Game Notes:

Johnny V: Before last night's game John Valentin was finally activated after almost a year of rehab and waiting. The roster casualty was Craig Grebeck who was placed on the 15 Day DL. Phantom injury? Possibly. Val saw a half inning of action last night over at short and made the only play that came to him (a DP in the 8th).

Chris Stynes: It's said when you have roster issues like the Sox things kind of just work themselves out. Unfortunately for Chris Stynes it was in the form of getting hit in the helmet/face by a pitch last night. It's still unknown if his vision is OK but it was found that he has two fractures in his cheekbone. Needless to say he'll be taking at least a trip to the 15 Day DL and with Grebeck just placed there yesterday this opens the door to either activate Hipolito Pichardo without demoting a pitcher (but that would give us 12 on the roster) or recall Lou Merloni.

Relatiation: The Sox answered the beaning of Stynes the next inning with Frank Castillo throwing behind John Olerud. Warnings were issued but no punches were thrown.

The Game: As for the game itself the combined line of Castillo and Rolando Arrojo was pretty horrific. It was kind of a role reversal night, the offense kept battling back only to have the pitching fail. El Guapo and Pete Schourek were the only hurlers to have a decent night on the mound, but the damage had been done by the time the two of them were brought in.

Trot Nixon: It was nice to see Trot go yard of a lefty and a very tough one in Arthur Rhodes at that. At the time it was also a big clutch situation and tied the game for a short period of time.

Troy O'Leary: A member of this sites message board mentioned yesterday (SOXFANINAZ) that it seemed to him that Troy only comes thru when the game is decided either way. I was all set to come here today and say that even though it was a solo shot, he did help kick-start the O with the back to back job he and Manny had in the fourth. But then Troy made himself look real bad. In the bottom of the ninth with one out and the potential tying run in the on-deck circle, Kazuhiro Sasaki came in to face Troy, threw one pitch, and the game ended on a DP. Troy may be heating up but he still hasn't come thru in a BIG situation in a while.

Roalndo Arrojo: It's easy to say this after the fact, but once Arrojo lost the lead in the eighth, you could kind of see it in him that he was going to get knocked around the rest of the inning. It was almost like he said to himself: "Well, now I can't win, I don't want to play anymore." We didn't score the rest of the way, so I guess if it were only one run it wouldn't have mattered, but it might have. Not really questioning the decision to keep him out there, I'm questioning Arrojo's will to play hard all the time, not just when he wants to.

I'll end it there, I hate doing updates after a loss. But keep a lookout for some possible fireworks tonight as far as beanings go. Later in the game last night Arrojo buzzed Brett Boone high and in and barely scathed him. Was it intentional? Maybe. But the next inning Seattle pitcher Paniagua, on a 3-0 pitch to Manny, almost took his head off. Yes his control was off anyway, but not that bad, and a 3-0 pitch doesn't usually miss that wide. it wouldn't shock me to see Tomo Ohka go after someone early tonight.

paul@redsox2000.com