Painful

Watching the Red Sox lately continues to be a rather painful experience, especially staying up until the wee hours of the morning to do it. When they fell behind 2-0 last night, I was thinking to myself, "this game is over." And sure enough, they lost 2-1, despite another terrific start from Josh Beckett. The Sox are playing hard, and have definitely not "quit," but they are simply undermanned and overwhelmed right now.

I'll be watching, this afternoon at Professor Thom's, the finale of the road trip, as Curt Schilling goes for his 3000th strikeout. (He's one away.)

Thank God these late night games are done.

David Ortiz is undergoing a battery of tests today at Massachusetts General Hospital, and our thoughts and good wishes go with him. Manny Ramirez and Wily Mo Pena also returned to Boston, and they are listed as day-to-day.

Alex Gonzalez, Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon all begin rehab stints at Pawtucket tomorrow, and all hope to be back at Fenway by Sunday. But, as my dad always says, it maybe a case of "a day late and a dollar short." But it will be good to have them all back.

And what may appear to be a "white flag" move, it looks like David Wells is about to be traded to an NL team, either the Padres, Dodgers or Cardinals. It makes sense, as whichever team offers the best prospect the Red Sox should take. Wells insists he'll retire after the season, so getting a good prospect for him makes all the sense in the world. But the deal has to be done by midnight tomorrow night, as that's when the playoff rosters have to be set.

You should definitely check out my friend Jere's blog today, "A Red Sox Fan In Pinstripe Territory." He's got a great discussion of the July 1, 2004 game between the Red Sox and Yankees, the game that featured a sensational catch that Pokey Reese made. And, oh yeah, one that Derek Jeter made, too.

Jere has video from YouTube of both plays, and why Pokey's was better, as I have insisted for two years. You can go to Jere's blog through this link: http://letsgosox.blogspot.com.

Good job, Jere.