Sports Redux: Jay-Whacking

The bad news is, the Red Sox still face Toronto eight more times this year. The good news is, it can't get much worse than it did yesterday, when the Blue Jays enthusiastically pounded Jon Lester and scraped the Sox off their cleats, 11-0.

Lester, who's been the island of competence in a Sox staff filled with injuries, control loss and a million question marks, didn't even make it three innings. Vernon Wells kicked off the party with a two-run homer in the first, and the rest of the Jays continued smacking him around, adding seven earned runs to Les' resume. Chris Smith came in and got two innings of ERA inflation as well, before the Jays got tired.

The Sox, for their part, put together four plucky hits against Jesse Litsch and a team of relievers. Alex Cora doubled and is closing in on .300, so at least there's something to build on.

Even with Dan Shaughnessy having vanished off the face of the earth (whoever used their birthday cake wish on this, thanks), the Globe is frantically stabbing the panic button. What, just because our starters are struggling, our bullpen porous, and Lowell and Drew are out, and Beckett's hurt, and Tampa Bay's a juggernaut, we're supposed to be concerned? ""We'll be fine, bro. We go through this [expletive] every year," reassures David Ortiz.

The Revolution were also in Toronto, and fared better, coming away with a 1-1 tie. Taylor Twellman scored his fourth goal in three starts. The Revs are next on their way to Trinidad and Tobago (well, which one?) to start the CONCACAF Champions tournament. They'll play Joe Public, whose name and uniforms make us hope that the Revs take them more seriously than we do.

The "Redeem Team" beat Spain and won the first US Olympic gold medal for men's basketball in way too long. ESPN is trying to get someone, anyone, to claim that this year's team can be compared to the '92 "Dream Team". Um, good luck with that. The women's team, which is so good they have nothing TO redeem, stomped Australia to pick up golds as well.