Sports Redux: Byrd on Birds Action

The pitchers wing of the geriatric baseball hospital must have been unusually ebullient when the Sox shut out the Blue Jays, 7-0, yesterday afternoon. Paul Byrd, Billy Wagner, and Takashi Saito, ages 38, 38, and 39, respectively, gave a new meaning to the phrase "old-timer's day," combining for 8 innings of scoreless ball. (Spring chicken Manny Delcarmen pitched the seventh innning.)

The Sox offense took the pressure off Byrd, who was starting his first Major League baseball game in 11 months, putting up a run during each of the first four innings against the Jays' struggling ace Roy Halladay (age 32) and dishing out three more in the seventh against scrub reliever Shawn Camp (33). Rocco Baldelli hit a solo home run—his second against Halladay—in the second inning, and Kevin Youkilis finished the game with three RBIs off of two hits. Alex Gonzalez, whose bat in the nine hole has remade the bottom of the Sox' order since his acquisition, also picked up an RBI. Halladay was the darling of the trade deadline, but, since staying put in Toronto, he has given up 23 earned runs over six starts, posting a record of 2-4.

But it was the Sox pitching that was the real star of the night. Paul Byrd made it through six innings unscathed, tossing his slow-motion fastball, a clever change-up, and a decent slider. He struck out one and scattered three hits, only getting into a jam in the fourth, when he walked the bases loaded. Byrd sat out the first half of the season so that he could spend time with his family, but now that he's signed with the Red Sox—the team he had last pitched for—he has his eye on one goal: getting the team the championship "Any way I can help this team get that, if they need me to clean toilets, I’ll go do that," he told the Globe. No word on the progress of his SEIU application.

Also stunning was Billy Wagner, the Sox's newest old pitcher. Before coming to Boston from the Mets, Country Time had pitched only two innings in 2009; he has been recovering from Tommy John surgery. Once here, he was afraid that he couldn't find his stuff. “The bullpens I threw prior were awful,’’ Wagner told the Globe, adding, with his usual country elegance, “When I say awful I mean terrible.’’ His outing on the mound was neither awful nor terrible; he struck out the side, allowing only a harmless double to Adam Lind.

Everything isn't rosey for the Sox pitching staff. Tim Wakefield will be getting a shot of cortisone in his back this week and will miss another start. Daisuke Matsuzaka has been getting shelled with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. The starters for the Friday and Saturday games at Chicago remain up in the air, but they will probably be Byrd and the wildly inconsistent Junichi Tazawa. We'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, both the Rays and Rangers lost yesterday, so the Sox have a 3 1/2 game lead in the AL Wild Card race.

In geriatric football news, Tedy Bruschi has retired, having played his entire career with the Patriots. Thanks for everything, Tedy—even for stepping down in a timely fashion.

Tom Brady's shoulder has everybody freaking out, but Brady wants everybody to chill because he plans to play the season opener. Brady quipped, "Any time a 350-pound man lands on you, most people would be a little sore—which I was." We're certain that this post will start getting traffic for the Google search "Tom Brady + 350-pound man" in about two hours.

Brady's erstwhile replacement Matt Cassel is having injury trouble of his own and might miss the next 2-4 weeks. Feel better, Matt!