Sports - The AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox handed Jon Lester his first loss since May 25th, and kept Clay Buchholz winless since May 2nd over the weekend. The Sox managed to get a three run rally going the 8th inning of Friday night’s game, but it was not enough to erase the 7+ solid innings of work from Chicago starter Mark Buehrle. “I was just trying to get on base to be honest with you, to get David [Ortiz] up with a chance to tie the game,” said Pedroia, whose 3-run homer put the Sox within 2. “I ended up getting a good pitch to hit and hit it. That was basically it.” Carlos Quentin’s post-Sox-rally-homer and closer Bobby Jenks’ perfect ninth sent the Sox packing. Tuesday, the only bright spot of Boston’s weekend, featured an 8-inning, one run gem by Daisuke Matsuzaka.  Matsuzaka benefitted from 4 double plays, and stuck out four batters. The Sox exploded against Chicago in the 6th inning, on Dustin Pedroia RBI single and a bases-clearing double by David Ortiz. Ortiz broke out of his recent slump on the road trip and was 3-5 with 3 RBI’s on the day. “Papi knows when the ball is gone, but I guess Mother Nature doesn’t want me to hit it out tonight. The wind was blowing really hard tonight” said Ortiz, laughing about how he though his double had been a homer. Sunday’s starter Clay Buchholz has struggled all season long. He hasn’t logged a win since May 2nd, and has a 2-8 record with a 6.32 ERA on the season. He seemed to be cruising along in the first inning, and the Jermaine Dye homer in the second did not seem so bad after Boston’s 3-run first innings. However, Buchholz imploded in the 3rd, giving up homers to Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome, and getting chased from the game after only 74 pitches. Boston’s offense picked it back up again in the 6th inning with Jason Bay hitting an RBI single and scoring on a wild pitch; but it was too little too late. Jenks pitched another perfect 9th to rack up his 24th save of the season. After Sunday’s games, the Red Sox are 4.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East, and lead the AL Wild Card by 1.5 games above the Minnesota Twins. Tonight the Sox will try to split the series.  Josh Beckett(10-8, 4.08 ERA) faces off against lefty John Danks (9-4, 3.21 ERA). First pitch is at 8:11pm at US Cellular Field.

Sports, Ticket Sales - NHL schedules are out and 2008-2009 Boston Bruins tickets are now available for all games at the TD Banknorth Garden.  Some dates to note for the Bruins: On 9/27/08 the Bruins will play their first pre-season game at home against the Capitals, 10/20/08 will be the home opener vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins, 11/13/08 will be their first home game against the rival Montreal Canadiens. The Boston Bruins will be looking to improve on their 41 win season in 2007-2008. The Bruins made the playoffs but lost in the 1st round to the Montreal Canadiens. Despite being overmatched the Bruins put forth a valiant effort that gave Boston fans something to hope for in 2008-2009. You can now buy Boston Bruins tickets for all games.

Concerts - While fans anxiously await the upcoming new studio album from U2, the band has been distracting them with remastered re-issues of their first three albums, ‘Boy’, ‘October’ and ‘War’. The re-issues mark the 30 year anniversary of U2′s first single. The remastered albums will also contain alternate versions of songs and previously un-released U2 cuts. Information on the new studio album by U2 has been hard to come by and is mainly speculative. What is known is that U2 will be teaming up with their favorite producers from past albums, including Brian Eno, Steve Lillywhite and Daniel Lanois.  The album is scheduled for a November release in North America. Many online U2 fan sites predict the album title will be ‘No Line on the Horizon’ which is also the name of a new song on the album. Whatever they call the album it is almost sure to be a hit. Stay tuned for information on an upcoming U2 tour. After the album release in 2008 many expect U2 to embark on a tour in late Fall of 2008. Once plans are set and tour dates announced check back with aceticket.com for U2 tickets.

Sports - The New York Yankees were able to end their series in Texas on a high note. After dropping the 1st two games of the series and losing Joba Chamberlain to injury, the Yankees bounced back to win the final two games against the Rangers.  In last night’s win veteran Mike Mussina picked up his 15th win and the Yankees shutout a potent Rangers offense. They Yankees got on the board early with a solo homerun by Derek Jeter. Jeter would later add an RBI single, as the Yankees went on to win 3-0. Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect 9th, earning his 28th consecutive save on the season. Alex Rodriguez continued to struggle in Texas and went 0-14 in the series. Things won’t get easier for the Yankees. They continue their road trip tonight against the LA Angels for the 1st of a three game set.

Sports - The Red Sox travel to US Cellular Field in Chicago to take on the White Sox tomorrow night. Jon Lester (10-3, 3.714 ERA) starts against Mark Buehrle (8-10, 4.07 ERA). Lester has been making a case to be considered the Sox ace recently; in his last 8 starts he’s 6-0 with a 2.67. Buehrle has struggled lately, allowing eight runs on14 hits and only lasting 4 1/3 in his last start. The AL Central leading White Sox and AL East second place Red Sox both take two game winning streaks into the series. First pitch is at 8:11PM on NESN and WRKO 680 AM.

Sports - The Jacoby Ellsbury of 2008 seems like a completely different player from the beast that hit .353 in September and .438 in the World Series. Despite an impressive 32 stolen bases, Ellsbury is only hitting .266 this season. On Wednesday night, he looked like the Jacoby of 2007. Ellsbury went 3-4 with a 2-out three-run homer off of Royals reliver Ron Mahay. Jason Bay continued to be a run machine, scoring two runs and going 2-5. Jed Lowrie and JD Drew drove in 2 runs each, and David Ortiz drove in another. Wakefield tossed 6 stellar innings, racking up 6 k’s and giving up only 1 earned run. With the win Wake improves to 7-8 on the season. Scoreless innings from Delcarmen, Masterson, and Papelbon shut the door on the Sox second consecutive win. Youkilis left the game after bing hit on the hand by a pitch by Hochevar in the first inning. The Sox say it’s just a contusion, and the Youkilis could be back in the lineup on Friday night. Dustin Pedroia was given the game off so he could get 2 in a row with the off-day Thursday. Jed Lowrie’s consistent production raises questions about what to do when Julio Lugo comes off of the disabled list. With Tampa Bay, Boston, and New York all winning last night, the picture in the AL Pennant Race remains the same.

Sports, Ticket Sales - J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets. It shouldn’t be long before this chant becomes very familiar for Brett Favre. His ongoing drama with the Green Bay Packers officially ended last night when the un-retired QB was traded to the New York Jets for a 4th round draft pick. Favre should provide the Jets with much need upgrade at the QB position. The Green Bay Packers however, will have to hope that their man Aaron Rodgers steps up, otherwise this trade will go down as the worst Packers move ever. The trade ended weeks of controversy as the Packers and Favre continued to butt heads on the QB’s future and relationship with the Packers. After reporting to Camp on Tuesday, Favre met with head coach McCarthy. The two were unable to find any common ground as Favre admitted to McCarthy that it would be tough to play in Green Bay after all that was said about him. That conversation sealed Brett’s fate in Green Bay as coach McCarthy concluded that Brett wasn’t in the right state of mind to lead the Packers. Only time will tell who will truly benefit from this ordeal. New York Jets fans are certainly optimistic. One thing is certain: New York Jets tickets are suddenly a hot item!

Sports - The third inning of yesterday’s Cubs-Astros game had more offense than most entire games do. Houston fired first, with a Lance Berman RBI double and a Carlos Lee 3-run homer. The Cubs answered with a monster offensive surge. Mark DeRosa hit a monster grand slam, Cubs hurler Jason Marquis helped his own cause with an RBI double, and Alfonso Soriano capped the frame with a 3-run homer. Marquis ended a 4-game losing streak, tossing 6 1/3 innings before being lifted for Sean Marshall in the 7th. Marshall struck out one and only allowed one hit in an inning and a third. Jeff Samardija pitched a perfect ninth, striking out one and looking like a possibilty as the Cubs closer of the future. Offense was the story in Tuesday night’s game as well. The teams scored a combined 18 runs on 26 hits. Cubs closer Kerry Wood returned from the DL and only gave up 1 hit pitching in the 8th inning.

Sports - Tonight the Royals host the Sox for the rubber game of their three game series.  Tim Wakefield 6-8, 3.77 ERA) gets the start against Luke Hochevar (6-9, 5.42 ERA). Wakefield continues to get the short end of the stick lately; in 6 of the games this season in which he left with the lead he has ended up with a loss or a no decision. Wakefield is 6-4 with a 3.45 ERA in his career at Kauffman Stadium. Hochevar was has struggled this season and suffered a loss in his last start against the White Sox. First pitch is at 8:10PM on NESN and WRKO 680 AM.

Sports - August 5th, 2008. This was the first day that instant replay was to be tested in the MLB. Just like clockwork, Shane Victorino hit a shot that seemed to have gone left of the foul pole. The umpires got together, discussed what they saw, and called the shot fair. Instant replays on TV clearly showed the ball sailing foul. So why didn’t the umps use the new instant replay system? They can’t. The instant replay system test is merely a “watch and wait” deal to see how accurate the camera systems would be. The umpires cannot see anything on the replay cameras until the game is over. Umps will not use any sort of camera system until a plan to smoothly integrate them into the game is hatched. Phillies starter Jamie Moyer was 10-0 in 10 starts at the Marlins, but got the tough luck loss giving up two runs across five innings. Florida pounded the Phils bullpen for 6 runs in the last three innings of the game to seal the victory, and gain a game on the NL East leading Phils.