Dare we say things are starting to click at the right time? The Red Sox finished off Oakland with an 11-6 win. Now only a monumental collapse (look upward; no lightning) will keep the Red Sox from celebrating an AL East clinchin' party in the next day or two. The Sox smacked Oakland largely due to the bat of Mike Lowell, who collected five of his 116 RBIs (a Red Sox 3B record) on a......

Money and draft pick(s). That's what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is taking from Coach Bill and the Patriots as punishment for this week's video brouhaha. The team gets fined $250K and a draft pick or two, depending on how they finish this year. Bill gets whacked for half a million personally, which will eat heavily into his suit budget. Let's just all agree we probably got off very easy, and get ready for San Diego......

Your optimists can say that the Red Sox still have a decent lead in the AL East. That October is a foregone conclusion at Fenway. That Schilling is back and hitting his stride just at the right time. That's why optimists don't last long around here. Games like last night, when the Sox couldn't get ONE SINGLE measly solitary guy around to score against the Devil Rays, break their spirit. In the midst of first,......

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled fretting and Chicken Littling to announce that, despite being only -5 games back, the Red Sox intend to remain competitive in the AL East race. See, whatever the Yankees do, whether it's fishgutting the Devil Rays, overthrowing the Royals, or....beating the Indians (there's no metaphor we can use there that doesn't make us feel so very wrong), they can't catch the Sox if the Sox keep winning. It's just that simple.......

Fear of the number 13. As in, 13 innings. As in, losing in the 13th inning on an Ivan Rodriguez single off of Jonathan Papelbon. But don't blame Papelbon, on a night when the Red Sox had two runs after three batters, then took the rest of the night off. A night when the team left a platoon on base. A night when - well, it just wasn't our night. It started off well enough;......

Were we really worried last season that Josh Beckett wouldn't be able to cut it as a member of the Red Sox rotation? Were we really concerned about his history of injuries, his adjusting to the American League, his anything? Well, we're not worried now, brother. Beckett's 11-1, sailing along, and making the Padres (admittedly not an AL lineup, but still an NL power) look as docile as the critter pictured here. With all of......

You can't help but kind of miss Lenny DiNardo. The guy, for all accounts, is a pretty young, affable, decent enough guy with an arm that wasn't Beckett standout, but still something to look out for. When the Red Sox let him go to clear room on the roster for J.D. Drew, we weren't heartbroken, but there was a moment of disappointment, too. Of course, DiNardo looks even better when he's pitching scoreless ball -......

Bostonist was walking past the hustle and bustle of Fenway Park on Friday afternoon when we finally identified that nagging feeling that had been with us ever since the Park Street station. We had seen more Baltimore Orioles jerseys, hats and T-shirts in an hour than we saw all day when we traveled to Camden Yards last season! What was going on? Everyone knows that the orange-accented Baltimore ballpark is known fondly in Red Sox......

-- If ever there was a night the Red Sox would want to play Toronto, Tuesday was it. The Blue Jays, who have become an AL East Achilles Heel of sorts for the Sox, had lost six straight heading into the game at the Rodgers Center. Josh Beckett was set to go for his seventh win of the season. Manager Terry Francona was on the cusp of his 300th win leading Boston. Almost seemed too......

-- The discussion was running rampant on the WRKO Sox broadcast late Friday night: is Mariano Rivera hurt? Was he simply embarrassed by the performance he gave while the Red Sox trounced his team en route to an 11-4 win? Is there something more? While the on-air talent was busy ruminating, another question entirely was running through Bostonist's mind: after finally coming up for air after this week's Sockgate, isn't it refreshing to have all......

-- Who would have thought the Red Sox would be happy to leave Fenway? And after a series with Toronto, no less? The orange of Camden Yards will seem heavenly after a groaner of a loss at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. The Jays knocked around the Sox, 10-3, in front of the largest crowd at Fenway since World War II. Ouch. As the Globe's Nick Cardafo summed up post-game, it was awful. True, the......

Hazel Mae might have some competition this season. Foxxy Sports uses playmates to broadcast their "fair, balanced,… and hot" sports news. Stacy Fuson (link, nsfw) is taking on the baseball beat. To add to her sex appeal: she hates the Yankees. If that's not a good enough reason to like her, Fuson picks the Sox and the Blue Jays to dominate the AL East this year – and if the Sox can find a closer......

OK, OK, Bostonist feels a lot better about the Old Towne team, and not just because of a man whom will be known in these parts for a time to come (and maybe longer?), as Dise-K. (And please, don’t' go with D-Mat. Sounds like doormat, and who wants to be named after something that one would use to wipe off their dirty shoes. Wouldn't you want to be named after a nasty, distasteful, comic that......

We here at Bostonist have chosen not to do a play-by-play of this past weekend’s Sox series against the Yankees. We’ve decided to take the high road and analyze who the hell we can blame for the awfulness that ensued against New York. While some look to Varitek’s absence as a major reason for losing, we’ve heard others point fingers at a slew of people. Could it be the grounds crew and their lack of......

On the eve of Rivalry Weekend, a Bostonist favorite, the tilt and the rest of college football, the Sox have announced some RIVETING news to their legions of fandom. Al Nipper, old Sox pitcher known best for his headbutt he gave Roger Clemens a couple hours after the Olde Towne Team clinched the AL East in '86, will serve as bullpen coach to the Sox in the 2006 season. Al Nipper is "...very excited,......

The logical part of Bostonist's brain understands why it is OK not to have a one-game playoff with the Yankees to determine who is the champion of the AL East: No matter who wins, both teams will be in the playoffs, and fighting over who gets to play Anaheim and who gets to play the White Sox is like, um . . . metaphors fail us; it's obviously dumb. But baseball is not logical -......

While Bostonist sits and takes in the Sox taking a beating from the Blue Jays, the entertaining website, SmokingGun.com, has brought up an interesting little glich in the MLB online store. It seems that the MLB believes that the Yankees will be taking the AL East title this season, despite the fact that the tight pennant race doesn't conclude until Sunday afternoon. T-shirts proclaiming their eighth straight division win were available for $19.95 as of......

With the Red Sox leading the AL East and no big news stories about the ailing MBTA this week, Bostonist went out looking for some news that gets overlooked. Sure, everyone knows that auto insurance is decreasing this year for Mass drivers and that the Patriots face off against the Bengals this Friday, but there are some hidden jewels (pun intended) out there. The Herald pointed out this telling tale of a drunken New Hampshire......

Yes, Bostonist knows its only April and we've got a long way to go this baseball season, but things are looking good for the boys so far. With the last two nights bringing victory to the Sox over the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox are currently in first place in the AL East. Sure, Baltimore is only one game behind, but the pinstriped boys from the Bronx are three games back and are feeling the......