Hardball Heaven

As the late, great Ned Martin would say, 'Mercy.' The US Traveling All-Stars pasted South Africa today, 17-0, to advance to the second round of the Selig Classic. Hitting star was Junior Griffey, who hit two homers and drove in seven. Rocket Roger pitched 4-plus, benefiting from a very comfy early lead. Hard to believe this game wasn't on live TV somewhere -- unless I'm mistaken, the only way to see it is on tape delay at 3 a.m. on ESPN2. For all the hullabaloo about this possibly being Roger's last game (don't believe it for a second), one would think this game would have warranted live coverage. US now plays the Japan Ichiros in the first game of the second round.

Idle note: When Varitek hit his grand slam the other day, I was thinking to myself, 'what a thrill for him' - it would be cool if a good fan caught the ball and got it back to 'Tek. And sure enough, the fan who caught it returned the ball to Varitek in exchange for an autographed ball and bat. Good thing it wasn't the lunatic who caught Doug Flutie's dropkick last January. You remember - the guy who had his lawyer send a letter to Foxborough demanding $100,000 in cash, eight season tickets for 25 years, a Tom Brady jersey autographed by the whole team, the deed to the Krafts' estate in Brookline, and ownership of 10 Dunkin' Donuts shops in locations of his choosing. The Pats wisely told the guy to screw, and evidently he's found a buyer on eBay named Mr. Stogy. What a world.