Sports Redux: Another Long Night In Philly

Hopefully, the Red Sox weren't planning on going out dancing after their first two games in Philadelphia. Extra innings on Friday, and an hour-and-a-half rain delay Saturday. At least Pat's is open 24/7 for a late night cheesesteak.

The Sox went into the rain delay with a 5-0 lead, largely on the strength of a 2-run shot by Jason Bay. It rained and rained, Daisuke Matsuzaka ran around, played catch and rode a stationary bike to keep loose, then went out and almost blew the entire lead. Terry Francona tried in vain to make Red Sox fans worry less about Dice's latest bad start: "It's a horrible night to get a read...a tough night to pitch." Nevertheless, if Daisuke is auditioning to be the odd man out when Smoltz joins the team, he's doing a hell of a job.

But if you're going to sit around in Philadelphia doing nothing, you might as well make sure you win the game. So the Sox teed off for three more on the fifth. An RBI double for Varitek and an RBI for Lugo - Lugo was 4-for-5, and are those horsemen coming this way? - made it 8-4. A few more runs were traded, including an Ellsbury home run, and finally it ended 11-6.

John Smoltz is scheduled to make his next start this week. Maybe in Pawtucket, maybe at Fenway (hey, maybe against Atlanta; wouldn't that be fun?) It could very well be here, since Daisuke alluded to some mysterious issue in his postgame press conference. "The pitches they hit were definitely mistakes, but I don't think that was the entire problem," he said through an interpreter, but wouldn't go any further. We kind of wish the Globe had some money to hire a Japanese-speaking reporter, who could hear what Dice said sans interpretetation.

The Revolution's modest winning streak is over; they lost 3-1, on an ejection and an own goal. The less said about that, the better. And with the Lakers poised to win the NBA Championship as early as tonight, and with Phil Jackson poised to become the Finals-winningest coach of all-time, the Globe talks to the Auerbach family, who still believe as we do that their patriarch is still the best coach of all time. To Phil's credit, he does admit that Red would have won a couple more if he hadn't turned over the coaching job to Bill Russell. That makes the inevitable Laker win about 0.00003% easier to swallow.