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Baseball Today: Wednesday, May 30

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL: The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley notes ''there are teams and there are seasons when the games are endlessly joyful, one victory bleeding into the next, the good times rolling on.'' To this point, anyway, that team is the Red Sox and that season is 2007.

Any fears about Josh Beckett (right, Journal photo by Mary Murphy) and his ability to come back from the avulsion of his right middle finger disappeared pretty quickly last night, as did any drama about Kevin Youkilis extending his hitting streak to 21 games. Youkilis, showing an amazing ability to hit any pitch and hit it hard, even extended a secondary streak: Most consecutive multi-hit games (9, the largest such streak since Jim Rice did it in his MVP season of 1978). Last night's 4-2 victory didn't extend the Sox' first-place lead -- it remains at 11 1/2 games in lieu of Baltimore's win over Kansas City -- but, hey, no night's perfect. (All stories projo.com) But who's complaining? As Dan Shaughnessy says in the Globe: ''We suddenly have a San Diego weather mass over our region. The tunnels are open again and you can get where you are going in no time. The Patriots have a chance to go 16-0 and it feels like we all might win the lottery. Next thing you know, some dietician will discover that hot fudge sundaes cause you to lose weight. You'll be able to drink water from the Charles, all college tuition will be free, and the Celtics will experience good luck.''

Such is life in New England when the Red Sox are winning. And winning. And winning.

AND FURTHERMORE . . . The Herald's Rob Bradford points out that Mike Lowell has a 21-game hitting streak, too -- at Fenway Park. Bradford also had a conversation with Curt Schilling in which Schilling expanded on Monday's postgame comments about the work he did with pitching coach John Farrell that gave him a vastly improved splitter.

'RIGHT WHERE I NEED TO BE': Jon Lester's rehab took another forward step last night in Pawtucket. Jacoby Ellsbury, meanwhile, sat out last night's game because of back stiffness. (Both stories projo.com)

HELLO, THEO? HAVE I GOT A DEAL FOR YOU! The Dallas Morning News' Tim Cowlishaw thinks the Rangers should trade Mark Teixeira, and Boston is one of the places he proposes trading him to.

ONE MAN'S CEILING IS ANOTHER MAN'S FLOOR: Folks hereabouts would still be enjoying life even if the Yankees weren't unraveling like a cheap suit. But the fact that they are, well . . .

The Yanks may just have hit rock bottom last night. As the New York Post's George King reports, they took infield practice for the first time all season and then Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez made errors that led to runs; they were shut down offensively by Shaun Marcum, one night after being shut down offensively by Dustin McGowan; and Andy Pettitte fell asleep on the mound and allowed Aaron Hill to steal home in a 3-2 loss at Toronto. "It's tough to keep positive, to tell you the truth," Jorge Posada said as the Yanks fell 14 1/2 games back.

WE HAVE A DATE: Roger Clemens will return to the Yankees next Monday in Chicago. (New York Daily News) It means Clemens won't pitch against the Red Sox at Fenway Park this weekend, but, as Joe Torre said, ''I don't think that series needs any more hype than it gets every time we play it, whether it's at Fenway or at the Stadium.''

AREN'T YOU LISTENING??? For at least the third time this season -- or at least the third time I'm aware of -- Clemens' old foe Dave Stewart trashes the Rocket on his blog.

Dave: You don't like him. You never have. We get it. Okay?

MRS. ROCKET: Debbie Clemens talked to the New York Post about her husband. Nothing earth-shattering, but some interesting tidbits about Clemens' work habits and his ability to teach baseball to people at every age level.

STOP IT. STOP IT! The Post's Joel Sherman says the Yankees can no longer go for ''instant gratification with no concern for the future, kind of like driving a Hummer today with no concern that will some day lead to your grandchildren clearing the polar icecaps from their back yards.''. In other words, stop trying to trade for Todd Helton or Richie Sexson, admit 2007 is a lost cause, retrench and regroup. ''That is the reason why they are in this horrible state: Their unquenchable habit of meeting every crisis by going to players who are famous, expensive and almost certainly have already played the best baseball of their careers.''

Hmm. Does the name Clemens ring a bell?

MYTH VS. REALITY: Peter Abraham tackles the topic, Yankee-style, on the LoHud Yankees Blog.

LUCK, THY NAME ISN'T YANKEES: Baseball Musing's David Pinto has studied the issue and concluded ''They're not a bad team, they've just gone through an unlucky stretch. It may be bad enough that they don't make the playoffs, but that happens. It may be tough for fans and Steinbrenner to accept, but sometimes a season like this isn't really anyone's fault.''.

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: It certainly stinks to be Jason Giambi these days. (New York Post)

WATCH WHAT I DO, NOT WHAT I SAY: Despite George Steinbrenner's public statements that seemed to indicate Joe Torre's job was safe, SI.com's Jon Heyman thinks Torre is more likely to be fired than general manager Brian Cashman. Heyman also lists other managers on the hot seat (and, no, Terry Francona's not one of them).

I'M OKAY: John Smoltz had to leave last night's 5-4 loss in Milwaukee because of pain in his finger and his shoulder, says he won't have to miss a start. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

HERE'S SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERY DAY: The Giants had a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 12th, until Armando Benitez balked twice to allow the tying run to score, then surrendered a two-out, walkoff home run to Carlos Delgado in a 5-4 loss to the Mets. (New York Daily News)

NOW YOU START WORRYING ABOUT THIS? A.J. Pierzynski fears his toxic reputation could prompt the White Sox to get rid of him. (Chicago Sun-Times)

I'M SORRY: The Devil Rays' Elijah Dukes, accused of threatening to murder his wife, apolgized to his ''family, teammates, the fans and the organization for the distraction that this situation has caused.'' (Tampa Tribune)

OLD FRIENDS: Tom Gordon has been hurt far more than he's let on (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . Rocco Baldelli says he's getting better (Tampa Tribune).

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:04 AM | Permalink