We are optimistic about many things. We're optimistic about the Bruins' chances when it comes to the Stanley Cup. We're optimistic that the Red Sox will manage to land Johan Santana while keeping Jacoby Ellsbury on the roster. We're optimistic that the San Diego Charges will, after being defeated soundly at Gillette on Sunday, line up as a team at the 50-yard-line and bow down before Brady and Moss. We can be optimistic all we......

"I hope we have this problem every year," said Theo Epstein when asked about the final-out ball from the 2007 World Series. You may remember the fiasco and hurt feelings involved when the Sox and Doug Mientkiewicz embarked on their power play over the ownership of the 2004 ball. Last we heard was that Jason Varitek had slipped it into his pocket at Coors Field, then gave it to Jonathan Papelbon. Well, today it broke......

The Red Sox were at home, facing down the Oakland A's on Tuesday night, but everyone had one eye on events unfolding in Florida. And wouldn't you know? Things worked out perfectly. The drama-filled Oakland game (only in September would one be able to string those words together) was decisively won by Boston and featured numerous reasons for the Fenway crowd to stand up and cheer. Tampa Bay managed to scratch together a 10-inning, 7-6,......

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......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

In the winter of 1846-47, a party of 33 settlers, led by brothers Jacob and George Donner, ran into a snowstorm in the Sierra Mountains. After a few months of ox-slaughtering and shivering, fifteen of them set off to find some help. They, of course, famously got caught in a blizzard and had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. This historical tidbit is meant merely to provide perspective, and reflect that this week's Sox......

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 -......

You play until the late hours against your fiercest rival, then fly six hours cross-country to face one of the toughest pitchers out there. How would you fare? If you're the Red Sox, you'd fare badly for a while, then really well, then disappointed. Oakland starter Danny Haren was fantastic, shutting the Sox down with 9 strikeouts through the eighth. So Boston did what they do best, which is bide their time until the bullpen......

The Red Sox have been living large off of the Foes' inferior bullpens all season. Sadly, what goes around came around last night. The unstoppable Okajima and unbeatable Papelbon were respectively stopped and beaten by the Yankees, who took 2 out of 3 from the Sox for the second straight series. This one was a typical Sox-Yankees seesaw affair. Josh Beckett pitched well, but spotted the Yanks a 4-0 lead. But the Sox got it......

Things weren't exactly what one could consider promising yesterday afternoon, a few hours before the Red Sox and Yankees kicked off their series opener here in Boston. The skies were growling and peppered with sunshowers. Many of us were murmuring about whether we thought Alex Rodriguez was going to pull a stunt on the field (and whether Dustin Pedroia would be the first to lead the counter-attack). Starting pitcher Tim Wakefield was set to enter......

Harry Doyle and the Friends of the Feathered are breathing a sigh of relief this morning. After two losses at Fenway, Chief Wahoo's Tribe turned on the juice Wednesday night, pounding out a season-high 18 hits and smacking the Sox 8-4. Boston gave Daisuke a 2-0 lead after four innings, but Dice had been living dangerously all along, and Cleveland finally started to make him pay. And pay and pay. The Indians score two in......

Trot Nixon's homecoming game at Fenway was one to remember. Not so much for Trot (1-for-3), but for the fact that this game had a little bit of everything. An inside-the-park home run for Kevin Youkilis (shhh...20 game hitting streak...shhh). A conventional home run for Manny, tying him with former teammate Jim Thome for 25th place all time. A controversial third-strike call in the ninth that brought both managers out for some earnest discussions with......

We've now entered the portion of the 2007 Red Sox season where, frankly, it's not that big a deal if the starters struggle. How long this portion will last, we don't know, but we saw the Sox' offense rescue a queasy Daisuke on Friday, and they bailed out a shaky Wakefield Saturday to club the Rangers 7-4. Wake struggled in the fifth, giving up a two-run double to Gerald Laird as the lowlight of a......

We know you're Red Sox fans. We know that, much like every home is supposed to have emergency supplies (flashlight, bottled water, etc.) close at hand at all times, every good Red Sox fan should know where the panic button is. Just in case. Don't press them yet; just make sure everyone in the family knows how to get at it if the worst should happen. Yes, it's only one game. And yes, it's only......

The happiest Red Sox fans around have to be the ones who stopped watching baseball around 7:30 last night. They would have seen Game 1 of the doubleheader, a 13-3 Sox rout/Home Run Derby. They would have seen the Yankees' nightmarish loss to the Mets. But most importantly, they would have been spared Game 2, in which Atlanta demolished the Sox 14-0. A wild day all around. Game One was a laugher thanks in part......

It's on. The Yankees announced today that Roger Clemens (left, lying down) has consented to spend weekends and holidays in the Bronx this year, for a princely sum of roughly $28 million. The Red Sox apparently made Clemens an offer, but the idea of bookending his career in Boston and accumulating major karma points apparently wasn't worth the millions that Steinbrenner presumably overbid. Bostonist never was quite sure how we felt about the idea of......

Pity the poor Orioles. Their fan base is disgruntled and apathetic, and Baltimore is a mere short flight down from New England. Thus, Sox-Orioles games at Camden Yards turn into travelling Red Sox rallies. They can't even sing "root, root, root for the home team" during the seventh-inning stretch. In front of a friendly crowd, the Red Sox got back on track, beating the ostensible home team 6-1. Curt Schilling pitched seven efficient, solid innings,......

You know Daisuke-mania has hit when The Onion chimes in on the story. Daisuke and his Ultimate Galactic Dragon Gyroball Pitch Power Explosion take the mound in Fort Myers tonight, trying to do to the overmatched Boston College squad what B.C. basketball did to Fairfield, New Hampshire and Sacred Heart this year. Also making his Spring debut (assuming he doesn't wander off) is Manny Ramirez. The Herald's Michael Silverman is the latest to take a......

Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell, Celtics basketball announcer and breakfast-lover, apologized publicly last night for saying female NBA referee Violet Palmer needed to "go back to the kitchen." Maxwell stepped up and said he was sorry. He didn't get all whiny about it. However, Maxwell's defenders seem to be the whiny ones. WBZ' Chuck McKenney felt the need to do the whining for Maxwell. He heard the tape, and he wrote, "The comment was nothing like it......

July 1, 2005: A new year, a new era. Sure, January 1 is the first day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. In Boston the fiscal year turns the page to FY 06 today. The States budget year coincides with the beginning of a new year for the many colleges and universities around the Hub. Put that together with it being a Friday before a long weekend, Bostonist is digging on a little......