Chowdaheads - Sitting on Frog One: Homecoming

Your Uncle Buck finally got a chance to go home Wednesday night, after missing several opportunities to go to Fenway Park in the last 10 days, UB finally sat back down in the seats he's enjoyed since he was a small child. LT, Alex and G joined UB for the 9-1 drubbing of the Devil Rays as Curt Schilling became the only 4-0 pitcher in baseball.

Curt went 6 innings, struck out 7 and allowed only 1 run, topping his personal best as he is now 4-0 to start the year for the first time in his career.

From the Herald: "He hit 94-95 mph consistently on the radar gun last night when he needed it, be it the first inning he pitched or the last. He fanned at least one batter in every inning. And with his seven punchouts, that's 14 Ks in his last two starts."

But Curt is not without his controversy, so when UB tuned into WEEI this morning it was no surprise that Schilling reportedly upset tonight's starter for Tampa Scott Kazmir.

From the Globe: "Tampa Bay lefthander Scott Kazmir didn't care for comments Curt Schilling made this week on WEEI radio, when Boston's ace said the reason the Red Sox and Devil Rays have had numerous bench-clearing incidents is because of Kazmir "hitting multiple batters every time he threw against us. I don't know if any of it was intentional, but he kept hitting players."'

Kasmir's response: "I don't know why he would say that," said Kazmir. "I never tried to hit anyone ever. What can you do? Why would I, of all people, get thrown into everything? I was looking at a video before of past things with the Red Sox and Devil Rays and they had all this other stuff before I was even in pro ball. And all of a sudden it's all because of me? OK. It was very surprising to hear that."

So at least their should be some fireworks tonight, especially if Kazmir, who gave the Sox fits last year, hits someone.

Back to last night, the Sox gave Schilling plenty of support with a 7 run 3rd that was made up of timely hitting and poor D by the D-Rays...The Sox took an early 1-0 lead on a Kevin Youkilis solo home run as he lead off the game...

Last night was also the last time we may see Shock Jock Adam Stern at Fenway for a while. Stern's Rule 5 obligation ran out last night, and while he made another all out catch (above) he is being sent down to the minors in the hope to get him more at bats so he can develop. After the short sampling UB is sure we will see the Shock Jock again...

Back to UB's return to Fenway: (No that was not UB that was tackled while running on the field) The new additions caught UB's eye for most of the game. The new upper deck seats along 1st and 3rd base lines looked out of place, like when you plug in the latest Playstation baseball game and you notice the video game Fenway Park has little differences that you can easily detect. UB isn't saying those seats are bad, just different. Also the extra ads on the Monster didn't faze UB as much as he thought they would. The now open section above home plate, formally the .406 Club, was cool although UB and LT were wondering how fast you would have to react to a foul sitting there...

Perhaps the biggest change was outside the park after the game. UB was stunned to see the changes at the Cask 'n Flagon. Above is the photo of what the Cask used to look like, but the whole front had been torn out and there is now a big section of out door seating to go along with the night club or Game On style atmosphere inside. Replacing 27 inch TVs in the bar molding were about two dozen HDTVs. Now UB, again is not necessary upset, rather he's disappointed by the changes in the bar that felt like going into Cheers rather than a nightclub. Like the episode when Cheers is being renovated after a fire and Carla gets a job at a new age sports bar...