The Sawxophile

   Forty-eight hours ago, Red Sox Nation was feeling pretty cock of the walk - sure, we dropped two in Tampa Bay, but the Sawx left Florida with the satisfaction of a resounding victory in the beanball war with the Devil Dogs, laughing all the way at that little bitch Lance Carter for trying to bean Big Papi after Manny followed a brushback with a deep blast to left on the next pitch.

   We're not laughing tonight, with two-fifths of the starting rotation on the DL and some serious pitching questions to answer:

   * DID CURT SCHILLING COME BACK TOO SOON? The bone bruise he acquired Friday night on baseball's most famous right ankle raises the question. On his third mediocre outing since coming back to Boston, he reached back a little too hard for something in the sixth inning at Tampa, though he didn't come out until he finished blowing a four-run lead. The evidence for not being ready is certainly there - he hadn't lost all his weight from the rubber chicken circuit over the winter, and he didn't have the kind of stuff he had in his final two games in the playoffs. He'd get ahead of batters but be unable to put them away, and his pitch counts were outrageous. He needs some enforced sitdown, and a couple of games in Portland and Pawtucket before he returns - maybe sometime in June, when he's ready. In the back of the mind, though: he did have major ankle surgery, and perhaps there's a little more to this latest injury than the team is letting on. Maybe Curt did cut a deal with the devil last October.

   * IS THIS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE DAVID WELLS BREAKDOWN? Boomer's got a month to pound the Budweiser. But for a guy with a reputation as a physical wreck (I sometimes tweaked my back playing quarters, too, at a younger age than Boom is now), he's made 30 starts eight of the last nine years. Baltimore knocked him around Monday, but he was excellent in the two starts before that. He is what he is - a 40-plus codger who's still got enough left to win some big games, but not enough left to be consistently good. Pass him the baling wire and chewing gum.

   DO WE NEED TO GET A CLOSER? Keith Foulke has been, to be charitable, inconsistent in April (that 0-2 fat one to Miguel Tejada last night, along with yet another bomb served to Sox killer Javy Lopez, made me consider keeping a bucket next to me next time he takes the mound). It reminded me of the night last July he hit bottom in Seattle, blowing a game with two gopher balls in the ninth. Foulke doesn't have the power of the traditional closer, and when his location's not on, he's in trouble. He's a world championship closer because of guile and mental toughness, like he displayed in the playoffs. He needs to pop in the video of his performances against the Yankees, when he was getting them out on fumes thanks to those extra-inning games.

   IS TERRY FRANCONA FOCUSED ENOUGH ON HIS JOB? That was the big question on the air this morning, since the skipper had come to Providence to give a motivational speech at some corporate lovefest yesterday (we just have a bad taste in our mouths about that stuff around here since Rick Pitino spent a good part of his Celtics days chasing $50K speaking gigs). I'm not ready to consign Tito to a van down by the river, but I certainly wasn't in agreeance with sending Foulke to get six outs instead of his usual three, particularly with a game the next afternoon (today's game wound up being rained out). We love to see closers work hard for the big bucks, but you just have to look at all the times the Sox hit Mariano Rivera the past few years - in some of those games, perhaps out of lack of trust in his setup guys, Joe Torre sent Rivera out there in the eighth, and it caught up with them. It's not Rivera's or Foulke's fault - it's just the way closers are bred these days. Sure, Matt Clement got smacked around like a government mule and couldn't get through the fifth with an 8-3 lead, but Francona's got to trust the guys in the rump end of the bullpen in the fifth and sixth. Maybe Matt Mantei's ankle was still sore and John Halama had to be saved for a possible start, but last night would've been a good time to see what Blaine Neal had. Sure, he's the 11th guy on the staff and might be gone once the staff's back to full strength (including Wade Miller, pitching at Pawtucket tomorrow), but if Neal's designated for blowout use only, why's he here?

   WHY DID MANAGEMENT EVER LET PEDRO AND D-LOWE GO? Yes, they're kicking ass and taking names right now. But remember last year, when y'all were complaining what a diva Pedro was and wondering if Lowe would pitch a three-hit shutout or get KO'd in the third inning? Sure, it's okay to wish Theo Epstein would've worked Carl Pavano a little harder before the Yankees signed him, and wonder if injury questions like Schilling and Miller will hold up come the dog days. Injuries happen, and the Sox braintrust didn't make as big a mistake as Steinbrenner and Co. did giving big bucks to Jaret Wright when they could've kept Jon Leiber for almost the same money. Look at it this way - it keeps Bronson Arroyo in the rotation for awhile.

   ARE THE ORIOLES LEGIT? That offense of theirs certainly is - the most painful part of last night's loss is coming up empty after shelling Rodrigo Lopez, who usually looks Pedro Martinez-like against the Sox. I don't see the pitching holding up through June, but if it does, we have a three-way Eastern Division race. They're not in the same league with the Yankees or Sox financially, but their pockets are deep enough to make a move at the trade deadline if they're still in the race. After years of being a seller, Baltimore may become a buyer.

   What a well-timed rainout. Now, two days to rest and regroup before a seven-game trip to Texas and Toronto.

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