This Week in Boston Sports 10/20/10

The break is over for the Patriots as they come back from their week long break to play the Baltimore Ravens. In the sixth week of this season, the Pats came back a different team than the one that took the field two weeks ago to beat the Miami Dolphins. After the trade of Randy Moss and the return of Deion Branch, it seems that the team showed up ready to battle once again. With their 23-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens this past Sunday, the Pats now have an 9-2 record in games following a bye week since 2000, and they have won the game following an off week for the past eight years straight. The game was tied 20-20 until they got down to the six yard-line after a three yard run by Ben Jarvus Green Ellis and kicker Stephen Gostkowski kicked a beautiful 35-yard field goal.

Coming off of this win, the Patriots have a record of 4-1 and there seems to be no stopping them. Currently, the only player out with an injury is running back Fred Taylor, although safety James Sanders can be found on the injury report with a hamstring problem.  However, it is not known what his actual status is. All in all, things seem to be going smoothly for the Patriots. Coach Bill Belichick said that he feels "it will be good to get back out there," and that the team has had "a pretty good week of preparation." He does admit that "[The Ravens] are a hard team to get ready for, but we're doing the best we can there and hopefully we will be ready to go. They are a good football team. This will be a good test for us."  The Patriots gear up to take on the San Diego Chargers this Sunday.

The Bruins are back in the country after splitting a riveting (and fairly high-scoring) two game series with the Coyotes in Prague. They returned to the States to play the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark on Saturday and clobbered them 4-1. The first period was fairly civil, save for four penalties for tripping, kneeling, and two hooking violations. All of the scoring occurred in the second period and began with the Devils' Dainius Zubris scoring a goal with assists from Zach Parise and Andy Greene to make the score 1-0. Then the Bruins struck back in a big way. Explaining his pleasure regarding one particularly stellar goal by the Bruins, coach Claude Julian said, "That was a great pass by Soupy to give that to Thorny in the first place. Thorny didn't waste any time. He just shot it. It was a nice goal." Translation: Gregory Campbell found himself behind the net with the puck and looked to see Shawn Thornton open in the circle, passed it to him, and Thornton scored a goal to make the score 3-1 Bruins. Jordan Caron and Michael Ryder scored the two previous goals, and the fourth came courtesy of Milan Lucic. Goalie Tim Thomas also had 31 saves. The Bruins are set to take on the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.

Venturing out of Boston for a moment, but staying within the realm of sports, let's take a peek at the American and National League Championship Series of baseball. The San Francisco Giants are matched up with the Philadelphia Phillies to represent the National League, while the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers battle for the title American League Champions. Currently, the Giants lead the National League series 1-0 while the American League Series is tied 1-1. The winners of each best-of-seven series will face each other in the World Series.