There is a serious epidemic the Red Sox are facing. Something that's threatening their ability to succeed and win games, something that is spiraling out of control. No, I'm not talking about shortstop errors (although those don't seem to be abating)... I'm talking about Sox-on-Sox crime.

First it was shady Mike Lowell, with that totally unprovoked simple warmup ground hopper that viciously turned on and attacked Kevin Youkilis on Monday.

Now, it's troublemaker Sean Casey. It was revealed that last weekend, Mr. Casey perpetuated a despicable act of violence against one of his own teammates:

When Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon walks by with a huge bruise on his right arm, it's very difficult not to notice.

In the clubhouse this afternoon the right-hander, who earned his 22nd save of the season on Tuesday, said he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Sean Casey during batting practice last Saturday.

Stop the madness! End the Sox-on-Sox crime!

If something happens in Curt Schilling's world, and he doesn't blog about it, I don't think it ever really happened. But since he's confirmed the season-ending shoulder surgery over at 38pitches, it's safe to say... yep, this is really happening.

His blog entry is written like a man who thinks the journey over and is saying goodbye - he talks about the possibility that he could emerge from the surgery with another shot at playing ball, but it doesn't sound like he really believes that's what will happen. So most of his post is summing up his 22-year career and saying au revoir to the fans.

To you fans, thank you, thank you, thank you. If it is all over, every single moment and memory I'll take away from my career comes with your involvement and support. More athletes than you know recognize this and appreciate it. The 4 years I was allowed the honor of wearing [the Red Sox] uniform I would hope you believe I did so with honor, integrity and respect, for the game but more importantly for my manager, coaches and teammates.

The game was here for well over a hundred years before I came along, and will be for that and more after I am gone, it owes Curt Schilling absolutely nothing, it gave me far more than I ever gave it.

If this was my last shot, and it is over, I wouldn't change a thing (ok well that's not totally true because I WOULD push rewind, go back to a few instances and shut my mouth, but hey we can't all be perfect) that happened to me, with me or on any teams I played on. In 22 years I would say I had the honor of playing with some of the greatest of all time, and at most 3-4 really bad people, that's not a bad thing.

The Curt Schilling era in Boston may be at an end.

In his usual manner of delivering news, Curt told WEEI this morning that the "plateau" of pain he experienced throwing during his side session last week is much more than that -- he's going to need season-ending surgery. Although he's not exactly sure what kind of surgery that will be.

According to Schilling, the procedure will involve a relocating of the biceps muscle, plus "some other stuff," Schilling said. When asked if that "other stuff" might entail repair to the labrum and rotator cuff, Schilling wouldn't speculate, saying that would be determined after he went under the knife.

Curt seems to be pretty realistic regarding what this surgery will mean for him:

"There's a chance a lot of things could happen here. My season's over. There's a pretty decent chance that I've thrown my last pitch forever, so I don't care. It doesn't matter. I'm going in to make it not hurt anymore, which is pretty much all I care about."

"Off of surgery there's two other possibilities, two potentials, which was I could wake up after the surgery and be told 'you know what, it's been a good run, you got no shot of getting back out there' which is something I've ... had to be OK with because it's a potentially likely scenario," he said. "And the other one is, we fixed it but whatever happens between now and when you decide to pitch again, it's going to be five times as much than you ever had to do from a rehabilitation standpoint. Those are the two surgery results.

"The second option to me was my career's over today. If I don't have surgery, my career's over today. So, I've had to sit back and weigh those options and figure out what we wanted to do."

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.

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

Bad News? Daisuke Matsuzaka left the game last night after four innings with what the Red Sox are calling "shoulder fatigue". It's similar to the injury that plagued Dice-K earlier in his professional career in Japan, which he (erroneously) tried to pitch through -- so the Sox were careful not to make the same mistake and quickly pulled him last night. Tito Francona said the team isn't sure whether Dice will make his next scheduled start on Monday.

Good News? If the whole pitching thing doesn't work out, Dice-K showed a remarkable talent for posing. I smell a centerfold in his future!

For the first time since 2003, the Sox did not open the season with the second-highest payroll in baseball-- they came in at fourth, behind the Yankees (of course), Tigers and Mets.

That slight increase in frugality did not stop them, however, from putting together an expensive collection of walking injured on the DL. With the addition of Sean Casey last week, the Sox DL payroll checks in at a combined $22.8M ($24.3M if you count Mike Lowell's signing bonus): Curt Schilling ($8M), Mike Lowell ($12M + $1.5M signing bonus), Alex Cora ($2M) and Sean Casey ($0.8M).

That means the Sox' DL payroll is higher than the payroll for the entire Florida Marlins ballclub ($21,836,500). Somewhere, Jeffrey Loria is laughing and laughing... as he rolls around in his piles of money.

Of course, even in DL spending, the Yankees lead the pack-- with the recent addition of Jorge Posada, the Yanks DL payroll tips the scale at $26,170,748: Jorge Posada ($13.1M), Carl Pavano ($11M), Wilson Betemit ($1.165M), Brian Bruney ($.0725M), Sean Henn ($397,448), Jeff Karstens ($0.3933M) and Humberto Sanchez ($0.39M).

figures source: Cot's Baseball Contracts

Add another name to the ever-growing and changing injured list: Sean Casey is officially out with a strained right hip flexor and has been placed on the 15-day DL. That means we will not be treated to the sight of him ambling around the basepaths like a grizzly bear for at least two weeks. Boo!

Casey pulled up lame while running for home during last night's loss to the Rays in Tampa.

Casey said he should not have stutter-stepped as he approached third base to avoid Jacoby Ellsbury's single. Casey scored on the play, but manager Terry Francona immediately knew there was a problem.

"He was dragging his leg," Francona said. "On examination, it wasn't horrible but I'm sure we're going to lose him for some time. We'll get that figured out."

Sean's not the only one out of the lineup tonight: David Ortiz has also been scratched from his scheduled start due to a "bruised knee", so J.D. Drew will DH - leaving Coco Crisp to play center, and Jacoby Ellsbury to take over in right field.

Two bright spots: Jason Varitek is back in the starting lineup tonight, and Mike Lowell had his first rehab stint last night in Pawtucket (going 1-for-5 with 2 RBI).

The all-powerful flu bug has claimed yet another victim in the Sox clubhouse: Daisuke Matsuzaka has scratched from his scheduled start tonight against the Angels- Jon Lester will start in his place.

Can't someone please pass the flu bug along to another team now? We've had quite enough, thankyouverymuch. We're running out of guys who can play. Pretty soon, the Sox will be calling on beer vendors and groundskeepers to fill out the roster.

The title of this post can be loosely translated as: "Holy shit, Beckett's hurt again."

Per the Globe and Herald, Josh Beckett has been scratched from his start tonight with a "stiff neck" -- and David Pauley has been called up to start in his place. (Joe Thurston was DFA'ed to make room for Pauley on the Sox roster.)

Somebody, get the man some ice cream, STAT. I don't care if he wants mint-chocolate- butterscotch-pecan-rainbow-brownie with nuts and sprinkles and whipped cream on top. Give him his own personal ice cream machine that caters to his every ice cream whim. Force the rookies to follow Beckett around with a cone in each hand at all times, just in case he has a hankering for ice cream. Hook him up to an ice cream IV. What, there's no such thing as an "ice cream IV"? Invent one, then!