Today is like Christmas for any Celtics follower who grew up in the Bird era, not to mention the Russell Era, or the Havlicek-Cowens era. Everyone has been waiting a long time for this.

Not just to play the Lakers in the finals, but anyone in the Finals. Let's see, I was in ninth grade the last time they made it this far. Since then, I've graduated high school, graduated college, gotten married, have had three kids and two jobs, and who knows how many cars.

This is going to be something special. Covering the Red Sox is my job and I enjoy it thoroughly. Watching the Celtics is a hobby -- one that anyone who knows me with any depth knows that I am extremely passionate about. Following this team has been an addiction since I used to listen to Johnny Most under my pillow at night. I never jumped off the bandwagon either because I never knew there was a bandwagon. That's not how it works for me.

One of my friends in the press box told me to take the smile off my face in the last couple of minutes of the Celtics game last night. Sorry, but it was hard to.

After going through Len Bias and Reggie Lewis and Bill Walton's bad feet and Kevin McHale's bad ankle and Larry Bird's bad back and the train wreck that was the Rick Pitino era -- I've blacked the M.L. Carr years out of my memory bank -- and the short-lived hope under Jim O'Brien, this is surreal to know that the Celtics are playing the Lakers in the Finals.

Paul Pierce has proven to be the ultimate winner. He, more than any other Celtic -- including Garnett -- has put this team on his back this spring. That's been enjoyable to watch.

This will be the best challenge yet. But just having homecourt gives them a very real chance at Number 17.

I'm not sure there can be better basketball than these two teams played in the '84, '85 and '87 Finals, but it will be fun trying to see if they can.

In the next few days, you will be forced to think about who can stop Kobe, and if the Celtics can overcome Rondo's inexperience. And as much as I defend Doc Rivers, Phil Jackson is the most successful NBA Finals coach this side of Red Auerbach. How about Gasol?

Do me a favor. Save those issues and just savor the moment for now.

Buckle up, guys and gals. This is going to be a ride to remember.

Here in the land of the Baltimore Birds with news that Daisuke Matsuzaka is going on the DL with a mild rotator cuff strain. It's really not a surprise at all. The Sox are very conservative when it comes to pitchers and are actually of the belief that all of them can benefit from about two weeks off during the season.

Jeff Bailey is here from Pawtucket, and will come off the bench until Tuesday, when Justin Masterson will be activated to take Dice-K's spot in the rotation.

Oh, it's Manny Ramirez's 36th birthday. What better way to celebrate it than with home run No. 500? He can even hug his pal Millar as he rounds first. Per usual, Manny was in a great mood before the game today. "Don't worry about it" is his new catch phrase. He won't stop saying it. When Jim Palmer walked through the clubhouse, Manny shouted to him, "I'll see you in Cooperstown."

In more mundane news, J.D. Drew has the night off because of Vertigo. He's getting the head spins. By the way, Vertigo is one of my favorite U2 songs ever. Just thought I'd share that.

Celtics predictions tonight? I don't feel strongly about this one either way. Let me know what all of you think.

The Red Sox seem optimistic about Dice-K. He's getting an MRI on Friday in Boston just as a precaution. Still no word on whether he makes his next start.

Ian.

It seemed like the Red Sox were running their regular lineup out there tonight when word broke of a late switch. Kevin Youkilis has been experiencing some discomfort in the top of his right (throwing) hand and has been scratched from the lineup.

Casey will start at first base.

Just wanted to share that with you for now.

More later from what is easily one of the top five Stadiums in the Major Leagues.

Ian.

Jon Lester, will not share history with Johnny Vander Meer. It was 50 years ago -- June 15, 1938 -- when Vander Meer becme the only pitcher of all-time to hurl back-to-back no-hitters.

Today, Lester had his chance, and it lasted all of one batter. Jack Hannahan led off the first for the A's with a hard single to left. What an utterly amazing feat for Vander Meer by the way. How is that even possible to do what he did?

Also, Lester revealed in an ESPN Sunday Night Conversation with Erin Andrews that his father now has lymphoma. That's too bad, but it sounds like there is a very optimistic prognosis for John Lester.

Manny is back in the lineup and I think I'll call a home run just like I called a Celtics win last night.

Can anyone else start to taste Celtics-Lakers? Yes, I know the Detroit series is far from over, but that would be unbelievable to see Boston and LA do battle again for all the marbles.

Buchholz will pitch in Pawtucket tonight. By the way, Terry Francona said that the team has given no thought to having him work out of the bullpen right now. Perhaps it's something you could see later in the year, but not right now. They will speak with Buchholz after his game in Pawtucket and plot his next course of action, which could be very similar to Brandon Moss's next course of action if you know what I mean.

Standard lineup today with Ellsbury leading off and playing center.

Later.

Ian.

Here we are, back at the fabulous McAfee Coliseum for Game 2 of Red Sox-A's.

There was immediate news via a glance at the lineup card as Manny Ramirez has been given the day off to rest his slumping bat. However, hitting coach Dave Magadan is confidence that Ramirez has found some things and is close to busting out. More on that later.

Brandon Moss was activated from the 15-day disabled list as he is fully recovered from his emergency appendectomy. However, upon activation, Brandon was immediately optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Speaking of Pawtucket, Julian Tavarez will not be going there as he indicated earlier this week. Instead, Julian has asked the club for his free agency and it was granted.

Here is tonight's lineup:

Ellsbury LF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 1B
Lowell 3B
Drew RF
Varitek C
Crisp CF
Cora SS

Beckett SP

Ian.

Anybody have a prediction on Celtics score tonight? Let me be the first.

Boston 95, Detroit 91.

Are the Red Sox turning into the Celtics in front of our very eyes?

Did you notice that the boys are all of a sudden having a tough time of it on the road?

The Sox are 21-5 at Fenway, which is utter dominance. On the road? Try 10-14, which is looking like 10-15 the way thins are going thus far tonight.

What is it that is making life so tough for them on the road? Anybody have any theories?

And does anyone have any predictions for Celtics-Pistons Game 3?

We are roughly 15 minutes away from Bartolo Colon's first offiicial pitch as a member of the Red Sox, and the anticipation is building. Well, not really, but it sounds good to say it.

But seriously, it will be very intriguing to see exactly how Bart fits into the mix here. Obviously his upside is huge. Downside? There really is none. If it doesn't work out, you'll have Buchholz or Masterson or eventually maybe even Schilling.

Julian Tavarez is in Pawtucket, but I highly doubt you will see him in a Red Sox uniform again this season. It sounds like they are just trying to bide time before a trade. As Francona said, "Tavarez is going to pitch in the big leagues."

Francona laughed when a reporter mentioned to him before the game that Manny Ramirez remains "stuck" on 498 homers. I can think of worse numbers to get stuck on. He could be stuck on 14. When Francona said that, I thought for sure that must have been the number of times he went deep in his career. But upon further review, Tito hit 16 jacks.

For the second night in a row, bench coach Brad Mills will coach third. DeMarlo Hale is home in Florida tending to his wife, who is undergoing some medical tests.

I asked Tito before the game about the prospects of Masterson pitching out of the bullpen: "Yeah, he could probably certainly help us just because of his style. He's two years into pro ball. I think the starters innings are really, really beneficial. Where that takes him the rest of the year, i don't know. A lot of things get talked about within the organization and I think your question makes sense. But I think starters innings right now are really beneficial to him."

Sorry about the lack of blogging yesterday. As you might imagine, I got a little busy during the no-hitter.

Full Disclosure: It didn't dawn on me that Lester had a no-hitter until about the fifth inning when I heard esteemed colleague Steven Krasner of the Providence Journal say something about a no-hitter on a telephone conversation within ear shot.

What can I say? It just didn't feel like a no-hitter in the early innings. It was all so routine. Aside from the Ellsbury catch, none of the outs were difficult.

I felt better about spacing the no-hitter for five innings when I heard Jason Varitek say after the game that he had no clue about the no-no until after seven innings. And he was catching! Speaking of 'Tek, that's pretty telling that he's the only catcher in history to be on the receiving end of four no-nos.

Perhaps the most underrated aspect of Lester's performance was his mid to upper 90s velocity. Where had that been?

Don't discount that Lester could still be getting back to full strength after the cancer.

Lester was asked this afternoon when the last time was that he had that kind of life on his fastball:

"A long time," he said. "I'd say all the way back to '05. It's been a while to where I could sit there and go, 'I'm going to try to rear back and throw this one a little bit harder' and ctually get it. Last year, it was 'try to throw a little bit harder' and it was 91, 92. This year, it's physically stronger and I don't still have the stuff [chemo, etc.} in me and all that. I just feel a lot better mechanically, too, being able to repeat my mechanics better."

Think about how dangerous this could make the Red Sox if Lester has a carryover from this no-hitter and becomes that upper echelon type of starter a lot of us forecasted him to be in Spring Training.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals is coming up. The NBA has the matchups they want this round. Celtics and the Pistons, a pure throwback '80s matchup. And the Lakers and the defending champion Spurs.

Moments from the start of Game 7 of Celtics-Cavs, and it's a highly anticipated game. If you grew up watching the Celtics, you think back to all the Game 7's you watched as a kid.

Game 7 against the Knicks in '84 when Bird had a triple double, including 39 points. Game 7 against the Lakers that same year when Maxwell said, "Jump on my back boys, I'm going to carry you tonight." And he did.

Game 7 of the second round against the Bucks in 1987 when the Celtics were down by eight points in the fourth quarter and Jerry Sichting subbed for an injured Danny Ainge and hit two clutch jump shots. But the game was won when Dennis Johnson made one of the most spectacular defensive plays I've ever seen, chasing down a blocked shot of Parish on Jack Sikma and jumping out of bounds and slapping the ball off Sikma to make it Boston ball.

Then, of course, Game 7 that same year against the Pistons. Bird, isolated against Rick Mahorn, has his shot blocked, and the ball goes out of bounds with five seconds left. And Bird steals on just a terrible pass from Isiah and gets it to DJ for the layup to win the game.

There would be the best Game 7 I've ever watched in 1988, the Bird-Dominique shootout. Man, this one still has to give any sports fan goose bumps. Bird had 20 in the fourth, including a ridiculous three from the corner with a hand in his face. Boston 118, Atlanta 116.

Now we're back for another Game 7 that is sure to live on in the memory banks for a long time, win or lose. Who steps up? KG? Allen? Paul Pierce? LeBron?

The fun will be finding out.

Ian.

It's raining. Game is officially in delay mode. It's coming down pretty steadily but supposed to let up soon. I'll keep you posted. It looks pretty ominous out there.

Good to be back at Fenway. A three-game series with the Brewers looms. The Red Sox are beat up and in a slump. Probably nothing 37,000 vocal enthusiasts can't solve.

A couple of interesting subplots tonight. I know everyone will be happy to see Gabe Kapler back. Who doesn't like Gabe Kapler? He's not playing, however, so the standing ovation might have to wait until tomorrow.

It will be a far different story for Eric Gagne. There have been few less disastrous trade acquisitions than Gagne, though the Red Sox did win a World Series in spite of him. It should be high comedy to see the reaction he gets if he comes out of the bullpen tonight.

The guy starting for the Brewers tonight is also a former trade acquisition the Red Sox would have loved to have a re-do on. Remember how they traded Freddy Sanchez for Jeff Suppan on July 31, 2003? By the time the playoffs rolled around, a struggling Suppan didn't even make the rotation. However, Red Sox fans do love him for his incredibly poor baserunning on behalf of the Cardinals in Game 3 of the 2004 World Series.

This could be the night for Manny to hit 500. Yes, he is two away, but he's had good success against Suppan (7-for-21, three homers) and that doesn't include the blast Manny hit off him in the World Series.

The Red Sox are healthier then when you saw them last. Drew (wrist) and Lugo (concussion) are both back in the lineup. Coco is still feeling sick. Ellsbury is in center.

Oh, and there's also quite a big Celtics game tonight. I thought Game 5 was a breakthrough performance for Rondo. Perhaps he can carry it over tonight on the road and they can be playing Game 1 against the Pistons on Sunday instead of Game 7 against these Cavs. Then again, if it goes to Game 7, they can finally avenge the Game 7 loss to Cleveland in 1992.

Ian.

Tonight is truly Driver's Ed for the Boston Celtics. It's time, for once and for all, to see how this team handles the road.

They've driven off of it so far in these playoffs, nearly to a state of utter disaster and embarrassment against Atlanta.

Game 3 at Cleveland was so bad that my eight-year-old son was screaming for Doc Rivers to put Scalabrine in the game. When I reminded him that Scal was inactive, he still thought that Scalabrine -- decked out in suit and tie -- would be better than what was going on out there on the floor at the time.

Truth be told, the Celtics need to play with an attitude like they did during the regular season. They need to play like an attitude like they have at home in the playoffs.

Rondo needs to start being Rondo again. Garnett needs to take it strong to the basket. Paul Pierce needs to pretend this is the 2002 and 2003 playoffs and it is on him to will points for this team. Ray Allen needs to play with a pulse.

Mind you, the home team is taking care of business in just about every playoff series at the moment. But the Celtics need to at least get competitive on the road. Last game was an embarrassment.

We'll see what they have in store tonight.

Meanwhile at the Metrodome, Buchholz takes the ball as the Sox try to salvage a split in Minny.

Ian.

You're still on MLB.com, but I'm going to let a basketball blog break out here for a bit.

Forget about the seven-game series with Atlanta, which was a strange event in which the Celtics blew out the Hawks in all four games at home and looked like a lost bunch on the road.

For all intents and purposes, the NBA Playoffs for the Celtics began Tuesday night at the Garden in one of those rock em, sock em defensive tilts that marks true playoff basketball.

This was a battle of will on both sides and the difference was simply the two superstars. Kevin Garnett made all of his big shots. The King missed all of his -- including a layup in which he had Kendrick Perkins backwards -- that could have sent the game into Overtime.

It's doubtful that you'll ever see Paul Pierce and Ray Allen combine for four points in a basketball game ever again. And if it does somehow happen again, you can be sure the Celtics won't win. Just as you can be sure the Cavs won't win if LeBron goes 2-for-19 or whatever it was he shot last night yet they almost did anyway in this case. Strange, strange game. I'm not sure about you, but I'm feeling pretty good about Wally Szcerbiak (sp?) being on the other side of this matchup. Then again, I'd take Delonte West on my team any day.

One thing that drives me crazy is all the people that somehow think Doc Rivers is the reason whenever this team loses a basketball game or doesn't play up to its capability. This is a veteran team that shouldn't need a coach to put them over the top. I think Doc has had these guys prepared to play all year. The critics of Doc remind me a lot of the critics of Tito in post-October 2004. Francoma anyone? All those people who came up with that silly nickname must feel pretty idiotic if they are man or woman enough to own up to it. Those same people will be filling pretty silly if the Celtics win No. 17 this June.

While I think we'd all rather watch a more artistic game when the two teams are actually making shots, I did find last night's game to be a thoroughly entertaining watch. Just two teams grinding and fighting and desperate to win.

I'm sure Game 2 will have a different personality. That's just the way playoff basketball is.

Oh, by the way Manny belted No. 497 last night. Can anyone else in baseball besides Manny hit a lazy flyball that goes 420 feet? And it was the first time he had ever seen this kid pitcher and he rakes at the first pitch and puts it over the wall. I'll say it again. What an unbelievable hitter this guy is.

Later,

 Ian.

Mike Lowell celebrated tomorrow's release of his book by hitting, yes, his first deep drive of 2008. I'm sure plenty more are on the way. And by the way, everyone should check out his work as an author.

Lowell's book -- co-authored by the blogtastic Rob Bradford of the Boston Herald -- is a terrific read. I haven't read the whole thing yet. I've gotten through 100 pages in about three days and loving it so far. The book will be available in stores tomorrow.

There is great insight from Lowell about his childhood, and how connected he was to his father, and how baseball was something they truly bonded over. I love the part about how on every Wednesday afternoon, Lowell and his dad and his brothers would go to a local ballfield with a bucket of balls and Papa Lowell would throw them BP. Carl Lowell was a very accomplished pitcher in his own day, representing Puerto Rico with some memorable performances, particularly when he beat Cuba.

Anyway, after BP and shagging and taking grounders, the boys would fetch all the balls and put them back in the bucket. The reward? Slurpies at 7/11. Lowell says in the book, "Wednesday is still my favorite day of the week."

There's also detailed information about the root of the Lowell family's utter hatred for Fidel Castro.

There is in-depth stuff about how Lowell snapped out of the funk he was in during 2005 by enlisting his old hitting coach Gary Denbo, who was in Japan at the time. Lowell was so desperate for an answer that he talked to Denbo through some video device on the computer.

A few months later, Lowell met up with Denbo in Florida for some 1-on-1 work. But soon thereafter, Denbo was hired by the Yankees and therefore, could no longer help Lowell. By this time, Lowell had already gotten a good foundation again and was on his way to regaining his All-Star stroke.

Each chapter leads with an unfiltered journal entry -- Bradford obviously didn't touch these. Lowell talks a lot about his kids and his family life and it becomes clear how much he loves being a father.

I've already been impressed with the read, and I haven't even gotten to the in-depth stuff yet on his successful fight against cancer or the championship rides of 2003 and 2007.

I highly recommend this book.

Ian.

With Curt Schilling on a completely different program than the rest of the players -- he gets here extremely early for his rehab work and leaves early also -- we don't see him that much in the clubhouse. Today was an exception, and the rehabbing right-hander was insightful -- as he usually is when he speaks -- on how things are going.

Here is a complete transcript of what was said:
 

Schilling, "I'm closer to throwing. I don't know. We're getting close. I would argue that we're close to throwing in the next week to 10 days probably. It's a big day. I feel great. I feel strong. I feel everything I'm supposed to feel."

Compared to January, "There's no comparison where I am, physically, strength wise, any of it."

Pleasantly surprised? "I'm past that part. I got past that early and just kind of turned into the daily grind thing. Coming in and staying focused on what I had to get done that day to get my goals met that day and move on to the next thing."

"It's not hard. It never was. There's a certain challenge to it because I couldn't be farther from being a part of the team. But I never looked at it as hard. It was a necessary part of what was happening. I've done it before. It's not fun. But you don't think about those aspects of it. Just like when I'm pitching, I have a list of things I have on the day I pitch, I have a list of things I have to do when I come to the park. I'm doing those as hard as I can do them, as good as I can do them, is my daily thing."

Strength testing? "We've done a bunch of them and we continue to improve every single one and I think there's a couple of last things last things that Mike wants to see and be happy with to move to the next step."
 
Confident you'll be able to take the next step? "I've never thought otherwise. If I didn't believe, absolutely, that I would have the ball in a World Series game, I wouldn't be doing this. There's a lot of things that have to happen between now and then. There's an assumption, I think, for some people that don't really think about this, which most people probably don't, but, this is not about just me getting healthy and coming back. I have to be good. I'm not just going to get the ball because I'm a starting pitcher. I'm going to have to be good. Last I looked, this rotation didn't have a hole in it. There's a lot of different scenarios that might come about with an innings limit for guys but I've got to come back and be good. I can't just can't get healthy and expect to come back and get a spot. That's a challenge."

Once you do start throwing, what happens from there? "Nice try but no. I don't know. I really don't. I don't think we know. We have an idea of a time-table but once we start throwing, like anything else, everything goes out the window and you kind of go day by day on how you feel and what you're doing. "

Starting to feel more connected to team? "Well, no, until I'm on a schedule that keeps me at the ballpark out of necessity, I'm here and done most days, usually by like, 2. And, it's like, my day's done. I've never gone through this. It's weird. It's very odd, very uncomfortable. Like I said, I try and impact the guys on this team that I'm close with at times when we have time to talk away from everybody. Then I go do my thing. It's weird. But, you know, that's part of it."

 
Harder to leave, or would it be harder to stay once the game starts, "Oh, it would be a lot harder to hang around the ballpark from 2 to midnight every night with nothing to do. So there's no comparison there."

How close to picking up a ball? "I don't know. Soon. Very soon."
 
Work right now? "Today is a light day. We're alternating heavy and light days. The heavy day just got immensely heavy so the light days are much, much lighter, to allow ... We've come to realize the whole way through this that every time after I have like an off day, I'm immensely better the following day. The workload on my heavy day is excessive. There's no pain, no stamina issues, no strength loss, no lingering effects, which is a huge plus. I've said before and even through now, I haven't thrown yet. That's the big piece to this. I might go, I don't expect to, but there's a chance I could go out and throw next week and I'd just feel miserable and it would all be for naught. I don't envision with the amount of work that we've done and the things that we're doing that I'm going to come back and start throwing and be out. That's not going to work. I think that we're set now to go for an extended period of time with me throwing and getting more amped up on the throwing side of things to see how far we can take it."

Pain free? "Since the injection for the most part. I haven't had a day where I've had, on a scale of 1 to 10, pain in the two to three neighborhood and if I had been uncomfortable any day, it's never been carried out after I left. I've never had any issues up to this point."

The work of the rotation: "Obviously the last three or four days have been phenomenal. That, to me, the personality make-up, starting with John at the top as the pitching coach, is, it's huge. It's hard to convey this without it sounding wrong but you get a competition that is a good thing. The first piece of that is talented pitchers. You don't have competition if guys suck, unless you're having a competition to see who sucks worse. These guys are all very, very good to great. You get Josh setting a bar  ... Obviously Dice-K wants to be a bar setter. And then you have these kids who, you know, are kind of feeling their way. You've got one who's just a natural gifted kid and the other kid who is a grinder in Jonny. They start to do things that maybe they haven't done before. Then they start to expect those things. Now you've got a whole rotation. Then you have Wake, who every fifth day takes the ball and has a good chance to win. It's been fun to watch, really fun to watch."

In other matters ... Ellsbury is back in the lineup. Coco, sore left knee and sore right hamstring, is out. Drew still out. He'll be back in there tomorrow. Bartolo Colon will get back on the rehab trail on Monday in Sarasota against a lower minors Orioles affiliate.

Without further ado, today's lineup:

Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Lowell 3B
Youkilis 1B
Moss RF
Varitek C
Lugo SS

Buchholz SP

Nothing like 9:30 baseball on a Friday night. At least I got to watch the first half of the Celtics game during the rain delay. They need to play better interior defense in the second half.

Update: I also so most of the second half. What a choke job. Garnett made 2 or 3 turnovers in the fourth, Pierce fouled out -- admittedly a bad call -- with five minutes left. Nobody stepped up to do anything. I'm sure there will be speculation that Doc's job is on the line in Game 7.

Ian.