Red Asks, Byrd Answers

Yeah, that's Paul Byrd, not Carl Spackler. Although watching him pitch last night, I think Carl would have been an upgrade. Ten hits and seven earned in just two-and-a-third screams "his first outing was a fluke" to me. On a night where Doc was shutting out the Yanks, a win would have been nice. But the 20-hit (including three hits, one a homer, from Mark Kotsay, he of the hot wife Kotsays),12-run attack on Byrd and Tazawa leave the Sox 7-and-a-half back and looking like they'll be battling to the wire for a wild card spot.Meanwhile, with all the shenanigans that go on in games every day, Papelbon was fined $5,000 for taking too long to throw a pitch?Papelbon was fined $5,000 by Major League Baseball for taking too long to throw his first pitch. A new rule allows pitchers 2 minutes, 20 seconds from the final out of the previous inning to the first pitch. They get 12 seconds to throw once the batter steps into the box.The fine was first reported by the Boston Herald...