A huge series against the

A huge series against the Tigers? If you listen to sports radio, you know that’s the word. The Big O told us the Sox must sweep the Tigers, or the season is essentially over. Bob Hohler agrees that these games with the lowly Tigers are critical. Paul Doyle says despite some seat squirming in the ninth, the Tigers were what the Sox needed. Joe McDonald says the Sox did what they needed to do, and got the homestand off to a good start. Jeff Horrigan rightly focuses on the injury to Tim Wakefield, who suffered a lower back strain, as the story of the game. Christopher Price gives us the quick and dirty rundown of the game. Lenny Megliola says that at this point, the Sox will take the wins they can get. Tony Massarotti says there is still a lot of work to do. There’s a difference between winning and playing well, he says, last night the Sox just won. With the recent turmoil surrounding the Sox, you’d think it would all be right in Dan Shaughnessy’s wheelhouse, well, he resists the urge, and instead focuses on someone having an even more miserable time, Tiger’s manager Alan Trammell. He throws a little nostalgia in there as well. Michael Silverman looks at the man who replaced Roger Clemens here in Boston, Steve Avery. Alex Speier has a look at Carlos Pena, still full of promise and trying to get his big league stroke working. He is currently rehabbing at Triple A Toledo. Michael Vega looks at Kevin Millar, who rebounded from a rough first couple at bats to have a couple big hits. Mike Shalin has a similar piece on Millar. Silverman also has a piece on the effort of the bullpen last night, which had its usual up and down evening. Joe Sullivan provides some off the wall observations, mostly Red Sox related. Three out of four notebooks agree that Wakefield’s injury was the top entry. Hohler’s notebook asks if he’ll recover as quickly as he did from the last injury. McDonald’s notebook is rather extensive after the initial bit on Wakefield. Doyle’s notebook has Wakefield at day-today and also reports on the Springsteen concert at Fenway later this year. Horrigan’s notebook focuses on Tigers manager Trammell.

The Bruins finally got around to holding that press conference to introduce their new coach yesterday. Though he’ll be the youngest coach in the NHL, Stephen Harris says the team will be looking to him for stability. Douglas Flynn says that while Sullivan is young and relatively inexperienced, he has what it takes to make himself a success. Kevin Paul Dupont looks at the appointment. Joe McDonald says that the players know that Sullivan will be able to relate to them. Frank Dell’Apa says that will be a change from the Ftorek days, when many of the players weren’t happy about their relationship with the coach. Michael O’Connor looks at Sullivan’s teaching skills, which he says will make him a success as a coach. Jackie MacMullan says that Sullivan’s late season stint with the big club made an impression with the players and other coaches. Harris gets a little player reaction to the appointment. Flynn also says that defense will be the focus of Sullivan’s team. Dupont’s notebook looks at the B’s management holding a cookout for the season ticket holders.

Dennis and Callahan spent much of their morning discussing one of their favorite topics…scumbags who beat their wives. The target today was Sean Burke, pretty much sealing the fact that the Bruins will not trade for the goaltender. Is this an example of the power of the media? For good or bad…I’m not knocking this, so don’t take this as Bruce hating the media again, because frankly, I don’t want the Bruins to deal for Burke, and if this helps make up their minds, then great. But this is an example of the power that the media can have, after a day of trashing a guy all over the airwaves…you know the topic will spill over to other shows…will the Bruins be a bit hesitant to pull the trigger? I think so.

Steve Bulpett says that Chris Wallace may not be a lock to head to Portland after all, and looks at the trade of Darius Songaila to Sacramento for two second picks. Shira Springer looks at the influx of European players into the NBA. In the article, Danny Ainge says he is not caught up in the Euro craze. Mark Murphy has a tiny look at a couple of wing players the Celtics could be interested in. Jon Wallach wonders who most of these guys in the draft are…In the Globe account of the Songaila trade, I had to laugh at this paragraph:

It was the first trade of the Danny Ainge era, and Songaila's agent, Mark Bartelstein, complimented Ainge on facilitating a deal that would allow the forward a better chance at playing in the NBA. The Celtics' roster probably would have been too tight to afford Songaila a spot next season.

Ok, so the Celtics roster will be too tight to fit the player next season, but the Kings won’t be?

Michael Smith and Christopher Price look at the signing on Mike Cloud by the Patriots yesterday.

Jim Baker looks at tonight’s HBO “Real Sports” episode which has a segment on Ted Williams and has a video of Ted stating he wanted his ashes spread in the Florida Keys. Bill Griffith also looks at the HBO production and has a look at the weekend and other media related notes. In Baker’s pay column, he has Greg Anthony talking about fellow UNLV product Marcus Banks, of whom he says is “the best point guard in the draft and one who’ll be a tremendous impact player” Anthony goes on to say that Banks is “a leader who’s strong, cocky and explosive and who could be the steal of the draft.” John Molori talks with a sports media agent, and also looks at HBO’s boxing coverage.

NESN has Red Sox/Tigers at 7:00