Hardball Heaven

Caught a few innings of the Sox-Yankees game tonight in Tampa - pretty interesting - most of the regulars played for the first four or five innings. Papelbon worked hard but looked good. Riske looked like this year's version of Blaine Neal. Wily Mo absolutely starched a few balls, including a low liner over the left-field wall. They may be in trouble with catching depth. For the bad guys, Mariano Rivera looked unhittable, with that little bastard cutter working its magic. And there was even a 'beanball' war, if you want to call it that, featuring of course that punk from Worcester, Tanyon Sturtze. Former Sox pitcher Mike Myers, now a stinkin' Yank, started it by innocently plunking J.T. Snow. Then Riske hit Jeter with what was clearly a breaking ball gone awry, and then Tanyon the Caveman came out seeking revenge, and decided to drill Mike Lowell in the hip. The guy's just a fool - and he's always in the middle of things. He was the one who got double-teamed by Gabe Kapler and Trot Nixon during the infamous Pedro-Zimmer game and ended up with blood all over his face. If memory serves correctly, he's also the guy Trot intentionally threw his bat at after striking out during one of those great dust-ups with the Devil Rays, or maybe it was Ryan Rupe. I get below-average Devil Rays starting pitchers mixed up all the time. (Remember those classic Sox vs. D-Rays games? Roberto Hernandez trying to hit Dauber... Pedro and Gerald Williams...)

I am clearly rambling, and well past my bedtime. Good night, and good luck.