Home Sweet Home

What a difference 48 hours and sleeping in your own bed makes. The Sox came home in the wee hours of Friday morning with their tails between their legs, having lost five in a row on the road to the woeful Devil Rays and woeful-er Royals. I still have the sight of Royals fans - Royals fans, for crissakes - with brooms on Thursday night seared into my brain. How they know about this tradition I'm not quite sure.

Thinking about this current homestand, beginning with the Orioles - another AL weak sister - I thought the bats would come alive back in the cozy confines of Fenway, but our pitchers for the first two games worried me -- David Wells on Friday, followed by Jason Johnson today. Not exactly inspiring.

On Friday night, the Sox erupted for 7 runs in the third inning to give Boomer an 8-0 lead. That took some pressure off, and Wells proceeded to throw a typical Wells game -- 7 ip, "scattered" 9 hits, 1 run, 4 k's, 1 walk. If he's able to contribute down the stretch, all of a sudden he turns out to be your trading deadline "acquisition."

Today's game was satisfying because the Sox clawed their way back from a 5-1 deficit, tied it at 7 in the 6th inning, and then won it in the 10th on a walkoff single from somebody other than David Ortiz. This time, the big hit came from Manny, who also extended his hitting streak to 27 games at the same time. Jason Johnson was ineffective - giving up 7 runs over 5 1/3 innings - but the bullpen was fantastic, as Tavarez, Hansen, Timlin and Papelbon shut down the Orioles the rest of the way. Final score: 8-7.

Yankees won again, so Sox keep pace and remain two games out of first. They're two behind the White Sox in the wild card standings, along with the Twins who may fall with Liriano being out.

Jon Lester goes for the sweep tomorrow afternoon against Daniel Cabrera. Last time we saw Cabrera, the Sox had an easy "walk" in the park.

Embarrassing

Okay, I'm back. I've been cowering in the corner of my living room since about 11:00 last night, all coiled up in a shivering, quivering ball of pissed-offness. The unthinkable happened in Kansas City for the second straight evening, as the Sox frittered away a 4-2 lead and lost to the Royals again, 5-4. That's right - the 30-games-below-.500 Royals swept our juggernaut (first time since 1991 in KC) and we're all left to ponder whether this team really was a juggernaut in the first place. Ortiz and Manny have kept them in the race, and everyone else looks just plain old and slow, kind of like pitching coach Dave Wallace when he makes a trip to the mound, or Papi when he makes an out and trudges back to the dugout. All the pundits agreed that the Sox had to go 5-1 on this trip, or at worst, 4-2. They went 1-5, and have now lost five straight. Embarrassing to say the least.

The one bright spot last night was that the Yankees also lost - finally - so the lead stands at 3 games. All the callers to the local sports radio station today will want to bury the Sox, and I'm close to feeling that way too. The other half of me says maybe this serves as the ultimate wake-up call for this floundering squad. They've lost five straight to Tampa and KC, and will take on the Orioles tonight at Fenway in the start of a weekend series. Hopefully, being in the home environment snaps them out of this ugly funk. We find out how this team responds in its darkest hour at 7:05 tonight. Our stopper? The rotund one, David Wells, goes against Adam Loewen. In the meantime, I'm going to nail several mattresses to the walls of my living room, and I'm thinking about installing a punching bag. Better safe than sorry - ya know what I mean?

Wily Mo is a Man

Wily Mo Pena -- Little Papi -- is a freak of nature. He hit one of the farthest home runs ever at Royals Stadium on Tuesday night, and he just tagged a three-run blast to left-center to give the Sox a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the 7th. A huge home run.

Must Game in August?

If there is such a thing, tonight's game against the Royals most definitely qualifies. This short road trip against the AL's have-nots - first the Devil Rays and now the Royals - has been an absolute nightmare. Our boys have lost four in a row, including a gut-punch loss last night when they blew a 4-0 lead and Papelbon gave it up in the 9th. As we sit here at 8:10 p.m. ET waiting to see if Curt Schilling can pick his team up yet again (he's 18-6 with a low 2 ERA in games following a Sox loss), the Red Sox are three games behind the Yankees and four in the loss column. Needless to say, things are ugly here in the Nation. The sound and the fury (as Theo calls it) is rapidly heating up.

Of course, they're not done with 50 games to go, even if they (gulp) get swept tonight by the lowly Royals. But this is as close as you can get to a must-win in early August as I've seen in my 30 years of following this soap opera. We need the ace to give us at least a solid 7. And we need the bats to pounce, and pounce early on Royals starter Runelvys Hernandez. They're calling for periods of rain in Kansas City tonight.

Off-Day Thoughts

* Something tells me we're about to see the first collision of the 'way Theo wants to run the team' and the way 'Larry wanted to run the team.' My best guess on the reasons behind TheoGate are that a) Theo's philosophy of having a long-term plan - and building a championship team with homegrown talent - was not high enough in the organization's overall philosophy; and b) he was sick of all the Hollywood, PR bullshit. Don't get me wrong - this new ownership team has done an awesome job of making the fans more comfortable, and preserving the greatest ballpahk ever - but they go way overboard on the schmaltzy, entertainment stuff. The opening night for "Fever Pitch" comes to mind, the makeovers that some of the players got from the "Queer Eye" TV show, the Red Sox Nation membership card.

Of course, a month or so after Theo left Fenway - in a gorilla suit no less - all the conversations between Henry, Lucchino and Theo that should have taken place actually did take place. Things were ironed out. Theo was able to voice his complaints directly to the owner of the team, and the owner of the team evidently gave Theo his backing on how the team should be run. That's all Theo wanted in the first place, but holy crap, the hurdles he had to jump through to get there. And is it a coincidence that Larry Lucchino -who before TheoGate was so visible that he had his own weekly morning slot on the local sports radio station - has completely gone underground?

The point I'm getting at is this: The recent trading period was the first time Theo has been fully behind the controls, and in the end, the team did nothing. Every trading partner wanted one or more of the young pitchers (Lester, Hansen, Delcarmen, Papelbon) and Theo dug in his heels and resisted making a move that might only yield short-term benefits. Many believe that Theo wouldn't have pulled the trigger on the Beckett/Lowell for Ramirez/Sanchez for the same reasons. Not making a move at the deadline looks bad right now because the Yankees have shot into the AL East lead and the guys they acquired at the deadline are contributing. The Sox are going to have to get lucky, healthy, and/or make some sort of deal to catch them but we've got a lot of baseball left to sort it all out. If the Sox crash and burn, it will be interesting to see if Theo comes into the crosshairs.

* Why did it take WEEI so long to say goodbye to crusty Ted Sarandis and hello to the wacky Mike Adams? Sarandis was such a dink -- cutting callers off, generally being rude and intolerant -- and Adams is on the other extreme. Goofy, fun, affable, can lead a good baseball discussion, and actually lets the callers dictate the program. The Sunday baseball show featuring Adams, Sean McAdam from the Providence Journal, and the Herald's Steve Buckley, is great radio.

* And while we're on the subject of 'EEI, what exactly is their fascination with Steve DeOssie and Larry Johnson? I don't want to hear a 'roided up football player opining on baseball. Just not a good match.

* Since the 2005 All-Star Game, a period comprising 161 games, David Ortiz has hit 60 homers and driven in 161 RBI. I don't want to hear any DH bias during MVP voting time. Papi is the MVP, with Jeter a respectable second.

* Switching sports for a minute - I can do that, I'm the proprietor - it was a nice sight today seeing hard-hitting safety Rodney Harrison on the Patriots practice field. Harrison tore multiple ligaments in his knee after an ugly collision in Pittsburgh last September.

* Just to vent for a moment, my fantasy team sucks. This was the first year we did auction style and I blew my wad early on Johan Santana ($40), David Ortiz ($36) and Miguel Cabrera ($28). All three have been solid, but I think I screwed myself for adding high-quality depth. Let's just say I've got Scott Hatteberg, Pedro Feliz, Casey Blake, Preston Wilson and Josh Barfield in my starting lineup. 'Nuf ced.

* Globe rookie Sox beat writer Amalie Benjamin is doing a nice job in place of Chris Snow, who left to work in some NHL team's front office. Snow was good but he went a little Charlie Pierce on us every now and then - using words that send you to the dictionary. Benjamin has a more casual, free-flowing style that makes for a nice read. Gordon Edes was great during the trading deadline too.

* The Sox have an absolutely brutal month of August ahead of them. After six coming up against KC and Baltimore, they play 11 straight against Detroit, the Yankees and the Angels. Where the rubber hits the road, as they say... and we're going to have to do it without Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield.

* Some impressive candidates on this year's Comeback Player list, including Jim Thome, Nomar Garciaparra, and Curt Schilling.

* Two things about the bullpen scare me, and maybe three. 1) Julian Tavarez; 2) the glaring lack of a lefty specialist; and 3) Mike Timlin. I'm willing to give Timlin some more time, but he's been downright dreadful lately - and oh yeah, he's also on my fantasy squad. Got the Midas touch, don't I?

* Two guys who if they pick up their games in the second half will help the Sox get to the postseason for the fourth straight year: Josh Beckett and Coco Crisp.

* I've been irritated with Yankee fans who think their "injury-depleted" team deserves the Purple Heart for keeping the race tight with the Red Sox. The folks at Fire Joe Morgan have eloquently put my thoughts into words:

"I am the 2006 New York Yankees! Here is my line-up:

CF Johnny Damon. $13 million.
SS Derek Jeter. $19 million.
1B Jason Giambi. $18 million.
DH Gary Sheffield. $13 million.
RF Bobby Abreu. $13 million.
3B Alex Rodriguez. $25 million.
LF Hideki Matsui. $13 million.
C Jorge Posada. $9 million
2B Robinson Cano. $381 thousand.

(Total for starting nine position players: $123 million. More than the Red Sox' 25 man-roster.)

How is this relevant? Well, when you have a lineup of players worth $123 million, and you lose $26 million worth of player, you still have a pretty (expletive) good lineup. The crazy patchwork lineups the Yankees have been trotting out there, full of (I'm not the good) M. Cabreras, A. Guiels, (the wrong) B. Crosbys, and A. Phillipses, are still anchored by the very expensive Misters Jeter, Rodriguez and Giambi, to say nothing of the fairly expensive Senors Damon and Posada. Spare me the what-a-goddamn-hero-Joe-Torre-is routine. The lineup at the beginning of the year was lethal -- a mockery of the game of baseball, in fact. No "winning culture" accounted for its ability to withstand the loss of two of its better hitters -- and not, I might add, its two best."

Couldn't have said it better meself.

Trop Flop

The Red Sox visited their own personal House of Horrors for three games this weekend, and ended up losing 2 of 3 to the no-name Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They even caught a break this time and didn't have to face Scott Kazmir, the Sox killer who's currently on the DL. Mood-wise, this is the lowest Red Sox Nation has been all year long. The Yanks fortified themselves with the Abreu/Lidle trade, and have played well since the All-Star break. The Sox, by contrast, have floundered over the past few weeks, and now find themselves down 2 games in the AL East and out of the wild card picture if the playoffs started today. This is what happens when you give up home runs to guys named Greg Norton, Ben Zobrist, Travis Lee, and Dioner Navarro, and you lose a 6-2 lead. Just plain ugly. This one was the proverbial kick in the gut.

On the bright side, what's the very best thing that could happen to a struggling Red Sox team? How about a three-game set against the Kansas City Royals? That was the prescription the last time we were depressed (after getting pummeled by the A's at Fenway) and hopefully it does the trick this time too. Sox are off today (what's an offday in Kansas City like?) and then face the Royals starting tomorrow night. A sweep is a must, especially with Lester, Beckett, and Schilling going. Yanks are off as well and start a series in Chicago tomorrow night against the White Sox. 'Bout time for Ozzie Guillen's team to start playing some $#%@! baseball. 'Bout time the other Sox did too, or we could be on the outside looking in come October.

One note on the weekend series against Tampa - Big Papi became the first Red Sox hitter to ever hit 40 HRs in three straight seasons. Manny should join him at some point this season.

See-Saw Season for Beckett

Is Josh Beckett having one of the strangest seasons you've ever seen or what? Downright dominant one outing, putrid the next. And the hallmark of all those putrid outings has been his propensity to give up home runs, many of them hit very hard and very far. Not that I know what I'm talking about, but it seems like he's at his best when he's got the curveball working and he can get hitters off balance. Then his 98 mph fastball becomes that much harder to hit. When the curve's not working, hitters just sit on the heat.

The curve wasn't working too well last night and the Indians - who have shown in the past that they like hitting off Mr. Beckett -- pounced on him for six runs in the 6th inning and held on for a 7-6 win. Beckett gave up homers to Aaron Bleeping Boone, Hafner and to "Choo, Cho, whatever his name is" - as he said in his press conference - and he has now given up a total of 31 on the season. In the last month, he's given up three homers in a game three times. He's challenging the single-season mark of 50, set by the greatest pitcher ever from Holland, Bert Blyleven, in 1986. Bert followed that up with 46 more in 1987. Yikes. Live ball era?

Meanwhile, the Yankees are hot, and their new acquistions - Abreu, Lidle, and Craig Wilson - have already made key contributions. The Yanks now lead the division by a game. They're in Baltimore tonight, while the Sox are in Tampa to tangle with the Devil Rays. They've got three in Tampa, then three in Kansas City and they need to win 4 of them.

News item: Sox have agreed in principle with the Orioles on a deal for Javy Lopez. Still not clear who the Sox are giving up, but word has it that Lopez is in Tampa right now, and could be in the lineup tonight. Javy's not the player he was, but not a bad addition under the circumstances.

Comeback Loretta

Poor Fausto Carmona. The guy who sounds like a character from a Bill Shakespeare play was once again the victim of some Sox dramatics last night. Let's set the scene: bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, nobody on. Carmona began by whiffing Wily Mo and Coco, and then the proverbial wheels came off. He plunked Mirabelli and Gonzalez, and then walked Youkilis. Bases loaded (without a hit) for Mark Loretta. Loretta had been watching Carmona's meltdown from the on-deck circle, and knew he was going to get a couple of heaters near the plate - especially with Big Papi looming. Loretta got one he liked and slapped it off the Monster, giving the Sox an incredulous 6-5 comeback win over the Indians.

The fans at the game deserve a little bit of credit here too. There weren't many empty seats when there were 2 outs in the 9th, and the decibel level clearly rattled Mr. Carmona to the point where he couldn't find the plate. Fenway has become one of the greatest home-field advantages in baseball, and it's awfully damn nice to see.

Finale against Cleveland tonight at 7:05 has Josh Beckett going against Jake Westbrook. If the Sox take 3 of the 4 games, Eric Wedge is going to have nightmares. He may be using a new closer this evening.

Ouch

Not a fun day. Jason Varitek - the most indispensable player other than maybe Ortiz and Manny - needs knee surgery for a torn meniscus and is out for 4-6 weeks. It's something he has supposedly been battling since spring training, but he aggravated it running around second base Monday night. This one is truly a tough blow - now we've got 30 games of Dougie Mirabelli coming up. But hey, maybe they'll rally and rise up to the challenge of having to play without Varitek. 'Tek is to us what Jeter is to them.

Oh yeah, there was a game tonight at muggy, humid Fenway. Jason Johnson and the Sox fell behind early, and ended up on the losing end, 6-3, to the Indians and C.C. Sabathia. Funny note from watching the game -- there's an advertisement on the wall behind home plate for Giant Glass. Whenever C.C. moved a certain way, it read GIANT ASS.

Yankees at last check were beating Toronto - if it holds, we're all tied up. Like we expected anything else...

Ho-Hum

Is this guy a freak of nature or what? Big Papi again delivered in the clutch last night, smashing a three-run homer in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Indians 9-6. Absolutely incredible. He also hit another home run early in the game, and now has a major league-leading 37 to go along with 105 RBI's.

Papi's blast rescued David Wells, who for all intents and purposes made his rehab start last night against major league hitters. Wells has always been reluctant to do his rehab work in the minors, and last night's lucky winner was Indians OF Casey Blake, who hit two homers off Wells. Boomer's final line: 4 2/3, 8 hits, 8 runs. Manny and Wily Mo also went deep, and Kyle Snyder pitched quite effectively in middle relief. Allow me to give myself a little pat on the back, as I wrote these words a couple days ago: "Snyder has started out well in each of his starts, and then he usually blows up in the 4th or 5th inning. Put 'em in there for a few innings if a starter has a short outing." I know, I'm just plain brilliant.

The dramatic win came with a cost, however, and today we'll know how high that cost is. Jason Varitek pulled up lame after rounding second base, and left the game with what was called a knee sprain. He'll undergo a battery of tests today to see what's wrong. Fingers crossed for the Captain.

The other big news yesterday was the Sox ultimately not making a big move at the trading deadline. Today's Globe reports that they were very close to acquiring a Houston fireballer (no, not that one.)

Tonight's game has C.C. Sabathia going for the Tribe against (gulp) Jason Johnson, who was called up to pitch in place of Snyder. The Yanks and Jays start their series in the Bronx. A.J. Burnett vs. Jaret Wright. The lead is 1. (Boston.com photo)

Nada, Nicht, Nyet...

The 4 p.m. trading deadline has come and gone, and the Yanks appear to have gotten the upper hand. They traded nothing for Abreu and Cory Lidle, and today they traded nothing (Shawn Chacon) to get Pirates 1B/OF Craig Wilson. The Red Sox, meanwhile, literally traded nothing. No moves announced from Yawkey Way today, despite rumors that they inquired about Soriano and Andruw Jones. Why do I let myself get excited about these things?

Schill Schelled

Maybe we should have known that the law of baseball averages would eventually catch up to Curt Schilling, who came into last night's game unbeaten on the home sod. The hard-hitting Angels gave Schilling whiplash last night, hitting three homers in the third and cruising to an easy 10-4 victory.

With the Sox losing 2 of 3 to the Angels - and the Yanks winning 2 of 3 from the Devil Dogs, and getting reinforcements in Abreu and Lidle - there's some pressure on Theo and his staff to come up with something today. Jayson Stark on ESPN.com this morning mentioned that the Sox have suddenly thrust themselves into the Alfonso Soriano sweepstakes. With Trot Nixon going down last night with what looked like another oblique problem, and Coco Crisp continuing to play CF like Ray Charles, the Sox could definitely use some more offense and another outfielder. I just hope they're not thinking of trading Loretta and putting Soriano at second - that would be a huge downgrade. But I like how Theo's thinking big. He knows that Lowell and Loretta have probably peaked, and that the offense needs a shot of energy. They've been scuffling big-time since the All-Star break. Needless to say, it should be a verrrrry interesting day around these parts. If they do nothing, the fans won't be happy.

Sox are in action tonight against Cleveland at Fenway. David Wells makes his remarkable return versus Paul Byrd.

Prayers Answered!

Ask and ye shall receive! Joe Morgan - the worst analyst in the history of televised baseball - is not in the booth tonight. ("Now watch this, Jon... this is a fastball... see how fast that ball moves?") He's not sick; rather, he's in Cooperstown with his fellow immortals toasting another class of inductees. Orel Hershiser is pinch-hitting. We're off to a good start...

Yankee$ Get Abreu, Lidle

We heard early on that Georgie Porgie liked Bobby Abreu, and the Boss finally got his man today. In a pure salary dump by Philly, they send Abreu and Cory Lidle to the Yankees for two no-name minor leaguers. It wasn't the prospects that got this deal done, it was the cash. Abreu, whose HR power is significantly down (he's got 8) this year, will average around $17 million over the next few years, and we all know the Yanks are the only team in baseball who can take that on. Am I worried about this deal? Abreu will make an already potent lineup better, and Lidle is obviously an improvement over Sidney Ponson. But we also know that just throwing money around doesn't guarantee success (see Pavano, Carl; Brown, Kevin).

As for the Sox, they've supposedly been one of the more active teams but no news yet... we'll keep you posted through the night as we do a little running commentary on tonight's Angels-Sox game. I'm hoping Joe Morgan calls in sick.

Live Look-In: Angels-Sox, Game 2

The Red Sox have stormed back from a 6-3 deficit against the hot Angels to tie the game at 6. We're in the bottom of the 9th, Youkilis on second with a leadoff double, and Papi was just intentionally walked. One down - Loretta popped up, failing to move Youk over. Now it's Manny's turn, and he grounds into an inning-ending double play. Rats. Loretta's at-bat was key. Heading into extras...

(Couple of thoughts during the commercials... my buddies and I love coming up with guys whose name sounds either white or black, and then you find out it's the reverse. ESPN's Bill Simmons calls these guys the Reggie Cleveland All-Stars. You hear the name Reggie Cleveland (left photo above) you think maybe a fleet-footed black guy, but Cleveland was actually a portly white dude from Ontario, Canada who pitched for the Sox. Other examples of names that sound black but aren't include 2B Marcus Giles of the Braves and Mariners LHP Jarrod Washburn. Howie Kendrick of the Angels is a reverse example (sounds white but is black). Try it - it's fun.

The Globe reports today on their Boston.com blog that the Sox offered Coco Crisp to the White Sox for Mark Buerhle and they were turned down. Crisp is coming around with the bat a little bit, but he needs a GPS system. His tracking of flyballs this year has left something to be desired, and we thought he was going to be a defensive improvement over Judas Damon.)

Anyway, back to the action... we're now in the bottom of the 11th, tied 6-6, and Coco just grounded out. 1 down with Gonzo up. Base hit to left, and now it's Youk's turn again. Jerry Remy's doing the game for FOX today and had a good point earlier - Sox games have been a little longer this year because Youk sees so many pitches. And it's a bloop single to right. Sox have men on first and second with nobody out, and Loretta, Ortiz, and Manny coming up. Loretta's worked it to a 2-2 count. Now it's full. Papi is swinging menacingly in the on-deck circle. 3-2 pitch, and Loretta fans on a fastball. Two outs, and it's up to Papi. Scioscia is bringing in a lefty... Can Ortiz possibly do it again? All we need is a well-placed single, big feller... groundball to the left side of the infield... through!! Sox win 7-6 as the legend of Papi grows and grows... what a game...

Yanks were losing to the D-Rays 6-4 at last check...

Seventh Heaven for Angels

A tight, well-pitched ballgame last night between Jon Lester and Kelvim Escobar quickly turned sour for the Sox, as the Angels put together a six-run 7th inning to pull away. First game goes to the Orange County Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, 8-3. And it gets tougher today with rookie phenom Jered Weaver (7-0, 1.15 ERA) going for the Angels.

The loss created a virtual dead heat in the AL East, as the Yankees continued to roll last night behind a gem from Chien Ming Wang. The gap is now a half-game, and the teams are tied in the loss column. Of course, the annoying Yanks fans are puffing out their chests this morning on the local sports radio station. Every now and then, I get thisclose to calling in and making a few points, but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. Besides, that's what blogs like this are for...

What kills me about Yankee fans right now is that they truly believe their team deserves Purple Hearts for keeping the race close without Sheffield and Matsui. Are you kidding me? They say that it would be exactly like the Red Sox losing Manny and Ortiz. Yeah, okay... only problem with that analogy is that the Yankees can absorb the loss of two key bats because their deep pockets allow them to field a pretty deep lineup. Yank-me fans forget that they've got Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, and Jorge Posada to pick up the offensive slack. Who do the Red Sox have to pick up the slack if Manny and Papi were out at the same time? Ummmm... Trot Nixon, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek? It's not even close.

We're starting to see some trades trickle across the wire as we head toward Monday night's deadline. Biggest one so far was Brewers trading Carlos Lee to the Rangers for Francisco Cordero, Kevin Mench, and Laynce Nix. Some relievers have also changed uniforms. Today's Herald reports that the Sox are making Trot Nixon, Wily Mo Pena, and (hmmmm...) Coco Crisp available. Are they making an all-out effort for Dontrelle?

The Globe Touts Hardball Heaven!!

OK, not really... but in Gordon Edes' nice piece this a.m. about what should be a great weekend series, way at the end, buried on page 2 in the very last paragraph... he mentions our site. Sort of.

Will They Make a Move? Or Stand Pat?

For all the hype and noise about potential trades, not much has happened... yet. All the big media outlets are claiming that it's a seller's market, but that may change as the clock keeps ticking toward Monday's trading deadline. Alfonso Soriano could be a Tiger or a White Sox or an Angel or even a (gulp) Yankee again come Monday night.

From most accounts, the Red Sox seem to be pretty active in pursuing pitching. Some reports have them talking with Florida about the tantalizing possiblity of acquiring Dontrelle Willis. They're also scouting Phillies starter Cory Lidle, who pitched very well today against Arizona in front of a few scouts. ESPN's Buster Olney is dropping hints that the Red Sox are trying to come up with some sort of creative, multi-team deal. That crazy Theo...

Here's my humble opinion on what the Red Sox need to do in order win their second world title in three years:

Scenario #1: Make the big splash move and get Dontrelle - if they have any shot at all to get him, and it takes a Dustin Pedroia or Craig Hansen - DO IT.

Barring the big move, here's Scenario #2:

1) Get Lidle. His numbers are deceiving as he had a few crappy outings early on, but he's been solid lately. Today, he handcuffed the Diamondbacks for seven innings, let in two runs, and struck out 8.

2) Replace the Gas Can Twins, Seanez and Tavarez, with Kyle Snyder and Kason Gabbard. Of all those who've auditioned for the No. 5 spot, these two showed the most promise. Snyder has started out well in each of his starts, and then he usually blows up in the 4th or 5th inning. Put 'em in there for a few innings if a starter has a short outing. Gabbard could be the lefty situation reliever they need.

3) Get a left-handed pinch-hitter for late game situations. And I have just the guy for you -- Todd Walker, now playing for the Cubs. Walker was on the 2003 Red Sox and came up with clutch hit after clutch hit (I remember a huge late-season homer against the Orioles). He's currently mired on the going nowhere Cubs, and could probably be had cheap. When it's Sox-Yanks in late September, and Mariano Rivera is on the hill, who would you rather see at the plate -- Alex Cora or Todd Walker? (Plus, his wife is un-ba-leeeee-vably hot).

Anyway, that's my thinking.

Like Watching Grass Grow

Yesterday's finale against the A's did nothing to help counter the argument that baseball can be a boring game. This one was tough to watch, listen to, or follow along on the Web. B-o-r-i-n-g. Sox lose 5-1 on a getaway day after mustering only four hits against A's starter Danny Haren.

Kyle Snyder (not to be confused with Schneider from One Day at a Time "fame") started this one, and stuck to his M.O. - pitching well through three innings, and then getting smacked around in the fourth and fifth. Adding insult to injury, he gave up two bombs to the ancient, hobbled Frank Thomas, whose nickname - the Big Hurt - is certainly appropriate these days. I think I've seen enough of Mr. Snyder to believe he's not the answer for the fifth spot in the rotation - though he may be a nice addition in the 'pen for middle relief. If he can provide three quality innings, and fill the role that Bronson Arroyo used to play occasionally, there may be a spot for him on the roster for the last two months of the season.

Day off today for the Sox, and then they have three this weekend against the Angels, who are tied for first in the AL West. Great mound matchups in this one -- Lester vs. Escobar tomorrow night; Beckett vs. young stud Jered Weaver on Saturday; and then Schilling vs. Lackey on Sunday Night Baseball.

Bay Area Bashers

For a moment last night, it looked like the Sox had frittered away a 6-1 lead and were going to suffer another tough-to-take loss. Schilling was cruising until the bottom of the 5th, when Oakland closed the gap to 6-4. They scored another run to make it a razor-thin 6-5 lead, and then the Sox exploded in their half of the 8th. Key hit was a bases-loaded double by the Captain that cleared the bases and gave the Gas Can twins (Tavarez/Seanez) some breathing room to "operate." Final score: 13-5.

Nice to see Schilling get his 13th, but more encouraging to see the bats wake up in Oakland. Through the first two games of this series, the Sox have scored 20 runs on 28 hits. Manny's in a home run groove (4 in the past week), Varitek is starting to rip the ball, Coco looks more comfortable at the plate, and Youkilis seems to be coming out of his late first-half slump.

Everything's looking up for the boys, who may see the return of David Wells within the next week. If Theo believes Wells can contribute down the stretch, the Sox might switch gears and look for offense at the trading deadline. They need a prototype #5 hitter behind Ortiz and Manny, and the rumor mill (speculative as it may be) has them considering Bobby Abreu. I think that's a stretch, though, as Abreu's huge contract will be an obstacle. They also could use a left-handed stick off the bench (Todd Walker?) for late-game pinch-hitting duties. The Herald is reporting today that Theo is interested in Phillies SP Jon Lieber and OF Pat Burrell, who would fit nicely in the 5-hole. Question is, what do you do with Trot? As always, stay tuned...

Matinee game today (3:35) as the Sox go for the sweep in Oakland. Kyle Snyder opposes Dan Haren, and this may be the game that the frustrated A's decide to plunk a Sox batter. Not that I'm encouraging that type of behavior, mind you, but MLB is due for a classic bench-clearing brawl. If it happens, Papi better get a bear hug around Carl Everett, Jr. (Milton Bradley) ASAP. That guy could do Mickey Rivers-type damage.