After the Sox picked up Paul Byrd from the Indians for two Fenway Franks and a large pretzel, I remember reading a thread on SoSH where “Rudy Pemberton” wrote one of the all-time great posts (emphasis mine):

I’ve always liked Paul Byrd, lots of HR’s and few K’s but he keeps the ball in the park and will generally keep you in the game. He’s an average pitcher, which is really all the Sox need at this point.

Somehow that actually made sense in describing Byrd’s night. His HRs matched his walks at two, but he still gave the Sox 6 good innings and earned a win. It’s a whole lot easier pitching against the Blue Jays when you don’t have to face Doc Hallady. Considering how our rotation went from overstaffed early this season to in desperate need of a #4 and #5 now, Byrd is a wonderful addition. Now if he could only learn to intentionally walk Alex Rios in the first rather than give up 2-run bombs to him, we’d be in business.

And now for something completely different…I will be taking off tonight for China and will probably be NESN-less for the next week or so. No, I’m not going for the Olympics, and I’m pretty sure there’s no blogging Olympics in a country where “The Great Firewall of China” blocks out as many blogs as it can. But fear not Dirty Watah fans, my wonderful partner in blogging Kim will take over duties while I’m out.