Soxwoman Speaks

....CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP!!!!

What a time to have the game of your life, eh? A bench player with 21 points in 15 minutes, in the Finals? If the Celts win this series, that could elevate him to Dave Roberts territory. Very nice job, Mr. Powe, in leading your team in what turned out to be a nail-biter.

Which leads me to another rant about the Boston-hating, Kobe-loving ESPN. Ohhhh, they all immediately pointed out, Celtics showed complacency, they had it in hand and fell asleep at the wheel, this might end up being the preview of the wheels coming off the Celtic wagon! Yeah, they hope. Michael Wilbon-for whom I have no respect after that snarky article he wrote about Sean Taylor, insinuating the kid was responsible for his own death in his own house-playing up the Kobe angle, how that last few minute run showed the Lakers where daylight lies in this series, etc. That gold-plated twit J.A. Adande (taking his cue from the whining of the greatest coach ever, natch) then comes out with an article about how the officials seemed to have money on the Celtics. Hardly a word from any of them about powe, or how the Celts gutted out and did, after all, come out with an impressive win. Sheesh. I'm now resuming my boycott, right after Mike & Mike, anyway.

It's too soon to call the series, of course. But if the Celts can take one in the Forum, you're got to feel good about their chances coming back to the Garden. Besides, I'd hate to see the Lakers take it on the parquet, which they're going to have to do if they want to win now.

Great weekend all around for Boston fans. Celts up 2-0, and the Red Sox gave us two awesomely pitched games by old guy Timmy and whippersnapper Masterson-how do you send him back down now? (One has to wonder if we'll see Curt Schilling at all this year.) Saturday was fun, a dominating performance where the Sox scored early and often and wiped away the bad taste Felix Hernandez had left the night before (Hernandez loves Fenway Park, unlike most opposing pitchers).  But Sunday was more significant IMO, because it's important that a team gunning for the World Series be able to win the squeakers as well as the laughers. The Sox had nothing going on offense save the magic bat of J.D. Drew, but it was enough. Hmmm, you think David Ortiz is worried about that #3 spot? Don't worry, Papi, J.D.'s just keeping it warm for you. It's nice to know that there are guys in this lineup who can do that.

In a little bit of karmic payback, it seems not all is love and sweetness in the Rays' dugout, either. Good. Serves them right. Matt, you should have learned from Schill: don't shake off your catcher. Speaking of dugout spats, there's word on the streets that Manny and Youk went at it not over the mound brawl but because Youk has an annoying habit of flipping out after every bad at-bat. Huh. Well, that probably does get old after a while. I guess it's a good thing Manny never shared a bench with Paul O'Neill...

Much needed night off for everybody-including the fans-then the Sox get back to business on Tuesday at 7:05pm against the O's.