Links Links everywhere!

*The Sox had a solid weekend in Arizona, although the bats are still quieter than I would like. Joshua dominated Friday, Julian took care of buisness, and Dice-K pitched good enough to win yesterday, says Jeff Horrigan. The Sox have today off, and get back at it on Tuesday they host the Rockies, and Soxgal.

*If you haven't read Curt's recap of his near no-no, please do so immediately.

*The Sox are now 40-22 on the season, and 9.5 up on the 2nd place New York Yankees, and 11.5 up on the last place Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

*After 6 weeks as #1 upon the ESPN Power Rankings, the Sox dropped to 2nd, with the Padres taking over the top slot.

*The Nuggets had a rough week, with J.R. Smith being thrown from a car during an accident and one of the passengers in the car having severe head injuries, and another Nugget DeeMar Johnson was tasered and arrested outside a night club.

*Julian Tavarez has his own cure to fix his own blister problem.

*Mike Reiss, as always has some good stuff.

*Chad Finn has a fun update. Including this tidbit via Peter Gammons:

"On April 20, Courtney Butcher of Worcester, Mass., a freshman at the University of New Hampshire, called her father, Jim, to talk about the Monster seats Jim had purchased for the family for the Sunday night game. Lowell was her favorite player. That night, right after Courtney talked to her father, she and three friends were killed in an automobile accident.

That Sunday night, Jim took his other children to the game. In the 4-HR inning, Lowell's shot went right to the Butcher family.The next day, a friend of the family called Sarah Stevenson of the Red Sox, who relayed the message to Lowell, and he signed a uniform with these words: "Courtney, May God Be With You, Rest in Peace." He also sent word to Jim Butcher that he would homer for Courtney. The wake was that Tuesday, April 24, and Lowell's uniform was draped over Courtney's coffin. That night, he homered against the Blue Jays."

*Jayson Stark ponders the question, is Curt Schilling the best pitcher to never win a Cy Young or pitch a no-hitter? I'm pasting the whole thing because I know not everyone has ESPN Insider.

Random thoughts, as we ponder the unique interleague magic of Rockies-Orioles:

IS CURT SCHILLING THE BEST PITCHER NEVER TO WIN A CY YOUNG OR PITCH A NO-HITTER?

Watching that Shannon Stewart single whoosh past Alex Cora on Thursday, I was struck by this thought: Can anyone think of a great pitcher who has done more specializing in the near-miss than Curt Schilling?

He has never pitched a no-hitter, but he has thrown three one-hitters. And among active pitchers only Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina (four apiece) have thrown more.

Schilling also has never won a Cy Young. But he has finished second three times. Among active pitchers, only Johnson, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine have more top-two finishes in the Cy voting than Schilling. But those guys have combined for 21 Cy Youngs, to Schilling's zero. In fact, according to baseball-reference.com, Schilling has the highest award-share voting score of any pitcher in history who has never won a Cy Young.

So if it sometimes seems as if all his great years have been trumped by someone else's great years, it's because they have.

He has won 20 games three times -- all of them in seasons when at least one other pitcher in his league won 20. He has struck out 300 hitters in a season three times -- two of them in years another pitcher in his league whiffed 300. And he has finished in the top three in his league in ERA nine times -- but never won an ERA title. So is timing everything in life, or what?

Have a nomination for some other great pitcher in the last 40 years (the era spanning the awarding of Cy Youngs in each league) who has never pitched a no-hitter or won a Cy? Send it along to uselessinfodept@yahoo.com. We can do a ranking in a future blog of the best pitchers ever in this funky category.

*My favorite blogger not named Schilling has updated a few times recently, Mr. Curtis Granderson. He has all kinds of good stuff.

*How did this guy only get a mild concussion and a sprained ankle?

*Lester is coming up to Fenway to throw with John Farrell and figure out a plan for the next few weeks.

*This Arizona columnist talks about how Curt is a jerk for not talking to them on Friday, because he owed it to the fans. A few things here:

- In the column, he says that Curt was traded to the Red Sox. He signed as a free agent. Maybe he doesn't want to talk to idiots.

- He also says he owes it to "the fans". The highest attendence in Arizona history was...Saturday night against the Red Sox? With Julian Tavarez starting? They didn't even sell out the clinching game of the World Series? I wouldn't worry too much about those "fans".

*Roger Goodell's myspace.