Don't Walk Away Rene

Rene Russo's appearance in the stands and the booth led some nominal excitement to a game otherwise marked by ennui. In the 'Inane Banter' redux department, Jerry and Don were unable to identify who Rene dated in the eighties from the Dodgers, and Don got some snaps for his office.

Testimony to the interest the game generated were about 77 'honey shots' of Rene during the contest. By the way, Rene was born February 17, 1954, and still looks pretty good...maybe some plastic surgery happening there?

In JV action, the Pawsox shutout Durham, with a homer and three hits from Jeff Bailey, and six shutout innings from Jimmy Serrano and a pair from Manny Delcarmen. Kason Gabbard got hammered as Portland lost 7-3, and Wilmington won behind Andrew Dobies and a homerun by Michael Hall. Dobies lowered his ERA to 1.69.

Kevin Youkilis led off the game for the Sox with a shot over everything, and probably has only about 70 plus more to catch Ricky Henderson as the all-time leadoff homer record. Youkilis' emergence certainly puts the Hee-Seop Choi fantasy crowd into hibernation.

Meanwhile, at Fenway, Curt Schilling went 6 innings allowing a run and six hits, and the Sox put a crooked number (7) on the board in the third to break the game wide open. Dennis Eckersley's pregame analysis of the Rays ("They stink.") didn't light a fire under the visitors. The Rays have a fair amount of offensive talent (Baldelli out), including Crawford, Gomes, Cantu, Hall, and Wigginton but struggle on the hill. Of course, tomorrow it's Red Sox killer and headhunter primo Scott Kazmir, working against Tim Wakefield.