Red Sox on Easter

Well, Schilling looked pretty good today. We also had a family gathering, and just about everyone in my family hates Schilling. They say he talks too much. Yet for some reason they all loved Pedro, who hasn't shut up since the 1997 season. They don't admit it, but they all hate Schilling because he publicly supported George W. Bush in the last election. They loved him during the 2004 season before the Bush statement. Both before and after, he was calling up radio talk shows, posting on blogs and writing on a Red Sox fan web ring called "The Sons of Sam Horn." For some reason, it didn't bother anyone before. Anyway, the tradition is to root for Schilling to give up seven runs in the first, be pulled after 2/3 of an inning and then have the team come back and win. All cause he's a Republican. As if he's the only one in the bunch of multi-millionaires that are the Boston Red Sox... Honestly, who cares about something as irrelevant as politics when it comes to baseball?

Anyway, Ortiz broke out of his slump, hitting a homer in the first. Then the Rangers got the run back in the bottom half of the inning and my living room erupted with applause. Every fly ball the Rangers hit you heard a yell "GET OUT!!" It's kind of despicable. I tried to reason with them. Schilling gave up his body for this team in 2004. He could have shut it down and we'd all be moaning about 89 years or whatever now. The general response was "If you think that was actually blood, you're stupid." Whatever. Schilling was strong through seven innings, and Ortiz added another homer, this one a two run blast, to make it 3-1.

Pineiro came out in the eight inning and decided to suck. He got no one out and left the bases loaded before giving way to Javier Lopez. Lopez got the guy he faced to line out to first, but Youkilis dropped the ball. He recovered in time to pick it up and throw to second to record one out. One run scored. Then Tito stopped messing around and brought in Papelbon. Jonathan was dominant. He blew Michael Young away and got Teixeira to pop out to Lowell. Then in the ninth he got Sammy to pop out before blowing away both Blalock and Wilkerson.

Another plot is developing quickly in Boston. The Sox have no one to bridge the gap between the starter and Papelbon. When Lestor comes back to the rotation will Tavarez be that guy? Probably not. Maybe Manny DelCarmen and/or Craig Hanson will come up from AAA Pawtucket and provide the Fenway Faithful with the setup man the team need. Maybe. Right now, the best bet is Mike Timlin when he comes off the 15 day DL. Granted, he's old. Hopefully he has enough gas left in the tank for this year. Otherwise, it'll be a long summer.