NIXON TO START ON PATRIOTS DAY

The word on Yawkey Way is that Nixon will probably play against the Mariners in Monday morning's game against the Mariners. Nixon probably wouldn't have played much anyway considering all the lefthanded starters we've played. The cavalcade of southpaws will continue with Casey Fossum on Tuesday and Scott Kazmir on Thursday.

AL EASTER BEATS AL WESTER 3-2

The Red Sox actually played well today as an Easter present for their fans. Josh Beckett was once again very impressive, improving to 3-0 for the first time in his career with his first career win over the Mariners.

Manny Ramirez actually got an RBI. He went 1 for 3, with an RBI groundout. He was also robbed of a hit by Richie Sexson on a hard liner ticketed for right field. The Sox lineup did not hit much better than they did yesterday, but they were able to take advantage of miscues by the Mariners and score enough runs for Josh Beckett to win the game.

Timlin pitched a scoreless 8th that featured some nifty glove work by none other than Manny Ramirez. Manny made a good leaping grab that could have been a double, and caught a slicing fly ball that could have fallen in for a hit.



Papelbon was perfect in the 9th, recording his 6th save. The most important thing to note with Papelbon's success is that his saves haven't been cheap or easy ones. This was his 4th 1 run save in as many opportunities.

The Man of the Game is Josh Beckett. He went 7, allowed only 1 earned run off 6 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 5. This is his 2nd Man of the Game. This reminds me of 2004 when Pedro and Schilling went back and forth winning Man of the Game honors. Now it's Beckett and Schilling. And if Roger Clemens is reading, I'll give you bonus MOTGs to keep you in the race if you sign with the Red Sox.

Lenny DiNardo will take the hill for the Sox against Gil Meche in the annual 11 AM Patriots Day game. I think this game will have a good deal of offense. Our bullpen is pretty well rested with Beckett going 7 and Wakefield 9 yesterday so we should be in good shape if we can keep it close through 5.

BRUINS SEASON IS FINALLY OVER

Thank GOD! The Bruins were simply painful to watch this year with 1 goal losses, trading away Samsonov and Thornton for practically nothing, and only 2 shootout victories. Mike Sullivan needs to be fired and the team needs to do some MAJOR retooling. We need guys that can shoot the puck. It's that simple. This is the first time since the 2000-01 season that the Bruins have failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Also, congratulations to my friend Liz here in Ithaca and from Massachusetts for being congratulated by the Boston Globe for her efforts in the New York State Swim Championships. Scroll down to Campus Corner On this page.