Sports Redux: Boston Bullpen Blinks, Blows Ballgame. Bummer.

The Red Sox have been living large off of the Foes' inferior bullpens all season. Sadly, what goes around came around last night. The unstoppable Okajima and unbeatable Papelbon were respectively stopped and beaten by the Yankees, who took 2 out of 3 from the Sox for the second straight series.

This one was a typical Sox-Yankees seesaw affair. Josh Beckett pitched well, but spotted the Yanks a 4-0 lead. But the Sox got it back in the blink of an eye in the fifth, on a bases-loaded double by Dustin Pedroia and a single by Ortiz. Then took the lead on a Youkilis sacrifice to center. 5-4, and Beckett was in position to pick up his ninth straight win.

But then the bullpen aces faltered. Okajima gave up a hit to countryman and former Tokyo Giant teammate Hideku Matsui, then a ringing triple to Robinson Cano to blow the lead and Beckett's W. Then Papelbon surrendered a home run to Alex Rodriguez, finally making headlines for something good.

The Yankees located Mariano Rivera, dusted him off, and sent him out for only his seventh save opportunity of the season. Ortiz hit one deep, but not deep enough. Manny whiffed. Youkilis got drilled in the arm, making him the early candidate to be this year's Don Baylor-eqsue human dartboard. Then Mo got Lowell to strike out, and that was the ballgame.

The unheralded play of the game may have been on a Pedroia double in the sixth. Lugo came around at full speed to score, but Jorge Posada put his foot in exactly the right place to keep Lugo from touching the plate, denying the insurance run that might have changed everything. Rats.

Now the Red Sox get to take an overnight cross-country flight to Oakland, where Julian Tavarez (we hope they put him on an earlier flight) will go against the A's' Danny Haren. It's the last non-Interleague series for a while, so start brushing up on your unfamiliar NL rosters. Free advice: Jose Valverde and Matt Holliday are two names you ought to learn over the next couple of weeks.

Old Sox nemesis Lou Piniella was in the news this weekend. The peppery Cubs manager had one of his trademark freakouts over the weekend, kicking dirt, throwing equipment and (according to the league) bumping an umpire. So Sweet Lou is facing an undetermined suspension and hefty fine. Considering the Cubs are 1-0 under interim manager Alan Trammell, Lou might not want to rush back.

All signs are pointing toward Kobe Bryant someday playing for Billy Donovan. Kobe, of course, spent last week telling everyone that he was either a Laker for life or needed to be traded instantly, depending on the hour of the day. Now Donovan, who was head coach at the University of Florida until the other day, is thinking that the contract he signed with the Orlando Magic isn't so great after all. He wants to go back to school. We wonder what he saw in Orlando that changed his mind.

Game Four of the Stanley Cup Finals is tonight in Ottawa, where the visiting Ducks will be without Chris Pronger. Pronger picked up his second suspension of the playoffs for clobbering the Senators' Dean McAmmond. We hope the lords of hockey are brought in to oversee the NBA Finals; the Spurs may have to play 3-on-5 by the end of the series.

Beckett image from Bostonist's Jon Petitt.