Hardball Heaven

Curt Schilling pitched the Sox to an easy victory Wednesday night, but the boys lost the final game of their opening homestand tonight to the Rays and their young ace, Scott Kazmir. Just watching on TV, you can tell this kid has incredible stuff -- his matchups with Manny tonight were intense. Imagine if the Mets hadn't made one of the worst trades of the last decade -- Victor Zambrano for Kazmir. Ouch.

Anyway, Schilling's first four starts have been hugely encouraging. I don't think we knew quite what to expect from the loquacious one, but he's been sensational. His win the other night was classic command Schilling - 7 k's and a walk - and made him 4-0 to start the season for the first time in his career. As the mo-rons on the radio said this morning, if the Cy Young voting was held today, Schill gets the nod.

The other highlight from this game was the continued torrid hitting of Kevin Youkilis, known affectionately to the masses as Yooooook. The guy puts on serious at-bats - against any pitcher - he gets on base, and he's been better than advertised with the glove. If the Greek God of Walks keeps this up, J.T. Snow's gonna be one bored dude.

Tampa Bay salvaged the last game of the series tonight by riding Kazmir's strong arm. He kept Papi and Manny in check, and Jonny Gomes hit two absolute moon-shots off Wake. Final score: 5-1.

Sox are now 11-5, 2 games up on - believe it or not - the Orioles. The Sox get another crack at the much-improved Blue Jays, this time in Toronto. Great matchup tomorrow night of former Marlins studs - Josh Beckett vs. A.J. Burnett.