Don’t forget to enter the Burn Notice giveaway comment contest at the bottom of yesterday’s post.

The Red Sox were off last night, which usually means a little bit of reflection by the local media on the state of the ballclub.

Gerry Callahan says that the time has come to put Papi out of his misery. He reasons that yes, it will be tough to see him go, but it’s going to be even tougher to see him continue to struggle the way he has.

Adam Kilgore notes that the performance of the Sox thus far this season has been uneven, but that the results are OK for now. Michael Silverman wonders when Theo Epstein will move to address the DH and SS positions, and how long the Red Sox can continue to be successful with those two holes. A little more than a third of the way into the season, Daniel Barbarisi believes that the Red Sox best baseball is yet to come. Kirk Minihane cobbles together a Red Sox report card.

Steve Buckley has a mini-feature on Junichi Tazawa, the Japanese amateur star that the Red Sox signed over the winter. Unlike Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tazawa is getting the chance to adjust to America and baseball here by playing in the minors, where he is doing very well. It’s been almost a year since Manny Ramirez hit his 500th home run, and a lot has changed since then. Rob Bradford talks to the man who caught Manny’s homer, who still feels a connection with Ramirez. Sean McAdam makes some observations from around MLB.

Jon Couture examines how New Bedford has really embraced their Bay Sox. Joe Haggerty has Clay Buchholz still waiting in the wings for the Red Sox. Dan Lamothe and Sox & Dawgs look at a poll which shows that there are more Yankees fans in Connecticut than Red Sox fans.

Kilgore’s notebook has Jon Lester talking about pitching with a target on his back. Silverman’s notebook has Matsuzaka unable to dance out of trouble this season. Bradford says that Dice-K has no regrets about playing in the World Baseball Classic this spring.

NBA

Bob Ryan looks at where it went wrong for LeBron James and the Cavaliers against the Magic. Bill Burt asserts that we’ll be seeing LeBron in a Knicks uniform in two years. Lenny Megliola says that the Lakers are going to roll all over the Magic. Bill Reynolds thinks that the NBA finals will still be a pretty good show, even without LeBron.

Robert Lee has Stephon Marbury hoping that his experience with the Celtics will show other teams that he can still play and be a positive influence on a team.

Patriots

The Patriots have another OTA session open to the media today.

Chris Warner on Patriots Daily offers a few thoughts on how the offseason is shaping up.

Christopher Price says that Patriots fans should appreciate what the Detroit Red Wings have been able to do. Jeff Howe has Laurence Maroney talking about what a huge fan of Fred Taylor he is. Michael Felger says that the Patriots and their fans are going to need to be patient with Tom Brady, because he’s not likely to be TOM BRADY right from the start.

Karen Guregian and Christopher L. Gasper have Tom Brady praising the doctor who performed his knee surgery. Guregian also scoops Gasper by reporting that the Patriots will set up a conference call tomorrow for Rodney Harrison, who is expected to announce his retirement. Gasper says only that June 1st has passed and that we might hear something by the end of the week.

Misc

Kevin Paul Dupont admires the icy efficiency of the Red Wings.

Stan Grossfeld has a feature on a deaf Arena Football League player.

Ron Chimelis reports on a special DVD chronicling the 100 years of UMass basketball that will be shown at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

Michael Whitmer reports that Phil Mickelson may play in the US Open.

Teddy Panos offers a few thoughts.

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