Welcome to Monday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.

TUESDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NHL: Bruins at Capitals, 7 p.m. (NESN)
NHL: Wild at Avalanche, 9 p.m. (NBCSN)
College basketball: Michigan at Purdue, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Kentucky at Georgia, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Miami at Georgia Tech, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)

AROUND THE WEB:

Jim Harbaugh has a beef with the officials after the Niners lost to the Giants in the NFC championship game. (AP)

♦ With 2:29 remaining in Sunday’s NFC championship game, Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled the ball on the New York 21-yard line and it was recovered by the 49ers. However, the officials ruled that Bradshaw’s forward progress had been stopped, so the Giants retained possession. That doesn’t sit well with 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, who compared the play to the infamous tuck rule call that helped Tom Brady and the Patriots defeat the Raiders in the Snow Bowl 10 years ago.

“In my opinion, that was a fumble,” Harbaugh said Monday. “I’m sure the league will defend it and the officials will defend it. But to me, that play was still going on. There was still struggling by Bradshaw. … I felt like it was analogous with the tuck rule.”

♦ Former Lakers forward Robert Horry offered his take on the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant feud, blaming Phil Jackson for inciting the two players.

“I think Phil Jackson started that feud,” Horry told a Russian sports website. “It happened many times that after team practice he would say, “Kobe said this about Shaq, and Shaq said that about Kobe. … We couldn’t believe how could that happen, because just the day before we saw them together, jumping on one another. Phil liked it when there was conflict of some sort.

“I always tell people; if you look at those championships, you’ll see who were the closest players on the team. Normally those are the guys who are the first to hug each other. And when we were winning, it was always Shaq and Kobe who hugged. I think this will answer your question. Later it was blown out of proportion by the media, and both players started doing something that didn’t make sense.”

♦ Real Clear Sports has a list of the 10 most hyped foreign players. Daisuke Matsuzaka is No. 5, and Hideo Nomo, another Japanese pitcher who spent some time with the Red Sox, is No. 9. Yao Ming takes the top spot, ahead of Pele and Hideki Matsui.

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Jan. 24, 1971, which Bruin was honored in a pregame ceremony before the B’s beat the Canadiens, 4-2, to extend their home winning streak to 15?

Read the rest of this entry »

Rookie Daniel Nava's grand slam vs. the Phillies was one of the highlights of the first half of the Red Sox' season. (AP)

Though the Red Sox are 88 games into the season with another 74 to go, the All-Star break generally is regarded as the midway point of the season. As such, it’s time to reflect on what’s been largely considered an up-and-down season for the Sox. With a large number of injuries handcuffing the team from the beginning of 2010, the fact that the Red Sox have largely remained in contention is nothing short of amazing. In honor of that, we’ve come up with a list of the best single-game performances from the first half of the season, divided by pitching and offensive performances.

Looking back on Boston’s 51 wins, there have been players that have stepped up and filled holes, especially from the rookie replacements. The interesting thing to note is that between the six All-Stars on the team (Dustin Pedroia, Víctor Martínez, Adrián Beltré, David Ortiz, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester), only four of them account for the 10 performances on our list.

Let’s kick off the list with a few honorable mentions, starting off with Opening Night:

John Lackey, April 7 vs. Yankees: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 K, 2 BB

On Opening Night, John Lackey showed why he was one of the big-name acquisitions during the offseason. Unfortunately for everyone involved, this first game would be Lackey’s best outing of the year.

Jon Lester, May 25 vs. Rays: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 9 K, 5 BB

Lester has had an amazing year so far. So much so, that he’s motivated his bullpen to continue his work. April 25 was the perfect example, as Lester only allowed a single to Willy Aybar in the fourth and that was it. Lester pitched six innings, then handed it to the ‘pen. The relievers didn’t allow another hit for the rest of the game.

Clay Buchholz, May 29 vs. Royals: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 K, 4 BB

If Lester’s been amazing this year, Buchholz has been Cy Young-like this year. Just four days after Lester’s game, Buchholz took the mound and handled the Royals with ease. He allowed some sporadic hits over seven before delicately handing the 1-0 lead to the dynamic duo of Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon, who successfully got the hold and the save, respectively. Read the rest of this entry »

Greg Cameron gave Boston a technical introduction to Wallace on Monday, but there’s no doubt all eyes will be watching this afternoon as the big man is formally introduced.

Press conferences have always been something of a spectacle, but Boston has seen its fair share of introductions that put others to shame. Bill Parcells warranted the governor’s attention back in 1993, and remember the time the Sox brought that Matsuzaka guy over from Japan?

Very few thought John Smoltz would ever be introduced to a city outside of Georgia, so seeing the Braves legend in a Sox cap in January was a headline-grabber to say the least.

But enough about the Pats and Red Sox, this day is about the Celtics, who have had plenty of big-time introductions of their own. Before getting to the one that brought banner 17 to Boston, who could forget Rick Pitino? With fresh, new banners made up for the FleetCenter hanging behind him, the local hero was all but sworn in as Mayor of Boston. Dan Shaughnessy used up an entire column back in ’97 listing all of the things Pitino already knew about the town when he came here. By the time he left, he probably knew a few more things, including which retired players aren’t walking through a certain door.

The biggest non-international press conference in recent memory has to be the one that followed the Kevin Garnett acquisition. What made it so incredible was the way the Celtics went about it by re-introducing Paul Pierce and Ray Allen along with him. They weren’t pushing KG on Boston, they were pushing an idea, and one that the entire city believed in once they saw the new Big Three, Boston Three Party, or whatever else they wanted to be called.

The promotion of that idea continues as Wallace enters the fold. On Sunday Mike Mutnansky rightfully joked that the Celtics are borderline elderly these days, but thanks to what these three guys have done, nobody seems to care. Is there anybody left that still damns Ainge for giving up on Al Jefferson? Is anybody totally up in arms about letting Leon Powe go? The Celtics have placed an incredible emphasis on experience these last couple of years, and it’s led to fantastic results. And for those who do feel that old age will bite the Green in the you-know-what this season, Wallace at the very least can serve as tremendous insurance in case KG goes down again.

"I guess I hate the Yankees now."

Whether it’s the delayed signing of J.D. Drew, or the poor translating at the Matsuzaka introduction, Boston has never shied away from a good ol’ press conference. Even when the Sox brought on a former enemy in David Wells, there were smiles across New England, and the affinity for introductions doesn’t end there.

Tell me you weren’t watching, fists-clenched each time as the Yankees introduced Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, and Mark Teixeira, and I’ll kindly tell you to get your morning links and videos elsewhere. Likewise, the folks in New York couldn’t have exactly been thrilled when Curt Schilling dropped his famous quote after hitchhiking from Arizona.

There may be no politicians or Japanese media surrounding Wallace as he holds up his green No. 30 jersey today, but one thing is for sure: you, along with the rest of New England and NBA fans, will be watching.

Good Monday morning (or early afternoon, as the case may be), New England! Let’s not waste one more second and dive right into the best and brightest on the information superhighway.

The Red Sox bat leadoff this morning after another disappointing outing from $50-plus million dollar man, Daisuke Matsuzaka, in a 6-3 loss at the Fens. The Sox dropped two in the three-game set, though the weekend witnessed David Ortiz hitting his second home run of the season, on Saturday night.

Our resident baseball scribes Rob Bradford and Alex Speier each have pieces this morning detailing the series.  Speier tackles Ortiz and the possibility of falsified age and Bradford shows what five things we learned after yesterday’s game.

Also yesterday, Tiger Woods fired his finest round since returning from knee surgery with a 7-under 65 en route to winning the Memorial. Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer mulls over whether Woods is fully recovered from his knee injury.

Although it was an impressive victory for Woods, was it really more impressive than this?

Moving off the greens and fairways and onto the hardwood, the Lakers are now halfway to possession of the Larry O’Brien Trophy after posting a 101-96 win at the Staples Center. Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel takes a look at Kobe Bryant’s series thus far.

In addition to Bianchi’s Kobe Bryant piece, the LA Times’ Mark Heisler makes the argument that a lot has been decided already after only two games of the NBA Finals.

Finally, the Steel city will be electric with a pivotal Stanley Cup Finals Game Six between the Red Wings and Penguins. Detroit waxed the Penguins 5-0 on Saturday giving the Wings a commanding 3-2 series lead.

ESPN’s Scott Burnside notes the urgency that Sidney Crosby and company have with regards to tonight’s game. Meanwhile, the Detroit Free Press’s Michael Rosenberg has profiled Detroit’s man between the pipes, Chris Osgood.

Finally this morning, there is a bit of controversy coming out of Pittsburgh. Last week, the Pirates traded away All-Star outfielder Nate McLouth to the Atlanta Braves and Buccos fans are less than pleased.

This has become such a hot-button issue for fans of the once-great franchise that Pirates general manager Neil Huntington issued an e-mail to season ticket holders explaining the rationale behind the deal. Yet another sad chapter for a franchise that will most likely go without a winning season for another summer.

Hopefully you’lhave the opportunity to enjoy a gorgeous June Monday. Stay classy, New England!