Something to take your mind off the pain of the last two contests for the now-officially-flailing Red Sox. Embiggen slideshow

All the Red Sox needed to do this past weekend was win one game. A frustrating inability to capitalize on Yankees losses while they played in Toronto was in the past. For the time being, injuries to the starting rotation seemed surmountable, at least for one game. One game, and they'd at least tread water in the division as well as in the Wild Card standings. One game, one win...

Top 1 No excuses or meanderings this time. Just trying to get back off my own personal DL and into the regular groove again. Bot 1 About the only thing Erik Bedard has going for him so far is his face, a kindly looking mug, all rounded or beveled edges, hangdog eyes under permanently raised brows, and rosy cheeks. He looks like a cross between a Kewpie doll and Winnie the Pooh. Ellsbury...

Look, I know we're not supposed to care who gets the win, as long as the team wins, and we don't root for the players individually, necessarily, we root for the laundry. Last night, the Red Sox won in Minnesota, keeping them 1.5 games up on the Yankees, and that's really all that should matter. But if ever there was a player that warranted at least a momentary diversion...

While it occurred under protest from the ESPN broadcast booth, the fact that last night's game featured slow and deliberate play, multiple tie scores, and in general the sense of the proverbial irresistible force meeting an immovable object really shouldn't have come as a shock. This was Sox-Yankees, after all. These days, there's a gravity which has no regard for time...

However grudgingly I may do it, I have to give John Lackey some credit. Last night, I caught part of the game while sitting at a bar in Great Barrington, Mass., technically still in New England, but more a part of the Hudson River Valley, meaning I was surrounded by highly vocal Yankees fans. I came in just in time to watch Lackey surrender the Red Sox' two-run lead in the top...

Some quick thoughts on the return of the NFL. Let's start with the obvious: I am happy that the NFL has at least begun to get itself back together in time for there to be football in 2011, though it remains to be seen just what kind of football it will be. It's good, in my opinion, that the league and players' association are dedicating $1 billion in additional funds...

On the seventh anniversary of the unforgettable game of July 24, 2004, The Red Sox posted 12 runs against the Mariners and completed the sweep, handing Seattle their 15th straight loss, a franchise record for Eric Wedge's team. Some people felt a little sorry for the Mariners. They are probably nice people. I, on the other hand, am not feeling like a particularly nice person right...

Here's an imponderable: what exactly happens to the Red Sox offense when Josh Beckett is pitching? The numbers are startling -- he is by far the least supported pitcher on the team, despite being its clear ace this season. What gives? Given this phenomenon, last night the Sox managed just three runs against the dreaded Unknonwn Pitcher in Blake Beavan. Portable defibrillator...

How do you NOT win with Mikey Lowell in the house? First of all, to the fans who packed that ballpark tonight in the baking, broiling heat, I salute you. Especially to those who stayed PAST the seventh inning. Ahem. It was hard to know what to expect going in to this matchup of one of the league's worst offenses against one of our most inconsistent pitchers in John Lackey, while...

I've been trying desperately to come up with a set of entertaining excuses for why I haven't blogged in a ridiculous amount of time -- alien abduction being among my finalists -- but the sad and boring truth is that I've had a combination of technical and personal "issues" that have left me without the resources to blog since just before the July 4 holiday....

As I type this, on my husband's wheezing old laptop in a cottage deep in the wilds of extreme Western Massachusetts, the Red Sox are, justly, dominating the bottom-feeding Astros 9-3 in the ninth. The Adrian / Papi combo seems to have kicked in nicely, just in time for interleague to be over, but let's not dwell on that. What's truly important at this point is that no...

I can't really say I have many standout memories of Mike Cameron on the field (nor, it appears, can the Red Sox, or they wouldn't have DFA'd him today). In fact, my warmest memory of him is from the Red Sox commercial outtakes video from this year's Spring Training, as he gamely--but repeatedly--botched his lines, smiling through it all. In general, I remember him as a smiling yet...

First, there was the disappointing interleague homestand, in which the Red Sox went 3-3, dropping a series to the San Diego Padres before heading out on a 9-game interleague road trip, which so far has not been the most incredible experience ever to happen to Boston baseball fans. The Sox failed to capitalize on the opportunity to get ahead of NL teams at home, where they still had...

It's an old trope by now, but the results of this series will have some fans wishing that the Red Sox could have saved some of their fourteen-run onslaught Monday night for the next two games. Selfishly, though, I'm happy to have been in attendance for the blowout win, which also marked another return by DAVE ROBERTS to the city where he'll never have to buy a meal or...

So much for the perfecta. Or such was the name I was prepared to give to the quadruple-sweep, had the Red Sox actually accomplished it -- but I probably jinxed it before it had a chance to begin with my last post. More scientifically, the Red Sox ended their winning streak at the loathsome Trop tonight for two reasons: James Shields pitched a hell of a complete-game shutout, and...

There were moments Jon Lester actually looked bored out on the mound today at the Rogers Centre, as he hummed in strike after strike, making short work of Blue Jays hitters on another dozen-run afternoon. The big lefty worked at a brisk pace, reaching back over and over to unleash zone-pounding pitches like he was bagging groceries. And once again, it was a single, monstrous fifth...

Jason Varitek's third homer of the season -- a three-run job -- helped officially make it an afternoon laugher in Toronto today.(photo originally uploaded by placidminds, on Flickr) And to think, I was actually a little nervous before tuning in to today's game. Another annoying yet boring combination of factors, including a Death Flu Virus from Hell, have been keeping me...

Is June too early to say we've got a real pennant race going? After completing the sweep on Oakland this weekend, the Sox are .500 on their homestand and a half-game out of first place. The Rays, three games out, and even the Jays, at 3.5 games back, aren't necessarily out of it either. Ain't we got fun? I will say, however, that I was pleasantly surprised at how resilient...

Several hours before it would ultimately end, today's game seemed well in hand. Jonathan Papelbon was on to pitch the top of the ninth in what seemed like an otherwise routine 7-3 Sox win. And that's when all hell broke loose. Without adrenaline to fuel him, Papelbon does seem a lesser pitcher, and he began the inning giving up a single to A's second baseman Mark Ellis...

Peter Gammons pregame. I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya, to quote Onion scribe Jim Anchower, but I did attend one of the sweep games at the hands of the White Sox this week, the one that was probably in the most contention overall, on Tuesday night. I also had some great field box seats thanks to my Dad, right near the visitor's dugout, so I was able to get up...

As it turns out, this year's Opening Day game was representative of something. Looking back, it's actually a perfect encapsulation of the team we would see for the next month. First there was the starting pitching slump, represented in the Opening Day game by the uncharacteristically homer-prone Jon Lester, who gave up three, along with five total earned runs, before leaving...

In case there's anyone left who's desperate to see Daisuke Matsuzaka back in Red Sox uniform again, I have a bad omen for you: the telltale smear campaign seems to have begun. This new mudslinging emerged yesterday, in the form of a column by Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, "Red Sox in no-win situation with Dice-K," which has gotten quite a reaction in the less-than...

My Grandpa Tom grew up in rural southern Illinois, but spent some time near Chicago due to his job with the railroad in the late 30's, which is how he became a Cubs fan. In the 40s, he and my grandmother moved to North Dakota, where they have remained ever since, and there is no local baseball team. So my grandfather remains a Cubs fan. My father's the major reason I fell...

I long ago ran out of superlatives to describe the pitching of Josh Beckett when he's on. Not to mention synonyms for "swagger" and "attitude". And it's really too bad practically all of the Chuck Norris Facts have already been ripped off on behalf of Jed Lowrie this season, because they are also a good fit for Beckett when he's mowing down our rivals...