Wounds to be licked. Rain Out.

Memorable rain out/rain delay moments? Rick Dempsey of the Orioles always had some with his comedy routines, and as I've mentioned, I saw a grounds crewman have sudden death at the first game I ever attended as they ran out the tarpaulin.

The Orioles and Sox both have an open date tomorrow, but I haven't heard when the game is rescheduled. One would think the Sox might want it to be played later (presuming they might be playing a bit better).

The timing of an extended road trip (starting against the nightmarish Rangers) that can eat up pitching, coupled with key injuries creates more than a few problems. With less quality pitching, the Sox absolutely will have to carry that extra pitcher (12) and the offense (that historically can struggle on the road) has extra pressure on it.

The Pen is mightier than ... nothing. The Sox relief corps is last in OPS, next to last in strikeouts per 9 innings, and next to last in losses (5). Keith Foulke just hasn't found the groove, and as a finesse pitcher, he needs to get there soon. He's been like the little girl with the curls: "when he is good he is very good..." His stats this year? One win, three losses, and 13 hits and 5 walks (with 4 strikeouts) in 10 innings, with an OPS of 1.027. For his career he has a strikeout to walk ratio of four to one, and last year he allowed 63 hits in 83 innings during the regular season, and 7 hits with 19 strikeouts in 14 post-season innings. Patience is indeed a virtue.

Offensively, the Sox are relying on Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz right now to do almost all the lifting. One statistic I found amazing was that Mark Bellhorn either walks or strikes out in 40 percent of his at bats. Unfortunately, strikeouts occurred in 28 percent.

The ankle xray shown over at www.bostondirtdogs.com shows an ankle fracture, so I hope that it isn't anybody we know.

Baseball tonight. The PawSox got the short straw again, losing 9-8 at Rochester. Kevin Youkilis (.220) went 2 for 5 and Chip Ambres homered. Scott Cassidy gave up 5 runs in 5 innings and Anastacio Martinez got lit up for three runs in the ninth, so there's a crisis in confidence on the farm, too.

The Sea Dogs are at Binghamton after losing to the Mets farm club by a field goal, 13-10 last night.

Uber-prospect Hanley Ramirez is at .300/.355/.471, Jared Sandberg at .302/.397/.619, and second base convert Dustin Pedroia, the little engine that could, is at .350/.452/.550. Olise (Cla) Meredith has seven saves and a .000 ERA thus far.