Brew-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Nothing like a little rough and tumble baseball to get things going. Why there is this sudden growth of bad blood between the AAA Rays and our Sox is odd, but sometimes the engine needs some revving to really get going. Varitek v. ARod last year helped to springboard the Sox back into the playoff picture and maybe this will help gel this year's edition of the Red Sox and they can really start to take advantage of the slumping Yankees. After all, four games is just not enough. Bottom line: The Rays had it coming. Their AAA starters managed to hit three Red Sox batters in the first two games and after Aubrey Huff was nicked in the bottom of the sixth today, Sweet Lou and his Rays started throwing at heads. Rays pitcher Lance Carter deserved to have Trot and Papi practice jabs on his face but fortunately cooler heads prevailed.

Blaine Neal and a coach (I think) both deserve some credit for keeping Nixon at bay or he was likely to do something really dumb and detrimental to himself and the team. The bigger issue this weekend is the fact that the Sox were unable to increase their lead over the Yanks despite the Evil Empire getting pounded by Texas. Every game matters and losses to the AAA Rays are tough to swallow, even in April.