Sports Redux: The Father Flanagan of Foxborough

First, the Patriots draft troubled but talented safety Brandon Meriweather. Now, they trade for talented but troubled wide receiver Randy Moss, for a fourth-round pick and a round of KFC Famous Bowls. Is Bill Belichick trying to start a gang? Or is he convinced that he can take these miscreants and ne'er-do-wells and mold them into a Super Bowl team? Our money is on the latter. "There's no such thing as a bad boy," said Father Flanagan, founder of Boys Town. It seems Bill would agree.

The Red Sox bounced back after Saturday's snoozer, roughing up Chien-Ming Wang and the Yankees 7-4. Julian Tavarez went five for the win. The bullpen, with the troubling exception of Mike Timlin, was lights-out, and the offensive pop came from Manny and Papi (as you'd expect) and Alex Cora. Bostonist is ready to upgrade Alex Cora (2-for-4, with a HR and a triple) from Serviceable Infielder to Full-Fledged Hittin' Machine.

This leaves New York deeper in the hole, a full game behind the Devil Rays. Alex Rodriguez had his torrid start, but turned back into a pumpkin on Sunday, when he murdered a possible 8th-inning rally with a double play. In New York, they're pounding the panic button. Joe Torre is now getting a nightly phone call from the Dread Pirate Roberts: "Good night, sleep tight, most likely I'll fire you in the morning." If the Yankees find a manager that can keep key guys from getting hurt and can hypnotize the starters into going 7 innings, we might yet have a pennant race.

Of course, floundering in the standings pales into comparison with real tragedy, which the St. Louis Cardinals suffered when reliever Josh Hancock (originally drafted by the Red Sox) was killed in a car accident Saturday night. Age 28. The Cardinals, of course, suffered the double-barreled loss of beloved broadcaster Jack Buck and ace Darryl Kile just a few years ago. So it's OK to be happy that they won it all last year, since manager Tony LaRussa has had to do as much grief counseling as double-switching of late.

The Red Sox are off today before hosting two against Oakland. Curt Schilling and Joe Blanton will face off tomorrow night.