Sports Redux: All Hell Breaks Loose

So much for 8-0. So much for John Smoltz going to the mound with any shred of confidence. So much for sweeping their way back into first place. This morning, frankly, the Red Sox are lucky to be alive.

The team's already being compared to the Edmund Fitzgerald. Dan Shaughnessy's poking the dying man with a stick. UnPinkHats did a liveblog that kind of reads like a diary of a sinking ship. Dan Shaughnessy's poking the dying man with a stick. Dustin Pedroia summed up the state of the club: "We’re playing like [expletive] right now, that’s obvious."

The 8-0 edge the Sox had against the Yankees disappeared in the Bronx last night in a hail of home runs. John Smoltz gave up two; Billy Traber, just up from Pawtucket on a 48-hour eat-up-innings pass, gave up two more. Meanwhile, the Sox squandered seven walks and left 165 men on base in failing to chase Joba Chamberlain from the game. But back to Smoltz. In eight starts, he's 2-5, with an ERA over 8, giving up almost 1 1/3 hits per inning. "Time may not be on my side if this continues," he admitted, which is one "may not" more than most fans are ready to grant at this point.

Naturally, David Ortiz got a lot of crap from Yankee fans, who rediscovered their passion for clean living and fair play when someone not on their team was implicated in the steroid scandal. For what it's worth, Papi plans to address the nation on Saturday, saying what he did, or what he was told he did, when he did it, if he did it, and whatever he did, and what he'll do now, assuming he did anything, whatever that is. That's pretty much the transcript of the press conference right there.

So, let's face it. Tonight is big-game Josh Beckett against A.J. Burnett. If they don't win tonight, there's going to be a three-hour wait on the Tobin Bridge tomorrow. It's crazy to talk about must-win games with two months to go, but here we are.

In happier (read: non-Red Sox) news, some of which we've already discussed, the Patriots made a huge deal for their defense, trading for Oakland DE Derrick Burgess. He led the NFL in sacks a few years ago, and gamely plugged along for a lost Raiders franchise until the despair became too much for him and he sat out this season's training camp. Luckily, the Pats have some experience turning depressed ex-Raiders into functioning members of society.

With nobody seeming that interested in him, Glen Davis is back to talking to the Celtics about a possible 2 or 3 year contract. The C's also announced their preseason schedule, which begins 10/7 against the Rockets in Hidalgo, Texas. We're geography buffs and even we had to look that up; it's in the Rio Grande Valley at the southern tip of Texas.

Photo by Kathy Williens/Associated Press.