We know that Randy Johnson is a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer. We understand, with our heads if not our hearts, that the only way Tim Wakefield gets to Cooperstown is down Route 80. But last night, they matched up for the 1,334th time in their storied careers, and Wake got the better of the Unit, twirling seven marvelous innings en route to a 5-0 shutout and a 2-1 series win over the Diamondbacks. Wake......

At the start of yesterday's game, Diamondbacks pitcher Dan Haren had an 0-3 record in Fenway Park. But you didn’t think the Sox would walk off the field last night with a win, did you? After a rain delay and another showing of ‘Blame It On The Rain’, the Sox lost 2-1. Josh Beckett gave a business-as-usual performance, and, if it weren’t for the poor performances by the Sox' bats, he might have won this......

OK...did everyone take a deep breath last night? The parade is over, there were no vital basketball events to watch last night, and we just have to bide our time until Opening Day when they raise the banner. Opening Day, by the way, might be the first time Kevin Garnett puts down the trophy. So let's check in on the Red Sox; you remember them. Of course, the Globe, which has an ownership stake in......

Bullpen troubles? Late inning collapses? The Sox have been dealing with these issues lately, so the offense did the helpful thing and staked starter Bartolo Colon to a 5-run first-inning lead last night at Fenway. Jason Varitek, woozy and eventually replaced, capped the first off with a 3-run homer (his seventh) and JD Drew (now hitting 1.043 in June) doubled in a run as well. That gave Colon all he needed, as he cruised through......

When you hear that Dice-K walked 8 last night, you might assume that the Sox lost the game. And that the win might have gotten Detroit’s manager Jim Leyland to cut down on his daily smoking habit. Unfortunately for Leyland's lungs, the Sox beat the Tigers, 6-3, despite his juggled batting order and call to Triple A. In addition to his 8 walks, Dice-K struck out 1 over 5 innings of work. Francona blamed......

Time to bring in the big guns. We need what's left of the 2004 Red Sox to make a conference call from the Bronx. We need Terry Francona talking to Claude Julien, David Ortiz talking to Zdeno Chara, Curt Schilling talking to Tim Thomas. Call Dave Roberts and Kevin Millar and get them involved, too. Maybe even Curtis Leskanic is available. Because the '04 Sox are about the only team who knows what the Bruins......

Boston's favorite dancing fool has proven that the squeaky wheel really does in fact get the grease. Closer Jonathan Papelbon must have attended the Curt Schilling “How to Use the Media to Your Advantage School." After a week of complaining that he wasn’t being taking care of and how he should get the money he deserved all in the name of baseball, Papelbon got the money he wanted on Thursday afternoon. According to Amalie......

It seems that the Bruins' approach to the NHL trade deadline - to hold steady and remain as is - might just pay off. On Tuesday night, against an Ottawa Senators team that the Globe kindly referred to as "thoroughly disinterested" (read: someone's will to play didn't arrive at the TDBN Garden with the rest of the Senators' gear), the Bruins cruised along to a 4-0 win, extending the winning ways that began out on......

Maybe it was being in L.A. one night after the Oscars, so the magic of the stars could rub off on them (because when you think "glamour", you think Coen Brothers). Maybe it wasn't. Probably it had a lot to do with the injury-riddled, overmatched Clippers. But whatever the reason, the results speak for themselves: the C's blasted LA last night, and come home with a 2-game winning streak. The Clippers only broke 20 points......

We don't like to think back to the final moments of Super Bowl XLII. If we could, we'd erase the name Plaxico Burress from our memory, and we'd focus on the good times we've had with Ellis Hobbs. But on Tuesday, Boston was asked to go back to the Super Bowl and that second, 35 from the end of the game and a perfect season, when Burress beat Hobbs and scored the touchdown that set......

You've got to be kidding us. We can't get anywhere near the rest of the media during Red Sox spring training (MLB doesn't believe in the journalistic credibility of blogs, can you believe it?), and the big press conference of the pre-season takes place in the Red Sox spring training complex PARKING LOT? We totally should have gone to Florida to try to jump in on the conversation that took place on Monday between Curt......

He was the last man added to the Eastern All-Star team. When KG scratched, he waited for the call, only to find it went to Rasheed Wallace. When Washington's Caron Butler went down, the call finally came. He had to cancel the fishing trip and make plans to go to New Orleans. And when he got there, Ray Allen was awesome. He scored 28 points in 19 minutes, mostly in the fourth quarter, to lead......

Is it just us, or does it seem like whenever the Bruins have the spotlight to themselves, they lose? When they play the same night as the Celtics, or Patriots, they're fine, but give everyone else the night off, and it feels like we always have to lead with a Bruins loss. Maybe it's just us. But they deserve better. They certainly deserved better last night, as they dropped a 4-3 OT game in Toronto.......

The good news for the Celtics is that the Timberwolf portion of their schedule is in the history books. After surviving a 1-point game against Minnesota at home a couple of weeks ago, the C's went to the Twin Cities and pulled out a 2-point win. It started with a polite Minnesotan reaction for Kevin Garnett, who of course didn't play again but got a huge ovation from his former hometown fans. It continued with......

In theory, our eyes are supposed to be now turning from the failed Patriots 2007 campaign to the promise of the upcoming Red Sox season. Truck Day is tomorrow (Bostonist will be there), and the Sox can lift spirits around here like nothing else. Wait, not so fast. The big story yesterday was about injury, and controversy, and misery, and woe. It's almost good to have the old Sox back. The story centers around Curt......

Celebrity sightings in New Hampshire were common. For example, the ubiquitous Chuck Norris was with Mike Huckabee, and Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins were with John Edwards. And we all know about "Cooter." However, the New York Times was privy to a few wacky rumors: One man telling his friend that Curt Schilling, the Boston Red Sox pitcher, had been in the state campaigning for Senator John McCain. The friend then said he had also......

All right. Let's dispense with the false modesty and ersatz humility. The Boston sports scene was AWESOME in 2007. So many great moments, and so many great stretches that can't be summed up in a single moment. How do you make a top-ten list of near perfection? Well, we tried. 10. Back to back to back to back. It wasn't Clemens or Mussina. It was only Chase Wright, who began the year as a potential......

One of the most remarkable things about the Celtics' remarkable turnaround is that NBA players actually want to come here. You may remember the lure of playing in Boston almost got Reggie Miller off his couch, and now there's talk that future Hall-of-Famer Gary Payton called his agent the other night and said he'd like to come to Boston. Now, this is amazing news for Bostonist. For years, our favorite non-Celtic players in the......

Since Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is sticking around Boston and it's campaign time, he's dipping his toe into the waters of politics again by endorsing Republican John McCain for president. Having Schilling near New Hampshire must make McCain feel a little better. In New Hampshire, he can compete with Mike Huckabee, who is on the rise thanks to an endorsement from Chuck Norris. When it comes to tough guys with a political bent to......

--Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of Ted Kennedy and JFK, mother to Maria Shriver, and mother-in-law to Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been hospitalized at Mass General, although no one is saying why. She is 86. [Boston Globe] --Today marks the last day of Bob's Southern Bistro and the opening of some generic swanky watering hole. [WBZ] --With the departure of the infamous Mark Flomenbaum, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is disinfecting its hazardous practices by......

The Sox got the message. After making decisions that led to the breakup of the 2004 champs, like letting Pedro (which we grudgingly understood) and Johnny Damon (hey, how's that working out for you anyway, Johnny?) leave, Sox fans stood as one and declared that if they didn't bring back World Series MVP, great fielding, clutch hitting, hard working, popular Mike Lowell, we'd...be pretty unhappy. So Mike Lowell will be right where he belongs next......

For a day that featured not a single Boston professional sports team in game mode, Tuesday was jam-packed with sports news. And what made things even more ridiculous was the fact that, for a good portion of the day, one faced difficulty figuring out what news was legit and what was a sports scribe's attempt at an exclusive gone wrong (Tom Brady exclusive, anyone? Don't worry, we'll get it to it). We're going to sort......

The details leaked to the media were changing by what felt like the minute today (or, as on-air talent at WEEI noted, "It's changing from one commercial break to the next!"), but now it's official: Curt Schillling is back for one more season with the Red Sox, a move that will likely end his baseball career here in Boston. "I’ve already heard from Josh and Wake, and am excited to know that my last year......

We're sad to report that the NFL has determined there's no fire to go with the smoke. As sure as people were, and as hopeful as we were that it was true, the league has said there's no evidence that the Colts were piping in artificial crowd noise Sunday against the Patriots. CBS blames faulty equipment in the truck to explain why, at one point during the game, it sounded like a CD skipped, then......

Now that the trophy has been shown off and the Duck Boats have moved through Boston's streets, Patriots fans out there are psyched. Baseball's over! Time to devote the sports news hole to the pigskin! Almost. We want to give patient Pats fans their due, so we'll breeze through the baseball news nice and quickly: - There was a victory celebration on Tuesday. Many people attended. - Joe Torre: out of New York, into Los......

They rode before us on Duck Boats and flat-bed trucks, with microphones and punk bands, flags and signs. Some came with camcorders, others with disposable cameras. Your 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox lineup consisted of a group of men united under a team name and cause, but let's face it: we had one really eclectic bunch of characters. Tuesday's Rolling Rally celebration gave the fans quick opportunities to see just how different the guys......

The boys are back in town, the taco meat has been brought up from the cellar, and all of New England's non-essential personnel are taking the afternoon off for a parade. (Dude...Tuesday afternoon? Really?!) The good news, for some people, is that Jonathan Papelbon's dance of spontaneous excitement and youthful exuberance has now been added to the Official Canon of Sox-Nation-Approved Quirks. The Duck Boats will slow down at predesignated locations so that Papelbon can......

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist......

If what they say is true, and Curt Schilling truly pitched his last game as a member of the Boston Red Sox last night... Let there be no mistake. The dividing line between the Sox' Era of Perpetual Failure and the current Golden Years can easily be geotagged; it's somewhere between Theo Epstein's Thanksgiving dinner in Arizona and the first time Curt posted on the SOSH message board. Somewhere in that stretch, the Red Sox......

Nothing makes the Cliche-O-Matic sputter and squeak like a Game Seven in the playoffs. Back to the wall. No tomorrow. Do or die. Now or never. All true, of course. So tonight, the Indians and the Red Sox will live the cliches. The Red Sox, of course, lived to fight another day on a supremely gutsy performance by Curt Schilling. Seven innings pitched, six hits, two runs, a thunderous ovation as he left the field......