Congratulations, Manuel.

Dustin Pedroia got the Pop Culture Grid treatment from Sports Illustrated last year (in which we learned that he can't read), and recently it was Clay Buchholz's turn.

Fun fact #1: the guy who is currently bonking a Penthouse Pet loves "Like A Virgin". Of course he does.

Fun fact #2: he has never ridden a mechanical bull. A Texan who has never ridden a mechanical bull? For shame, Clay!

Fun fact #3: he wants to take on teammate Dustin Pedroia in the ring. What kind of ring is not specified... boxing? WWF? jello wrestling? I don't know, Clay- I've seen the damage he can inflict on bats and pinatas. He may be short, but he's scrappy.

This also presents the perfect opportunity to dig into the SI Vault and examine some other Sox'ers who have been Pop Culture Gridded.

Coco Crisp- September 2005
Crappy at golf, but takes out the trash.

David Ortiz - August 2005
Believes in aliens, pays $100 for haircuts.

Tito Francona - July 2005
Drives an SUV, likes Toby Keith, doesn't care about Lindsay Lohan

That high-pitched keening and wailing you hear? Yeah, that's not just Red Sox fans howling in agony after learning this evening that David Ortiz will definitely be out 2 weeks, almost definitely be out a month or more... and may actually need season-ending surgery. Countdown to potential fanbase meltdown at the thought of trying to make a championship run without Big Papi in the lineup starts in 3...2...1...

If you listen closely, you can also hear the folks at MLB and State Farm banging their heads against the wall at the prospect of trying to find a way to pull off their high-profile Call Big Papi's Shot promotion at the All-Star Game... without, you know, Big Papi.

After hyping up the event for weeks, State Farm may not have Big Papi at their disposal after all. Fortunately, they seem to have a fairly sharp legal team, who made sure to add this language to the contest description:

[T]he grand-prize winner will meet David Ortiz* and call their shot at the State Farm Home Run Derby® for a chance to win a Chevy Tahoe hybrid & a 2009 MLB ticket package

*Actual athlete to participate in "Call Your Shot" event to be designated by Sponsor and may not be athlete mentioned

The florists around the Fens are sure to be kept busy over the upcoming weeks, because there are a heckuva lot of Get Well Soon bouquets that need to be sent out.

Get Well Soon: David Ortiz
Someone get out a big honkin' bouquet to Papi's wrist, STAT. Everyone agrees that there is a tear in the tendon sheath in his left wrist (more specifically, a "partial tear of the extensor carpi ulnaris tendon sheath in his left wrist"), and that he'll likely be out for a month... but everyone fears the Boston Herald report that he may need season-ending surgery if that month off doesn't do the trick.

Get Well Soon: Daisuke Matsuzaka
June 12th is circled on the Sox calendar- it's the first day Dice-K is eligible to come off the DL from his "mild deltoid rotator cuff strain". Thank goodness for Bartolo Colon. And who would ever have thought I'd be uttering those words this season.

Get Well Soon Stay Well: Clay Buchholz's Fingernail
I don't know what he did to tear his fingernail so severely as to land on the 15-day DL (overzealous Madonna karaoke? jello wrestling Dustin Pedroia?), but please don't let it happen again while he's in Pawtucket.

Get Well Soon: Hideki Okajima's Mojo
He's allowed 11 of 14 inherited runners to score this season. His ERA just ballooned from 0.72 to 2.10... in one game. He notched his fifth blown save of 2008. With Oki's trademark sensational command going M.I.A., the already rocky (to say the least) bullpen is even more uncertain. Jonathan Papelbon can't be expected to do everything, people!

Get Well Soon: Julio Lugo's Defense
Don't think we've forgotten about you, Mr. Error Man.

File this under: "Things I Wish I'd Never Heard".

"We haven't been able to cash it in very much," catcher Jason Varitek said, "but it puts an extra amount of pressure on the other team, which we haven't been able to do. We've got a lot of big donkeys who clog up the bases."

Of course, FJM says it even better than me:

Anyone seen that HBO documentary "The Curse of The Bambino"? It's fine, whatever.

After the Scottish Dribbler (you know what I'm talking about), one Bostonian recalls heading out of his house in Newton MA, thinking he'd be going out for a long, solitary walk, only to find hundreds of other Sox-fans-turned-zombies walking the streets. A brokenhearted old man crosses paths and says: "Son, this is the dahkest day in New England since Jack Kennedy was shawt."

That's how I feel about today, after reading this quote.

Baby pitcher Justin Masterson - winning games!
Manny Ramirez - beating out a throw!
JD Drew - blasting a homer!
Bullpen - not sucking!
Coco Crisp - hitting in the clutch!
Julio Lugo - without a single E!
Red Sox - beating the first place Rays!

Please, sir - may I have some more?

I will also take some more of this: Jon Lester receiving recognition before the game for his no-hitter of the Royals. It never gets old, never gets any less awesome.

Fess up. Who peed in Jim Rice's Cheerios?

"I would love to be in the Hall of Fame," Rice said. "But I think today's players would probably say, 'I'm playing for the Hall of Fame.' But I say, 'I played for the Boston Red Sox.' I played for the game. In the back of my mind I wasn't thinking about the Hall of Fame."

Rice also said that the sheer size of the MLB is a problem that weakens the teams within it, adding that just one member of Boston's reigning World Series champions would replace a starter from the team that lost the Series in '75.

"The only one that would've made it, maybe (Jonathan) Papelbon," Rice said. "Because we had Dick Drago out there, Papelbon has a little more velocity than him."

Rice has been particularly unimpressed with current Boston left fielder Manny Ramirez.

"I'm tired of people saying, 'Manny being Manny,'" Rice said. "It's not like I'd take my 11-year old kid to go out and watch 'Manny being Manny,' that's not baseball. (Sunday) he hit home run 501, but, even though he hit 501 they still almost lost the game. Did you see those two plays he made out in left field? Now, do you want your kid to be 'Manny being Manny' missing those balls?"

Skipping over the irony of Jim essentially accusing ballplayers of being selfish while indulging himself in a mini self-absorbed tirade... I think I'm going to have to disagree with him on principal, too. It's not like the '75 roster was full of slouches - but let's get realistic. Beckett and Dice-K are certain to earn spots in the rotation, most people would take Lowell, Pedroia and Ortiz over their '75 counterparts (Petrocelli, Doyle and Cooper or Carbo), the '07 bullpen was otherworldly - and it would be a close contest between '75 Yaz and '07 Youkilis. What about an injured '75 Pudge Fisk vs. healthy '07 Varitek? And Jim's feud with Manny can best be summed up by BBTF commenter Gonfalon Bubble:

"I'm tired of people saying, 'Manny being Manny,'" Rice said. "It's not like I'd take my 11-year old kid to go out and watch 'Manny being Manny,' that's not baseball.

I wonder if he'll be taking his 22-year-old kid out to upstate New York to watch Manny Being First Ballot?

The man can dress like nobody's business, though.

hat tip: BBTF for the article, Surviving Grady for the screencap

Just the other day, I was thinking to myself: "Self, I don't know I've ever seen a photo of Jason Varitek looking like a goofy dweeb. I've seen 'super-serious Jason' and 'slightly less serious, but still totally all-business Jason' and 'ok, fine, I'll give you a small tiny grin Jason'... but I don't know that I've ever seen 'dorky Jason'. Even in pirate gear, he still looks like he'd kick your ass if you looked at him funny."

That is, until now.

I know it's for a good cause and all, but... HAH!

Lest Jason think I'm picking on him too much lately, how about video of the super-cute commercial with Jon Lester for his Putt-Putt Tournament? (yes, I just called it "super-cute")

Everybody has already seen the ubiquitous youtube video of the Sox fan in a Celtics jersey who ran on the field during the game Tuesday night. The posted video claimed it was on a dare from "a bunch of Lakers fans"... but intrepid Center Field reader Meghan has the real story.

The guy who ran out was in a Celtics jersey, but his friends that he was with were decked out in Laker stuff (spontaneous "Beat LA!" chants kept starting in our section because of them). One of the Laker guys had a purple and yellow wig...so sometime in the eighth a few of them started to walk down toward the wall in RF. The guy in the C's jersey had put the Laker wig on for some reason. Right after Hansen got to the mound, C's guy jumped onto the field and ran out towards LF, quickly followed by two security guards. The wig fell off right after he started running.

By the time he got to CF-area, a third security guy had jumped out from LF, so he had three guys chasing him. They attempted to catch him several times, with one of the security guys face-planting after an unsuccessful tackle attempt. The dude eventually ran up to the low LF wall and jumped right over back into the stands, and another security guard made a very Jeterian nose-dive into the stands right behind him.

And the kid was fast! Easily outran all the security guys, which made it even more funny.

Center Field reader Adam also sent some kickass eyewitness photos of the chase, which take us from this:

To this:

See all the photos after the jump...

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MLB's First-Year Player Draft starts today at 2pm, and finishes up tomorrow. Even if the process isn't all flash and craziness like the NFL Draft (or even the NBA Draft), the results of the draft are always interesting to pick through.

Courtesy of the club's World Championship, the Sox will pick 30th out of 30 in the first round. Courtesy of Eric Gagne, the Sox will then get a sandwich round pick (#45 overall). The Sox also pick at #77 (second round), #85 (third round), #108 (third round), and then last in each of rounds 4-50. Yes, FIFTY.

The Rays have already announced they will take Tim Beckham, a high school shortstop out of Georgia, with their #1 overall pick. Most commentators project that when the draft reaches Boston at #30, they'll select Lance Lynn (right-handed pitcher) from the University of Mississippi. Which would make for some epic rivalry contests with Mississippi State alum Jonathan Papelbon.

The most productive draft for the Red Sox in recent history was, of course, the 2005 draft- which yielded Jacoby Ellsbury, Craig Hansen, Clay Buchholz, Jed Lowrie and Michael Bowden. The Red Sox director of Amateur Scouting spoke with NESN earlier this week about how things went down that year- and the inner workings of that draft are interesting to look back on.

If anyone wants to discuss the draft as it goes on today and tomorrow, you can feel free to use this as a kind of open thread.

The Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays showed up for a brawl, and somehow a baseball game managed to break out. The official tally of carnage by the end of the dustup: 3 ejections (Coco Crisp, James Shields, Jonny Gomes), 1 missed haymaker, 1 cuff to the back of the head, and 50 sucker punches/girly hair pulls and face scratches. Elijah Dukes is so pissed he got traded away and missed all the action.

Here's a breakdown of all the brouhaha - with video clips of everything for those of you who missed it.

Step One: The History

This wasn't the first time the Sox and Rays have gotten into it. There's bad blood between the two clubs, and a simmering feud that dates back for almost a decade.

Step Two: The Buildup

Last night, Coco Crisp got into a shouting match with Rays manager Joe Maddon over Coco's hard slide into Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura. But as Coco saw it, it was payback for earlier in the game when Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett placed his leg down to block second base as Coco slid headfirst into the bag.

"He put his whole knee in front of the bag, and it's not something you do as an infielder. You can do that, but that's shady," Crisp said. "And he's not a bad dude, but that's shady. It is what it is. You gonna hurt me, I'm going to come back and hurt you."

"If I would have intended to injure I wouldn't have slid at all. I would have just ran him over like he was a catcher," Crisp said. "I went in hard to send a message. If I wanted to injure him, I would have jump-kicked his (butt). But I didn't do that.

"He put his knee down and injured me a little bit . . . if I really wanted to injure him, I could have. If Bartlett would have covered, might have been a little more dramatic."

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Coco Crisp wasn't the only Sox getting into a dustup last night. Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis got into a fracas of their own... with each other.

During the break between the fourth and fifth innings, Manny and Youk exchanged words in the dugout-- about which no one knows (and Tito wasn't forthcoming in the post-game press conference). Whatever was said, it was enough to cause the normally placid Manny to go off on Kevin - delivering a slap to his head, and then a shove into the water cooler.

Alex Cora, Sean Casey and Josh Beckett (among others) quickly jumped in between the pair. Manny was carted off down to the clubhouse by a couple of guys (presumably to shove him under a cold shower to cool his jets) -- and Youk was left to wander bewildered on the field, asking Sean Casey what the hell just happened.

Here's video of the incident, caught on camera by NESN.

Let's take a quick tally of the wild and wacky happenings last night at Fenway, shall we?

1st inning: Gametime begins early at 6:05, moved to accommodate Celtics game.
1st inning: Manny Ramirez launches homer #503, a three-run shot.
2nd inning: James Shields drills Coco Crisp; Coco charges the mound; basebrawl ensues.
2nd inning: In the aftermath, Coco, Shields and Jonny Gomes are all ejected.
2nd inning: Chris Carter makes his major league debut, replacing the ejected Coco.
4th inning: Jacoby Ellsbury makes spectacular diving catch, bends wrist backwards in a way God doesn't intend, leaves the game.
4th inning: Kevin Youkilis called in to play outfield.
5th inning: Manny and Youk get into a mini-brawl with each other in the dugout.
7th inning: Manny tweaks his hamstring while at-bat, leaves the game.
7th inning: Kevin Cash called in from the bullpen to pinch run for Manny.
9th inning: Red Sox complete sweep of Rays, go up 1.5 games in AL East.

Was it something in the water? Because that's a serious run of crazy stuff. Wait- there's something else to add to the list:

Pregame: Stephen King makes appearance, does interview on NESN in Sox ballcap.

This was no coincidence, people. It all makes sense now. That guy is the very definition of weird- it's no wonder Fenway was a strange place last night.

Coco Crisp will be suspended for his actions in last night's brawl - that's no surprise. But what is surprising is that Jon Lester also earned himself a suspension... as did Nicest Guy On Earth Sean Casey. Although the reasons are not published, it's fairly easy to guess why Coco, Lester and Casey will be riding the pine.

Coco- 7 game suspension, scheduled to begin tonight
Charging the mound, obviously.
*appealed the suspension, will play tonight

Lester - 5 game suspension, to begin tonight
After both benches were warned, hit both Carl Crawford and Akinori Iwamura with a pitch (plus threw behind Willie Aybar).
*accepted the suspension, will miss his next start

Casey - 3 game suspension, to begin June 14th
All I saw was Casey pulling people off of the dogpile on top of James Shields - but apparently MLB thought he was in there throwing punches.
*has not decided whether to accept or appeal the suspension

Four Rays were also handed suspensions: James Shields (6 games), Jonny Gomes (5 games), Edwin Jackson (4 games), Carl Crawford (4 games), and Akinori Iwamura (3 games). The list makes sense, but I'd have given Gomes and Crawford at LEAST 7- preferably 10 games for repeatedly punching a guy in the head who was being held down, 5 to Shields, and 3 to Jackson (like Casey).

Obviously, all of these suspensions- and the timing of their enforcement- is subject to any appeals the players file.

And in other Fight Night news, sources confirmed to both the Globe and ESPN that the cause of the dustup between Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis was Youk's tendency to pitch a fit in the dugout after a poor at-bat. Per the Globe:

According to three sources, Manny had raised objections to Youkilis throwing equipment around in the dugout after flying deep to center in the fourth inning, and advised him to "cut that (shit) out." Youkilis apparently didn't take kindly to the remark, said something, and Manny swiped at him.

A Red Sox source told ESPNdeportes.com's Enrique Rojas that the cause of the dugout disagreement was Youkilis' temper following a poor at-bat.

"It all happened because Manny complained about Youkilis' habit of throwing bats, helmets and other objects in the dugout when he has a bad at-bat, something that has become a constant practice," the source said.

"Other players have told Youkilis in the past about the situation, which makes him look selfish and that he is more worried about each at-bat than about the team. If Boston is winning easily, there's no reason to throw objects all over the dugout because of a bad at-bat.

"There was a meeting where the team let Youkilis know that many of his teammates were tired of his explosive reactions for each bad plate appearance. It became very bothersome ... more so when the team is winning and it's in first place. There's not much room for individualistic attitudes."

One Casey just wasn't good enough for the Red Sox. On Thursday, with the 30th overall pick in the first round of the First-Year Player Draft, the Sox selected 18 year-old shortstop/pitcher dual threat Casey Kelly out of Sarasota, Florida. And with a name like Casey Patrick Kelly, I have a feeliing he'll fit in just fine in Boston.

Casey comes from a baseball-crazy family. Casey's dad Pat Kelly was drafted by the Angels to play catcher, and got a cup of coffee playing for the Blue Jays for three games in 1980 (funnily enough, all 2 of his dad's major league hits came off of Bob Stanley against the Sox at Fenway Park). His dad also took over as bench coach for the Cincinnati Reds last season after managing the Reds' GCL team. Contrary to what some (erroneous) reports have stated, Casey's dad is NOT the Pat Kelly who played for the Yankees. Casey's brother Chris Kelly plays for the Rays organization, his uncle Mike Kelly played for the Blue Jays organization, and his cousin Dustin Kelly played for the Red Sox organization.

The Sox are banking that all those baseball ties will propel Casey to sign on the dotted line... because there is another suitor for his athletic affections. Casey also signed a Letter of Intent to play football (QB) for the University of Tennessee earlier this year -- and now he has a big decision to make. But it sounds like he's leaning towards the Sox. Per MLB:

We spent some time talking to the kid," said general manager Theo Epstein. "First of all, he's a great kid, from a great baseball family. You could hear the passion in his voice when he talks about baseball, and we wouldn't have taken him if we didn't feel in our hearts that he wanted to go out and play professional ball."

There is still a contract to be worked out. But all things being equal, Kelly sounded like a man who was ready to start a baseball career.

"It's definitely a tough decision," said Kelly. "I haven't talked to anybody at Tennessee yet. Out of respect to them, we'll just have to see how the summer goes and see how everything plays out with this."

Kelly was then asked if he saw his future in professional baseball or pro football.

"Right now, I'd have to say baseball," he said. "It's kind of up for grabs. I don't really know the answer to that yet. We'll see how the summer plays out."

"They picked me in the first round so I'll probably be wearing a Red Sox uniform," the Sarasota (Fla.) High School star said just minutes after the pick was announced.

Kelly said Boston has already told his family that it is comfortable with a set of financial parameters that was floated to baseball executives before the draft.

"They knew the price was going to be a little higher because of football," the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Kelly said.

Kelly signed with Tennessee to play quarterback in February. Barring an unforeseen snag in the negotiations, his arrival in Knoxville seems very unlikely.

A possible snag could arise from Kelly's future position, claimed Pat Kelly, Casey's father and a minor league manager.

"They (the Red Sox) like him better as a pitcher but they want to give him a chance to play shortstop," Pat Kelly said. "He doesn't want to pitch. I think that's going to be a big part of the negotiations."

The first clip is the video of Casey watching when his selection was announced (cover your ears- there's a woman on the clip with a high-pitched squeal-scream), and the clip of the pie job is after the jump.

Hat tip to Red Sox Monster for the video!

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Is there anything more miserable than an off-day? Especially when that off-day falls on a Monday. What else are we supposed to use to distract us from work obligations and responsibilities at home? We can't be expected to actually accomplish things!

So let's pretend we're going to a game at the ballpark instead. Except, not a game like those this weekend where it's 150 degrees out. And to help you along with the visualization, my main Cubbies man Timothy Souers (from Cubby Blue) painted a gorgeous watercolor Fenway scene that he sent along and shared with me... so now I'm sharing it with you.

After last night's Celtics-Lakers finals game, it's time to add to the ever-growing compendium of Sox dressed up in their best Celtics green. And who wouldn't enjoy getting kickass courtside seats and watching the local 5 beat up on the guys from L.A.?

The Globe reported that, "[t]he Sox contingent was expected to include Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, Jacoby Ellsbury, Tim Wakefield, Coco Crisp, Julio Lugo, Alex Cora, and front-office folks Mike Dee, Sam Kennedy, John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino." No official confirmation whether that whole slew of Sox guys actually attended the game, but at least three of that gang were in attendance.

David Ortiz was at the game, of course- he's getting to be a regular. Pretty soon, he'll have his own seat on the Celtics bench. Jon Lester was also on-hand, and was honored by the Celtics as part of their "Heroes Among Us" program-- and was given a standing ovation by the crowd.

Curt Schilling took in the game from courtside seats directly beside the Lakers' bench- which gave him a fantastic opportunity to listen in on all the action. And, of course, he's wiling to talk all about it:

One thing I did learn was that in addition to not having one ounce of athletic ability, being white, and having no vertical, and only being able to dribble right handed, I couldn't play in the NBA because about 43 times last night I heard things being said that would have made me swing at someone. These guys talk MAJOR trash on the floor, and the great part is that most of the times I've seen it the guy on the receiving end usually doesn't respond much, if at all, and just plays the game, schooling the guy who feels like he needs to talk to make his game better.

See lots more pictures of the Sox at last night's game, after the jump...

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It may be an off-day for most of us, but not for Captain America Jason Varitek. He's hosting his annual Celebrity Putt-Putt tourney tonight in Middleton to raise money for Saints Medical Center and Celebrities for Charity. Last year, several members of the team showed up to play through the (tiny) greens-- so we're counting on those of you who are going to report back tonight with photos and stories.

The best part of the event, though, has to be the cute-as-a-button commercial with Varitek and Jon Lester that's been showing on NESN. A couple of weeks ago, NESN also went behind the scenes to film a kind of "Making Of The Video" segment for that same commercial -- and to celebrate Tek's tourney, here's video of that:

Kevin Millar just can't get enough of Boston. Papi, Lester and Schilling and the rest of the Sox crew weren't the only ones at Sunday night's Celtics-Lakers clash, Mr. Millar was live and in person -- and made an appearance on the jumbotron in the Garden to a rousing ovation. Per the Globe, he was parked right next to David Ortiz at courtside.

As usual, some folks in Baltimore are getting their feathers ruffled about Kevin's Boston proclivities.

I don't know what to make of this. On the one hand it's just some dude enjoying an off night among friends. On the other, it just looks bad.

Basically I think it comes down to this: Millar is kind of a big oaf, and he knows not what he does. Some of the best years of his life were spent in Boston and he probably really does wish he was still there. I don't doubt that he gives the Orioles 100%, but he's not now and will never be "one of us" (for lack of a better way to put it). He's just a warm body at first base, holding a place for Mark Teixeira or whoever else we settle on to man that position for real.

Have I mentioned how much I love Kevin Millar?

From last month's SI Kids:

Not exactly a head-scratcher, is it?

Coco Crisp's web gem in the outfield, Dustin Pedroia's slumpbusting double, J.D. Drew's continued (surprising) slugfest and Manny Ramirez mashing #505 were the highlights.

Josh Beckett's disturbing second inning, the lackluster bottom half of the batting order (going a combined 0-fer-17) and the largely craptacular bullpen (we're looking at you, Hideki Okajima) were the lowlights. Oh, and getting clobbered by the O-birds at home in Fenway - that part sucked, too.

Beckett was quite placid after the game - at least, in the bits of the press conference that made it past the censors and on to NESN. Before the game, he was a little more candid with Rob Bradford:

"You come into the season and it's one start at a time, one pitch at a time," [Beckett] said. "I try and stay fairly consistent. If I have a (shitty) outing, I'm not going to say 'Aw (shit), I'm not going to lift legs today. It didn't work last time.' I try and stay consistent, win, lose or draw. I try and be a consistent teammate, and be consistent with my work. That's what makes me feel comfortable. I want to be able to feel that I did all of it to prepare for a certain moment and then I can just let it go.

"The thing I go out and try to do is focus pitch to pitch, execute pitch to pitch. I know people get tired of me saying that, saying that it's a cliche. But it's not a cliche. It's about executing (fucking) pitches. If you execute a high number of pitches you get outs and we're trying to get as many outs as possible."

But those silver sunglasses have (still) got to go.

Congratulations to Dominican-born David Ortiz, who was sworn in as a United States citizen this afternoon at the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester. From the Globe:

"My whole family, kids, and everyone have been born here," Ortiz said. "It's a great country, proud to be here, now proud to be a part of it."

Ortiz's wife, Tiffany, added: "It's a big deal for him. It's really important and I'm really proud of him."

Welcome to the club!

Jonathan Papelbon is not a big fan of the Rays - and he has a long memory. Don't think he's letting go of what happened last week.

In his weekly chat on Comcast, he was asked about Jonny Gomes and Carl Crawford jumping in to sucker-punch Coco:

In my opinion, it's a bunch of bull what they did. All I got to say is what comes around goes around, man. Payback is a bitch, man - I tell you what. In my opinion, and the way I feel right now, this thing isn't all settled and done. We still got to play them a few more times and I know when we go into Tropicana things will be a little bit different than when went in there last time.

Basketball is an odd-duck sport for me - I don't have a team I live and die by. I'll watch some of the playoffs, but rarely sit and watch a full regular-season game. There's no team I hate- and what's more, there's no players I dislike. Except one.

Asked if he was disappointed in Schilling's comments, [Kobe] Bryant responded, "Go Yankees!" and pumped his fist, drawing laughter from reporters Wednesday.

It had just been too darned long since a Red Sox player blasted a four-run tater... 3 weeks to be precise. Mike Lowell was the last Sox player to hit a grand slam, back on May 22nd against the Royals. And since no one stepped up to provide highlight reel material since then, he had his way with the Orioles' pitching tonight-- and cranked out a grand monster shot.

Let's take a moment and celebrate all four of the grand salamis mashed this year so far by the Red Sox:

David Ortiz vs. Rangers - April 18th (bottom 3rd)
J.D. Drew vs. Royals - May 22nd (bottom 2nd)
Mike Lowell vs. Royals - May 22nd (bottom 6th)
and now...
Mike Lowell vs. Orioles - June 12th (bottom 5th)

The day has arrived. The start of five straight series of interleague play - kicking off with the Cincinnati Reds, then the Phillies, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, and ending in my hometown with the Houston Astros.

And you know what that means... Small ball. Bunts. Stolen bases. Sac flies. Drawing walks. Hit-and-run plays. And best of all... pitchers batting.

Watching guys like Tim Wakefield and Bartolo Colon at the plate is like getting to see our pitching rotation do tricks on command for our amusement. Awww, look how cute! He's trying to swing a bat! Isn't that just so precious! Give him a treat!

For his part, manager Terry Francons is not at all psyched for the upcoming stretch of NL opponents.

"It's not set up fair," [Francona] said. "You set your team up to play American League-style baseball and then you go play National League-style; you just do the best you can. We're going to be asking pitchers to bunt and things they have not been asked to do. But, we've handled it for the most part and we'll try to handle it again."

The only time Francona would probably prefer to play an N.L. team would be in October because that would mean another trip to the World Series. The Sox swept the Cardinals in 2004 and the Rockies in 2007.

"I don't understand a lot of it. I understand it's hard, but because the wild card is so important, the imbalance of the schedule seems [unfair]. We're playing four teams from the Central, one from the East and one from the West. I don't understand that."

Justin Masterson will be the first of the pitchers to swing the lumber tomorrow when he makes his start against the Reds in Cincinnati. In preparation, he and Josh Beckett have taken their cuts in batting practice this week to get warmed up. And Josh doesn't mess around when it's his turn to bat -- remember this home run against the Phillies back in 2006?

So here's how the Sox rotation stacks up in their career major league batting stats:

Tim Wakefield: 12/98 / .122 BA / .149 OBP / .173 SLG / 1 HR
Josh Beckett: 31/205 / .151 BA / .191 OBP / .224 SLG / 2 HR
Bartolo Colon: 10/83 / .120 BA / .129 OBP / .120 SLG / 0 HR
Jon Lester: 0/4 / .000 BA / .000 OBP / .000 SLG / 0 HR

I've got two words for you: CANNON. FODDER.

In which I highlight noteworthy blogs for you to gather reconnaissance on the Red Sox upcoming opponent. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

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Awww, look - they kissed and made up!

Not surprisingly, Curt Schilling had something to say on last week's kerfluffle - some pretty fascinating clubhouse insight:

Manny vs. Youk, round 1. Trust me, this was a TOTAL non-issue and an event that happens far far more than you ever see or hear about. Many times, most times, events like this play out in clubhouses and no one outside the team ever knows about it. Bottom line is that 99 times out of 100 these are never personal, just like this one. The analogy I used was this. Most teams, most non-world championship caliber teams, have things like this crop up later in the year. For pretenders it happens in August, September, the "Dog Days". It does so because there is an awareness or belief that games, ABs, innings are somehow more important now, and the intensity ratchets up. That's not what happens here. Due to an organization wide commitment to winning the world series every year, and a fan base that will accept nothing less, we open the season, be it in Japan or Anaheim, and play 162 games with that approach, that intensity. Things happen when you have that level of intensity and our level of talent on a daily basis. It happens, punches might get thrown, and it ends, and we move on.

"I've had a couple teammates tell me don't think about it. You do what you do," Youkilis said. "There's other people told me, you need to tone this down. It's one of those things. There's a lot of bouncing around. Some people say this, some people say that. There has to be a (happy) medium.

"At times, I probably don't need to do what I do. Other times, it's just a frustration thing," Youkilis said, speaking in a private moment prior to last night's 6-3 win over the Orioles. "There's times for it. There's times I shouldn't do it. It's one of those things as I get older and realize a little more in life, it won't be as big a deal (for me to do it)."

"To me, I think the hardest thing is it doesn't change overnight. You can't just flip the switch. It doesn't work like that. You have to take it slow and try to get better. I think as my career goes on, it will get better."