Life can be described as a series of peaks and valleys.  The past week of Red Sox baseball featured a prime example of that extreme terrain.  After losing a series to a sub-par Colorado team (and giving up ground to the surging Yankees), the Sox came back to sweep a San Francisco team, beating 3 tough pitchers on consecutive days.  

Adding to the encouraging vibe from the sweep is a nice performance from a couple of guys who are in the middle of the crosshairs of Red Sox fandom angst: J.D. Drew and Coco Crisp.

Drew: 5-11, 2 BB
Crisp: 4-7, 1 BB, 1 SB

A tip of the cap also goes to the Boston bullpen, which contributed 7.1 scoreless innings in the sweep, including three straight appearances (?) from Hideki Okajima.

The Barry Bonds fiasco came and went, and was somewhat predictable: there were a few donkeys in the stands with giant cardboard syringes and asterisks, Bonds went deep once, and now the whole situation is dust in the wind.  Barry will get to pursue his record in the cozy confines of the National League after this week.

The Sox now embark on a six game expedition into dangerous waters: National League parks.  Despite the team’s recent record of dominance against the senior circuit squads, I hate, hate, watching the Red Sox play baseball by National League rules.  It’s similar to watching a manatee swim up to the Gulf of Maine, or watching Ann Coulter try to smile; you can tell it’s a process that simply should not be happening. 

Adding to this uneasy feeling is the fact that the Sox get to face two of the toughest teams from the NL: their “natural rivals” in Atlanta, and the NL-West leading San Diego Padres. 

Tonight, Curt Schilling (6-3, 3.80) will try to bounce back from the Colorado massacre, as he takes on Atlanta’s Chuck James (5-6, 4.16).