Red Sox Round-up

• The young and restless pitching staff from Lou Piniella's Tampa Bay Devil-Rays came out hurling at the Sox heavy hitters on Sunday and the Red Sox, being the World Champs and all, were taking that none too lightly. This resulted in two bench-clearing scuffles and six ejections on both sides of the diamond. Later on in the week the Sox would see three of its members, Francona, Trot Nixon, and Bronson Arroyo, get some manditory time off. Fantastic.

  In a game (yes, there was a game) with such wrought drama it was easy to overlook the drubbing the Sox put on in Tampa. For the record, let's take into consideration the fact that the other team has to live and play in a city like Tampa. If you've been there before you'd know what Bostonist is getting at. The physical nature of this was left in Tampa but the verbal jabs kept on coming throughout the week as Curt "Soft-spoken" Schilling called out "Sweet Lou" Piniella as being an idiot trying to turn his players into tough guys (.wma right-click and "save as" to download - Thanks WEEI!). Oh Curt. What's really on your mind?

• Remember last week when David Wells took to the mound in Baltimore and shut down the Orioles? Yeah, well, forget about that. It certainly wasn't the start of a trend. By the end of the game on Monday here in Boston, Boomer was being carted to Mass General Hospital after busting up his 42 year old ankle. Oy. Great news, 15-day disabled list. Fan-friggin'-tastic.
• The law of averages states that you just can't count on continually riding things out, hoping that maybe one trend will continue indefinitely — for example, the Sox pitching staff cooling the red-hot Orioles bats. Heh, not bloody likely. Keith Foulke's pitching is apparently on sabbatical on another world, sipping on margueritas, while he's grasping to find something to sit batters down with. In the meantime, he's stuck gazing out over the Green Monster as baseballs sail onto Lansdowne. The last time Bostonist saw a look like that it was on a dark road in the Berkshires right before Bambi's almost mom ended up on the grill of Bostonist's jeep.
• Wednesday morning - Curt Schilling's ankle is busted. Just end it. Now. Red Sox Nation's one life to live (okay okay - maybe Bostonist is reaching now), for this week, is apparently stuck somewhere between purgatory and the 6th level of hell. Next thing you know, the day off that Bostonist took off from work will be shot when the scheduled day game is called because of rain. Oh, wait, it was. At least his mouth is still working.
• And on Thursday, they rested. The Red Sox rested. Red Sox Nation did not. Phone lines were off the hook at all sports talk radio stations. Sox forums are chock-full of "nerds" wondering what the hell is going on. The abundance of drama and converging storylines are, hopefully, soon winding down. However, if Shonda Schilling turns into a demon, and Kevin Millar's drinking again, and Johnny Damon drives his Ferrari into the Peach Pit, at least we're prepared.

Remember when the "Big Story" in Spring Training was that there was no "Big Story"? Those were the days...

... of our Lives.