Sports Redux: THESE Are the Royals We Expected

We're officially done agonizing over Monday's collapse and Tuesday's shutdown. The Sox handled the Royals exactly the way a playoff-bound squad should handle a team of no-hopers, riding the cold-weakened arm of Clay Buchholz and the efficient offense to a 10-3 series finale in K.C.

Buchholz was bleary, sneezy and grumpy. No matter. Six and two-thirds innings, five hits, eight strikeouts, no runs. Maybe he should cough on some of the other guys. Meanwhile, the Sox were pouding out 15 hits and capitalizing on five KC errors, and with Ortiz' 26th home run, they improved to 23-2 in games in which he goes deep. Also starring offensively were Jaboby Ellsbury (3-for-6), and Victor Martinez and Dustin Pedroia (23 and 16-game hitting streaks, respectively).

Now it's on to the Bronx, with the Sox three games away from clinching a playoff spot. They trail the Yankees by 5 1/2 for the East, so a sweep could make the last gasp of the regular season kind of interesting (the Sox host Toronto and Cleveland the last week, while the Yankees host KC and visit Tampa Bay). Jon Lester is slated to go against Joba Chamberlain tonight, which means Kevin Youkilis' head is probably going to get thrown at.

Patrice Bergeron's goal and Tim Thomas' save won the Bruins a shootout in Montreal to bump their preseason record to 4-1-1. Guillaume Lefebvre went at it with the Habs' Gregory Stewart in the first period, so it's good to see the teams haven't become friendly in the offseason.

Football news: the Patriots want to put pressure on Matt Ryan, which we'd certainly appreciate. And the Globe marks the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Holy Cross football season being stopped short by a hepatitis outbreak. Since the #1 team in the country is terrified of swine flu, the more things change...