The Celtics remain undefeated at home with the game 3 win against the Cavs 96-89. The Celtics almost threw the game away with a few careless passes in the back court at the end of the game, but ended up prevailing thanks to Paul Pierce’s consistency at the charity stripe. Paul Pierce had 29, KG had 26, and Rajon Rondo came out of his playoff shell and added 20. Ray Allen got hot towards the end of the game and hopefully finds his rhythm early in the next, because we need him. Game 6 will be at Cleveland, and if the Celtics can pull this road win off it will mean much more than the series against the Cavs. If they win, it will give Team Green that much more confidence going in against Detroit, our biggest rival in the East.

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It’s a good thing the Celtics are home tonight, because the Sox still couldn’t get it done on the road. The Orioles completed a two-game sweep of Boston with the 6-3 win earlier today. It looked as if Lester was going to have a quality start but he imploded in the 6th, with the bullpen following suit. The Sox took an early lead which looked promising, but the bats were quiet for the last 3 innings of the game. Hopefully the day off, the buzz of inter league play, and the return of Terry Francona can give the Sox a spark and end this losing streak. Old friend Gabe Kapler returns with the Milwaukee Brewers to Fenway on Friday.

Manny showing a Sox fan in Baltimore some love after his assist triggered a double play. Too bad former Sox outfielder Jay Payton’s grand slam trumped this as the play of the game

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It looked promising after a 3-run first inning, but a few errant pitches by Josh Beckett gave the O’s 5 runs for a 5-4 loss in Baltimore. Two of Boston’ key bats were out of the lineup early after J.D. Drew left the game with a left wrist injury and Coco Crisp left with an upset stomach. The Sox attempted a comeback (as they have had to do in too many games this year) in the 8th, but Alex Cora’s RBI single wasn’t enough to tie the game.

Papi getting ejected after striking out in the 9th (he most definitely went around)

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Normally there would be two separate posts for tonight’s games, but they were both so depressing that they only deserve one.

It’s getting to be sad. That is, the Celtics playoff record on the road. They lost 88-77 to the Cavs and the series is now tied at 2-2. Thank the lord above that the series is coming back to Boston. By the way, did anyone catch LeBron’s mom trying to yell at Paul Pierce for committing a good wrap-up foul? LeBron had to remind Mommy that he makes the money now, yelling at her from the court and telling her that Pierce and James are friends.

Speaking of Boston teams on the road, we thought they were having a good road trip, but the 7-3 loss to the Twins tonight gave Minnesota 3 of the 4 games. Manny is starting to come out of his slump, though, with a 1st inning homer that brought his average back above .300.

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The Sox attempted another 9th-inning comeback on Mother’s Day, but today didn’t turn out like 2007. Wake couldn’t keep the Twins bats quiet, giving up 3 homers in the 9-8 loss. Coco hit the only longball for the Sox and everyone but Jacoby and Alex Cora contributed with at least an RBI each (not including Manny’s pinch hit that came to no avail). Tavarez, Aardsma, and Lopez managed to hold off the Twins, but Mike Timlin gave up a solo homerun, which proved to be the game-winning hit.

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The Celtics still haven’t won a playoff game on the road, losing game 3 to the Cavliers 108-84. Former Celtic Delonte West took over the game and scored 21 to keep up with superstar teammate LeBron James, who also had 21. The Celts are still up 2-1 in the series with game 4 at Cleveland on Monday night.

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Youk, Coco (who went back-to-back with Lowrie), and Lowell each had homers of their own, but Jed’s was the first of his Major League career. Dice-K (6-0) brought his A-game with 7 K’s and 2 earned runs. With a 3-run lead, Tito decided to bring in Papelbon in an attempt to get his confidence back and it seemed to work. Papelbon threw more sliders than usual, fooling a lot of Twins in the 9th and getting him his 11th save. Sox 5, Twins 2.

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For the second time in a week, Jonathan Papelbon has blown a save in a back-and-forth game between the Sox and an AL Central Team. This time it was the Twins and specifically Mike Lamb that triumphed to a 7-6 win over Boston. Lamb’s base hit in the ninth brought home the two runners at 2nd and 3rd for a walkoff in Minnesota.

“It’s going to be a test for me these next few days to get back
on the mound and regain that confidence, finish my pitches, and do a little bit
better job of it.” - Jonathan Papelbon

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Josh Beckett got the 1,000th strikeout of his career in the 5-1 win over Detroit tonight. Boston took 3 of 4 in this series with big help from Kevin Youkilis, who homered in the 5th. Youkilis has hit three homers in two games, and today’s deep ball put him second to Big Papi for the team lead. Detroit flame-thrower Justin Verlander continues to struggle, so if you have him on your fantasy team, maybe you should propose a trade or just striaght up drop him.

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That cheer rang throughout the Garden as the Celtics beat the Cavs 89-73 for a game 2 victory. While Paul Pierce and Ray Allen came out of their drought from last game, LeBron still couldn’t find his groove. He may not be over-rated, but he absolutely doesn’t have any help on his team. Keep psychologically getting to King James, Boston, because it is working.

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First the Red Sox came back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game. Then Mikey Lowell hit a three run shot to make it 8-8. Then Pedroia gave us the 9-8 lead with a pinch-hit single. Let’s not forget that Youk homered twice to keep us in it, but those fabled Detroit bats lived up to their hype tonight with the 10-9 win over Boston. Papelbon got his first blown save with some help from a fielding error by Julio Lugo.

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LeBron James was held to 12 points and only 2-18 from the field in the Celts game 1 win over the Cavaliers, 76-72. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce also had off nights, with Ray being held scoreless for the first time since 1997 and Paul only contributing 4 points. Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett picked up the slack with 43 points combined.

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The Sox beat the Tigers 6-3 tonight with homers from Youk, Papi, and Mikey Lowell (Thank God). Dice-K got the win despite walking eight and Craig Hansen continued to not live up to his hype by giving up two runs in 1 2/3 innings of attempted relief. Oki-Doke and Paps each picked up for Hansen’s slack and made sure Matsuzaka got the win.

In off-the-field news, Curt Schilling will play some catch tomorrow, a big step in his rehabilitation process.

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Jon Lester went six deep today to get the 7-3 win over Tampa Bay. Scott Kazmir’s return was supposed to put a spark in the Rays, but didn’t help the Rays take game 3 of the series. Youk had 4 RBIs, which included a solo homer in the 7th. Paps notched a clean sheet to get the save in the 9th.

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The Celtics massacred the Hawks 99-65 this afternoon to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs. This game wasn’t without drama as KG narrowly avoided a technical foul after setting a rough pick that violently knocked Zaza Pachulia to the floor. The bench played most of the 4th and kept the lead big.

Although this victory was great, should we be worried about Boston’s performance on the road in the upcoming series? The Celts’ polarized performances at home and on the road were hopefully specific to this past series with Atlanta. The first game against the Cavaliers will take place Tuesday night.

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A strong offense, led by Manny Ramirez, gave the Sox a 12-4 victory over the Rays. The win put Josh Beckett over .500 with a record of 3-2. Papi, J.D., and Tek each knocked in a few RBIs themselves to secure the victory with David Aardsma successfully closing the game for Beckett.

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With the 103-100 win earlier tonight, the Atlanta Hawks forced a game 7 in Boston against the Celtics. The Celtics have an obvious edge at home, but shouldn’t have to rely on that to beat the Hawks in this series. The Celtics lead for most of the game, but a sloppy 4th quarter and unlucky calls from the refs lead to a Celtics loss.

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The Sox bats finally came back to life tonight with a 7-3 win over the red hot Tampa Bay Rays tonight. Dustin Pedroia had 3 RBIs and the new king of clutch Brandon Moss had a solo homer to help lead the Sox to victory. Clay Buchholz beat the on-again-off-again Edwin Jackson to even up his record to 2-2 on the season.

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The Sox managed to end another game with a walk-off single to beat the Blue Jays 2-1. Brandon Moss hit a single to center that was almost identical to Youk’s winning hit last night, but Vernon Wells didn’t bobble this time. The Jays’ center fielder had a perfect throw to home to tag out pinch runner Jed Lowrie (for Ortiz). With 2 outs, Varitek came up to the plate and hit another single to Wells to score Manny. Paps got the win again in an uncertain top of the 9th.

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With the 110-85 win earlier tonight, the Celtics have now put themselves within one win of advancing in the NBA playoffs. The only problem is that the next game is in Atlanta, where Team Green has yet to get a playoff win. Tonight’s game was physical, but not as physical as the previous, even though technicals were still given. The Celtics will have to watch themselves in Atlanta with these trigger-happy refs.

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Kevin Youkilis hit a walkoff single to score Big Papi from 2nd base and get the 1-0 win over Toronto tonight. Jon Lester pitched eight innings of one-hit baseball and Roy Halladay attempted to go the distance but burned out a few batters too early. Jonathan Papelbon got the win thanks to an amazing 9th-inning-ending play by Dustin Pedroia that prevented the man on second from scoring.

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The Atlanta Hawks evened up the series with the Celtics to 2-2 with their 97-92 win earlier tonight. Things got testy late in the first half, with Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell each grabbing a technical foul after the altercation between Garnett and Atlanta’s Pachulia.

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