Lots to cover today, but let's begin with a show of hands: who turned off the Red Sox game once Devil Ray killer Tim Wakefield slunk off the mound in the fourth inning on Tuesday night? It's OK, there's nothing to be ashamed of - after praying for Boston's rains to clear up so Wake could face the DRays, it only makes sense that a poor start from the ol' knuckleballer would drive the NESN......

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,......

Boy, this one had "thrilling comeback" written all over it, didn't it? After the Red Sox pulled Tuesday night's game out of the grave, they spotted Tampa Bay a 6-0 lead yesterday afternoon. (Oh, inconsistent, Daisuke...what's to be done with you?) The Sox then started chipping away as they've done so many times. Jason Varitek's 2-run homer in the seventh chased starter Andy Sonnanstine to the clubhouse, then Crisp walked and Lugo followed with an......

With rare exception, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays is a different team when Scott Kazmir is on the mound. But on Tuesday night, the Red Sox was also a different sort of team - one that came back for only the second time in 43 games from a deficit heading into the eighth inning. Yeah, that's right. The Sox were down late in the game and they actually came back to win, 2-1. The game......

Want a picture of what Red Sox Nation feels like this morning? The best way we can describe it is the scene in Airplane! when Elaine gets on the PA, tells the passengers to remain calm, then asks, "Oh, by the way, is there anyone on board who can fly a plane?" The next scene is in the cabin with passengers going berzerk and men swordfighting in the aisle. That's what being a Red Sox......

Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox decided to add a little drama to their regularly-scheduled win over the Devil Rays. The Sox gave Jon Lester, in his second start returning from his cancer surgery, a 5-2 lead going into the seventh-inning stretch. The lead was built on a well-balanced sprinkling of hits and timely run-scoring offense, exactly the kind of thing we were constantly yearning for a few weeks ago. Was there really a time......

It's always a good sign when the only two elements of suspense to a ballgame are (1) will we get to the fifth inning before the rain comes, and (2) will the starting pitcher's arm get stiff from sitting in the dugout for a long time while his offense scores bunches of runs. Fortunately for the Sox last night, the answers were yes and no, respectively, as the Sox pummeled the Devil Rays to a......

It may not have been as impressive as the fireworks display later in the evening, but the continued presence of actual offense - beautiful, productive, run-scoring offense - at Fenway Park warmed the hearts of Sox fans and good Americans on the Fourth of July. The immediate beneficiary was Tim Wakefield, who improved to 9-8 after pitching six very fine innings and one-third of a bad one. He fell apart in the seventh, but the......

Home for a very brief, and wet, four-game homestand, the Red Sox toed up with the Oakland Athletics before heading off on the last road trip of the season. The Sox dropped two of the games, both of which were painful. Game One showcased another unknown pitcher Boston had never seen before, Joe Blanton, and kept the Boston bats relatively silent and baffled. This continued the trend of seeing the Boston offense fall flat on......