Well Oki then

The Okster is coming back for another year of no-looking deliveries and maybe even another year of showing up Dice-K. Not that Dice has been a total disappointment, he did that have 18 win season, but for the most part Oki has been a lot more dependable than the guy that came packaged with. My baseball sources tell me having a lefty in the 'pen is a good thing and my baseball salary sources tell me that paying less then $3M for a guy like Oki is "good value".

All "value" aside I've always liked Oki. Starters have a few innings to prove themselves and work out of jams but relievers have to perform right away usually in tight spots and I've never had that nervous "hurl everything I ate today" feeling when he comes trotting in. As a tribute to the Ok, tomorrow I'm going to do everything in a "no-look" fashion. We'll have to wait and see how getting to work goes.

No "Dice-Pun" here.

It is not 1925, therefore, puns are no longer considered the pinnacle of comedic genius, unless of course you're talking to my mother. Anyways, I probably wouldn't know what such a high level of comedic genius looked like if it walked up to me, introduced itself, put on a name tag and beat the bag out of me with a comedic genius stick. However, this means no "Dice-Dice-Baby" title today, sorry "Dice way to start off the series", and "Sox Rolling the Dice". It's just not happening.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, Matsuzaka did pitch a pretty damn good game. Hell, the guy should be beyond well rested right now, seeing as he hasn't really played since March or whenever the WBC was. It will take more than one good outing before I jump back on the Dice-K wagon, but taking a game against a team you very well might see in 3 weeks again is a nice start.

The Seattle Mariners are the second coming of the Seattle Mariners.

Two in a row? Against the Mariners? Really? The M's must not realize how us New Englanders treasure the 4th of July and the victories that usually come with the fireworks, beer and endless pile of cheeseburgers. Neil Diamond himself was in the city trying to get the mojo going across town but Saito channeled his inner Dice K and before you know it, another one run lose to a team that everyone figured was just stopping by for their yearly beatings.

Today though Tito has the luxury of giving the ball to Jon Lester and you know there is no way Les is going to let a sweep go down in the Fens this weekend. Look for some revenge today. Some bloody, gut wrenching revenge. Or at least some baseball revenge.