The Second Cup: A true Kason point

OK folks, hard to beat last night, huh? The other writers seemed to think so, too:

BOSTON HERALD

Kason had a lot to tip his cap about.

Kason point - The title says it all for Jeff Horrigan’s gamer. The main-man was spectacular, though Horrigan notes how impressive Brian Bannister was in spurts for the Royals.

Buck stops here - Michael Silverman writes about John Buck’s early-season dinger, the lone run off stupendous Sox reliever Hideki Okajima. Interesting angle to take, since none of us saw it coming at the time.

Schilling ready for rehab try - Horrigan’s notebook leads with Schilling’s impending start at AAA Pawtucket, touching on his simulated game yesterday. He also hits on the return of Jason Varitek and J.D. Drew.

PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

Gabbard kept the Royals off balance - Steven Krasner’s gamer focuses on the Stiffmeister look-alike again, noting how many off-speed pitches he tossed. It’s a terrific angle, and a pretty unique one, particularly in that it he used the piece more to flesh out what some might have considered only an aspect of the game.

Anyone getting tired of the Seann William Scott jokes yet? Me neither.

Rejuvenated Schilling hopes to return Aug. 1 - Krasner teams up with the long-awaited return of Sean McAdam, putting together a notebook which focuses squarely on the simulated game by Schilling and his rehab schedule. They also note Julio Lugo’s continued hitting streak and the power surge from Big Papi and Manny Ramirez.

This won’t be the first or last feat of clay - ProJo columnist Jim Donaldson writes that Clay Buchholz has a lot ahead of him, even after drawing high praise despite giving up a two-run bomb of a homer and three total runs (two earned) in three innings at McCoy Stadium. Try getting your head around all that cognitive dissonance there.

BOSTON GLOBE

Rookie ball - Gordon Edes returns to game duty, and immediately steals the lead of the day by turning the clock back to last year’s spring training, when Terry Francona had to send over a beer to the pitcher who he didn’t even know he had … after he figured out he had him. Funny stuff, particularly considering where he’s come.

Schilling’s pitch: Arm feeling good as new - The Edes notebook leads with Schilling’s rehab, as would be expected. Interestingly, Edes is the only one who has Schilling pitching to four batters in his simulated game (Alex Cora, Eric Hinske, Wily Mo Pena and Doug Mirabelli). We know that Pena and Mirabelli were there, all the writers agree on that. Everyone seems split on whether it was Cora or Hinske, or both, who took the rest of the hacks.

Watching out for left-right combo - You know a minor league event is a big deal when a paper sends it’s big picture writer to cover it. Such was the case with the Buchholz debut, with Nick Cafardo writing in the shadows of the press box. Still, Cafardo doesn’t ignore the other PawSox pitcher with serious MLB aspirations … Jon Lester.

Red Sox’ Pedroia has healthy outlook - The Daniel Malloy contribution of the day chimes in on diminutive second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who seems to be fully recovered from his All-Star break flu after a homer and several strong defensive stops last night.

Royals bank on futures market - The second Malloy contribution is his now routine run through the opposing clubhouse, today putting out the requisite “Royals are building with young talent” piece. Mehhh.