Erziehung » The Red Sox went 0-6 on their homestand, th

When that victorious Chelsea side walked off the pitch at the Britannia Stadium on December 22, no one could have dare imagine what was to unfold across the Barclays Premier League over the course of the next 10 days as a crestfallen Chelsea team exited White Hart Lane Thursday signifying the conclusion of the BPL festive season. From the sheer joy for Manchester City as they climbed to the summit, through to the absolute pain for Liverpool as Steven Gerrard announced he would be taking his Anfield bow at seasons end, this has been anything but a holiday for the league which keeps on giving. In this era of constant change, which demands instant success, surprisingly we went into the Boxing Day fixtures with the same cast of managers we had begun the season with. To put this into a clearer perspective, the last time this happened, you have to go all the way back to the 1995-96 season when on January 2, Derby County fired their manager. This time, the axe finally fell off course on Neil Warnock whose Crystal Palace had only managed three victories in the 16 matches the 66-year old Englishman was in charge. The club had seen more than they could take following a Boxing Day reversal at Selhurst Park. No surprise for the London bookies, who had installed Warnock as favourite for the chop. The only surprise was his appointment at Palace in the first place. Warnocks CV includes guiding two of his previous clubs to the horrors of BPL relegation. Victors in southeast London Boxing Day, Southampton rediscovered their BPL mojo over the holidays and to me, were the best performing club over this defining period. The club had gone into the Palace match in a tailspin, managing only a single win in six matches. All that early season guile and promise where Southampton were an unbridled joy to watch as they cemented a position in the top four, had all but vanished come early November. The Saints went marching on over the holidays as they destroyed Palace, were fully deserving of a point against Chelsea and then, on New Years Day, dismantled a rejuvenated Arsenal and in doing so, rightfully restored their position amongst the BPL elite. The two Manchester clubs had gone into the holidays as the two best teams in the league. Following the festive folly, the red half enter the New Year with more questions than answers. Whereas their noisy neighbours reminded us once again why they, unlike no other club in recent seasons, know how to ride the roller coaster ways of the BPL. The current champions were given up as genuine title contenders in November, as a rampant Chelsea opened up a seemingly insurmountable eight-point gap at the top. The only thing that separates the two clubs now is name only. If that scenario of identical records was to present itself at seasons end, it would result in a one-off match to decide the destination of the title. Not sure thats what league CEO Peter Scudamore envisioned when, just a few seasons back, discussing plans for adding that so termed, 39th game of the season. What though can we make of Chelseas Holiday Horribulus? From Invincibles to Invisibles quicker than Mourinho can blame the referees as his over-active mind invents conspiracy theories and anti-Chelsea campaigns are the root and cause that Chelseas procession to the title is in tatters after the thoroughly deserved walloping they took against Tottenham Thursday. Following this weekends traditional BPL break for the FA Cup third round, all the headlines leading into Newcastles visit to Stamford Bridge January 10th will all be about a highly improbable season double. If that comes to be, we can well imagine Mourinho will lay fault with the fixture scheduler. Chelsea have been perfect to date at Stamford Bridge, its their lack of success away from home that has been their undoing. May 24 is when we will really discover how vital Frank Lampards New Years Day winner was, let alone how valuable his late equalizer against his old club was back in late September. Fridays hilarious quote from Arsene Wenger that he hasnt yet counted out his club from being title contenders from a position of 13 points back almost tops the classic bon mots from Louis Van Gaal following Manchester Uniteds scoreless draw at White Hart Lane on December 28. The Dutchman described the second half against Spurs as a struggle for life, his way of criticizing the league for scheduling matches 48 hours apart, something UEFA and FIFA would not ever allow he reminded us. Welcome to England, Louis. If LVG is struggling to understand why his team that had ￡150m [$275m] lavished on it in the summer only managed to collect five of the nine holiday points on offer, which included a mighty fortunate draw with Stoke Thursday, I suggest the greatest thing to happen to Manchester since the Smiths texts his opposite number at Burnley, Sean Dyche. The budget for Manchester Uniteds Christmas Party likely dwarfed the entire transfer budget handed to Dyche last spring following Burnleys promotion. Yet, here was a team that followed up Boxing Days underserved home reversal against Liverpool with that now famous fight back at the Etihad some 48 hours after trudging off the Turf Moor pitch. Down by two goals to a rampant Manchester City at halftime, through sheer will and determination, Burnley not only salvaged a point, it was they in the closing minutes who seemed the team more likely to find the winner. The only conclusion to be drawn is that 48 hours in Manchester must have flown by in a New York minute for Van Gaal. Which leads us rather aptly into one of the biggest headlines over the festive season, the confirmation on New Years Eve that Frank Lampards stay at the Etihad was extended through the end of the season; even longer perhaps if Manuel Pellegrini gets his way which is sure to ruffle more stateside feathers. This, though, pails into complete insignificance with the news on Liverpools website less than 24 hours later of Steven Gerrards Anfield departure come seasons end. As much disagreement and debate abounds on who has been the best foreigner in history to grace the English Premier League, there is no doubt on who is the greatest ever player in league history not to win a title. At least on two occasions, the native Liverpudlian spurned highly lucrative offers to leave a club he joined as a youth player in 1987 in search of adding more trophies to his personal collection. Steven Gerrards real place and impact at and for Liverpool will only truly be known years after he finally hangs up his BPL boots, which will happen May 24 when Liverpool visit Stoke. Most poignantly, 24 hours later, the five-time European Champions celebrate the 10th anniversary of Istanbul - one of the most remarkable of improbable achievements in the entire 150-year history of the beautiful game. Surely no one, not even the self-ordained Special 1, would begrudge Gerrard or his club a place at this seasons FA Cup Final on May 30 and in doing so, allow the curtain to drop on Gerrards Liverpool career at the venue of so many triumphs for his club through their history. Wembley Stadium truly is Liverpools second home. Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca @TheSoccerNoel on Twitter Justin Morneau Jersey . Cleveland released the troubled wide receiver on Wednesday, an expected ending after Bess was arrested in January for assaulting a law enforcement officer at an airport and other bizarre behaviour. Miguel Sano Jersey . Thaddeus Young scored seven of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, Evan Turner added 22 points, and the 76ers hung on for their first road win since Nov. 1, beating the depleted Los Angeles Lakers 111-104 on Sunday night. http://www.twinssale.com/twins-kirby-puckett-jersey/. DETROIT LIONS AT CHICAGO BEARS, 1:00 PM (ET) Detroit - G Rodney Austin, WR Ryan Broyles, DT Nick Fairley, QB Kellen Moore, DT Caraun Reid, CB Mohammed Seisay, DE Larry Webster Chicago - S Chris Conte, DT Brandon Dunn, QB David Fales, K Robbie Gould, CB Terrance Mitchell, OT Michael Ola, DE Trevor Scott GREEN BAY PACKERS AT TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS, 1:00 PM (ET) Green Bay - LB Carl Bradford, DT Bruce Gaston, C Garth Gerhart, CB Davon House, WR Jeff Janis, TE Justin Perillo, QB Scott Tolzien Tampa Bay - OT Anthony Collins, CB Isaiah Frey, WR Robert Herron, RB Mike James, WR Solomon Patton, FB/TE Evan Rodriguez, LB Lawrence Sidbury KANSAS CITY CHIEFS AT PITTSBURGH STEELERS, 1:00 PM (ET) Kansas City - WR Donnie Avery, CB Marcus Cooper, OT Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, OL Eric Kush, QB Aaron Murray, RB Charcandrick West, DT Nick Williams Pittsburgh - WR Justin Brown, DE Clifton Geathers, G Chris Hubbard, QB Landry Jones, S Troy Polamalu, TE Matt Spaeth, CB Ike Taylor MINNESOTA VIKINGS AT MIAMI DOLPHINS, 1:00 PM (ET) Minnesota - LB Anthony Barr, OT Carter Bykowski, DB Ahmad Dixon, OT Charlie Johnson, FB Zach Line, CB Shaun Prater, TE Kyle Rudolph Miami - G Nate Garner, WR Matt Hazel, S Don Jones, WR Rishard Matthews, LB Chris McCain, G Dallas Thomas, RB Daniel Thomas NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS AT NEW YORK JETS, 1:00 PM (ET) New England - CB Kyle Arrington, RB LeGarrette Blount, OL Dan Connolly, CB Alfonzo Dennard, OT Jordan Devey, WR Julian Edelman, RB James White NY Jets - DT T. Harmon Killebrew Jersey . James Harden wasnt worried and told his coach as much. "He was fired up but I told him: Its OK. Were going to be all right," Harden said. And they were. Houston scored 17 straight points after that timeout, led by 10 from Harden, to take the lead and roll to an easy 129-106 win. Rod Carew Jersey .com) - Marc Gasol and the Grizzlies withstood 18 Dallas 3-pointers, as Memphis took control in the third quarter and fended off a Mavericks rally en route to a 114-105 win in a Southwest Division showdown.BOSTON -- Mark Buehrle got his major league-leading eighth win with a big boost from Torontos powerful lineup. Neither was surprising. "Look what hes done all year," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said after a 7-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. "Whos pitched better in baseball?" Buehrle (8-1) has eight wins through May for the first time since 2002 and an ERA of 2.16. He gave up two runs in the first two innings, but by then Toronto had seven, starting with homers on consecutive pitches by Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista in the first inning. That gave the Blue Jays a major league-high 67 homers and gave Buehrle a big cushion. The 15-year veteran lefty blanked the Red Sox for his final five innings and allowed seven hits and no walks while striking out five in seven innings. Dustin McGowan pitched two shutout innings as the Blue Jays took a half-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East. "Its nice, obviously" to lead the majors in wins, "but Ive always said you can go out your next eight starts and (stink) and be under .500," Buehrle said. "I try to throw it out the window and get ready for my next start." Toronto improved to 8-2 in its past 10 games, while Boston lost its seventh straight. The Red Sox went 0-6 on their homestand, the first time since June 1994, when they also lost six in a row at Fenway Park, that they were winless on a homestand of at least six games. "Were in a stretch of games here where were giving up too many runs early and were scuffling to score runs," Boston manager John Farrell said. "Thats a dangerous combination." Red Sox ace Jon Lester (4-6) had his worst outing of the season, allowing seven runs and seven hits through 1 1-3 innings. Then he settled down and retired 12 straight batters before giving up a single to Kevin Pillar with one out in the seventh. But Pillar was caught stealing. Lester left with one out in the seventh after allowing 10 hits and striking out just three. He had averaged an AL-best 10.83 strikeouts per nine innings. "The list goes on and on of things that I just flat out diddnt do," Lester said.dddddddddddd "I just wasnt able to do it with anything. Pick a pitch, I wasnt able to do it." Buehrle retired 11 of his last 12 batters. He began the day tied with Zack Greinke, Rick Porcello and Adam Wainwright with seven wins each. The Dodgers Greinke was scheduled to pitch against the New York Mets on Thursday night. Buehrles only loss came at home against Boston on April 25 when he allowed seven runs in an 8-1 loss. Lester retired the first batter of the game, Jose Reyes, on a grounder. But Cabrera hit a 1-0 pitch for his eighth homer and Bautista followed with his 12th. "You never anticipate that because (Lesters) one of the best," Gibbons said. In the second, six of Torontos first seven batters reached base on five hits and a walk. Steve Tolleson and Pillar singled and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Anthony Gose. Reyes doubled in both runners and stole second. Cabrera walked and Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion followed with RBI singles. Bautista came across when Brett Lawrie grounded into a forceout at second, making it 7-1. The inning ended when centre fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. made a diving catch on a fly ball by Dioner Navarro. Boston scored in the first on a leadoff double by Dustin Pedroia and a single by Jonny Gomes then added a run in the second on Xander Bogaerts third homer. NOTES: Toronto manager John Gibbons lost a challenge in the sixth when the on-field ruling that Pillar was caught stealing was upheld. ... Bautista has reached base in 48 of his 49 games. ... Boston has been outscored 37-16 in its seven-game losing streak, its longest since dropping its last eight games in 2012. ... The Red Sox open a three-game series against Tampa Bay on Friday night with John Lackey (5-3) facing Chris Archer (3-2) of the Rays. Toronto returns home to start a three-game set with Oakland, with Liam Hendricks (0-0) pitching against Scott Kazmir (5-1) of the Athletics. The Blue Jays called up Hendricks on Thursday from Triple-A Buffalo, where he was 5-0. R.A. Dickeys start was moved from Friday to Saturday. 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