Sox take lumps but sweep Rays

After coming off a disappointing series loss to the Yankoffs, the Red Sox got a dose of Tampa Bay Devil Rays which, as usual, cured many of their ills, but also created some new ones too. On Thursday the Sox used another strong outing by Josh Beckett to pull off the 4-1 win. Friday was a little more of an adventure with a major blow potentially coming to the Sox after David Wells was hit by a line drive on his healed right knee. The Sox were able to hold it together and got an 8-4 win:

Boomer threw 15-20 pitches during practice in Toronto Monday, but was in so much pain he had to stop.

The Sox announced he will miss his Wednesday start, and have not yet named a replacement pitcher to take on Sox-killer Ted Lilly.

On Saturday the Sox fans showed their class by sticking around after the game to acknowledge Curt Schilling's career 200th win. It still amazes your Uncle Buck that it took Schilling this long to get #200, but looking back he played on some poor teams and battled some injuries that really screwed up several seasons. Does he belong in the hall of fame? At this point most baseball writers are saying no, but if he is able to match his production from the 2004 season this year and next, he may get in. Another ring wouldn't hurt his chances either...

When Sunday rolled around, UB was happy to have taken the 3 wins and figured a 4th would be icing on the cake, so he did a little picture in picture action to watch the Indy 500 and the talented Danica Patrick. Amazingly Tim Wakefield (4-6) has his best outing of the year, allowing zero runs on five hits in eight innings. From there Terry FranCOMA turned it over to the Papelbon, Timlin and Foulkeless bullpen:

Rudy Seanez walked three, but was able to get 2 outs. Julian Tavarez came in an appeared to have the game won with a strike out, but Doug Miribelli let the ball get by him. From there, with the score 5-1, Tavarez walked in two more runs to make it 5-3. Now UB can appreciate resting Foulke and Paps to prevent an early season burnout, but what sence does it make to announce the plan to the media before the games begins. If Tampa had a smart manager they would have taken their time with Wake and tried to get to the pen early. Also with Coco Crisp returning to the lineup for the first time since the 1st week of the season, FranCOMA still opted to give Manny the day off.

Coco's return helps, but it may be awhile before he gets his act together. With the pen a mess and two holes in the rotation, the Sox could use a few more doses of the Devil Rays...Instead the have to take a shot of the Blue Jays who own the Sox this year...