vs. Tampa Bay last week at Fenway. He is currently 3-2 on the year with a 4.19 ERA.

Boston will then travel to Minnesota for a four game series against the Twins, and wrap up the road trip with a quick two game stop in Baltimore to face off against the Orioles.

Sox Notes:
- Jacoby Ellsbury has successfully converted every stolen base attempt in his major league career. Last night he stole 2 bases to put him up to 13 on the season, and dating back to his debut last year he is a perfect 22-22 on stolen bases.
- After his two blasts in last nights game, Kevin Youkilis has now hit 7 career homeruns at Comerica Park, this is 5 more homeruns than he has hit at any other visiting stadium. The only other time Youkilis has had a multi-homerun game also came in Detroit back in Aug. of 2004.
- Alex Cora went 2-4 and scored a run in 7 innings of a rehab stint in Triple-A Pawtucket Wednesday night.

On paper it looked like a great pitching match up in the making. Going into the game Chien Ming Wang of the New York Yankees boasted a 6-0 record while Cliff Lee of the Indians was right behind him at 5-0 on the season. When it was all said and done with, it would be Lee who remained undefeated, hurling 7 shut out innings en route to Cleveland’s 3-0 win over the Bronx Bombers last night at Yankee Stadium.

Lee is one of only three starting pitchers in the American League who has at least 6 wins and remains undefeated at this point in the season.

“I’ve got to focus on this next outing and if I do that and continue to do that things should go the way they have gone,” Lee said. “Obviously I can’t expect to put up zeros every single time but it’s my job to put up as many as I can and get deep into the game and give the team a chance to win.”

The Indians starter was in control all night long, allowing only 6 hits while striking out 7 batters in the winning effort. He did not surrender a walk, and only allowed 1 runner to reach as far as third base during his outing. Not only was this Lee’s 6th win on the season, but it was his 6th consecutive decision for a win. He has pitched at least 6 innings in all of his starts and only allowed 4 runs over 44 2/3 innings, good for a .81 ERA which in the best among starting pitchers in MLB. Greg Swindell was the last Indians pitcher to win his first 6 starts back in 1988.

“Cliff is in the groove right now,” said Indians manager Eric Wedge.

Chien Ming Wang was the tough luck loser in this pitchers duel. The Yankees ace hurled 7 strong innings as well, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, but walked 3 in the losing effort. He would allow runs in the 1st, 4th and 5th innings before being removed after completing the 7th when his pitch count hit the 99 pitches.

“A lot of nights that’s good enough,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He gave us seven good innings. Unfortunately we couldn’t score any runs for him.”

Ben Francisco and Jhonny Peralta each had two hits for the Indians in the win. David Dellucci, Victor Martinez and Casey Blake had the Cleveland RBI’s.

Bobby Abreu had the Yankees only multi-hit game, going 2-4 on the night. The top of the Yankees line-up struggles with Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon going a combined 0-8 against Lee and the Cleveland bullpen.

Lee will go for his 7th win on Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays. All of his success may come as a surprise to many because a year ago he started the season on the DL, followed by some time in Triple-A in Buffalo and was then left off of the 2007 playoff roster.

All of that aside, Lee is looking like the real deal and the Indians will continue to ride his success for as long as he continues to pitch gem after gem.

Yankees/Indians Notes:
- Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Phil Hughes are traveling to Tampa, FL today to continue rehabbing their injuries. No time table has been put on their returns.
- The Indians will go for the sweep of the Yankees today at Yankee Stadium, a feat which has not occurred since April 1989.

When Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball starts to dance, he knows that opposing batters are in for a long game of doing the two-step tango. That two-step involves the swing, and the miss. Wakefield saw plenty of that in last nights 5-0 Red Sox victory over the struggling Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Wakefield hurled 8 dominant innings allowing only two hits, no runs or walks while striking out 6 batters in the winning effort.

“I felt really good tonight. It felt really good throwing strikes with all three pitches,” said Wakefield, who threw more fastballs and curves than normal. “When I establish I can throw strikes with my knuckleball, it helps make my other pitches better.”

With the win, Wakefield improved to 3-1 on the season with two of those victories now coming against Detroit. It was also his first win since his start on April 20th vs. the Texas Rangers. The win was the 171st of his career which puts him 13th on the active list and 3rd in Boston Red Sox history with 157 wins, only behind Cy Young and Roger Clemens.

Wakefield established that he was throwing the knuckleball for a strike early on and that allowed for him to mix pitches well throughout the rest of the night, keeping batters on their heels, never knowing what to expect.

“He threw all strikes,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “That’s the best breaking ball we’ve seen from him all year.”

While Wakefield provided the lift on the mound the Sox bats stayed hot as they collected 11 hits on the night including back to back homeruns in the 7th inning by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Ortiz’s homerun was surrendered by Tigers starting pitcher Nate Robertson who lasted 6 1/3 innings while allowing 10 hits, 4 runs and 2 walks. He struck out 4 Sox batters but that last pitch he threw landed approximately 415 feet away from home plate in the right field bleachers at the hands of Ortiz’s 7th dinger of the year.

Ramirez welcomed rookie relief pitcher Freddy Dolsi to the big leagues by sending his first pitch over the center field fence for his 7th shot of the year and bringing him only 3 homeruns shy from having 500 career blasts. Ramirez had 3 hits on the night as did back up catcher Kevin Cash. Kevin Youkilis added a pair of doubles and scored a run for another productive offensive night in Detroit.

Mike Timlin pitched a scoreless 9th to preserve the win for Wakefield. The win was the Red Sox 5th victory in a row and 7th win in their last 8 games. The Tigers are now on a 5 game losing streak.

Tonight’s pitching match up features two rookies that have both pitched well in the early going of this young 2008 season. For the Red Sox, Clay Buchholtz boasts a 2-2 record but has looked very solid in his last three starts allowing 3 earned runs over 19 1/3 innings while striking out 21 over that period.

The Tigers send Armando Galarraga to the hill to make his 5th start of the year. Galarraga has replaced Dontrell Willis in the rotation until the superstar returns from the DL. In his previous 4 starts, the rookie has only allowed 5 earned runs over 24 innings for an impressive 1.88 ERA.

Sox Notes:
- Last night was Mike Timlin’s 1022 career appearance which ties him with Lee Smith for 9th on the all-time appearances list.
- Curt Schilling played catch for the first time in months before Tuesday’s game. The 41-year old pitcher has no plans to throw off a mound in the future but continues to make progress towards a possible return during the 2nd half of the season.
- Utility infielder Alex Cora (right elbow sprain) will begin a Triple-A rehab assignment today with the Pawtucket Red Sox and will be joined on Thursday by Sean Casey (right hip strain).
-As a starting pitcher, Clay Buchholtz has not won a start on the road in the majors.

Going into last nights Eastern Conference Semi-Final playoff match up between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, all eyes were on team leaders Lebron James and Paul Pierce. Which superstar would have what it takes to guide their clubs to the victory? Who would step up and silence any doubters? Which player would rally their teammates for the best of seven series that looks to be a war?

As it turns out, neither ‘The King’ nor ‘The Truth’ had those answers in Game 1’s defensive battle that finished with a 76-72 Celtic victory in front of a sold out TD Banknorth Garden crowd.

Pierce was held to 4 points on 2-14 shooting from the field while Lebron struggled as well, netting 12 points on a dismal 2-18 performance from the floor, the 2nd worst display of his NBA career. James also had a season high 10 turnovers during his 39 minutes of action in the game. A big reason for his struggles was the defensive prowess of the Celtics 6th man, James Posey.

Posey, who was acquired during the off season to provide a defensive spark off the bench, did just that in last night’s playoff victory frustrating James whenever he touched the ball.

“You just try to take certain things away from him,” Posey said, “and make him work hard for everything.”

While Posey worked hard all night on defending Lebron, Kevin Garnett picked up the slack on the offensive end of the court dropping 28 points to lead all scorers. He nailed two clutch buckets over the last 90 seconds that would tie the game at 70-70 and then put the C’s ahead for good at 74-72 with 22 seconds left to play. His effort made up for the poor numbers Pierce and Ray Allen put up during the win. Allen was held scoreless for the first time in 852 games dating back to the 1997 season and only attempted 4 shots on the night, missing them all.

“This was two heavyweights, just body-punching,” said Garnett. “There was no finesse, no jabs, just an all-out, beat-down, defensive fight.”

Zydrunas Ilgauskas paced the Cavs contributing 22 points and 12 rebounds but as a team, the Cavs just could not overcome James’s offensive struggles. On the night, Cleveland shot .307 percent from the field (23-75). In their opening round series vs. the Washington Wizards, they were averaging a .431 shooting percentage (200-464) over the six games.

The Celtics know that these numbers will not continue and that they too will have to pick up their offensive game because Lebron is bound to bounce back.
 ”I missed a lot of shots I know I can make,” James said, staring blankly at the box score after scoring just two points in the second half and missing his final six shots. “I missed layups. Those layups I’ve made my whole life.”

The Celtics have put the win behind them and have already begun to prepare for Game 2 on Thursday night. Once again, they will have their eyes on Lebron and hope that this time Pierce and Allen can get into the scoring mix as well.
Tickets are still available for Game 2 at the TD Banknorth Garden!

The 2008-2009 Broadway lineup for shows in Boston has been announced, and what a lineup it is! Broadway has released the names of 6 musicals and 2 plays that will hit the Boston stages as early as September 2008. These fun filled selections feature some very notable cast members, as well as some familiar song and music selections.

Listed below is a lineup of the shows, when they are running, and a brief description of the production.

Shows:
A Chorus Line - Playing at the Boston Opera House 9/11-10/5 2008 – The longest running American Broadway musical kicks off the theater season in Boston. This show is a nine time Tony Award winner and had a Pulitzer Prize for drama under its belt as well. The show features a story line of dancers auditioning for a chance to hit it big on Broadway.

Brigadoon - Playing at the Colonial Theatre 10/14-11/9 2008 – Making its world premiere in Boston, the revival of Brigadoon will entertain audiences a few weeks before it hits Broadway next spring. This show features the story of two American tourists that vacation to Scotland and while they are there stumble across a village that only comes alive once every 100 years.

Legally Blonde - Playing at the Boston Opera House 10/28-11/9 2008 – This hilarious musical rendition of the 2001 movie-comedy will provide laughs for viewers of all ages. The story follows the same plot as the movie, where a sorority super star hits the books and sets out to get into Harvard Law School. Reese Witherspoon made the role famous in the film playing the character of Elle Woods.

Nice Work if You Can Get it - Playing at the Colonial Theatre 12/16/08 – 1/11 2009– This production, formerly known as Oh Kay, will star Harry Connick Jr. in a much anticipated role for the talents musician/actor. The show will feature music from the legendary scores of George and Ira Gershwin as well. Connick Jr. plays a Long Island playboy who has comedic run ins with gold diggers and bootleggers.

Frost/Nixon - Playing at the Colonial Theatre 1/27-2/8 2009 – Stacy Keach stars in this Watergate themed play that explores all of the tension filled TV interviews taking place between David Frost, who is a talk show host, and former president Richard M. Nixon (Keach).

Dirty Dancing - Playing at the Boston Opera House 2/7-3/15 2009 – This love, story set in the year 1963, between the daughter of a rich doctor and troubled dancer is based on the 1987 movie and will feature songs from the widely popular soundtrack including “The Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes.” If you enjoyed the film you will love the musical.

A Bronx Tale- Playing at the Colonial Theatre 3/31-4/11 2009 – Chazz Palminteri stars in a solo show of the stage rendition of a young boys childhood growing up in the 1960’s in the Bronx, NY. Palminteri wrote and also was a in the 1993 film that Robert De Niro directed and starred in.

Spring Awakening - Playing at the Colonial Theatre 4/28-5/24 2009 – The Broadway season will come to a close with this musical story about 19th century German teenagers who are dealing with sexuality and morality issues for the first time, and they express their feelings through the language of contemporary rock songs.

Don’t miss a chance to catch one of these amazing Broadway productions, tickets will be available soon.

It’s a good sign for the Boston Red Sox when a starting pitcher has flu like symptoms, throws 109 pitches, only 60 for strikes in 5 innings of work, gives up 12 fly ball outs, walks 8 batters and still manages to pull off a win. That was the story last night for Dice-K Matsuzaka, and luckily for him the Sox bats made those numbers hold up for his 5th victory of the season in the 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Matsuzaka now has a 5-0 record with a 2.43 ERA, but after last nights performance has now surrendered more walks on the year (27) then hits (22). He became only the 5th pitcher ever to win a start while allowing 8 or more walks in the game. Another notable name on that list was former Red Sox hurler Denis “Oil Can” Boyd.

“There’s not too many outings where you walk that many and still win,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “He competes. He didn’t have his best stuff or feel 100 percent physically, but tonight it was enough.”

Enough only because the Sox took care of business at the plate, belting three homeruns that Detroit could not match en route to their 4th consecutive victory and 6th win in 7 games.

Mike Lowell started the homerun brigade with his first blast of the season, a two-run bomb that came in the 2nd inning off of Detroit starting pitcher Jeremy Bonderman. Lowell had been sidelined for two weeks on the DL with a sprained left thumb, and along with it being his first HR of the season; it was also his first RBI’s as well.

Kevin Youkilis added another two-run shot in the 4th inning that put the Sox ahead 4-0 at the time. The homerun was Youkilis’ second in as many days and the first basemen now has 4 on the season.

David Ortiz got into the action belting a towering solo shot in the 9th inning for an insurance run, the blast was his 6th on the season. Ortiz’s average continues to steadily climb and is over .220 for the first time all year. He’s hit safely in the last 5 games and raised his batting average 41 percentage points over that span.

Out of the Sox bullpen, Hideki Okajima pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Jonathan Papelbon recorded his 10th save in 10 tries by pitching a perfect 9th inning to preserve the win for Matsuzaka.

The Red Sox improved to a 21-13 overall record on the season and are a top the AL East by 3 ½ games over Tampa Bay and New York. They also are tied with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the best record in the American League.

With last night’s win in the books, the team is now currently in the midst of their longest road trip of the year, a ten game, three city swing that will feature three more games in Detroit, a four game series in Minnesota followed by a two game stop in Baltimore.

Sox Notes:
- Manny Ramirez needs 4 homeruns to reach the 500 career milestone.
- Craig Hansen made his season debut last night pitching 1 2/3 innings allowing 2 earned runs. He was added to the active roster when Brendan Moss was placed on the 15-day DL after having an emergency appendectomy.
- The Red Sox have a 7-8 record on the road after last nights win, compared to a 14-5 home record, which is the best in baseball.
- Tim Wakefield goes for the Sox tonight and has already beaten the Tigers once on the year.

After escaping from what could have been the biggest upset in NBA Playoff history, the Boston Celtics have refocused their attention to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Eastern Conference Semi Finals match up which begins tomorrow night at the TD Banknorth Garden at 8pm. Boston will welcome Lebron James and Co. to town for another great series that has the potential to feature a little bit of everything.

“They’re a group that’s defending Eastern Conference champs,” said Kevin Garnett after yesterday’s victory. “To do anything, you’ve got to get through them. It’s good that we have home-court advantage.  I think it should be a good series.”

Going into the 2008 NBA Playoffs, the Celtics appeared to be the heavy favorite coming out of the East, but after the Atlanta Hawks forced a 7 game series, capturing 3 wins at home against Boston, many are beginning to wonder if Boston has what it takes to be NBA Champions. The young and athletic Hawks showed the rest of the league that the Celtics are beatable on the road. Now it’s up to the Celtics to prove to the league that the losses were just a fluke and that they had the best road record in the league on the regular season for a reason.

The Cavs are coming off of a 4-2 series win over the Washington Wizards that featured some very physical play. Suspensions were enforced and both teams were on their toes if anything else was to escalate on the floor during the action. This intensity will carry over to the Boston series and Lebron knows that there is a lot at stake.

“We all know the history of the Boston Celtics,” James said before practice over the weekend. “They’ve been unbelievable to the history of the NBA and this year it was good to see them back at the top or close to the top. I haven’t played their in the post season yet, but it’s going to be fun.”

The Celtics will be focusing the majority of their defensive attention toward James, trying to limit his touches so that he can’t score or dish out assists. Garnett and James Posey will be covering him the majority of the time but there will be some rotations when Paul Pierce will have his hands full, and Glen “Big Baby” Davis may be in there to eat a few minutes if the others are in foul trouble.

If Cleveland wants to win this series they will have to do something that they could not do during the regular season vs. Boston, and that is win a game on the road. The two teams split the 4 game regular season match ups 2-2, with both teams winning their games on their home courts. The Celtics have the home court advantage for this Eastern Conference Semi-Finals match up and it could play a big factor just as it did for their first round series.

The biggest difference between these two teams is the depth of their benches. The Celtics have comfortably gone 8 or 9 deep all season long, while the Cavs are not as strong after their 7th man. This has the potential to wear a team down, and force starters to stay out of foul trouble. The Celtics averaged 22 free throw attempts per game in the ATL series, and will continue to take the ball to the hoop against the Cavs, forcing defenders to create some type of contact on many drives.

Everyone is excited about this series and for good reason, but when it is said and done with the team that can win on the road will be the team that advances to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Tickets are now available for Games 1 and 2 at the TD Banknorth Garden!

It took three more games than most people expected but the Boston Celtics have finally put away the Atlanta Hawks to advance to the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Waiting for the Celtics are the Cleveland Cavaliers, who will travel to Boston for game 1 on Tuesday 5/6.

In this seven game series the home team won every game with the Celtics really dominating at home and the Hawks winning tight games in Atlanta. Sunday’s game seven became a statement game for the heavily favored Celtics. After losing three to a young, average team many began to doubt the Celtics’ chances at winning a Championship. Boston wanted to leave no doubt about what they are capable of. In Sunday’s win they did it all; score points, defend the ball, block shots, make free throws and hold their composure.

With 30+ point lead in the fourth quarter the Celtics were able to sit most of their starting five with an eye on Tuesday’s game with Cleveland. Celtics tickets are now available for Tuesday’s game as well as all potential playoff games.