To all you Pedro (Official Red Sox profile) nay sayers, I told you so! Pedro's fastball was still topping out at 91 mph, yet he was able to mix-up his pitches , confusing a potent Toronto lineup on Saturday. It was Pedro's first victory of the year. What made the feat especially nice - doing it against last year's Cy Young winner, Roy Halladay. It was more like watching a shooting match than a baseball game. I'd go to the fridge to get a drink, I'd return and miss a complete inning. Well, almost. Two things are for sure, Pedro is back and I love watching him pitch. Ctnow.com agrees in its article "Now that's Pedro."

I also enjoyed Curt Schilling's (Official Red Sox profile) outing although it wasn't as impressive. He only made one mistake. Although, according to the Providence Journal, Schilling had three mistakes. That'll happen. The man plays with a lot of heart though. He hates to lose. Luckily, even with a depleted lineup, the Red Sox were able to break a 12-inning, 4-4 tie. Schilling ended the day with the 10Ks I predicted he'd get against the Orioles. I knew he had it in him.

How about that Mark Malaska? 2 innings, no hits, no runs, 1 strikeout on Sunday. The lefty really was impressive. I'm glad the Sox found him a roster spot.

But the real hero of Sunday's game is No. 34. David Ortiz (Official Red Sox profile) is the man! 40 homers is possible from the big guy. He's already come up with some big hits, including Sunday's 12th inning bomb. Many people are praising this, err, star(?), including the Providence Journal's Sean McAdam, in his column "For beat-up Sox, this was a necessary injection" When did Ortiz become a star? Don't get me wrong - - I love him. He is genuine, hard-working, charismatic, fun, a team player, and exhibits tremendous power. But a star? Ortiz's status must have changed when Nomar got hurt. To me, a sign of stardom is getting to a first name basis with the player. Nomah!, Pedro, Manny; they are stars. The Red Sox will rely on his bat until Nomar and Trot return. I'll be wishing on a star.

About all I have to say about the upcoming Orioles series: it will be good to see Derek Lowe (Official Red Sox profile) back in Fenway. Last year, Lowe got 11 of his 17 wins at home, with a 3.21 ERA. Those are great numbers. I fully expect the trend to continue. I normally would care about the Baltimore games, but I'm already thinking about theYankee matchup. How will we be able to matchup against the Yankees without Nomar and Nixon? Will Damon be back in time? If not, we may have some troubles. We have the pitching and we are home - two points in our favor. However, Boston.com reports that Pedro will not be pitching against New York this time around. Is this manager Terry Francona's way of punishing Pedro? Wrong time to take a stand. Pedro can't be happy about this. I'm certainly not. He will pitch Thursday's game vs. Baltimore.

The Red Sox made a couple of transactions this weekend, deciding to cut Brian Daubach and add Frank Castillo. Not sure I agree with this move. Do we really need another pitcher on the staff? In an emergency we have Dave McCarty. I guess knocking A-Rod out of a game only gets you a couple of at-bats. Good luck to you Brian.

Speaking of decisions...Fans continue to question the manager's methods in Boston. Jerry Remy asks fans to give Terry Francona some time. Thank you, maybe now fans will listen.

E-mail this entry to a friend