Lassie, come home

Bringing things full circle, the Red Sox have re-acquired Doug Mirabelli to come back to Boston and catch for Tim Wakefield, the knuckleballer I spent a great deal of time on to start the new season.

My arguement was that a knuckleball pitcher is only as good as his catcher and after driving one to retire, it's been pretty ugly since then.

With a glut at the position after picking up Mike Piazza, the Padres were more than happy to send him back for two minor-leaguers and some cash.

As of this afternoon (Wakefield is starting tonight against the Yankees) the stats for Wake stand at 1-4, with a 3.90 ERA, a .231 batting average against him and WHIP of 1.27. Mirabelli is also behind the plate tonight - pretty impressive for a guy who just got off a cross-country flight.

We'll wait and see how those numbers evolve in the next few weeks. Watching Wily Mo Pena right now, I think most of Red Sox Nation is wondering how much the Yanks want for Johnny Damon.