YOU GOTTA LOVE PLAYING THE DEVIL RAYS

They just can't get right. What was the deal with Hall trying to steal 2nd? And the errors and the Godawful bullpen work. My God. They are such a bad team.

The Red Sox barely won tonight which is kind of scary considering our competition. Clement wasn't on his A game, but his B game was good enough. Manny finally had an extra basehit and a multi-RBI night. Our defense was solid. Timlin was shaky, and Papelbon looked unsure.

Papelbon has had two struggling outings, both of which came the day after he pitched. I said it last time, I think he just needs to adjust to the rigors of pitching multiple days in a row. It isn't an easy conversion, at all.

Elsewhere in the AL East, Cleveland destroyed Baltimore 15-1. The Blue Jays outslugged the Yankees 10-5 up in Toronto.

Youk had a really good game at the top of the lineup. He went 2 for 4 with a 2 run double, and a walk. Getting on base 3 out of 5 plate appearances AND knocking in 2 runs is huge. Those 2 RBI came with 2 outs as well. That's two days in a row he has had huge 2 out hits.

Loretta didn't have as an amazing game as on Patriots Day, but he went 1 for 5, with an RBI groundout and an RBI single.

The D-Rays tried a real interesting shift on Ortiz. They took the third baseman, Wiggington, and put him into left-field. Then they moved the short-stop over behind 2nd base. The shift results in no infielders on the left side, and 4 outfielders. I think the D-Rays were trying to decrease the amount of outfield space for Papi because of the large number of extra basehits he has. Ortiz's answer to this was simple, he just hit the ball off the walls. Ortiz had a pair of doubles for his 4th and 5th of the season.

The Man of the Game is Manny Ramirez. Manny went 2 for 4 with a 2 run double and an RBI single. Both hits came with 2 outs. In one game, Manny doubled his season total for RBI. Great to have you back, Manny!

Schilling takes the mound tomorrow night, looking to go 4-0. He faces off against 0-0 Doug Waechter who got shelled in his first start, then threw a Quality Start against the Orioles.

GREAT CATCH by Stern, by the by.

VARITEK SLOWED BY REAR END INJURY

I promised myself I wouldn't make any jokes. Varitek has a bad gluteus muscle. That's his butt, for those who don't know. He claims he injured it running the bases during Spring Training and it tightened up on him in Monday's game against Seattle. V-tek claims that he probably won't miss any time due to the muscle and that by game's end yesterday, it had loosened up on him. This is very good news as our catching depth is, in a word: suspect.

Clement vs. Fossum tonight. Last time the Sox met the Rays, there was a fight at home plate involving Julian Tavarez. Tavarez might not be available tonight after pitching an inning yesterday. However, these two teams often set off fireworks together.

PEDRO GETS 200TH WIN

The Mets beat the Braves 4-3 last night. Pedro Martinez got the win, his 200th of his career. He is 200-84 in his career. That is the second lowest loss total for a pitcher at the point of his 200th win. Only Whitey Ford and Lefty Grove had lower. Ford had 79, Grove had 83. I'd say Pedro is among good quality.