Sports Redux: Sox Win One For Yaz

While Carl Yastrzemski was "resting comfortably" at MGH after his triple bypass surgery, the current Red Sox were 400 miles south, honoring Yaz with some clutch hitting and some fire as they beat Baltimore again, 7-2.

The hitting came from Jason Varitek (2 HR in 2 nights?!?) and Kevin Youkilis (3-for-5 with a homer), among others. The fire came from Dustin Pedroia, who launched a few indiscretions at umpires, and Coco Crisp, who became the target of a Baltimoron in the front row, leading to an inning-long contretemps. Cursed to First provides a blow-by-blow account of the proceedings. There are some bad words, so kids, check with Mom and Dad before you click there.

Daisuke Matsuzaka picked up his 15th win, and we're just going to accept the fact that he's going to give up a lot of walks on his way to each of these wins. Five walks in five innings before Tito had seen enough and turned it over to the bullpen, who proved adequate if not spectacular. Because we need to fret, though, we can focus on Josh Beckett, whose hand is sore and numb (which explains his stinkeroo against Toronto) and will have his next start pushed back while they figure things out.

The Rays won - AGAIN - beating the Angels in what everyone outside of Boston hopes is an ALCS preview. The Yankees lost - AGAIN - and if you still loathe the Yankees and Johnny Damon, you owe it to yourself to watch the ESPN clip and see how the winning run scored.

Ray Allen seems to be getting used to the idea of collecting rings. The Celtic and World Champion [insert victory lap] got married to longtime special ladyfriend Shannon Walker Williams on Martha's Vineyard. He's come a long way since that sex-drenched college recruiting trip to Tech U.