Sports Redux: Sox Go For A Walk

Remember May? When this kind of thing happened all the time? The Red Sox and White Sox played a close, competitive game for six innings. Then the Chicago bullpen melted down in a big way, and the good Sox found themselves on the right end of a 11-2 win.

The Red Sox had a 2-1 lead going into the sixth, when a J.D. Drew RBI double and a Coco Crisp RBI single gave Kason Gabbard a more comfortable lead. In the seventh, though, the Chicago relievers started giving out more free rides than the old days of the outbound Green Line. Ehren Wassermann intentionally walked Manny Ramirez, then he and his bullpen cohorts unintentionally walked four more guys in a row. That's a feat. Then Coco Crisp got another RBI single , and Eric Hinske (making his second at-bat in the inning as a pinch-hitter) tripled. And that was that.

The offensive outpouring and walk-happy White Sox almost overshadowed the fact that Kason Gabbard pitched another beautiful game, pitching seven innings of 3-hit, 1-walk joy to the Fenway crowd. When Curt Schilling comes back (and he pitched a solid couple of innings at Pawtucket), Kason's job had better be safe.

Tim Wakefield goes against Jon Garland today in the series finale, before the Sox head out on the old Cleveland/Tampa Bay road trip. The Sox lost half a game in the standings, as the Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Devil Rays. But a win is a win is a win, as Gertrude Stein would say.

The moment all of sports (at least according to ESPN) was waiting for happened last night, as David Beckham and his injured ankle came in for a while at the end of the LA Galaxy/Chelsea match. Bostonist doesn't usually watch a lot of soccer (you may have noticed), but we couldn't tear ourselves away from seeing whether Beckham could singlehandedly ignite our passion in the world's most popular sports. He ran around a lot, kicked the ball a few times, and didn't get hurt. With all due respect, we don't see what all the fuss is about. But we were kind of intrigued despite ourselves, and that's probably exactly the buzz MLS and ESPN are hoping for. The Revolution play Houston today, if you're looking for more action.

Sunday column roundup: Having an NBA referee in a gambling scandal is very bad news. The major leagues' trade deadline draws near. The Red Sox have a cushy schedule for a while once they leave Cleveland. Eric Hinske is going to be a dad soon. And Phil Mushnick hates everything.