When you hear that Dice-K walked 8 last night, you might assume that the Sox lost the game. And that the win might have gotten Detroit’s manager Jim Leyland to cut down on his daily smoking habit. Unfortunately for Leyland's lungs, the Sox beat the Tigers, 6-3, despite his juggled batting order and call to Triple A.

In addition to his 8 walks, Dice-K struck out 1 over 5 innings of work. Francona blamed Matsuzaka’s poor performance on the fact that he was suffering from cold-like symptoms. Bostonist would like to put the Red Sox in plastic bubbles since they obviously haven’t discovered the wonder that is Purell.

Mike Lowell, who has been having trouble since he got off the DL, got the offense going last night by hitting a 2 run home run off Jeremy Bonderman in the second. Youkilis followed that up in the 4th with a second homer off Bonderman, and Ortiz brought his batting average up to a whopping .225 after hitting a home run in the 9th.

Craig Hansen was recalled from Pawtucket, filling the roster spot left by the injured Brandon Moss, and gave up 2 runs over 1 2/3 innings. Former Red Sox Edgar Renteria went 0-4 and had 2 errors, just like the good old days.

Curt Schilling will be playing catch for the first time since he was shut down during Spring Training. Just don’t expect him starting anytime soon; right now the timetable for him to come back is in July around the time of the All Star game.

Tonight: KING JAMES IS HERE! The Cavs are in town for game one of the eastern conference semifinals against the Celtics and the Red Sox play the second game of their series against the Tigers.

Image from BigFlySports.com