Playoffs & Papi

- The Bruins dropped game 2 last night to the Carolina Hurricanes. It was a tough game to watch for as good as they have looked in the playoffs thus far they looked that off last night. They just lacked the ability to close out the game. When early in the first period Kobasew made a sweet pass in front and Bergeron just flat out missed the wide open net you knew it was going to be a long night as it was. Hopefully, they can recover and find the spark they were clearly missing last night. No matter how hostile the environment in Raleigh may get, it can't possibly be worse than travelling to Montreal which they handled very well.

- I normally don't expound on the Celtics as I have my deep-seated frustration with the state of officiating and the NBA game in general. That being said, the Celtics deserve a lot of credit for making it past a very good Chicago Bulls team. Ben Gordon was on fire and Joakim Noah seems to have raised him game to another level that I certainly did not think possible when he was playing in Florida. Big applause for the work of Eddie House and Glen Davis in game 7 as both picked up some of the slack from a lackluster game from Rondo and Pierce to power Boston to the second round.

- Speaking of the second round, if the Celtics don't get more out of Kendrick Perkins they are going to be in big trouble against Orlando. Dwight Howard is big and powerful and will put a 30-20 game on the Celtics repeatedly over a very short series if Perkins does not elevate his game. Perkins looks big and mean and like he can take on the world but when it comes down to it, he plans like a wuss. At one point during game 6, he got the ball on the baseline with a lane to the basket. Noah was rotating down to try and defend. Instead of taking the ball hard to the hoop and forcing Noah to make a play or draw the foul, Perk passes the ball to Rondo in the lane who promptly missed a bad fall-away jumper. He routinely, puts the ball on the floor before going up with it and allows the defense that split second to recover and make the defensive play. For a guy as big as Perkins he needs to play bigger and meaner. I was watching Big Baby Davis doing all the things that Perk should be doing and he is the smaller guy. Without Garnett and Powe, Perkins will be key to the Celtics making it any farther.

- Finally, on to baseball, where Big Papi has been anything but big to this point. I hate to say it but he may be done. He claims that he is going to come back big but there is just something lacking in his swing. He is no longer catching up to those fastballs and when he does make contact it is going to left field. When a guy who has been a straight pull hitter for years (to the point where whole shifts are named after him), starts doing nothing but hitting to the opposite field that tells you his is just routinely late. I'm not sure how you teach someone to get faster. Much like Varitek, it appears that age has caught up with David Ortiz. The Sox may not want to admit it but it is time he gets dropped in the order. You cannot afford to have a non-power, .200 hitter batting third in your line-up. The final three pieces of the 2003 squad (Varitek, Oritz, and Wakefield) may be looking at the twilight of their careers and it will be a sad day for Red Sox Nation if that is truly the case.