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Baseball Today: Monday, August 6

JINX-BUSTER: They say good pitching is the elixir for just about anything that ails you in baseball, and the Red Sox can certainly attest to that. After losing nine straight games at Safeco Field, the Sox rode the coattails of Daisuke Matsuzaka, Eric Gagne and Jonathan Papelbon to a 4-3 win over the Mariners Saturday night, then followed that up with a strong performance from Josh Beckett (above, AP Photo) in a 9-2 romp yesterday afternoon. (Both stories projo.com) About the only excitement yesterday was the Mariner Moose nearly wiping out Coco Crisp with his all-terrain vehicle in the fifth inning (Red Sox Journal, fourth item down), which brought back memories of the bad old days in Seattle. (Seattle Times)

WHAT GOES AROUND . . . The Seattle Times' Geoff Baker wonders why Ichiro was stealing second with the M's trailing 9-1 in the ninth, and notes it was the second time in less than a week that he's pulled such a stunt. The first time, the Angels' John Lackey responded by throwing a pitch at Jose Guillen's head; yesterday, Kyle Snyder also went up and in on Guillen after Ichiro's steal, though Baker wasn't sure Snyder did it intentionally. (He's fairly certain Lackey did.) ''I'm an Ichiro fan, but I just don't grasp the importance of that second run in a 9-1 game,'' writes Baker. ''Maybe it's just me. I don't know.''

HELLO GOODBYE: The Sox welcome back Curt Schilling tonight, exactly seven weeks after he last pitched. He appears healthy and raring to go, but his arrival means the departure of Javier Lopez (projo.com), who was sent back to Pawtucket to make room on the roster. It was strictly a numbers thing, says Terry Francona, and Lopez says he understands, but he seems very disappointed nonetheless. The Sox will also be without Eric Hinske for at least the next three days; Sean McAdam reports Hinske is returning to his Phoenix home to be with his wife, who is going through a difficult pregnancy. Hinske's grandmother also died recently, and that may be a factor in his leaving the team, as well. As extensively reported, here and elsewhere, Brandon Moss will be Hinske's replacement.

FEELING FEISTY: That's describes the Angels, the Sox' next opponent, after yesterday's emotional win in Oakland. (Los Angeles Daily News)

DOWN ON THE FARM: The Red Sox continue to roll out the prospects, and the latest to reach Pawtucket is shortstop Jed Lowrie . He hit two home runs yesterday -- at right, he's being congratulated by teammate Jacoby Ellsbury after the second (Journal photo by Glenn Osmundson) -- as the PawSox defeated Rochester, 6-4. ''[We] don’t want to go crazy because we know he’ll have some ups and downs,'' cautioned PawSox manager Ron Johnson. ''Right now we’ll enjoy the feast.'' Joe McDonald also has an interesting feature on knuckleballers in the Boston system, one of whom -- Charlie Zink -- was the winning pitcher in Pawtucket yesterday.

SAYING IT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING: Seth Mnookin says the Sox' trade-deadline deal for Eric Gagne indicates the front office thinks the Sox can win it all this year . . . just as the lack of any deadline deals last year indicated they didn't believe they had a shot in 2006. (sethmnookin.com)

FINALLY: Tom Glavine recorded his 300th victory at last. (New York Daily News)

THE GREAT DEBATE: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark, Jim Caple and Rob Neyer are arguing over who's the greatest home-run hitter in history. But even though Barry Bonds is about to break Hank Aaron's record, only Caple is ready to call him king.

NO DEBATE AT ALL: Brian Johnson, a teammate of Bonds in 1997 and '98, says it's obvious Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs. (New York Daily News) ''Some people sold their soul to the devil,'' Johnson said in an interview on ESPN's Outside The Lines, ''and other people didn't."

NOT SO FAST: Most people now expect Alex Rodriguez to eventually break whatever record Bonds ends up setting. Stark, however, does a little research and points out it ain't necessarily so. (espn.com)

AND IF HE DOES, WHERE WILL HE BE? Newsday's Jim Baumbach says A-Rod has finally won over the Yankee fans. But will that be enough to keep him in New York?

WE HAVE A WINNER: The fan who caught Rodriguez' 500th home run thinks he's in for a $100,000 payday when he sells the coveted baseball . . . which, his brother says, trumps the Yankees' offer of a signed jersey for the ball. (New York Daily News)

THE BRONX IS WILD: The red-hot Yankees are closing in on the wild-card lead. (New York Post)

'GREAT TO SEE YA': According to the New York Post, that's George Steinbrenner's response to virtually anything anyone says to him these days.

I'D LIKE TO HAVE A WORD WITH YOU: David Wells is tired of being fined by Bud Selig and wants to have a sit down with the commissioner to clear the air between them. (San Diego Union-Tribune) Selig ordered Wells to pay his latest fine -- $5,000 -- by personal check, but Wells counters: ''I don't do checks anymore. I hope he likes pennies.''

LET'S GET PHYSICAL, PART ONE: The Mets' Paul Lo Duca had an animated discussion with manager Willie Randolph about getting back into the lineup, so animated that Randolph told his injured catcher, ''Well, go ahead, punch me in the face, because I'm not going to play you.''

LET'S GET PHYSICAL, PART TWO: Milton Bradley says he was so angry at the way he was treated by Billy Beane during his last days in Oakland that ''the way he talked to me . . . was reason enough for him to get his teeth knocked out. So I told him and everybody else . . . 'You better get your paramedic on duty, because if he talks to me crazy again, we're going to have a problem.' I'm a man. Nobody's going to talk to me that kind of way." (InsideBayArea.com)

UH OH: The Cubs will be without Alfonso Soriano for two to four weeks after he strained his right quadricep last night. (Chicago Sun-Times)

READY TO GO: Last November, Jim Edmonds signed a two-year contract extension that he assumed would keep him in St. Louis for the rest of his career. Now he says he'd accept a trade from the Cardinals. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

IT'S LIKE BEING 10 AGAIN: The estimable Joe Posnanski channels the little kid in all of us.

OLD FRIENDS: Mike Myers has been cut loose by the Yankees (New York Post).

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:07 AM | Permalink