72 Hours To Go

It was a fabulous weekend for the Red Sox, as they swept the Giants to get a winning homestand before going out on a nine-game excursion that starts in Atlanta tonight.

They played well in all facets of the game this past weekend. They got good pitching performances by Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavarez, and a really tremendous one from Daisuke Matsuzaka on Saturday. The bats came alive on Friday and Sunday. (Matt Cain was terrific for the Giants Saturday but they simply can't score any runs for him.) Hopefully they will continue their resurgence as they go to Atlanta and then back out west for six games in San Diego and Seattle.

Dave Roberts got ovations the whole weekend. They were so richly deserved, and Dave handled it all with his usual class. I was really proud of the way the Fenway fans welcomed him back. (Was there really ever any doubts?) Barry Bonds got the taunts and jeering you'd guess he would, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it could have been. He was basically invisible at the plate over the weekend, except for a home run off former Pirates teammate Tim Wakefield on Sunday. Hideki Okajima made him look absolutely foolish at the plate on Saturday, as he kept the bat on his shoulders and looked at three pitches and was called out in a critical situation with two on and no out in the eighth. (I wish more managers would challenge him and not be quaking in their boots every time he comes up. He's not the same player he was six years ago.)

The Red Sox still lead the AL East by 8 1/2 games, as the Mets couldn't take care of the Yankees either Saturday or Sunday. The Mets are in a terrible funk, but are fortunate that neither the Braves or Phillies are hot at the moment either.

It is now just less than 72 hours before I take off for San Diego on Thursday evening for the weekend series between the Red Sox and San Diego Padres at beautiful Petco Park. I'll be writing articles from San Diego on each game. It should be a blast, as I went to a game there three years ago and had a lot of fun.