Sports Redux: Everything's Comin' Up Red Sox

Two weeks ago, if you had told us that two weeks from now(then), the Sox would be closer to catching the Yankees than they were to falling behind Texas, we'd have put you on the disabled list with flu-like symptoms. Not that we (seriously) think they're going to catch the Yankees, but it can't be denied that the Sox have been playing their best ball of the season lately, and the roll continued with an 11-5 throttling of the O's last night in Baltimore.

Jon Lester and the boys are so accustomed to pounding the Birds, in fact, that the postgame discussion centered mostly on style points. "It was the 10 hits. And I was behind quite a bit. You can't do that," bemoaned Les, who allowed those ten unforgivable hits and three runs over six innings. "I didn't think he had his best stuff," allowed Terry Francona, with the unspoken thought hanging in the air that a determined Little League team could probably take three of four from Baltimore these days.

The Sox offense was paced by three home runs; Josh Reddick started the scoring with a two-run shot in the second, and J.D. Drew hit a 3-run shot and Brian Anderson a solo in a five-run eighth that blew the game open. All good things must come to an end, however, and today marks the last chance the Sox get to whale on the O's. Daisuke Matsuzaka gets the ball and a chance to prove he can do what he did last week on less than two months' rest.

It was a miserable day for BC, who had to sit through two lightning delays, which were probably a lot more pleasant than the time spent on the field. The offense might have preferred being hit by lightning to trying to stop Clemson's devastating defense, which scratched out just 54 yards in a 25-7 loss. If you like upsets in college football, and who doesn't, you had to be happy with Washington's win over Southern Cal, Florida State's win over BYU, and Tennessee managing to stay on the field with Florida even after Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin spent the summer ticking off the Gators with some ill-advised comments. Only losing 23-13, when Gator Nation was daydreaming of triple digits, might earn Kiffin some Coach of the Year honors.

In case you're still unclear why the Bruins had no regrets about sending Phil Kessel to Toronto, the Globe digs up all the dirt it can to remind you of the mess he left when he went away. "He can skate. He can shoot the puck. But we want players that want to be here," says GM Peter Chirarelli, who clearly didn't want anyone coming away from this article thinking that Kessel liked being here at all.