Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

Taking a few swings to see what falls out of the sports piñata this Cinco de Mayo:

I'm not happy they lost Game 2, but at least now we get to find out what the 2008-09 Bruins are made of.

After sweeping a Canadiens team that should have put up a better fight and coasting past Carolina in the series opener, all signs pointed to the Black and Gold storming past the Hurricanes and into the Eastern Conference Finals. However, just when it appeared the B's wouldn't get tested till the Eastern Conference Finals against either Pittsburgh or Washington, the 'Canes stood tall and fought back to even the series.

It says here, that's a good thing. Every champion gets punched in the mouth at some point, if not several times during the post-season. How they respond to the challenge will go a long way toward determining whether the B's will eventually skate around the ice with Lord Stanley's Cup.

Better to have that first punch come from an opponent they should be able to take instead of a heavyweight that'll knock them out, much like the Celtics only got better as last year's playoffs progressed after having their championship mettle tested by Atlanta.

Speaking of the C's, I think they might have an easier time with Orlando than they did with Chicago.

Sure Dwight Howard is a beast, but boxing out and some well-disguised double teams should neutralize an offensive repertoire that begins and ends with ferocious dunking. And the Magic don't posses anywhere near the multiple outside threats the Bulls threw at the Green. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo will greatly benefit from not having to chase around Derek Rose, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, and John Salmons for 4-quarters (or more) each night.

The pick: Boston in 6.

By the way, most interesting line in the Game 7 box score: Tony Allen, DNP Coach's Decision. That's the same Tony Allen who Doc Rivers kept on the court for almost all of crunch time, while the C's blew a late lead in Game 6.

Good to see Doc actually reads the SunBlogs.

While scouring box scores Saturday night, I saw that every Red Sox regular had at least one hit against Tampa Bay. Every regular, except for David Ortiz.

On April 13th, while he was batting a paltry .208, I suggested it might be time to slide "Not So Big Papi" out of the #3 hole in the lineup, move Kevin Youkilis up a spot and insert Jason Bay into the cleanup slot. Fast forward three weeks to May 4, and Ortiz is still stuck at .208 with a Lugo-nian .302 slugging percentage. Even worse, zero home runs in 96-at bats places Ortiz behind the likes of Nick Green (1-in-56 AB's), Jeff Bailey (1-in-12) and Jonathan Van Every (1-in-5).

Here's hoping Terry Francona also reads the Sun.