Sports Redux: The Trio for Tito

-- If ever there was a night the Red Sox would want to play Toronto, Tuesday was it. The Blue Jays, who have become an AL East Achilles Heel of sorts for the Sox, had lost six straight heading into the game at the Rodgers Center. Josh Beckett was set to go for his seventh win of the season. Manager Terry Francona was on the cusp of his 300th win leading Boston. Almost seemed too good to work out, right?

Not for a team that entered the game with a record of 20-10!

Tito got the trio: a sick showing by Beckett (seven innings, five hits, five strikeouts, one walk), homer-happy offense (four home runs, including a three-run shot by Dustin Pedroia!) and, most importantly, a 9-2 win. Francona is now a 300-game-winning Sox skipper and Beckett is the first in the majors to win seven games this season (and the sixth Sox arm to win his first seven straight).

It's easier to rock a start on the mound when there's offensive support - Pedroia and Mike Lowell hit three-run shots, Jason Varitek (4-for-4 on the night) and Kevin Youklis had solo shots for the team (13 hits overall) while slaughtering Blue Jays pitcher Victor Zambrano. Zambrano left after three innings and eight runs.

As for Beckett, he said post-game that he's keeping his focus on the job at hand. "They pay us a lot of money to win ballgames," he said matter-of-factly. Can't argue with that.

Youklis is listed as day-to-day after being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning. Lay off, pitchers! This guy's been beaned countless times this year.

Boston will try to keep with their winning ways tonight when Dice-K goes up against Tomo Ohka. We wonder how many times we'll hear "Dice-K has trouble when he's in the stretch" during the game - but we hope that Matsuzaka avoids that one tough inning he tends to have. Gametime: 7:07 p.m.

-- During the morning commute Tuesday, Curt Schilling let WEEI listeners know precisely what he thinks of the Barry Bonds situation, answering the affirmative when he was asked if folks should be holding their nose at Bonds' home run record ambitions. Among the excerpted quotes: "I mean, there’s no gray area. He admitted to cheating on his wife, cheating on his taxes, and cheating on the game, so I think the reaction around the league, the game, being what it is, in the case of what people think. Hank Aaron not being there. The commissioner [Bud Selig] trying to figure out where to be. It’s sad."

-- Roger Clemens began throwing off the mound in Kentucky on Tuesday. No baseball news of note from Kentucky on Tuesday. At all. Nope. Moving on...

-- The Patriots signed seven undrafted rookie free agents on Tuesday, including quarterback Matt Gutierrez. If Gutierrez's name rings a bell, it's probably because he was looking good at Michigan before he hurt his shoulder in 2004. The Michigan days were over, but the QB moved on to Idaho State, where his team ended last season 2-9. Other Pats signings: linebackers Kyle Bissinger (Alabama-Birmingham) and Justin Warren (Texas A&M), tight end Jake Nordin (Northern Illinois), running back Quinton Smith (Rice), defensive lineman Zach West (Texas-El Paso) and local boy Larry Anam, a defensive back from Boston College.

Images of Tito as we like him - sticking up for his team - from flickr user El Ramon.