Sports Redux: Welcome Back

It's been said that tonight is going to feature the loudest and longest round of applause to hit Fenway in all of 2007. We disagree - we think it will happen either this weekend or in September, when Joe Torre comes to get Roger Clemens in the fourth inning - but tonight's going to be special. Tonight, the Sox welcome back Trot Nixon, stalwart of the 2004 Championship team and one of the core members of the loveable Dirt Dogs.

We'll always remember Trot for two big hits: his home run off Clemens in the Pedro/Roger masterpiece of 2000 (seven years ago today), which provided all the scoring in the 2-0 win, and his double, which just missed being a grand slam, which gave the Sox the insurmountable lead in Game 4 of the World Series. We'll also remember that the Sox seemed every year to pre-gunk up his helmet and uniform with mud. And we'll admit to feeling more than a little sad and bewildered when the club didn't even make him a token offer last offseason.

But Trot will get his much-deserved serenade tonight, and then it's back to work, as he'll become The Enemy. The Red Sox have a division to run away with, and this week's series against the red-hot Central-leading Indians will be a good test. Tonight all may depend on whether Schilling finds his mojo again after a couple of shaky starts.

Yesterday was, aptly, a Dirt Dog kind of a win for the Sox. The Rangers were about to open up a big lead on a long shot by Sox-killer Frank Catalanotto, but Coco Crisp ran in from somewhere around Lufkin to haul it down with an amazing catch. End Ranger rally, begin Red Sox revival. J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell hit a pair of RBI singles to take the lead, then Dustin Pedroia homered for an insurance run (which they needed) as the Sox finished off the sweep.

The most curious moment of yesterday's game had to be the ground ball to the mound which Julian Tavarez picked up and rolled to first for the out. Was his arm a little sore? Is there an upcoming team bocce tournament that Julian's practicing for? Inquiring minds want to know. Jerry and Don sure got a kick out of it, at any rate.

Whenever the Cavaliers crack 80, they win. At least that's the lesson from last night's NBA Eastern Finals, when Cleveland climbed on the back of LeBron James (32 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists) to get back into the series. Tonight, Utah tries to keep the momentum going from their Game 3 rout to tie the Western Finals against the hated Spurs.

On Saturday night, the Revolution's unbeaten streak came to an end, as they were..well, beaten...by Kansas City 4-3. They also got good/bad news this week: Taylor Twellman, Michael Parkhurst and Steve Ralston all got selected for the US Gold Cup squad, which is a feather in their respective caps, but means the Revs will be missing some of their stars for a few weeks.