If watching the Tampa Bay Rays score 29 runs to the Red Sox' 5 over the course of two games and six and half innings weren't discouraging enough to watch on television this postseason, imagine the fans at Fenway Park. By the seventh inning of last night's ballgame, the Sox, who hadn't had a lead since ALCS Game 2 in St. Petersburg, looked like a bunch of scrubs. They had yet to get a man......

In Bill Simmons' epic mailbag today, he dreams of a Manny/Sox World Series, which is great stuff, but there's this tidbit which we're hoping to help spread far and wide: Nearly every time Big Papi steps out of the batter's box, he spits into his hands and claps twice. Well, why wouldn't the Fenway fans clap twice at the same time? Maybe the double clap could turn his playoffs around. If Big Papi isn't hitting,......

k a t m captured the hotness Flemmi says Connolly did it. Tipped him off, that is, not killed anybody. [Globe] The Google Phone has flaws? Say it ain't so. [Gizmodo] South Boston home, resembling many an undergraduate residence, is declared "uninhabitable." Uninhabitable by people with standards, maybe! The sad part is these standards-less people had a 5-year-old living with them. The child is now in protective custody. [Herald] Much like that home is......

Now that the Red Sox have won the World Series, how are they doing with the publicity grind? We'll evaluate each one's turn on late-nite television: Manny Ramirez on Leno: Two versions of Manny Ramirez exist--the sulky one and the gleeful one who invites everyone over to his house for drinks. Gleeful Manny showed up on Leno. He chatted with Leno about cars and awkwardly hit fists with Steve Carrell. At first, it seemed like......

First base. Second base. Third base. HOME RUN! We're not talking baseball--we're talking sex. Laurel Sweet at the Herald has a lot of fun with her lede about Sox fans who are hoping to find some action during the World Series: Sure the Red Sox [team stats]’ bats are hot, but the boys are also a potent aphrodisiac for swinger fans itching to have sex while in the throes of watching the World Series. Bostonist......

Yeah, baby! We all know that the Red Sox should be thumping the Devil Rays, but it's hard to argue with two consecutive hard-fought, come-from-behind wins from a lineup that's been painful to watch for stretches this season. Last night, the Sox surrendered four early runs to Tampa Bay, with starter Jon Lester throwing 65,431 pitches and only making into the fourth inning. Rays starter Edwin Jackson, looking like a Cy Young candidate (the Sox......

Sure, he's not in the starting rotation any more - how do you follow up a no-hitter? But the Sox learned last night that they can lean on Clay Buchholz when they're not strong, putting him out for three solid relief innings that kept Baltimore scoreless and allowed Jason Varitek to drive in the winning run of a tense ballgame. The Sox had given Tim Wakefield a 5-4 lead, mostly on the 3-run homer by......

--While this isn't crime, per se, the next story definitely has something to do with the law. Red Sox slugger David Ortiz has more to worry about beyond his friend impersonating other people. A company is suing Ortiz for $1 million because he hasn't held up his end of a contract. WCVB says that Ortiz was supposed to autograph 13,000 items and make public appearances on behalf of Steiner Sports Marketing, Inc. But the company......

It was a scenario we've experienced so many times before that Sox fans couldn't help but smile in anticipation. Bottom of the ninth at Fenway Park. The tying and go-ahead run already on base. One out. David Ortiz striding to the plate to tip the balance on a 6-5 deficit. We're supposed to win those games, right? Despite the fact that the Red Sox had given up its lead to the Toronto Blue Jays, even......

Ball, Called Strike, Swinging Strike, Ball, Ball. Full Count to Ortiz at his first at bat in the MLB All-Star Game. Crappy little fizzle out to short right field just behind the dirt gives us this result on the Gameday tracker: "David Ortiz reaches on missed catch error by first baseman Prince Fielder, assist to second baseman Chase Utley." We've never fancied Papi a big runner, a big hitter for sure, but he's not likely......

Any time you can sweep a doubleheader against the defending AL Champs and the second-best team in the league, you have to view that as a pretty good sign. So plenty of smiles all around at Fenway yesterday. The first game was all about the pitching; Julian Tavarez went seven innings, giving up one run on four hits, and then Okajima and Papelbon sealed the deal, vaporizing the Tigers for an inning apiece as the......

Surely he knew it would come to this. Surely Tom Brady knew when he donned the cap of the enemy that the Track Girls would crawl all over him, and the Herald would make him front-page news. Wearing that hat is the equivalent of taking a big dump in front of the State House. And he had to know it. Of course, he has taken a lot of hits on the gridiron and might not......

--Today is the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Coco Crisp was scheduled to honor Robinson by wearing the number 42. Big Papi and third-base coach DeMarlo Hale were also planning to wear Robinson's number. The game has been postponed, so we imagine that they'll make up the tribute soon. --The Red Sox took down the Orange County Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim yesterday 8 to 0. Yes, we know their......

A lot was at stake last night for the Red Sox. They had to avoid a sweep from the Texas Rangers, and Curt Schilling needed to prove himself after his unfortunate first outing against the Kansas City Royals. Prove himself he did. Despite some shaky moments from reliever Javier Lopez, Jonathan Papelbon came out and got the job done, helping the Red Sox defeat the Rangers 3 to 2. Even better, Big Papi hit two......

It's getting exciting down in Florida. Dice-K seems to be living up to the hype, and David Ortiz has returned in top form. In fact, the two almost collided the other day, enabling the AP to suggest a potential "confrontation" between the two if Dice-K pitches to Big Papi. We can't wait. Speaking of physical fallouts, something's going around Fort Meyers. Terry Francona has the flu, and Mike Timlin hurt his back while pitching. But......

… why not Boston? The NYC design is based on their subway system. The T logo would lend itself well to a condom wrapper. It's circular with a target T in the center, which just screams, "Hey, buddy! Put it in here!" Plus, it would give a whole new meaning to the Wonderland T stop, wouldn't it? Then again, the thought of T employees enthusiastically endorsing sex might repel you. So we have another option.......

Yesterday the Red Sox and Wise Foods announced a new partnership. The agreement names Wise the official Potato Chip and Cheez Doodle sponsor of the Boston Red Sox. Guess all those unofficial chip and doodle sponsors are sore out of luck. It's not just a deal with the front office – Big Papi is moving out from just hawking his mango salsa and will now Big Papi will hereby be known as the Wise Player......

Deirdre Dagata is no longer the voice of mid-day pop radio in Boston. Clear Channel, the owner of Jam'n and Kiss, made the decision this month to consolidate their DJ staff. The move sounds like smart business practices; they're planning to sink the savings into internet and sales operations. Instead of giving the Boston market a more profitable local station it effectively strips the mid-day of a local personality. Replacing Deirdre is Shelley Wade whose......

Much to the dismay of those hoping to keep up with non-fatal shootings, non-fatal stabbings, and bachelorette parties "gone wrong," BPD News, the Boston police department's online blotter, has fallen prey to individuals who claim to be Turkish hackers. "hacked by metlak / Ownz here / F*&k papa." originally replaced the site's content. Metlak, is that meant to be an insult of Big Papi? Metlak and company have left their fingerprints on Massachusetts news websites......

Bostonist was sitting in the stands for last night's game, as you may have read. We realize that some of you probably weren’t following all of the lead-up in the press, but this game was kind of a big deal. It marked the return of Johnny Damon to Fenway for the first time since he went to the Yankees, an act seen by some as selling your soul to the devil. It marked the return......

During the off-season, Fenway Park underwent some drastic changes, including the removal of the glass from the .406 Club and the creation of the EMC Club, as well as the Home Plate Pavilion just above it. Last night, Bostonist had the good fortune to sit in the new EMC Club, for the first home game against the Yankees, no less, and we thought we'd gloat share. We arrived early enough to take in what might......

The Red Sox are making their way through a series with Tampa Bay before they come back home to take on the Yanks. It is still a long haul until we start getting nervous about every time they lose a game (which they’ve been doing a lot of lately). There have been a few items of Red Sox news this past week that don’t actually relate to baseball: Big Papi was apparently profiting. He spent......

Manny Being…Just Wishy-Washy: Manny Ramirez tops the news this morning as he claims that he’s going to continue playing with the Sox. “I’m staying in Boston, where I’m familiar with the system and where I have a lot of friends, especially David Ortiz.” In other Sox Nation news, Manny’s B.F.F., Big Papi, is expected to also stay with the team. State Dems Playing Hard Ball: Senator John Kerry is talking a tough game this morning......

Well, the votes have been tallied and unfortunately it seems that our beloved David Ortiz did not take the American League's Most Valuable Player Award for 2005. Announced this afternoon, the award went to Alex Rodriguez of those damn Yankees; A-Rod received 16 first place votes, with a total of 331 points, while Big Papi got 11 first place votes and 307 total points. The Baseball Writers' Association of America has two writers from each......

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......

The All-Star festivities began in earnest tonight as Phillies right fielder Bobby Abreu demolished the competition with 41 home runs, in total, to win the Home Run Derby. Not only did Bobby tear the covering off the baseball most often, he is the owner of this year's farthest traveled ball as well - a mammoth 517 feet. Chicks, indeed, do love the long ball, Bobby. Our own Big Papi, David Ortiz, showed up to mash......

Back in April Bostonist went down to Fenway for the first day-game experience of the season, hoping that maybe even with a torrential and biting cold downpour the Red Sox would hold out for clear(er) skies and get the game in. After all, Bostonist didn't wake up early to work from home for nothing. It was only a little rain, right? Wrong. It was a LOT of rain. The game was rained out and postponed......

Well, it's official. "Boston Rob," as CBS execs like to call him, got hitched to fellow Survivor castaway, Amber, in a two-hour mind-numbing adventure cleverly titled, "Rob and Amber Get Married." Bostonist was not planning its night to include this wedding show fiasco, but perhaps it was the Nor'easter or the high one gets off watching American Idol (with only two contestants left! Can you stand it?!), which caused a temporary lapse in judgement. Not......