Give it up for Lance Broadway.  In what could have been a huge disaster, some of which was not of his making, Broadway gutted his way through 5 1/3 innings of two run, five hit ball, earning a bus ticket to Charlotte for his trouble.

The kid was shaky in the first inning but wasn't helped at all by an error on first baseman Paul Konerko.  When the smoke cleared, the Royals had scored their first (and only) two runs of the series.  The Sox came back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second and then put the game out of reach with their record setting back to back to back to back jacks in the bottom of the sixth. Mercy, D.J., mercy!

In all fairness, Broadway was dispatched to the minors because he won't be able to pitch for a few days.  The Sox need one more additional arm in their bullpen, so someone (most likely Clayton Richards) will be called up today.  If the Sox have to rely on their bullpen heavily this weekend, you might see someone called up to start on Tuesday, which is the next scheduled open start on the Sox schedule.

Aaron Poreda pitched last night for Birmingham, so he is a possibility.  Tomo Okha (a.k.a. The Secret Weapon) is not on the Sox 40 man roster, so his call up would be remote without the Sox making a roster move.  Okha could come up and help the team in September when the numbers are increased.  I still think he has value being one of the few pitchers in the Sox minor league system with major league experience.  By the way, if you haven't figured it out, I go by my ample gut and not the numbers.

Overall, Broadway was who he thought he was.  Certainly not overpowering, he did get it together and pitch well from the second inning on, giving the Sox the opportunity to win it with their bats.  This was the exact strategy we thought they would employ yesterday.  I still have hope for the kid, although you wonder if he'll make his career in another uniform. 

On to Oakland, the faltering and undermanned Athletics, the Nick Swisher reunion tour and the graveyard known as NA Coliseum.   Pink Floyd will try to make it two consecutive quality starts tonight.  Lance Broadway meanwhile will be sampling Carolina Bar-B-Que.