Before we get into the events of last night’s game, let’s take a moment to look at things greater in life. We all have heard of the tragic death of the Boston Red Sox fan in New Hampshire who was run over by a Yankees fan. Our friend Dan Lamothe over at Red Sox Monster has written a petition to the Red Sox asking for them to honor the departed with a day at Fenway Park. PLEASE take a few moments out of your day to head over to Red Sox Monster to see the petition and sign it if you feel strongly about.

Where to start with last night’s game? I guess the smartest place to start would be with the wildness of Daisuke Matsuzaka last night. We have seen Dice-K be wild before in his starts but nothing like last night where he walked a career-high 8 batters. After the game, we learned that he was still feeling the effects of the flu and almost didn’t start the game. He went out there and gutted out 5 wild innings to keep the Red Sox in the game. Luckily, the Tigers weren’t able to really capitalize on his wildness.

“My command was the biggest problem today,” Matsuzaka said. “But even though I couldn’t throw a lot of strikes, my fastball wasn’t that bad, and I think [Jason] Varitek did a nice job of mixing it up enough that it worked out in the end.

“I think it had to do mostly with technical things. Physically I was way off today. The stadium itself didn’t really have an effect, but my feeling on the ball was off entirely today.”

The main switches in Jim Leyland’s lineup last night came with Gary Sheffield moving to the 6th spot and Carlos Guillen moving up to hit 3rd.

A.J. Daulerio has a great interview with former Red Sox Rookie of the Year Fred Lynn over at Deadspin.

What’s to blame for the Tigers woes this season?

Mike Lowell had a good night at the plate last night on the day before his new book comes out.

“Hey, I’ll take it,” Lowell said after the game. “But honestly, I wish the home run had come a little earlier in the season.”

“I just feel that my right hand is so much stronger than my left hand squeezing the bat, that there’s a little adjustment there,” Lowell said. “But today I felt like I really saw the ball well when I swung at the pitch I wanted to swing at. So that’s a step in the right direction.”

I don’t think any of us expected it to take Lowell this long to get his first home run and RBIs of the season but hopefully this is the start of Mikey getting hot as his thumb starts to feel better.

Craig Hansen has a chance to take over the role that Manny Delcarmen held with the Red Sox.

It’s going to be like Christmas for Curt Schilling today as he will probably feel like a young kid when he picks up the baseball for the first time this season. He will take his first throws of the season as he was cleared by the Red Sox medical staff to begin a throwing program. He’s still a long way from returning to the Red Sox, if he gets there at all.

“There are a whole lot worse situations,” he said. “If I work this hard and don’t get back to pitching, I’d be disappointed. But if I worked this hard and didn’t get back to walking, you know what I’m saying? It’s relative. Twenty-two years I’ve pitched professionally. I’ve been blessed.”

David Ortiz almost sat out last night’s game with his sore knee.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News websites.