Sports Redux: Birdshot

Dustin Pedroia. It's never gonna get old. Once again slipped into the cleanup spot due to Kevin Youkilis' absence, Dustin rose to the occasion again, homering and driving in five runs as the Red Sox torched Baltimore last night, 14-2.

This was a nice gift for Jon Lester, as the Sox posted four in the third and six in the fourth off of hapless O's starter Radhames Liz. David Ortiz got the party started with a 2-run double, then added the same again in the fourth, setting the stage for Pedroia's 16th home run of the season. 10-1 after 4, goodbye Liz, hello coasting to the win.

Terry Francona was able to get Lester out after five, and Delcarmen (yup), Smith, and Pauley nailed down the win. But Pedroia couldn't not hit even if he didn't want to, so he drive in another run, and is now up to .330 for the season. We may be days away from (assuming another lineup switch) somebody walking Dustin to get to Ortiz. Also congrats to Jonathan Van Every, who notched his first big league RBI, singling in Kevin Cash in the seventh. Daisuke gets the ball this afternoon in the series finale.

By no means are we ready to root for the Yankees as spoilers (we never will be fully ready), but they did give the Sox a little help, maybe, by beating Tampa Bay 7-2. So the Sox are within four of the Rays with six head-to-head games left. Seven back of the wild card, the Yanks are, in the words of the Post, "like a drunk looking to live...taking life one day at a time". OK then. The Twins and White Sox both lost, so they're still tied for first in the ALC and second in the Wild Card.

Bill Belichick is pumped for this weekend. "There are a number of things that we are still looking at and talking about. Whether some of those will actually happen or not, I am not sure," says the Coach, and we couldn't agree more. Everyone's optimistic that Tom Brady will play and be effective, but nobody's officially saying anything until Coach Bill releases the all-important injury report on Friday. We're betting $100 that Brady will be listed as "probable".