The race is on.
I'm looking for the Sox to knock the resurging Yankees down a couple of pegs this weekend. They'll win three of the four. Schilling will record his first save and Timlin his third.

The New York Daily News says David Ortiz is a tough out for the Yankees. Lucky us. The newspaper site reports that at some point Joe Torre will go to his pen for a left-handed specialist to try an record that out. Good luck, Ortiz is batting .327 against lefties this year.

The Boston.com says Arms will decide this race. If the rumors about a deal for Marlins' A.J. Burnett are true, the Sox will quickly get off the block.

The addition of Chad Bradford (See A's, Red Sox swap players), formerly called Adam Bradford by this writer, should help the pen as well, but he is coming off an injury which leaves me to wonder...By the way Adam Bradford was an character in "Eight is Enough." Strange how the mind works.

The Sporting News' Ken Rosenthal says Gabe Kapler is likely to return to the Sox. He is likely to take Payton's spot as a reserve outfielder. It would be nice to see the fan favorite return, but I heard he struggles in Japan. Culture shock.

By the way...and I'm not looking to jinx here but Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News reminds us that the Yankees have only spent one night in first place this year - the first night. And I thought 2004 was a good year.

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